When Fevicol ‘Bus’ ad stuck its way to a Silver Lion at Cannes 2002

The screen focuses on a Rajasthani local. Then, it shifts to various others who are all vigorously shaking. Then, the bus comes to the fore, with so many passengers, and is moving on a bumpy road in a desert.

With the bus jam-packed, with people grabbing seats wherever they could – both inside and on the bus, one wonders: “How come they aren’t falling off?”

The answer is on the signage at the tail of the bus: Fevicol - The Ultimate Adhesive.

Released in early 2002, the ad film has, over a period, achieved a cult status, and the rest is history.

Genesis

Renowned ad filmmaker Prasoon Pandey, of Corcoise Films, came across a Fevicol ad in the print medium. It featured a local train with people hanging from it, who were ‘surprisingly’ not falling off. Then, it showcased the sign of Fevicol, clearing the doubts in readers’ minds. Pandey was spellbound.

That is when Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) approached Pandey, and suggested an ad film on this. Pandey took more than a month to say an ‘Yes’, in order to find out how to execute it. The ad film director was very sure if he replicated the same in the film format, especially with the ‘train’ being the theme, the reception would not be critical or well-received.

As Pandey brainstormed, he remembered watching a Dutch short film ‘Glass’, directed by Bert Haanstra. ‘Glass’ contrasts the traditional art of glassblowing with the efficiency of industrial glass production.

This inspired Pandey, and he decided to set the tone of the ad film in a way that would keep people on the hook and make them question ‘What next?’ He decided upon a bus, with 200 passengers on board.

Pandey wanted to showcase the bus riding on a very crazy, bumpy road, which could shake off or displace any of its passengers from their seats.

Once he decided on this, he began detailing the movement of the head, then hand, and by that time, the realisation dawned that there are more people, and all of them are shaking, as showcased in the ad film.

Slowly, the bus is revealed. While the audience is busy figuring out how so many people could fit into the bus, the tail of the bus becomes visible and it showcases the Fevicol sign.

The ad film was shot in Jaisalmer in the sand dunes. Two hundred people were roped in from the villages that were in and around Jaisalmer.

One of Pandey’s challenges was the winter sun. “In winter, the sun travels from left to right. Hence, after every two hours, I had to shift the direction of the bus coming in,” he explained.

One-foot deep ditches were dug on the road to give the bus a bumpy ride. But they realised that the bus wasn’t bouncing the way it was expected. As Pandey put it, it was bouncing the way a ‘rabbit runs’.

Hence, ditches were dug in different ways: one to the right, and one to the left. And, the result surpassed expectations. During the shooting, the goat featured in the film apparently did not like being ‘shaked’ too much, Pandey said.

Hence, it would pee and that would fall on a young boy seated below the animal. The entire cast and crew had a hearty laugh.

The music was inspired by one of the tracks by percussionist Taufiq Qureshi for an album ‘Rhythm’. Loy Mendonsa (of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy popularity) worked with Qureshi to give a refreshed feeling to the track, stated a blog post.

On its release, the reception was stupendous. Apart from Pandey, O&M’s then creative director Piyush Pandey (now chief advisor Ogilvy) too was involved in the making of the ad film. Madhukar Balvantray Parekh, chairman, Pidilite Industries, was the client. Till date, he continues to be, thus highlighting the ‘Fevicol bond’ between ‘Pidilite & Ogilvy’.

At the 49th edition of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2002, the ad clinched a Silver Lion. Thus, the iconic ad ended a six-year drought that last saw India standing tall with a Gold and a Silver Lion in the film and print categories in 1996.

They were the SSC&B Lintas ad on ‘How to Kill a Mosquito’ print campaign for Hoecht's Hexit mosquito repellent. And, Nexus Equity for "One Black Coffee, Please" ad for Ericsson mobile phone.

It has been more than two decades since the Fevicol ad was released. Till date, the brand recall amidst the viewers is as strong as ‘Fevicol ka mazboot jod’ (strong bond).

Piyush, in a conversation with Storyboard18, stated that right from rolling out the first ad film for Fevicol in 1991, ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’, until today, all his ad films have been about the people of India and their lives. These films have the human touch, short of geography or boundaries.

“Some people call it retro, I say, ‘We are not retro, you are metro’. That is where India lives,” he added. Piyush also mentioned that since the time Pidilite came on board and the ads on Fevicol began being churned out, the brief was always about conveying the message of the ‘strongest bond’.

And, over a period, the word Fevicol has gained such strong momentum that it has become a part of everybody’s vocabulary.

“When PM Modi went to Japan in 2014, in order to highlight the relationship between both the countries, he said: Yeh fevicol se bhi zyada mazboot jod hai (relationship is stronger than Fevicol),” Piyush said.

“An iconic ad isn’t written. An ad, which one thinks of as good, is written down. When people love and admire it, they want to watch it on loop, which makes it iconic,” Piyush concluded.

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