The serene backwaters of Kerala make for a picturesque setting. The jolly Malayalam background score establishes the mood of the four salesmen hawking their knick-knacks nonchalantly until a police jeep approaches. Within couple of minutes, the wooden boxed displays are no longer in sight, just in time for the suspicious stare of the cop riding shotgun. Not entirely convinced but having been left with no proof, when the cop rides away, the boxes are swiftly pulled up from the bottom of the lake, all intact except for one.

Reeling under the weight of the wares within, one hawker’s wooden container cracks and spills its contents into the water. And the poor man is offered no consolation from his peers but instead is at the receiving end of a hearty laugh mocking his ignorance for not using what’s supposedly the waterproof adhesive – Fevicol Marine. The commercial runs several parallels to an earlier one for this particular product. A witty take on the realities of India complete with a hint of the local flavour has been a speciality of the brand’s advertising strategy designed by Ogilvy India. Vivek Sharma, CMO Pidilite expands on this, “Fevicol ads have its own stamp of humour, strong local culture, and the characters represent real India. In Fevicol’s typical entertaining manner, the film shows the superior waterproofing capability of Fevicol Marine.”

This isn’t the brand’s first ad film for Fevicol Marine. A similar Kolkata-themed commercial also managed to underscore the product’s effectiveness through an equally entertaining storyline. “Most consumers cannot differentiate on a wood adhesive’s performance and technology. The idea was to present the differentiation in an easy and humorous manner,” says Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy & Mather. While you marvel at the comical tone of the commercial, you can’t help but agree with the voiceover that goes ‘Fevicol Marine nahi lagaya toh kya marine lagaya’.