Iconic Ads: Maggi Sauces – It’s Different

According to Nestle- “Maggi Hot & Sweet is a unique blend of sweet and chilli and it has always appealed to the palates of the masses, irrespective of age or gender.

It was launched in the mid-1980s. When it was launched, the market was split 80:20 between ketchup and chilli sauce. Maggi’s Hot and Sweet entered to cater to both the segments and was a great success.

The idea for the famous Javed Jaffrey and Pankaj Kapur campaign in 1989 came from a 21-year-old, bright-eyed copy-trainee Swati Bhattacharya of HTA. Denis Joseph helped craft it further. It was based on two comic characters in the BBC’s Smith and Jones series. The characters argued over the sauce, made stupid jokes and in the process created the distinction between the brand and others. It also had a Mad Magazine’s Don Martin like influence in it.

Denis sensed it needed a lunatic sense of humour and so he roped in Prahlad Kakkar who in turn got Javed Jaffrey to co-write. Each script/ film was crafted by the 4 of them together.

‘It’s different’ helped the brand stand out in the category and establish brand recall. Jaffrey played the main protagonist, has always taken on the character of a smuggler or an underworld don, and the tone of the dialogue has always been quirky and humorous.

The campaign itself was “it’s different”. The kind of humour appealed to housewives but brands were not brave enough to so, till Maggi did it.

Jaffrey continued to work on other TVCs for around 20 years!