Iconic Ads: Fevicol – Dum Laga Ke Haisha

The famous Fevicol logo was created by M. Swaminathan of Ogilvy (then Ogilvy, Benson and Mather) in the 70s based on the idea that it should be easy to remember and recall. Since then, the two elephants and Fevicol are inextricably intertwined.

Piyush Pandey had become Copy Chief – Indian Languages at Ogilvy. The lead creative team gave him a few brands. They gave it to him saying “Yeh le saaley, yeh bakwas hai.” And Piyush changed all that!

It was Piyush who worked on Fevicol’s first mass campaign. He was given the brand because he was fluent in Hindi. To work on Fevicol, it was a must that the copywriter needed to know Hindi well, not just translate English lines but think in Hindi!

In 1997, Piyush was asked to work on Fevitite (a sub-brand), his first assignment with Pidilite. He worked on a radio jingle and recorded it for presentation. He then shot a film called (and now famous) ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’.

When Piyush presented it to the Pidilite team, they rejected the creatives. Piyush was despondent.

The idea was too big for Fevitite! They instead asked him to reshoot it for the main brand – Fevicol. The Pidilite team did not want to waste a great idea!

Rajkumar Hirani was the main star in the film. He was Piyush’s friend and when Ogilvy did not have budgets, they went to him! He was trying to make his mark as a filmmaker then.

Piyush’s creativity had connected well with the non-urban target very well in a language they understood. This commercial started the enduring relationship between Pidilite and Ogilvy which spawned many great creatives.