Iconic Ad: Cadbury’s Diary Milk – Pappu Pass Ho Gaya

Passing the Class 12 exams after multiple tries calls for a great & sweet celebration..with Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.

This advertising broadens the essence of happiness to a moment of joy with the line ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye’. The essence had not changed, but communication changed to appeal to different audiences/occasions.

The task was to talk to the lower SECs in small towns and push the desired consumer behaviour. The youngsters there were infrequent consumers of chocolate. So Cadburys needed them to celebrate with Cadburys’ Dairy Milk.

The ‘Khush Hoon Khaamakhaa’ commercial, in 2003, wanted to “casualize consumption”, but the ‘worms’ problem took the centre stage soon after.

Pappu was a huge change from the earlier sophisticated Cadbury’s Dairy Milk commercials in many ways. Amitabh Bachchan did not play himself. However, Amitabh adds his values as an actor, his personality, appeal, magnetism & charisma. He, perhaps ups the ante for the brand.

There were a few firsts with this commercial: Disruptive humour (not slapstick but slightly refined), no warm music and visuals associated with Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.

The important task was to work on an engaging and easily identifiable story. The phrase, ‘Pappu Pass Ho Gaya, is similar to saying ‘Lottery Lag Gayi’, like winning a jackpot and hence tons of happiness.

The creative team included Shekhar Jha, Suresh Babu, Arshad Sardar and Abhijit Awasthi. The film was directed by Pradeep Sarkar.

For Pappu, over 35 auditions were conducted before actor Dhaval Bharbhaya was selected.

Pappu was used as it is endearing and commonly used. It became so famous that there were ‘Pappu Gutkha’, ‘Pappu Churan’ and ‘Pappu Puffs’. The front-page story headlined ‘Pappu pass ho Gaya in Mid-Day. A movie with the title ‘Pappu pass ho Gaya. The name Pappu is used liberally now, especially for some politicians.!

Abhijit Avasthi explained that the ‘underdog’ trick was the first part of success. He said, “People who emerge as winners, especially after a lot of struggles, are automatically endearing to the Indian audience. That worked well with ‘Pappu pass ho Gaya’ in the commercial. Also, as a phrase, it encapsulates struggle and finally winning, and it is catchy.”