Iconic Ads: Melody Chocolates – Melody Khao, Khud Jaan Jao

To a large extent, the confectionery market, especially at the lower end, is price driven and does not depend on types. For a rupee or two, the person (usually a kid), would like to know how many he would get not what he will get. So different types of confectionary at similar price points competed with each other.

One is constantly tempted to take a toffee, regardless of age. A wrapped toffee has always been one of our childhood cravings and favourites. When we were kids, we used to rush to the nearest store with a priceless Rs 1. We got in return a handful of chocolatey toffees. Those toffees were Melody. Since then, Melody has become a household name. The irresistible 2 in 1 toffee was loaded with chocolate on the inside and a layer of enticing caramel on the outside. Melody has been the same since then. And Melody has always been delicious and appealing.

However, the scenario in the 1980s was different. Cadbury had created a new category with Eclairs. And given its marketing muscle, the company had made a success of it. Moreover, the Cadbury name itself created a hint of acceptability. In a sense, it had created a new subcategory itself – a toffee with a caramel outer layer with gooey chocolate inside. Needless to say, Eclairs was a runaway hit. It was safe to say that Cadbury Eclairs owned that space.

Melody toffees had been launched by Parle. While the product was different, the basic premise was the same – caramel on the outside and chocolate inside. What helped with Melody, was the chocolate could be seen outside – looked like it was oozing from the centre!

Parle’s advertising agency at that time was Everest, which had the onerous task of differentiating Melody, making it look better, saying there was something extra (the extra chocolate) without saying extra and inducing trials. Not something a creative team would want to really work on!

Haresh Moorjani was leading the creative team. He had a germ of an idea which he shared with his team. The idea was to make accomplished people (in the kid’s eyes) like magicians, pilots, film stars etc. question how so much chocolate got into a toffee.

The effervescent copywriter Sulekha Bajpai was a part of Haresh’s team. She penned a few lines and Haresh felt that they had something good.

On deadline day, the creative team had gone to the Parle office to present the lines, but as is the won’t with many creative people, Sulekha kept revisiting those lines, just to better them.

While she was waiting at the reception still ruminating over various options for the lines, she hit a jackpot. She wrote the lines, “Melody ki Andar itni chocolate Kaise bhari batao…Melody khao khud jaan jao! “The jingle was “Melody hai chocolately..melody hai chocolatey”. There was a sense of balance, rhythm and rhyme.

An obviously delighted Haresh and Sulekha presented these lines which eventually became very famous!

Sanjeev Sharma of Palette Communications did the films.

The commercials invited the customers to try out Melody. It also served as a challenge and a declaration to customers that it does not get any more chocolatey than this. Who would not want chocolate at less than Rs 1?

It was marketed to both the rural and urban markets and given the large audience, television was the preferred media.

Recently the film Chichhore made the line famous again!

There still is a question on how Melody became so chocolatey!