Tunga Balla Torava

"but inside ....we are all tigers.


That is how the MTv ad for the Xbox 360 ends. Totally out of this world, this ad is weird. When i first saw it, and did not see any product coming, i wondered if it was a MTv promo or something. But then it came in the end. Did some googling and found that the creative director was Cyrus Oshidar of MTv. Also found a lot of postings by firangs who couldn't make head and tail of it.

So here are some facts:
a) there is no game called Porok. It is purely a fictional game.
b) the language used is just a mixture of 3-4 languages. I could make out mallu and tamil words in it. I am sure the other words are from kannada and telugu.
c) it was shot in the middle of mumbai and not in a village.

Advertisements have to target a focus group. What works in cities, may not work in villages. What works for teenagers, may not work for middle ageds. And so on. So let me ask you who could be the focus of this ad? Who might the people who might buy the xbox?

Games in india are still played on PCs. The personal computer has become ubiquitous in cities. You could play for a hour in a cyber cafe for Rs.10. Highly affordable. My guess is 99% of serious gamers in india use a PC. To me they look like a good market. Very computer savvy. Having high paying jobs in IT. And they would already be aware of the XBox, even before seeing the ad. The ad is not informing them about anything. It's just selling them the attitude. Every ad doesn't have to "sell" the product. The point that it needs "selling" may make a bad impression.
And here this ad outclasses many others.