Biscuits with Coffee

In response to my earlier post Hide & Seek – Aroma of Fresh Coffee a reader sent me an email enquiring if a coffee spray similar to the coffee spray used in the Hide & Seek Caffé Mocha press ad was available for personal use; my answer to this is that I have absolutely no idea, I have never come across such a product. Now coming to my post -- Biscuits with Coffee

Currently there are two coffee flavoured biscuit campaigns running on TV and they make very similar claims – both brands of biscuits have coffee in them and their ads suggest that these can be substituted for actual coffee. One campaign that of is Parle Hide & Seek Caffé Mocha and the other is Britannia Bourbon Cappuccino. TV commercials for both products feature a
young boy and a girl, but the similarities end here. The treatments of both TVCs are distinctly different. The two Parle Hide & Seek Caffé Mocha TVCs show the boy asking the girl if she would like to have coffee, but instead offers Parle Hide & Seek Caffé Mocha biscuits which she readily accepts. At the end they both are shown enjoying the biscuits. Both the commercials are well executed and get the message across – ‘A coffee she just can’t refuse…’

Now compare this to the Britannia Bourbon Cappuccino ad; here the girl invites the boy over for coffee on his request. He expects a pleasant coffee time with his girlfriend but disaster strikes; the girl disappears from the scene and instead her grandmother makes an appearance. The old lady asks him if he would like some coffee- cappuccino, instead of serving him coffee she offers him Britannia Bourbon Cappuccino biscuits. The boy tries to hide his disappointment with an artificial smile.

The most interesting and unique feature in the Britannia Bourbon Cappuccino ad is that nowhere is anyone shown enjoying eating the product. In fact the boy is utterly disappointed when he is served the Britannia Bourbon Cappuccino and it shows in his expression, he does not even enjoy eating it. In any food product advertisement people are always shown enjoying the taste but in the Britannia Bourbon Cappuccino commercial they did exactly the opposite by showing disappointment and yet conveyed the message effectively.  The ad superbly ends with the girl enjoying the moment with a naughty smile and expression which makes the ad enjoyable and memorable. Good script, good acting and good execution – this is surely one of my favourite ads.