They say that history repeats itself. It’s meant to help us learn from our past. But can we use the past as a visible, obvious reference to say something about the present? In advertising, that’s a pretty entertaining template!
The basic narrative device goes like this: something, or some action, is being done across time, in historical situations and periods that the audience can recognize easily. And hence, the current period’s similar action is presented as some kind of a denouement.
The simplest, and most elegant, demonstration of this in business is using the number of years in existence as a way to showcase mastery and experience, and hence credibility. The expression usually goes, “Name of the brand. Since <year>”
Here’s a slightly more detailed expression of the same thought.
Margo’s print ad showcases women using the soap across 4 different time periods to denote that the brand is 100+ years old, and hence is really trusted! The 4 models used for each period are different, but they are made to dress in those respective period’s clothing and style.
How would this look in TV/video ads? Infinitely more entertaining!
Consider this ad (from June 2021), aptly titled, ‘Euphemisms’, for Gold Bond, a ‘soothing powder for the balls’ as they call it. It is by the independent agency Terri & Sandy.
The same 2 characters are having a conversation about ‘itchy balls’ across various points in history, and finding more interesting, indirect ways to refer to the problem. The final callout is about the future… a future with the promise of a solution to the problem. What the narrative eschews is the Margo-style point – Gold Bond was launched in 1908! But then, to portray the age of the product to infuse credibility, the historical references need to start from the early 1910s – this one aims in a different narrative direction with the historical references.
Then, take a look at this Polish ad from August 2021, for a French online gambling brand called Betclic, by the agency 180heartbeats + JUNG v MATT, Poland.
This one goes even behind in time compared to the Gold Bond ad – starts with the stone age (and then comes to the Roman era, the starting point of the Gold Bond ad)! The idea is similar, though – showcase how betting happened across different periods, for various events and happenings. And once again, the same 2 friends are represented across history, just like the Gold Bond ad.
Let’s look at another August 2021 ad, this time for TikTok in the UK, by the agency Mother (London).
The idea is the same – they use British TV presenter-duo, Ant & Dec (Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly) across time, starting with the stone age, and showcase what ‘entertainment’ was in each period. In the current times, it is TikTok… is the point well made.
And then this January 2022 ad for Heineken’s 0.0 non-alcoholic beverage/beer, by the agency Publicis Milan.
Unlike the previous ads, it starts with the current times where a man, with a non-alcoholic beverage, is wondering if he’d be welcomed in a ‘cheers’ filled with people holding alcoholic beverages. And then, the narrative shifts back in time, across ages, where the person holding the non-alcoholic beverage is shunned and ignored. Cut to the present again – Heineken’s 0.0 is that drink that makes even a non-alcoholic beverage holder join the cheers session with the others welcoming him. Because of the brand name, I suppose 🙂
This one’s different because the characters and people depicted in each time period are completely different, unlike the other ads above.
The latest entry into this club is the much-loved FTX ad that dropped during Super Bowl 2022. This was by the agency dentsuMB.
The ad featured Larry David across various periods in time. This narrative is perhaps the most evolved and purposeful compared to all the others above. The aim of the narrative is to elevate cryptocurrencies as the next-big-thing – as big as the wheel, the invention of the fork, the toilet, coffee, US’s declaration of independence, the electric bulb, the dishwasher, man on the moon, the walkman, and finally… crypto.
Larry plays his usual, abrasively skeptical self, dismissing all the ideas with an animated and dramatic flourish, adding to the entertainment value tremendously. And surprisingly, in the end, he dismisses crypto too – the brand ambassador roped by the brand actually pooh-poohs the brand’s product 🙂
And that’s where the narrative brilliance lies. It uses our knowledge about how all those other products and ideas fared and how important they are to humankind. So, even as Larry is dismissing crypto in the end, we line up crypto alongside the wheel and the walkman ourselves.
If advertising can use this template, can films be far behind? Of course not!
From what I recall, Dil Chahta Hai (2001) first used this in the ‘Woh Ladki Hai Kahaan’ song. Saif and Sonali Kulkarni see themselves as the protagonists of songs from various periods in time – the B&W era, the swinging 70s, the 80s, and back to the present 🙂
The next song is from Tamil cinema – ‘Bak Bak Mada Pura’, from the 2003 film Parthiban Kanavu. In the song, Srikanth and Sneha portray song picturizations from 3 specific periods – the B&W period, the MGR/Sivaji Ganesan period, and the Kamal Haasan 80s period. In the end, they are themselves, in the present.
The 2004 Marathi song, ‘Kunjawanatil Sunder Rani’ from the film Aga Bai Arechyaa features the couple, Sanjay Narvekar and Priyanka Yadav relive various period styles from Marathi cinema history even as the music too changes as per the times.
The 2008 Hindi film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi too had a time-traveling song – Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte. Unlike the other songs above, in this song, only Shah Rukh Khan remains the common character as he imitates Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, and Rishi Kapoor across various styles as per the period, while the leading ladies in each time period change.
The 2012 Kannada song, ‘Pyarge Agbitite’ from the film Govindaya Namaha. This one, given the fact that the leading man is a well-known comedian (Komal), is framed like a parody, and plays 4 different periods, though the one featuring Arab Sheikhs seems like an odd one out!
And finally, the 2020 film Indoo Ki Jawaani had the song ‘Dil Tera Tera’ that showcased the lead couple, Kiara Advani and Aditya Seal in 4 distinct periods in Hindi cinema – the Shammi Kapoor (Kashmir Ki Kali) era (1960s), a Rajesh Khanna’ish period (1970s), the disco era (1980s), and the Rangeela period (1990s).
Across both usage, whether in film songs or in advertising, the idea seems to be identical – the same protagonist(s) depicted across different periods in time. In advertising, the depictions make for entertaining viewing and lead to a point in service of the brand. In films, it is plain old entertainment!