The famous adman was happy. He had finally ticked his covid creative box. Phew! For a while there he thought he had missed the bus. For weeks he was groping while young kids were slam dunking. +

Things were 'going viral' while he was sitting on an intellectual fence. Asking questions that masked his creative paralysis. Is lockdown communication exploitative? Opportunistic? Superficial? Is it virtue signalling (a term he recently learnt)? +

His clients wanted a piece of the action. They were getting riled everytime a competitor's video popped in via WhatsApp. The famous adman asked them how a famous singer singing the words of a famous lyricist would make their brand famous. +

One of his clients said, 'I'll give you a week. There's this dude who swears he can make a viral video for me. My CEO is pissed that her daughter showed her a competing brand's film saying, 'Ma, so cool no?'. Unlock has started and we haven't done shit. "+

The famous adman knew that when the CMO's CEO's family and friends got into the act, it could be the beginning of the end. The Boss's driver humming another brand's jingle is as good as a termination notice. +

He told himself, you can do it. You have navigated many a patli gully. You have put up posters in the office loo and won awards for them. You have sold washing machines in a drought. You can do this. +

So he turned his confounding phone off. He didn't want to see another miserable montage of lockdown images. Another heart tugging appeal from a lozenge brand. Another baritone broadcast. He'd do this his way. With pen and paper. +

It took two days, several crumpled paper balls, and innumerable cups of poorly brewed coffee. But first principles always worked. And he had an idea. The client, bless his desperation, bought it. +

The famous adman set himself a simple rule to measure the success of his idea. If it came back to him via Whatsapp as a forward, he had won. And not from someone in the peer group asking 'one of yours?'. But from a regular Good Morning Uncle. +

His phone, which was now recommissioned, woke him up with its annoying alarm. Yes, even Mozart is annoying if he wakes you up. With blurry eyes, he opened WhatsApp. There were 5 chats with messages. +

His alumni group lefties and righties slugging it out. A shop saying it had reopened. His family wishing a cousin he'd never ever seen. An old friend sharing a 'brilllliant' video he stumbled on. It was his own covid creative. +

And the last one was his client saying, "It's gone viral. Boss's daughter also loves it." The famous adman smiled, and caught his smug reflection in the mirror that fed his vanity. "Still got it, Bro" he said to himself.

ANTHE.