It comes as a mild shock to me when I realise that I have worked in advertising for nearly three decades. Time seems to have flown. The feeling is a tad disorienting. As if I have lived my existence in a YouTube video speeded up by 3X. A few memories stand out though. Memories about the friendships I have made and a few highs and lows I have experienced along the way. The best memories, however, are about the work I have done while on this roller coaster ride. Work that has positively impacted the fortunes of several brands. And sometimes work that has shaped popular culture. 

None more so than the campaign for Imperial Blue Whisky. 

I remember starting work on the brand in 2008 or thereabouts. While the positioning of ‘Men Will Be Men’ had already been decided, the brand was in a nascent stage and not much above-the-line communication had been done. I was fortunate to come in at this stage. As the brand grew I got the opportunity to make a large number of films. I remember the excitement when I shot my first batch of three Imperial Blue films with the brilliant Vinil Mathew. While we were working on the post-production of the films Vinil called me up early in the morning one day and asked me to write a ‘ghazal’ to feature as a soundtrack. Having no clue how to write a ghazal I had to do a Google search and figure out the metre and discipline of the ghazal form. Finally, I wrote a verse and sent it to Vinil. 

He recorded the first two lines of the ghazal. Amar Mangrulkar was the music director and Mangal Mishra sang the song. 

Little did I know the impact that the piece of music would have on people. 

The internet went berserk with people asking each other where they could find the ‘full’ Imperial Blue ghazal. People recorded their versions of the ghazal and uploaded them on various digital platforms. Under public pressure, I finally wrote the entire ghazal and recorded it with Amar again. During the recording, Mangal Mishra told me that the two lines he had sung for Imperial Blue had given him more fame and work than anything else he had done so far. 

The films themselves became advertising classics. Year after year we would make a fresh batch of films which would take the sales and popularity of the Whisky brand higher and higher. The films were directed by the who’s who of the ad film fraternity. Prasoon Pandey, Vinil Mathew, Rajesh Krishnan, and Koushik Sarkar were all involved in the creation of the films over the years. 

However, the creation of Imperial Blue films was not limited to these stalwarts. 

Consumers themselves started making their versions of Imperial Blue films complete with end ghazal and pack shot! Never have I seen so much love for a brand. Even today the internet is awash with videos of compilations of people’s favourite Imperial Blue films. 

Times changed though. And as the feminist and ‘woke’ movements gathered steam it became more and more challenging to come up with scripts that wouldn’t offend one section of society or another. The beauty of the best Imperial Blue films is that they magnify a male insight that lay just beneath the surface. These were light-hearted films that one would see, chuckle and say ‘I didn’t think of it but yes, men do behave like this!’ This is not easy to do. We used to reject hundreds of scripts before approving the ones that did get made. And with these new woke guidelines in place, it has become practically impossible to write truly insightful and entertaining Imperial Blue films. I do not envy the teams currently working on the brand. 

Just the other day I read that Pernod Ricard is considering the sale of the brand Imperial Blue. I cannot deny feeling a sense of loss. 

But the memories of the joy the brand gave me and millions of consumers will always remain.

The author is currently working as an independent creative. While he worked on the Imperial Blue brand for Ogilvy, he was most recently the chief creative officer and managing director at Publicis India.