The hook: what the first three seconds do
Imperial Blue wastes no time re-establishing its tone. The opening moments place a younger cast inside a lift and let the old promise of ‘Because, Men Will Be Men’ hang in the air before anyone over-explains. It is a recognition hook: if you know the platform, you are already grinning; if you don’t, the confined space still signals that a social trap is about to close.
The first three seconds do what a strong brand-film opening should: they put viewers inside an awkward everyday situation and make clear that someone is about to overcorrect.
The structure of the film
The film keeps its dramatic machinery small. A lift becomes the stage for a chivalry standoff, with Aaron Kaul, Kaveri Seth and Anant Joshi carrying the action as the younger cast. Women don’t stand on the sidelines; the source says they take an active role in the narrative.
The structure sticks to the brand’s familiar playbook:
- One confined location creates instant social pressure.
- Everyday male behaviour becomes the joke, not a lecture.
- The women in the scene are in on the gag, which keeps the humour from turning preachy.
The single-location discipline makes the film feel fast and repeatable, and it keeps the focus on timing rather than set pieces.
The idea and the brief behind it
The brief, as the release frames it, was to continue a proven platform without letting it feel like a museum piece. Imperial Blue wanted newer faces, a contemporary setting and the same sharp take on quirky male habits.
Ahmed Rahimtoola, CMO at Tilaknagar Industries, describes it as the first Imperial Blue Packaged Drinking Water campaign under the Tilaknagar banner. He says the newly appointed creative partners elevated the brand’s well-loved wit in a contemporary way while driving reach to a new generation of consumers.
Ishwindar Singh, senior vice president of marketing at Tilaknagar Industries, puts the challenge more colourfully: ‘Meninism are back, the lift is back and everyone is on the joke.’
Meninism are back, the lift is back and everyone is on the joke.
The film was created by 82.5 Grey, directed by Roopali Singhal and produced by DejaVu Films.
Where it is running
The release does not specify markets, formats or a media schedule. It introduces the work as the opening film under the Tilaknagar banner, with the campaign out now. That means the brand is reintroducing its platform before spelling out distribution, a common move when the creative idea is the headline.
Steal this: three moves for a smaller brand
You don’t need a legacy platform to use the same mechanics.
- Reuse your sharpest platform, not your old casting. Keep the tone and the tagline, change the faces and the setting.
- Confine the joke. A lift, a queue or a shared table forces better physical comedy and shorter edits.
- Keep everyone on the same side of the laugh. When women are active participants rather than punchlines, the humour ages better and travels further.
Watch the original: Imperial Blue on YouTube
Source: ETBrandEquity.com
