Brand Saga: Revisiting Fevicol’s ‘Mazboot Jod Ka Tod Nahi’ success formula of six decades

You hear Fevicol whenever someone mentions ‘mazboot jod’ kyuki fevicol hai toh tootega kaise. The Fevicol advertising journey has been a testimonial to the brand’s commitment towards building everlasting bonds and connections.

Balvant Parekh and his brother Sushil Parekh had just turned traders and found ways to grow their business. In 1959, they gave them an opportunity to come up with synthetic and easy-to-use glue to replace the natural animal fat-based adhesives. And thus, the seeds for Fevicol were sowed under the banner of Pidilite Industries. Taking the #ThrowbackThursday vibes quite literally, we relook the iconic Fevicol advertising journey as we skim through its brand saga in the ‘fevicol’ style.

The Stepping Stones to Success

When the brand started initially, it faced stiff competition from- small-scale local manufacturers of white glue, and multinational brands like Movicol (currently discontinued) marketed their products through hardware stores and timber marts. Fevicol, rather, decided to approach carpenters directly. This direct marketing initiative was one of the most successful strategies employed by them.

The challenge for Pidilite was to market Fevicol in a way to carpenters that it becomes the ultimate choice over the natural adhesive, for it is the Carpenter who decides which adhesive to use.

Of Brilliant ‘taglines’ and ‘humor’-led advertising

In a video interview with Social Samosa, Bharat Puri, MD, Pidilite Industries Ltd shared that Fevicol’s journey is characterized by two things- the brand has always been about the unbreakable bond – the atoot rishta. Secondly, Fevicol has always been about innovation. It doesn’t matter if it's the communication or a set of products, it’s their policies of how they do things.

The insight was well amalgamated when the brand married humour and advertising to touch the right chord with its consumers which have soon turned into ‘Fevicol Fans’. The brand has given us impressive and celebratory taglines such as fevicol aise jod lagaye ache se acha naa tod paaye to Barson se Barson Tak’- the unbreakable bond has only grown younger with time.

Fevicol romanced newspapers like no other. It was the 80s and 90s when print was flourishing and all Pidilite had to do was reach masses through an out of the box communication. The company equally leveraged outdoor in its media mix to take the brand messaging ahead in desi way.

Puri commented that the Fevicol advertising journey had been a momentous one. It started as a small consumer brand that was seeking to replace animal glues with synthetic glue. It then went onto connect with carpenters; then the famous two elephants logo came into the picture. The first Haisha film came in, and then a whole set of iconic films followed.”

The Pandey Brothers – Piyush (then – Copy chief- Indian languages Ogilvy) and Prasoon of Corcoise films have been at the helm of iconic Fevicol ads, which turned out to be a concoction of several brainstorming sessions, deliberations, and idea discussions.

From Bob Cristo wrestling with a chair made of Fevicol, to a politician who is glued to his chair, to the hen that laid unbreakable eggs – every piece of communication reflected the efforts of Ogilvy & Mather and the brand’s rationale to introduce those ads through an effective medium.

Fevicol, from the beginning, has adopted unique and bold marketing ways. It is known for its innovative and quirky marketing and communications strategy. The brand engaged with the customers on multiple platforms to educate and create awareness. In 1997, Fevicol released its first TV ad – ‘Dum laga ke haisha’ featuring renowned filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani and that was just the beginning. While the initial stages of its advertising focused on the functional aspects, it later advanced to humorous real-life scenarios and contextual references. Some of Fevicol’s memorable and iconic ads include ‘Egg’, ‘Vagabond’, ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’, ‘Moochwali’, ‘Bus’ and ‘Train’ spots. Its consumer engagement initiatives such as Free store, Fevicol Room at Lalbaugcha Raja, Kumbh Mela activity, Fevicol Runners at Mumbai marathon have been memorable for their peculiar approach. 

Also Read: #SamosaTalks: Fevicol has become an adjective: Bharat Puri & Vivek Sharma

Whether it be the ‘pakde rehna’ or ‘Zor lagake haisha’ ads, we have always shared a hearty laugh whenever we wondered why the travelers did not fall off the bus or the iconic ‘egg’ commercial where the cook tried best to break it- only to hear ‘ye fevicol ka kamaal hai, tootega nahi’. The evergreen campaigns live in our heart and minds rent-free.

When Fevicol turned 60

In 2019, Fevicol touted as one of Asia’s most trusted adhesives brands, celebrated its 60 years of operations with the launch of a mega campaign that captured its bonding qualities. Conceptualized by Ogilvy, Pidilite’s creative agency partner for over three decades, TV film highlighted Fevicol’s journey over the years in its typical human and humorous fashion. The film showcased the strength of Fevicol while drawing parallels with the changing paradigms of Indian social and cultural scenario. 

The film takes the audience on a journey of multiple generations through a perspective of a sofa. The spot opens in the old era, where we see a newly wedded couple heading home with a gifted sofa. As the story progresses, we see the sofa being handed over from one family to another, one generation to another. The same is complimented through a peppy background score in the Bihari dialect. It showcases how the sofa has witnessed various events through its lifetime, yet it’s going strong. The closing visuals take us through the sofa's making and how Fevicol is integral to making any furniture.

The ad film was the longest in the history of Fevicol advertising journey ever and aired on leading GECs, digital platforms,  supported by radio and cinema.

Cut to 2020

As the lockdown began to ease in several parts of the country gradually, Fevicol released a video message regarding the unlock, petitioning people to be more careful as they stepped out. The points of awareness include wearing a mask in public spades and maintaining a social distance of 2 meters.

Voiced by Piyush Pandey, the video message by Fevicol talked about the precautions people must take as though the battlefield and war remain the same; the strategy must change.

In recent times, to remind consumers about the mandatory social distancing guidelines, Fevicol has launched a new social experiment campaign helmed through a mall activation.

Conceptualized in association with Schbang, Fevicol executed the campaign at a mall's food court to highlight the need for social distancing as COVID-19 cases are still on the rise. The experiment's premise was based on fixing chairs to tables at the food court of a mall with labels indicating the tables that need to be left empty due to social distancing.

Creating ‘unbreakable bonds’ the digital way

Fevicol uses topical and quirky creatives on digital media, including platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, to further enhance its iconic imagery on creative advertisements among younger audiences. Be it an episode of Game of Thrones or a trending topic like the #10YearsChallenge, the brand adapts the ‘Mazboot jod’ proposition in the context of these topics to make it interesting for the audience. 

And so, Fevicol started its digital journey in 2016 through entering social media platforms. Being a brand that has a history of iconic ads, Fevicol followed the same philosophy on digital, i.e. create content which is quirky, innovative, and relatable and most importantly connects with the audience on that platform.  

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Talking about this collaboration, Akshay Gurnani, CEO, Schbang, said, “When we began our digital journey with Fevicol back in 2017, we knew we had a very illustrious legacy to carry forward, which we took up as an exciting challenge. It’s rewarding when we hear people in the industry say, ‘Oh, you are the guys behind the Fevicol creatives!’ because it’s a testament to the passion with which we approach the brand, and we hope to carry on this #MazbootJod for a long time.”

The only brief to the agency was – ‘Go Crazy’. And the legacy of ‘Mazboot Jod’ continued happily ever after…

To have a detailed look at the Fevicol advertising journey, deep dive into it's brand saga here.