Radiant Gym

So, I work for an advertising agency. Which, among other things, does ads and posters for a gym. One poster I worked on, ironically, is about running/exercising to lose weight. The poster’s below.

Radiant Gym - Clock

The idea, as most ideas do, happened in a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder. The gates of the sky opened up and beautiful angels in revealing clothes gently floated down to earth and handed me the idea, gift-wrapped and flower-strewn. And then I spent two hours worrying that the idea was so simple, so obvious, SOMEONE MUST HAVE DONE IT ALREADY. Turns out, no one did. At least, I haven’t seen any ads or posters of TV commercials with this idea. So, YAY for me. And for the art-director who worked on it. And in true Oscar style, I’d like to thank my creative director, my agency, my family, my second-cousin-twice-removed, my imaginary friend’s imaginary dog. And all.

Credits
Advertising Agency: Publicis Ambience Advertising, Chennai, India
Creative Director: Manoj Jacob
Copywriter: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan
Art Director: Gous Basha

Posted by Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan on March 13th, 2008 | Filed in Work |


48 Responses to “Radiant Gym”

  1. shoefiend Says:

    oi! wat about me?

  2. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Yes.
    I also would like to thank Shoefie, and her Manolos, Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, Twitter, flickr, LiveJournal and Sir Tim Berners Lee for the award.

  3. Andy Says:

    Hello. Sorry for seeming dim, but I don’t get it. Can you explain? I promise to bow away quietly if I realise how stupid I’ve been. :)
    Andy

  4. Shyam Says:

    Yennadhu idhu ? Is this all your advertising Oscar speech ? You can do better !

    K.Shyam
    PS: Seriously speaking, simple, obvious and nice ad though.

  5. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Hi Andy,

    The poster’s headline reads: ‘The more you run, the slimmer you get’ – a connection with the different hands of the clock. The Second hand runs (moves) the most and is the thinnest. The Minute hand moves less often, but more than the hour hand, and therefore is thinner than the latter. The one that moves the least/slowest is the thickest of the three.

    So, tell me. Does it work? Is the poster good?

    C

    P.S. Pliss to not bow away and all. Pliss to stay on and read us.

  6. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Shyam: haha. Yeah. My Oscar acceptance speech could do with a little writer’s touch.

    Thanks man.

  7. neha Says:

    Love it! :)

  8. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Thank you, thank you!

  9. Andy Says:

    thanks for the brief email chat. Sorry, I just didn’t connect ‘runing more’ to the hands. I wonder if ‘the faster you move’ would be clearer.

    nice idea.

    A

  10. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Andy: You’re welcome. Like I mentioned in the email, we spent hours over the exact line.

    Thanks for all the comments

  11. Blog Says:

    First class idea…chance-e illa..as us said a very simple idea..but the msg is so very clear..loved it

  12. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Thank you! Thank you!

  13. karthik Says:

    ah! it’s a clock!

    i first thought you are trying to represent a person who goes to this radiant gym and becomes really really thin!

  14. venkatramanan Says:

    Ravages!
    This proved to be the Tipping point in making me (Although it doesn’t bother if I do not comment!) to comment in your blog!
    Excellent man!

  15. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Karthik: Yup, a clock. Did you get the ad?

    Venkat: Thanks saar.

  16. Krishnan Says:

    Guess I’m a little too late. The people who commented before me have come up with a lot of adjectives. They’ve made my job tougher.

    I went through a website which sort of ‘defined’ how an ad copy should be. Here goes.

    “One that gets to the point. Tells it exactly as it is. Simple. At a glance. Easy to understand. Honest. No hyperbole. No hidden anything. Transparent. ”

    Considering these parameters, your copy scores a perfect ten. :)

  17. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Krishnan: Thank you saar.

  18. deepak Says:

    No one has said ‘timeless classic’ so let me be the first to say that.. with pun heavily intended ;-)

  19. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Rotfl. That’s a good one. Thanks mate

  20. nandhu Says:

    hi,

    i did not get the ad at first. i read the explanation and only then did i get it.

    but this is classy stuff from u, man. great!

    nandhu

  21. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Thanks Nandhu.
    If you had to read the explanation to get the ad, I don’t think the ad works.
    I did, and so did the rest of the agency, test it among a lot of other people and most got it in a few moments. Still…

    Thanks anyway.

  22. kulkarni Says:

    Now that was good….really
    I wish your blog was as good

  23. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Thanks saar.
    But, um, the second point. I shall try getting my blog up to the level, but what exactly is wrong with it?

  24. Karthi Says:

    May I ask Why 8:50 and not 10:10 ? I can see that at 10:10 event fat people are being content :-) (me included)

  25. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Just something we didn’t bother too much about, Karthi.

  26. Which Main? What Cross? Says:

    It’s a winner!
    Fantastic. I also gave it full marks on Adsoftheworld :)

  27. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Thanks muchly, saar.

  28. jillumadrasi Says:

    besh, besh…

    bagu besh..

  29. Shivasubramanian A Says:

    Amazing!!

    I too didn’t get it at once… but understood it once I read the explanation.

    I haven’t seen this ad anywhere though – seeing it for the first time.

    Gr8 work anyways!!

  30. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Jillumadrasi: Thank you! Thank you!

    Shivasubramanian: Thank you!

  31. Karthik Says:

    That was brilliant!!

  32. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Thanks da

  33. Andy Says:

    Chandu, I clicked the pic and it led me to http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/radiant_wellness_centre_clock. The comments section is whack.

  34. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Andy: Yup. The page will soon hit the Godwin limit.

  35. Guru Says:

    Good work .. I did not get it when i first saw it .. The explanation really helped ..

    Cheers

  36. Ramanujam Says:

    Kalakitenga Chandru!

    Unga arive arivu :)

  37. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Guru and Ramanujam: Thank you!

  38. Mockingword Says:

    Ooof, brilliant!

  39. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Thank you!

  40. Blogeswari Says:

    Nice.. the explanation in the comments’ section helped.

  41. Divya Says:

    This is amazing! How did I miss this! Lovely work. Yes, I was dumb too, but the explanation made it clear how such a simple idea can be so effective!

  42. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Blogeswari: Thank you! But if the explanation was required, perhaps the poster didn’t do its job?

    Divya: Thank you! Thank you.

  43. Mihir Says:

    m/ !

  44. Mihir Says:

    damn! ...intended message : (devil horns)

  45. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    :)

  46. gooddaysunshine Says:

    First time here…really loved the ad!! Great work!

  47. Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan Says:

    Thank you! Is the ad good enough to turn a first-timer into a repeat-offender?

  48. priya Says:

    A picture worth thousand words. To say everything without saying anything.
    Kudos!

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