In one of the very interesting rounds in the regional final of the south zone of Storyboard18’s Brand Blitz Quiz, quizmaster Sai Ganesh asked a question to participants that brought out the pop culture enthusiast and meme lovers in them. It was regarding an ad campaign inspired by a famous meme of American actor and stand-up comedian Jordan Peele profusely sweating in a scene from the comedy series Key and Peele. Of course, the ad being referred to is the Subway ad featuring chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand.
The ad sees the ever-present dilemma of awkward social interactions and not being able to decide what and how to order at Subway. Vishy Anand is seen sweating copiously, unable to speak a word while thinking of what to order. He gives up and runs for the door, only to hit the glass door and fall. The ad is truly hilarious.
One of the guest panelists Devaiah Bopanna, who worked on the campaign, mentioned that they as writers had so much creative liberty for this ad. Every time they included a self-indulging comedy scene in the script, they were worried that Vishy Anand would turn it down, not wanting to possibly ruin his public image. However, he agreed to literally everything they asked of him, said Bopanna.
Moreover, the other guest panelist, Saksham Jadon worked on the marketing for the campaign. They used meme marketing to revive an otherwise dead Twitter (X) account of Vishwanathan Anand. They used meme language and clever innuendo to promote the campaign before its launch.
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