But we wanted more dope; and dope was what we got when we found that it was J Walter Thompson that was the agency credited to have
coordinated with Bobby Kooka to create the Maharaja! We scurried out Ivan Arthur, former National Creative Director, JWT and current Vice Chairman, Aicar, who gave some eye-openers, “One day, simply looking for an interesting letterhead, Bobby Kooka phoned the agency and promptly received a number of designs, all done by this talented young JWT Art Director named Umesh Rao. One of these designs had a neat line-drawing of some Maharaja bowing in a gracious welcome. Kooka liked it a lot and the letterhead was finalised.”
But remaining confined to the letterheads wasn’t supposed to be the fate of our prince, there was more to come Initially introduced merely to ornament the Air India letterhead. As Arthur reveals, “Sometime later, the ever-inventive mind of Bobby Kooka asked why that cute little drawing could not step out of the letterhead and be used in the advertising as an add-on. ‘But of course, it could’, said the agency and the next advertisement had the little bowing Maharaja signing off above the Air-India International logo. (The airline was called Air-India International then). Kooka was pleased. And the Maharaja continued to sign off on some of Air-India International’s advertisements, till on another inventive day, Kooka asked why the little fellow could not grow bigger and actually take centerstage? He did. And so was born the Maharaja as mascot.”
Soon the Maharaja won many hearts and became one of the most important members of the Air India family. And since then, he was seen in all their advertisement campaigns; and for over sixty years, he continued to remain Air-India’s surrogate salesman, selling tickets not by hawking but by being charming. Rohit Manchanda, CEO, Planman Life, comments to 4Ps B&M, “The Maharaja usage was the first example of non-advertising icons used as advertising, in the Indian ad industry. A breakthrough!”
Could anyone have then imagined that this royal ad-king would subsequently gel not only with Indians, but most brilliantly with foreigners as well? Ergo, it seems more surprising that such an emblazoned iconic creation’s dominance has now ended, and that too because of competition. Bharghav diplomatically explains, “No doubt, Air India has been a conservative advertiser in the past; but now, as the environment has changed to become much more competitive... the need of the hour is to move on...”
coordinated with Bobby Kooka to create the Maharaja! We scurried out Ivan Arthur, former National Creative Director, JWT and current Vice Chairman, Aicar, who gave some eye-openers, “One day, simply looking for an interesting letterhead, Bobby Kooka phoned the agency and promptly received a number of designs, all done by this talented young JWT Art Director named Umesh Rao. One of these designs had a neat line-drawing of some Maharaja bowing in a gracious welcome. Kooka liked it a lot and the letterhead was finalised.”But remaining confined to the letterheads wasn’t supposed to be the fate of our prince, there was more to come Initially introduced merely to ornament the Air India letterhead. As Arthur reveals, “Sometime later, the ever-inventive mind of Bobby Kooka asked why that cute little drawing could not step out of the letterhead and be used in the advertising as an add-on. ‘But of course, it could’, said the agency and the next advertisement had the little bowing Maharaja signing off above the Air-India International logo. (The airline was called Air-India International then). Kooka was pleased. And the Maharaja continued to sign off on some of Air-India International’s advertisements, till on another inventive day, Kooka asked why the little fellow could not grow bigger and actually take centerstage? He did. And so was born the Maharaja as mascot.”
Soon the Maharaja won many hearts and became one of the most important members of the Air India family. And since then, he was seen in all their advertisement campaigns; and for over sixty years, he continued to remain Air-India’s surrogate salesman, selling tickets not by hawking but by being charming. Rohit Manchanda, CEO, Planman Life, comments to 4Ps B&M, “The Maharaja usage was the first example of non-advertising icons used as advertising, in the Indian ad industry. A breakthrough!”
Could anyone have then imagined that this royal ad-king would subsequently gel not only with Indians, but most brilliantly with foreigners as well? Ergo, it seems more surprising that such an emblazoned iconic creation’s dominance has now ended, and that too because of competition. Bharghav diplomatically explains, “No doubt, Air India has been a conservative advertiser in the past; but now, as the environment has changed to become much more competitive... the need of the hour is to move on...”
