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People

The Same Family, Once Again

SEN & SAHNI: Creative family

Fried fish, once again,'' isn't something you'd expect to be a memorable ad-line, but thanks to the Electrolux ad featuring a man, his father, daughter, and wife transferring stuff from their old refrigerator to a newly-arrived Electrolux in the middle of a power blackout-sounds complex in print; is fairly believable on the telly-the story of the lipid caramelised Pampus Argenteus (that's the scientific name for fried fish) is being played and replayed on television screens across the country. More interesting than the fish itself, is the family-a creation of Saumya Sen, Creative Director, and Sudhir Sahni, Vice-President, Client Servicing, Ogilvy & Mather, Delhi-which appears in a series of four ads. The commercials themselves have the unmistakable touch of the Pandey brothers, Piyush, who's Ranjan Kapur's number two at O&M, and Prasoon, an independent film-maker. ''I am not sure if it's a first, but I haven't come across a campaign that uses the same characters across four different ads,'' says Sen. ''The family we created had to be extremely lovable, with a certain degree of affluence to reflect the aspirations of our target audience,'' adds Sahni. The situations may be believable-the protagonist's boss getting himself a new car and passing on his own car after repainting it to the former, the father refusing to go for a morning walk citing pollution as an excuse, and an argument between father and son over whose wife cooks best (no surprises, the winner ends up being the brand's microwave)-but if there's one thing missing in the ad it is the mother-in-law. Maybe we just have to wait for the next ad in the series.

Raiders Of The Lost Op

ARUN BAJORIA: Loser, both ways

Jute-baron Arun Kumar Bajoria has done it several times; Radhakishan and Gopikishan Damani were doing it for the first time, but both the vet and the rookies are now caught in a cleft. The company Law Board (CLB for short) has just found Bajoria guilty of violating the takeover code during his aborted bid for Bombay Dyeing. Worse, the 14.9 per cent stake he picked up at an average of Rs 72 has halved in value: the stock is now quoting at Rs 39. The Damanis may be a tad luckier. Their investment hasn't depreciated, but with BAT, and ITC subsidiary Russel Credit entering the fray, and the courts unwilling to extend the duration of their open offer, the brothers have ended up with a 24 per cent stake, less than what it takes to block a special resolution-a classic bone in the throat.

Head Of The Class

SHANTI EKAMBARAM:
It's a team effort

If the lady in the picture looks ready to take on the world, that's because the investment bank she heads, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company had just been adjudged the best i-bank in India by Finance Asia magazine. The company's reports card for 2000-01 does look impressive: 18 M&A deals aggregating Rs 5800 crore (including the $225 million Hutchison acquisition of Fascel and Usha Martin), Rs 15,400 crore of debt raised, and the largest IPO of the year, Hughes Tele.com's $191 million issue. Shanti Ekambaram, a fitness freak with a green thumb-she dabbles in vegetable farming-is quick to pass on credit to her team. ''You can have the best idea, but you can't deliver without a good team,'' says the chartered accountant who has spent the last 10 years at Kotak, and heads a team of 40. Take a bow, Shanti.

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