The acceptance of comic books in India has gone through a major change in last few years because of social networks and the new generation has been looking at alternative entertainment and careers.
My approach towards taking up assignments has changed over the period of time and I look for projects and collaborations where the product has a tangible value than a week long communication that fades away in Indian daylight.
This strategy of Pepsodent to extend Pappu and Pappa, their marketing and advertising campaign, to comic books and distribute along with the toothpaste have helped comic books in India reach a few lac houses, with a minimum circulation of 15lac units across the country. Arguably, the largest number of comic books ever distributed in India. Comic books will reach houses where they wont spend money to buy a comic book otherwise and contribute in the awareness of the medium.
The stories for the books were simple and were penned down for wide spread masses and had a lot of scope for making them visually stunning. This scope had a size limitation which was half of A5, for the offer to be cost efficient to the client. Most difficult of the process was to get shahrukh khan's character right and keep the comic bright, kitsch and appealing.
I am grateful to the entire team at Lowe, Zeth, Sushant, Shruti, Puneet, etc and ofcourse Kaustubh Kamat who helped me out with the process.
Ill share the work process in the next post as i have been asked a lot of times regarding the same.
GO BUY PEPSODENT GERMi-CHECk!
