Page 67 - Seniors Today June2020

I passed with flying colours because I was
asked to start the very next day.
Your first job in my ways is one of the most
memorable events in your life and mine
certainly was. When I reached the office,
I was told that the agency had just won
the Dipy’s account and Vanraj Bhatia was
recording a jingle at Western Outdoor. They
had trusted me with the supervision of the
radio jingle because I was a musician. This
was exciting. A little later I found myself
at Western Outdoor, introducing myself to
Vanraj Bhatia. I was later to learn what an
illustrious musician he was.
Vanraj Bhatia
Vanraj had studied at the Royal Academy of
Music in London and the Paris Conservatory
after graduating from Elphinstone College
in Mumbai. In 1960, he was appointed
as Reader in Western musicology at the
University of Delhi. I immediately felt a
kinship with him because I myself had
studied Grade VIII pianoforte at the Royal
Schools of Music, London.
The jingle had already been composed. The
band was about to play. I still remember the
words of the jingle. Dipy dee, Dipy do, Dipy
dum dum; Dipy me, Dipy you, Dipy yum
yum yum. Very memorable. Paul McCartney
once said that if you can whistle a tune after
hearing it once it has to be a good tune. I
would find myself humming and whistling
the Dipy’s jingle. And then came the slug line
“Yippee its Dipy’s.”.
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #12 | JUNE 2020
Dipy_s tomato sauce with the cowboy mascot
I got back to the agency, thrilled to be
working on such an exciting campaign. The
mascot for the brand was a cowboy. Research
had shown that cowboys were very popular
especially in comics, the rage for young
people those days. Not to mention books by
Louis L’Amour.
And of course the Clint Eastwood films.
Remember For a Few Dollar’s more?
Dipy the Kid, as he was called (reminiscent
of Billy the Kid), was a lovable, fun kind
of guy. And he appeared on most of our
advertising. But the biggest draw was the
Dipys BEST bus which went gaily about
town with people’s eyes popping out
because they had never seen a BEST bus in
Mumbai so prettily painted. Needless to say,
the launch of the brand was a big hit. We
won Media Innovation of the Year for bus
designs.
Of course, to many of you cowboys may
seem as if they are from an era gone by.
I am not so sure. I think cowboys just
transformed themselves and changed
location from the Wild West to outer space.
What, after all, is Luke Skywalker but a
cowboy in outer space?
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