Brand Recall

While on one side, one tends to agree with Mr. Powell on his comment on Agencyfaqs! that ‘Creativity’ in Indian advertising has a long way to go, one also needs to understand the state in which the industry is in.

Circa 1980 AD - India’s biggest claim to fame was being awarded the chance to host Asian Games in 1982. With the Bombay Group firmly in place, the consumer had nothing but a Bajaj Scooter, an Ambassador or Premier Padmini Car or an extremely expensive Indian airlines for transport. Was there much of a choice and was there much of a challenge for the average Indian advertising creative resource to stretch him (or her)self beyond this? Maybe (not)! No wonder, we were blissfully unaware of one-shows and Cannes. With a ‘conservative’ Indian society firmly in place, the boldest experiment in the Indian industry was maybe a Liril girl! Did we have even half a chance? Doubtful.

Circa 1991 AD - Late Mr. Saddam Hussein decides to invade Iraq and guess what happens at home? A rude shock with foreign reserves dipping to abyssmal lows. Enter the economic reforms era! The country welcomes a whole lot of investments from all over the globe with arms wide open and the canvas becomes larger for the average Indian businessman. He does not have much of a choice but to improve quality, provide choice and the consumer is well entrenched on his way to become KING! But is he still the king? Maybe not, but (s)he started enjoying a lot of choice with varied products / services coming their way! The average Indian advertiser had to stretch himself. Not much of a choice. But more one-show books came out the of the shelf for reference & inspiration!?! And we had better advertising coming out trying to woo the man on the road for a share of his pocket.

Circa 2000 AD - Y2K - America’s personal gift to the Indian economy filled with analytical brains. A lot of Indian’s headed west (I can remember the song popularised by Pet Shop Boys) posted at large organisations to ’save’ their data. Result? A whole host of NRIs who made tonnes of money, sending them back to their folks for them to enjoy lives better. We are now left with more choice and guess what? More money to buy things!!! The average Indian Creative Guy finds more money in the consumer’s pocket and is greedy (not the greedy, greedy) to get the larger share of the pie! He is pushed more to do better and we get nominations at big shows. India has just taken its toddler steps in the world advertising map. What does this lead to? Indian advertising agencies find VC & PE investors. Hitherto unheard of in the world of advertising. Consolidation happens! Advertising industry seems to have made its mark. With indelible ink!!

Current day - We have Indian professionals being called over to judge shows. We have Indian ads winning awards. We have Indian ads in one-show books. We have the Times group selling CDs of imported advertising to Indian professionals. Man, we have come a long way. But has the average Indian psyche changed? Not much. India is still as diversified as ever and still is conservative in its own way. But the average Indian Creative Guy has certainly stretched himself beyond their time or limits with loads of distance to cross. What the west achieved in 50 years has been achieved by India in maybe 10. I guess we are in the right direction. Certainly the road ahead looks long enough, but we are running faster!