Recently, a prominent tweeter from Bombay tweeted about such ads being played during prime time (dinner time) on TV. It seems that the sleaze makers in this case had gone overboard and made it difficult for her to have a quiet dinner with her kids in front of TV.

Think of this. You watch TV with your children and this ad plays on TV.

And the resultant questions from the kids may not be a palatable discussion that follows.

Sex education is very unlike the Americas. We have human anatomy discussed in Standard VIII (unless it has changed recently). And schools are not strictly co-education yet. We don’t teach them what it means to reproduce (which partly explains our population burst). And the responsibility is completely vested with parents and is never approached as education. There is no formal, common system of making a child understand this. And we expose them to this:

Amrutanjan Roll-On balm ad by soumyadipc

One has virtually given up on the ‘Deo’ category where the only way to sell is by showing women running behind men in a very pied-piper-ish fashion. AXE started it and we have other brands doing the same. Many industry colleagues have different views about it. But Amrutanjan? Guys, I loved your last campaign based on ‘Funny videos’ where people fall during unexpected moments and ‘Be Ready’ was a fantastic tagline. A proposition to die for. You lose that for this? Mr. Shambu Prasad – I wish we were in touch after our DAV days. I have a few things to talk to you about the iconic brand that your forefathers created!

And Parachute! Whoa! Another iconic brand, which sold a commodity available at the nearest kirana store, branded it and virtually replaced the coconut oil tin cans with brilliant packaging (including the Re.1/- bubble pack available in pan shops) has gotten sleazy with their new product.

Well, there is a difference. The Amrutanjan TVC looks like it has been made like a B grade Boolywood film, while the Parachute TVC has obviously been given a ‘classy touch’. Almost soft porn-ish. Another great comparison would be Gramathu Virundhu by Paravai Muniyamma as against Nigella Lawson cooking up those delicious pastries and digging her chocolate stained dental combination into the awesomely soft lit cake with oodles of flowing chocolate. But hey! Porn is porn is porn.

And all this talk about sensuality is a vague attempt in evading the obvious. Impulse woman was sensuous. Singapore girl was sensuous. Liril girl was sensuous (and certainly bold), but I believe that we have somewhere crossed the thin line between ‘being sensual’ and ‘outright sleaze’.

I am no authority (yet), but I think AAAI can probably look at this seriously. I might be barely scratching the surface, but some ideas (or at least discussion starters) could be:

• A common ‘story board approval’ body by AAAI like the censor board. This can be debated till cows come home, but at least a starting point.
• A common forum where viewers can register their complaints for such campaigns to be quarantined to some restricted channels and not be allowed to be aired in GECs, news channels, kids channels etc.

Also, creative guys. Please get creative. It was fun when AXE did it. It is not when Wild Stone, Adiction and a whole host of others do the same. We also call it plagiarism. J

And marketers – Dudes! Seriously, you buy this S&*% from the creative agencies and put money behind it on media? I think it is just a lazy idea! A better brief to start with can be a good point to begin with.

I respect a condom company for coming up with this:

They are talking sex. But they are talking sensuality. Ain’t it? And I am bloody sure they sell well!

Q.E.D

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Classic conundrum! But fun topic.

The panelists were:

• Mr. Ravi Banka – CMD – Eggfirst Advertising and Design Pvt Ltd
• Mr. Raghu Bhat – Founder Director – Scarecrow Communications Ltd
• Ms. Mansi Trivedi – Associate Planning Director – Saatchi & Saatchi India
• Mr. Rizwan Khatri – Founder Consultant – Arkay’s Media Solutions
• Mr. Shashi Sinha – VP – Sales & Marketing – Laqshya Media
• Mr. Mukesh Anand – Principal Consultant – RK Swamy BBDO
• Mr. P K Anil Kumar – Senior Creative Director – McCann Erickson
• Yours Truly

The moderator was Mr. Prasen Agali – VP – Golbal Business Development – Greaves Cotton

I spent almost a week debating within myself if I have to go with the flow or instigate a debate. I guess being in front of students, it is better to start a discussion than be diplomatic or ‘correct’. So I finally decided to get a bit theoretical and stick to the topic in spirit. I made a PPT not because I believe in it, but because it helps me organize my thoughts rather than anything else.

Must admit that I fell in love with the campus. Awesome. Period.

The event started well with regular pleasantries, bouquets et al. Prof. Ashok K. Pundir (Associate Dean) and Prof. B M Ghodeswar (Prof. God as named by Mansi Trivedi) had kind words for the panel, the students and the institute.

Instead of getting to specifics on who spoke what, I would just like to share a few snippets from the event. It may not be exactly possible to share who said what since I wasn’t exactly taking notes, but was focusing on listening and sharing. Wherever possible, I have shared the names too.

• Raymond’s case study – A very lucid presentation on how strategy and creative worked together to re-create the magic that was the brand in a fairly crowded market and with awesome competition like Vimal, Reid & Taylor etc. Mukesh Anand also entertained the crowd by playing all the TV commercials to loud applause!
• Ravi had varied examples predominantly in the print & outdoor space on how creativity and strategy go hand-in-hand in making winning communication pieces
• Rizwan’s presentation argued that creative is more important especially when it comes to special situations (like in categories where the product is short lived). His examples on movies taking the highly creative platform to generate a fan base albeit for a short time, was very entertaining.
• Anil shared his thoughts extempore. I am pretty sure that his thought on comparing creatives with short skirts went well with the students. There was an uproar of laughter amongst the audience!
• Shashi Sinha was also extempore. An awesome speaker. His speaking style was fast enough to make it interesting, but slow enough for the students to comprehend, enjoy & savour each word. Lots to learn from the way he spoke. To have thoughts so organized in his mind to speak extempore this way is a great talent. He argued that creativity is the most important piece since the intended message would not reach if it is not creatively said.
• I had my presentation (which will be shared through slideshare shortly) arguing that it is the strategy which needs to be put in place first and the main point of argument was ‘Great Advertising is more important than Great Advertisement’.
• Very unfortunate that Mansi & Raghu couldn’t share their presentations owing to lack of time. But they made up well during the discussion!
• Raghu’s first visiting card (with the address being Coffee Day, Dadar / Barista, Shivaji Park) is etched in my mind forever. I hope I get the balls (pardon the language / slang) someday to take a plunge like that!
• Raghu quoting his experiences with clients on creative thoughts backed by strategy would certainly be a great learning experience for the kids
• Mansi’s original thinking is commendable. When the discussion veered towards Digital marketing, she summed up with the thought that every individual working on the brand 9including servicing, media, admin etc) must be aware of the digital platform and the campaign for it to be successful.
• The question hour (?) had impressive challenges. One question was about conflicts between strategy (planning) & creative. While Rizwan argued about the maturity with which agency professionals handle it, Mansi & I felt that a conflict is necessary for improvements and great ideas to flow.
• Another question was on NITIE’s brand building efforts. We all were of the view that NITIE is famous enough that all seats are filled and the students get placed before day 3 of placements. Also, every touch point of the alumni is a brand moment of truth. Mansi argued that they need to focus on how they need to harness thought leadership to create a sustained brand for NITIE.

In all, a very enjoyable session. Would love to interact more with the students. It keeps us close to academia, fresh thoughts from students and helps us be on our toes always. Maybe one of these students might rise like fire in the Marketing and advertising world. Arms wide open. Welcome my friends!!!

Thanks are in order to Prof. Ashok K Pundir, Associate Dean (Placement), Prof B M Ghodeswar, Dean Academics, Vijay Baweja & Shruti Sharma who coordinated with me and the many other students whose names are not mentioned here.

Thanks to Mr. Prasen Agali for moderating the panel. Some great questions which initiated further discussions and arguments and hence the learning!

Thanks to all the fellow panelists. Fun engaging with each one of you!

Update: Have added the presentation in slideshare. You can download it from here.

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How do you evaluate a creative piece that comes to your table?

It has been a learning experience for me to get on to the other side of the table and here are a few tips in gauging the creative your advertising partner brings to the table.

Right Brain elements

1. Fundamental rule: View it like your customer. What is your first reaction when you see it? Remember the customer is lazy. He may not read your ad fully. He may not even notice it for all you care. So is the layout in front of you making the job easy for your reader / viewer / listener?
   Easier said than done, but it is important for you to step into the shoes of your customer and understand the communication from his / her perspective. And do not give yourself more than 5 seconds to react / respond. It is because your customer may not give more than that kind of time! If the layout / creative is giving you a desired response from within you within that time-frame, then continue looking at the creative. Else, I believe that you have the liberty to reject it.
2. Follow your gut: Sometimes, your gut would be your best ally. Purely logical approach to a creative may not just work always. If your gut says that the creative would do the trick (despite you taking more time to get convinced), it is still better to go with it. Because many times, the best of answers to the most complex problem is just not logical.

Left Brain elements

If the layout passes muster on the above two parameters, you are at liberty to read on and screw it up completely by looking at the logical elements. Most often, a great creative goes through the logical side of life and gets completely changed and in the process loses its charm. You would do great if you do not change the creative in entirety in the name of logic, but ensure that you are within the law of the land .

Here are some tips to check (and cross check) before going ahead!

1. Brief to creative
   Check your brief to the creative and confirm if the creative solves the purpose. Ensure that the creative is doing its intended job. Many times, it is required of the agency to go beyond the brief (if they understand your category) and deliver more than what the brief states. That is what we call ‘value addition’. But it is important to ensure that the creative does the job it is required to. I recently bumped into a media firm’s advertisement in a magazine. It shows a cake cut into six pieces with qualities like ‘ROI driver, Passionate Team, Media Neutral etc., written on each piece. The creative has done the job (technically) of communicating the various qualities of the agency, but does it arrest you and leave you with a lasting impression? Questionable!
2. Is the creative the brief itself?
   Many times, in the name of sticking to the brief, the agency may come back with the brief as the creative. I have in the past seen creatives where even the words used in the brief were included. This may just not solve the purpose. Almost all LIC ads which needs to show two benefits from a plan will feature a pair of cute looking twin sisters or a man showing a ‘V’. OBVIOUS! The brief was ‘twin benefits’ and the agency was lazy enough to show a pair of twins or two fingers.
3. What is the take away?
   Check what the take away of the creative is. What does it leave you with? What is the message that you get out of the creative. If the take away is desirable, then we have a winner. If it isn’t, you need to reconsider the brief, the approach or the creative itself.
4. Is it stating the obvious?
   No point in doing this either. If the message that the creative leaves, is as obvious as ‘A for Apple’, then the creative execution must be really great. Else, it is better to reconsider. For instance, almost all Fevicol creatives leave you with the message ‘Fevicol sticks’. Something as basic as that gets noticed always purely because the creative execution is awesome.
5. Is it logically and / or factually correct?
   Ensure that the creative is logically and / or factually correct. It is very possible that you may let the agency take creative liberty to showcase your product, but so long as it is not over the top. This is a very nebulous area and the parameters are not the same for all product / service categories. To show a white patch on your outfit where the Tide pack zooms past is creative liberty. Although it is not logically or factually correct.
6. Regulars
   I am sure there would be a set of regular elements that must be a part of any creative. The logo, pack shot, brand name, brand guidelines, color scheme etc. Check them four times over. It is worth it!

Well, these were some points that came to my mind while this post was being conceived. I am sure there are many more tips that can be used in evaluating a creative. Would be great if they are shared on this platform!

Happy evaluating!

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“The account planner is that member of the agency’s team who is the expert, through background, training, experience, and attitudes, at working with information and getting it used – not just marketing research but all the information available to help solve a client’s advertising problems.” – Stanley Pollitt

To put it simply, planners need to study the market, the product category and the consumer and translate it as insights / briefs to the creative and the media teams to arrive at solutions that will achieve the marketing and advertising objectives.

Typically, it is the account planners’ job to write the creative and the media brief documents (which will be discussed in a latter section). The brief must contain the marketing and advertising objective, the proposed media used, the key consumer insight, key pointers from any research undertaken and finally the take-away that the communication should leave the consumer with.

Account planners must have the necessary skills and attitude to organize information about the consumer and the brand. The data can be derived from primary or secondary research, discussions with the client etc. This helps in the brand arriving at a proper positioning statement. The planner must also be involved in the creative development. This helps in meeting two objectives. First, to be convinced about the message, the take-away from the creative piece arrived at. This includes analyzing the creative from a consumer’s point of view. And second, to be in a position to convince the client about the creative produced by the agency.

Most account planning departments are also responsible for tracking the advertising campaigns taken up for a brand. The tracking of a campaign’s performance is by employing follow-up research with consumers and coordinate tweaking of the creative message (if necessary).

What is the planning process? Well, have tried to make this as a small diagram to ensure that this is understood easily.

In the Indian Advertising industry, you tend to always find the planner having ‘servicing’ executives reporting into them. The concepts of marketing, branding, research and case studies learnt during the B-school days get to be used here. However, a good part of the theory and life in real may be very different. Hence, on-the-feet thinking, quick response time etc, are key requirements of a professional playing this role. Though this job may sound ‘research intensive’, one would tend to encounter a lot of thinking and finding solutions the creative way.

This same process is also applicable for decision making on the media selection. Today, with the innovations in media including Outdoor and digital media and the convergence of different media vehicles, it is important that the above process is followed for media planning as well. All media agencies have ‘planning’ divisions which help in identifying the correct vehicles and the frequency to achieve the advertising and marketing objectives.

In subsequent posts, I will try to add examples from my experiences on each of these functions.

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