The Heart Stuff!
Indian Creativity in Advertising
Sushil Bahl
Faculty, Marketing area, Nirma Institute of Management
Nirma University
Advertising as defined by Stephen Leacock, is a science and art of
arresting the human intelligence and emotions long enough to get
money from it (profit in marketing).
Advertising has a dual role.
It
is sometime publicity (editorial and free) that has no commercial
angle. This is publicity as we practice to inform people of dangers
of health, the precautions to take to avoid them, how to plan
families, to save and invest for your and the national good, and the
more we do this the better we shall be. The second aspect of
advertising is what we in this audience are directly concerned with,
namely commercial advertising (advertising for mind share and market
share and profit and growth). Advertising which is a must now in
business. As some one described that business without advertising is
like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but
nobody else does. Therefore, you have to talk of your wares
(products and services) and convince the buyer (target group) that
your soap washes whiter than any other soap (RIN), and that
centuries are scored after shaving with your shave cream. (Kapil’s
line “Palmolive da jawab nai!”). And other such campaigns so that
consumers buy and use the product. In Persian this is called “jungle
zargari” – the fight between goldsmiths who all claim that their
pure gold is purer than the pure gold of others!
Today, it is generally believed, nothing can be sold unless it is
advertised. Photographs of models modeling jeans and outfits are
everywhere. Those jeans look good on the models, but not always so
on others not so generously endowed by nature. Ads appear in
newspapers, magazines, TV and even lamp-posts and walls. We are told
of the name of street or the way to the airport or hospital with
advertising signposts. It seems nothing from a pencil (Camlin) to a
jet plane (the Concorde aircraft) can be sold without advertising.
Those who buy jet planes make their own inquiries, but people like
us only read the ads.
There is no limit to the art of advertising.
One of
the most popular advertising slogan has always been “Try it, you
will like it.” (Shombit Sengupta has the slogan “Eat healthy and
think better” for Britannia) These must have been the very words
with witch Eve offered the apple to Adam (the shine on it possibly
being the 5th P -- packaging). Advertising could then
well claim to be the world’s oldest profession. It is certainly a
hoary one!
Now let me coming down to the theme of my article. Advertising in
its perspective, form and shape i.e. creativity, especially
in India, in comparison with the West where advertising originated (
with J. Walter Thompson and Rosser Reeves).
David Ogilvy – icon of modern creativity
When David Ogilvy started his career, some 65 years ago, it seems,
his first job was to check ads in the Indian newspapers. All he
would do was make sure that the ads appeared, and measure them for
the shrinkage! (Mats for blocks for reproduction versus positives
and computer image roller plates today). He could not read them as
they were translated in Indian languages. He was perplexed why an ad
agency in London was creating campaigns to appear in Indian
newspapers?
Today times have changed. The same David Ogilvy, today, as Chairman
of Ogilvy & Mather, once stated he had offered a prize of $10,000 to
the O&M office that created the most brilliant ad campaign in their
worldwide network. Which office won the prize do you suppose? New
York, Chicago, London Paris?? None of these! The prize went to the
Bangkok office! The tortoise had beaten the Hares. Not surprisingly.
The quality of advertising in India has improved leaps and bounds.
Advertising agencies are now creating campaigns that run in the
Western world. Indian advertising campaigns as you know are now
entered in the Cannes and Clio awards, and have begun winning these
awards. (Pyush Pande – the Cannes lion!).
In
this context, advertising is not about products and services. It is
not about acquiring new clients or merchandising at retail outlets.
All that is certainly the mechanics of advertising. But in India it
is all about people and ideas. People as creators, consumers, and
talent (human beings with a mind and a heart). And we need to take
advantage of this. We have our own culture, deep traditions and
perceptions. And only now after a long hiatus are we beginning to
use them well (motivatingly and uniquely) in our advertising and as
communications tools effectively, and different from the West.
Image of Indian creativity
If
you asked an expatriate Creative Director you will probably hear
that Asians are reticent, formal and unready to show our emotions.
Or if we did show our feeling, we might be embarrassed. This was
certainly the image expatriate Creative people had who came to India
and Asia (in large number – HTA, O&M, Leo Burnett and even Madison!)
to show us the “what” and “how to do” in advertising in the 60s and
70s. Carrying their Clio and Cannes showreels, and grafting their
ideas of clever advertising here in India (adapting ideas to local
conditions – basically, language translations, models, locations
etc.).
They really did teach us something. The mechanics and techniques of
the creative process. About words, slogans, photographs and
production. And the possibilities therein. But in all this,
something was missing. The personality and the heart of Indian
advertising. For a long while there was plenty of “Monkey see,
Monkey do” in creativity and advertising. All the same, we were
aware there was something wrong. The western attitudes were not
those that we knew (in terms of target reactions to the mind, heart
and senses!).
They might have thought of us as passive people. But as you know,
that in the world of art, and in that communications, India is
enriched by gems. With our own emotions and culture. This is the
more potential grist for advertising than the slick products and
communication of the West that Creative Directors brought to us in
their suitcases.
Reaching the mind
through the heart
In
advertising the Indian style is intriguing, magical, curious,
unexpected. And the messages creative and unmistakable. It is a case
of reaching the mind through the heart (what is called emotional
marketing). Take our Indian films for instance. Bollywood is
comparable to Hollywood you will agree.
In
the movie halls, our audiences are paying money to see movies. They
are paying money to cry as much as to laugh, to feel a vicarious
sadness as much as vicarious happiness. So I ask why we cannot
employ these same feelings in the advertising creativity for these
commercials for products and services also being shown in the
cinemas (and television)?
Being people oriented, and emotionally oriented, in advertising
applies to government, banks, and IT companies and the like
corporations. But it also applies equally to advertising for
personal products (shampoos, soaps, perfumes, hair colours), public
service (cancer, AIDS, family planning) and cultural events (Indian
art and cultural road shows abroad). We have now started this kind
of advertising. And it works.
That’s
the sort of stuff we have in our part of the world. Heart stuff.
Sometimes soft sell, and sometimes hard sell, but always selling
emotional benefits, person to person and not just concept to
consumer. Incorporating motivation with a sense of satisfaction, and
not patronizing concepts.
We
are today selling convenience, beauty, heath and happiness -- a
better life altogether. We are selling to our people. We are
selling local first and then global.
We may
classify advertising as corporate, or theme, or reminder. These are
right mechanism. But I firmly believe this can be achieved through
the more potent mechanism of brands exploiting our own
experiences (Indian – personal and business). Corporations don’t
exist in a vacuum. They produce goods which people need and want and
which can enrich people’s lives. Foodstuff by itself does not sound
very warm and appealing, but (MacDonald’s) pizzas and hamburgers,
(Maggie) two minute noodles, certainly sound appetizing.
Banking and insurance corporations (HDFC, Kotak, ICICI Prudential)
don’t sound very appealing, but when we can translate to money, and
that into joy of what money can do for our child’s study, marriage,
and the future (schemes they offer) then we have an emotional
situation which appeals strongly to our people.
A New role
We
have now reached a point in India where we have an obvious new role
for consumer, marketers and creative people. Our consumers are more
educated, more aware, and skeptical of empty promises (housewives,
B2B, NGOs). Yet they are eager and economically ready for their
lives to be enriched and made comfortable and happier with the right
products and services (Ambassador car versus Maruti and Santro cars.
Indian Airlines versus Jet Airways and Sahara).
On
the professional side in advertising we have today creative people
who are brilliant. They are qualified, knowledgeable and experienced
(MBAs and more technically qualified). They have often developed a
singular style by themselves (Prasoon Joshi, Alyque Padamsee,
Mohammed Khan, Bharat Dabolkar, and many more among the younger
breed today) which stands out significantly.
Plus, they are armed with better communication technology which
offers them great scope for creativity and reach (software and
hardware -- from Maya software to high-end computers).
They are Indian! And they understand about the emotions of our
people. That they are creative and create effective advertising
makes one very happy. Because they are creating on the most
important product of all – our own experiences.
This is what Indian advertising is all about. Mastering our craft
on our own terms, today and tomorrow.
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