<font color="#FF0033"><b>FICCI Frames ’05:</b></font> A peak into the 'Mad Ad World'

Advertising got its fair share of attention on the last day of FICCI Frames ’05. Creative heads such as Balki of Lowe, Prasoon Joshi of McCann-Erickson and KV Sridhar of Leo Burnett along with theatre personality and director of Publicis India, Bharat Dabholkar, and Madison Communications CMD Sam Balsara discussed finer points of their craft during a session titled ‘It’s a Mad Ad World’ on Wednesday.

Balsara, who was the moderator of the session, said, “From Rs 1,000 crore about ten years ago, the Indian ad industry is worth Rs 10,000 crore today. Despite the growth, the industry is still a mere 0.34 per cent of India’s GDP.”

The American ad industry, in comparison, has a higher share in the country’s GDP at about 2-2.5 per cent, he said.

So, despite registering a ten-fold growth in the last ten years, the Indian ad industry has still some miles to go.

Nonetheless, the spotlight shifted to the august panel of creative chiefs who had their own “theories” to expound on creativity and the state of advertising in general. Prasoon Joshi, creative director, south and south east Asia, McCann-Erickson said, “We are not these bunch of hippies, who spoke pot or have long hair. We have a job to do. And advertising actually draws from real life and situations. We have a rich oral tradition and people are constantly seeking audio cues.”

To him, consumer insights play a critical role in advertising. “For toothpaste brand Babool, for example, we did not talk about sparkling white teeth, simply because this is a country of pan eaters where oral hygiene is not given too much importance. Instead, we played up the freshness aspect and how the brand can make your day if you use it.”

For teeth whitening gum Happydent, on the other hand, “logic was suspended”, when the commercial showed a man’s sparkling white teeth acting as the flash of an old-style camera.

Pops or Sridhar of Leo Burnett, meanwhile, spoke of the need for advertising to “connect” with the target audience. He illustrated his point with commercials from the ‘Happy Price Menu’ campaign for McDonald’s (which uses look-alikes of old Hindi actors). “We had a three-fold challenge here to talk to teenagers without putting off the family. At the same time, we had to communicate a price point with regard to a brand that was perceived as being expensive. We did this by harking back in time to the ‘good old days’ as it were, when prices were not steep, using look-alikes of old Hindi actors to communicate the message.”

In stark contrast to Joshi and Pops, Balki felt that advertising seemed to be getting too “sane” with most talking about the need to “connect” or “borrowing too much from consumers”. “Advertising should lead, not follow. I think we need to do irrational things,” he said.

Dabholkar, who was the last speaker, dwelt on humour in advertising, and helping him in good measure were his witty hoarding ads for Amul that he created during the ‘70s and the ’80s. © 2005 agencyfaqs!