<b><font color="#FF0033">AAAI Symposium</font></b>: Michael Birkin : “Indian creativity needs boldness”

“India has quite a way to go when it comes to creativity. Although there is good talent here, creativity in general needs to be more daring and brave,” pointed out Michael Birkin, vice-chairman, Omnicom, speaking on the occasion of the diamond jubilee of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). He was talking on ‘The Future of Advertising’.

Birkin started out by saying that the Indian consumer market is globally already among the top ten nations of the world. “In fact, the total advertising spends in India have grown to $2.6 billion this year. Ten years ago, around 4,000 brands were being advertised in India. Today, this figure stands at 13,000.”

Speaking on the media and its importance in advertising, Birkin said, “According to a study, by 2010, radio will be the third largest medium in India. Internet advertising will be larger than even magazine advertising by 2009, as it will grow twice its size every two years.”

As far as the Indian infrastructure goes, Birkin was concerned about the country. He said, “In advertising, we are an ‘ideas’ industry but we need the correct framework, the right environment to make sure that creativity flourishes here. That includes recruiting the right people. There is this myth that good people don’t come to advertising anymore, and it is becoming difficult to retain admen. In the future, we will need to improve this image by conducting various initiatives such as alumni programmes, training policies and yes, the most important, breaking down the hierarchy type of culture that exists in ad agencies in India today, more often.”

Birkin also stressed that it is vital not to waste the client’s monies. “If one takes a look at the cynical reality that exists today, most people are indifferent to measurability as they feel it is not in their interest to do so. In India, we are doing a lousy job at measurability. It is time to buck up and be more responsible. On the flip side, though, we must not turn into slaves of measurability as it is only a tool at the end of the day.”

Birkin predicted that in the next five years, five of the top ten agencies will be names that one hasn’t heard of yet. This will be because of the number of opportunities that are now available to various corporations. He also said that digital marketing, particularly mobile marketing, will boom.

He stressed on the fact that media planners will have to be more media-neutral. “Media planners need to understand the clients in a better way. Non-traditional advertising will come to the forefront.”

The adman was quick to add that one cannot do away with television advertising, as it is still the most cost effective way to reach the consumer. “I predict that in the future, young consumers will be more attuned to the television set than ever. People keep debating the merits of television and the death of the 30-seconder, but television is here to stay.”

“Also, the quality of CRM will have to go up. Loyalty programmes have been oversold and under-bought. We are selling CRM solutions that are not even relevant to the client’s brand. This will have to change,” he added.

Birkin concluded that ad agencies need to focus on both domestic as well as MNC brands, but more so on domestic ones as an ad agency cannot survive without a bouquet of domestic brands.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!