The Hindu Business Line : Buy-buy Indians?

And on this momentous day, as we look back on the essence of what Independence means to us, it would be relevant to look back at the path the Indian advertising industry has taken since that fateful day of August 15, 1947.

The post-Independence scenario was rather desultory for the advertising industry compared to the pace of activity all around it. The temples of modern India, as Nehru called them, were being built. Irrigation projects, massive dams, steel factories, universities, core industries and hospitals were all being set up at a feverish pace.

In the first flush of independence, Nehruvian socialism had no place for consumerism. Saving was a virtue, spending a vice. Expenditure on ‘non-essentials’ was frowned upon, and in any case the ‘permit-quota-licence-raj’, as C. Rajagopalachari called it, made sure the Indian consumer was wedged between a rock and a hard place.

The result was a scenario where you waited patiently for months, if not years, to get a telephone, a car or a scooter. Banks were busy doling out money for integrated rural development programmes that saw neither development nor the return of the principal invested. One domestic airline, a railway that had no competition, milk that was rationed out, were all symptomatic of the time we, the children of Independence, grew up in.

No wonder Ranjan Kapur, speaking at the Diamond Jubilee of the Advertising Association of India, commented that advertising agencies did not do any brand-building work in the three decades after Independence.

Necessity, P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh were to change all that irreversibly. Meanwhile, the advertising industry was struggling to carve out a place for itself. The large multinational agencies had all donned a very ‘desi ’ avatar. JWT had become HTA after the foreigners had left and ‘Hindustan’ as a prefix was a sign of our times. Apart from these multinationals, the old entrepreneur-owned agencies seemed to be doing well.

The late 1970s and 1980s saw a vibrant phase in advertising industry in India. Many new agencies sprang to life, as if anticipating the boom that was soon to follow. By the end of the 1980s, the writing on the wall was clear.

Consumerism was on the rise. Spending was no longer a bad word. Competition was giving birth to quality in every sphere of economic activity. And competition meant there would have to be advertising.

Like plants that seemingly mysteriously sprout when the rains fall on parched earth, multinational advertising agencies were returning to India. Only this time, they were slowly feeling their way about. Most professionally-run Indian agencies were happy to tie the knot with a foreign name and encash a small portion of the equity of their company. There lay before them the prospect of large multinational companies coming into India to cater to the seemingly insatiable needs of a massive middle-class in India. And these advertisers would only spend through their global partners. The words ‘think global, act local’ did not apply while choosing local advertising agencies.

It was almost like the proverbial ‘Arab and the camel’ story.

As the ‘India story’ played out and the economy acquired a robust nature, the multinational networks were firmly establishing their base here.

HTA quickly became JWT again, as the ‘Hindustan’ seemed to lose its relevance in the global context.

Most of the entrepreneurs slowly sold out. Bal Mundkur, Bobby Sista, Walter Saldanha are all distant memories today. Draft FCB, Saatchi and Leo Burnett stand proudly in their place. After the untimely demise of Ravi Gupta, Trikaya became Grey Worldwide. With Rajiv Agarwal opting out of the industry and Mohammed Khan cashing out, Enterprise Nexus has become Bates Worldwide.

At the golden jubilee celebrations of the Advertising Club Bombay, Anil Ambani wondered aloud as to why, when every facet of Indian industry, be it IT, automobiles, pharma or telecom, was scripting the story of ‘Brand India’ globally, advertising industry seemed to have curled up and cashed out without even a hint of battle. A very interesting point, albeit rather embarrassing.

One reads with pride about the Tatas, Mittals Kalyanis, Ambanis and the Birlas unfurling the tricolour around the world. One sees Indian professionals even in advertising industry being sought out to hold global positions of eminence. One sees an increasing trend towards an Indian look and feel to advertising in India. Our pizzas have ‘tandoori’ toppings, our burgers are ‘tikkis’ and our language is unabashedly ‘Hinglish’. One sees a resurgence of pride in things Indian.

And, at the same time, one looks around at Indian advertising industry and sees nothing Indian about its ownership. Forget about Indian advertising agencies building their brands abroad. Dubai seems to be as far as a couple of Indian agencies have reached.

The Indian professional seems quite happy working for a foreign master. The Indian entrepreneur in advertising industry is all but dead. Something tells me he won’t even be missed.

When the world is our village, Independence will have to be re-defined. Especially in the foreign-owned-Indian advertising space.

Jai Hind!

The author is a Mumbai-based communications consultant.

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