The Hindu Business Line : ‘Advertising is about persuading, not about selling’

Mr Venugopal Nair, co-founder of ad agency Brand Portrait, addressing students of the MBA department at St Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai, at a Business Line Club lecture.

Our Bureau

Chennai, Feb. 20 It’s the invisible people in our lives – the domestic help, the auto driver, the postman, the shopkeeper, the vegetable vendor - that 90 per cent of advertising addresses, but very often, those who make the advertisements do not know these people. And if they do not know them, they cannot persuade them, said Mr Venugopal Nair, co-founder of Chennai-based ad agency BrandPortrait.

Speaking to the MBA students of St Joseph’s College of Engineering here at a Business Line Club lecture, Mr Nair said advertising is about persuading someone to do something, and not about selling. Speaking on advertising as a career choice, he said, “You have to move out of your comfort zone or social circle and get to know a diverse range of people to understand their hopes, fears, motivations and desires. What we tend to do is equate our personal experience to the majority’s.” Brands are simply an extension of the desires and wants of people, he added.

“It’s easy to talk to an English-speaking audience – the ad agencies are full of these people. But it’s the people with regional-level insights and knowledge who bring a unique sense of perspective,” Mr Nair said.

As a parting message, he advised the students to choose a career or job they are interested in. “If you do something you don’t like just for the money, you will have no job satisfaction. If you do something you like, the money will follow anyway,” he said.

Dr Jayasree Krishnan, Dean & Head of the Department, MBA, and Dr A. S. Mohanram, Head of the Department, MBA, were present on the occasion.

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