For an adman who revels in hype and hoopla, the guidelines surely are a killjoy. Not for him is the prosaic presentation of a listless bio-data of the members comprising a firm given the fact that a firm, and by extension the adman, is proscribed from even mentioning the achievements made and accolades received by members of the firm leave alone highlighting them.

While one can understand the bar on disclosing the present or past clients’ names, one is at a loss to understand the rationale for prohibition on publicising members’ achievements.

Yes, a firm should not be allowed to claim superiority over others belonging to the same profession because such a claim besides being in bad taste would in addition be unverifiable.

But what is the harm in, for example, saying that “each one of the partners has had twenty years of experience” if the firm is proud of the antiquity of its constituents as well as its own. And if a firm is proud of its freshness, pray what is wrong if its sales-pitch is, for example, “the average age of the partners of the firm is 30”.

This is the least that could have been allowed so as to enable clients to go for the old and the wise or the fresh and the brash firm. A group of wizened, seen-it-all men would have a rich repertoire of experience that may appeal to some while a group fresh from the institute bringing to the table as it does the latest from the world of accountancy may appeal to those looking for cutting-edge knowledge.

The CA logo ushered in by the ICAI recently with a lot of fanfare enures for the entire profession and is intended to take on the onslaught of the more sought after MBAs in particular. But how would the logo be handy for a professional whose adversary in the marketplace has equal access to the same logo and belongs to the same profession?

The point is, in the absence of a unique brand name, an advertisement turns out to be insipid.

The Institute should rethink its stand on the issue lest its thaw on advertising smacks of tokenism and no more. To be sure, comparative advertising should be a strict no-no. So should be reckless claim of being the ultimate in the profession.

But a clampdown on publicising the quality of the human resources that are easily the main asset of a professional firm beyond a laconic listing of qualifications and experience would make the ads pro forma lacking in verve.

Ads by professional firms in the business channels and business magazines would make eminent sense but the target audience of both would find the fare dished out boring and uninspiring what with firm constrained to stick to the straight and narrow.

Conformity is an anathema to the advertising fraternity which revels in novelty and levity.

Both could have been allowed without violating the basic canons sought to be assiduously guarded —scrupulous avoidance of disparagement and loud, unabashed and reckless proclamation of one-upmanship.

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