The Hindu Business Line : An eminently forgettable year

DROP the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God it can go," said Brooks Atkinson. This veteran New York drama critic could well have been talking about Indian advertising in 2004, which was just an eminently forgettable year as far as advertising is concerned. "No creative breakthrough", "No blockbusters", "Have difficulty in finding one outstanding piece of work for my fortnightly column on creativity"... these are a smattering of the comments received from some of the big names in Indian advertising about the year that just went by. Creativity seems as elusive as a Saurav Ganguly century (in recent times at least).

God! Not another celebrity!

Indian advertisers and advertising agencies seem to be besotted with celebrities. I do believe that there is some truth in the statement that "celebrity advertising is the last resort of someone who is bereft of ideas." And lending credence to this thought is the commoditisation of Amitabh Bachchan, who if a report is to be believed, did 67 commercials last year! Very few of the myriad commercials that he has starred in challenge his histrionic ability or entice us to watch, barring the one for Cadbury's, perhaps. I am not too sure if that was late 2003 or early 2004 but it was pretty effective, nonetheless. Clearly, celebrity advertising used so indiscriminately reminds me of one-day internationals — interesting but no one remembers what happened a few days later! But what was not effective were other celebrity commercials featuring our cricketers who were confused as to whether they were playing for the BCCI or India and ended up playing second fiddle to the wizards from Oz.

Yet, one must mention two commercials in the same genre of celebrity as clutter-breaking. One was a commercial for Surf Excel for Tamil audiences, starved as they are for water. Having grown up in water-scarce Madras and having cycled two km for a bucket of water in my school days, I could relate to Irandu bucket thanni from Surf Excel featuring Revathi. Another tricky marketing problem that Titan has handled with Aamir Khan (where would Indian advertising be without this man?) must be mentioned. As someone who has admired Titan and its endeavours to make Indians wear multiple watches I can say that the current exercise featuring Aamir Khan is brilliant on strategy and is clever use of a celebrity, and, if one may add — casting. I refer to the not-so-famous supporting actor bemusedly handing over watches to his demanding star boss. Yes, success is in the details even if you have a celebrity. The press advertising, though, for the same campaign was a bit lacklustre, to say the least.

Was that all?

Not too much more happened in advertising last year. I must confess that with such a surfeit of channels one could be excused for missing out on the few good ones that came our way. Saint Gobain, Asian Paints, Pepsi, Manhattan (amidst criticism that it is not an original idea), MasterCard (international idea) ...

Two of the most visible campaigns — the India Shinning campaign for the BJP and the Congress campaign — had vastly differing results. And if effectiveness was the only criterion, clearly the Congress campaign was a winner. But sadly, strong though the statement may sound, advertising was not a winner in 2004. If you could call someone a winner, it had to be the media. Not so much as a means of spending money and making campaigns visible but as means of making (?) or marring reputations. But before that, a word about brands.

One of the most heartening things for someone like me who has been passionate about brands has been the increasing realisation about brands and their value. And while brands have value, they must continually strive to remain young and contemporary in look and feel. Brands such as Airtel, Lifestyle, Patni Computers and Dabur come quickly to mind as brands which changed their identity. One hopes that 2005 will be a landmark year that draws increasing and necessary attention to brands. But let's go back to the media - the year belonged to media that went to town on family splits, seers and porn on the Net.

The brothers grim

The media has gone to town on the Ambani brothers. In fact, perhaps their greatest achievement (!) was relegating the Shankaracharya's arrest to the back pages. They have also been object lessons of what not to do in public relations. What will be the impact on the Reliance brand? And on the poor shareholder?

And now the latest — Baazee. Media coverage can be heady but it is pertinent to remember that media can not only make but also mar. And corporates must remember that wooing the media is a bit like having a picnic with the tiger. Sadly, they seem to forget that the tiger always eats last! And as a reader, I must say the media is too quick to criticise, condemn and even sentence before the trial is done! <15,3m>Lastly, Indian advertising will be 100-years-old in 2005. Dattaram, the first Indian advertising agency, opened its doors in 1905. Here is hoping that 2005 will be significantly better for Indian advertising and creativity than the year gone by. After all, no harm in hoping.

(The author is CEO, brand-comm.)

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