The Hindu Business Line : India Shining to Sensex Climbing

ALL through 2004 it's been a roller-coaster ride for the advertising industry with some dizzying turns and gut-wrenching swoops, but on the whole the industry has had it good, thank you.

The year 2004 began with images of an India Shining through the January fog. The erstwhile Government decided to communicate with the literate masses. The message was decidedly bright, and the agency was, co-incidentally, Grey. One must observe that the campaign enjoyed such a high decibel level that "India Shining" became a part of local-speak. Entering the lingua franca did not mean entering the mind space of the electorate though, as the NDA was soon to find out.

The year was devoted to sport and pastime. I am, of course, talking about cricket matches, the Olympics, general elections and some Sate-level elections. And all these events generate heat, advertising and results. Maybe the results of the elections did not please those who invested heavily in advertising, but the media and the advertising industry never had it so good. In fact, the `festive season' this time around did not have as much steam in it, probably because all the earlier mentioned festivities took away much of the fizz and budget.

Year 2004 will be known as the year ONGC bought out the front page of the largest-selling English daily in the world. Nothing was sacrosanct to the hungry eyes of the media buyer. It will also be known as the year when `unification' was the theme. If you had to name just one model, Amitabh was omnipresent. From Cadbury to Chyavanprash, from Pepsi to Nerolac, the ageless superstar stood tall. The advertising industry did for him what Bollywood couldn't. So what if moviegoers rejected the angry old man through 2004? Television viewers loved the smiling old man. Moral of the story? Smile, Mr Bachchan.

If you thought of advertising agencies, WPP was omniscient. From JWT to O&M, from Contract to Equus to Bates and RMG David, the name of Martin Sorrel was to the advertising business what Chatrapati Shivaji was to Mumbai.

In fact, the industry acquired more elder statesmen and Chairmen Emeritus than ever contemplated before. Year 2004 will go down in history as the year the unthinkable happened. People retired in the agency business. There were changes at the top of many of the mighty agencies. Ranjan Kapur stepped down from his throne at O&M and quickly took over as Country Manager, WPP. It took a team of three men, a creative man, a finance man and a Goodman (sorry, I couldn't resist the terrible pun) to fill his place. Prasoon Joshi would have delightedly cooed "Voh teen aadmi ke baraabar the."

Mahinder (Mike) Khanna gracefully stepped down and the young and casual Colvyn Harris stepped up to take his place at JWT. The process of change was as quiet and understated as the functioning of JWT usually is.

The year could also be seen as a defining moment where the term `Indian advertising industry' could be perceived as a misnomer. The overwhelming majority of agencies that really matter is as Indian as George Bush is. The entrepreneurial spirit that founded the advertising industry in India is all but dead.

On a more cheerful note, the advertising industry proved it could churn out not just film-makers and scriptwriters but even authors. Ranjan Kapur penned what I felt was a ten-minute autobiography called The Perfect Snowball and this was the precursor to several other advertising types including Sandeep Goyal to turn their pens into weapons of mass dissemination (WMD?)

This was a signature year for the creative part of the industry. Piyush Pandey presided over the Cannes advertising festival and warmed the cockles of every Indian in the industry. Now that even Veerappan is no more, Piyush is the only recognisable Indian who can twirl his moustache and make his presence felt internationally. (Aamir Khan will no doubt go back to his shorn look once his movie is ready for release).

Keeping to the globalisation theme, Indians were not happy with merely taking Indian actresses like Aishwarya Rai to Africa to shoot commercials for diamonds. They went a step further, pole-vaulted over the Great Wall and shot Jackie Chan as model for a Bajaj bike.

Creativity may not have peaked in the year that was, except for flashes of `clear' brilliance from the Lowe stable for the Saint Gobain campaign and some memorable work for Amaron by O&M. One fears that the Abby awards will have a mix of `No Gold' and awards for little restaurants and NGOs `handled' by large agencies, now that the industry has resigned itself to scam advertising as an integral part of its creative portfolio.

The Best Continuing Campaign will no doubt go to Hutch what with the little pug ensuring the continuing of the same commercial this year as well.

If the red wave and some crafty bears brought the sentiment of Indian businessmen down in May and June, there is now a lot to cheer about. Remember, Indian business sentiment is reflected off the lofty glass windows of the Bombay Stock Exchange building. The soaring Sensex should ensure that advertising budgets are not trimmed in a hurry.

Yet at the end of the year, billings were up, commissions down, margins squeezed and hopes ... well, hopes are eternal. As Ted Kennedy said, "The hopes still flare, the dreams will never die."

Happy New Year!

(The author heads Canco Advertising.)

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