The Hindu Business Line : Made in India, for the world

INDIAN creative is fast catching the attention of global advertisers. The most recent piece set to hit the global market is Perfetti's new `Mentos Life' campaign, done by Ogilvy & Mather. The campaign shows a boy running hurriedly down the college corridor. He is obviously late for his lecture and as he tries to tiptoe towards his desk, the angry professor catches him and asks him to get out of the class. And the voice-over says, `Yeh hai aam zindagi'.

In the next scene, the boy is, as usual, late for his lecture, but this time he walks backwards, giving his professor the impression that he is sneaking out of the class. The professor reprimands him and asks him to go back to his seat. And the voiceover says, `Yeh hai Mentos ki zindagi'. The campaign signs off with the tagline `Dimag ki batti jala de.'

Similarly, the Lifebuoy campaign, which showed a little boy mobilising his friends to clean up their locality was aired in various Asian and African markets, while the Fair & Lovely campaign featuring an aspiring woman cricket commentator was aired in West Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia. The campaign was reportedly re-shot and fine-tuned to suit the local culture of these countries.

Though Indian advertising agencies have been working for markets abroad for a while, their work is gaining recognition now and opportunities to work for the global markets have definitely increased. Tarun Rai, Senior Vice-President & General Manager, JWT, attributes this trend to the opening up of the Indian markets and a large number of global companies setting up shop in India.

"We have been working for global markets for a while now. Even a decade ago, we were making TVCs for Horlicks in India for markets such as Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. However, in the last decade, many multinationals have launched global brands in India. These companies are exposed to Indian creative talent and realise that there is opportunity to use this talent in other markets too."

Rai says that today, both advertising agencies and the advertisers are inclined towards brands and not geographies. "Clients are demanding global ideas. It doesn't matter to them whether the talent lies in New York or in Mumbai. Ideas will travel if they are based on human insights and not on cultural contexts. If you have an idea which works well in India, you can well take it to Vietnam, test it, and if it works, run it in that market."

Similarly, Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), says Indian creative talent has great opportunity abroad.

"Our people are used to working in two languages, English and Hindi, and considering that we live in a country which has myriad cultures where people speak in 17-18 languages, all that we have to do is put in a little effort to learn the nuances of other countries and we can do wonders."

He says Indians, with their advantage of knowing many languages and capability to comprehend diverse cultures, are becoming an important part of international campaigns. "When agencies put a core team together to offer solutions, very often an Indian is part of it. Exchange of ideas and commendable respect for Indian talent is the most wonderful thing to happen to us," says Pandey.

Talking about the Perfetti campaign, Abhijeet Awasthi, Group Creative Director, O&M, says, "Ever since we did the Centre Shock campaign, Perfetti Italy has been consistently using us to do campaigns for its global markets even though we don't handle its advertising internationally. We did a campaign for Golia and Fruitella, which was aired in the European markets. And now we are all set to take the Mentos Life campaign to the global market."

Josy Paul, Country Manager and National Creative Director, rmg david

Josy Paul, Country Manager and National Creative Director, rmg david, attributes this trend to the Internet, which has enabled the world to view Indians' work.

Paul says rmg david India has been approached by a leading international creative agency to design its Web site. "We are not part of that agency, but they probably wanted a new perspective and therefore got in touch with us."

While Indian creative talent is beginning to make its mark globally, Pranesh Misra, President and Chief Operating Officer, Lowe, says Indian planners are also drawing the attention of the global market. "We have sent a number of our account planners to our offices in the region to handle MNC clients."

Pranesh Misra, President and Chief Operating Officer, Lowe.

However, Misra feels the dominance of migration of Indian talent, be it creative or account planning, is now restricted to the Asia-Pacific, as the cultures of these regions are similar to India.

"Understanding the cultures of the Western markets will be a challenge for the Indians. The West tends to operate in a more insular environment, while our skills are more towards collectivist cultures. Therefore, it will take some time for us to get to the Western markets."

Pratap Suttan, National Creative Director, Grey Worldwide

In fact, Pratap Suttan, National Creative Director, Grey Worldwide, says that while the international agencies are outsourcing a lot of physical work such as artworks of brochures and pamphlets out of India, `thinking work' still hasn't caught up in a big way.

M. G. Parameswaran, Executive Director, FCB Ulka

Agreeing with Suttan, M.G. Parameswaran, Executive Director, FCB Ulka, says there are instances of Indian agencies executing a brief which has been finalised by an international client, but it is not a regular thing as yet. "Understanding consumer behaviour outside India is difficult as the cultures are different."

Tarun Rai, Senior Vice-President & General Manager, JWT

On the other hand, Rai of JWT says Indian advertising agencies are always an option for marketers in the Asian region, as advertising in India, according to him, is more developed than it is in most Asian countries.

"Many MNCs have a regional hub approach to developing communication. The regional hub's responsibility is to produce work for the region and not just for the local country. Many of our creative people are working for regional hubs and are, therefore, producing work not only for India but for other countries in the region. With more global brands entering the developing Asian markets, opportunities for Indian creative and planning talent will multiply." Indian advertising talent is definitely being recognised internationally. As Suttan of Grey puts it, "India, today, is a bright star. Our talent is already being appreciated and it is just a matter of time when Indian advertising talent would get its due recognition in the global market."

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