The Hindu Business Line : `It's a confidence game'

Our focus would be raising the standards of advertising and coming up with great creatives, says Bruce Matchett, National Executive Creative Director, JWT

"One has to be smart and get involved in various forms of ambush marketing to reach consumers at various touchpoints. You could, for instance, paint a tree red and blue and brand it as a Pepsi tree."

JWT's campaign for Levi's Slim Jeans won many AAAI awards.

JWT India's lacklustre performance at award shows has definitely come to an end. The agency's sole focus on producing great creatives and getting on board creative gurus such as Bruce Matchett has helped it take a huge leap forward on the awards circuit. The agency, which bagged the most gold medals at the Abbys earlier this year, repeated the feat at the awards show at the recently-concluded Goafest, organised by the Advertising Agencies Association of India.

And, for the second time in succession, it is its work on Levi's, Pepsi and ITC Hotels which has won the agency gold medals across categories. BrandLine caught up with Bruce Matchett, National Executive Creative Director, JWT, on the sidelines of the Goafest. Matchett says these wins have done wonders for the morale of his creative team, and that the coming months would see more brilliant work, which would not only be great creative but would also rub off positively on the brands' sales. Excerpts from an interview:

Bruce Matchett

It is almost a year since you took over the creative reins of JWT India. What kind of changes did you introduce to bring about this turnaround in its creative fortunes?

When I joined JWT last year, the biggest question was why it was not getting results despite having great talent. There was worthiness in the work they did, they were efficient, extremely professional, but overly cautious. JWT makes great husbands but lousy lovers. They are respected but they need to loosen up and be spontaneous. And, for all this, one needs high self-esteem. Once your self-esteem grows you will automatically take more creative risks. And all that the creative team at JWT needed was someone to enthuse them. And, that is all that I did. It is a confidence game. However, one can't rest on one's laurels. We have to keep this winning momentum going.

What is going to be your focus for the coming months?

Our focus would be to move up the standards of advertising and come up with great advertising for our various brands. We would look at sharpening our craft, our art directional skills and work better with film companies.

Most advertising agencies today are talking about looking beyond the traditional 30-second commercial and making advertising seamless. What is your view on this?

Complete idea solutions are always what I have done during my 14-year stint at Ogilvy in Australia. But in India, advertising is more compartmentalised. However, 360-degree advertising will definitely be the future of Indian advertising also, though TV would continue to be the main driver. In fact, advertising agencies are trying to get more and more adventurous with the television medium itself by placing their brands in innovative ways. One has to be smart and get involved in various forms of ambush marketing to reach consumers at various touchpoints. You could, for instance, paint a tree red and blue and brand it as a Pepsi tree. Similarly, we are doing a campaign for Kurkure, where a man having Kurkure on the streets bursts into flames! This will also be aired on mobile phones.

Web marketing has been making a lot of waves in the Indian market. What do you have to say about it?

Internet marketing in India is not as good as it is internationally. But it has a good future, as it is all about interacting with your target audience on a one-to-one basis. Ogilvy India is doing a lot of work in this area at present. In fact, JWT also needs to expand in this area. We have to buy out a good interactive agency and have some interactive specialists on board. This is my view. I haven't spoken to the board yet.

What do you have to say about Indian creative talent?

Indians are extremely creative and passionate. And, I feel that much of its growth will come from within, just as Thailand did.

How is the Indian market different from the international market?

Very different. It is a completely different situation in India. Having worked with Ogilvy for 14 years, I had seen a lot of Indian work through Piyush Pandey's eyes, therefore, I had a fair idea of what I was up against. However, before joining JWT, I did come to India a couple of times to understand the work culture here and review the work they did.

More Stories on : Interview | Advertising

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
For fewer sloppy Opals

`It's a confidence game'

Is Daddy cool?

In from the cold?

The reach of brands

Negative entities also brands

Good work only a part of the story