The Hindu Business Line : ‘India has the potential to redefine advertising’

It’s hard to take keep Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman, McCann Erickson India and Regional Creative Director, South and South East Asia, McCann, away from movies. As lyricist of the moment he is working with the best projects and is now a well established, and awarded, Bollywod personality. Often described as ’adman-lyricist’, Joshi says, our ads should be like our movies — unique and home grown.

For Joshi, there is a lot going on the advertising front too. For one, he will be chairing the Outdoor Lions jury at Cannes 2008. He won a Films Lions Silver for the Happy Dent Palace this year at the festival. The man who gave one of the world’s biggest brands, Coca Cola, its ’desi-est’ make over, is ready to take on his duties as chairperson, and to take on any one who says Indian advertising is behind times.

What does it mean to be chairing a Cannes jury, and what is it that you will be looking for in the nominations?

I have been on the jury before. But to chair the jury is a different kind of responsibility. You have to play the role of orchestrating the entire judging process, and ensuring that it’s absolutely fair and unanimous while still ensuring that your point of view or what you project collectively as a jury is also factored in.

What I am expecting is something fresh and innovative, and not something you have seen before. It should be absolutely unpredictable. Each award show should have a philosophy of its own. And Cannes is truly an international festival.

Where does India stand in the outdoors category? We have had nominations but not really won that many awards, have we?

We are a little behind in outdoors. And now you even have interactive outdoor with touch-screen hoardings. Ambience media also is a little under-explored in our country. However, India does come up with great ideas once in a while, and I am looking forward to seeing some of them.

A lot of advertising personalities will point to Brazil and other Latin American countries as the next creative hotbed; earlier it was Malaysia. When will it be India’s turn?

The fact is that India is a ‘real’ market; it’s a tough market. It is difficult to come up with an idea that appeals to all sections of the society. You have so many who are illiterate, then there are so many languages. It’s a sweeping statement to say India does not match up to Brazil or any other country. I believe India has the potential to redefine advertising, and do it differently from the way it has been done around the world. Like what we have done with cinema. We have developed such a huge film industry which has managed to survive without any Western help. People should just wake up to the unique strengths that our country has to offer.

What do you mean when you say ‘redefine’?

I mean both in form, in creative ideas. Take our audio visuals, they are very different. Storytelling elsewhere is very linear. Here we have four to five plots running at the same time. It’s like our cinema that inspired movies like Moulin Rouge. In time they will be inspired by our style of advertising too.

What about digital advertising, and advertising in the iTunes, YouTube environments?

I don’t understand this hue and cry about television losing to digital. There are many in India who will be buying their first televisions. Other media can come up, but in a country where you can’t depend on electricity, you can forget about the Internet or broadband connectivity. Television is still a big medium, growing bigger everyday. There is a lot going for radio too.

There are some clients who want digital advertising for them and we have done that too. But I think the hue and cry is unjustified, and doesn’t take into consideration the realities of India.

Do you have to take the country of origin into account when you are judging an entry too?

No. If you look at feature films that come out of Iran, they are some of the best films in the world. And their filmmakers work with the strictest of guidelines; they can depict women only in certain ways, there are so many things they are not allowed to shoot, and they work out of such small budgets. A great idea can come from anywhere.

Is McCann looking at expanding services here, at a second agency?

It will be in conjunction with our clients’ requirements. Our chairman (John Dooner) was here recently and he said that too, that we would give our clients whatever they required. But we do have MRM (the digital and direct marketing arm of the group) which is doing all the digital work of the agency.

We have thought about a second agency, it’s not like we didn’t think about it. But we haven’t finalised anything and I don’t think we are setting up anything right now. Business is growing fast for all our three offices — Mumbai, Delhi, and Banaglore. Chennai is slightly smaller. We are a relatively new agency compared to some of our 70-75-year-old competitors, and have barely completed 10 years. The last 5-6 years have been exceptionally good, and we are currently amongst the top three agencies in the country.

Is India likely to become an outsourced destination for advertising too?

We often do some work for other McCann offices. But I would like McCann India to be intellectual hub of sorts, and not just be doing studio work for others. We do collaborate on international pitches. For the Intel pitch, 60 per cent of the contribution came from India’s McCann.

What’s the direction for McCann?

The direction is very clear, we are a product-led company that focuses on great work to build phenomenal brands such as Saffola, Parachute and Coca-Cola.

How does it work, do you wake up in the morning and say today I write a song, or crack this campaign? What about direction?

I am a very instinctive person. Of course, there are tasks that need to be completed but I go with my instincts. Directing a movie requires a lot of time, and at the moment my commitment to my advertising agency is huge. Of course, there’s writing, but then even if I didn’t write songs I would still be writing for myself.

More Stories on : Interview | Advertising

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

Stories in this Section
The gut and gore of 2007

Expanding target segment the advertising way

‘India has the potential to redefine advertising’

Rewind. Reflect. Rejuvenate.