The Hindu Business Line : Pachauri at IAA

Well, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the seventh Indian Nobel laureate, kept his date with the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association last week. The rather exclusive function was held on the terrace of the Chambers at the Taj Mahal in Mumbai. There couldn’t have been a more spectacular setting anywhere in Mumbai. With the Gateway of India seemingly within touching distance in the background and the weather putting on a rare cool display, it allowed the President of the IAA to joke that in Pachauri’s honour, a non-air conditioned venue had been selected.

Evidently the IAA has embarked on a series of lectures called ‘Thought Leaders’. They kicked it off in style. As one of the guests noted, it seemed to focus attention on the fact that advertising is a serious knowledge business. Well, high time someone thought of it that way!

Global warming

The function saw senior ad types such as Madhukar Kamath of Mudra, Sam Balsara, Pranesh Mishra of Lowe, Ambi Parameswaran of FCB, Vikram Sakhuja of Group M, Raj Nayak of NDTV Media, Goutam Rakshit of Advertising Avenues and Krishan Premnarayen of Prem Associates in attendance. Our sources felt that with a star speaker and a great venue the IAA could have worked harder at getting a larger crowd.

Dr Pachauri presented the findings of his organisation and painted a rather bleak picture of the future if urgent steps were not taken to tackle the problems of global warming. The President of the IAA, Pradeep Guha, committed the resources of the Indian communications industry to help Dr Pachauri create awareness about the problems he foresees and the solutions that could be engineered. Dr Pachauri gracefully accepted the offer. Now we wonder if that was just one of those things that are bandied about at these functions or are we going to see some call for action. Frankly, if the IAA actually takes up this offer seriously, it can position itself as one of the most meaningful associations we have in the country. Well, we will wait and watch, and keep you informed.

Abby/Goafest

We are informed that the Abby and the Goafest were the hotly discussed topics at the IAA function. One rather vocal group felt that the Ad Club had sold the Abby cheaply to the Advertising Agencies Association of India. “Just imagine, the Ad Club Bombay will have its award in Goa” was the caustic comment that was made. Bhaskar Das, president of the AdClub, was his usual unflappable self, preferring to spout some management and spiritual jargon instead of directly answering any questions.

Kersy Katrak R.I.P.

Karsy Katrak passed away, and with him, a little bit of advertising history died as well. We tried speaking with those with a good memory to get an insight into the personality of the man. Well, the consensus was that Kersy was a dashing, larger-than-life figure who strode the advertising scene in the late Sixties and Seventies with a unique style that was rather representative of the world of theatre he came from. He also stood for the romance and glitz that the advertising industry had, before it was transformed into a “business”.

Old hands speak of the campaigns for the Mafatlal group that bore his indelible mark. Kersy ran an agency called MCM that could boast of employees such as Arun Nanda, Ajit Balakrishnan, Ravi Gupta and the like. Probably Kersy’s greatest gift to the advertising industry was agencies like Rediffusion and Trikayaa (now Grey). Unfortunately his agency ran into trouble with the INS and then evidently merged with another beleaguered iconic agency, LPE Aiyars, and then went down together. The post-MCM/Aiyars days saw the advertising agencies straightening out their acts and being run more professionally. Kersy had a stint as creative head of Lintas before opting out of the rat race. He goes to where all advertising greats go to when they pass away. We hope someone tells his tale to the newer crop of advertising professionals. There would be a lot to learn. Rest in Peace, Kersy.

Banking on change

Makeover at last!

Now it is the turn of Canara Bank to go in for an identity change. Good for them. It was long overdue. For too long we quailed when we saw the banal baseline Canara Bank used. We wondered why a dynamic bank should have such an antiquated image.

Well, it needed an M. B. N. Rao and the skills of Ray+Keshavan to finally get things done. O&M seems to have zeroed in onto a good thing. It can make its millions just changing the identities of public sector banks. And it would be doing them a favour. _ Victoria

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