The Hindu Business Line : ‘Ideas are good, but packaging could be better’

Buoyed by the success of the Che Guevara advertisement for Luxor highlighters, which won both critical and public acclaim at the Abby awards at the GoaFest this year, Leo Burnett, the agency behind the campaign, is looking to garner international acknowledgement for the ad.

Arvind Sharma, the man heading the Indian operations of Leo Burnett, has clearly set his sights high. In a chat with BrandLine, he shares Burnett’s vision and future plans.

Excerpts:

How was it winning the Abby awards amidst all the speculation? Was it the first time you were entering?

It was amazing. We had been entering the Abbys many years ago, but hadn’t done so for some time. With time, things need to change and evolve, and this year as AAAI (Advertising Agencies’ Association of India) and the Ad Club came together, it was a great time. This has been a fantastic year for us. All our major clients – Procter & Gamble, Reliance – have won awards. We have handled ads for a very broad portfolio of clients. They have been demanding, and with the results now on the table for all to see, I am glad we have done a good job. Awards are important as they change our paradigm of thought. Unless you set benchmarks, it is easy to get smug and stay mediocre.

How did you go about conceptualising the award-winning Che ad?

The advertisement was conceptualised by Paddy (Santosh Padhi) and Russel Barrett. It is an exceptional piece of work that gets done occasionally in the lives of people. To be nominated for six pieces of metal at one show is a great achievement. When we created the ad, the global creative office immediately responded. It received an A-Call in Leo’s internal global product community, which is a highly competitive index. That is when we began to realise that we were onto an exceptional piece of artwork.

What about the controversy surrounding the rightful agency for Luxor?

The Chairman of GoaFest, Jagdip Bakshi, has clarified in interviews that the ad complied with all the norms of the festival. They have asked all the relevant questions, which the client has answered saying everything is in place. Besides, we are the creative agency for Luxor. The days where only one agency would do all the ads for a client are gone. Nowadays, the clients are beginning to break their portfolios a lot. Many of them do not have a single creative with them. Depending on the campaign and project, they approach various agencies. This has been the trend for the past six to seven years. If you go to see, there is no controversy in this at all.

We heard you have global ambitions for the campaign?

The response has been so overwhelming that we are looking forward to making the campaign globally famous. Sometimes, a piece of work becomes so great, that it becomes consumer-circulated content. For example, you and I have not seen the Trojan ads, for the second largest condom brand in the world. But we all know about them. They are transmitted virally by consumers and become famous, without much spending by the company.

To give an example, there are so many success stories of singers on YouTube, who have built fortunes. They did not have the power to fight the big studios, but made it big by sheer public demand. Similarly, in the advertising industry too there will be ads you won’t see everywhere, but will gain critical fame.

Many industry people have kept away from the GoaFest. How do you feel about that?

I am very happy to see the festival go forward every year. It is a right combination of a great venue and being able to bring in the youngsters. The best international speakers are here to share their perspectives with us. The conclave, therefore, in my opinion, was very productive. Now, industry issues are not like family issues, which can be solved easily. You sit over dinner one night and talk it over. It will take time for company issues to get sorted out. I am happy that we have at least managed to raise the right questions. We have realised where to generate value, place people for maximum profitability and how to work effectively when left to market forces.

How do you see Indian advertising industry placed vis-À-vis the rest of the world?

India has the potential to become a significant force in the future in the advertising world. But the truth is we are nowhere near achieving it.

What we need is collective thinking. Sometimes we do not focus on the core of the idea. The craft, shooting, music, everything needs a lot of attention and precision dealing. For us today, execution, in many ways, is a significant challenge. The ideas are good, but the packaging could be better, with better presentation. What we also need to focus on is bringing the right resources to talent. As an industry, we should be able to create opportunities for talent at all levels.

Is there anything that we, as an Indian industry, need to change in conceptualising?

I think being Indian in our ads is not a bad thing. What we need to change is the delivery of an idea. The challenge is if you show me an idea without its cultural context, I should be able to grasp its meaning.

The idea should not seep so much into the cultural context that without it it gets lost. For example, we all know that Mexican food is spicy, it is not difficult to understand that.

Where does India fit into Leo Burnett’s global scheme of things?

India will be one of the top dozen markets for Leo globally. While India does creatively well, it is not possible to be equally successful in all the markets creatively.

A lot of people are talking of mobile advertising being the next big thing. What is your take on it?

Here, the non-traditional services have been slow on the uptake. But the investments in the last two years have been increasing. CRM activation is more talk than actual implementation. The guys actually doing it are the telecom guys. We have the skill sets, and will grow dramatically over the next couple of years. The big issue today is that of mobile spamming, where consumers do not want brands sending them ads on the phone. Another issue is that the telecom industry has not been flexible with pricing. If the two get together, there will be many benefits to accrue. Revenue sharing would be possible.

Going forward, which will be the most prominent medium of advertising?

We are focusing on certain new initiatives in the coming quarters. But as our clients are different, we cannot have a homogenous approach.

For example, for FMCG products and clients, television supported by other media is the best strategy. Most FMCGs depend on large reach, delivered by television. For a player in the financial sector, a 360-degree approach best suits the needs.

What about online advertising? It is being touted as the next big thing in Indian ad scenario.

As far as advertising on the Net goes for India, there are two main areas of worry we need to tackle. Firstly, broadband connectivity is still very poor in the country. And not everybody has access to the Net. The power of the medium lies in its bandwidth, which needs to be upgraded.

Secondly, language becomes very critical for advertising on the Net. Most people using the Net are those comfortable with English. Now, unless other regional languages are made a popular mode of Net usage, advertising cannot go too far on the Net in India. But it has happened in China and Japan, it will happen here too.

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