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 Gold
and silver at cannes. for an ad guy, it's like scaling Everest and
k2. For an Indian ad guy, it's like doing it barefoot. As an alumnus
of the agency that won at the Oscar of ad awards, I was kicked.
And wanted to know which ads made it.
One winner was an anti-smoking ad showing the
Marlboro cowboy standing next to his horse, which had seemingly
kicked the proverbial bucket. "Second-hand smoke kills"
was the message. Nice! And the other was a film of a Shaktiman truck
overloaded with people, which suggested that Fevicol was the reason.
Nice again!
My "Oh!" was followed by a "hmmm...".
For I know this-some 5 per cent of India, or 50 million people,
read and speak English. I guesstimated the numbers that follow:
of this group, some minority-say 5 per cent again, about 2.5 million
people-read foreign magazines regularly. And, of this, some tiny
minority, say 10 per cent, would know Marlboro and its icons-a campaign
that is not otherwise visible in India. Thing is, you have to be
part of this exalted group of extremely urbane, well-read 200,000
people-about 0.02 per cent of India-to appreciate the anti-smoking
ad.
I doubt whoever put their name to this pro-bono
ad had thought it through. For one, this crème de la crème
probably already knew the dangers of second-hand smoke. Second,
it's obvious there were more prime targets in India for whom this
message was critical.
But, of course, it'd be much harder to get
a Cannes award for any such work. Because the Cannes jury might
not "get it", like they got the Marlboro reference. And
that may just be the issue with a lot of "creative" Indian
advertising. A desire to impress one's overseas peers perhaps, more
than one's target right here.
The other ad does slightly better. To rural
India and an entire strata of carpenters and contractors-to whom
I guess Fevicol's messaging is aimed-an overloaded truck is not
really a thing of wonder. To the city dweller and the foreign jury
it likely is. Are we doing the product justice here?
It isn't just in advertising. The same has
been said about Satyajit Ray's and Mira Nair's films. Vikram Seth's
and Arundhati Roy's books. But one could contend that those were
always aimed at a non-Indian, overseas market. Can't say that of
our ads, now can we? Is it really that hard to create communication
that connects with customers here-and is world class?
The Brazilians don't just win at the World
Cup-their ads have won the world over, and are uniquely Brazilian.
Some work from Hong Kong is truly Chinese and truly wonderful. Ditto
Japanese. My partner Shashanka Ghosh's very desi Quick Gun Murugan
ads for Channel [v] were voted best of the last decade across Asia.
It is possible. But, to quote Bill Bernbach
and Avis, we've got to try harder. First, stripped of the bullshit,
there is very little mystique about advertising. There is a group
you want to talk to. The "who-to-say-to". And you want
to change their minds with a message. "The what-to-say."
The ad you create is "The how-to-say-it". And the media
choice is "The where-to-say-it". Think about each of these
critically and you won't go wrong.
Contrary to popular belief, the difference
isn't so much in the creativity of "how-to-say-it". If
you knew that primarily kids and tertiarily moms were decision-makers
on fruit-based soft drinks, you wouldn't wreck Rasna by making the
logo ugly, adding an irrelevant leaf and an incomprehensible "Relish
A Gain". Much as we all love Sachin, you wouldn't ask him to
squeak "After all it's a TVS". Or "MRF". And
the less said about Coca-Cola's attempts at advertising till a year
ago, the better.
Perhaps we all need to burn our copies of Ries
and Trout and think simply and sensibly again. About a strategy
that touches the mind and an execution that touches the heart. Get
that right, and you will win. Marketshare, sales and, yes, awards.
Mahesh Murthy, an angel investor, heads
Passionfund. He earlier ran Channel V and, before that, helped launch
Yahoo! and Amazon at a Valley-based interactive marketing firm.
Reach him at Mahesh@passionfund.com.
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