New focus in the world of advertising

Madhukar Sabnavis

As 2002 closes, it's time for introspection. A time to look back at the Indian world of advertising. What it has achieved, how it has changed and what it portends for the future.

The bean counters are closing their year-end books. And the actual numbers will be known only in January 2003. However, it will be another sluggish year for the advertising industry. However, two new trends in the industry have been established in 2002.

The move from commissions to fees as agency compensation. It's the first step towards fairer remuneration - especially when it becomes based on time sheets and time costs - the normal consultancy practice.

This will forever remove the age-old client grudge that an agency earns on media inflation while the agency complains that commission is an unlimited thali for a client i.e. pay a commission and get the agency to do work over and over again. A clear win-win situation.

A competitive media environment, especially, in the electronic media has made time available at more competitive rates. A far cry from the mid '80s when Chitrahaars and Hindi feature films were rationed by Doordarshan and sold at hefty premia in the black market. So clients have been able to buy more time at the same price as last year.

It is perhaps these two trends that have contributed to the low industry growth - more than the general market slowdown.

But numbers apart, there is much to be observed at a qualitative level on the direction the industry is taking into the future.

Judging the Indian film industry is easier than the advertising industry. A film's fate is often determined on its opening on Friday. An advertisement's fate is however decided over a period of time - often its impact being felt months after its first release.

And in case of a campaign, the ad grows on the consumer and the cumulative effect is stronger than that of an individual execution. So, evaluating the ads created and released for the first time in 2002 is perhaps limiting the impact the industry made during the year.

A few observations on the milestones achieved during the year.

The Whirlpool woman: Starting from the 'Ice Ice Baby Baby' advertising, she has emerged as a new icon for the Indian woman in the advertising world. Much like Lalitaji of the eighties, the Garden woman and Raymond man of the nineties. Suddenly, many brands targeted at the upmarket Indian woman express their desire to be like the Whirlpool woman - a woman most Indian men would love to take home to their parents.

Reality bites: Indian advertising has now dared to mirror some social realities in its expressions. And not surprisingly, it has raised the issue of social responsibility of the advertising.

A Fair and Lovely ad last year raised a hornet's nest with its 'kaash hamara ladka hota' commercial and it followed it up this year with its ayurvedic variant on the insight that 'dark girls will have to settle for not so good looking husbands'.

Both harsh truths about Indian society but not so openly used or exploited in advertising. M-seal used the classic Indian male's greed of making the most of his father's death to interestingly connect with a sealant.

And Bajaj Pulsar's 'It's a boy' tapped the Indian penchant for boys! The latter two did it quite lightheartedly. However, these brands have brought to the fore known Indian social truths - albeit differently.

Return of radio: Through the 90s, radio had got back into the back burner with declining listenership and old-fashioned programming. However, with the growth of the car market and the booming of the teenage segment, radio has made its re-entry with its FM channels.

And if the response in Mumbai is anything to go by, it is here to stay. The standard of radio advertising has suddenly gone up - the recent Rexona deodorant ads being a good example of the same. And it won't be long before brands are built through just this medium. (Orange and other cellular brands have already established that the outdoor-hoarding medium- is enough to create a brand!)

Return to basics: Generic advertising reached a new peak. Through the 90s there has been a continuous search of distinct positioning options for competitive brands. And a lookout for strong emotional hooks.

A new trend started to emerge in the late-90s of using 'generic, high-ground category benefits' to actually build a brand on. Onida went back to basics in 1997 with 'great picture, great sound', Kelvinator went back to 'cooling'. And both made startling comebacks in the market.

Centre Shock's 'Hila ke rakh de' caught the imagination of a wide range of audiences with its simple but single-minded focused lovable advertising. A clear lesson - when life gets complicated and convoluted with rational and emotional benefits and myriad audiences - just identify a product truth and an audience and do something truly memorable around it. Something a business school could easily include as a possible method of developing strategy!

Celebrity advertising: It will never get out of fashion. Team Samsung and Siyaram (with an out-of-sight tennis star playing cricket with a starlet) made feeble attempts to use celebrities differently.

However, it was Coke that showed the way. Its campaign built on an insight ('Thanda' is cold drink in the north) and got the celebrity to add to memorability and performance of the character. Not surprisingly, Aamir Khan's Hyderabadi and Punjabi impersonations were a hit with viewers and consumers!

Financial advertising comes mainstream: Bankers have always believed that money products have to be sold on three factors - liquidity, safety, returns - and so financial advertising in India has always remained rational all these years . (Interestingly, LIC somewhere intuitively understood the power of emotion by using middle-class milestones like children's education and marriage to brand their products).

With the emergence of competition, financial specialists have at last recognised that buyers of money products are human beings just like that of FMCGs and consumer durables. And not any special animals. Evocative advertising has made an entry.

The ICICI Prudential life insurance, Cholamandalam insurance and Kotak Life insurance are all live examples of brands reflecting this trend.

Pharma comes out of the medical chest - It was the financial companies that first recognised the existence of a 30+ market. And now with the emergence of a healthcare market and many ethical companies going over the counter, an even older segment (50+) has become a viable audience. The Pfizer corporate campaign very charmingly addresses this audience. And one is sure to see more of this as we move into the new year.

All these may seem little shifts, little observations, little drops in the advertising ocean. But certainly predictive about how the future will unfurl and be the light for shaping tomorrow. That's something worth thinking about.

Madhukar Sabnavis is Country Manager - Discovery, Ogilvy and Mather.

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2002: The Year That Was