Goafest: Clients speak, ad guys listen

Executives from some of the top consumer goods companies list out their pet peeves in advertising and propose solutions in an engaging half-day seminar...

“I don’t like to see ads on television.” Most of us would agree with this statement. But if it were coming from the MD and CEO of the country’s largest fast moving consumer goods company, who is a custodian of many a brand that are household names, then would make you sit up and take notice, wouldn’t it?

The audience consisting of senior advertising, media and marketing professionals at the Advertising Conclave, which kicked off the eighth edition of the Goafest today, were indeed taken by surprise, when key note speaker Nitin Paranjpe (of HUL) began his address with this provocative statement.

But Paranjpe was speaking from years of experience of having seen a disconnect between what a brand stood for and what was being communicated in terms of advertising.

“Creativity makes up one-third of advertising communication, two-thirds is how consistent you are with your message. I find many underestimating the power of consistency in advertising. This shows up when you look at a brand’s advertising reel over the years,” Paranjpe said.

In a day and age, when there is no dearth of choice and people’s attention spans short, Paranjpe proposed that advertising and media professionals should look at a marketing problem a bit more closely and tweak the message accordingly. “Also, attempt to connect with a high-order objective,” he said.

“That is, build brand love, where the helpless get a voice and the disempowered are empowered. In a world where business is seen as being self-serving, this will go a long way in building trust between the consumer and the brand,” he added.

Incidentally, Paranjpe’s address found resonance with others speakers too such as R S Sodhi, managing director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the owner of Amul, one of the largest food brands in the country.

He said, “There has to be stability in the core team working on a brand. Also there has to be consistency in strategy and execution and at all times attempt to be contemporary and relevant with the advertising message,” he added.

Sodhi had some more pieces of advice to the audience in attendance - “Integrate your message across media and make sure you can scale up as time passes by. Also trust your agency partner.”

To the agency crowd

present at the Conclave these were soothing words indeed, coming at a time when the debate over agency fee and the lack of trust between agency and client has raged time and again.

The Conclave also had a public sector unit perspective – Arundhati Bhattacharya, managing director, SBI Capital Markets, spoke of the need for partnership between agency and client.

“There has to be genuine value-addition to what an agency brings to the table. I call this performance-based advertising. Because if there is nothing tangible in what is brought to the table this becomes difficult to communicate to our internal auditors,” Bhattacharya.

Define the quantity and scope of work and understand what influences the brand and consumer behavior, she added.