Survival of the fittest

Most books on advertising tend to falter on three counts. First, the authors seem to harbour a slightly disproportionate opinion of themselves and their work (especially if they happen to come from advertising) — and, therefore, a lopsided view of what they consider creativity and “good” work outside their own agency system. Second, many of them tend to hark back to the golden age of copywriting and fail to acknowledge modern advertising and how it has adapted to new delivery systems and the emerging platforms. Third, most authors seem to think good work happens just outside the territorial boundaries of India.

That is where Anand Halve nails it. Darwin’s Brands isn’t a how-to book. (Halve’s how-to book, Planning for Power Advertising: A User’s Manual for Students and Practitioners, was published way back in 2005.) It is supposed to be a “novel” about Indian advertising. Halve writes in the introduction, “The collection of stories in this book – I will not call them case histories – are examples of some brands that have used advertising well; brands whose advertising is an inspiring translation of the brand’s strategy into creative expression.” Taking these brands as examples, the author lays down the fundamental rules of how to push an ad campaign and turn it into something exceptional. Halve may be putting excessive emphasis on account planning but it is difficult to argue with the thinking behind it.

The architecture of the book is interesting. Halve picks out 12 brands that have demonstrated the “staying power of a Lata Mangeshkar or a Gulzar”, thanks largely to their advertising, and puts their story in perspective against the category history and then as a long series of anecdotes. These anecdotes from Raj Halve, Rahul DaCunha, Ashok Kurien, Prashant Godbole – master craftsmen and the inspiration for many others to create great advertising – make Darwin’s Brands an easy read rather than a dry, textbook account.

Some of the campaigns Halve has discussed have been produced on huge budgets, but it’s nice to see more cost-effective ones featured in the book. He deconstructs ads as recent as Maggi’s “Me & Meri Maggi” campaign which celebrates the brand’s silver jubilee. To quote a blurb from the jacket, “The book proves the point that it is the capacity to adapt to changes and formulate effective strategies that determines who survives in the hyper-competitive marketplace of today.”

The author has also taken pains to source grabs of many of the television commercials he has discussed in the book — an onerous task, he says, that delayed the publication of the book. They are accompanied by a couple of paragraphs of text — nothing detailed or academic, just a précis of the work. They also put in perspective the over-engineered pabulum that passes for marketing and doesn’t work. The head-scratching moments come right at the end of each case – okay, story – when the author goes on to discuss “What Lies Ahead” or the “Epilogue”.

Halve places a lot of importance on the context or the conditions in the application of the strategies he outlines. Unfortunately, for those faced with the task of developing an advertising campaign with some sort of shelf life, context or any form of rigid frameworking is the enemy of creative thinking.

My other complaint is that this book places a disproportionate amount of stress on advertising as a determining factor in a brand’s success. At the risk of sounding repetitive, there are many reasons products and businesses succeed or fail — timing, management’s competence and interest, cash flow, the overall economic scene. Advertising is, of course, a contributing factor, but the assumption that it is primarily responsible – or as Halve says, advertising can contribute disproportionately to a brand’s success – is slightly overrated.

That said, Halve’s review of published work on each subject is very extensive; most of it is quite recent and will make many of my journalist friends happy — they have been quoted extensively in the book. But the thing to remember is some of it was also written a decade or more back. Look at how things have changed in these 10 years. Today’s consumers are not the same as those of the 1990s; they are more sophisticated and better readers of advertising — a completely new generation, so to speak. The problem is to know which findings apply and which do not, a point the author could have explored further.

All said, you can’t fault Halve on his attention to detail. The sort of effort he has put into the job and his staunch defence of traditional values – such as doing some honest homework, to listen to consumers continuously – will stay with the reader.

DARWIN’S BRANDS
Adapting for success
Anand Halve
Sage Publications
168 pages; Rs 395