Ad rules work for public messages too: Expert

 Speaking about how the create a corporate brand, R Gopalkrishnan, executive director, said that while in India and US brands were still synonymous with specific products, it was not so in the East where brands like Mitsubishi or Casio would mean different products to different consumers. In this case, it was the spirit of the corporate entity which would become its brand and should be communicated, said Gopalkrishnan.

 In another session, debating the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements, the panellist came to one conclusion that one could no longer blindly use celebs without having a clear concept. "Celebs should be used as messengers, not the message," said Prasoon Joshi, regional creative director-south asia, McCann-Erickson.

Ashok Venkatramani, VP (skin division) of Hindustan Lever, pointed out that when using a celebrity, it was important that the celeb being used was credible to the target audience and that he wasn't over-exposed so as to still remain effective.

The panel agreed that doing multiple endorsements did eat into the 'halo effect' otherwise associated with celeb endorsements.