 "Adaptability in ad making")
In a world that is more globalised than ever, it may not serve advertising agencies well if they are inward-looking or tend to look for human insights in a culture-specific manner. Indian agencies work for brands that cater to markets beyond our national borders. And it is ads which appeal to wider sensibilities that grab top honours at fests such as Cannes. In this scenario, what are the skills that ad agencies in India need to develop to ensure that they adopt a global approach while retaining local flavours in their creative output?
Samit Sinha, founder and managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting, says a majority of the multinational brands or clients occupy a space that allows some amount of localisation of creative content. Client organisations are becoming more and more multicultural, accommodating expatriates and first- or second-generation immigrants who carry a cultural baggage from their home countries.
“Similarly, what agencies also need to do and not just for the one located at the headquarters is to start having a multicultural mix of human resources. If the agency’s primary deliverable is a creative product then the best form of creativity happens when there is cross-pollination. Therefore, the more diversity you can create in your HR, the greater the cross-pollination and the greater the chances of you having great creative product in terms of originality as well as relevance across markets,” he says.
While such a step can be viewed in the long term, for a short-term solution agencies should allow transfer its personnel so that they are exposed to different cultures and attain a wider perspective. Sinha feels while agencies do practise these, they don’t do enough of it.
The advent of digital media has also simplified communication manifold, breaking boundaries and freeing communications to audiences worldwide. Success is tied to adoption of new technologies, but Sinha feels traditional agencies are behind in this regard while client organisations are ahead in terms of digital literacy.
“We are certainly way behind in India. It’s probably true in varying degrees across the world. Many agencies have not adapted to the digital reality quick enough. Because even today when I deal with ad agencies for print and TV commercials whenever you are talking about an integrated campaign which takes into account the digital media there’s almost a sense of ‘that will be handled by our digital wing’,” he says, cautioning that it’s only a matter of time before the digital overtakes television.
A recent report from marketing intelligence service Warc says the Indian industry is set to record the biggest annual growth in advertising spend in 2016, compared to 12 other markets that were studied, with a 13 per cent year-on-year (YoY) hike. The Indian advertising market is projected to reach Rs 51,365 crore in 2016. Globally, television spend is expected to grow 2.8 per cent YoY in 2016, according to the report, while the growth rates for the Internet and mobile advertising are much higher at 14.6 per cent and 47.1 per cent.
While Indians are seen to be enjoying a unique advantage of being brought up in a multi-cultural society that leads to adaptability, some are of the view that agencies are giving digital media their due.
Anil Nair, chief executive officer, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, says: “We have already warmed up to it early enough to come to a stage where it’s becoming a central part of our offering, which is no longer television-led. Five years earlier, TV commercials made it to portfolios but now a Twitter campaign that was extended to other channels is finding space.” He points out the promotion of digital platforms such as Hotstar is an indication of the digital medium slowly taking over in India too.
Nair feels the onus is on global brands to wake up to content of a certain gravitas coming out of a country like India rather than turning to popular hubs such as London and New York alone. “I believe when we get exposed to other cultures, we are the fastest adaptors across strategy, management and creative. Personally, I think we are not being leveraged enough. We know how to deal with multicultural audiences rather than someone from an insular culture.”
According to Nair, while more work is being done that explores universal insights, execution and production remain drawbacks in the Indian context. “Unfortunately, the decision to run a global campaign is still vested in the hands of global marketing directors and brand heads. But if you see, Mondelez has huge visibility on India, similarly Perfetti looks at India very differently. It’s time for the Coca-Colas and Samsungs to look at India as a creative hub.” Nair says.
Habeeb Nizamudin, chief marketing officer, IPG Mediabrands, says that media insights are primarily localised.
“The creation of communication requires local insights to be taken in, and then distilled to see which human insights could be tapped. Its treatment and execution could vary,” he adds.
Advertising agencies have to build on core human insights. For agencies to create communications that can be adopted globally, he mentions that the creative process is a complex one and is focused on “finding human insights, cultural relevance and then being able to craft a solution which is acceptable across cultures”.
Another critical aspect is taking the communication forward or its “media translation”. Nizamudin says, “Beyond how you air the commercial is how you engage the consumer, taking the thought forward and making it relevant for people.”
He cites the examples of Dettol — it allied with the government’s Swachh Bharat initiative which spawned a wide-scale connect activity across the country — and Coke Studio which was uniquely customised for India and was different from Coke Studio in other countries.
