AdS… Liberators or manipulators?

Is advertising the art of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money? 4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri checks out...

In her life altering biography ‘Changing’, iconic Swedish actress Liv Ullman (a key player in the legendary film maker Ingmar Bergman’s repertory of hi-octane talents) narrates her shock, bewilderment & terror at some of the ads that blitzed the TV set in her hotel room during one of her visits to Hollywood. “The ads interrupted programmes every 10 minutes – sometimes even more frequently, and made me furious on behalf of my sex. Women are aggressively urged to change their scent, cream their hands, wash their hair in special herbs, make-up their faces beyond recognition, improve their breasts... all in order to catch or keep a man!”

A professor at the New School of Social Research in New York teaches his students that advertising is a “profoundly subversive force in American life. It is intellectual and moral pollution. It trivialises and vulgarises, and is blatantly insincere. It is undermining our faith in our nation and in ourselves.” Adds humorist Stephen Leacock, “It is the art of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it!”

The hi- profile author of the celebrated best seller ‘From the Wonderful folks who gave you Pearl Harbour’, is less charitable & lashes out with all cylinders firing. Spews Della Femina, “Advertising deals in open sores, fear, greed, anger, hostility... you name the dwarfs and we play on them. We play on all the emotions and problems... from not getting ahead in life, to the desire to belong & be one of the crowd. Everyone has a button.” He offers examples of McDonald’s, Pepsi, Coke, Ma Bell, and how they were designed to fill the gap in lonely people’s lives by airing warm, family-oriented commercials that stressed togetherness and bonding to forge human connection and gain popular support at both a conscious & subliminal level.

The art of the psycho sell... the most popular and combustible marketing tactic, which combines the passion of Patton with the cunning of Rommel... the permissible lie... the seductive knack of creating needs & manufacturing wants to meet targets and fatten bottom lines... Is advertising really as evil, poisonous and dangerous as it’s made out to be?

Not according to Mumbai-based adman, Cyrus Hoshider, who sees red at such accusations, “Advertising is probably one of the greatest happenings as a sociological phenomenon. It is a true liberator in as much as it offers you a better quality of life. It exposes you to a wider variety of products & services designed to provide comfort, convenience and a higher level of well-being. Anything that is aspirational and invites you to live better cannot be anything other than a positive influence. To call it manipulative or exploitive is both negative & regressive.”

Kolkata-based journalist, author and filmmaker Jayobroto Chatterjee challenges the premise head-on, “The real world is not about winning accounts or making presentations, but deals with such ‘boring matters’ like truth, integrity, ethics and values in sync with people’s resources, needs and means. What’s the point of flashing glamorous, hi-ticket products to people who can’t afford them? ‘No one’s forcing them to buy’, would be ad makers’ facile argument, but the point is that the mischief has been created. You have subliminally seduced them with the promises of untold reward. That’s devious and dangerous!” Avijit Dutta, COO, Adcon Avertising (Planman Life) is more balanced in his perspective, “Ads are liberators as far as construst is concerned but in a way they require manipulation. If you consider fairness creams, they graze on the mythical fact – fair is beautiful. Companies have been playing on that for quite some time and it’s unfortunate, but they are successful.”

Contemporary thinking does propound that advertising is indeed playing out its role quite effectively, exposing the consumer to a wider array of goods and services enabling him to see, understand, decide and choose. Of course, for consumers who fall for every promise, claim or benefit powered into every ad, “they should stop seeing ads and start seeing a shrink!” says Jayabroto. Journalist Mala Sen provides the grand finale with her views, “Undoubtedly, the positive side of advertising exists loud and clear and it’s really dumb to take a tunnel-view of the issue... (But) where they default is the area of half-truths... it is done with such subtle, manipulative skill that they’ve said everything without saying anything! This is definitely wrong; but moral policing is worse.”

So while advertising is not quite the awesome magical liberating force it’s made out to be by its ardent champions, it’s neither the conniving, slimy, insidious, manipulative, psssst-persuader as suggested by the breed of its fire-spewing critics. Sure, there is a lunatic fringe, but that’s there in every area of life. So, would you dump life as a whole, ignoring moments of joy and fulfilment? In the market-driven new world order (for better, or for worse) advertising is a fact, even necessity, that needs to be applauded or chastised, as the occasion demands. The message for the livid Liv is simple – Dear Liv, Live and Let Live!

AdS… Liberators or manipulators?

The CAN-CAN OVER CANNES! IS IT REALLY SUCH A BIG DEAL?

4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri investigates the method and the madness behind the collective chalo-Cannes-mania!

 It all started as an innocent, even innocuous, discussion at a dinner hosted by a celebrity film critic who bemoaned the unfortunate, sad and bewildering fate of a slew of films that were hugely lauded, celebrated, even awarded at international film festivals, but failed to get a decent release at home, thus, totally cutting off the domestic audience to see and share the experience. “Much like the stuff we see at hi-profile Ad Fests like Cannes huh?” quipped a guest known for his wise-cracks. On cue, I leaped into the fray to defend my tribe. Did he know that he was referring to the most hymned and celebrated ad-event on earth, a much-awaited and coveted annual happening that attracted internationally revered super-stars from across the globe to showcase and celebrate creative excellence? Was he aware of the unprecedented 12 Lions in 5 categories for 6 agencies that we picked up in Cannes in our recent outing in June 2006?

The smart guy didn’t bat an eyelid and rose to the bait. “Sure, but hey, what do these tamashas and awards do for ground realities related to the everyday Indian adscape? Will this 7-star sho-shaa help in producing better, more quality-driven creatives that guarantee clients sweeter success at the cash counter? Will Cannes inspire our huge contingent to return empowered and take creativity to another paradigm? Will the sublime week of wine and rosesmean breaking new ground in fostering a whole new climate of creative excellence that will work as a benchmark for agencies to follow?”

Oooops, I had to confess that beyond being mad, I was stumped because, frankly, I had never really looked upon awards, especially at hi-ticket festivals, in such a cut and dry, “What’s-in-it-for-the-world” mode! I felt it killed the fun, focus, magic and mystique of it all… but the guy’s broadside certainly got me provoked-and thinking. Were these hi-flying events really all that self-congratulatory, self-absorbed and incestuous, or was the wise-guy just taking panga and shooting his mouth for effect? What better way to get some answers than a dipstick among movers and shakers of our community, right? So Operation Check out it was… and this is how it went…

“Scandalous and volte-face as it may sound; Mr. Kill-Joy has a point!” That was Gulu Sen, Dentsu’s hot-shot Creative Chief. According to him, the prime significance of Cannes revolves around the creative community’s obsession for international recognition, the desire to get out of the well and make a splash in the global seas, the longing to be perceived and accepted as a card-carrying member of an elite club that is engaged in celebrating creative excellence. Has this anything to do with the price of onions? “Not really, but that was never the objective. It’s an opportunity to hit marquee-territory, where several ad gurus converge, exhibit their-work (a lot of which is very sophisticated but totally bewildering due to its country and culture-specific tone and style) generally, be dazzled and have a blast!”

Mohammed Khan, the distinguished hi-profile creative boss of Bates-Enterprise begs to differ. He strongly believes that awards and festivals of this nature carry their own special relevance and significance. They focus primarily on high-end excellence with the definitive Big ‘O’ coming from recognition and appreciation of global peers. “I’d like to explode the idiotic myth perpetuated by some silly, ignorant and myopic sods about award-winning ads not working in the market place. Bullcrap! Research has thrown up innumerable examples where excellence has charmed both Jury members and customers.” Khan however appears disturbed about a dangerous phenomenon gaining momentum – SCAM ads. “This nonsense has to stop before it ruins, dilutes or tarnishes the image of this magnificent festival where the best of the best converge in the French Riviera to celebrate the alpha and omega of creative excellence. If it doesn’t, then before long, it could well be caricatured as the (in)famous SCAM FEST!” Before signing off, Ad-world’s King Khan has strong words for people who show disrespect for awards or festivals. “If it’s envy, then they need to go back to the drawing board and raise the bar. Otherwise, they will be well advised to immediately quit the business and try other vocations like law, medicine, accountancy, banking, retail et al!”

Sushil Pandit, CEO of THE HIVE chooses to take the analytical route. He believes that awards (by their very nature) have very little to do with brands or consumers” unless there is an award introduced where “consumers decide which ad they liked best and why.” That too, he reckons, would not be a fair vote because truly effective advertising is supposed to work insidiously and invisibly without drawing too much attention to itself. They are, after all, meant to work as hidden persuaders. “On that logic, awards seem to serve only one real purpose – place a halo around a creative person’s head and declare him God! The greatest irony is that while this phenomenon is completely divorced from the brand the person is working for, it works magically for the brand the creative person (post-award) has become! These brands exist in various hyped and hoopla-ed ad agencies as revered trophies and fashionable shops frequently with vie each other to own them. Whether the clients share this enthusiasm or the customers have a clue about these strange goings-on is debatable, but that’s the way it is. “Cannes is only a glamorous version of all this and more.” Pandit is convinced that this whole awards and festival shindig works outstandingly for the net-working community, comprising a tight, charmed circle whose back-slapping bonhomie assures them a gala time – and on a good day, may be an award or two, too!

Freddy Birdy (Creative Director and joint CEO of THE SHOP) wonders whether these detractors are in the same business as he is! The celebrated thirteen-time winner of the ‘Best Copywriter of the year’ awardee passionately believes that awards are really where it’s at. “They are the ultimate symbols of recognition and appreciation of creative excellence and Cannes is the undisputed Olympics and Oscars of adworld. It’s a very, very big deal and anyone who thinks otherwise should see their friendly neighbourhood shrink! “Regarding the connect with the client, its largely about pride and enhanced-status to be associated with an award-winning agency /creative person who (beyond Delhi Ad Club) has competed and won against the best in the world. “It assures them that they are in safe hands and whatever these gifted people produce will spell class. Oh, for the award winner boy, he is going to be preached like mad!


Hype, believes the Exec. CD of Rediff DYR, Rahul Jauhari. He is really the critical driver for our Adbiz where Cannes is concerned. “The more visible we are there, the more winners we plonk at the winners podium, the less we are likely to drool and obsess about it. As of now, these are still early days; we are still a trifle starry-eyed and so Cannes does remain an incomparable platform to celebrate great work, share exciting ideas and open up to newer possibilities of radical thinking and smarter execution.” Prahlad Kakkar, the unputdownable maverick (of course!) has his very own irreverent spin. Deadpans the bearded iconoclast, “I remain thunderstruck at the astonishing levels of inventiveness, creativity and ingenuity that marks the Cannes tamasha every year. For me, it’s like a whole new Discovery Channel, Boss! Have you ever heard of an ad travelling straight from Jhumri Talaiya to Cannes? Happens all the time, or else, how come we hardly ever see those precious, celebrated prize-winners at home, yaar!” While K. V. Sridhar, Creative Boss of Leo Burnett is categorical about awards at Cannes being sensational morale boosters – for the Adfrat and country – he believes it also sends out a clear signal of “our ability to constantly raise the bar to match global standards of excellence.”

So at the end of the day, what is the take-out? Is the Band-Baaja just another 7-day wonder (like our Film Fest’s) – a heavenly, cultural and intellectual diversion from the usual khichir-phichir and rona-dhona of everyday work before returning to terra firma with a thud… or is it a truly exciting and inspirational platform showcasing outstanding creative excellence that needs to be recognised, saluted and considered reference point and yard-stick to measure ones work against? As always, Mccann’s Santosh Desai sums it up in fine style, “Cannes’ usefulness cannot be denied in terms of providing us a snapshot of what the world is thinking… It’s not really wide-eyed learning, but an interesting exposure.” Dehai also believes that Cannes works wonderfully as a motivational junket for kids, a paid holiday to an exotic celebrity event designed to dazzle and charge their batteries. However, he doesn’t attach too much importance to the fabled “networking” factor because, as he puts it, “unless you are a gifted 24*7 networking junkie, whom and how many stars can you possibly buttonhole for life-transforming dialogue and discussion? Besides, with the overwhelming festive ambience, after six drinks, everyone looks the same... and they certainly sound the same!” Apart from an embarrassingly dis-proportionate high contingent India sent – 12 from the Press and 100 from the frat, compared to 1 and 50 respectively from Thailand, who incidentally picked up many more awards than us – what worries Desai about Cannes is the way we approach it. “with material created and crafted more for awards than consumers.” But, he appreciates that in the process, there is a definite honing of craft, “we are still light years away from a Thailand or a Brazil, countries who have evolved a way of seeing the world their way. We are still pre-occupied in seeing the world in ways that win awards and that can be both dangerous and self-cancelling. Why? Because it means that this annual pilgrimage to Cannes, in some fashion, dents and blunts our confidence in doing it our own way and instead prompt us to be somebody else… cater and pander to the white man’s approval, which emerges from the White man’s understanding of advertising or creative excellence…”'

Touche… The plot thickens…

The CAN-CAN OVER CANNES! IS IT REALLY SUCH A BIG DEAL?

“PEOPLE DON’T BUY FROM CLOWNS...! OR DO THEY?”

4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri examines the deathless statement from an iconic Ad guru and checks out its validity in today’s hugely, humour-driven ad space...

Way back in the late eighties, when I was closely associated with a big ad agency, I got a call one morning from our most pompous, egoistical and self-absorbed clients, inviting me out to lunch at a ‘fancy place’. I was totally zonked and enquired, hesitantly, the reason/occasion. “It’s serious stuff, Lahiri. Be sure to be there on time. You ad guys...”

I hotfooted to the joint ten minutes before time. He arrived soon after, flashed an approving tight smile, motioned me to sit, ordered for the both of us, lit up his pipe, stretched back and got ready to lay it on the line. “Advertising is going to the dogs young man, with damn ganwaars (illiterates) coming from the boondocks threatening to break in with their absurd, down- market (imagine?!), Hinglish stuff”!

He paused to take a drag of his pipe and waited for the bearer to leave after placing our drinks on the table, before continuing. “No taste! No class! And to make matters worse, they dare to deploy humour. Advertising – which is selling – is very, very serious stuff, dear boy. As the master has said, “No one buys from clowns.” Well, as it goes, do they?

Today, a good decade and a half later, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at what that conceited, tunnel viewed bozo said, because humour, fun, the light touch, has become the breath of life in a lot of the advertising we see... and advertainment is pretty much the new lingua franca in the communication delivery mode. Why? “Because humour disarms and makes one more acceptation of certain thoughts and images that could be hard to take in a serious discourse...,” says the flamboyant and brilliant ad man, George Louis. He has constantly hit out at “scientific fools, marketing windbags, stiff-ass bureaucrats, research fascists and pompous biggies,” because he believes a lack of humanity (read ‘humour’) kills great communication.

Back home, Louis finds a huge ra-ra constituency, totally rooting for the ha-ha factor to attract, interest, provoke, desire and trigger the purchase intent in the consumer universe targeted. Ad film-maker, Prahlad Kakkar, who began his foray into ad films by providing (at that time) a total break from conventional reason to develop audacious tongue-in-cheek, whacko stuff (Remember Ketchup, “It’s different!” ad?), believes humour is a great leveller because it breaks down barriers and distances in one fell swoop. Most of his stuff, even today, has a definite stamp of smart, visual wit. Prasoon Joshi (whose Thanda Matlab Thande Ka Tadka, Happydent White ads plug humour with all cylinders firing) defines humour as a social lubricant that’s easy to catch and hang on to because it’s the most basic emotion. It comes easier than sorrow or grief. Successful TV Commercials (TVCs) that have hit the humour button in the past include Compaq Presario, Fevicol, Naukri.com, Live-in Jeans, Pepsi’s Mallika ad and Centrefresh, among others.

Perceptive Communication’s people around the world often find “Compression” a good way of getting the point across in an effective manner. Arnold Schwarzenegger was once famously described as a guy “looking like a bunch of walnuts wrapped in a condom!” The writer confessed that he wasn’t consciously trying to be funny, but only endeavouring to convey something in the least number of words. If compression leads to humour, then humour leads to smile. Legend has it that a Chinese hospital reported a dramatic drop in the number of complaints after instructing their staff to show at least eight teeth while smiling!

On a serious note, the reason why humour is so powerful in advertising is really very basic: It’s a bridge that links the brand to the consumer, because laughter is the shortest distance between two people... and a smile, really, is that amazing meeting of minds. It signifies a positive and physical feedback from your audience. Wit invites participation. Humour ensures higher recall & remembrance, and triggers word-of-mouth communication as no other mode.

Incidentally, the best jokes aren’t based on imagination, but on observation of real people. See how they speak, gesture, react, joke, even kiss and oh, how they never look at each other in a lift. The best and funniest ads invariably happen when the joke comes from the product and could not exist without the product. The best jokes, therefore, do not automatically translate to a great and memorable ad. It has been noticed that beyond any sales tool, humour invokes a special kind of collective intimacy that is hard to match.

Humour not only wins truckloads of awards at the classy festivals, but also produces sweet music at the cash counter. Says Santosh Desai, “In earlier times, the 8 Reasons Why You Should Buy This, delivered in BBC-style English, worked. Today, it doesn’t. People are not looking for gyan, but fun, entertainment, laugh.” Michael Porter, the father of generic competitive strategies, had enunciated that to radically gain market share within any industry, one could either be a cost leader or be a product differentiator. But the killer comes now. If one is not able to be either, then the best strategy would be to ensure that your product has the highest brand recall. And humour has been found to be the most effective tactic to support this brand recall.

In the end, with due respect to the revered Claude Hopkins, in a world brutalised by pain, poverty and human suffering, clowns are the new superstars of our times, because all said and done, even the most hardened sceptic and cynic will agree that humour, Mr. Anderson, is better than tumour! 

“PEOPLE DON’T BUY FROM CLOWNS...! OR DO THEY?”

ADVERTISING RESEARCH:TOOL or CRUTCH?

“Focus groups are bogus! Anybody who consciously carves out an hour and a half of his/her time to go to a fluorescent-lit room with stale pakodas, wafers and insipid coffee doing the rounds with the idea of a life-altering discussion on why one brand of mosquito-repellent is a wow, or whether one brand of soap will give you the big ‘O’ while bathing compared to another….is a LOSER!”

“Research is about asking rational-sounding questions that create the expectation that there will be rationale answers. If you ask for rational explanations, chances are, you are likely to get one. But baby, frequently, it has nothing to do with the truth! Why? Because it was only an answer, remember, why should it have to be rooted and embedded to the psyche?”

PHEW!

It does appear that one of the 7-star hell-holes of advertising research is their sacrosanct and tradition bound Questionnaire format. The problem with it is that it instantly provides for a divide and guarantees a barrier between ourselves and the consumer. O&M’s head honcho, Piyush Pandey, seconds this thinking vociferously. “How can one take seriously dumb answers to dumb questions and place it as the gospel truth around which you create your communication? At O&M we believe that the theatre of life as seen, felt and experienced through the prism of our experience, is the best research. Besides, life is about inconsistencies and jagged edges: That’s what makes it exciting and unpredictable. How can you get a handle on that?” Interestingly, David Ogilvy – the revered founding father of the very same agency has a very different point of view. “There have always been the noisy lunatics on the fringes of the advertising business. Their stock-in-trade includes ethnic humour, eccentric art direction, contempt for research and their self proclaimed genius...”
 
Hansa Research’s, Sumita Sen, comes next “I think it has become fashionable to dismiss or bad mouth research ever since creativity stormed centre-stage with their stars hogging limelight like never before.” She asserts that ‘research’ has never ever professed or pretended to offer their clients the ultimate solution in terms of what works/doesn’t work in the market place or mind space. At best, it offers indicators and directions and if used properly, can work as an important strategic tool. However, she adds, “It could be a crutch for those who choose to read the findings as the Ten Commandments, completely ignoring experience, knowledge and gut feel.”

She has her supporters.

Mike Davidson, head of a large multi-national, confesses that research is the first thing they run with to find out how people relate to a brand and what people think of it. “It helps check out target reactions to a brand and response to language in a given category. Supposing a writer has to do an ad about a product line he/she does not use or is not familiar with (lingerie, tampons, and cosmetics), it is crucial to understand the sentiments and feelings of the target group about the language they are comfortable with and willing to accept. Conti...


Sensitivity is the key. Thereafter, it’s about using that piece of knowledge as a dynamic springboard to take that creative leap into the consumer mindscape.” Ad Guru, John Hegarty, agrees. He looks at research as “another opinion” and a dip-stick to what’s going on in the world around us. The voice of dissent, however, remains single-mindedly aggressive. “It is interesting,” they acidly observe, “that the best advertising research never, at any stage, mentions advertising!” According to them research is the journey around the consumer’s head regarding his wishes, hopes, dreams, desires and aspirations, and positioning the brand in a manner that’ll make them come true. It’s a technique borrowed from counselling. Tell me about your life and I’ll find a point of connection. Alyque Padamsee begs to differ. “I am a great believer of research-driven advertising. My classic KAMASUTRA, LALITAJI (SURF) AND LIRIL campaigns were powered as much by focus group sessions as insight.”

Gutsy insights vs. academic research

Sumit Roy, the brilliant founder-director of UNIVBRANDS, has his special take. “Most people tend to use research like a drunk uses a lamp-post! At another level, the mega corporations use it, largely, to protect their arse (“I gotta sack 500 people- and fast. Mckinsey told me so!”). It’s not about Mckinsey talking nonsense. It’s about spending mega-bucks so that the obvious truth seems more sacrosanct and valuable.” Roy believes that true-blue brand architects use their own brand of insightful research. They use guts to move mountains, going against all odds and winning. “It takes a Ravi Gupta to fly against research findings and insist on an Indian Cola-THUMS UP. It takes a Michael Roux to dismiss the total no-no of research of the ABSOLUTE VODKA ad launched campaign, and run with his gut-feel to make it such an absolute smash success in its category.
 
Gulu Sen, National Creative Director, Dentsu, adds his own spin. He believes research breeds and re-enforces stereotypes and champions the boring risk-free communication that is the order of the day. It caters unashamedly, to the feel-good factor and completely destroys clutter-busting, exciting and memorable work. “I cannot deny its role in terms of offering direction and perspective, but to blindly follow research is to completely erase the voyage to the unknown, redolent with amazing surprises and treasures. McCann’s Santosh Desai is equally skeptical. “The way research is conducted today, is largely tokenism, and mostly, hogwash! They do nothing more than throw some light on the areas of darkness.” He believes that if research is still a star in many mega-corps scheme of things it’s largely because of the convenience and insecurity factor.”

The big boys in the board rooms are unable (not trained?) to take the crucial call about what will/will not swing in the marketplace and therefore, it’s convenient to (hide behind?) point to research surveys and findings as the gospel truth. “He is categorical in pointing out that their hugely successful COKE and PERFETTI campaigns did not remotely touch the research button. “They were powered by insightful storytelling laced with drama, wit and charm.”

So what’s the final take-out? Is it a tool or a crutch? Its simple. We have to get away from the idea of wanting people to respond in a particular way to the ad. On the contrary, the ad must be a response to the people. In the end, good advertising research can show you the light, but not the way. That’s a path you have to pick for yourself…

ADVERTISING RESEARCH:TOOL or CRUTCH?