CELEB ADS IN BIG TROUBLE?!

Nightmare times to knock on guilty celebrity-endorsed doors… Jail for brand ambassadors! Hefty fine for companies! 4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri investigates...

Okay guys, the sublime, never-ending and blissful honeymoon that the celeb Brand Ambassadors elite club [read: Bollywood & cricket stars] enjoyed, pocketing insane mega-bucks by endorsing brands for companies, could have hit a killer road-block! The new Companies Bill 2008 proposes to toss any – or every – celeb into the slammer for up to three years, if found guilty of being party to propagate misleading claims and inducing customers to buy the product advertised. The companies involved are under the scanner as well. If found guilty, they will have to shell out a cool Rs.50 lakh [from a piddly Rs.1 lakh, earlier] in fine, for cheating and frauding the unguarded consumer. However, there is one bright spark. The Prosecution will have to ‘conclusively prove’ that the celeb endorser was aware he/she was making a false statement or representation – or that he/she did what he/she did, without ascertaining the facts.

The ad-frat, industry & celeb-management guys appear dumbstruck at what, they believe, is a ‘draconian’ move. Hot-shot photographer Atul Kasbekar leads the charge by going on record stating, “This is ridiculous! How on earth can a celeb be held responsible for worms in the brand of chocolate he endorses?!” Sanotsh Desai, head honcho of the Future Group, believes that the dice is – very unfairly – loaded against the celebs. “A penalty of Rs.50 lakh for the company and jail sentence for the celebrity is absurd.”

Anuja Chauhan, Executive Creative Director, JWT (whose debut novel The Zoya Factor is making big waves with the chick-lit diwanas) brings her own spin to the table. “I think its a good idea... specially if the brand endorser is endorsing the brand as himself... as in as Shahrukh Khan as opposed to as Rahul/Raj, or as Amitabh Bachchan as opposed to as Dadaji or whatever... and specially when the brand is targeting a lower or more rural SEC of consumer who truly take what the celebrity says to be the Gospel Truth. When some international brand comes to India and tries to woo me, I don’t know the brand, I just know the endorser. He’s the guy I totally believe in, he’s the one who introduces me to the brand and vouches for it. It’s like a friend introducing a stranger to you. So if the stranger takes you for a ride, you will go to your friend only, and say, yaar tooney toh mujhe duba hi diya...”

Just-exited-from-Ogilvy, Creative Director, Titus Upputuru offers his take. “There are advocates in India whose daily job is to pick up stuff that they deem to be incorrect of offensive. I remember I did this ad when I was with TBWA. It was against marble excavation. I wrote a headline that said ‘Somebody please stop this guy from hitting his mother on the head repeatedly with the hammer.’ Now that was supposed to be in the context of mother earth and stuff. But a huge hullabaloo was created saying we are encouraging violence against mothers. Now isn’t that crazy? And we had no option but to stop the next lot of releases. I guess there should be a body that has better representation from the industry who have the discernment to check if the ad is really misleading.”
 
Ujjal Sinha, CEO of the Kolkata-based ad agency, Genesis, believes that it is more posturing than the real thing. “I would like to see who or which body has the guts to throw Big B, SRK or Sachin Tendulkar in the cooler! Does every promise that they dish out through their endorsements to attract the desired response, resonate with solid facts that can be proved? Highly unlikely.” That at least something (at long last) has been done in this “surreal area” seems to please school teacher Radha Iyer. The 30-year-old believes that it could well work as a ‘warning’ to both companies and celeb endorsers, forever doing their bindaas, irresponsible number in this space. “Hopefully, they will look before they leap,” she adds.

Are they? Will they?

As this goes into print, Sani Fresh has signed on TV star, Saakshi Tanwar as their brand ambassador; Bollywood’s new sensation, Asin [Ghajini] has been scooped up by Tata Sky and Shahid Kapur has signed the dotted line for VIP travel gear brand. Is there a brand-fit between product profile and celeb profile? Will the consumer product promise really deliver the goods… or will misleading claims, riding on red-hot celeb-endorsers, continue to blaze away? Authoritative and high profile voices have lauded this move and are of the belief that it would definitely create “transparency between all parties involved as also encourage ad agencies to get genuine clients. It would also work as an effective filter and weed out irresponsible hustlers, while protecting consumers, ad agencies, companies and celeb endorsers from getting duped.”

Rhetoric or resolve? Only time will tell… in the meantime stand by for a fresh slew of celeb endorsements with mobile number pay cheque fees! Oh, also take a close look at prisons in your friendly neighbourhood lock-up for a whole new and starry version of Jailhouse Rock! 

CELEB ADS IN BIG TROUBLE?!

Is Ogilvy’s monopoly as creative hot-shop No. 1 over…?

4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri lobs this deadly bomb, among the ad-frat, with its mouth open. Stand by for the explosion!

For over a decade, one agency relentlessly (with boring predictability?!) dominated the Indian ad scene with all cylinders firing. Men-in-Black blitzing centre-stage, they were perceived as the true-blue OOD (Object of Desire, dumbkoff!) to starry-eyed aspirants, envious rivals, admiring peers, enthusiastic media and zonked-out clients alike! They dared to re-define, re-invent and re-script the rules of the game to win friends and influence people by the heaps – including snooty, khadoos, phirang jury members plonked at hi-ticket, glamorous, globally revered ad fests! Fronted by the Ranjan Kapur-Piyush Pandey duo, Ogilvy repeatedly broke new ground to scale new heights, opening up new and exciting ways of challenging the very concept of ‘Creativity’ of a nation that worshipped the past while wooing the future; that celebrated unity amidst diversity; that was ready to look beyond the haw-haw stereotypical brown saab’s vision to embrace communication that was desi and entertained, enthralled, informed and persuaded in one lethal sweep.

Today, has this hugely popular and successful vision, creative (business) model, take (somewhere) gotten predictable, boring, clichéd? Has their once-refreshingly perspectives become a no-big-deal affair? Have other agencies like JWT, Bates, Leo Burnett, Contract and Lowe made regular forays into this once ‘reserved’ space with growing success? Is Ogilvy’s monopoly as the undisputed dada in the creative sphere over? Is the margin between them and the red-hot contenders sphere slowly narrowing, dangerously? Is it time to pass on the baton (or at least share the top spot) with another?

“Yes. It had to happen. It’s the law of nature. That Ogilvy has dominated the creative scene all these years, is a tribute to their outstanding talent pool and Piyush Pandey’s dynamic leadership. No two ways.” Leo Burnett’s head honcho Arvind Sharma, however believes that in today’s highly competitive market both clients & consumers are constantly looking for fresh takes & at the end of the day, yesterday’s freshness is today’s cliché. “Besides, no one’s got a lifelong copyright on creative excellence! Also I see the significance and importance of TV weakening in the next few years – Ogilvy’s biggest strength. That’s their main prime media with everything else emanating from that. For example if you didn’t see the Pappu Pass Ho Gaya TVC, the co-lateral is unlikely to make sense. Re-invention is called for at a time when challenges & opportunities in the ad scene are going through paradigm shift at a nano-second pace!”

The new golden boy of India’s ad scene JWT’s Agnello Dias [Lead India, Teach India, whose campaign took Cannes by storm] is up next, “Everything considered , its fair to say that the once wide gap between Ogilvy & others has narrowed considerably. A bad day at the office for them, today, is good news for others, all primed and ready to strike! Hence the time when even their ordinary ads were way ahead of others is clearly over. They are still up there, with their nose ahead, but its touch & go time. Anytime, anybody could have a grab at that crown. Its not an undisputed case, anymore.”
 
Dias, however salutes Ogilvy and credits them for successfully raising the bar in their search for excellence on the way to the top. “Today many other agencies are playing their version of this game, with exciting effect. Suddenly, its open house!” Dias ends his perspective with a solid bite, “When I was with Leo Burnett, six years ago, I remember kids were prepared to give their right arm for Ogilvy! It was ‘the’ place for them! Today that scene is, however, history. The world has moved on. Maybe Ogilvy needs to introspect.”

“The ad-space, traditionally, has been divided into two groups- the Suits & the Yahoo!s. The former – client servicing guys – have been calling the shots for donkey’s years, but in recent times seemed to have mucked it up royally! This has caused grave embarrassment to themselves, their colleagues and the profession. The other group – creatives – decided not to take any further crap, stepped in and took both control & centre-stage and have been rocking ever since, with great success.” That was Prahlad Kakkar speaking. The bearded iconoclastic, rent-a-quote maverick points in the general direction of Ogilvy and insists they are the ones who started it all. “They led from the front, set an example by encouraging, fostering, nurturing & protecting their creative people & legacy they wished to celebrate & preserve everyday. They made themselves both responsible & accountable for every single piece of work that went out and for eight years swept the polls [clients, awards, peers, public imagination] in unprecedented fashion. They showed guts and talent in equal measure in doing it their way. Today other agencies are following their example in how to make it happen.” Kakkar believes that Ogilvy still continues to do great stuff, but others too are not far behind.

Sagar Mahabaleswarkar has a nervous smile. A key player of Ogilvy’s core team since the mid-nineties [till a year ago when he switched lanes to move as CCO, Rediffusion] the creative honcho says he’s been hearing this theme-song from way back then, so this issue is not a new one. However the reason for this new hoo-haa about Ogilvy’s reputation being threatened is simple. “Till a few years ago, all ad-watchers will agree that JWT was nowhere in the creative radar. Suddenly in the last couple of years a couple of campaigns have catapulted their position, status and reputation! Why? Because they came in from the cold to centre-stage! This fires public imagination and media blew them through the roof! It’s a great, fat, juicy, media story! Who wants to hear about the boring number one?” Sagar believes that the tougher part of being No. 1 is staying there. “Remember what a sensation McCann created with Thanda Matlab & Happy Dent sometime back? Where are they now?” However, he concedes that with the rules of the game changing the equation between conventional & non-conventional media, Ogilvy has taken a bit of a hit. “Their strength lies in print & TV. The emphasis on non-conventional media at awards spells bad news for them. They need to address this problem quickly.”

Josy Paul, Chairman & NCD, BBDO, India ends the debate in flamboyant fashion. “Ogilvy is all-pervasive, man! Just like the Indianisation of the English dictionary, there is an ‘Ogilvy-isation’ of our adbiz. There are any number of Ogilvy guys gracing hot-seats in hi-ticket agencies and doing what they were taught there. Whether its Prasoon, Bobby, Sagar or guys in Lowe – the Ogilvy blueprint is there for all to see. I’m sure they feel more pride than threat!” 

Is Ogilvy’s monopoly as creative hot-shop No. 1 over…?

ART V/S COPY!

4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri attempts a checkout on a time-tested ‘war’ that frequently invades the ‘creative’ space of most ad agencies!

As every moron knows, an ad comprises of words and pictures. The word component is the domain of the Copywriter and the visuals, the Art person. Interestingly, although their combined creativity, skills and craft went into the making/creation of the ad, they functioned separately. This meant that the Copywriter wrote his stuff and handed it over to the Art person – usually with some guidelines – who then proceeded to visualise it in an appropriately meaningful manner. The duo also (frequently) came from different ‘social’ stratospheres. The Copywriter, usually, came from a Convent/Public School background, was fluent in English and totally comfortable with both the command and nuances of the language. He was also heavily into what this world offered – theatre, poetry, literature, cinema, cocktail parties… this invariably made him the ‘spokesperson’ of the creative team and the front guy during briefing, interaction and presentations. The Art guy, a hugely gifted person, normally was an Art School/College product, not terribly comfortable either with the English language or its fancy manifestations. He/she was happy to do the work assigned to the best of his/her ability and go home, quite content to live in the shadows…

In the year 2008, does the Art-Copy divide still exist – in any form? Does the subliminal khunnas in the Art guys still remain with the Copy brats for constantly stealing their thunder, unfairly? Do the Copy-hotties still luxuriate in the old smugness… or in this new world-order, is all that a thing of the past with convergence finally replacing conflict?

Ogilvy’s talented Delhi-based Creative Director, Titus Upputuru takes first strike. “Weird as it may sound today, this kind of crazy division of labour did exist, once! Three things slammed it out. One, the concept of ideation [replacing the earlier juvenile words and pictures ying-yang] that demanded collaboration, shared thinking and brainstorming. Two, the tacit recognition by the Art guys that there is a world of difference between Art [aesthetics and design by-the-book] and Art Direction [creating powerful seductive communication that will sell in the market place] putting an end to the dreaded, old-fashioned Art College syndrome! Lastly, the entry and popularity of Design Yatra – an art-specific fest held every year, where hot-shot globally acclaimed Art and Design Gurus come down to India [Goa?] every year to conduct workshops with our art guys.”

Redifussion Y&R’s brilliant NCD, Sagar Mahabaleshwkar agrees. He remembers the time when there was a distinct LOC between the Copy and Art guys and believes that the globally renowned Young & Rubicam were the ones who demolished this divide and got them together. “In India, I think, Ogilvy followed this model early on with the Piyush Pandey-Sonal Dobral team leading the way. They were brilliant and successful all the way. Soon, others followed.” The creative honcho believes that this had to happen in response to the paradigm shift and changing contours of the new consumerscape as also the direction in which communication was headed.
 
“The era of smart words and pretty visuals were over. In a fiercely competitive market place, ads that were clutter-busting and powered with solid persuasion-quotient were the ones that were most likely to make a difference. Hence, joint brainstorming was the obvious solution. This resulted in the Art-College type Art guys recognising the significance of a well-argued, convincing communication capsule and the Copy guys recognising the fact that, many times, a powerful visual with minimum copy could do the trick. It was a learning curve for both providing a win-win situation for all concerned.” He cites the hilarious example of the globally revered creative Guru, Neil French, who once asked him if he knew why Art Directors went bonkers… and Copywriters didn’t! “Seeing my blank expression, he explained, that unlike writers who leveraged reason, argument and logic in their work, the Art person just freaked out on imagination, with all cylinders firing. This put so much pressure on one side of the brain that at one point, they flip their lid!” Ogilvy’s poster-boy Creative Director [impishly?] chooses to rain on this parade! Sumanto Chatopadhaya reckons that while the scary teller-system approach of Copywriters passing on copy to the Art person through a cubby-hole for visuals is over, the Copywriter still remains the public face of the team. “The reasons are obvious. English is the language of business communication and the writer is, mostly, more articulate and confident in that language than his Art partner. This allows for a higher degree of comfort level during interaction with clients. Also, for TVCs, usually script ideas emanate from the writer. Of course there are exceptions like my colleague Rajiv Rao, an Art person, who is brilliant and sufficiently articulate when he chooses to make a point. But then exceptions prove the rule, right? Hey, I hope my Art Director colleagues and associates don’t kill me after this sound byte!”

The last words, fittingly, must come from Adworld’s new super cat Paddy of Leo Burnett, whose Luxor ad created a sensation at Cannes. “I think the divide is history with Art Colleges themselves taking the initiative of making the students more savvy in the verbal area. They are now totally clued-in into articulating, explaining and defending their work in selling-mode instead of just letting their work do the talking.” He also believes that global exposure has played a huge part in this turnaround with art people realising that collaboration will only add value to the end product.

ART V/S COPY!

Has Our Big Bang At Cannes Rocketed Us To The Global Arena?

4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri checks-out with the Adfrat

The Toast of the Fest! The Stars of the event! The Flavour of the day! India – with an unprecedented tally of 23 metals (including the first-ever Grand Prix, Integrated Lion & Cyber Lion) swept across all categories, and re-enforced by physical presence in all major juries – scored big, both at the hustings and the mind space of the global guru’s gracing the glamorous, glitzy and hi-profile ‘Oscars’ of the ad world! Accolades came thick and fast from hot-shots like Terry Savage (“They have done extraordinarily well this year”), Craig Davis (“brilliant ideas can come from anywhere. Bravo!”), Mark Gross (“Their work is beginning to stand out because they are getting to know more about the medium, its nuances and what should be done in that medium. They will now move only upwards …”), Rodney Fitch (“India has indeed scored very high!”) and Colleen DeCourcy (“India is already thinking on the new media as well and the creative talent is being groomed to think in that direction. That is a good sign. Clearly the expectations will be more, next time.”)

Looking back today, does all this indicate ad-India’s coming of age in the global platform? Or are these early days? Or is too much being read about a hyped firang awards, which has no connection with the ground realities defining India’s market space?

Siddhartha Roy (Executive Director, RESPONSE, Kolkata) fires the first salvo. He believes that in today’s globalised world, “Cannes is important and our work being awarded there demonstrates our worth in the international arena – reason enough to celebrate!” His main reason to rejoice however is “an exciting climate of creativity, powered by the new-age client’s genuine desire to buy into fresh, cutting-edge ideas is clearly visible. This augurs well for the future.” Equus Red Cell’s Swapan Seth is not so sure. He reckons that while modest jubilation is in order, too much shouldn’t be read into this scoring. Why? “Because, barring some outstanding (produced and released) work, Cannes continues to be claimed by … Scams!”

Ujjal Sinha (CEO, Genesis, Kolkata) however refuses to be so cynical. “Globally, India today is rocking! From DAVOS to IT, its Incredible India all the way! Cannes, sort of (appropriately) seemed to fall in line.” Sinha however cautions about getting carried away and emphasises that we have a long way to go before we consistently are able to deliver world-class communication slugs.
 
Alyque Padamsee agrees. “Without meaning to be a kill-joy or Devil’s Advocate, I have to say that this hoo-haa shouldn’t be taken with a pinch of salt!” The revered ad-guru believes that to be actually perceived, recognised and respected as a creative powerhouse, a country has to have at least ten ad agencies consistently producing cutting-edge stuff, time and time again. UK is a classic case in point. “Otherwise you are nothing more than a hyped, glamorous, flavour-of-the-day! Brazil, Spain, Australia, Japan … all these countries, at some point or other, were huge, but where are they now? Incidentally Americans aren’t too enamoured by Cannes. They view it, as an European event. For them, ONE SHOW, D&AD, CLIO, MOBILIS .. appear hotter.” The flamboyant Dorian Grey (or is it Dev Anand?!) of Indian advertising signs off with style. “At the end of the day, while being jubilant and energised about the success is fine, we must decide whether we are looking for Sprinters … or Marathon men?” The red-hot ad-land – Bollywood star Prasoon Joshi refuses to enter the fray and strikes a benign, Buddha-like pose. “Why are we always chasing labels, arrivals and departures? Has India arrived? There must be a zillion personal takes. For me, its important to enjoy this awesome journey instead of doing a paralysis through analysis! We have definitely covered significant distance and are poised to cover lots more. Lets – individually and collectively – try and contribute as much as possible to take this forward instead of hysterically trying to play judge & jury!”

TBWA’s big daddy George John warmly congratulates all the winners and believes, “it can only act as a terrific confidence-booster to set our sights even higher. Regarding going over-board, lets not play spoil-sport and rain on their parade. Savour it…” Sushil Pandit of THE HIVES adds his own spin to it. “For quite some time now, we have been doing excellent work – both in the area of ideas and execution – that has moved our markets, consumers and brands. The trend continues. The difference is that this time, it resonated there as well! If Cannes acknowledged and rewarded our stuff … then yes, it happened this time.” Pandit is convinced that the dramatic zoom in our fortunes have occurred largely due to the fact that “we have learnt to intelligently leverage the processes of Cannes … context stuff that works with these guys.” Hence to the question of whether India has finally arrived at Cannes, the answer is: ‘yes’. To the (bigger) question whether India has (generally) arrived, the answer has to be: Long Time Back!” Dentsu’s Gulu Sen agrees. “The buzz has been around for some years now, but with this, we’ve actually struck ‘big’! It’s a lot like the Olympic gold! And the Grand Prix for the brilliant Lead India campaign was most appropriate. It was a magical combination of passion, purposes and perspective.”

The final words – cataclysmic? – must come from Lowes’ celebrated iconoclast Balki.

“We have always believed that clients are way ahead of agencies (in their understanding of the market pulse and judgement of quality work) and consumers miles ahead of the so-called august members of international juries! They don’t deal in esoteric abracadabra or corny jargons, but material that resonates with the precise target group they are meant to address – consumers! In short, we don’t believe in awards and Cannes is most certainly not a reflection of any individual agency’s – or the ad community’s – creative prowess. Period. ‘Touche’! 

Has Our Big Bang At Cannes Rocketed Us To The Global Arena?