He’s the master brain behind the ‘thanda matlab’ Coca-Cola campaign. And his mission is to promote a ‘creative first’ culture within McCann Erickson South Asia. Meet Prasoon Joshi, regional creative director, South & South East Asia, McCann Erickson. Joshi juggles two careers (scripting films/ penning lyrics and advertising) and has won a string of national awards in both the fields. In this interview with Lalitha Srinivasan, Joshi shares his views on advertising. Excerpts:
What are your priorities as regional creative director of McCann?
While I physically cannot be hands-on on every piece of work that comes out from the countries I am handling, my main objective is to promote a ‘creative first’ culture within our company. This is not just a statement; a tremendous amount of work has to go into it. Identifying, retaining and attracting talent and building a team is critical. The work that is produced has to be idea-centric and distinctive that builds the brand.
I rely on the expertise of my local teams to identify the cultural aspects. For example, the ‘thanda’ Coke ads have been adapted to the Chinese and Indonesian markets. The core idea is the one cracked in India but the nuances are local. It’s a big success in these countries.
Do award-winning ads really help the cause of a brand?
Of course. But only if the campaigns are made to strengthen the brand and not for the sole purpose of winning awards. Awards provide motivation. The core product of an agency is creative and creative people thrive on acknowledgment and appreciation.
Motivation comes from both—the brand doing well and the consumers loving the creative work; and two, the peer group recognising and appreciating the work. Awards serve the second purpose. But awards should be treated as by-products of great work and not the main objective.
How has the Indian consumer changed over the last few years?
The most significant change currently is in the Indian consumer. Today you have an Indian consumer who is more confident and demanding in his/her choices—be it products, brands or media. There is a growing self-confidence about stating their tastes, likes and dislikes more openly. Everything ‘foreign’ is no longer the benchmark. Desi is cool and we as consumers are no longer apologetic of our cultural idiosyncracies. There is also an increasing trend towards hedonism and individualism. Advertising has to and is taking cognisance of this.
How is advertising dealing with this change?
Every era comes with its own challenges and opportunities. Times today are tough. The complexities of the business are immense and the pressures of accelerated profit-making and building a strong brand are non-negotiable.
I believe the most significant trend is that of the growing individualism of the consumer. Consumers today are so sure of their tastes that they want the product or service to be customised. They do not want to be part of a herd. The key and paradoxical challenge is to cater to mass individualism.
Do you think non-traditional media will phase out mass media advertising in the next few years?
We are seeing a lot of developments in that direction. But given the complexities of the Indian market and consumer segments, this will not be an overnight change. Mass media advertising is not going to disappear entirely. It will re-invent itself along with the changing consumer and continue to co-exist with other media. In any case, an idea and consumer brand connect should not be medium dependent—they should be able to work across media.
No comments:
Post a Comment