RAMBLINGS ON ADVERTISING

The Ad Club of Bangalore celebrated the Big Bang Awards for Excellence in Communication recently. A polite evaluation of the evening is that it bordered on the sublimely ridiculous. The quality of creative used to advertise an Advertising Awards Show is usually a touchstone for the kind of work that you are likely to see. And since that bordered on the emetic variety, I didn’t really need Spidey senses a-tingling to give it a wide berth. But go, I did.

The invite suggested that we be in our seats by 6.15pm. At the start of the program 90 minutes later, people were still streaming into a half empty hall. And thus started an entirely forgettable evening. Firstly, there was no work to see. Nada, zip, zilch. Just a litany of categories and winners. Secondly, I couldn’t identify a single senior creative person on the jury. Thirdly, there were more categories than items on the menu of a local ‘multi-cuisine’ restaurant. Fourthly, there were hardly any winners from the established creative powerhouses.

I cornered the Executive Director of the Ad Club for an explanation. Here’s how the conversation ran.

On not displaying award winning work
I: “Why is the winning work not shown?”
ED: “Everybody knows what work they have entered.”
I: “That’s not the point. How do we know whether the work that won was award-worthy?”
ED: “Are you questioning the transparency of the show?”
I: “I definitely am.”
ED: “Well, there is no time to show it. We’ll think of exhibiting it some time later.”

On the lack of creative people in the jury
ED: “ There is Champak Mehra (name changed) who used to be a creative person.”
I: “ Really? He runs a stock library.”
ED: “Well, he used to be in creative.”
I: “ If so, he makes no allusion to that fact on his Linkedin profile”. (Checked – was in the Triton film department.)

No more examples of creative people were proffered. Here’s why:
ED: “Well, in any case, why do you insist on creative judges? Your work is decided by clients who are MBAs, not creative people.”
I: “That’s a fallacious argument, and goes against what an awards show for creative excellence and communications stands for.”

Basically, the Ad Club has no manifesto that governs the judging process – be it the kind of people on the jury, or the type of work they award.

I told the ED that I would help him in this regard. Forthwith, I humbly submit:
http://www.enteroneshow.org/information/judging/
http://www.clioawards.com/entries/judging.cfm
http://www.commarts.com/annuals/judging
http://www.commarts.com/competitions/advertising

I could go on. The operative theme you will find across such award shows include respected creative people on juries, tranparency, creative excellence, rigour and fairness. The absence of which explains the absence of the region’s creative hotshops from an event that used to be treasured.

A client and we parted ways. In the fickle and capricious advertising world, this is as much an event as a puppy wetting the carpet. Some consternation, a little angst, but pretty much a regular happening. While it’s true that some relationships are just not meant to be, there are others that get quietly bushwhacked by parties with vested interests. The recent parting was one of those. To my advertising brethren, here are a few pointers that your account will turn toxic in quick measure:

A client that changes agencies frequently. This client had been through 9 agencies in 4 years, of which our tenure was the longest. I alluded earlier to the revolving door nature of our business, but relationships that last as much as the lifecycle of the common housefly is a red flag, and should be approached with caution.

An account with a rapacious appetite for the agency’s man-hours. If you are on a retainer, you have factored in a certain number of hours for the remuneration you receive. Here was a client that accounted for 25% of our billing, but 65% of our time. The numbers quite didn’t add up. The account loss liberated us to pursue more remunerative mandates aggressively.

Work that remains vapourware. It’s bad enough that retainer accounts expect you to keep working away, but when campaign after campaign gets mothballed on some pretext or the other, you start doubting both the intentions of the client and his competence. Vapourware is krypton for an agency’s creative department.

A key client contact who epitomizes the Peter Principle. We’ve all come across our share of clients who may not be too savvy about marketing communications (even though it’s a KRA), but who show an inclination to listen and learn. On this account, we encountered a conniving imbecile who would pass off his team’s briefs as his own. He would also forward our mails on the thinking behind a campaign (word untouched) and quietly garner acclaim for himself. When challenged on his views (as he often was), he used to spew unintelligible mails that filled us with mirth. He represents the worst of the India Shining story – basement level talent that get quickly promoted in sunshine sectors, and then spend the rest of their professional lives wreaking havoc on the organisational fabric of the companies they work for. We were told that he was accustomed to receiving IPL tickets, restaurant and movie vouchers, and other corporate doo-dahs as sops from some of the agencies he worked with. When we didn’t indulge him, he manouevred to get us out. So, here they are, with their 9th agency, paying 40% more than what they paid us.

We’ve moved on, but every now and then, we look back to see the train wreck that is about to happen.

At the Widget Company in Bangalore , they have a modest advertising budget. And while they make widgets very well, they don’t know much about advertising and communications. Now the Widget Company has big dreams – or at least, the foreign educated son of the founder does. He wants to raise the profile of the company, flash his well-designed card at cocktail parties, may be float an IPO some years down the line.

Problem is, his account is not very lucrative for the Big Global Agency. They have prime real estate, swanky offices, overpaid Creative Directors and account teams layered thicker than a club sandwich. The question, though, is whether the Widget Company really needs the Big Global Agency. And a simple situational audit determines that they need an aesthetic facelift (some people call it Rebranding, which is erroneous), a presence on the web, updated literature and channel ads, none of which is ‘sexy’ enough for the mass- media-pushing BGA.

The truth is, more people are realizing this. And since the better boutiques are staffed by senior personnel that have stepped off the hamster wheel of the BGA, they are able to provide better, personalized service. The specialized boutiques are nimble, more cost-plastic, and invested in the success of the brands they nurture.

To be fair, BGAs have woken up to this fact. Recently, we lost a client to a BGA at terms that would have been unheard of a few years ago. There are two reasons why we do not bemoan the loss – firstly, it was our work that raised the profile of the client to a point where it caught the BGA’s eye. Secondly, even small agencies and their clients need to have a mutuality of interest based on respect and dialogue. When that is missing, no account is worth holding on to.

Next week, we’ll discuss when it’s better for agencies and clients to part ways.

Deccan Herald, the English daily from Bangalore, is trying very hard to reposition itself. Maybe it’s trying too hard. One of the lines read “News that makes me feel younger”, and features a grey-haired 50-ish gentleman with a portable music device. An iPod? Nope. The geezer is listening to a Discman! Which immediately places him in the senior Bush and horny Clinton era. So much for trying to be hip and with it. Let’s leave alone the moot point about the kind of news that can make anybody feel younger. Update: This campaign has thankfully given way to something a tad more sensible.