AdWorld Saga – Part 1

Seasoned advertising professional Kiran Zende takes us through the creative and glamourous world of advertising, through his series of articles. This is going to be an insightful and enjoyable experience for readers while the saga of the advertising world unfurls. The series would be equally relatable for young art graduates who look forward to an advertising career, as well as for diverse creative professionals.

There is a phrase in Hindi, “Sau sunar ki, ek lohar ki.”

Or that dialogue by Amitabh Bachchan from the movie ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’: “Inspector saab, aap humko itna mara itna mara, hum aapko sirf ek mara, par kya solid mara, hai na?” (“Hey inspector, you punched me so many times, and I returned just one. But what a hit that was, huh?”)

And I feel advertising is a lot like this. This is a creative field where you pour your heart into your creativity and your creativity in creating a brand, and for that matter, that one piece of great marketing communication which ‘sells.’

Glamorous, huh? This world is glamorous, but for a few of them, the rest slog day and night, pulling out illustrations, layouts, copy, body copy, sending for approvals, rejections, doing it again, sending again and again for rejection or correction. The world just revolves around that one piece of artwork, hoping that this work will bring ‘sells.’

The great David Ogilvy once said, “Fifty percent of the media that we use out of 100% works, the problem is we do not know which are those 50%.” Now, out of this 50%, which creative style will work? Standalone creative or campaign? Model shoot or illustration? Product shoot or copy ad?

All this madness mostly begins post-lunch after the receipt of the client brief and reaches to its peak at 9 pm. I remember at Rediff, we used to say, “Aaj kuch kaam nahi hai, chal baithate hai,” and sometimes, “Aaj bahut kaam hai re, chal baithate hai.” Clearly, in the mad ad world, sitting down together for brainstorming is a norm.

Have you met any introverted person in an advertising agency? Less spoken, serious? Rarely. Even all my bosses were never like that. Rather, Brendon Pereira, when he co-partnered with Chaitra after leaving Iyers and started Ad Palace after leaving Chaitra Leo Burnett, always used to laugh and roam happily around in his den, tearing apart our creative butts. When I played the Marathi jingle of Zandu Balm in the agency for the first time after recording, he laughed with immense happiness and loudly expressed, “Zandu Balm Ala re Ala.”

Life in advertising can be boring if you do not understand the difference between an advertising agency and a factory. In fact, there are a few advertising agencies that are artwork, idea, media, and revenue-churning factories, and there are a few that are not like that at all. Both have the right to be like that and both enjoy the benefits of being like that. We used to get so excited to talk about these agencies, HTA, O&M, Lintas, Rediff, Clarion, Ambience, Euro RSCG.., and so many others. The world here changed so fast, the time was approaching where drum scanners were disappearing and so were the manual artworks. WPP arrived in the world of advertising, and then in India, and soon our world became more glamorous, fashionable, enviable, and addicted. Soon BBDOs and DDBs and Satchis and Dentsus of the world took Indian talent to the global skies, and we conquered the world. Nowadays, we fondly talk about Indians heading global companies. This has happened in advertising long back. India and Indians have a heritage of culture, drama, music, and many art forms. No wonder our creativity rules and can rule the creative world.

Indians are rarely seen winning Oscars, but Cannes? We are always there. As Indians, we have a unique sense and language of expression, and advertising is one of them.

It takes a huge skill, talent, and hard work to create a line in mere three words that will take the world by storm or build a lifelong bond with its customers and an extraordinary brand.

There are so many copywriters who are still struggling to write that one line of their life that makes a product into a brand. Advertising professionals are, may be the only community who remain satisfied even after knowing that the work they are creating is for someone else and not for their personal satisfaction. But that’s their expression about the world. When you write ‘Just do it’ or ‘You are worth it,’ ‘Kitana deti hai’ or ‘Isako laga dala to life zinga lala’ you are writing your whole life on that piece of paper. It is said that many startups were formed on a piece of tissue paper first. Ad copy has been written on tissues while sitting in restaurants since ages.

Being in this field since 25 odd years I have my own experiences, opinions, prejudices, and memories along with wisdom gained. In coming several weeks, I will share that with you all along with few pathbreaking, weird, innovative, different advertising work, stay tuned for the same. It’s going to be interesting for me to write and for you to read as those who are into advertising and living advertising day and night will agree with me that being an advertising person is exciting, extraordinary, and at the same time it is injurious to health.

*****

Kiran Zende

Author is a seasoned advertising professional.