Friday, July 15, 2011

Indian Advertisement --Then and Now

I wonder where has all the creativity gone from the advertising industry. Or is it just for the heck of creating an ad,that the ad agencies are taking inspiration from the bollywood songs of the 1970's and 80s era, so that there is not much of resources used( which in this case is the intellectual and creative domain of the mind) and an ad is created in minimal cost.
I dont usually like to be watching commercials in between the movies or TV serials, but it sometimes happen that i am too busy to switch channels between the commercial breaks, which otherwise has given me a chance to analyse and critically acclaim the ad works being made these days.
I really miss those days of intelligent, logical and innovative ads, which have left the imprints in the minds of people belonging to my generation.
There was a time,during the late 80s and 90s, when the advertisements were able to connect the brand with the audience emotionally. The typical household shown in the advertisements portrayed the middle class sentiments of a price conscious and value for money individuals. Like the famous Surf Ad, featuring a lady who lists out the benefits of Surf, emphasizing on the price which doesn't burn a hole in the monthly budget, and is thus an intelligent bargain for a middle class family.


The Hamara Bajaj campaign, connected to the dream of every middle class Indian, when a scooter was considered to be the elite possession by any middle class family. The Rasna ad tagline,which still lingers on the minds of people my age, who grew up watching it.The Liril ad, depicting the chirpiness of a young girl and connecting it to freshness. Every ad was unique in itself and delivered what an advertisement is supposed to deliver-- CLARITY,  IDEA, CREATIVITY, BRAND VALUE ,the success of which can be measured by high brand recall measurement.

And what do we get to see today is a complete mosaic of mismatched ideas, which not just fail to deliver the brand proposition but also have low brand recall value.Even brands like Pepsi, has failed to get an impressive TV advertisement or a catchy tagline.Most of the ads these days are getting inspiration from the bollywood songs remixed versions.It all started with Coca Cola ad featuring Imran Khan, which was like a breath of cool air, but many similar ads followed the same route. The more recent being the TVS ad featuring Virat Kohli, and almost negligible script,just a remixed version of an old song in the playback.There are many more in the league such as Safolla, TVS scooty pep,etc. And some ads dont even have the logical coherence between what is shown and what the brand actually entails, such as an 5 second,ad by some cement company in which a damsel walks out of sea in a swimwear.
The advertisement industry seems to be run by over commercialization and consumerism, without any due consideration given to the creativity aspect.And i wonder, are we really short of creativity in the ad world,that majority of ads are created on the same platform

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