Perspective | Many mediums, many methods; fewer ideas?

Brands today face a unique dilemma. With the growing mediums of communications, the challenge for them  is to not only reach out to maximum TG but also to hit the eyeballs at the same time by being creative. In fact it may be fair to say that brands, in the race of reaching out to large number of consumers, are somewhere loosing the creativity and charm when it comes to marketing.

It is quite evident that brand’s have a clear-cut idea in their communication plan which says: ‘add more and more customers’.

Well, this was a learning and observation that we at Adgully formed through attending several advertising and marketing forums. To probe further; Adgully spoke to some industry veterans to get an understanding of whether creativity in advertising is losing its charm or not? Let’s see what experts have to say:

Shiv Singh, Global Head of Digital, PepsiCo Beverages very clearly in his presentation at Goafest 2013 said that ‘Why no one cares about marketing?’ He stressed upon the fact that  a brand should work on their plans while reaching out to their consumers whereby it will be  possible to  understand the latter’s   mindset  and also  know whether they are ready to accept whatever the brand is trying to convey through its ad.

Arvind Sharma, CEO, Leo Burnett says, “Creativity can never lose its charm, ever. There is no doubt about the fact that we have a lot of mediums today to reach out to our target audience may it be television, phone, tablet or anything else. The fact is that at the end of everything what is going to grab a customer’s attention is engagement and the manner in which a brand delivers its message. Creativity is important at every point no matter how diverse or competitive the environment gets.”

Rana Barua, COO, Contract Advertising was of the opinion that idea plays an important role at every point. That idea is the key thing for any marketing or communication plan. He says, “Every step that a marketer takes revolves around that ‘one big idea’. So how can creativity lose its charm? The market is dynamic no doubt but still that one big creative idea plays a vital role.” According to him, looking at the growth of new media brands have started using the growing technology well and that again has made marketers think in a more innovative way.

Satbir Singh, Managing Partner & Chief Creative Officer, Euro RSCG was of the opinion that with this growing and competitive race of reaching and holding their customers well, Brands are in fact becoming more innovative and different.  He says, creativity can never lose its charm as that is the center of attraction. Without being creative a brand cannot hold on to its customer for long and brands believe in long term relations.”

Manish Bhatt, Founder, Scarecrow Communications, expressed his views by saying that Creativity has become more real these days. It depends on how you reach out to your customers and retain them. The phase of creativity is emerging and evolving in its own way and competition adding more value to it.

Is growing new media adding a salt to it?

Arvind Sharma stressed upon the fact that, there are brands that grab new media soon and there are brands too who take time to use any medium. He says, “When I joined it was the time when television was an emerging medium which has now become the most essential one.” So what he tried explain was that no matter which ever medium emerges brands will adopt it may it be slowly or promptly.  He said that new mediums as they emerge are engaging but creativity is one characteristic that grabs all the eyeballs.

Satbir Singh here said, “As the mediums increase conversations increase so to lead those conversations and to stand out different a brand has to come up with ground-breaking ideas and that is called creativity. Brand’s creativity can be seen the way there are innovating on social media which is so competitive. It is not necessary to use all the available mediums but smartness lies in using the correct medium.”

Jishnu Sen, President and CEO, Grey India believes that  the growing diversity of mediums is actually enabling brands to sit and think really creatively. “Earlier there was a single medium but now there are ‘N’ number of mediums, so to think according to each and every medium needs creative mind. The charm of creativity is becoming more exciting actually because to break the clutter and face the challenge with innovation and artistic way is the actual win,” he opined.    

According to Manish Bhatt, new media is still untapped in India and is still new for the brands. Brands are actually experimenting new media.

Ashish Khazanchi, National Creative Director and Vice Chairperson, Publicis Ambience feels newer ways of reaching the target audience have increased recently. So solving the new challenge hence holding upon to their customers is where creativity lies. So creativity has not lost its charm but has changed its definition with growing evolving technology. He says, “Brands and companies have shifted quite literally towards the new mediums. Recently I heard a big brand (refuse to name it) shifted 90 per cent of its focus towards digital. So this shows how newer mediums are being used and adapted creatively.

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