2017 will see a more settled advertising scenario: N Chandramouli

N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA, writes about the shape of things to come for the advertising and marketing industry in India in 2017. 

Some brand marketers will be happy to see the back of 2016. It was the year of Maggi, Samsung Note 7 and Volkswagen. Flipkart lost US$10 billion in valuation, which probably was not all that notional. It was also the year of Ratan Tata versus Cyrus Mistry and Patanjali versus everybody. 

Of course, the year ended with talks of demonetisation affecting every brand spoken of in hushed tones around office corners or loudly across the bar. India also put a legal tag on celebrity brand endorsements. The world also had the Brexit and Trump win and the Italian referendum. 

So, one way to look at it is that there is only one way that brands (and, therefore, the advertising, marketing industry) will go from here – Up it is. 2017 will, therefore, also see a more settled advertising and marketing scenario with the first indirect effect of all of 2016 bringing maturity in spend decisions and stability of personnel. 

Rather than just look at a campaign or an ambassador getting all the attention, the shift is likely see the industry look at a lifecycle of a brand and see how their campaign fits into it. In 2017, the primary guiding factor will be rationale and it will prevail in spends, in scale and in hiring and also product launches. I personally think that the tumultuous 2016 will bring in a calmer 2017 for everyone in advertising and marketing.