AgTalk | Creativity is no more restricted to TVCs: Prime Focus's Kurup

With over 19 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry Prakash Kurup is one of the most popular editors in the advertising community.

A comic illustrator at heart with a number of published illustrated books to his credit, Prakash worked as a 2D animation instructor prior to co-founding Prime Focus. Today, he not only heads the creative side of the company's dynamic Advertising division in India, but also specialises in broadcast packaging and design. A bright mind behind his silent demeanour, he is responsible for creating high profile ad film projects that have won numerous awards such as Cannes Lions, Ad Fest Asia Pacific, Promax and Adclub in addition to some of his personal achievements, which include 3 Abbies, Smoke Artist of The Year and the Golden Cursor Animation Award (Best Animation-Live Action combo).

Additionally, Prakash has also worked extensively with renowned feature film producers and directors including Rajkumar Hirani, Anurag Kashyap, Nikhil Advani, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Priyadarshan, Mani Ratnam, Abhinay Deo, Nagesh Kukunoor and Rohan Sippy.

Adgully caught up with Prakash Kurup, Co-founder and Creative Director- Advertising, Prime Focus to understand his point of view on the social media and more.

Adgully (AG): With technological shift resulting in social media taking a toll, we see the ad industry growing and evolving. Your take on it?

Prakash Kurup (PK): Digital media is poised to grow tremendously in the next few years, faster than any other category. Digital will outgrow traditional advertising channels like print and TV. The opportunities in different markets, especially across multiple channels are many. As a creative person, I see this as an opportunity for many more ways to craft/ design the story that we have to tell. Digital has removed the 60 second constrain forever. Neither is it expensive compared to TV. Also TVCs cannot interact whereas commercials on digital platforms can if you want them to. Devices make that possible today. Which adds a different dimension altogether. It’s exciting to see how the digital scenario for advertising is unfolding in India and around the world. Social networking too has a significant contribution in changing the way advertising is being conducted.

AG: What trends do you see in the TVC industry going forward?

PK: We have seen an increase in number of commercials now using animation and other visual effects to give their creations more appeal. For instance, for the Candyman 'Creme Lacto' spot we animated a magical land and a magician and merged them. Even the Cadbury Gems 'Raho Umarless' TVC with the collection of toys, was posted at Prime Focus. Also, more advertisements are being designed for multiple platforms, especially due to the boom in mobile marketing. Mobile is the perfect partnership for technology and advertising. Many brands internationally are investing millions into online and mobile ad campaigns and programs, and India is catching up.

AG: Share with us some of your best and memorable works.

PK: I really liked our work on I Am Mumbai film (edited by my colleague Huzefa Lokhandwala, Creative Director and Co-founder, Prime Focus) for Mumbai Mirror directed by Abhinay Deo which won the Cannes Lions. We have done a lot of very good work in the last decade and a half. What comes to mind is the latest though; Flipkart, Big Rock, Nike - Parallel Journeys which also won at Cannes and Gujarat Tourism featuring Mr. Bachchan.

AG: What changes are being experienced by the Indian advertising industry now?

PK: If I talk about the TVC production space, from 100 production houses, today there are about 4000 production houses. There is proliferation of agencies. Ad agencies want to do creatively demanding work that also has good ad budget thereby ensuring reach. Creative thinking is no more restricted to TVCs. Today it is more ‘web’ driven offering interactivity and personalization to consumers seeking greater engagement. Also after the new regulations impacting the broadcast medium, marketers are predicting a bigger shift of ad revenues towards the digital medium.

AG: In such a competitive era, how challenging is it to cater to the creative demands of Indian & international brands?

PK: Advertising is all about communicating. International ads also require localization to appeal to Indian sensibilities. Many global brands in order to create an emotional connect go the local way to communicate their messages. Campaigns such as ‘Thanda matlab Coca Cola’ are successful examples of localization. While posting the ad we can intelligently and subtly localize the ad to appeal visually to local audience by enhancing the shots and altering the visual language with colours and cuts in the post process.

AG: Shed some light on your experience of working across creative agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, Leo Burnett, Lowe, Grey and so on.

PK: We work with all major ad agencies and production houses, creative professionals and technicians. It’s a professionally rewarding and enriching experience working on great brands and with great people!

For records, Prime Focus World is a global creative and technology services company, delivering innovative solutions for films, broadcast, advertising and media industries to major entertainment and media companies the world over. A global team of 3,500 artists, technicians and producers with diverse experience and backgrounds, they deliver visual entertainment services from the key centres of creative content production – London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New York and Vancouver. Prime Focus World's recent VFX work includes The Great Gatsby, White House Down, Dredd 3D and Total Recall. Recent stereo conversion work includes World War Z, Gravity, Frankenweenie and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.