Ashish Bhasin decodes the year 2021 in advertising

As the year draws to a close, Adgully looks back at some of the major developments in the Advertising industry in the year gone by in its REWIND 2021 series.

Ashish Bhasin, who retired as CEO - APAC and Chairman India, dentsu international, in November this year after a tenure of a little over 13 and a half years, looks back at the major developments in the advertising and digital industry in 2021, as well as some key trends that are expected to dominate in 2022.

Recapping 2021

Speaking about the year gone by, Bhasin said that the year 2021 was “slightly strange” because we were coming out of a very bad year. He added that the industry completely collapsed because of the huge COVID-19 impact, which was completely unexpected and sudden in a sense.

“I think in this year, as an industry, we learned to cope much better with it. Even though there was a second wave, the things started getting much better and started looking up. I am optimistic that the industry should actually have good double digit growth this year, which is a good sign,” Bhasin said.

He also highlighted the importance of the festive season in India, observing that 45% of the advertising happens between Ganpati and New Year, which has been true for the last 30-35 years. “We are a very festive driven economy, in that sense, and our festivals are not just one festival – it starts with Ganpati in the West, Durga Puja in the East, Onam in the South, and then you also have bigger festivals like Diwali, which is nationally celebrated and so on. This period is very important for the industry. Luckily, I feel this year has so far gone very well. Partly because there was IPL and cricket also happening and general opening up was also happening, so I see that as a very positive step and the general economy is doing well, companies are making good profits, etc. It probably leads to a good platform for us to launch into next year, so I am optimistic. I feel that this recovery should continue into next year,” Bhasin further said.

Trends that could dominate in 2022

While Bhasin doesn’t think that COVID-19 has brought in new trends, he said that the pandemic has accelerated some of the trends that existed long back. “For example, digital is not a new trend, but today you have grandparents on Zoom. Grandparents would have still got on to Zoom, but it may have taken five or 10 years to do it, COVID made it happen in 10 months,” he noted.

The ad veteran pointed out that people are now buying even grocery staples such as rice and dal on the Internet through e-commerce. While that would have still happened in India – just as it had happened in countries like China, South Korea and others, who are ahead of us digitally – but it may have taken 10 years to happen. “COVID forced us to adapt. The moment you start buying aloo, pyaaz, dal and chawal online, I think that’s a good indication that your e-commerce is maturing. So, I think that maturation of e-commerce, the growth of digital, etc., these trends have been accelerated by COVID-19 and I see them further continuing into next year in a big way,” Bhasin added.

Another noticeable trend, according to him, is that people in general are all re-evaluating their lives. “Consumers are re-evaluating brands, people are re-evaluating jobs, you may have heard of ‘The Big Resignation - The Big Attrition’ article that McKinsey had written. So, everybody is re-evaluating their lives,” he added.

“I think one more trend that we are going to see is that getting consumer loyalty is going to become harder and harder, because you really have to give more value to be able to get that loyalty,” Bhasin concluded.

(Additional inputs by Nehal Shukla)