GoaFest 2011- Should Advertising Agencies be more accountable?

GoaFest 2011 is happening in full swing here, on the beautiful sandy beach of the Zuri White Sand Resort in Varca, Goa. Subsequent to the interesting conclave yesterday which had a lot of insights by eminent professionals from the industry, today we saw knowledge seminars by the likes of, Charlie Crowe-Festival of Media, Rajan Anandan-Google, Neeraj Nayar- Contagious Communication, Brian Terkelsen -Liquid Thread and so on. Out of the many issues discussed, one of the main points that was highlighted in GoaFest 2011 was the fact that Advertising agencies needed to be more accountable in terms of results and doing advertisements with a conscience. 

Adgully puts forth the question to the industry as they relax and enjoy the sun. Is there a need for advertising agencies to be more accountable? Let’s hear what the thoughts of the industry are.  

Charlie Crowe, Founder, Festival of Media “Advertising should be more responsible. There are lots of ways in defining what responsibility is.  Some may say that it is competing claims in advertising, advertising standards being honest truthful fair in what you say. I think that is vital if the industry is going to gain the trust of the Indian population. However it goes deeper than that.  In the digital domain, the behavioral targeting has to be open and honest. Advertising is a business that tries to create demand. So it would be in the interest of advertisers to create over consumption, realizing that overconsumption is not right. Advertising needs to take the lead in not only recognizing its supply chain but also encouraging consumers in being a little bit more responsible and sustainable in the way they behave.” 

Dheeraj Sinha, Regional Planning Director, Bates 141 "Advertising is accountable. Whenever you are doing a campaign or advertising for nay brand, you are imaging what this will do to the consumer; will it make the consumer feel better about the brand or about the product? So I really don’t understand why this debate keeps arising every now and then. To my mind, what advertising shows is as per what consumer demands or desires. Gone are those days, where you could create mythical features or reasons to sell you products. Consumers today are intelligent and more interactive with each other, and social media also plays a huge role in disseminating information. Therefore there is no question of advertising not being accountable. Youth is changing, India is changing, and the value systems are changing. Industry doesn’t allow you to be unaccountable.”

Suman Srivastava, Founder & Innovation Artis, Marketing Unplugged “Yes of course advertising needs to be more accountable. For most marketing companies, advertising is the largest single spends item. For every other investment, there is a rigorous process of getting ROI so why not here? Advertising with a conscience, well McCann Erickson has its slogan, ‘truth well told’, I think that should be the motto for all for advertising. That’s what we are supposed to do. Short term gains for advertising agencies will result in long terms losses for the whole industry and ultimately the whole economy.”