Thinking beyond the deadline Its time for thought leadership in the advertising industry

Disclaimer: I fully recognize that the Indian advertising industry is saved from complete humiliation by the great quality of creative product,

strategic thinking, work culture, motivation levels, and thought leadership displayed at your agency, whichever agency that may be. This

article reflects the state of affairs of all the advertising agencies other than yours. Though it does not concern you directly today, I urge you,

if you agree with the argument, to communicate this thought to the leaders of other agencies. Think about it. You are not going to stick to

this current heaven forever.

When was the last time that the advertising industry did an incisive introspection of its current

state and how the business model needs to be reconfigured to take the industry to the next level?

When was the last time that advertising stalwarts took up issues that would address challenges,

and indeed opportunities, at an industry level? I do not recall reports where, except for agency

remuneration structures, any other industry specific issues were debated or even tabled by any

advertising industry association.

Indian business leaders in other sectors regularly discuss industry alleviating aspects like

„Opportunities created by WTO agreements‟, „How to compete with the Chinese‟, „How to create

more billion dollar companies‟, „How to move up the value chain. Globally‟. They debate issues

like good corporate governance and global competitiveness or strengthening domain expertise

and vertical focus. Narayan Murthy and Kiran Karnik raise issues like building a strong

educational foundation nationally to maintain our competitive edge in the knowledge sector.

It won‟t be surprising to find their counterparts in the advertising industry sitting at „Monday

Morning‟ meetings taking a stock of outstanding accounts, client complaints, and deliverables for

the week, etc. At the silver jubilee celebration of the Mumbai Ad Club keynote address, Anil

Ambani had given a thought-leader vision of making India the „Imagination Capital of the World‟.

Everyone clapped and appreciated the thought but did not let it rest in their heads longer than the

hangover from the cocktails after the same event. The next day, though it was a weekend, I

guess, the industry got busy chasing deadlines.

Often, questions are raised in the industry about falling standards. But is it really a question of

lack of talent? To on outside observer it appears to be a question of lack of leadership.

Ladies and gentlemen of the advertising world, look around you. You and your colleagues are

stressed out, overworked and no longer excited about the tasks you do. Attrition rates are higher.

Work days are longer. Margins are lower. Clients are not singing praises either. Most often, and

most importantly, there is a significant and continuous erosion of respect from clients for the

advertising professionals that are designated to be custodians of their brands. I hazard a guess

that clients today view advertising professionals as „blue collared workmen‟ who execute

communication requirement materials and not „white collared communication consultants‟ who

strategize and ideate on managing consumer perceptions about their brands. (I do not mean blue

collared as derogatory to white collared. The problem is when industry professionals expect to be treated

like white collared consultants but get treated as blue collared workers, there is disillusionment.)

As Anil Ambani mentioned, “Rs.1000 crores to Rs.11000 crores is higher than the „Hindu rate of

growth‟. But does it warm our hearts and give us pride and satisfaction? Is it a true barometer of

the potential of the Indian creative talent?”. Folks, it is about time the advertising industry reflects

upon some important questions.

Not for one moment am I suggesting that ‘Imagination Capital of the World’ is the only reasonable direction

to pursue. But for the sake of argument, if we were to choose that as a worthy vision, what issues does the

industry need to address to be in a position to even make it possible for industry participants – professionals,

clients, global industry - to consider that vision a possibility? I offer three for starters.

Organizational structure

Separate divisions for PR, events, BTL, etc. have not been meaningfully contributory. Perhaps

there is a fundamental flaw in creating separate divisions for what is essentially intended to

deliver an integrated communications package. I mean, imagine a separate division for press and

TV!!! If that seems absurd why would, if they are integral as you say to the communications task,

PR, BTL and events be exempt from that expression? Just because the industry did not have the

time to think about how to weave in these relatively newer aspects into what traditionally called

mainstream, these functions have continued to languish on the sidelines. Oh, and the advertising

industry had a very creative way of handling the online medium. It just ignored it!!!

Well, some agencies did make feeble or not so feeble attempts to deliver integrated

communications solutions. But ask clients and they will perhaps suggest that the only time multi-

disciplinary teams came together with an integrated concept was at the pitch presentation.

If we were to reinvent the advertising & communications business model, what would the

structure look like?

Could we separate ideation from execution in the real sense? I would argue that writing a

strategy document and chasing an artwork require very different skill sets. Most people would

be happier doing one of the two. (Imagine a person in a consultancy firm suggesting a prudent

financial strategy to a client and then promptly sitting down with the account books to audit the

accounts. It does not happen. Because common sense tells you that it is not supposed to happen that

way. Consultants and auditors are differently qualified and differently driven.)

What should be the role of leadership in the new advertising agency model? What should be

their intent and contribution while engaging with the client? (Consider IT industry examples where

leaders assume the role of evangelists and vision holders)

Work culture, environment and human resource management

Why do advertising professionals, generally speaking, seem to be overworked, stressed and,

often, working with unhealthy disinterest?

What investments need to be made in adequate and appropriate infrastructure and resources

to ensure that industry professionals are able to conceive the possibility of watching a sunset

with the family?

What training processes need to be in place to help build domain expertise? How many

advertising professionals, even if they wanted to, would find the time to really understand the

industry of the brand they service? I mean really really understand the industry. Consider the

possibility that if you were to leave the agency today, most clients would hesitate to hire you in their

marketing departments. That’s because they do not believe that you have adequate knowledge of the

industry to make a valuable contribution.

Redefining the role of the agency (and in the process regaining lost respect)

When was the last time the advertising industry did a survey of clients on what they think of the

industry and what things they would like to see changed? I would think that such a survey would

throw up some very scary points of view. But so be it.

I would suggest the following steps:

The industry needs to commission and conduct this survey.

Once it is done, industry leaders should debate possible ways of addressing issues identified

by clients.

View points should be, as in any mature industry, be discussed with the stake holders at all

levels in the organization.

These discussions are likely to help organizations reconfigure their value propositions and/or

their delivery models. In this process, segmentation and position taking would emerge.

(Consider this. For an industry that consults its clients on differentiation and a distinct positioning, there

is little positioning of the players themselves.)

Then comes the role of communicating this change through Industry PR

Friends, for an industry to mature, individual participants need to rise from their own environs to

debate issues at an industry level. Some leaders from the advertising industry need to step out of

the daily grind and devote time to address challenges and opportunities at an industry level. Don‟t

be complacent that, as in the past, the advertising industry will survive and grow in the future. As

they say, „The future ain‟t what it used to be‟.