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Tag: AAAI

  • A freewheeling interview with Advertising Agencies Association of India President MG Parameswaran on Goafest, BARC, IRS, digital agencies & more

    AAAI does a lot more than just Goafest

     

    The common perception, that AAAI is only about organising events like Goafest is wrong. Veteran adperson and current President MG Parameswaran tells Pradyuman Maheshwari that there is a lot more that the apex advertising body does, from redressing disputes redressal to skill development. In this freewheeling interview, he also comments on the functioning of BARC, the fact that broadcasters have more stake than ad agencies and advertisers, on IRS, IAMAI and digital agencies and advertising education. Read on, but bring in a large coffee… this interview is some 4000 words long J

     

    Most people know it, but for the benefit of a large number of our readers who don’t: what is role of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI/3As of I) as the apex association of ad agencies in the country?

    AAAI is for the betterment of the advertising business. One avowed mission of AAAI is to improve professional standards in the industry, so we welcome anybody who is organising training, knowledge seminars and dissemination of information and knowledge to young people in the advertising industry. Whether it is Kyoorius, Afaqs, Exchange4media, Kulzy, MxM, Campaign India or IAA, all of them are welcome to provide affordable, valuable training for youngsters in advertising today. I’d say even older people in the industry need inputs; we don’t know everything.

     

    AAAI was also set up to look at issues cropping up between advertisers and media owners, and resolve them. Do you think that the perception of AAAI, as the organiser of Goafest, has become bigger than the rest of its functions?

    We do a lot of work which isn’t in the public domain, for obvious reasons — client agency disputes, issues agencies are having with the media etc. Unfortunately, what comes into the public domain at regular intervals is Goafest, which is organised by us. A lot of youngsters in advertising believe our job is to only organise Goafest, which of course isn’t true. We have a managing committee that meets every month for at least three or four hours, and Goafest takes up less than 10% of our time. About 80-90 per cent of the time is spent on other issues, a number of which also get tabled.

     

    In terms of revenue, how much does Goafest contribute?

    It’s significant.

     

    Is it more than 50%?

    Yes, about that much.

     

    So since it’s a significant contribution to the AAAI coffers, it makes sense for you to host Goafest…

    Yes, it gives us some surplus which we can then plough back into setting up a training centre, like we’ve done. The other thing is that it’s held in Goa, not in Mumbai, and people can fly in from all over the country to be here. Third, we do spend a lot of money to get good speakers, senior clients and to bring industries together. We’ve had to pay for some speakers, and some have requested that we contribute to a charity of their choice. We’ve done all that.

     

    Do you think it helps to have a single, private organisation hosting an event? Internationally, we’ve seen that something like a Cannes is more successful than what industry associations can put together…

    There are pros and cons. The private organization can charge whatever it wants to, and may be arbitrary about how much it charges people and how many free passes it distributes. As an industry body, we are audited. We have a 22-member managing committee that asks questions! Any event organised by an industry body has to go through a process of approvals, so we may not be agile when taking decisions, but we are transparent and fair. Second, the surplus we generate goes into the advertising association kitty and will get re-deployed into things for the industry.

     

    Since Goafest is such a large event, do you think–

    Are you going to talk only about Goafest?

     

    No, I’ll move to other things. But then it’s so big and prominent…

    It’s not. But it’s good if people think so…

     

    Back to my question. Since Goafest has become such a large event and the 3As of I makes good monies on it, do you think the planning must start much earlier?

    Last year, we started planning in October, which was early. I think it paid off and Nakul Chopra put his shoulder to the wheel to get the momentum going. In fact, he had finalised on the event agency in December. Obviously, you can plan even earlier. But having done this for many years, there will always be some last-minute cancellations and requests, so we have to juggle that.

     

    There are people whose calendars are planned well in advance.

    We’ve realised that sending a request in August for an event in April gets you no response. The right time to send a request probably is early December. Before people go off on their Christmas vacations. We’ve realised that sending requests in March is very late. Sending the requests in October is too early.

     

    All of you’ll have day jobs and their pressures are tremendous. Everybody has international networks to answer to. Hence, the thing of whether there is a need for appointing someone within your team or outside of it to look at Goafest affairs?

    I think there is a merit in bringing someone on board. Hopefully, we’ve got a very good event company on board this year. Hopefully, they’ll be able to add value next year as we go forward.

     

    You mentioned various educational activities of 3AS of I. I remember you conducted a very successful copywriting course. What are the other activities AAAI does?

    AAAI has four or five broad agendas. One is handling client agency issues, particularly to do with clients who don’t pay and run off to other agencies. A lot of our time goes in managing these disputes. We’re an industry body and 85 to 90 per cent of all advertising is through our members. So if a client parts ways with one agency and goes to another, we can put pressure to get the client to come to the table and talk. We spend a lot of time doing that.

     

    The other issue is between media agencies and print and TV organisations. We set up a good system to manage disputes between television channels and media agencies. Every month we have a committee meeting with the IBF. If the client hasn’t paid, they bring the client to the meeting. It has been working like clockwork. In case of print, we’re talking to the INS for setting up something like that.

     

    A lot of business now goes directly from clients. Even media companies deal with clients directly too.

    You’d be surprised! At least in the last 2, 3, 4 years where I’ve been seeing stuff… whichever agency brings a dispute to the 3S of I, we’re able to find a solution. Even big issues are being sorted out.

     

    In terms of media companies where they try to bypass the media agency… they go to get a client directly… that’s where a lot of disputes also exist. Right?

    Client-agency issue is one. The other issue is between our media agencies and the various media organizations which is print & TV. Actually, we’ve set up a pretty good system to manage disputes between television channels & media agencies. So every month we have a committee meeting with IBF. If the client hasn’t paid, they bring the client to the meeting. It has been working like clockwork. In case of INS, again we’re in dialogue with them for setting up something like that.

     

    INS is obviously a well oiled machinery.

    Yes, but even with them, there is a talk that we need to setup some process in place to handle wrong reporting, incorrect reporting etc. INS, of course, has a long history behind it. So, the issues with INS are different in nature. But, with IBF, we’ve covered a lot of ground. One is client-agency issues and 2nd is agency media issues. A lot of our time & effort goes in handling these things. It may look small to you… but these are money issues.

     

    That’s why people are members of 3S of I.

    They come to this body for that and that’s the role we have to play. In the last 3 years… AAAIis a body that’s involved with media research and in the last 2,3 years, we’re very heavily involved with BARC. Members of AAAIon the BARC board are adding value to BARC. The Comm chairman again a AAAInominee. Hopefully, BARC has started and it will be…

     

    Are you happy with the way BARC is performing?

    Yes, I think so.

     

    Do you think the fact that BARC is still 40% not 60% owned by broadcasters is a little flawed?

    Look at the economics of it. For every Rs 100 spent in media, over 85 goes to broadcasters. And if you look at the old rating system, more than 90% of the revenue from the old rating system went from broadcasters. In a sense, broadcasters having 60% equity is lower than what they actually pay, in terms of data. They pay for about 85 to 90% of the cost of data. It was set up as a joint industry body between IBF, ISA  and AAAI and I think we it worked out what I feel is a fair shareholding agreement which is 60-20-20 though the technical committee chairperson is from 3As of I.

     

    Will it always be so?

    As of now it is. The shareholders will take a call when the current chair’s term expires. I think ISA and AAAI would obviously want an AAAI nominee. But it’s up to the Board to decide finally who it will be.

     

    But conceptually, for the future health of the process, is it fair to let broadcasters have the upper hand?

    The board composition in 60-20-20 and any major decisions will have to go to the Board. In the Board, you need a 76% vote to pass anything. I think it’s a nice balance of power.

     

    In South Africa or some place there’s a small fee levied on all advertising spends that should go for research or measurement. Do you think that’s a better way to do it?

    Each country has it’s own system of managing it. There’s nothing like a perfect system. So, with BARC we’ve evolved a particular way of managing how IBF members, media agencies will pay. This system will get iterated because currently, we’re at 15,000 meters… it will go to 20,000… 25,000 in the next few months. It’s already at 17k I think, now. I think at the end of the day, all of us have been somewhat involved. I’ve only been involved for the last one year. But, people like Uday Shankar, Puneet Goenka, Shashi Sinha and Vikram Sakhuja before that have produced a great product. It’s a world class product. We keep discussing that can associations create products… do you need quick decision-making? But, in this case you’ll see actually three associations actively involved. Bharat Patel has been involved right through. It’s admirable they’ve created a world class product! Will there be some niggling problems? There will be. but, we’re committed we’ll ensure these problems will be solved.

     

    When the BARC report was out, everything appeared to be topsy turvy. For instance, Zee had been at No. 3 for long and suddenly was at No. 4 even though at primetime it was still in the Top 3. The reaction to it was dramatically different from what we saw last year in the IRS…

    I don’t think it’s fair to compare IRS with BARC. Maybe in the case of BARC, we had the power of hindsight. As a result, we put some precautions in place which helped us to avoid the pitfalls. Having said that, it’s still early days for BARC, and I believe the IRS will get it together. Because we need a good readership measurement system; 45% of advertising spends depend on old data.

     

    With growth of print going down, more than ever before, the industry needs a good readership study.

    Absolutely! Which is probably the reason we need to start putting it on the top of agenda soon.

     

    If a media agency comes to you and says ‘How do I take the right decision to advertise in print?’, will the AAAI do anything about it?”

    As of now, no media agency has approached us. If they do, we’ll discuss it and we’ll give them an answer. We won’t do anything proactively.

     

    What about digital? How many members of AAAI’s managing committee are active on digital?

    All the members have digital arms and the AAAI has an agreement with Internet and Mobile Association of India, and meets with them every quarter to discuss disputes. Unfortunately, the IAMAI doesn’t have full control over some of the big digital players. So we’ve been trying to persuade them that it’s in their interest to join the IAMAI and get into a dialogue with us. In a country like India, even the biggest of players will need an association [to support them].

     

    When I look at the managing committee of AAAI, you have agencies who have digital arms, but, there are no specialized digital folk there…

    This is why this year we’re in the business of setting up digital forums. One forum is the outdoor forum where we will get outdoor arms of all our key agencies to sit together and discuss issues. The next on the cards will be a digital forum where, to start with, we will have the digital arms of all the key agencies sit in. If you look at it, several large digital agencies today are part of a group. It could be IPG… they’re all part of the group. They’ll all start coming, attending and contributing.

     

    For instance a Leo Bennett or a Publicis have digital arms, but the digital guys don’t come and attend the meetings.

    Exactly, which is why the thought is you set up a digital forum, create a forum which meets once in two months to start with; purely digital people. You set up a forum of purely outdoor people who sit & discuss issues concerning outdoor agencies. So, only issues concerning digital agencies. What are the issues?

     

    Can digital outdoor agencies become a part of AAAI?

    We have three categories of members: Full service agencies, Creative agencies and Media agencies.

    Even creating these 3 categories took us a lot of time. For a lot of time, we were not sure who to let in & who not to.

     

    Is there a resistance, like the Rotary Club had towards women until the 1980s?

    The reason is simple. If you become a member of AAAI, a media member… you automatically get credit from IBF, you automatically start being eligible for some credit from IBF. Which is why, we have to be careful to not let in someone who will us the AAAI to run off big bills and tomorrow we’ll be held responsible.

     

    No, but for instance, I’m an advertising agency in digital.. can I become a member?

    You can become a creative member. Nothing stopping you from becoming a creative agency member.

     

    In the digital space, everyone is full-service

    That’s the thing. If we get an application from a pure digital agency, today we can admit them as a creative agency. We can’t admit them as a full-service agency because they won’t be able to get credit from IBF or IRS etc. etc. So, it’s a little complicated. I think, in the not-too-distant future, we’ll have to expand the member category and we’ll have to look at that. Maybe, in a year or so.

     

    The media landscape is changing rapidly…

    The fact is that so many creative agencies are being acquired as we speak. They’re all becoming a part of GroupM, IPG and Publicis.

     

    Given the fact that mobile has become the biggest media, it’s unfortunate IAMAI is unable to become as big as the IBF.

    That’s the problem. If IAMAI can bring all the digital, media, mobile vehicles under one roof, it’ll solve our problem.

     

    Like, for instance, as a digital publication, MxM isn’t a member. The fees are so high! Why should I pay Rs. 25,000 to IMAI where for my magazine activity I can become a member at just Rs 5,000-odd a year?

    But then tomorrow, if IAMAI tells you that you become a member and I’ll ensure agency money will come to you in 90 days or 120 days… won’t you? Why did IBF happen? There was a benefit for everyone concerned. That television channels bill correctly, on time… which helps agencies and as a flip agencies therefore tell their clients to pay in a particular time. It helps the whole ecosystem. You bill on time, bill accurately, you get paid on time. And everyone has to start doing that. Today, we are not.

     

    Obviously, I shouldn’t advise you what you should be doing… but, isn’t there a need for more aggression for making AAAI more inclusive and all of that?

     

    We are planning to do three or four things. One is will collaborate with the Subhash Ghoshal Foundation to have the Subhash Ghoshal memorial lecture every year. The other is, we’ll use the facility in our new office to start offering specific training useful for industries. For example, in June, we’ll conduct a one-day course, using international experts, in negotiation skills. We’re in talks with Rajan Nair to scale up his copywriting course. AAAI used to have a copywriting course run by Jameel Gulrays, Larry Grant and Neville Gomes. We wanted to convert it to an online course. The advantage is, you can be anywhere in India and participate in this course. This should, hopefully, help us create other online courses which we might seed-fund through scholarships.

     

    We want to create an ecosystem to bring in more talent to the industry. The advertising agency business in India is a 100 years old, and a lot of Indian industries which have come up later (like radio and TV), have borrowed much from it. The CEOs of most television and radio channels have an advertising background. Today, lot of new talent in Bollywood does too. Advertising is a great industry which grooms talent and, as an industry body, we will try to do whatever we can, to further that.

     

    When it comes to accepting agencies as members, we have certain criteria because we often take up for them in a dispute with clients. So we need to make sure the agency has a clean record. We insist on a lot of paperwork — balance sheets for three years, profit and loss statements, income tax returns, letters from clients and media etc. Unlike an Ad Club, which is an association of professionals and doesn’t mediate in industry-related disputes.

     

    Given that a lot of digital agencies are new, they can’t become AAAI members for a year?

    No agency can become our member in Year 1. We ask for 3 years balance sheet and profit & loss. We can let you in as a provisional member, but, we’ll watch you and make you a full member. We have to be very careful and sure about the person’s financial standings.

     

    I was there at an event two years back where some small agencies suggested an association or grouping of smaller ad agencies. It emerged from there that there is a sentiment among small agencies that AAAI is an agency for the big ‘agencywallahs’

    I think it’s a good point. We have small agency people. There is Vinod Nair. Every year we do one or two small agency meetings outside Mumbai because this year, we’ve done a meeting in Delhi. We’ll try and do meetings in Bengaluru. We’ll definitely do meetings in Delhi. I think we need toi make this more collective.

     

    You have such a terrific Ad Club in Chennai!

    Small agencies one day have to become big. Small agencies will only be able to solve small problems. If they want to solve big problems, they have to come and sit with them. It’ open! We write to our members every month asking them if they have any problem with any broadcast bill, any INS member. We’ll go to battle for you. Right now, we’re helping someone from Chennai who’s client has been playing truant, including confidentially talking to the VC firm which is funding the client. Sometimes, there are allegations that this is a big boys club! It’s not! There are 24 people.

     

    Isn’t there need to be more inclusive, for some amount of spreading of the message. Because, increasingly advertising is growing and new agencies are surfacing throughout the country. AAAI, it appears, doesn’t represent more 25% of ad agencies in the country?

    But our throughput is close to 80-85% of the total advertising spends. The largest amount spent is through AAAI agencies.

     

    There are a lot of clients and a lot of publications. INS and IBF members today are approaching clients directly. Given the economic conditions over the last few years, many agencies find they haven’t been paid. Do you talk to an ISA or clients to advise them to do business only through agencies, or is that not really your problem?

    Our stand is clear. We cannot stop any media owner from approaching a client. Our only directive to media owners is, please tell the client to route the business through the media agency. It’ll help them both, and we can ensure the money is paid up. But there are complexities in the media business, like barters which cause their own problems. It’s then left to individual media agencies to handle it with the individual clients.

     

    In case of sponsorships, the deals are done directly…That’s difficult to manage, right? It’s all directly done! Which is why, today as we’re seeing, the industry is getting more organized. Television is, print is, digital is a bit disparate, outdoor is a bit disparate, we expect outdoor to get organised in the next five years. We expect digital to get organised in the next five years. Hopefully, all these associations will become strong and therefore we’ll have a clear association-association understanding.

     

    Do you think five years is a decent window?

    I’d like it to happen in two years. Five years is a bit too long.

     

    What else do you plan to do with AAAI during your presidentship?

    I’d definitely like to give a thrust to skill development, which is why I’m trying to drive this negotiation skill and copywriting workshops. These are things I think the association should do on a regular basis.

     

    There’s not much research done in advertising. You’ve done a doctorate in marketing. Is there any encouragement from agencies to educational institutes on this… whether it’s the IIMs or or Symbiosis…

    NMIMS had started a two-year course which used the surplus from the AdAsia 1982 to fund that. But, they’ve collapsed that into their regular MBA programme. We haven’t done anything until now. Recently, someone sent me a proposal for a PhD on doing a comparison across multimedia, effective as a multimedia channel and they said, “Can AAAI partly fund it?” We haven’t looked at it, yet. Those are the kind of things we may… for example, create a best research award to people who do research in the area of advertising.

     

    Given the fact that advertising has been there for a long time… education in the field hasn’t really picked up very much across the country. There are various advertising schools and programmess but quality is very suspect.

    That’s why we’re trying this online experiment. If this succeeds, we’d probably like to do this more and more & you may be doing MBA from whichever business school in India, but you can go online and do this course on strategic planning, creative judgment or on media planning.

     

    Online is fine, but nothing to beat classroom teaching!

    Nothing to beat classroom, but, where is the faculty?

     

    From your own agency…

    Agency people are working very hard. The clients won’t let you go into such things. Online is one solution, that may not be the only one, but it’s a very powerful solution. We’re trying something. Let us see how it goes!

     

    One last question: when you move on from the AAAI President’s job, what would you like to be remembered as having achieved?

    That I gave a thrust to skill development. When I was in Ad Club, we had 10 programmes on Ideation, Strategic Planning. Marketing Research and other topics. I’d like to do that if possible in AAAI, through a mixed online, offline approach.

     

    A shorter version of this interview appeared in dna of brands dated June 1, 2015

     

  • The Workshop is scheduled for Friday, 26th June and would be facilitated by Ruma Biswas, Managing Partner (South Asia), Progress-U

    AAAI announces day-long workshop for ad professionals

    By A Correspondent

     

    Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announced its one-day workshop on Negotiation Skills, to be held at its new Secretariat and Training Center at Marathon Futurex, Mumbai. Designed for senior advertising industry professionals, the Workshop is scheduled for Friday, 26th June and would be facilitated by Ruma Biswas, Managing Partner (South Asia), Progress-U.

     

    This interactive and experiential workshop is designed to meet the key objectives viz. to develop an optimal negotiation mindset, to be able to build trust in the negotiation process by adjusting the verbal   and non-verbal communication style, to learn a systematic process for negotiations, to be able to develop effective negotiation strategies and to improve the approach in dealing with tough negotiations.

     

    Elaborating more on the workshop, Ruma Biswas stated: “Modern Negotiations” program is designed to help leaders with powerful strategies in order to navigate today’s tough business environment with win-win deals. Progress-U has been developing leaders, sales people and professional coaches in Asia for the past 12 years with a passion for care and progress. With operations in Hong Kong, India, Singapore, China and Japan, Progress-U is a pioneer in leadership development.”

     

    M G Parameswaran

    Dr M G Parameswaran, President of AAAI added:  “As an industry body AAAI is involved with many issues facing its member agencies. Helping agencies manage their services better, get better remunerated and improve their professional skills is a key item on the agenda of AAAI. We believe that sharing learnings and knowledge is the best way to prepare the agencies for the future.  This Workshop is just the beginning of a long list of seminars and knowledge sessions that we have planned at the new AAAI Training Centre”.

     

    Senior professionals from numerous large and small agencies have already enrolled for this workshop which has a very limited number of seats.

     

  • The Knowledge Seminars will include a fusion of inspiring speakers on a cross section of subjects which delegates are generally not exposed to

    Goafest Knowledge Seminar committee announces additional speakers

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Organizing Committee of Goafest 2015 released the second list of speakers for the Knowledge Seminars. The names are: Chetan Bhagat, Author, Vikas Bahl, Indian Film Producer, Screenwriter & Director, Suhas Gopinath, CEO and Chairman of Global INC., East India Comedy, one of the most promising names in the comedy circuit. This year, the Knowledge Seminars will include a fusion of inspiring speakers on a cross section of subjects which delegates are generally not exposed to.

     

    Nakul Chopra
    M G Parameswaran

    Commenting on the list of speakers, Nakul Chopra, Chairman of Goafest 2015 & Vice President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) said, “In its 10th year we want Goafest to be spectacular. Our endeavour is to make the content of the festival even richer. We want the young delegates to have the fullest opportunity to learn, imbibe and celebrate creativity.”

     

    Dr. M.G. Parameswaran, President of AAAI said, “The diverse and stimulating line up of speakers will be a great learning for all the delegates. We look forward to great sessions with each one of these reputed speakers.”

     

  • They are introducing for the first time Youth Labs for young delegates

    Plans unveiled for 10th edition of Goafest

    By A Correspondent

     

    L-R Dr. M.G. Parameswaran-President of AAAI, Mr. Nakul Chopra- Chairman of Goafest 2015 & Vice President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), Ajay Chandwani, Managing committee member of the Advertisement

    The Organizing Committee of Goafest 2015 recently shared the roadmap for the event to be held from April 9 – 11 at The Grand Hyatt, Bambolim. The Committee also announced key initiatives and released the first list of speakers at the event.

     

    In its 10th year, efforts are being made to make the event distinctive and grand. Nakul Chopra- Chairman of Goafest 2015 & Vice President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) said, “It is our endeavour to make Goafest 2015 better and superior. While the Advertising Conclave will be held on Day 1; the Knowledge Seminars will be held on Day 2 & 3. There will be a Leadership Summit on 11th April, which will bring together best minds in the field of advertising, communications, marketing industry to discuss, debate, interact, offer thoughts & experiences, share ideas and questions on our industry. These programmes are augmented with a series of presentations from leaders in their respective fields and panel debates.”

     

    Chopra further added, “We are also introducing for the first time Youth Labs for young delegates. These Youth Labs will have a separate Creative Lab and Media Lab. The aim of these Youth Labs will be to provide a platform for youngsters to interact with stalwarts in the industry and get them to sharpen and hone their skills.”

     

    The Organizing Committee also released the first list of speakers for the Knowledge Seminars: Ted Lim- Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific, Alan Moseley- President and Creative Officer, 180 Amsterdam, Neil Stewart- Head of Agency, APAC Region, Facebook, Guy Abrahams- Worldwide Strategic Marketing Officer, Zenith Optimedia and Devdutt Pattanik- Author & Mythologist.

     

    Dr. MG Parameswaran-President of AAAI said, “Goafest 2015 will have a great mix of speakers this year. Our effort is get the 2500+ participants to listen to and interact with the best, the world has to offer. As in the previous years, we will have stimulating Q&A sessions moderated by senior marketing professionals.”​

     

    For the eighth year that AAAI and The Advertising Club will come together to deliver Abbys, India’s definitive awards that celebrate creativity. Pratap Bose- President of The Advertising Club & Chairman of The Awards Governing Council (AGC), said, “The initiatives introduced last year were widely appreciated by all the stakeholders. We will continue to follow the stringent and now well accepted norms for Abbys. An exciting feature that we introduced this year is that the Campaigns that have been released till February 15, 2015, are now allowed to submit their entries at this year’s Abbys.”

     

    Continuing with the changes that were inducted in 2012 – there will be a Grand Prix for Film, Print, Radio, Outdoor, Design, Interactive Digital, Direct, Media and Integrated. This year too there will be awindow of ten days before the final judging round. During this window, shortlisted entries will be available for the entire industry to review. However, Abbys once awarded will stay awarded.

     

  • Campaigns that have been released till February 15, 2015 are allowed to submit their entries at this year's Goafest Abbys

    Call for Entries for Goafest Abbys 2015 announced

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Awards Governing Council (AGC) of Goafest 2015 has announced its “call for entries” for Goafest Abbys. The entry forms can be downloaded from www.theadvertisingclub.net. The last date for submission of entries is Friday, February 27, 2015. This year, Goafest will be held from April 9th to 11th at The Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, North Goa.

     

    Campaigns that have been released till February 15, 2015 are allowed to submit their entries at this year’s Goafest Abbys.

     

    The regular Award entry Fee is INR 7,304/- (inclusive of Service Tax). The entry fee for the categories – Integrated Advertising i.e. from 1e to 15e, 18(J) – a, b, c & d. Integrated Digital Campaign, 19h. Direct Campaign, 20h. Best integrated entertainment content campaign, 21w. Programmes that use multiple media platforms in one promotional campaign, 22u. Integrated Campaign led by PR is INR 10,113/- (inclusive of service Tax). For South Asian Countries the entry fee will be USD 22.47 (inclusive of service Tax).

     

    Goafest is in its 10th year and this is the 8th year that AAAI and The Advertising Club have come together to award ABBYs, India’s definitive honour that recognizes creativity.

     

  • While creatives elsewhere will create a furore, Indian counterparts seem to grin and bear it

    Why do Indian agencies turn a blind idea to Idea Thiefs?

     

    By Shephali Bhatt

     

    Caution:The tone of this article is slightly harsh. In our defence, if you are in advertising you had it coming.

     

    Under ordinary circumstances, you empathise with a victim. Not with the Indian advertising industry, at least not this time. Why not? Because for the longest while now, agencies who claim to be problem solvers haven’t figured out how to prevent a basic issue that mars their existence: the theft of ideas at pitches.

     

    A few weeks ago, we had an anonymous senior adman pen a much discussed column about idea theft. It’s this convenient thing clients do as agencies present their most ‘groundbreaking’ work. They adopt (read: steal) ideas that catch their fancy without so much as a by your leave.

     

     

    The Legalese Simplified

    – Ideas cannot be protected under any law pertaining to intellectual property rights (IPR).

    – Copyrights protect expression of an idea. Patents protect inventions.

    – But, an agency can enter into an agreement with a client whereby he’d be bound to keep information given at the time of pitching confidential.

    – While industries like cinema, music, photography have strong unions safeguarding the creative folks rights, ideas are not protected under IPR anywhere. Only its embodiment in a tangible form can be protected.

    – The best way forward for a creative in any field is to be wise about their sales pitch.

    – If you’re a lyricist, share a stanza; a musician, share a tune; a scriptwriter, share a chapter.

    – And if you’re an adman, show your past work to the client or sign an NDA before showing speculative work.

    – If you are desperate, God save you.

     

    Inputs by Rahul Chaudhry, managing partner at Lall Lahiri & Salhotra, an Intellectual Property law firm)

     

    Some other agency gets to work on the campaign and soon Agency No 1 is staring at a YouTube video, now gone viral, that keeps clocking like after like. Leaving its staffers seething in impotent rage and the desire to scrawl ‘Hey, this was my idea’ in the comments thread.

     

    If this sounds distressingly familiar, look no further than the mirror while trying to find people to blame. First, agencies don’t do their homework. All clients aren’t cut from the same righteous cloth.

     

    There are Bermuda Triangles of the marketing world, who have a reputation for idea shopping. It was something a large Indian conglomerate was frequently accused off especially given its close ties with a particular agency. But typically, such clients opt for whoever quotes the lowest. And yet, pitch after pitch, ad shops go in all guns blazing, their finest creative minds working overtime, effectively delivering their best ideas free of charge.

     

    Mostly, the idea gets mutated by the time it comes to fruition so the original agency often finds its ownership hard to prove. To quote a few instances, the preorder strategy, a digital queue for the launch of a fast food chain in India was supposedly presented by an agency that didn’t get the account.

     

    A knit-wear brand is notorious for idea shopping. A creative head remembers writing a campaign for the Ministry of Tourism once. He didn’t win the account but one of his lines showed up in the final campaign. 8 out of 10 creative directors have been on the receiving end of this unabashed thievery of ideas.

     

    On the other hand, there are the rare cases of magnanimous clients like VIP who compensated an agency for using a modified version of its brand name suggestion for a new line of women’s bags – Caprese.

     

    Idea theft, like many advertising grievances, isn’t confined to India. Remember the #ShareACoke campaign? A veteran adwallah told us that when the original idea (by O&M, Sydney) was adapted by another agency in a different market, the Australian network agency created a mini uproar and got compensated. Good for them if that’s what actually happened. And what do their Indian counterparts do? Nothing. Actually, they discuss it grudgingly over a pint or few of beer.

     

    So, next to nothing would be more like it. The conversation brings about life-altering thoughts like – If the client can make us sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), why can’t we do the same? Legally, they can. But with agencies shying away from asking for a meagre fee hike, the chances of them demanding an NDA are slim to none.

     

    With undercutting and declining margins, agencies are under so much pressure to achieve topline, they can’t afford to say no to any fresh stream of revenue or upset a marketer by bringing up the NDA. The last thing anyone wants is the reputation of being a difficult agency.

     

    “The irony of it all is that despite being the biggest supplier of ideas, we have no command over our own product,” laments Anil Nair, CEO and managing partner of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi. The client knows agencies are desperate for new business. If he is unscrupulous, he will take advantage of the situation. It’s a sign of a shortsighted client though, says Ajay Kakar, CMO, Aditya Birla Group – financial services, to relinquish Lord Krishna for his army. We know how that panned out.

     

    Nonetheless, it’s the agency network that should boycott such clients. So, why haven’t the doyens of this industry done anything to check these defaulters? “It’s because most of our senior leaders are on extension and they don’t give a damn about where this industry is headed,” says Satbir Singh, managing partner and CCO of Havas Worldwide India.

     

    You have people who should’ve retired two years ago, getting paid a crore annually. Why would they risk anything? Rather why do they need to risk it for something that in most cases doesn’t even concern them? Celebrated creatives are typically insulated from this phenomenon; it’s mainly the mid-level creative who often ends up feeling violated. Ideas are likely to build his career and the stuff histories are made of.

     

    The agency ecosystem needs to safeguard these or run the risk of losing talent to another industry (a fad plaguing advertising but that’s for another edition). The AAAI (Advertising Agencies Association of India) says it’s working towards protecting ideas.

     

    While the call for a pitch fee went nowhere – rumour has it that agencies keen to pitch coughed up the fee themselves – in the last few years; they are looking to revisit pitch guidelines along with the ISA (Indian Society of Advertisers), shares MG Parameswaran, the association’s president and the advisor to FCB Ulka.

     

    The NDA clause will be a part of the revised guidelines, we’re told. So, when do we get this revised charter, we ask? In about three to four months, says Nagesh Alai, chairman of the legal wing. Until then, and maybe even after then, it’s open season on ideas.

     

  • – CE0, Publicis South Asia & Vice President of The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) will be the Chairman of Goafest 2015

    Dates for Goafest 2015 announced

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nakul Chopra
    Pratap Bose

    The Organizing Committee of Goafest 2015 have announced the dates of the event.Goafest 2015 will be held on April 9th, 10th and 11th. The venue will be Grand Hyatt, Bambolim and the event will be open for all the delegates on all the three days. The ABBYs will also be held on all the three days.

     

    The Committee also announced that Nakul Chopra- CE0, Publicis South Asia & Vice President of The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) will be the Chairman of Goafest 2015 and Pratap Bose- President of The Advertising Club will be the Chairman of the Awards Governing Council.

     

    Goafest 2015 will be in its 10th edition and this is the 8th year that AAAI and The Advertising Club will come together to deliver ABBYs, India’s definitive awards that celebrate creativity.

     

  • Doing good is what the recipient of the AAAI lifetime achievement award wants the industry to do

    Q&A with Ramesh Narayan, the Do-gooder Adman

     

    Thirty-two years ago, he almost didn’t get into advertising. He would’ve been a journalist and perhaps editing a newspaper somewhere. Instead, he started an ad agency with zero experience and no client in hand. But there’s no looking back ever since until some eight years back, he just gave all up. However, what continues is his active association with industry associations and easy availability for anyone who needs help. He is the Indian ad and media industry’s go-to man in times of distress and even otherwise.  Excerpts from an interview:

     

    Although you didn’t have much experience in advertising, you were fortunate to have landed some prized accounts early.

    In those days, domains like telecom, insurance, banking and infrastructure were largely unexplored. The big MNC agencies were not interested in them and there was fear of dealing with government. I was luck to stumble upon these areas and in a very short span of time, these very areas opened up.

     

    So who was your first client?

    The National Rayon Corporation, for a Fixed Deposit ad. A big, large one. That was the first ad I had made in my life.

     

    MTNL was your first big client, right?

    Yes, and it happened by chance. I had applied for the account and was told that I was far too small and there were rules that needed to be adhered to. Some 11 months later, I got a call from the same office asking me to make some ads for MTNL’s first anniversary. I was given a brief and had to turn in the ads the next day. The boss saw them and was thrilled. So I asked him if his acceptance would mean I will get empanelled. He responded with a firm “No” adding that the rule would still apply.  So as I was leaving, he asked me why I was ready to work for him despite knowing that there was little chance of Canco being on his panel of advertising agencies. My reply: “Because I like to have the thrill.” Obviously, something has gone wrong as you said you would empanel only the large agencies, I said.

     

    How large was your office then?

    We had a four-person office. I was the account executive, copywriter… everything!

     

    Your father CA Naryan must’ve been a great influence at that time.

    He has always been the most important inspiration in my life. I had met almost all the legends of the advertising industry at my house. He was the INS chairman then and heads of agencies in a mess would come to him. So I really learnt what not to do in an advertising agency from him indirectly. Secondly, it also helped me, in a very warped way, as everybody assumed that it was his agency and I was the front. It was quite humiliating in the beginning as well quite humbling because very many of those people became very dear.

     

    Did it help that you were CA Narayan’s son?

    I don’t think so. In fact, one got a little defensive at all times in the early days. But once people saw the work I was doing and word spreads fast in the grapevine, I was accepted.

     

    The INS membership must’ve come easily?

    Not at all. It took a good year-and-a-half!

     

    The 32 years that you have been in it have also been the most interesting for advertising in India. Any milestones, turning points or memorable moments?

    Remember, that in 1982, the big names and entrepreneurs were on their way out and professionals like Mike Khanna, Mani Iyer and Anil Kapoor were on their ascendency. It also saw for the first time the corporatization of advertising agency from purely entrepreneurial, smallish industry. For the first time, a whole lot of  bright MBAs from the IIMs who opted to join the industry. The key word is that opted as they chose to join of their own accord. They could have gone anywhere, but yet they said advertising is their first and last port of call. There was some excitement about the industry, some unwritten magic in the air that attracted all these people.

     

    Cut to the present?

    Yes, having seen all the bring young B-school graduates rise to the top, today we are unable to afford IIM pass-outs. Nor are we invited for IIM placements.

     

    It’s said that part of the reason for this is that the fee paid by clients is too low to allow for expensive IIM graduates.

    As far as work goes, I think our work is on par with the best in the world. We also have the best people in the industry at the moment. Legends in our industry who have done us proud. The remuneration system has evolved. You will always have mature advertisers who will be able to pay a fees on the basis of your performance, etc. But a very large number of advertisers who I wouldn’t call mature have actually exploited the breakdown of the 15% agency commission system.

     

    But why don’t the large agencies hire top talent? Surely the large advertisers pay them good money?

    Do you think so?

     

    That’s the perception…

    Why do you think we hear that we are not able to attract the best talent.

     

    Something is evidently wrong somewhere….

    Yes, and there is a need for the advertising industry and the current leaders to introspect on this. We have made many of the top brands and advertisers look so good and yet we have seemed to have ignored our own industry.

     

    Is there a way to get out of the mess because we have discussed this for the past 5-10 years and nothing has happened?

    I am an incurable optimistic. I see the resurgence of the entrepreneurial spirit in our industry in the last couple of years. A lot of smaller agencies are headed by first rate people.

     

    Why do you think that our young leaders aren’t getting active in the various associations?

    We know of the big ‘I’ that’s Idea. But there’s another big ‘I’ and that’s involvement. I don’t think it is only these bright young sparks. It is a lot of people who do not get involved in the industry affairs as they ought to. They are happy to lean on the industry when they need help. All the big guys have approached the AAAI when they are in a mess. However, they do not feel that they have the time to contribute and get involved in industry affairs as they ought to.

     

    The AAAI was known to be this respected, apex association of advertising agencies. Resolving issues, but thanks to Goafest, it has got dragged into many controversies. Do you think Goafest is a downer for the AAAI?

    I am one of the three people who have been very actively involved in the Advertising Club and the AAAI as a president. I was also one of those who had said that the Abby ought to be a joint ownership property. Therefore, I endorse the idea of Goafest. However I think, Goafest became too much of an awards event. We’ve had only 20 people in the hall once in the Conclave. In fact I must say, I liked the last Goafest where it was positioned as a Knowledge event which also had awards. If Goafest is pursued in the same way where you get top class speakers, make it as much of a knowledge fest like Ad Asia and also have awards in it. It is like an AD Asia and Abbys as one. It could work. It will work.

     

    Do you think they need to get in professionals to run it as the officebearers have day jobs and huge responsibilities.

    Quite honestly, I have been personally associated with not just Abbys for many years but also organized two Ad Asias in 2003 and 2011. In 2003, I was also running an agency. In 2011, Madhukar Kamath was running an agency. Pradeep Guha, Gautam Rakshit and Bhaskar Das had full-time jobs. But they found time to do it more as a labour of love. Involvement is the key to all this and by doing so you are actually showing how much you care for our industry.

     

    Coming back to your agency, there were many agencies which sold out to larger international players. Why didn’t you think of doing so?

    Impossible! That’s the word that I used and that’s what I did. I got three concrete offers. I can’t name them but two were from multinationals and one from an Indian giant with some multinational links. Reporting to anybody was a complete no-no for me. Also, I sort of knew the agency I had built and run it alone with some standards of ethics and values. I knew I could in no way change all that by saying that I am going to get a lot of money. As an agency man, I have never asked the client what’s the budget. We have never had to make a pitch. It was referral-based agency.

     

    I’ll repeat my question… you never wanted to sell out?

    No, and that’s because I never wanted to run after money.

     

    Any regrets or are you happy with the way things have gone?

    When I wound down the agency in 2006, I resigned from all the advertising associations that I was on board. Many people said what’s the hurry. I was on board of ABC and NRC at that time. I quit all of that. Until, two and a half years ago when I got a call from Pradeep Guha who wanted me to come in and help. Oddly enough, I was not only back in industry affairs but I have had some of the meaningful years in the industry in those six years. Thanks to Presidents like Pradeepp Guha, Raj Nayak, Sundar Swamy who have allowed me to be a part of a team who said let’s do something that is good for the industry.

     

    Is there any consulting work you do?

    All the work is pro bono.

     

    That’s great to hear but I thought you would be advising some media companies

    I am doing what I think is good. Right, now I feel I’d like to do things which are good and things that I enjoy doing.

     

    As the recipient of the AAAI lifetime achievement award and earlier a similar honour by the IAA, is there one thing that you think the industry should do which will make you prouder to be associated with it?

    I feel as an industry we have the potential to do much and to position the communications industry as a force for good. And if we do that, we are not only going to make this an aspirational place but inspirational place. When you do good, you do good for everybody indirectly for yourself too.

     

    The only good that people are looking forward is money, right?

    That’s what I am saying… if we can position communications as a force for good. You need to position creative skills, planning skills, media linkages. If communication could do good, it has to be from us. Communication can actually alter behavioural patterns, attitude and mindsets. Who else can do it? Only we! Have we done it? Have we even thought of doing it?

     

  • Senior ad professional and advisor, FCB Ulka, Dr M G Parameswaran, was elected President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2014-2015 at its AGM held on Friday

    M G Parameswaran is new AAAI president

    M G Parameswaran

    By A Correspondent

     

    Senior advertising professional and advisor, FCB Ulka Advertising Pvt Ltd, Dr M G Parameswaran, was elected President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2014-2015 at its AGM held on Friday. Nakul Chopra, CEO South Asia, Publicis Communications was elected Vice-President.

     

    Other elected members of the Executive Committee are: Nagesh Alai (Interface), Sam Balsara (Madison), Rana Barua (Contract), Ashish Bhasin (Aegis Media), Kunal Lalani (Crayons), Rohit Ohri (Dentsu Creative Impact), Pranav Premnarayen (Prem Associates), CVL Srinivas (GroupM), Vivek Srivastava (Innocean) and Srinivasan K Swamy (RK Swamy BBDO). Arvind Sharma as the immediate past president will be ex-officio member of the new execom.

     

  • Advertising Agencies Association of India felicitates Ramesh Narayan with lifetime achievement award

    Adland Nice Man Ramesh Narayan given a fitting Salute

    Ramesh Narayan being felicitated by AAAI President Arvind Sharma. Photograph: Sakshi Kapoor/dna

     

     

    By Shobhana Nair

     

    Veteran ad and media personality Ramesh Narayan was felicitated by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) with the Lifetime Achievement Award last evening (Thursday, July 24) at an event attended by top ad and media trade professionals.

     

    Arvind Sharma

    Making his opening remarks, AAAI President Arvind Sharma said, “Everybody says do good to others but Ramesh is one guy who actually follows it. He practises it and has been doing it for over a quarter of a century. That’s why he has many admirers in the industry. He has made so much of a difference to the industry.”

     

    Mr Narayan started his career in the media in 1982 and established his agency Canco with no experience in advertising and without a client in hand. However, soon there were clients who came on despite having the bigger agencies empanelled and Canco had on its roster among the biggest advertisers in the country. Mr Narayan wound down his agency in 2006 even as there were some serious overtures for an acquisition.

     

    He has been active in all trade associations and instrumental in the organizing of the Ad Asia conventions in the country.

     

    Accepting the award from the AAAI, Mr Narayan thanked his friends and peers who had flown from all across the country on the occasion. He also remembered his father, the late CA Narayan, who had made the maximum impact on him.

     

    Said Nagesh G Alai, Group Chairman, FCBUlka: “Ramesh has been a long-time advertising veteran who believed in some ethical way of doing business. However, since the ethics were moving out of the business, he decided to move away rather than falling prey to it. Even after retirement, he has been quite active in terms of engagement with the industry like awards, recognition of young achievers so on and so forth.  He truly deserves the award because of his continuing engagement and professional approach to it. At a personal level, he is a good human being. I have known him for 25 years. He truly deserves it.”

     

    Summing up the sentiment of the fraternity, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, and Honorary Secretary, AAAI added: “A lot of credit for the work on policies and the strength of the AAAI goes to Ramesh. If one person deserves the Lifetime Achievement Award, it is him.”

     

    Some more comments and reactions to the felicitation of Mr Narayan:

    Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director of Madison World: I think it’s a very well-deserved award for Ramesh. It is really creditable that even after so many years of him closing down his agency, he is still involved with the industry and continues to contribute substantially for the overall well being of the industry which I think is very creditable.

     

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman and Managing Director, RK Swamy Hansa group: I nominated Ramesh Narayan for the AAAI Lifetime achievement award. The committee found him fit to honour him. I have known him for many decades and we have worked together for many years. It was thanks to Ramesh Narayan that we got the IBF and AAAI agreement signed. He is a very nice, humane, hospitable, caring and friendly guy. I have not come across any industry colleague who is as humane as him.

     

    Pradeep Guha, Managing Director, 9X Media: Truly anything that happens in this industry and certainly in the last 15 years, I can say Ramesh has had a role to play. The only thing is he is just too shy. He doesn’t take credit for anything. He’s the hidden hand in everything that happens in the industry and he continues to do so. Without him, our industry would have been a lot poorer. We are really blessed to have a person like him in our industry.

     

    K V Sridhar, Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro: Ramesh Narayan is a wonderful human being. You can’t find a human being who is better than him in advertising. He has done such selfless service to the industry through AAAI and now with IAA. He is one of those industry veterans who has stood for the industry and represented the industry across many forums in the world. He has held the image of the industry and took that forward everywhere. That’s the reason why he deserves it. There are very few industry spokespersons as people look into their own business, agenda and people. But he has nothing.

     

    Bharat Patel, ISA Member and Independent Director, Birla Sun Life Asset Management: Ramesh Narayan has been the backbone of the Indian advertising especially for the associations like AAAI and IAA. I have not seen anyone like that who has supported advertising in India like this. These are people who have been successful in advertising but there has been no Ramesh Narayan who really got the advertising community together and achieved so much.

     

    Shekhar Swamy, Group CEO, R K Swamy Hansa: Ramesh Narayan is a great guy who has done many things for the industry and he deserves the award for the amount of time that he has put. He has worked selflessly into the promotion of the industry. We are here to celebrate with him. Congratulations to Ramesh!

     

     

    Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC: Ramesh is one of the greatest guys that I’ve met. I am here to wish him for the rest of his life. At the peak of his career, he renounced everything. How many people can do that? It is an amazing thing to do. So many people aspire to do so but will not be able to achieve it.

     

     

    Madhukar Kamath, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, DDB Mudra: If ever there’s a person who truly deserves this award then it is Ramesh Narayan. Apart from the accomplished professional that he is which I am not qualified to talk abou, Ramesh is one of the nicest persons in the industry. We require more and more of Ramesh Narayans. A person with no agenda, clear heart,  and one who wears his heart on his sleeves. He never says no and importantly, a person who gets things done. Ramesh is an idol for me. Less talk, more action is Ramesh Narayan.

     

    Rana Barua, CEO, Contract Advertising: It’s absolutely an honour to be here. He is one of the most silent and hard working people in the industry. Though he is very silent but he goes about doing things meticulously. This is something which should have happened many years before.

     

     

    Paritosh Joshi, Principal, Provocateur Advisory: “Ramesh Narayan is somebody who has given so much for the development of the industry. He had his own agency which he exited it. He moved on after spending so many years. The profit motive was gone for him. He was not running his agency anymore but here’s a guy who genuinely believes in the development of the broader communication professions. There are very few people who do that with a genuine sense of selflessness. Hats off to him on all fronts.”

     

  • The Advertising Agencies Association of India will felicitate veteran adman Ramesh Narayan with the Lifetime Achievement Award on July 24 in Mumbai

    AAAI to felicitate Ramesh Narayan with Lifetime Achievement Award

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ramesh Narayan

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the apex organisation of advertising agencies in the country, will felicitate veteran adman Ramesh Narayan with the Lifetime Achievement Award this year.

     

    The felicitation will happen on Thursday, July 24 in Mumbai.

     

    Mr Narayan, who runs Canco Advertising, has led various industry bodies like the AAAI, the Advertising Club, the International Advertising Association India Chapter and the Federation of Advertising Association.  As a thought leader in the fraternity, Mr Narayan would also write for various periodicals including a column on advertising in Mid-Day some years back.

     

  • FCB Ulka Advertising chief M G Parameswaran is set to be the next President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India. A formal announcement of this is to be made soon

    MG ‘Ambi’ Parameswaran to be AAAI president

    M G Parameswaran

    By A Correspondent

     

    Author and Adviser, FCB Ulka M G Parameswaran is set to be the next President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India. Ambi, as he’s popularly known in the fraternity, and is currently vice-president of the apex association of advertising agencies. A formal announcement of this is to be made shortly, MxMIndia learnt at Goafest 2014 last week.

     

    Former Leo Burnett Chairman and CEO Arvind Sharma has been President of the AAAI since 2012 and his term is expected to end next month. Mr Parameswaran will be the 44th head of the body (48th if you include those who held mulitiple, non-consecutive terms).