Because print is magic…

A good press ad is all about the power of implication. What you imply is what your audience hears… The biggest advantage of print over a tv commercial is in its believability. Even today, people who read something believe it more than when they see something.

The principals of great advertising have been written about for decades and nothing has really changed. It all begins with a good idea. Clean, simple and something that engages the reader… At the end of the day, print is a fantastic medium, that allows for great creativity. It is for clients and agencies to use it creatively to drive home their message.

Print to me is the most interactive medium. It’s easy doing a smart print advertisement but it is very difficult to do a good print advertisement.

Advertising today is much deeper and more sophisticated than it was even a few years ago. Viral marketing, 360-degree presence, product placement and interactive campaigns are only a few of the new tools in the arsenal of equipment available to marketers. In the face of this new technology and media, the printed ad may seem almost quaint and outdated; a candle in the age of the electric bulb. One may wonder if it is time to close the chapter on this era and become nostalgic about the printed ads which punctuated our youths. How the Amul girl made the simple meal of bread and butter ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious!’ and Raymond gave us the feeling of being ‘The complete man’.

This book, however, is not a eulogy. On the contrary, this is a counterargument, a proof of life. In collecting some of the best-in-class print advertising, which has graced the pages of newspapers over the past decades, we hope to demonstrate the continuing vivacity and relevance of this medium. These ads have aged well. They continue to evoke the same interest, laughter, and (more importantly) the same temptation and urgency as the first time they appeared on paper. They identify our most basic and most intimately held hopes and aspirations. They exemplify the curious concomitance of commercial and creative instincts which are the soul of this art. In a strange way, they continue to stand out from the wash and whirlwind of more modern advertising media, which now permeates life.

I hope you enjoy this collection of advertising at its finest. I hope it brings back some memories. Above all, I hope that upon reading through it, you come to the same conclusion I did: that the printed ad continues to have a role in this digital world; that the craft of copywriting can still be as effective now as it was a decade ago. Or five decades ago. Or ten. I firmly believe that print should not be an afterthought in even the most modern marketing effort, and I can offer no better evidence than the work assembled here.

Rajiv Verma is CEO, HT Media Limited. The text above appeared as a Foreword to the book