An Exploration of Advertising in India

The advertising industry in India is thriving. That’s the opinion the shots team came to after featuring a very talented bunch of India-based people and companies in the latest issue of shots, 151, out now. Then, just after the edition went to press, it was announced that AKQA had opened in the continent, as well as M&C Saatchi.

So what is it about India that’s attracting these big names? And what is it that makes Indian adland so special and unique? With the new magazine hot off the press, below we talk to a range of people in the Indian advertising industry to find out more.

Anurag Bhatnagar, director of client services for AKQA in India, says the company is opening an office in Gurgaon because many of their clients are already making waves over there.

He explains: “With India being a high-growth economy with a huge middle-income class and many of our clients already present there, it was time to set up a base in India. We will now be in an even better position to create inspiring ideas, products and services tailored to the Indian market, while at the same time, working together with our other offices and servicing clients globally. With the opening of the Gurgaon location, we now have more resources in the APAC region – along with our other two Asia offices in Shanghai and Tokyo.”

Before setting up in Gurgaon, AKQA had already created some great work for the Indian market, including the Nissan New Star of India campaign which received a lot of recognition internationally.

Bhatnagar says India is a huge reservoir of creative and technology talent and AKQA is looking to build a diverse team of engineering specialists as well as creatives.

He also says a lot of shifts are happening in India at the moment, with advertising becoming so much more than TV commercials and print campaigns.

“There is a greater leverage of technology and digital-led channels,” he comments. “Brand stories are now crafted for a multi-channel and multi-device media landscape.”

An example of an Indian campaign that has stepped away from traditional media is Kan Khajura Tesan, or ‘the earworm channel’, for Unilever, which won three golds at this year’s Cannes Lions – two for Media and one for Mobile.

The campaign, from Lowe Lintas and Partners Mumbai, is an on-demand radio station for people that live in some of India’s most rural areas. It is accessed through a mobile phone, with users simply calling a number and receiving a free return call with 15 minutes of entertainment.

Bhatnagar says: “This campaign is a great example of building content, delivering value to people and leveraging technology that was inclusive in nature.”

New beginnings

It was also revealed this month that M&C Saatchi Worldwide is strengthening its presence in India through a tie-up with Delhi-based independent creative agency, February – forming M&C Saatchi February.

Announcing the new partnership, M&C Saatchi’s worldwide CEO Moray MacLennan explains that India plays a fundamental role in the company’s global strategy.

He adds: “We're delighted to join forces with a brilliant team to help us create a global hub in this critical market.”

The deal follows a strategic review of the agency’s Indian operations and the new agency will be headquartered in Delhi’s up-and-coming creative zone of Shahpur Jat.

February's founders Gopal Krishnan and Nirmal Pulickal will lead the combined operation, supported by Anjali Nayar, the current CEO of M&C Saatchi Delhi, who is president of the new venture.

Krishnan says: “We’ve been doing some great work for some wonderful clients over the last couple of years, and this new partnership will help us play on an even bigger stage going forward.”

GDP growth in India is at an average five to seven per cent based on varying studies and government estimates. This means that digital as a medium really is looking like the way forward for great Indian campaigns.  

In fact, the Indian media and entertainment economy to which the advertising industry is intrinsically linked has been growing at a healthy 10.9 per cent over 2012 to 2013, with digital growing at a whopping 38.7 per cent.

Speaking to shots at the Cannes Lions Festival, Tigress Tigress Mumbai, founder Meera Sharath Chandra, was keen to emphasise the fact that cyber is going down a treat in India.

“To jump onto the cyber wagon early has helped me so much,” she says. “My company tends to start with the digital product first and I choose to work in this way because I realise that, in today’s context, cyber really is what should be at the heart of a campaign.”

The ad pro also believes that the country does so well in advertising because it has such a melting pot of different cultures – meaning that campaigns need to be written in a way that translates internationally.

“We have so many cultures and I think I found it easy to work in Europe because of this. India’s almost like another Europe and I find that if you can translate an idea in India you can translate it all over the world,” she says. “The ad industry is huge in India. All the big names are represented here and we are an emerging market.”

The final say comes from O&M India’s executive creative director, Sukesh Kumar Nayak (the man who wrote the globally successful Google Search: Reunion online film).

He firmly believes that the key ingredient that makes India stand out from the crowd is storytelling. Stories are embedded in the nation’s most successful campaigns and weave their way into consumers’ hearts.

He concludes: “Advertising in India is about telling good stories. It has its own language and its own character and that is something we need to retain because it makes us unique. Technology is just a tool – it’s the story that sells. The day you rely on technology alone is the day you are dead and finished in this business.”

Look out for an extensive look at Indian creativity next week on shots.net, with our coverage from our India special, taken from shots 151.