Several
senior creative executives recently were given the boot from one of India’s largest
advertising agencies. Their crime? They produced some ‘inappropriate’
advertisements for a leading global brand of cars, just to win awards. The
brouhaha was less because of the ads but more because the guys got caught as
this was a common practice in the advertising field.
The quest to
win awards for creativity starts from one’s childhood. For instance, the school
fancy dress competition. The complacent (or lazy?) mother enters her offspring as
Gandhi, pirate or Mother Teresa. Easy ones with raw material readily available
at home. Unfortunately for the child, the competition comes up with a
toothpaste tube, or caterpillar or even a tree with a sign proclaiming “Save
the environment. Join the chipko movement.”
The other
platform for a creative prize is the school exhibition where samples of
children’s SUPW projects are displayed. This actually reflects the mother’s
inventive talent and not the child’s. For his project my younger son had to
make a model of a house. My wife, in turn commissioned her architect cousin to
design something exotic. The result was a Spanish hacienda which my son
submitted as his handiwork without an iota of guilt.
This
competitive spirit continues in adulthood and manifests itself rather strongly
in people in artistic fields like advertising and films. For a creative person
awards help in career advancement and also in fattening one’s wallet.
A person aspiring
to become a hotshot copywriter is brought down to earth within a few months of
joining an advertising agency. What he or she thought of as a great idea is
dissected and filtered, first by the client servicing executive and then the
client. The first signs of frustration start here. It is particularly more so
while handling international FMCG brands because the creative work ends up
going through a committee. The end product has a nil chance of getting any
prize for creativity.
By the
seventh year or so the copywriter just goes through the motions of writing.
That is the time when every copywriter through generations writes inane
headlines like, “The soap with a difference.” Or “The better noodle.”You can
substitute any product in these headlines.
I once made
the mistake of taking my creative director to a presentation. He took it
personally when the campaign was rejected and got into an argument with the
client. He later blamed me for not ‘selling’ the campaign strongly enough.
My time in
the sun (or almost) came several years back. I had won an award at the
Advertising Club, Mumbai. Luckily I was in that city on the day of the
function. When my category was announced I got up from my seat. To my surprise
I found that my colleague from the local office had made his way to the stage
and collected the award and got photographed with the chief guest. Later I
found that he was not aware of my presence. At least he had the grace to hand
me the trophy.
The
advertising awards season will start soon and you can be sure that murmurs of a
‘fixed’ match will manifest itself from the losers.
