Even as hundreds of crores of rupees are being spent on media advertisements, the ads themselves often fail to live up to benchmark standards of originality and impact. Content with minor tinkering within category frameworks, both marketers and ad agencies are shunning risk and celebrating mediocrity. Who or what is to be blamed? Is business paranoia a legitimate excuse? How can we create campaigns that sell better and hopefully, become admired case studies?
Recently when I watched a compilation of the world's most awarded TV commercials, my first reaction was, "I wish I had seen something like this when I was starting out in advertising." A majority of the commercials on the reel were from the 1960s and 1970s-brilliantly original, simple, single-minded and charming. But those were the days when almost every form of creativity which advertising included was touched with magic. Besides, Bernbach and his contemporaries were never known to suffer from an advertising dilemma peculiar to our times: Creativity for awards or effect?
The perspective changes dramatically when we remember that advertising is seen publicly but consumed privately, passing through mental and emotional processes, unique to each individual at a given moment of time. What people say during research is not always exactly how they feel and react-or are likely to feel and react-upon being exposed to the finished ad. Hence, the premise that research can provide an unshakable foundation for advertising action is questionable to say the least.
While research is often used to lead us down the least risky path, advertising history reveals that the most successful and beloved campaigns have been products of audacious thinking and intuition. The very notion of putting creativity to test in its formative stages and sanitizing it thereafter is based on a dubious assumption that consumers can somehow fathom every nuance and every defining moment of an as-yet-unproduced TV commercial or print campaign, and give us an intelligent feedback. The truth is that no one knows, until much later, what form the film or print ads will finally take. During execution, inspiration and serendipity intervene to modify and enhance. When we lock every nut and bolt tightly down, even before we start the production, we deny ourselves the advantages of improvisation.
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