Digital is a key focus area for Indian advertising agencies at the moment. In an interview with Akanksha Nagar, FCB’s Rohit Ohri and Swati Bhattacharya discuss how agencies and brands must be prepared to handle the trends transforming the advertising landscape and why creativity backed by data and tech is vital at this point in time. Excerpts:
Most Indian ads honoured this year at Cannes Lions were in the digital space. Has India finally caught the digital bus?
Rohit Ohri: Yes, there was cutting-edge, tech-driven work from India that swept metals. However, digital marketing has been gaining rapid momentum in India over the last few years and we’re now seeing the fruit of that growth. Also, a lot of work was centred around creativity and technology. Therefore, creativity powered by data and tech really seems crucial at this point in time and this is the new frontier we are breaking through as an industry globally and finding more interesting, sharper, and engaging stories to connect with consumers.
We have demonstrated consistent performance over the last five years and therefore have seen a lot of momentum from the clients’ side after the wins.
Swati Bhattacharya: In this digital age, there have been more stories available, but I don’t think storytelling is impacted. Digital has made it easier for creative people to collide with customers in interesting ways without spending a crazy amount of money. Data is at the service of creativity and a story is evaluated only through its impact including on the business, and that finally decides if the campaign is award-worthy.
What are the significant digital trends internationally and how prepared are Indian agencies to leverage them?
Ohri: Blockchain, Metaverse, NFTs, 5G, and cryptocurrencies are trends currently prominent in the West and in their early adoption stages in India. However, I feel that agencies and brands can only cater to these trends when the audience become receptive to them. So the trends may hold a specific value, but until there is some utility for them in the Indian context, we will not see ready adoption amongst the audiences here.
Currently, I see social commerce, e-commerce, AR, VR, chatbots, cookie-less targeting, and audio as ongoing trends bridging the online-offline divide. The coming together of content and commerce is helping brands build favourability and relevance by enhancing the purchase experience. This is Indian advertising’s current playing field as it presents an opportunity to link impressions to actual sales and feed these outcomes into real, full-funnel marketing models.
FCB India acquired a majority stake in the digital agency Kinnect last year and it also has a strategic partnership with XP&D. So there is an effort to strengthen the digital offering…
Ohri: The years from 2020 to 2022 will be remembered for the deployment of digital access to services across sectors. Though unplanned, the timing of FCB’s collaboration with Kinnect could not have been better. Our 60 years’ worth of brand-building experience is now taken a notch higher with Kinnect’s expertise in driving digital transformations. As for our strategic partnership with XP&D and Networkbay, we fill in many capability gaps in the experiential space disrupted during the pandemic. These agencies are helping us to create the same brand experience online that is available offline. Some of these experiential platforms will be seen at the Auto Expo the coming year.
How do you assess the growth in ad spends this fiscal?
Ohri: The recession will shape consumer behaviour and inflation will make consumers more conscious about their spending and the value-driven out of every purchase. Brands need to factor in this change and act accordingly. With the increasing price sensitivity and an inflationary environment, brands need to toil harder to retain consumers. Hence, I don’t see brands not spending on advertising; they may be slowing down on spending but not stopping advertising.
Agencies often complain about their inability to enter the award shows due to budget constraints. Do you feel that scenario needs to change, and if so, how?
Bhattacharya: Intimacy is the algorithm of creativity and how you create that intimacy is how you will be evaluated. My work has taught me that creativity is not dependent on budget. The Chatpat campaign (FCB India, FCB Chicago, and Kinnect won two Gold Lions, two Silver Lions, and two Bronze Lions for the campaign) was shot on a next-to-nothing budget and was contending with million-dollar budget films. So budget is not everything and creativity still overrules it.
However, it is a lot of money. Even for us, we rarely enter so conservatively, especially when you work on accounts where the client itself doesn’t have so much budget, and one has to be mindful. It will be good if Cannes has a different rate list for different countries.
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