Indiantelevision.com Team

(14 April 2007 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: "If a creative agency is the fountainhead of ideas for a brand, then its work should be relevant or else, it would amount to plain irresponsibility on their part," Britannia CEO Vinita Bali exclaims, as she thrashed it out in a candid discussion with Lowe executive creative director Balakrishnan (Balki) and Future Brands CEO Santosh Desai at the annual Subhash Ghoshal Foundation event titled 'Provocations.'

Holding fort between the client representative and the agency, Desai subtly armed with his select few but 'debatable advertisements' urged Bali and Balki to raise pertinent but often conflicting views on the role that advertising plays today.

As expected, the Fair & Lovely proposition followed quickly behind, however Balki spoke in strong opposition to its 'socially derogatory' implications. In fact he believes, "It's the most moralist thing Levers has done by taking a myth and giving it a solution. It is a deep brand that provides emotional upliftment and confidence to so many women out there."

Moving beyond the moralist posture, Balki drew the audience's attention to the dearth of risk taking in the business, in order to play it safe or in the fear that the agency will lose cliental for that big risky idea. This was in response to Desai's question on the whether agencies at large are honest about the risks they want to take.

Although a client perspective towards advertising most often than not boils down to a translation of sales, Bali believes that if the advertising is not helping to build her brand then it would amount to taking a risk. This urged Balki to playfully refer to the creative industry as the 'bashing community' - "If we take risks we are bashed and if we don't take risks we are bashed!"

All said and done, Balki admits that every ad is still a 'bet' as there is never a sure shot of success and as clients will continue looking at it as an expenditure that has to deliver returns, they should in that case "Trust the people who have gambled and won of it," he opines, closing the heated but entertaining debate.