Indiantelevision.com Team

(23 April 2007 6:00 am)

GOA: On a beach location, the festival has seen three days of a buoyant and jovial advertising industry big bosses and juniors alike letting their hair down. But apart from the entertainment and fun, the sessions on the second day lured throngs of youngsters into the seminar room.

An expert on retail, Johnson mainly highlighted the pros and cons of in store advertising and warned the Indian retail industry (which she believes is in a sophisticated phase) that the challenge is not to entertain the shopper in the retail environment but rather engage them. She says that in India we are in the process of moving from a cluttered space to orderly fixtures, but more importantly the next step is to differentiate and create magical moments for the customer. These fixtures must be linked to the values of the category in question in order to bring brand building into the media package at the point of purchase. The objectives of such initiatives are to add consumer value.

Donald Gunn presented the Gunn Report for 2006 and showcased his selection of global bests. Tanapatanakul said very little yet conveyed so much through his visual display of his best work, which had the crowds applauding exceptional ideas from Thailand.

Beatie also contributed significantly to attracting the multitude, the most important statement he made was in essence very relevant to the Indian advertising fraternity. Sending out a simple but powerful message, Beatie said that those who seriously care about the progression of the industry would not be stuck in mediocrity and would not waste time quarreling among each other. Ironic, given the divided Indian advertising community but a good wake up call as well.

He also warned against the pretense of scam advertising and emphasized that the idea should not be treated like a baby but a better metaphor such as the spider. On a closing note, he added that his wish for The Indian advertising industry was to stick to their ethnic roots as great work comes from that and not from aping western ideas, "with that the time for India has come."

Honouring an Indian creative that has received recognition and accolades around the globe, Prasoon Joshi's Happy Dent campaign, Beatie tells the upcoming creative minds to "follow in his footsteps."