AD Agencies
Guest column: Ads that didn’t work!
The advertising sector is expected to be a sophisticated and creative one. Creative heads spend hours ensuring the advertising is ‘done right’. Yet, year after year, we come across ads that fail to make any mark and instead end up being called as dunce.
These ads lack engaging storytelling, creativity and in most cases are poorly executed with actors overdoing the act.
The small and local brands deliver such howlers as they only have a small amount to spare on advertising and limited creative counsel. But at times we come across deep-pocketed household name that create bad advertisements.
If it all becomes too much to bear, please cheer yourself up with our listicle on best animated ads in India and ads that rapped with consumers.
Inspiration exists at both ends of the creative scale.The higher end has fewer options to engage with. So, here are five gems according to Publicis India head of creative Nitin Pradhan who was talking to Indiantelevision.com’s Santosh Jangid.
Bangur Cement – Godzilla.
You’ve got to give it to this one for the sheer confidence and nerve with which it attacked the air waves.
The plot is to die for and the CG scary. Godzilla rises from the shallows of the Arabian Sea and brings down our very own Bandra Worli sea link only to bang its head and lose its tail (you read that right) to a skyscraper. A white-bearded foreigner and a few flying birds usher in a rainbow.
I’m sure they thought of it on the way to the shoot.
JK Super Cement
It has graced Indian Advertising’s Hall of Fame for long now. A skimpily clad girl rises from the sea and threateningly walks towards us before breaking into a smile. A deep voice in the background interprets the metaphor, “Vishwaas hai. Isme kuchh khaas hai.” Subtle!
Pan Bahar
Pierce Brosnan walks into a casting coup and trips. An idea which will be remembered for eons, for reasons unintended.
When in doubt cast a white man. When in more doubt cast a famous white man. And it will work. It did. And so did many Bhojpuri films.
Micromax – Nuts, Guts, Glory.
The white man fascination continues and gets scaled up. There are many white men. And women. Quite sure the idea was to appeal to the ‘youth’.
The brand attempts to climb several rungs of the ‘aspirational’ ladder. Taking potshots at an icnoic fruit-logo brand definitely needs guts.
Not sure why they had to replace this piece so soon, then. Maybe, the boring small towners preferred reality.
MDH Spices – Flight of Taste
It’s a flight full of Indians. With a pinch of white skin added to taste. Words like ‘Khushbu’, ‘Swaad’, ‘Taste’ and the three magical letters are thrown in generously in a modest attempt to self-garland the brand multiple times along with its veteran creator. Life saving spices are dropped on to flavour starved regions of the world along with parachutes. Imagination takes a jump without one.
The observations made in this piece by Nitin Pradhan, in the pix, are with no malice at heart or high-handedness in the head against any individual or organisation. There’s always a good reason behind every piece of not-so-good work. And, how can one judge good from bad when one has been a partner in crime, some time or the other. Good sense prevails only when we look back and analyse. May be, this is that moment, according to Pradhan. However, Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to his personal views expressed here. |
AD Agencies
WPP to cut jobs in £500m restructuring drive as revenue drops 8.1 per cent
CEO outlines reset after 30.1 percent profit decline
LONDON: WPP has signalled further job cuts as it embarks on a multi-year restructuring aimed at simplifying its sprawl, hardwiring artificial intelligence into its services and hauling profitability back on course.
The UK-listed advertising group will fold itself into a single integrated company structured around four divisions: WPP Creative, WPP Media, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions, under a plan to deliver £500 million in gross annual cost savings by 2028.
On the fourth-quarter earnings call, chief financial officer Joanne Wilson said the arithmetic was unavoidable. “In a business where most of our cost savings are people, that will mean a reduction of certain heads,” she said, adding that the group would reinvest in newer capabilities such as commerce, influencer marketing and advanced analytics.
The shift reflects a deeper rewiring. As AI becomes embedded in client workflows, the skills mix across the company is changing. Some roles will go; others will be created. “We will be reallocating talent around the business,” Wilson said, noting fresh hiring in data, technology and performance marketing.
Chief executive officer Cindy Rose said WPP was expanding internal training, including AI coaching and creative-technology apprenticeships, and embedding engineers from technology partners into client teams. Continuous reskilling, she argued, is central to staying competitive.
The urgency is financial. Revenue fell 8.1 per cent to £13.55 billion in 2025, while profit after tax dropped 30.1 per cent to £738 million. Staff costs, including severance and incentives, declined by £576 million as permanent headcount shrank 8.7 per cent and freelance spending fell 14 per cent.
Wilson warned that net new business headwinds would likely persist into the first half of 2026, citing cautious client spending and volatile marketing budgets.
On Thursday, WPP formally launched ‘Elevate 28’ a strategic programme to integrate media, creative, production and enterprise services, lower the cost base and improve cash generation.
Rose said 2026 would be about stabilising net new business performance. By 2027, a revamped go-to-market model should be fully embedded, paving the way for a return to growth. From 2028 onwards, WPP hopes to operate as a leaner, AI-enabled outfit with fatter margins: smaller, sharper and more machine-driven.
