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Crisis no bar on creativity: Brands, agencies team up amidst COVID-19 scare
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The rules of communication had never been so versatile as we are witnessing now. When almost the whole world is under lockdown, business running from homes, probably for the first time in history, and purchase patterns seeing curves deviating from regular, the communication and marketing industry is functioning in a sort of dystopia no degree could have taught them of.
As per a recent Kantar Study, despite the disturbing reality people are living in these days, 92 per cent of consumers will prefer brands to continue advertising. The enjoyment percentile for top-quality advertising content has mostly risen for the period. This puts an additional responsibility on brands’ shoulders to not only stay relevant but also educate and entertain consumers in times of distress.
Muthoot Pappachan Group CMO Sanjeev Shukla tells Indiantelevision.com that it is very important for brands these days to build on the brand value that they have generated over years and make their users their brand advocates in a time when sales are lower than usual. He said his brand is focussing on staying in touch with the consumers and keep their trust intact.
Asian Paints recently released a shot-at-home video for its Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai campaign to spread positivity and cheers. Asian Paints MD and CEO Amit Syngle said, “While all of us are put to this unprecedented test, the campaign aims to take a moment and look at the brighter side of things, cherish the joy of being with our families and create unforgettable memories.”
The Kantar study also suggests that brands should refrain from advertising too much around the pandemic and try including light humour in their ads. It also suggested that brands can revisit old videos and footages to fit in this “new world of engagement”, something that Amul is doing by showing its old ads during the Ramayana and Mahabharata episodes on Doordarshan.
Ogilvy India chief creative officers Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha believe that agencies will have to be wearing their thinking hats tighter than ever now considering the limitations agencies are working in.
“Currently, we see no dip in work at all. In fact, more and more brands want to help in sending out the right information about Coronavirus, so that is keeping us very busy and rightly so. Restrictions are a reality of life, at least for the next few months. But thanks to technology and the wonderful World Wide Web, we are still able to create work. Writing needs to be sharper than ever because there will be limits on visuals,” they said.
FCB Ulka ECD Anindya Banerjee shared similar sentiments as he noted, “The best part of the crisis is that it has no precedent. So, clients are looking for out-of-the-box solutions. And we as an agency are beside ourselves at such an opportunity. The creative team is up to their eyebrows with work. While many of them are prior commitments, they have to be recalibrated to the new normal; the complete dependence on the online media.”
While most of the work has moved online and mobility restricted, neither brands nor agencies are giving up on the idea of creating fresh TVCs. Case in point being ZEEL’s #HumAndarCoronaBahar campaign by Lowe Lintas, Tata Sky’s campaign by Ogilvy, and Sony Pictures unique short film starring biggies across Bollywood and regional industries including Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth.
Limited resources and restricted movements have brought out the creative best of many brands and agencies.
Karmarkar and Rajadhyksha shared, “Our video team has rolled up its sleeves and is finding ingenious ways of making work happen. The office is producing some pretty sweet work. The Vodafone stay at home pug, The Fevikwik ‘don’t repair, Asian Paints and UNILEVER; all these and many more pieces have been written, produced and released in the last three weeks. No one can lockdown creativity.”
Banerjee also noted that their video team is working hard to innovate. “At the risk of sounding immodest, as an agency, we are used to not giving up, no matter what. Our films department is already planning on how does one do a great film and yet make it look like a million bucks.”
MAM
Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
