Guest Column

We believe therefore we are...
Agnello Dias, former CCO, JWT India


This is one of those strange times that comes along every once in a while when one is not sure whether we should be talking about the end of last year, or the beginning of the next year. Undoubtedly, 2008 has been the most apocalyptic year we've had since India started emerging as a nation to contend with on the global scene around the turn of the millennium.

In my area of professional activity, a loosely-held together mass that straddles the smart worlds of marketing, communication, salesmanship and good, old-fashioned money making, it has been hectic times.

All our gurus are of the unanimous opinion that the conventional business and profitability model in advertising is on its last legs. What it is going to change to, however, is where the debate gets interesting.

A whole host of theories and profound predictions are doing the rounds with some of them based on seemingly impeccable logic. And since I have stuck out my neck to put my name on this page, it is only inevitable that I expose myself to being proved totally wrong by the time this is in print.

But for whatever it is worth, here's my take on what 2009 holds for all us in the business. And the lucky ones that aren't.

On the purely creative front, I believe print will slowly begin to creep back in. People will start reading and understanding more. Frivolous, superficial eye-candy thinking, which has found its utopia in television and film, will no longer send consumers pirouetting to the corner shop.

This search for deeper meaning, albeit in its infancy, is beginning to make its presence felt in cinema, reading habits and all kinds of public demonstration of one's feelings.

I believe, and I may be asking for trouble on this one, Ghajini without its relatively involved memory-loss plot cornerstone would not have been half as successful as it is.

On a more holistic communication front, the accent will be on making the consumer (reader/viewer/logger) think, rather than feel.

This simple yet apocalyptic change in mass psyche will have an effect on a whole lot of consumer behaviour as more people feel they have the power to effect a change; not only on how they live, but also on how their country is run and the world functions.

The green count on environment-friendly products will begin to have a greater say in purchase decisions. Already families are aware of the star rating on white goods, and outlet studies reveal that an equal number of consumers are willing to pay more in order to benefit in the long run.

Platforms for social change are increasingly making their presence felt and they are no longer being slotted as NGOs or jhola-kurta wallahs. Citizen activism is going to be the big story of the next few years and no, it will not be called public service.

Consumer forums are going to demand greater accountability and the public shyness, that sustained six decades of Nehruvian socialism, is slowly beginning to shed itself. There is no shame, awkwardness or hesitation in one standing up before a crowd and having your say, be it a question to a minister or a manufacturer or an MNC.

Notice for instance, the behaviour of guests in the first KBC and the second run hosted by Amitabh Bachchan before it was cut short. The first run had guests from every corner of the country gawking like deer caught in the headlights when confronted by the Big B on national television, their non-quizzing conversation monosyllabic with eyes downcast and the occasional sheepish smile.

The second run however, had them introducing their girlfriends, requesting Mr B to mouth their favourite dialogues and some even asking personal questions. By the time SRK and Salman had come on, it was free for all and there were times when one didn't know who was in the dock.

The signs are all around us. We are bolder people. We are more uninhibited, and we are just about beginning to realise the power of the potential of 900 million very ambitious, very energetic and very intelligent people when they want something really bad.

At the same time, all of us who had taken a meek, humble, modest race for granted all this time had better see the writing on the wall.

We will have to prove ourselves and deliver every single time. They will not just dump Thums Up and drink Coke because that's what an MNC sitting in Atlanta expects. But they will dump an HMT watch because Titan makes a better time piece that is worth the price.

So there are no free rides anymore. And there's nobody willing to be taken for a ride either.

On the other hand, everyone's free to join in.