"Good communication is all about changing human behaviour"

Brands are aspiring to reach out to consumers, and the most instrumental factor in doing so are the creatives that they produce for higher engagement and connect. Creative agencies are continuously trying to create effective brand communication to attract the audience. But the question is, do the South Indian markets require specially created advertising, completely tailor-made for them? Does national advertising appeal to the South Indian market as much as state-centric advertising?

Senthil Kumar, National Creative Director, JWT India pointed out that the term ‘Madrasi’ was coined by North Indians who were ignorant of the fact that there are four separate states in the South. There are various nuances in the four markets and the differences are not always obvious. “How can one hope to unite the entire region with generic communication and a single tagline when people talk, think and consume differently?,” he asked.

Kumar added, “Think Tamilian, think Kannada, think Telugu and think Malayalee for your brand and its communication will be lost in translation. When one travels abroad, it becomes imperative to learn the language, to adapt, adopt and live by the rules of the land. Similarly, when a new brand is making a foray into the South, it needs to exhibit an understanding of the people and their local contexts to be successful. If the brand chooses not to do so, then it is called Terkulai (suicide) in the market place.”

In contrast, Shaleen Sharma, Partner, National Planning & Strategy Initiatives, RK Swamy BBDO shared the importance of universality of any communication that is required in the advertising business. He noted, “It is about human emotions, and human emotions are varied. Anthropology says that there are 10 or 12 universal human drives that cut across cultures. Differences will always exist, but our responsibility as ad makers or culture crafters is to capitalise on a particular emotion. We live in a world where the universality and similarity of ideas travel. For example, corruption as an issue affects everybody and cuts across cultures. By trying to emphasise on differences only, we are not doing any service to the ideas.”

Madhukar Sabnavis, Vice Chairman & National Head, Discovery & Planning, Ogilvy & Mather India remarked, “When you tap into emotions, you do reach some people. However, whom you reach is very important. If global brands such as Ponds, Motorola, Cadburys, and Lenovo tried to bring global campaigns to India that don’t suit the Indian palette, the consumer connect will be lost. When any global brand comes to India, they try to localise the content. At a broader level, ideas can be the same, but what touch the consumer are the execution and the expression of the idea.”

KV Sridhar, Chief Creative Officer, India Sub-continent, Leo Burnett highlighted the differences in ways of thinking and said, “We are people, not consumers. Advertising is not about cracking some silly jokes, and marketers are not stupid to entertain you without any substance. Good communication is all about changing human behaviour and creating communication that helps the brand grow. It is not about North or South; it is about creating unified advertising that reaches the entire country.”

Sabnavis wondered, “Are we over simplifying? Are we making the same mistake as the west by painting all of India the same? If so, then we need to change our thinking, because ideas travel, but executions don’t.” He also opined that there is an opportunity to connect at local levels by customising the communication for each market and quoted Paul Harris, who had once said, “Consumers globalise, people don’t.”

Propounding the universality approach, Sharma cited the example of Thums Up’s ‘Aaj kuch toofani karte hain’ campaign, where the essence of the idea remains intact, but the adaptation for different markets changes. He urged advertisers not to celebrate the differences too much, but to tap into the power of universality.

Kumar referred to the protests in Madurai in 1965 against making Hindi a mandatory language. Comparing the US and India, he noted that America has one wood, whereas India has five woods – Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood, Mollywood and Sandalwood. He also commented on how not one dubbed movie has been a hit in other languages in the last several years of cinema and spoke about how ‘3 Idiots’ was not dubbed in Tamil but was remade in Tamil with a different cast, context, location, and story.

Both Senthil Kumar and Sabnavis agreed that familiar faces and expressions generate better consumer connect. Advertising has to be specially created and crafted with local context, linguistic nuances and like-minded expressions for each South Indian market. This thought was contested by Sridhar and Sharma, who argued that the dialect in our country changes every 22 km. Thus, it is not possible to create separate ads for one global brand, rather universalisation is the way forward.

Madhukar Sabnavis, Senthil Kumar, KV Sridhar, and Shaleen Sharma were speaking at a debate organised by IAA in Chennai on January 31, 2014.