Scam ads have became a global phenomenon ever since they were promoted by a few creative directors many years ago. Small countries like Singapore led the charge towards scamming, thanks to some influential creative directors who were placed there. The justification for scam ads was that it pushes the envelope on creativity and keeps creative people happy. Advertising is perhaps the only art that encourages scam for recognition by the profession. You can't win an Oscar with a scam film. It has to be real.
Scam ads have became a global phenomenon ever since they were promoted by a few creative directors many years ago. Small countries like Singapore led the charge towards scamming, thanks to some influential creative directors who were placed there. The justification for scam ads was that it pushes the envelope on creativity and keeps creative people happy. Advertising is perhaps the only art that encourages scam for recognition by the profession. You can't win an Oscar with a scam film. It has to be real.
Educated long before an MBA degree became fashionable, Prabhakar Mundkur did his post-graduation in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics. He joined JWT in 1982, and 10 years later he started a successful planning department at JWT in Mumbai as Associate Vice President & Strategic Planning Director. In his tenure at JWT, he has handled various roles from Senior Vice President & General Manager heading the JWT Bangalore office to Deputy Managing Director of Scanad Advertising, for Kenya and Uganda. Mundkur also assumed the role of Director of Client Service and Strategic Planning at JWT, Johannesburg in South Africa and then as Director, Client Service and Director in Charge-Unilever, Greater China, where he headed the Unilever account for Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. In 1998 he was back in Mumbai as a Director, Euro RSCG. He also spearheaded Euro RSCG’s diversification into healthcare communication. He spent a little over four years there before joining Everest Integrated Communications as President in March 2003.
In the 26 years he has spent in advertising, Mundkur has handled practically every category. His portfolio included FMCG majors like Unilever, Kellogg’s, Lipton, and Frito-Lay; Automotive brands like Ford, Toyota and Fiat; Service brands like Citibank, Air France, Kenyan Airlines and Air India and Lifestyle brands like Nike and durables like Philips. Prabhakar was awarded the Atticus Award for the best original writing in marketing communications by the WPPGroup in 1996. He has taught at Jamnalal Bajaj, Sydenham, IIM – Bangalore and the University of Witswatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Q. How do you justify scam ads and scam work that would fetch awards? Scam ads have became a global phenomenon ever since they were promoted by a few creative directors many years ago. Small countries like Singapore led the charge towards scamming, thanks to some influential creative directors who were placed there. The justification for scam ads was that it pushes the envelope on creativity and keeps creative people happy. Advertising is perhaps the only art that encourages scam for recognition by the profession. You can't win an Oscar with a scam film. It has to be real. The philosophical question that scam ads raise is that does advertising as a craft have to be celebrated outside the boundaries of advertising as a practice or a profession. Scam ads can dwindle into becoming some kind of abstract conceptual performance art that has almost nothing to do with reality. In defense of scam ads, I must say there is a close parallel to this in haute couture for example. Some of the fashion that you see has nothing to do with what the vast majority of women wear on an everyday basis. As Pierre Cardin once said ‘Intelligent women work nowadays, they drive cars, and the cars are smaller and smaller. While the dresses at Dior are bigger and bigger. It's very beautiful, but it's not fashion.’ So scam ads are a bit like that.
Q. What is the creative direction that you would seek to give PerceptH? Compelling advertising that gets seen, heard and talked about. Keeping it real, relevant and original is paramount.
Q. Any job cuts or pay cuts at PerceptH? None. We’d always been cognisant about resource allocation, and that held us in good stead. Axing people should not have any place in a CEO’s recession checklist. Training and cross leveraging of talent has gone up in the past few quarters.
Q. What are the things that the Indian ad industry need to watch out for in days to come? Well the prophets of doom are going to be wrong - the one thing that is not going to happen is the much-touted death of the 30-second commercial. It’s important on the other hand to ensure that the buck does not stop there. We as an industry need to be collectively mindful of the rapidly changing consumer landscape and more importantly have a vision of advertising in the year 2050, and how it will change and what our role would be in doing so. Despite the slowdown, the industry has grown and I am sure it will continue to flourish and put out globally acclaimed work. We have several renowned professionals that are counted among the best in the world. I have always believed that India is probably the best training ground and we will lead in the years to come. It is this training that helped me when I worked overseas in the 90’s on brands like Unilever, Frito-Lay, Lipton and Kellogg’s.
Q. How much do global affiliations help in the progress of any Indian agency? Any disadvantages, especially in times of a global recession? Well the obvious downside in a recession is that global companies may be under pressure in other markets and continents, and so there is pressure on the Indian operation even if the Indian business is doing extremely well. This is a universal phenomenon, and true of any global company, not just an advertising agency. Having said that, I do believe that they are of tremendous value. Besides making you a part of a larger whole, they also bring international exposure, disciplines, systems and of course access to global clients.
Q. How has 2009 been for PerceptH? Has it been impacted by the slowdown? I would describe this year as one of learning, introspection and surprisingly, discovery. It truly takes a global event to induce paradigm shifts in thinking. We have felt the impact of the slowdown along with our clients, but more importantly we have chosen to see it more as a challenge rather than an impediment. It’s given us the time to re-learn, which is critical in our business, has given us innumerable insights into the market viability of the brands and the discretionary income share we handle. Most importantly, it presented us with the unique opportunity to rebuild customer confidence, which was at an all-time low. We’ve enjoyed the process, and are now geared up with unique insights that will hold us in good stead for years to come. They say, in crisis lies opportunity, and we found ours in that conundrum. The year 2009 is proving to be a good year for us. We’ve had a great first five months with key new business acquisitions such as Bajaj Allianz, BSNL, Bank of Baroda and the Congress Jai Ho campaign. This has fueled our growth in the early part of the year.
Q. How far can awards take people in this profession? Is this also leading to a fall in advertising standards? Globally award winners gain recognition and respect within peer sets. The work that gets produced also pushes the boundaries of our profession. I don't believe it can lead to a fall in advertising standards; it can only push it forward.
Q. How important are awards for a creative agency? Awards are important for client and industry peers to know that the creative function is alive and buzzing in an agency. Awards are good for the competitive spirit as well as pushing the boundaries of advertising as an art.
Q. In creative terms, where would you want PerceptH to be – as compared to the other top creative agencies in India in the next 2-3 years? I have always enjoyed the apparent comparison charts that are drawn up after the success of campaigns. What makes it even more interesting is that a good creative finds itself many authors, and makes an opinion on it, an imperative. That is where I would like to see us over the next two years towards campaigns that have the potential to stir conversations.
According to The Brand Equity Ad Agency Reckoner 2008, though we were No.14 in overall perception, we were in the top 10 as rated by our clients on creative and strategic planning. Our overall ranking of No. 14 is also reflective of the fact that our industry peers rate us lower than our clients -- an apparent contradiction.
Q. What are the future plans of PerceptH in 2009? Besides keeping our people happy and motivated, we will be doing great work on brands, and partnering with our clients well. Well, on a more serious note, since inception, we have chosen to be shy, reticent and inward looking. I think that phase was important and has helped us to grow as an organization, but 2009 onwards we intend to begin looking outward. We have a great bunch of talented people, like minded clients and campaigns that we and our clients are proud of. You will definitely hear us this year, and for many years to come.
