Innovation with a risky twist is needed: Neeraj Nayar

Neeraj Nayar, President, Contagious Communications, examined some new trends in advertising on Day Two at GoaFest 2009. According to him, these were times of convergence and added that advertising needed innovation that involved risk as well.

“Advertising of brands is more about more of engagements. Advertising should be done in a way that it does not feel like advertising. It is a two-way dialogue with a bit of risky innovation. That is how one will create engagement,” Nayar noted.

According to him, the trends included two-track branding – mass and niche; radical transparency; branded/ utility that involved more of services than messages of the brand. The mass and niche trend involved utilisation of mass communication, especially the booming technology. Under the radical transparency trend, Nayar said that brands should involve consumers with the brand issues. There was need to be transparent about a particular issue of a brand, he added. Branded/ utility involves a branding that is based on a particular principle of true service than loud advertising. For example, Samsung Mobiles, which started providing charging ports at various airports.

Nayar observed, “Brands are a network of the unacquainted. They should provide the right space, channels, and utilisations that could create a dialogue for the services, which is the real future of advertising.”

He cited a few campaign shots to support his presentation that included advertising and marketing strategies of Burger King, Cadbury’s and Visa. Concluding his presentation, Nayar said, “Technology is there, but we need to use it to the fullest and in the right way. However, one should not abandon traditional advertising. These are times of convergence. Advertising needs to be honest, useful, entertaining and, most importantly, relevant. We need to have a good relationship with our people.”