Promax|BDA India 2008: Strategies in creating great promos

The two-day Promax|BDA India 2008 kicked off in Mumbai on May 28, 2008. The conference, which is now in its fifth year in India, recognises excellence in on-air and off-air promotions, and design and marketing activities for the visual media. The event commenced with an opening address by conference Chairman Sameer Nair, CEO, NDTV Imagine.

Nair observed that the conference has seen many changes over the past five years. “Promax|BDA has always connected with the youth because of the creativity that it revolves around. Today, as we witness a lot of new channels and many more to be added in the near future, we have strived to do some path-breaking creatives trying to connect with our audiences and attract newer ones,” he said.

He added, “The challenge today also is how to be more competitive in the television space with events such as the IPL happening on television. Here at Promax we have executed one of the best line-ups of sessions and speakers who would throw more light on how to come up with more new and innovative ideas.”

One of the first sessions was ‘The Promo-Revolution: Lead, Follow, or Get out of our way’. Doug Harris, CEO, Creative Animal International, dwelt on the strategies for keeping a television professional’s edge -- and job as they train their brains for broadcasting’s “brave, new world”. He explained, “Our job, as creative professionals, is to create new ideas and promos to get the people to see TV, and for that, one needs to do things in a different way, which has to be remembered for a long time. We are trying to sell something, but in a different way, through creating an emotional connect with our audiences.”

Harris broke down his presentation into nine steps, and added a fun element in his session. He elaborated that a “creative person needs to be a sponge” -- one needs to absorb learnings from every bit of information that one can gather. The other steps that he stated are courting the muse (the public), and walking among them and feel their pain. He said, “As creative people, we should always love the craft of a new trick, and practise it daily. We should also have an escape plan. At the same time, one needs to beware ‘anticipointment’. You may think you have done a brilliant piece of work but for the audience, did it really make sense? Hence, always include an element of trust with your audience.”

Anita Olan, Creative Director, Post/Design House Frame by Frame Italia, took the dais after Harris, and spoke on ‘The Art of the Tease’. Loan’s session explored issues like how does one draw someone to you or your brand or your film by giving them just enough to tempt, engage, and create anticipation. She focussed on teasers and the role that they play in hooking audiences to a movie or a show. At a broad level, the thought coming from the various examples that Olan presented was that even to market a movie or a show was a marketing problem. “You look at the problem, and they you devise a plan to approach it. The promo may not have the actor, or even a scene of the show or the feature film, but at the same time understand the big idea of your project, and then showcase it in the teaser,” she explained.

According to Olan, “‘Tease’, which can be to ‘annoy’, ‘mock’ or ‘arouse’, can actually be cultivated into a role of entertainment in television.”

Exhibiting some of the previews and teasers like ‘Step ford Wives’, ‘Angels in America’, ‘The Blair Witch Project ’ and others, Olan stated, “There are many compelling ways through which a successful teaser can misdirect, steal a scene, make an announcement, or create something brilliant out of nothing in the genres of drama, comedy, thriller, and horror, and get the audience.”

Olan also pointed out some strategies that could add to the art of tease as an efficient weapon. Some of the points she made were ‘It’s okay to pretend that a story is going one way, and then surprise the audience in the end’; ‘best products deserve the best ads’; ‘if you got it, flaunt it’; ‘you make the rule, and always be fearless in that’; ‘you can be anyone or anybody, no one has to know the real you’; and lastly, ‘remember to have fun’.