Goafest - Day One

After a sleepy morning punctuated by a long breakfast, we huddled into a bus for the ad village at the Cavelossim beach!

I never remembered to take pics of the venue:-( Awesome arrangements guys! Goafest ver 3.0 is even better than the last two editions. Hats off to the AAAI and the team that has pulled it off!

Was looking forward to the talk by Jon Wilkins of Naked. (Sorry guys can't upload the seminar pics, haven't yet loaded the software on my new laptop:-(

Naked Notes(not in any particular order or importance)...
1. Communication media is a lot about language and behaviour today. The voice is extremely important.

In India, only a handful of clients and agencies are fanatically obsessive about the brand voice/ consistency. Hutch was a great example. Vodaphone still has a mixed identity/ voice!

2. Jon talked of the Australopithecus Media Man- this guy is separated from the entire creative process(Oh I think I know quite a few of them:-)
- he/she is focussed on implementation(manzil ka ishaara lagey raho!!)
- gets his orgasms from 'pure number crunching' however irrelevant they might be
3. With the gradual and now exponential erosion of advertising power, advertising cannot be a lead discipline anymore.

4. The next evolutionary stage is the 'Neanderthal Media Man'
- this guy is an active activation partner
- he/she is also a partner in the creative process
(John showed an amazing Case Study on the 118 helpline number. Can read the details on afaqs here
- he believes in amplification through localization
- and deeper engagement(shared the hilarious and hugely effective Vindaloo case study. Tried to find the video on youtube in vain. Satish - help!

5. And finally at the fore-front of evolution is the 'Modern Media Man'. Yet to be born in India- my guess!
- this guy is a total brand communication thinker. Actually he/she may not be a media person at all.
- steeped into IMC- not as a word on power-point but into his DNA and thinking.
- believes into and roots for a core creative idea, not a media buyer, seller or implementation guy.
Jon shared a case study of a chai brand - Adventures in a cup(what a lovely idea)

Actually we will have to soon get back to a stage of the media rolled into the creative process, rolled into a department, perhaps rolled into one person era!

This whole new media game is about a brand theatre. Maybe finally the director in the job titles - Media Director, Account Director, Planning Director will have to mirror the skills and talent of a 'film director'!

- this new guy is all about 'integration thinking'
- focussed on the marketing task and not merely the communication task, through the correct channels

Loved his ingredient list for the House of Naked
a. The Warriors - the talented folks who will make the brand theatre happen
b. The Freaks - diverse talent pool
c. Dr. Zhivago - no vested interests
d. Talent Soup - mix em up, mash em up
e. Out-source everything but the thinking
f. Measure Everything. Clients pay great dollars for this.

Well, pretty much the stuff I ranted at my last agency to do in the digital space!!

Thanks Jon, we need more pirates like you at the cusp of the media and creative industries...

Saw the cyber, DM, print and TV work! To my disappointment, print continued to be scam infested. TV, thanks in large measure to Ogilvy had great stuff!

Will share the Scott Goodson notes in another post. In the evening there was a great party organised by Zoom! Food, booze, more booze...zzzz.

Context is Everything

Spotted this little ad on the now ubiquitous Garbage Dumper on the streets of Bombay...

Translated it means - "Please don't litter or spread old jokes!!"
It's an ad for the show Great Indian Laughter Challenge III on Star One...

Another kick-ass 'contextual ad' was the towel I got as a freebie at the Goa Ad Fest earlier this year from Times Now. The message said - "Big or small, we cover them all":-)

One of the biggest ways to fight ad clutter in the media landscape would be to tell interesting stories in a context. The relentless pumping of advertising rupees without a context mostly irritates the consumer or is plain filtered...

GoaFest : Absolut Patli Gali

I think I pronounced my judgement on GoaFest a day too early! After the impressive event, came the dampener. The actual award show was ABSOLUT SCAM-VERTISING!

As Trevor Beattie said in his interview - you could spot the scams from a mile!

Amongst the biggest scamsters this year was Rediff! There was almost nothing that they had done for their biggest clients - Airtel or Colgate! Most of the awards were won for vague clients like the Midland Second Hand Book Shop!!

The worst categories were print and out-door, where almost 80% of the work appeared to be SCAM.

What is particularly depressing is that as an industry we are endorsing and celebrating the scam culture! So little respite in the years to come either...

I sorely missed Ogilvy. I think Ogilvy alone at the Abbys had more authentic/ mainstream work than all the agencies combined at the GoaFest.

So, in the end I would give full marks to GoaFest - the event and spectacle. But if one has to see genuine work, one would still have to rely on the men in black!

Beattie FCUKs Scam Ads

For the official version on the Goa Ad Fest goto agencyfaqs! For the spice and straight from the trenches feel, stay tuned!

With a weak broadband link, its increasingly difficult to upload stuff...but I shall try my best.

In the two days, Ad Fest has upstaged Abbys as the numero uno advertising awards. It's been organised like an International event. A round of applause to the AAAI. Well done guys! But for the heat it's been a spectacle.

The beach, the babes(!!!), the booze, the water sports, down to the msn bike-taxis ferrying people up and down the ad village, every thing's been well thought out.

Just came back from Trevor Beattie's one hour chat! The guy was full steam and theatre. And boy did he take the pants of scam ads!

Some quick fire Beattie bytes before I rush again for the awards...

1. "I think the world is divided into two camps - the ones who care and the ones who don't"

2. Scam ads should be called cheat ads as you cheat the clients, the consumers and most of all yourself!

3. "Let's be very clear. We don't do ART. We do COMMERCE"

4. I guess in the ad industry we all need to say something nice about someone behind their backs.

5. in my whole life I might have had just two BIG IDEAS...What we all need to take to clients are a whole bunch of small ideas that take the brand forward.

6. The great work will speak for itself...

That's all I can manage...Gotta rush to the venue!

Another School. More Fresh Thoughts

I have written about SchoolOfDavid, the open-source learning lab at David. Read more about it here...Post our merger, the school resurfaces under the brand name - Incubates.

I took my first session in Delhi earlier this week. Curious new faces! Generally got the impression that they liked this introductory session on 'what is account planning!'.

But the best reward was this e-mail I got from a Sr. AE today...
Hi,
Was listening to this song from the film life in a metro "in dino". there's a line in the song which says

jab mile thodi fursat khud se karle mohabbat

i think it's an awesome line and these days most of us have no time for ourselves...too apt for today's generation.
Let me know what you think of it.

I too think it's a nice line/feeling...
I am never surprised at the level of understanding and creativity inherent in the young minds of our industry, even as we berate the lack/ exodus of talent. But what heckles me no end is that most often we fail to tap into/ train/ motivate this reservoir of talent...

Hope, we will be able to make a small difference...Okay got to go. Got to pack my bags for the Goa Adfest...