Pia Sen, the Paris-based designer, believes that the whole issue is simply making a mountain-out-of-a-mole hill. “While some of them are talented, they are unfortunately made out to be some kind of Renaissance Men; creatures who are geniuses with minds that are truly sublime. Actually a dumbed-down media coverages, frequently making giants of dwarfs, is the culprit. The danger of this kind of blind, uninformed lionizing is that it is misleading and frequently dismissive of real, solid creative talent that is publicity-shy,” says Sen.
Siddharth Roy of Response, Kolkata, tempers his take with reason, as he says, “I can see from where both Bharat and Pia are coming. I guess both are right from their perspectives. For me, adbiz has always been a personality-based profession.” Reality is: Yesterday, it was Padamsee & gang; today it is Piyush & company. And in principle, these are personalities with a proven track record. Therefore, they will attract young eyes wanting to join the profession and emulate them. However, he agrees that many times, the brand value of the products/services advertised is compromised due to the awe or intimidation factor. “I have heard of the head [CEO, Chairman & MD of organisations] rushing out to welcome the ad guru visiting their office. Clearly, their reputation has preceded their presence,” says Roy. By his thoughts, the fact that people who choose to be wowed or awed by whoever for whatever reason is simply their own privilege or problem. Rohit Ohri, JWT North’s Managing Partner also has a thought to share. According to him, the issue of making supermen out of mere mortals in adland has special relevance to his organisation, which has always prospered, untouched by the ‘Personality Cult’ syndrome under discussion, something which according to him has dominated some of the other (Ogilvy, Lowe, McCann et al) organisations. “When clients come to us, they buy into a culture & DNA that traditionally has single-mindedly propagated market-driven, client-specific and result-oriented work,” Ohri says. It is perhaps because of this that JWT can boast of some of its clients that have stayed with it for over 50 years. “We work as a team and deliver in-sync with the needs. Period,” says Ohri, while voicing apprehension about larger-than-life personas, “I am told that Unilever has had to be specially honed to Balki so as to not lose him. He is for all practical reasons the public face of Lowe. The same is true with Prasoon of McCann.” At the end of the day, Ohri believes, that this crazy dependence on that one big guy in the ad-world, can be tricky. It’s a risk though, and as all risks do, this one too has very often paid off well.
Siddharth Roy of Response, Kolkata, tempers his take with reason, as he says, “I can see from where both Bharat and Pia are coming. I guess both are right from their perspectives. For me, adbiz has always been a personality-based profession.” Reality is: Yesterday, it was Padamsee & gang; today it is Piyush & company. And in principle, these are personalities with a proven track record. Therefore, they will attract young eyes wanting to join the profession and emulate them. However, he agrees that many times, the brand value of the products/services advertised is compromised due to the awe or intimidation factor. “I have heard of the head [CEO, Chairman & MD of organisations] rushing out to welcome the ad guru visiting their office. Clearly, their reputation has preceded their presence,” says Roy. By his thoughts, the fact that people who choose to be wowed or awed by whoever for whatever reason is simply their own privilege or problem. Rohit Ohri, JWT North’s Managing Partner also has a thought to share. According to him, the issue of making supermen out of mere mortals in adland has special relevance to his organisation, which has always prospered, untouched by the ‘Personality Cult’ syndrome under discussion, something which according to him has dominated some of the other (Ogilvy, Lowe, McCann et al) organisations. “When clients come to us, they buy into a culture & DNA that traditionally has single-mindedly propagated market-driven, client-specific and result-oriented work,” Ohri says. It is perhaps because of this that JWT can boast of some of its clients that have stayed with it for over 50 years. “We work as a team and deliver in-sync with the needs. Period,” says Ohri, while voicing apprehension about larger-than-life personas, “I am told that Unilever has had to be specially honed to Balki so as to not lose him. He is for all practical reasons the public face of Lowe. The same is true with Prasoon of McCann.” At the end of the day, Ohri believes, that this crazy dependence on that one big guy in the ad-world, can be tricky. It’s a risk though, and as all risks do, this one too has very often paid off well.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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