Nor is the Web the only game in town. Ogilvy and Mather, soon after it took over
Phoenix Advertising, decided to swim upstream by looking away from the typical
Colombo-centric marketing and setting up an entire unit on a rural platform. (OK, so
‘Ogilvy Rural’ operates out of a Colombo 7 office). But the thinking is to be
‘rural at heart’, to ‘unlearn the old models’ of marketing
communication that dictate reaching individualistic target groups, and to search for
–or innovate—community-based ones. You’re right, this is the old Dev-Com
model given the blessings of a multi-national. But the fact that it can exist in the
Ogilvy and Mather system (a company that once made a name for itself with upscale brands
like Rolls Royce and Hathaway) says something about passing away of the ‘silver
bullet’ theory of advertising. For those not too familiar with Development
Communication, think troubadours and street drama, not DJ’s and Jay Leno. The premise
is that the mainstream media only scratches the surface of the larger market that is not
always urban. The reality is that a huge percentage of the country ignores TV in favour of
radio, shares a newspaper at some community level; their ‘orbits of influence’
do not necessarily include people that drive BMW’s or wear ties. Urbanites tend to
think of opinion leaders as the ones who reside in the church or temple, or the ones with
a few letters after their name. The bottom-up approach broadens the perimeter in these orbits, identifying
the new opinion leaders as people who read their horoscopes, cut their hair or deliver
their letters. So how to make a splash in this scenario? While it is fine and dandy to
occasionally use smoke-machines and choreographed dancers for a product launch at a 5-star
hotel, using a 'rain dance' in Dehiattakandiya (more accurately known as a
'shanthikarmaya') as a marketing tool is another matter entirely. Sandya Salgado of Ogilvy
Rural is accustomed having a strange response when she explains to her colleagues, even in
the Phoenix office, just exactly what her division does in the name of marketing. The
communication and marketing strategies are based on the stark realities that 50% of
households do not have electricity and have poor access to the mainstream media that saps
up 75% of campaign budgets. Is this advertising, or is it something of a different
nomenclature, entirely? The century is closing with a lot of old principles turned on its
head, the re-engineering of the ‘agency’ identity and the advent of new media.
It spells the importance of accountability over awards. Even if ‘going rural’ is
a trend, it has to be taken seriously in this country because of the demographics, if not
for the big names going after that market.
WHO'S THE ULTIMATE JUDGE?
As for the awards? Everyone is unanimous that we should be spending much more time over
market penetration, not awards. Publicly everyone is happy to compete, saying these serve
an agency’s marketability. Privately many hold that it is a bit of a circus. How do
the SLIM Awards fit into this picture? The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing has tried to
be both stimulus and forum for advertising professionals. Few years ago, when it was
criticized for not adequately representing all aspects of advertising, and the subject of
occasional boycotts because of the quality of judges, it put the ball back into the court
of the ad industry to come up with alternative proposals. Evolving along those lines, this
year’s awards event (for work produced in the1999 calendar year) made a quantum leap,
with a complete re-classification of entry categories from a product-based classification
to ‘needs based’ categories. It’s the result of a lot of soul searching and
cooperation among agency representatives. Seven months ago, SLIM had a workshop to review
the entire event from how to represent an ever evolving marketing environment to the
judging itself. With input from the 4A’s there are now 33 award categories (broken up
into specific needs such as ready to eat snacks, insect repellents etc.) vying for 95
awards. However there only two new areas, transnational advertising and Web page design,
and some feel there could be more. (see sidebar on WHAT THEY SAY).
Not that the event itself has the unanimous
approval of the agency world. It’s the nature of the beast anywhere in the world, so
it shouldn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. At the time of writing, at least one
multi-national agency has opted not to submit entries. Leo Burnett, headed by advertising
dynamo Ranil De Silva, is not taking part for an odd reason –it did not
‘qualify’ for ordinary SLIM membership, being a new agency in Sri Lanka, so the
boycott is in effect an act of protest at such step-child treatment. Ironically De Silva
thinks the judging process is an excellent one since it takes into consideration
today’s industry and marketing realities.
Andrew Samuel, Strategic Planner at O&M
thinks that the awards process is flawed since ultimate success of an ad or campaign ought
to be judged not only on sales but also on other equity variables of the brand. While this
may seem obvious, he rightly observes that in the last few years it has been a social
marketing entry that won the big award. "We are essentially judging brand advertising
entries. There should be a stipulation to say that the big award should be given to a
brand campaign and (judges) should not feel soppy about some social project and award it
campaign of the year". Zahir Amanulla of Vista Advertising has no illusions about how
entries are judged. Vista is what one may be called a hot-shop, thriving on delivering
what many big agencies cannot: speed. The awards need to reflect the entire industry, and
need to judge small-space ads and low-budget campaigns as separate categories, he says.
SLIM was particularly sensitive to these
facts when it agreed to revamp some categories. One recommendation was that award
categories be redefined on the basis of products with "a more practical/commercial
purpose". The core categories outlined were based on the criteria that the product or
service should be consumed by a person or used by a person. The focus this year has
shifted from the seven broad product or service-based categories, to eight categories
defined by consumer needs. As Nalaka Godahewa of SLIM observes, under the old
classification cement fell into the ‘consumer durables’ category (and had to
compete with products like after-shave lotions!), while telecommunications was lumped
together with travel and education under ‘services’. Outside of the mainstream
media, there are 5 awards for Outdoor, POS, DM, Promotions and Web Design. But, say the
agencies, there is a lot more that SLIM can do. In true outside-the-box fashion, Ms.
Dias-Benson throws this question for debate: How about agencies nominating good marketers?
She thinks the time has come for the SLIM Awards to gravitate from being
advertising-centric to being more marketing focused. She means giving recognition to
clients who contribute to strategic thinking and product development –-- key
ingredients that ultimately contribute to big ideas that work. "This would surely
motivate marketing people to treat their ad agencies professionally", she adds. But
there are other categories begging for recognition: packaging, exercises in unique
‘brand experience’, an award for line extension; even the computer industry
could have its own category (the present, all of IT, Office Automation & Business and
support services are lumped into one category), she says. Interestingly, though a new
category for Web page design appears for the first time this year, the definition itself
is weak. A well-designed Web page is of little use if it has no strategy behind it. If the
purpose of this award is to be an incentive for E-commerce then the judges need to look at
the total Web site and what it does to further a marketing goal.
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