AAAI Diamond Jubilee
celebrations to honour 15 past presidents
Indiantelevision.com Team
(1 August 2006 5:00 pm)
MUMBAI: A grand culmination of
the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Advertising
Agencies Association of India (AAAI) to commemorate
60 years, where all living past presidents of
AAAI will be honoured.
The event will be held at The
Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai on 2 August 2006.
A special video clip of an interview
with each has been prepared to precede the presentation.
The 15 past presidents include Nergis Wadia, Ahmed
Ibrahim, SR Ayer, Roger CB Pereira, Tara Sinha,
Avinash Jain, Bal Mundkur, Krishen Premnarayan,
MK Khanna, Goutam Rakshit, Arun Nanda, Anil 'Billy'
Kapoor, Ram Sehgal, Ramesh Narayan and Sam Balsara.
The celebrations were sustained
through the year 2005–2006 with several
events including a seminar titled “Beyond
the Horizon”, a two and a half day symposium
on the “Future of Advertising,” a
2D Advertising workshop targeting young creative
minds and the much talked about Goa Fest amongst
others.
Each of these events saw the
participation of industry honchos and yet again,
the Diamond Jubilee celebrations hopes to see
national and international representatives from
the advertising fraternity come together under
one roof on 2 August.
Before entering the 61st year
next month, the AAAI thought it appropriate to
round off the celebrations with a big bang. The
chief guest for the evening, Universal McCann
New York president and CEO Nick Brien will deliver
a speech, while other guests will include the
Indian Society of Advertisers chairman Bharat
Patel, the Indian Newspaper Society president
Jacob Mathew and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation
vice president Jawahar Goel.
© 2001- 2006 Indian Television
Dot Com Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
This coverage
was contributed by indiantelevision.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AAAI organises an evening
with Nick Brien, President & CEO, Universal
McCann
August 02, 06
exchange4media.com
Noor Fathima Warsia
In continuation with its Diamond Jubilee celebrations,
which have so far seen three seminars, an advertising
conclave and the institution of the GoaFest and
the creative awards at the festival, the Advertising
Agencies Association of India (AAAI) has now organised
an evening to honour its past presidents on August
2, 2006. The evening will also see chief guest
Nick Brien, President and CEO of Universal McCann,
speaking on ‘Will a new agency model emerge
to ensure greater collaboration between media
and creative?’
Brien has been in the news recently
following the numerous awards Universal McCann
won at the Cannes Lions for the LynxJet campaign.
Closer home, he has been in the news regarding
the proposed merger of Lodestar and Universal
McCann in India to create Lodestar Universal.
Brien will be tackling one of
the burning issues in the media domain –
that of the collaboration or the lack of it between
creative and media agencies at the AAAI event.
Speaking more on the event,
Srinivasan K Swamy, who has been re-elected AAAI
President for the third consecutive time, said,
“There will be a ceremony to honour the
past presidents, which will be followed by speeches
by Jacob Mathew (President, INS), Bharat Patel
(Chairman, ISA) and Jawahar Goel (Vice-President,
IBF).”
AAAI has been very active in
its Diamond jubilee year. Said Swamy, “We’ve
had a good year, I believe. We pulled off three
seminars / symposiums, one major awards show,
one Advertising Conclave, brought order into the
pitching process initiative to start a Trust for
the welfare of our industry people, process of
expanding our membership base, we are in the process
of establishing a Confederation of Asian Advertising
Agencies Federation, etc. Naturally, the Diamond
Jubilee year is only a milestone and many such
milestones will be crossed. The work will continue
as we will continue to address the issues that
arise.”
The AAAI is also in the process
of announcing a contest for determining the name
for the GoaFest Awards.
© exchange4media 2006
This coverage
was contributed by exchange4media.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AAAI Diamond Jubilee
celebrations culminate with style and aplomb
By HETAL ADESARA and RENELLE SNELLEKSZ
Indiantelevision.com Team
(2 August 2006 2:00 am)
MUMBAI: It a 'Kodak moment'
for the advertising industry! Eleven advertising
industry stalwarts came under one roof on 2 August
in Mumbai wherein the Advertising Agencies Association
of India (AAAI) honoured these past presidents
of the association. This marked the culmination
of the 60 years celebrations of the AAAI.
Out of the 15 past presidents, 11 who were present
at the ceremony were Nargis Wadia, Roger CB Pereira,
Avinash Jain, Bal Mundkur, Krishan Premnarayan,
Goutam Rakshit, Arun Nanda, Anil 'Billy' Kapoor,
Ram Sehgal, Ramesh Narayan and Sam Balsara. Amongst
those past presidents who were not able to make
it were Ahmed Ibrahim, Tara Sinha, Mike Khanna
and Mani Ayer.
RK Swamy BBDO CEO and AAAI president
Srinivasan K Swamy said, "Sixty years ago,
AAAI was founded in the city of Calcutta and then
after 25 years it was re-started in Bombay. When
the association was launched the size of the advertising
industry was $ 1 million, 25 years later it was
$40 million and today it is pegged at a whopping
$3.2 billion. Hence the size of the industry has
grown 80 times over. These industry stalwarts,
who we are felicitating today, have only one thing
to say that the industry has changed so much in
the last three - four decades or so that they
can't recognize it anymore."
Proctor & Gamble chairman
and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) chairman
Bharat Patel started his speech by saying that
the ISA was still younger than AAAI as it was
just in its 54th year. Throwing light on the collaboration
between AAAI and ISA, Patel said, "The two
bodies along with the Indian Broadcasting Federation
(IBF) have worked together on a number of industry
issues. We set up the first television measurement
system and also formed the Joint Industry Body
(JIB). We have worked together on the service
tax issue so that old contracts were not killed
and service tax is not put over and above everything
else."
Speaking to the agency heads
as a client, Patel said, "The future is very
bright and we will grow this industry. The mantra
to make more money is to make sure that your client
makes more money."
Indian Newspaper Society (INS)
president and Malayala Manorama executive editor
Jacob Mathew added, "We live in a country
where organizations split by growing and grow
by splitting. INS enjoys a long and fruitful relationship
with AAAI where there is mutual trust and confidence.
We have gathered here to pay tribute to all the
leaders in the industry. Dynamism has marked the
Indian advertising industry and our creativity
has been recognized globally."
Representing IBF at the event
was Essel Group of Industries additional vice
chairman Jawahar Goel had the house crackling
at many a occasions while he addressed the audience
in his inimitable style. "My friend Meenakshi
Madhvani here told me that I am a cablewallah.
Frankly speaking I don't know much about this
business and I am very shy but I was forced to
come here and make a speech!," he said.
He further added, "The
IBF is a very young organisation and somehow we
are a divided house. On the other hand, the JIB
through its work is what has held us together.
We expect and assure the industry that we will
continue our association with AAAI in the future."
The second half of the evening
had the chief guest Universal McCann Worldwide
CEO Nick Brien, who spoke on the topic, "Will
a new agency model emerge to ensure greater collaboration
between media and creative?"
Brien kicked off the presentation
by saying that media unbundling from the creative
has already been established and thus, an intense
debate has emerged as to whether it is good or
bad. He advised that the industry had to think
progressively for the future and urged them to
be bold in the business of building and sustaining
brands, as "brands matter considerably."
He threw light on the 'pace
of change' that the industry is experiencing due
to rapid technology that is constantly evolving.
Besides he added, "No two clients want the
same formula and they now take a proactive role
in orchestrating their marketing. Therefore, what
we need is a combination of generalists and specialists.
Clients have the opportunity to leverage their
brand management and thus turn to media agencies
as they are vital distribution networks."
He then went on to discuss how
important it is to capture the right talent especially
at the graduate level. On the other hand, he mentioned
how the speed of execution is so vital and is
primarily being supported by digital technology.
In this set up the consumer too plays a key role
as a pull media environment seems to be gaining
ground as opposed to the push model.
Lastly he highlighted the importance
of engagement and the power of social networks
in today's scenario. Therefore he opines, "Marketers
need to colonise on this space because here consumers
no longer want to be consumers but citizens. They
become long term, high value customers."
"Hence, those agencies
that are able to develop a culture of curiosity;
where the organization is able to support talent
rather than suffocate it; is able to be platform
neutral and creatively agonistic; is able to recognize
talent rather than experience and believes in
the fusion of art and science; will be the agency
model that will work in the future," he concluded.
© 2001- 2006 Indian Television
Dot Com Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
This coverage
was contributed by indiantelevision.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The traditional agency model is dead:
Nick Brien, Universal McCann
Devina Joshi
agencyfaqs!
MUMBAI, August 3
“With concepts like media
fragmentation, media unbundling and consumer empowerment,
one often wonders which agency model will work
best,” said Nick Brien, president and CEO,
Universal McCann, at the Advertising Agencies
Association of India (AAAI) Diamond Jubilee Valedictory
Function organised in Mumbai on August 2, 2006.
Brien was the chief guest for the evening and
delivered a speech on the topic, ‘Will a
New Agency Model Emerge to Ensure Greater Collaboration
between Media and Creative?’
“While the industry is
grappling with the realities of the changing times
and people are debating on what will work, I’ll
tell you the one thing that won’t work any
more – the full service, traditional agency
model,” Brien said firmly. According to
him, that model is dead. But what is not dead,
according to him, is the coordination and collaboration
between advertising functions like creative and
media.
Brien further commented that,
contrary to popular belief, specialisation is
not the answer to everything; it is a combination
of generalists and specialists which will get
the ball going.
Brien also spoke about the growing
influence of technology in people’s lives.
“Most change in this world arises out of
either crisis or technology, rarely out of vision,”
he quipped. The gifts of technology such as the
Blackberry, laptop and the Internet are all gaining
increasing importance. “Sadly, digital media
is still seen largely as a mere ‘add-on’
by marketers, when, in fact, the world is headed
the digital way,” Brien said. According
to him, the challenge lies in striking a balance
between the digital world and the physical world.
Brien was quick to clarify that
he didn’t mean to challenge the reach and
power of traditional mass media. “But the
latest trend is doing that. Consumers want ‘my
media’ or media that is personalised for
them,” Brien said. “And it is quite
dangerous for marketers to think that they can
continue to rely solely on 30-second commercials.”
To support his point, Brien revealed that in the
US, in the homes that possess TiVo (a kind of
digital video recorder), 70 per cent people skip
commercials on television. Ad avoidance is even
greater in the case of people who have been using
TiVo for the past one year – over 80 per
cent of them avoided traditional advertising).
“I’m sure that clients
will soon realise that a large part of their ad
bucks is being wasted as people are now skipping
traditional advertising,” he asserted.
Brien then moved on to talk about
the systems of media measurement, which he felt
needed to be changed desperately. It’s time
to move away from exposure and move towards engagement,
he said.
The role of marketing, too, has
evolved. From the traditional marketing model,
one saw the emergence of the relationship marketing
model, which has now made way for a collaborative
marketing model. Advertising, too, needed to change
from a ‘push’ strategy to a ‘pull’
one. “Creative directors should create content
that consumers would want to download, rather
than pushing content down their throats,”
he pointed out.
For this, he said, the best talent
needs to be brought on board. Summing up, Brien
said that five elements need to be present in
an agency model for it to survive. Firstly, the
agency needs to have a culture of curiosity. It
needs organisational capabilities to recruit and
support the best talent. It needs to be ‘media
choice-ful’ as opposed to ‘media neutral’.
Next, it needs to recognise talent over experience.
Lastly, it needs to believe in the fusion of art
and science.
Apart from Brien’s speech,
the event saw the felicitation of all the past
presidents of the AAAI, including renowned names
such as Nargis Wadia, Ram Sehgal, Roger Pereira,
Goutam Rakshit, Sam Balsara and Anil Kapoor. Srinivasan
K Swamy, who was recently appointed AAAI president
for the third time in a row, was also honoured
at the event.
© 2006 agencyfaqs!
This coverage
was contributed by agencyfaqs!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Universal McCann’s
Nick Brien explores collaboration between media
and creative disciplines
August 03, 06
Noor Fathima Warsia
exchange4media.com
Media and creative, disciplines
resulting out of the specialisation syndrome that
the advertising industry has witnessed, are seeing
some debates from the industry to work together
again rather than remaining estranged functions.
Giving a global viewpoint here was Nicholas Brien,
President and CEO, Universal McCann, who spoke
on the subject at an evening organised by the
Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI)
on August 2, 2006.
Giving a broad industry view,
Brien said, “The changing pace of the industry
requires us to be bold and progressive in our
thinking. Are we selling price or value? The answer
is simple – if we create value, there is
value to be shared. Today, we see most development
based on crisis like that in the music industry.
The situation in the advertising side of the business
isn’t much different either. As consumers
are looking at new ways to engage themselves,
clients are seeking new solutions to reach to
these consumers. It is not the changes itself,
but the pace of these changes that requires us
to get our act right.”
He explained that today as India
was competing at the global level, a key ingredient
at the base of these changes was the Internet
and the fact that India was at global reckoning
reiterated the growth of the Internet and the
coming of the digital age. He also emphasised
that many changes in advertising were, in fact,
changes emerging from evolving marketing practices.
The question was which business model would work
better for advertising in the future.
The solution that Brien saw
for this was in increased collaboration between
the creative and media functions, which didn’t
imply going back to the traditional model of a
full-fledged agency. He spoke of the importance
of scale and the increased capabilities to handle
changes that came with collaboration. He said
that no two clients were looking at the same formula,
which led to a need to focus and share resources.
At the same time, the new world
was not that of just generalists or specialists
– it was of a healthy combination of the
two. Brien spoke of the absolute necessity to
have the great idea that could be executed across
mediums – traditional and new – and
that nothing beat great talent. He said, “We
are in an age, where a plan can be developed in
Finland, finalised in London, optimised in India
and then presented to a client in New York. It
is a wired environment and consumers, too, are
changing in this environment.”
According to Brien, “Today,
consumers are creating and sharing content and
enjoying it. The content has to be engaging when
we are speaking to consumer or else they will
switch us off and this can only happen by better
collaboration between all that is available to
us.” He also spoke on the importance of
media management and new trends like social networks.
In all, the effort should be to create the marketing
of the 24th century.
© exchange4media 2006
This coverage was contributed
by exchange4media.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AAAI continues with Diamond
Jubilee celebrations, felicitates past presidents
August 03, 06
exchange4media Mumbai Bureau
The Advertising Agencies Association of India
(AAAI) on August 3, 2006 organised an evening
to take stock of some of its achievements in the
past 60 years. Besides felicitating its past presidents,
the evening also saw industry bodies like the
Indian Broadcast Fraternity (IBF), Indian Newspaper
Society (INS) and the Indian Society of Advertisers
(ISA) delve on the collaboration between these
bodies and the AAAI to address various industry
issues.
The host of the evening, Srinivasan
Swamy, who was re-elected AAAI President for the
third time on August 2, 2006, spoke briefly on
all the past presidents and the contribution they
had made to the industry and to AAAI.
Some of the issues that the
industry bodies spoke revolved around the lack
of talent, pay packages becoming more significant
for young professionals, and the 15 per cent agency
remuneration becoming redundant, among other issues.
Enumerating the initiatives
that AAAI had taken for the industry, pitch fees
being the most recent one, Swamy introduced the
three bodies – IBF, INS and ISA. Bharat
Patel, Chairman, ISA, reiterated the unity between
AAAI and ISA and gave some examples of the work
that the bodies had been able to do to protect
advertiser and agency interests. He said, “To
quote a magazine, ‘AAAI and ISA have worked
as a successful duo that irons out any issues
between the advertisers and the agencies’,
and any time there has been an attack on advertising,
we have joined hands.”
Echoing similar sentiments,
INS President, Jacob Mathew, said, “We are
seeing a multiplication syndrome, where media
entities are splitting and each entity borne from
this is growing further. In such a scene that
can lead to chaos, INS and AAAI enjoy a strong
relation based on mutual trust and confidence.
We have the shared aim of running the business
more smoothly and successfully.”
Mathew further said, “AAAI
has taken Indian advertising to the world and
has brought the world to us. We anxiously await
centenary celebrations of AAAI and many more years
of this healthy partnership.”
Jawahar Goel, who represented
IBF, pointed out that of these industry bodies,
broadcasting was the youngest and was still trying
to finds its footing in terms of establishing
itself as an entity. He cited the case of collections
from the agencies, where IBF had worked very hard
to achieve some results and emphasised that together
with AAAI, there was much that the IBF intended
to achieve to strengthen this sector further.
© exchange4media 2006
This coverage
was contributed by exchange4media.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the Presidents
THE HINDU
Business Line
August 3, 2006
The Advertising Agencies Association
of India (AAAI) has decided to go all mushy and
nostalgic. By the time this appears in print,
the valedictory session, if one could call it
that, of the Diamond Jubilee of the AAAI would
have taken place.
As the curtain rings down on
a significant landmark year, President S. K. Swamy
(yes, he would have been unanimously elected for
a record third term by the time you read this)
decided to honour the past presidents of the Association.
The event was to include a high-powered dinner
at the Taj on August 2 and no effort was being
spared to make this a very special evening.
Keeping in mind that the past
presidents include every very important person
in the agency business, and also that the Presidents
of the INS, IBF and ISA are being included, the
event would definitely merit a detailed report.
Watch this space.
Victoria
Copyright © 2006, The Hindu Business Line.
This coverage was contributed
by THE HINDU Business Line
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