Advtg derives inspiration from popular culture & religion: Ambi Parameswaran
Draftfcb+Ulka's Parmeswaran talks about his journey of writing his seventh book, 'For God's Sake', religious customers being more demanding, the need for an Islamic insurance policy and more...
Ambi Parameswaran has spent a large part of his 35-year working career in advertising at Draftfcb+Ulka, where he rose to be Executive Director and CEO.
Parameswaran has authored/co-authored six books on topics ranging from Brand Building and Advertising to Consumer Behaviour. In an exclusive conversation with exchange4media, Parameswaran talks about his new book ‘For God Sake’, the seventh book to his credit. He talks about his journey of writing the book, religious customers being more demanding, an Islamic insurance policy needed for Muslim consumers, need for religious education as part of MBA curriculum and more...
‘For God’s Sake’ is distinctly different and at the same time catchy. How did you arrive at the name? How has the journey of ‘For God’s Sake’ been?
I had in mind a title called ‘In God we Trust’, however, my publisher did not think it was catchy enough. I was crossing the road in San Francisco, we were at the Mission District, when my wife asked me “what about ‘For God’s Sake’?” I thought it was a good title, and so did my publisher. Incidentally, Mission District is where Spanish priests set up the first Christian mission in the West world of America. The book actually derives inspiration from the PHD work I had done, so in reality the book has been five years in the making; but physically it got made in 3-4 months. I wanted to do 20 chapters, but the publisher wanted to do 10; I wrote 20 and left it up to him. Interestingly, he came back and said it gets better in the second half.
Do you think religious connotations are used/ misused in advertising?
Advertising derives its inspiration from popular culture and religion. There are enough ads that have used religious totems – whether it is a pooja, or saat phere or sindoor – we use a lot of that. I have a theory that there is nothing like use or misuse for commercial purposes, I think Indian consumers are quite happy seeing religious symbols in commercial messages, partly because our religion actually celebrates wealth. There is at least 10 per cent to 15 per cent vestige of religion in advertising.
Many advertisers have used Karwa Chauth and Akshya Tritiya, the truth is people are looking for occasions to buy and you give them one. A lot of time religion is in the sub-text, such as mangal sutra is religion, but you don’t see it that way. People perceive religion as a way of life.
We speak about cross-platform advertising; your book seems to raise the belief that marketers should also look at cross-cultural/ cross-traditional marketing. How important is this?
We as marketers tend to understand the culture we come from, majority of us may be from one culture, that is Hinduism. We don’t understand anything about Islam or Christianity; I think there is a benefit in understanding other religions. In another 30-40 years, Muslims are going to constitute one-fifth of the population and customers, the earlier we start doing this the better it is. In my book I have also said that we should have religious education as part of the MBA curriculum. For example, Muslims don’t buy life insurance; so, should the insurance industry figure out an Islamic insurance policy that makes them feel more comfortable? We need to get more culturally sensitive in marketing and advertising – that is what I am saying.
With increasing westernisation, how does a marketer maintain the balance between western ‘aspirations’ and traditional sentiments?
Except for maybe the top 10 per cent of urban India, the rest of India is very much rooted in customs and beliefs. Even in the top 10 per cent, there is a strong cultural ethos – if they meet elders, they touch their feet, when they cross a temple, they will do pranam, even the most liberated houses have religious symbols; some of the religious symbols are coming as art forms.
What are some of the Interesting learnings in your journey of writing ‘For God’s Sake’?
When I started my PHD, I wanted to know if Hindu, Muslim, and Christian consumers are different in evaluating criteria, to pick a durable do they look at it differently? They don’t. What I found was that there was a difference in more religious customers and the less religious customer. Very curiously, the more religious the customer was, the more demanding he was. Inversely, in America research says that the more religious customer is, the less demanding he is. If you observe, a religious customer in India is also demanding more from God all the time.
What is the key message of the book?
The book celebrates the way we Indians embrace consumerism and religion. We can use religion as a positive force rather than a divisive negative force.
What are your favourite chapters?
The chapter on MBA education, Muslim consumer, Sari and Bindi.
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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur
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ShareSwapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out
The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'
Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."
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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board
e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.
According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.
As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.
A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.
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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall
The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall
Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.
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KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias
Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments
KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.
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Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."
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