Bangalore: The 8th installment in the ongoing webinar series hosted by The Advertising Club Bangalore witnessed an exclusive power discussion between Sridhar Ramanathan, Partner, Ideas-RS (former Director Ogilvy India), Sridhar Ramanujam, Founder Brand-Comm Public Relations. The power discussion hosted on June 11th was moderated by Subhabrata Ghosh, CEO, Celsius 100 Consulting, who unraveled the #Makingideaswork for your brand. The webinar was co-hosted by Malavika Harita (Past President and Treasurer of Adclub Bangalore).
Ghosh, in his opening remark, said, “Great idea is something that connects two unconnected things profitably. “The discussion began with the panelists throwing their insights on how to unlock great ideas.
Sridhar Ramanathan said, “Ideas occur when you are open to it. Secondly, if you have an open and curious mind -then ideas occur. In my opinion, what if, why not kind of curiosity leads to new ideas. When the current ideas are not working, opportunities for new ideas arise, which leads to the growth of new ideas.”
He elaborated on the statement with a case study on ZX Spectrum Computers. “You must be willing to accept ideas that are not similar to yours. We try to justify existing ideas with research. We should learn to welcome new ideas without being judgmental,” added Sridhar Ramanathan.
Sridhar Ramanujam explained his perceptions of unlocking ideas through a campaign done for Van Heusen. He said, “Van Heusen as a brand didn’t have anything distinctive. The red logo below the brand’s logo was used to create a campaign to underline the presence of the brand. That was the time of liberalization, and Indians had a great fixation about foreigners. One of the salient features of the campaign was that it was shot in Hong Kong, and every model was a foreigner. The God Father inspired the campaign, and the music was from Guns& Roses. Creative people easily get sources of inspiration from Books and Music.”
“Also, having an environment where you can get ideas are critical. The youngest people have the brightest ideas. The role of a manager is to create an environment where ideas can flourish and how you mould it and take it to the next level,” Sridhar Ramanujam added. The conversation further discussed the lessons of buy-in ideas.
Sridhar Ramanathan said, “If you want to get buy-in for an idea, you have to decide who is the decision-maker. It is about how your idea will meet its objectives, how you make a case, and the potential future of the idea. However, we need to consider the practical issues in executing the ideas. Unfortunately, people who generate ideas are keener on proving that it’s theirs rather than making it work.”
Speaking on factors that will sell the ideas, Sridhar Ramanathan said, “There is a concept called, Relevance, Timeliness, and Fit. You need to explain the relevance of the ideas, and there is a question of timeliness. The person who invests money in this idea should feel that this is the right time to put money on it. We should ensure whether the idea is going to serve the cause. We have to time it right and have to be patient and no point in rushing.”
Sridhar Ramanujam then spoke about the last-minute campaign his team did for a brand and how the client was ready to accept the idea. The film went on to win several accolades later.
He added, “The clients are buying your passion and knowing that you can test out an idea at the script level and sure that it will work. If They are confident about your capability to execute the idea, then you will emerge as a winner.” According to Sridhar Ramanathan, we are all prisoners of logic and assumptions because those seem to work for us.
Ghosh further took the discussion on the capability of ideas using the success Reliance and failure of Tata Nano as examples.
Sridhar Ramanujam said, “In my opinion, the positioning of Tata Nano Car was the biggest problem. The fact that the car is a status symbol in India. If you use the term affordability for once in a lifetime purchase, it won’t work. As far as reliance is concerned, they dreamt big and differently.”
“Social media is perhaps far more accountable than advertising was. We are moving towards an era of more accountability. Every client gets what they deserve, and if you have the good fortune to have a client who is smart, sensible and recognizes the potential of a great idea, you will have great advertisements. I can take the Hindustan Unilever as an example. If you compare their advertisements in the 1980s to 2020, you can see the growth of creativity. Clients also tend to improve and value creativity. It is also the role of the agency to take clients along, in the path of creativity. It is a joint partnership,” concluded Sridhar Ramanujam.
In her opening remarks, Past President and Treasurer of Adclub, Malavika Harita said, “ The idea of the Ad Club Bangalore is to have a lot of these interesting Webinars and Sessions, talking about various topics that are of interest to our Industry. Today we thought we will talk about Making Ideas Work because new ideas do not come easily anymore. Fresh Ideas are the need of the hour particularly in the current situation.”
While thanking the Panellists and the Moderator, Arvind Kumar, Executive Director of Adclub Bangalore said “ The webinar series have been receiving good response from our audience not only in Bangalore but across the country. We are shortly planning to announce online Workshops / Master classes for Young Executives that are bound to help them in honing their skills further “.
“We are indeed grateful for the support and cooperation extended by our online Media Partners Medianews4U and Adgully “ he added.
The video of the Webinar is available on
https://www.facebook.com/theadclubbangalore/videos/267509820985579/
