Mumbai: In its continuous endeavour to promote self-regulation and to strengthen self-discipline among creators of advertising, ASCI’s (The Advertising Standards Council of India) e-Learning program (http://learning.ascionline.org/) for advertisers and communication professionals has gained strong momentum amongst the creators of advertising. ASCI e-Learning is an online training program for advertisers, media & communication professionals, advertising agencies, R&D teams, students and legal professionals to equip them with ASCI codes and various advertising guidelines for self-regulation from the comfort of their desk, which is available at a nominal price.
Since its launch, ASCI’s e-Learning programme has already received prompt enrolments and testimonials from leading companies and stalwarts from the advertising fraternity including Unilever, L’Oréal, Johnson and Johnson, Media such as Yahoo, Agencies such as Grey Advertising, Ogilvy and Mather, etc. With the growing awareness of the ASCI e-Learning programme, several educational institutes have expressed an interest to take up this e-Learning program as a complementary tool to their curriculum.
To engage the advertising & media fraternity on the importance and effectiveness of the e-Learning programme, ASCI has introduced a new initiative inviting participants to create a 60 second Video using the theme – An Advertising Brief is incomplete without the ASCI code. The 60 second Video would encourage advertising practitioners to create an important message that every advertising brief ought to have objective, proposition, communication, etc. but it is still incomplete if not checked against the ASCI code for self-regulation in advertising. This will help guide the creative expression to be creative yet responsible and get their advertisements “Right the first time”.
Participants can submit their entries by uploading the 60 seconds Video, highlighting the ASCI e-Learning programme on YouTube. To understand the specific guidelines for the Video and to submit the entries, please visit (ascionline.org/images/pdf/asci_contest_2017.pdf). ASCI would leverage this initiative at the upcoming GoaFest between April 06-08, 2017 and connect with the fraternity through a series of engagement activities.
Commenting on e-Learning programme and the new initiative, Mr. Srinivasan K. Swamy, Chairman, ASCI, said, “We have received an encouraging response to the e-Learning programme so far. This has been helping personnel working with advertisers, creative/media agencies or the media, etc. to pro-actively learn and appreciate the dos and don’ts of advertising. We believe that – Be it an advertiser briefing an agency or an agency briefing their team, it’s time we add the ASCI Code sign off to every advertising brief. This is crucial for longevity of any ad and saves money, time & hard work gone in making the ad, by avoiding major pitfalls that require modifying or withdrawing advertisements. We expect a very enthusiastic response from the advertising community to this initiative which would help them internalize the key message.”
ASCI’s e-Learning course is designed in several modules, which the users can complete as per their own pace within a six month window. Each of these modules consists of engaging multimedia content followed by a contest:
- Introduction to ASCI (1 module)– Advertising Self-regulation and ASCI
- ASCI advertising Codes (4 modules) – Truthful and honest representation, Non-offensive to public, Against harmful products/situations and Fair in competition
- ASCI category guidelines (4 modules) – Brand Extension, Food and Beverages, Educational Institutions and Automotive vehicles
- ASCI processes (4 modules) – Supers, Complaints Registrations and Monitoring, Complaint processing and ASCI Membership
On successful completion, the user is awarded with a certificate. Being an Online platform, this program will be accessible to everyone from anywhere at any time, at a nominal cost.
