It’s becoming a habit to see media glorifying the ad agency professionals as ‘Brand Gurus’. There is that regular set of 10-15 odd glorified agency folks (I don’t want to name them, but its the obvious lot) who are usually a part of any brand related content in various TV programs or newspaper columns. These people are liberally projected as someone who determines the success of any brand that they handle. In fact, the country's leading news paper recently even came out with a power list of these top 25 brand gurus in the country.
Certainly, there is something seriously wrong with the way media is doing its job. It is strange that these same people whom the media glorifies so much at times happen know so little about the brands they claim to drive. Some of these so called ‘Top Guys’ in the agency circles tend to literally surprise and irritate their clients due to their extremely low understanding of client’s business, unprofessional approach, lack of work ethics and really mediocre thinking ability.
I have experienced an instance when one of the topmost NCDs (Usually touted as one of the top 3) in the country, presented to us, a TVC idea based on a concept that was actually out of date for our business, and surprisingly, he had no clue about it. It is a regular occurrence for many client side marketing guys to spoon feed agencies with the strategic approach, communication briefs and even copy just to get the work done.
It baffles me when I see the agency guys proudly talking about the way they managed to create a successful brand and take the credit for the organizational successes. I have seen several interviews of these agency folks talking about the brand successes they have achieved for their clients involved in selling chocolates, shampoos, bank accounts, cars and everything else… frankly, for me, that’s nothing more than a bad joke.
Can the success of a brand be attributed to some creative agencies that happen to hardly be involved in the clients business on a day to day basis? What happens to the visionaries who have the idea, who take the plunge, risk their monies and put people to work? What about the people with the product expertise, manufacturing, supply chain, sales and so many more who help create and deliver the brand promise? Ad agencies are just support systems who handle the creative duties; rather in India, there are a very few agencies who even have a capability to provide strategic inputs to clients.
Unfortunately, the nexus between media and ad agencies is so strong that the readers or viewers are made to think that the ad agencies and its people are god’s gift to mankind when it comes to anything to do with the term ‘brand’. Obviously, no prizes for guessing that the age old tactic of “You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours” works perfectly fine for the media since the agencies are the same people who get them the ads.
Certainly, there is something seriously wrong with the way media is doing its job. It is strange that these same people whom the media glorifies so much at times happen know so little about the brands they claim to drive. Some of these so called ‘Top Guys’ in the agency circles tend to literally surprise and irritate their clients due to their extremely low understanding of client’s business, unprofessional approach, lack of work ethics and really mediocre thinking ability.
I have experienced an instance when one of the topmost NCDs (Usually touted as one of the top 3) in the country, presented to us, a TVC idea based on a concept that was actually out of date for our business, and surprisingly, he had no clue about it. It is a regular occurrence for many client side marketing guys to spoon feed agencies with the strategic approach, communication briefs and even copy just to get the work done.
It baffles me when I see the agency guys proudly talking about the way they managed to create a successful brand and take the credit for the organizational successes. I have seen several interviews of these agency folks talking about the brand successes they have achieved for their clients involved in selling chocolates, shampoos, bank accounts, cars and everything else… frankly, for me, that’s nothing more than a bad joke.
Can the success of a brand be attributed to some creative agencies that happen to hardly be involved in the clients business on a day to day basis? What happens to the visionaries who have the idea, who take the plunge, risk their monies and put people to work? What about the people with the product expertise, manufacturing, supply chain, sales and so many more who help create and deliver the brand promise? Ad agencies are just support systems who handle the creative duties; rather in India, there are a very few agencies who even have a capability to provide strategic inputs to clients.
Unfortunately, the nexus between media and ad agencies is so strong that the readers or viewers are made to think that the ad agencies and its people are god’s gift to mankind when it comes to anything to do with the term ‘brand’. Obviously, no prizes for guessing that the age old tactic of “You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours” works perfectly fine for the media since the agencies are the same people who get them the ads.
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