A Christ Church, Oxford dropout, with no experience in marketing or advertising, 38 year old David Mackenzie Ogilvy applied for a job in an advertising agency. He got it. In 3 years, the middle aged copywriter became one of the most famous copywriters in the world. Many years later he built the tenth biggest agency in the world.
He was the icon that inspired a whole generation of ad men on the planet. He was the messiah of copy and ad sell. His genius lay in his keen observation of consumer behaviour which became canons in marketing communication. These still hold true, unaffected by the new media, because they are rooted in consumer behaviour. “The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife,” is probably one of his most insightful observations to any advertising writer, in any country, in any age. And my personal favourite: “a good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.”
An advertising agency as we knew it, back in the seventies, has metamorphosed into a multi-faceted marketing resource rather than a purely creative driven one. While a lot of reasons have reshaped agencies, the most fundamental is the nesting habits of the consumer and the kind of demands that are now made because of this.
Smaller agencies have fragmented into specialists, larger agencies have sub-divided their services to embrace a larger clientele. Bigger agencies might see the wisdom of having sister and first cousin- related agencies. This allows them to handle conflicts of interests more professionally, and gives them greater agility.
But what has not changed are some of the fundamentals set by the advertising hall of famers. The consumer-centric think for one. The ability to transform a consumer insight into a Big Idea. In fact with audiences now being reached more on social media channels, and the ferocious power of instant response, consumers are now the copy writers and art directors, and copywriters are being forced to develop a high degree of empathy and listening skills to have a better consumer-speak and connect.
Creative director Florian Bodet of Ogilvy & Mather, Paris recently master-minded a campaign for Dove- One Beautiful Thought. Women were encouraged to talk about their self-perceptions in a journal. This was acted out by actresses and recorded as a campaign. The result? A stunningly impactful video that any women who has ever had a negative thought about themselves can relate to. (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ 2015/03/16/dove-one-beautiful-thought_ n_6880918.html)
Advertising is getting more real and less fake. It has shifted out of brick and mortar buildings into a virtual universe. It is open ended and collaborative. It’s not about clever lines and endorsements by celebrities. It’s about real people, with genuine feelings and needs. The creative skill lies in insights and converting those into a communication that moves a consumer to connect with the brand emotionally. It’s still about a Big Idea.
Cedric Serpes is Associate Professor at The Goa Institute of Management. He encourages discipline but giggles at rules.
