first visit to the Cannes Advertising Festival as a jury member for the print and outdoor advertising category. The 35-year-old regional creative director (South Asia & South-East Asia) at McCann-Erickson, is not new to judging award entries though. He's on the panel for New Mexico's Clio Awards and back home, he's on the one-year-old radio advertising awards instituted by Radio Mirchi. Joshi's professional innings began at Trikaya Grey followed by a stint at O&M. In 2002 he joined McCann and is now best-known for his "thanda matlab Coca Cola" campaign. A poet and a lyricist, his other memorable advertising work involves brands like Nescafe, Alpenliebe and NDTV. Besides India, he's also scripted top-rated commercials for multinational brands in China and Indonesia. As he waits for his own work to be selected for the radio advertising category for Cannes, Joshi spoke to Business Standard on the evolution of radio advertising.
What does being on the jury involve? Is it fun?
It's certainly not fun. It involves a lot of hard work to assess the entries. At Cannes, it is a 7-day gruelling process and a 6-day one at Clio. The onus of being fair to all the nominees lies heavily on the jury. But one feels really good about being there.
While I've been on the jury of several international awards, Cannes and Clio are certainly the most prestigious of the lot. Being on the jury there will give me an opportunity to interact and discuss the nuances of Indian creatives.
You have been associated with advertising for about 13 years, what do you prefer as a medium "" radio, television or print?
I personally love doing radio. It's far more challenging and you can experiment as much as you want. If my client asks for one radio spot, I usually come up with four. In television you have advanced technology at hand to express "" you can morph images, use animations or do anything with the visuals. Creating radio creative requires more intelligence as you bank only on words, sound and music to convey the message and catch the attention of an unfocussed listener.
You are on the jury of the Kaan Awards for radio advertising. Has radio advertising assumed new dimensions in India?
For a long time radio has been given a step-motherly treatment as far as advertising is concerned. If you remember the Binaca geet mala time, radio was a very important medium before television stormed into the scene. Now with so many private FM radio stations, the medium has once again regained its days of glory. Radio is an all-pervasive medium as it's cheaper and portable. And radio advertising itself is far more economical and faster. You can call it a renaissance or a resurgence of radio as a medium.
Despite the boom in radio, not a single entry won the gold at Radio Mirchi Kaan Awards last year.
I agree we have a long way to go as far as radio creatives are concerned. Radio advertising requires far more talent. You need more accomplished writers to capture the imagination of the listeners. Here we're trying to achieve international standards. And it's no coincidence that for the first time, this year, radio has been included as a separate category at the Cannes due to begin on June 10. The AAAI also included it as a category this time.
Which are your favourite radio spots?
I love my own Satyam cineplex ad and the Nokia ad. Piyush (Pandey) and I made Fevicol's radio spot when I was at O&M. Our Hanes undergarents and Tata Indicom Broadband spots, which went on air this year, will be strong contenders at the Mirchi Awards as well as at Cannes.
