The advertisement, as we know it, is getting passe

It’s hard to write about the South of France without sounding like a travel writer or a food critic. But since I am spending most of my days here in a darkened room, looking at visuals from several corners of the world, maybe I will be disoriented enough to concentrate on the job at hand.

As usual for a member of the jury reporting from one of the premier advertising competitions in the world, there’s too much to say. However, my task is made easier by the official restraint on talking about specific pieces of work till the final day of the show.

Whenever I travel on international jury duty, I am often asked about marketing and communication trends around the world. And while I understand the desire to soak up all kinds of stimuli, the truth is, forecasting trends in communication is a bit like setting the field in a T-20 match. It all looks good on a diagram until the next ball is bowled.

At the risk of being proven totally wrong, however, I will try and hazard a few guesses based on what I’ve seen.

One clear revelation coming through the work, from a neutral point of view, is that the world currently has issues. And these issues are influencing communication grammar everywhere. There is the environmental issue, the terrorism issue, the cultural tolerance issue, the food and water issue, the health issue and, of course, there is a recession.

So, for an alien from space, there’s never been a better time to invade the earth. Here at Cannes, however, what would have been conventionally considered a goldmine for the public service junkies is revealing itself to be a platform for some of the most innovative and lateral thinking we’ve seen in a long time.

First, the ‘advertisement’ as we know it is rapidly getting passé. I mean, it’ll still be a few more years before the press ad is relegated to the office trainee but the industry’s emerging new face is communication properties that can be valued. Restless creative minds from all corners of the planet are spilling over with ideas that can not only be telecast or released but also be packaged, valued, sold and interpreted into real action points that provoke immediate results.

Earth Hour, Tap Water Project, Thirsty Boy (Amsterdam) are a few such examples in recent times. Back home, there’s Sunsilk’s Gang of Girls, Lead & Teach India and now Vodafone’s ZooZoos and this year, there are dozens more. Where the attempt is to come up with a game-changing concept rather than a mere press ad or commercial.

In other words, advertising is finally proving to be more potent than the advertisement. And the new litmus test for the really big powerful idea is not whether it can win but whether it can be patented.

The good news is, this could signal the return of the thinking creative talent rather than the flashy showman who loomed large over the industry these past few years. For, the challenge may well become less about making the consumer feel and more about making him think.

Though the occasional gag or slapstick spot will wriggle its way through, it’s nowhere close to the epidemic it used to be. The advantage that humour does tend to have, though, is that we are far more comfortable displaying happiness and laughter in public than our emotional side.

And for a jury comprising largely of a bunch of ageing alpha males with honours in stoicism, being deeply moved in public is akin to being psychologically exposed, which is what deep emotion or provocation aims to do anyway.

But the winds are changing. Superficiality is out. Reality is in. And the near future may see no room for an industry or an idea that does not work quickly and effectively to solve real issues in the real world.

A truth that advertising is fast coming to terms with.

(The author, popularly known as Aggie, is the co-founder and chief creative officer of Taproot India)