Ear to the beach

ADVERTISING: Just how clued-in is Asian advertising? Not very, said a speaker at the AAAI adfest in Goa.

Are advertisers missing out on the changing Asian male? Simple question. Tough answer. Adfolk at the AAAI adfest in Goa devoted a fair degree of thought to it. After all, the Asian male has never encountered such immense environmental change. Be it at home or work, the Asian male has to cope with fast-changing dynamics on all fronts.

According to Michelle Kristula Green, regional vice-president, Asia Pacific, Leo Burnett, a study on the Asian Male by the agency reveals that this creature can no longer be targeted by advertising the way he was earlier.

Yet, little's being done by way of redressal. An indication of the neglect: while the search engine amazon.com throws up over 6,000 results for "marketing to women", "marketing to men" only throws up three sites.

The result, said Green, was that the male is experiencing an acute sense of disconnect: "The images of men in advertising are out of touch with reality."

On the other factors that are putting men under pressure to change and adapt, Green talked about how Asian men are losing control both at their workplace and at home. With job security now a phenomenon of the past, and women being equal decision makers at home, the traditional gender roles are blurring.

There are market opportunities in this, though. Men are spending more money on their looks and grooming. Men who find themselves high on money and short on time are indulging themselves in other ways too.

Meanwhile, the male self-image has changed. Masculinity, once a measure of brawn, is now about brain too, as hi-tech gizmos become the new testosterone pumping devices.

"It is important for advertising to recognize the changing man and empathise..." said Green. In this, the use of technology will be key, as Green saw it "" particularly in striking new points of contact with the male consumer.

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FAST ENOUGH?

India's advertising industry is growing at a 15-per cent clip. Is that good enough? Apparently not, if one goes by what India's advertising and media gurus felt who attended the Goa conclave.

While huge pressure weighs on ad agencies to beget growth as India Inc turns attention to topline growth, worries have surfaced on the mushrooming of new consultancies that are clawing away revenue "" even as agencies subsist on an old-fashioned slice of the ad spend.

"Our's is the only industry that has no relationship between quality and price," said Santosh Desai, president, McCann Erickson, "And if this is the case, what is then the incentive for quality?"

Strategic brand thinking, added Desai, needed to stage a comeback. Or ad agencies would be reduced to being creative supply bodies.

Vikram Sakhuja, managing director, Mindshare, agreed that agencies must become business partners in a broader customer-engagement paradigm. Future growth, the consensus went, hinges on being inventive.