Vernacular thinking

ADVERTISING: Agencies are scouting the hinterland for those who can think in languages other than English.

Advertising agencies, once a top draw among business school students, have been missing from the campuses during placement season.

Reason: one, the salary level (Rs 2-4.5 lakh at entry levels) has not kept pace with those in other industries. Second, other emerging areas like retail and telecom provide equally challenging job profiles for

B-school pass-outs. Third, the advertising industry has not been witnessing growth due to depressed margins. This also has been quite a turn-off for B-school graduates.

Says Arvind Sharma, managing director, Leo Burnett, "While Leo Burnett offers the highest pay in the advertising industry, we still have quite a gap to cover to be able to afford IIM graduates. This is one the key reasons for the conspicuous absense of top B-school management graduates in ad agencies."

The top agencies, however, are not too perturbed as the industry itself has sen a sea change. Gone is the pin-striped ambience of the past where one had to think in English to be able to be part of this rarefied world. Success stories like that of Piyush Pandey and Prasoon Joshi with their bilingual ads have changed all that.

The traditional English copywriter who could write reams of copy is now passe. Agencies are looking at Tier-II cities. "Thinking in Hindi" is in, says an ad industry professional.

K V Sridhar, national creative director, Leo Burnett, says: "There is a surge of people coming in from smaller cities due to exposure from regional and national television. Today, the emphasis is more on Hindi and regional advertising as more clients are tailoring their advertising to be more region-specific."

He adds the ratio between English and non-English speaking creative professionals at Leo Burnett is 50:50 and will only become bigger with increasing regional advertising.

He predicts that over the next five years, a bulk of advertising professionals will be regional writers, and the ratio in agencies will shift from today's 50:50 to 80:20.

Today's scenario demands advertising to be conceived in Hindi and other regional languages to establish a connect with the customer.

Piyush Pandey, national creative director, Ogilvy & Mather concurs: "Today, if Ogilvy's work looks superior, it's only due to people who come from smaller cities who bring hard realities from the larger part of India. We at Ogilvy go scouting for talent in Tier-II cities by recruiting from smaller institutes as well as towns." Ogilvy today comprises 75 per cent bilingual creative professionals.

Prasoon Joshi, regional creative director, S E Asia, McCann Erickson, says, "You don't need experts in the written word but in the spoken word. Today, agencies are gradually realising the importance of people who can think in the masses lingo."

However, it's a challenge recruiting people from smaller cities and towns. "While there is lots of talent lying there, they should not feel intimidated by the urban agency atmosphere," cautions Joshi.