Do small-towners make better creative?

[kyarajesh]

I definitely think so. What some of them lack is the polish and boardroom skills initially...
What do you guys think???

[vikas]

I dont agree, but want to know in what context you are saying this?

[kyarajesh]

they know the masses better. because of their journey from a small town to an ad agency in a metro city. They know bharat as well as India.

[Saumya]

Its not entirely true.

I am from a big city but I know the masses. I have successfully designed and marketed products. What product category are you talking about? Detergents? Low cost TVs? There is a lot of science and research associated in advertising which aims to give you consumer insights. You are not throwing darts in the air.

No one, in fact NO ONE, that I know of in Indian advertising know what they are doing.

When they don't know what to do, they sign a film star.

On the other hand, I see a lot of Indian ads 'caricaturising' the Indian masses. (Ads with people with big moustache, paan chewing, funny, with buffalo etc). Is this good entertainment or good brand building? I think thats where we are making a mistake. People want to buy a product becaue they need it. People want to buy a brand because they aspire for it.

The classic example is Tata Nano. 'Small town mindset champions' said everyone was dying for a 'affordable' small car. They built it. They marketed it as such. Now no one wants to own it. It's NOT aspirational. Owning a Nano will make you live with teh stigma of having bought the cheapest car in India. Cheapster. So much for NOT indulging in brand building.

Advertising is NOT entertainment. Its brand building. And you MAY use entertainment or some ther engagement while building the brand.

[kyarajesh]

Piyush Pandey once said if your ads are entertaining, there is a 10% chance that the message will be delivered. If your ads are not entertaining there is no chance.

Mumbai celebrates small town India. The biggest stars are smalltowners and the result is there for us to see. I am not saying that is the rule. there are enough south mumbaites and south delhites who are in tune with the mass culture of Hindi cinema and the like, who think and observe, but there are many who look down on mass as crass and down market. With every brand trying to woo the masses, be it cadbury's dairy milk to kellogs, that is not something one can encourage. It's a substance over style vs. style over substance question.

some of the recent works for indian idol, KBC, mcdonalds(asli indian), dairy milk are fantastic brand building efforts, worthy of the best awards (it's just that they don't follow international definitions of excellence). The work for idea cellular, tata tea are highly effective brand building efforts.

Piyush Pandey cracks ideas from his understanding of the masses. He doesn't depend on ogilvy's planning tool to think. he cracks the ideas and tell his planners to retro fit the strategies to fit those tools.

[vikas]

@rajesh: Piyush Pandey also said a lot of other things. If he is so keen on entertainment, he can join bollywood (like his counterparts have done, two very famous people)

India is a huge number of people. they breed, like, well, humans. So peopel who make products from toothpaste to underwear, need to reach these 'masses' of people.

Deep consumer insights will help connect with them. But to build effective strategy. Anyone who can think strategically can create effective communication.

I can understand what Saumya is saying. We need commnunication that is rooted in India's own culture. But what we see (especially on TV), is caricaturisation.

This is terrible.

Also, the so called 'south delhi', 'south mumbai' types that every small time India loves to hate, are equally as much Indian as anyone else. They will all watch Bollywood with much elan, go have the weekly 'vegetarian day because of Mata', and other things. Its just that they speak polished English. And that should not be a bad thing.

We dont need small town people. Or big town people. We need good people.

[kyarajesh]

absolutely vikas. Good people will always do good work.

[Anjana Kamat]

It all depends on who has the. Insights. People from small towms may have good insights. People from big cities may also have good insights.

I think what we are discounting here is the work of the research teams in getting the data on the table. Once you have the data, a whole new world emerges.

[kyarajesh]

research by observation is bigger than research by data and numbers. someone did a research to find that luck plays a big role in someone bagging a job (i think for monster). huh... what a revelation. what a waste of client's money.

[vikram sharma]

well, I have had clients who say 'i have observed people remember my ad if i place a large logo'.

Observations are debatable. But perhaps people from small town have more fire in their belly. That may be considered.

[Shahrukh Khan]

I kind of agree with Vikram here. Since you are not from the town, you tend to have more of a fire in your belly to do stuff and get things done.

[raja ghose]

I Dont agree with Rajesh! This doesnt seem to be the case. So many people are not small timers. Also how do you define small timer? Piyush has been living in MUmbai for perhaps 30 years. Do you call him a small timer?