“We are getting out of the hangover of ‘one big idea’”

Who controls the creative remote in the digital space? The consumer, of course.

On the first day of IAMAI’s India Digital Summit 2013, Neville Taraporewalla, senior director - emerging markets, advertising and online, Microsoft, chaired a session on ‘The importance of creativity to digital advertising’. Joining him for a panel discussion were Vineet Gupta, managing partner, 22feet Communications; Arun Sharma, VP – marketing, and head - media and rural, Bharti Airtel; Vikas Tandon, managing director, Indigo Consulting; Mohit Hira, senior VP and regional business leader, Airtel, JWT; and Aditya Save, head - media and digital marketing, Marico.

Vineet Gupta of 22feet said, “The definition of creativity in digital is constantly changing. We are getting out of the hangover of ‘one big idea’. In digital, creativity begins and ends with the user.”

Arun Sharma of Bharti Airtel added, “Digital is synonymous with creativity. We came out of the ‘one big idea’ myth two years back. We spend around 10 per cent of our spends on digital out of which almost 30 to 40 per cent is spent on creativity (creatives)”.

Vikas Tandon of Indigo Consulting pointed to three things to be kept in mind for digital: “First, it’s an interactive medium. We don’t want to just send across the message but we want to be interactive with the consumer. Secondly, in digital creativity stems from technology. And thirdly, digital has put creativity in the hands of a consumer.”

Aditya Save of Marico noted that the fundamental role of creativity, which allows an emotion to be communicated to the consumer, remains unchanged in the digital medium. He added, “Our most successful work is the one that is copied from what a consumer has already done.”

Mohit Hira explained how the entire team at JWT working on Airtel sits together, with a lot of the creative ideas for the brand, including digital creatives, coming from unexpected quarters.
The panel also touched upon the fact that digital being regarded as a cheap medium is a myth.
Gupta stated, “Creating a digital campaign is not easy and inexpensive; there is a lot of effort and money going into this medium too.”

While the trends in digital are positive, the panel noted that the challenges remain.
Tandon explained, “Visualisation is a lot more difficult in digital and recognition in digital is amateur at this point in time.”

With clutter all around, the basics of communication hold true for digital, opined panelists.
As one of them remarked, “Digital allows one-to-one conversation. If you know how to talk, you have a perfect digital campaign.”