Year-ender 2022: Want to see the lesser use of celebrity power - Kartik Sharma

Like every year, Campaign India is celebrating the last month of the year by engaging with industry leaders and asking them about the year gone by.

This is what, Kartik Sharma, CEO, Omnicom Media Group India, had to say:

What do you not want to see in advertising next year?

I would like to see the industry moving past the sea of sameness that the ecosystem has been rife with off late. There’s a spiral of uniformity with creatives, and sporadically changing monthly campaigns only further adds to the humdrum. 

A substantial creative product is vital to delivering an effective media strategy that triumphs. India has a remarkable stream of creative talent and businesses need to give their agencies the flexibility and liberty to deliver emotive advertising built on the back of creativity and inventiveness. My recommendation to the industry is to invest money in doing great creative work- it’s a formidable media multiplier. 

Another change that I’m hoping to see is lesser use (or rather, abuse) of celebrity power in the year to come. While we can all agree that celebrities are a powerful ingredient when it comes to driving heightened awareness, reach and influencing the consumer journey, blindly integrating celeb power for the sake of it dilutes brand purpose and can land businesses in a blind spot. 

Building a memorable brand or a campaign without the cushioning of celeb power takes good old creativity and it would be refreshing to see more brands go down this route rather than cocooning themselves into a safe yet lazy bet.

Your favourite ad campaign from 2022?

This endearing campaign gave an out-of-the-box outlook on the topic of marriage. The ads focus on having honest and essential conversations that are essential to this partnership of a lifetime. It is ever so often we focus on the lavish trimmings that come with the wedding day, but not enough is spoken about the journey of togetherness that follows. Providing a refreshing and visceral perspective around the institution of marriage, it is a great example of exactly what advertising should be about – driving varied perspectives and ethical influence. 

One learning from this year?

With so much behind us in the rearview mirror, the pandemic included, I believe this has led to some substantial changes – one such major shift is how media mixes today perform. 

With changing times and an accelerating and burgeoning digital landscape, strategies that worked in the past may not prove to be effective in the present or the future. There are a number of rules that we once knew to be true that are now somewhat redundant. In a way, our current model now appears fundamentally flawed, and we need to move in a direction that remedies it. This will require a good amount of unlearning and learning, being open to experimentation, and having a resolute mindset to truly pivot to the sentiments and needs of the future.

The overused marketing jargon of 2022?

Undoubtedly, the Metaverse. And I don’t foresee the trend abating in the coming year either.

Were you able to maintain your work-life balance this year? If yes, how? If not, how do you plan to correct it next year?

As someone who has a flexible way of working, our hybrid policy has been helpful to this effect this past year. I believe in effective planning and time management. The ability to manage my hours well is vital to maintaining a work-life balance.

Plus, I’m deeply passionate about what I do, so personally, for me, the boundaries of what work and play are defined as are blurred for the good. Ultimately, balance is a state of mind.