On a safari in Sundarbans, to sight a lion.

Disclaimer: The headline is a click-bait. And if you’ve clicked, you might as well read on to ponder why an advertising award is #FaithNotForce in your creative pursuits.

?Once upon the lazy afternoon of yesterday, I was casually browsing LinkedIn and my feed was cluttered with commentary on Bournvita #FaithNotForce campaign. There seemed to be the usual motley mix of naysayers, constructive criticisms, cheerleaders, and trolls. Understandably so, as the unconventionality of the idea did set the cat amongst the pigeons. While some pigeons got busy collecting their share of crumbs, a majority seemed to gutur-goo about how the idea is simply a bait for advertising awards and nothing more.

?My knee-jerk reaction to the later was, “…so what?”. A deeper intellectualizing (courtesy some free time and my Bengali genes) led me to ask myself a deeper question.

?Why do we, creatives in an agency or otherwise, work upon an idea/campaign?

The simple straightforward answer is that there’s a brief to be cracked (apart from a measly salary to justify).

Yet it’s not that simple; because the ‘brief’ as we receive it, is akin to a bucket of white paint that seems to whitewash 3 possible types, in my experience.

?Brief Type One.????????????????????The client needs something to say or sell. He commissions his agency to come up with an idea to help him say/sell it. The hated client-servicing plays the role of a pigeon from ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ as a rule than an exception. A planner comes up with a respectable (or not) brief. And a bright spark of a creative has an eureka moment. After umpteenth rounds, the idea compels a budget and a good campaign. 6 months down the line, the midnight oil is burnt to develop a case film. LinkedIn does what it normally does. Lauds, trolls and criticises the idea in equal measure. 2 months down the line, there’s a post by the bright creative about receiving an award. Rarely a lion; at times an elephant, often a golden lady with her arms outstretched; most certainly some other metal in some weird geometrical shape awarded by some self eulogising coterie.

?Brief Type Two.????????????????????An enterprising client-servicing befriends an enterprising client beyond office hours. Over a drink or three, the client discusses a genuine business problem he faces. Maybe from the sales team; quite often from the distributors; or his packaging team or even a random Reddit thread. This problem is much beyond the RFP or the SoW, he has come to expect from his agency. The client-servicing is friends with the creative, and the creative secretly admires the planner (who’s also a struggling copywriter). Result? A brief nobody asked for, and yet everybody wants to work for. Then the usual timeline follows. Budget bickering, campaign execution, case-film development, LinkedIn and an Award. Often a lion; definitely, an elephant; certainly, the lady with outstretched arms and a lot more awards than what the agency or the client can care (or has the budget) to participate in.

?Brief Type Three.???????????????????This brief is a result of award obsession – often masqueraded as agency culture and misconstrued as a healthy creative ambition. Or worse, part of the poor creative’s KPI. Always a young planner or a creative (depending on whose eyes seem to twinkle more or has lesser dark circles) is tasked with identifying a life problem. Now, as long as there’re wars, climate change, class discrimination, phobias, stereotyping, inequality, tech, gizmos, parallel universes – in essence; as long as there’s human civilization inhabiting this planet, there’ll be a ‘life insight’. Hence a brief is in the offing. Google is employed for relevant data and inspiration. And drumroll! There’s an idea pretending to solve it!

?Now comes the task of finding a client to bankroll it. What follows in the next 2 months is this: Past clients from past agencies receive a polite WhatsApp text.?Friends or acquaintances are requested for favours (or a drink). Random LinkedIn connections are reached out to. Sister agencies under the same holding company are enquired for loaning clients. You get the gist. The days of scamming are over. That was OG. Now we call it ‘proactive’. People like me who had worked enough years midst Mumbai advertising circles, still call it ‘patli-gali’ over Old Monk and Coke (obviously with a nimbu!). Then the usual cycle follows. Campaign >> PR >> LinkedIn >> Case-study >> Award – the chances of winning any, is directly proportional to the purse-strings of the client who got bluffed, agency sanctioned budget who pulled off the bluff, and the clout and lobbying it has in all award ceremonies.

?Yet an idea is still an idea, irrespective of who the mommy (read: brief type) is.

If you’re a creative professional, the question you need to ask is: what type of a brief are you most happy to be working on. Once you have the answer, work accordingly, and refuse the rest. No judgements here; whatever wins you, your poison.

?As for me, I am equally happy to be working on all three. After all, if there’s an idea, it deserves to see the light of the day. Simply put, it’s #FaithNotForce.

?Disclosure: I have built my portfolio working on all 3 types of briefs.

Full disclosure: I am guilty of running up the glitzy stage and collecting an equally glitzy award for working on the 3rd type of the brief on multiple occasions.

?#UnsolicitedMondays #copywriting #advertising #ideas #advertisingawards #campaigns

#BournvitaForcedPacks