Josy Paul had a busy time at last week’s Spikes Asia festival in Singapore. Leading the Promo & Activation and Direct jury and delivering an inspiring agency on the changing face of BRIC with South African BBDO colleague Mike Schalit left him with little time to get out and about at the event. However it has given him plenty of opportunity to explore and consider the increasingly confident advertising industries in emerging markets. And his conclusion is that this buoyancy has led to the resurgence of home grown ideas with a strong local flavour.
“What gives me so much joy and hope is the belief in individual country work. If you name any of these countries, you will see that the ethnic quality or the fusion comes from a very strong local base. I think that’s why they are all rising,” he says. “The best example is the music growing in each of these nations. It is the most primal aspect of where ethnicity meets modernity. These nations have an amazing fusion quality. It’s that whole confidence of where you come from. Roots and wings. The world wide web is your wings and your traditions are your roots – and when they meet it’s a fresh new battle.”
Prevailing trends of the last decade or so have seen global brands try to create homogenised international campaigns, but more recently it seems that the tide may be turning.
“What I find works is if there’s international commitment rather than international idea. Commitment is deeply human and it takes a sensitive marketing person or advertiser to see how they can make that commitment true to a specific country,” says Josy. “For me, that is a true shift – in my head at least. That’s how I try to resolve it. I’m sure if I did a little more study on this I could write a paper.”
Part of this shift can be attributed to the explosion of digital as well as direct or activation campaigns in emerging markets. Different local platforms and patterns of engagement require creative to have a better understanding of native cultures. The Promo & Activation and Direct categories at Spikes Asia was an exemplar for this – the small jury of eight spent a lot of time asking each other questions to better understand the cultural nuances of the ideas under consideration.
According to Josy, the jury also took the approach that small, niche or local projects were not to be dismissed solely on the criteria of their small scale. “I think you’ve got to be more encouraging. Because if an idea is really fantastic and has done in a small way somewhere you think if you give it an a award or a place on the shortlist then the brand, the people who sell it and the client are forced to commit to it. That way you can push the world forward, rather than being defensive.”
And although both categories were dominated by Australia, New Zealand and Japan, Josy was pleased with the entries from his native India (which won two Silver and two Bronze in Direct as well as one Silver and three Bronze in Promo & Activation). Demonstrating his views on the strength of local understanding, he also mused that in many ways India is the ideal market for non-traditional advertising.
“I think India fared relatively well. What was great about the work was that almost all of the campaigns were trying to solve social issues. The truth is India is ripe for this category – it’s ripe for Activation and Direct becasuse there are a lot of media dark spaces. There are a lot of places where you need a different approach to talk to people, especially because of language. You need action. People understand action more than language because there are so many languages. If you need to reach people with action, then you need engaging activation ideas. In the future, I think it’s going to be the capital of Promo and Activation!”
As for now, Josy Paul reckons the industry is in the middle of an immense and fascinating shift, with different countries emerging as major creative players, the blurring of media lines and the evolution of categories like Direct, which have gone from uncool below-the-line advertising to truly innovative areas of creativity.
“The nature of ‘sexy’ changes. The nature of ‘cool’ changes. If you hold onto a notion it’s no longer sexy because you’re holding on. When you allow things to flow, new things emerge. It’s the same thing with nations – emerging nations are more cool than nations that are already out there. I think it’s the nature of how water flows.”