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Indian ads reach European and Asian markets
By agencies
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Monday, 09 May 2005, 19:30 IST
MUMBAI:Indian design and advertising firms are increasingly being tapped by Asian and European companies to create ads, news agency AP reports.
Indian advertising agencies, graphic design houses and film production companies are bagging clients with whacky ads and alluring graphics to showcase products from cosmetics to chewing gum that are being sold from Canada to China.
With many Western firms already outsourcing accounting, software design and other chores to countries with lower labor costs such as India, it was one more step to pick India as a source for creative ideas for ads and design work.
One ad that was a huge hit shows a Bombay barber popping candy into a client's mouth, setting off convulsions that transform the man's oily hair into a spiked spectacle. The ad for Italian confectionary giant Perfetti was made to show in India, but was so successful it was used in Italy and China, too.
"My Italian colleagues realized there was good stuff coming out of India so why don't we get work done here?" said Sameer Suneja, Perfetti's head of marketing.
Abhijit Avasthi, senior creative director at the Bombay branch of the New York-based advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, said his team has done nearly a dozen commercials for Perfetti over the past two years, AP said.
"Now we're doing tons of work on film and print. Some ads are shown in Italy, some in Belgium and Luxembourg, others in Greece and Russia," said Avasthi.
His team uses basic themes "like romance or kids making fools of adults" to grab the attention of audiences in different countries, he said.
Most of the outsourced ads are not shot in India but are conceived and put together here. Many are too racy to be shown in conservative India.
India is fifth in the Asia-Pacific region in advertising spending, behind China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia. In 2004 India's estimated ad spending was about $2.6 billion, according to Nielsen Media Research. No figures are available on ads made for overseas markets.
Indian agencies can make an ad at one-third the cost of foreign agencies and do it more quickly, said Cyrus Pagdiwala, executive producer of Bombay-based Corcoise Films, which is now working on ads for an American fast-food giant and a Japanese car maker -- neither of which he is allowed to identify yet.
"They make one film in three months. We are used to making three films in a month. And we can match global film-making standards," he said.
Increasingly top Indian agencies are bagging orders for the entire creative process -- from thinking up the idea to writing the script to executing the ad.
"Production is cheaper, ideas are not. They come to us purely because of our creativity," said Avasthi, who wouldn't specify his firm's fees but said they were about the same rate as top London-based firms.
But communicating via e-mail or voice conferencing can leave crossed wires.
Rabia Gupta, founder of Rabia Gupta Designs, thought the Czech-based cosmetic house Body Basics wanted an "exotic, Indian look" when it asked for help in creating a new brand identity and new packaging for its skin and hair products.
"But they said no, we just like your work, we are not looking at something Asian at all," said Gupta, who kept the contract.
She said companies were turning to India because "there's a freshness about us. The way we use colors, the way we interpret information is different ... and we're proficient in English."
Indians' diverse culture also helps them understand a variety of markets, Gupta said. "We can be very upmarket, mainstream or vernacular. If someone says they want a 'trendy design, very New York' -- we get it. If they want something ethnic -- we get it." Now, even smaller ad agencies are getting contracts aimed at a wider audience.
Adesh Navkudkar, a Bombay-based ad film producer, is just back from shooting a wedding planner's commercial in London. His Holistic Film Works first did work targeting Asians for British companies but now is getting inquiries from Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Egypt.
Industry analysts see bright prospects for the nascent industry, the report said