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| Interview with The
Ad Club, Bombay president and FCB Ulka executive director MG Parameswaran |
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"The
intention of the new managing committee is to increase Ad
Club memberships beyond the 5,000-mark"
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| Posted
on 7 July 2003 |
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FCB
Ulka executive vice president MG Parameswaran has donned the hat
of the president of The Advertising Club, Bombay after the annual
general body meeting on 27 June 2003. The man who started his career
with advertising definitely has a passion for the creative arts
- seen in the fact that books on photography dominate the book shelf
in his office.
After
completing his engineering at IIT Chennai in 1977, Parameswaran
pursued his management studies at IIM Kolkata - he actually topped
his class. He started his advertising career in Rediffussion; spent
some time in Boots (handling OTC brands such as Coldarin and others
such as Brufin). He joined UDI Yellow pages as the general manager
sales and set up the national sales network. In 1989, he joined
Ulka Chennai to head the southern operations. In 1994, he came back
to Mumbai and manages half the western region business; oversees
the southern operations; and handles new initiatives such as direct
marketing, healthcare and brand consultancy.
Parameswaran
speaks to indiantelevision.com's Ashwin Kotian about
his plans to take the Ad Club, Bombay, to greater heights. Excerpts:
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Tell
us about your association with The Ad Club, Bombay?
Four years ago, Kaushik Roy (ex Mudra executive director and CCO;
currently heading Reliance Infocomm corporate communications) invited
me to become a member of the managing committee. At that time, I
was involved with training sessions during those days.
This
obsession started after I discovered through a survey of the Ad
Club members that the club members were keen on participating in
educational programmes. In fact, 150 people asked for training programmes
and 25 of them offered to teach. That is how the concept of continuous
education programmes evolved.
We
managed to get some of the best brains in the country - such as
Meera Patwardhan, Mukul Deoras, Ashoke Das, R Sridhar and Roger
Pereira. We started off with three to four programmes but had difficulty
in getting 15-16 participants. Now, all that has changed.
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How
have things changed now? How has the Ad Club, Bombay, evolved over
the last few years?
During the span of the last six years, the Ad Club Bombay has evolved
from a club that merely organises creative awards to an all-purpose
one touching various advertising functions.
The
success of functions/events such as Abbies, Effies, Emvies, Ad Reviews,
Ad Quiz amongst others is testimony to this gradual change. After
all, Mumbai is the advertising capital of India and it is important
to ensure that the Ad Club, Bombay, is positioned as the premiere
one in the country. The premises of the club have been renovated
and the finances are in good shape (thanks to the efforts of Ashok
Neherkar).
Even
the evening programmes have grown in stature simply because the
managing committee has been pretty selective about the kind of people
who are invited; the venues; and the sponsors.
The
Ad Club, Bombay is also actively involved in training members and
other constituents. Nearly four years back, I was actively involved
in the conceptualisation of educational programmes. At
present, we have six to eight workshops in important fields such
as ideation, brand analysis, direct marketing and public relations.
But, the total number of events is around 18 at present. The events
are conducted in better venues.
In
our exchange programmes, we make it a point to invite speakers of
a particular calibre. We don't invite anyone who, we feel, will
not add value. The faculty nomination is purely by invitation. Due
to these efforts, we get a good response. it is not at all difficult
to get 25 participants in the present scenario.
The
inhouse journal Solus has been revived since the last two years
and and eventually, the intention is to increase the number of issues
available every year.
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| "My
own wish list - to ensure that the new managing committee
can give the Ad Club activities a slightly more learning orientation.
The emphasis on knowledge has to increase" |
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What
kind of targets has the new managing committee set for itself?
As the new managing committee takes over, our intention will be
to continue the good job done by our illustrious predecessors. Under
the able leadership of the immediate past president Pradeep Guha,
the activities had been scaled up considerably. We shall maintain
the tempo and our greatest challenge will be to continue delivering
value to members.
My
own wish list - to ensure that the new committee can give the Ad
Club activities a slightly more learning orientation. The emphasis
on knowledge has to increase. The Ad Club often gets identified
with awards (which are important) but there is a need to work towards
the improvement in professional advertising standards in addition
to recognising excellence in all fields.
Of
course, we conduct a lot of training programmes but there are opportunities
to increase the sharing of skills. The Ad Club is a
reservoir of knowledge and its members are some of the best brains
in the country, perhaps the world. The Ad Club has access to a lot
of brilliant case studies. In the near future, we might publish
them and offer an additional service to members.
Another
dream is to organise a full day seminar on Integrated Marketing
Communications (IMC). We have some proposals but are waiting for
the right sponsors to take up the cudgels. We can line up some of
the best professionals in the world, if need be.
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What
about memberships? In between, the Ad Club memberships had dropped
considerably?
Yes, some years back, the membership had dropped dramatically -
to as low as 1,000 nos. We had to take corrective measures - conduct
membership drives and promote the club aggressively. We managed
to plug the gap. The number of members has also increased to around
2000 at present. The point is that people have to see value in joining
and currently, they are seeing the value proposition.
Last
year, we amended our Memorandum of Articles to allow corporate memberships.
We are inviting more corporate members to become members of the
club. Over the last two years, a increasing number of students from
colleges and management institutions have enrolled. In the near
future, as the activities increase, more and more students will
definitely come forward to
enroll.
We
have also broadened the base to invite people from publications,
airtime sellers and marketing professionals. We also expect people
from production houses, processing houses, gift manufacturers, animation
houses to be a part of the club.
The
intention of the new managing committee is to increase Ad Club membership
beyond the 5,000-mark.
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| "The
intent is to get committee members who are passionate
and willing to spend time - a 'day' in a month" |
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Does
the Ad Club have proper representation from all quarters of the
advertising and marketing business?
If you study the composition of the managing committee, you will
find a fair mix of representatives. We have members from FCB Ulka,
WPP Media, Advertising Avenues, Canco, O&M, Lowe, Euro RSCG,
Mudra, SSC & B, The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, Zee,
Sony amongst others. The point is,
The Ad Club, Bombay needs members and organisations that have access
to adequate resources to support the club's activities.
There
are people from the field of marketing - Bal Palekar from Eureka
Forbes and Anil Chopra from Lakme. Clients are nominated to the
juries of award functions and events. The last two Ad Reviews had
been conducted by well known personalities who represented the "advertisers
community".
The
intent is to get committee members who are passionate and willing
to commit time - at least a 'day' in a month. It is mandatory to
attend monthly meetings; those haven't attended successive meetings
in a row are asked to leave the managing committee. After all, it
is a way of giving something back to the industry that feeds you.
We
have been quite lucky that senior professionals have volunteered
to be a part of the managing committee and spent quality time for
all our past events. I often tell people that they can dedicate
ourselves to the Ad Club by sparing one day or 24 hours every month
for the club.
However,
they need not spend an entire day but spread it over several days
- perhaps in installments of hours. There have been times when members
of the managing committee have dedicated after office hours for
club related work. I reiterate that we need committed professionals
with a desire to give back something to the industry.
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How
are you preparing for Ad Asia?
AdAsia is the biggest of all forthcoming events. In fact, after
the Effies in August, we won't have any major event till AdAsia
in November.
AdAsia
is the continent's most prestigious ad event and India is getting
a chance to host it after 21 years (the last was in 1982). AdAsia,
arguably Asia's largest marketing, media and advertising event,
is held every alternate year in the region. It attracts over 1,000
top managers from all the three disciplines.
The
host nations have to bid for the rights and we made a successful
bid four years ago at Pattaya. Recognising India's growing eminence
in world advertising, the country has been chosen as the host for
AdAsia 2003 - the venue being the picturesque pink city of Jaipur
during 10-14 November 2003.
After
winning the bid, we constituted an advisory board under the chairmanship
of Vindi Banga (Hindustan Lever chairman) to formulate the basic
direction and theme for AdAsia 2003. The board had eminent personalities
such as Nandan Nilekani, Purush Grant, Anand Mahindra and Rajeev
Chandrasekhar amongst others. The theme crystallised was "Break
the rules!" and the idea was "Discontinuity may be the
way forward". A special team comprising of senior committee
members such as Pradeep Guha, Ramesh Narayan and Gautam Rakshit
is overseeing the organisation. In fact, Ad Club will have a secretariat
to help out with the organisation of Ad Asia.
The
Ad Club, Bombay will be totally committed and dedicated to ensuring
the success of this event. It is a matter of great pride that India
will be the host country. The event will raise the profile of the
Indian advertising industry.
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As
far as joining the Ad Club is concerned, what is your advice to
the younger breed of A&M professionals?
The
Ad Club, Bombay is a great institution to 'hang out'. It gives a
great opportunity to the younger generation to interact with seniors
and establish contact with them. If a young advertising professionals
attends all the 18 events of the club, I guarantee that it will
reflect in the person's performance at the end of that year.
Hypothetically,
the cost of the membership is peanuts as compared to the amount
of education, training that members get coupled with fun and excitement.
So, please enroll in large numbers.
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Do
you watch television?
Primarily, I watch news channels such as CNBC, BBC,
CNN. I watch English soaps such as Seinfeld and shows
such as Jay Leno. I also watch Star Plus, Sun TV and
Zee English.
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