VARCA: Advertising industry is growing world over except in North America and India is a star among the emerging markets, said Leo Burnett chairman and chief executive officer Arvind Sharma.

Speaking at the Advertising Conclave Goafest 2011 on “Where’s the upside in the profession?”, Sharma warned that things are changing rapidly and growth in the next ten years would come from different areas. “Emerging markets is where all the attention is. The way media is consumed is changing. We will have to work harder than what we did in the past.”
 
India will see unprecedented growth and in the times of growing economy, different sectors will need different approaches as their needs will be different. The changes are driven by the changing media, Sharma added.

The session was moderated by Madison World chairman Sam Balsara. He said, “We as advertising agencies are very ambitious. It will be only fair to say that in the past with whatever growth we’ve achieved, my sense is that we would’ve done better if we were placed better in terms of the resources we have.”

Balsara expected the clients to be more co-operative for agencies to hire the best talent.
 
Sharma agreed with Balsara and implied that though the industry was growing, the remunerations are decreasing and even the clients are respecting agencies less. Sharma advised, “Agencies should win more businesses, acquire new talents and develop capabilities to provide expertise in every form of communication and be more competitive.”

Carat Media Services chairman Ashish Bhasin said that brands are built by consumers and not agencies. He said agencies have to think of 365 days of consumer engagement.
 
Bhasin underlined the miniscule ad market in India by quoting some figures. “In India the ad market scales up to $5 billion compared with $43 billion in China and $145 billion the in United States. Reaching these figures is the real challenge,” he said.

Bhasin celebrated the increasing literacy rate in India, “The growth in literacy rates spawn spend on media.The Industry is yet to see its best," he said.

Complaining that these aspects are being ignored in the rush, Bhasin said: “While looking at the micro, we miss the macro picture and, hence, miss taking risks." He also said that though we have great tools to communicate in the current times, “execution is still our weakness”.

Bhasin cautioned, “We need to get rid of the ‘mine is bigger than yours’ philosophy.”