Sometimes we in advertising and marketing suffer with such a “follow the trend- en masse” thing that even a genuine concept starts sounding tired and cliched.

The entire Spikes Asia festival 2009 in Singapore was spankered with this one buzzword- Engagement. Every speaker or panelist worth their salt (BTW why are people supposed to be worth their salt and not sugar…or vinegar?) was emphasizing upon this one fact that you have to talk ‘with’ your customers not ‘to’ your customers.

Guys please. We know it. And since all people attending the festival was talking the same thing- why do we all tell the same thing to each other?

But in all fairness- everyone had their own way of telling their own stories- I had fun learning from some of the sessions and meeting industry veterans. And yes- clicking photos with my college time advertising heroes- like Piyush Pandey.

Some highlights of the festival (not in any order):

• Quote from Rob Campbell- A panelist at one of the sessions, advertising blogger and runs ‘Sunshine’. Was also blogging for the media magazine. One of the better quotes I have seen- you can read the full story of the ‘angry Rob’ here
  • …and putting a TVC on the web is NOT digital … it’s called putting a TVC on the web
• Prasoon Joshi (eminent advertising personality- McCann Ericksson Exec Chairman and Regional ECD APAC; and more importantly, one of my favorite songwriters)
  • IN 2008- at AdTech in Singapore- On being asked about the Social Media phenomenon: “…just because you give a mike to everyone does not mean Karaoke can replace professional singing”
  • In 2009- at Spikes Asia in Singapore- “Consumers are changing the way we create ads. They are creating content themselves and want us to engage with them…”
  • Of course this is not verbatim- nor to portray anything else but the fact that this phenomeon is resonating at the pinnacle of creative decision makers
  • Another one: The west’s ideas of creativity are now tired. This is a new wave where Asian Creativity will come to the fore with its vibrancy, colors and unique nuances.

• “…concepts should not start from Ideas- they should start from people and insights into their behavior and motivations”
• Ahem.

• Microsoft: After half an hour of discussing “How you should have a dialogue with the consumers and not just show ads to people”, they showed a nice ad on “Microsoft’s vision of future” to a captive audience.

• David Droga:Founder, Creative Chairman -Droga5- and one of the world’s most awarded creatives
  • “…I made advertising as a career because of one incident. I was having a heated one hour discussion with a client on a creative idea. Suddenly, I elevated myself from the conversation and pondered over what were we arguing about. I was explaining a radio spot were a banana was talking- and the client did not agree with the voice of the banana. And I thought to myself- what a wonderful industry this is. I am getting paid to convince someone about how a banana sounds. And the rest is history…”

• Frederic Haaren, Founder- interesting.org:
  • “No idea is original. All ideas are a combination of two or more than two previous ideas/innovations”
  • Difficult to argue. But me thinks there is something more in here. Need to research more.

• Thomas Kim: Creative Director,Global Creative Team, Cheil Worldwide
  • Digital Storytelling is different from analogue storytelling in three ways:
    • First, it doesn’t just provide product information, but also creates a brand story.
    • Second, if analogue storytelling is a closed structure requiring linear thought, digital storytelling is more like an open structure that resembles the infinity symbol.
    • Third, the storyteller should be a “show host”, not just a myth maker

This is getting such a specialist oriented industry. Like every other industry. Kodak stall promoting “Films” rather than digital photography and Massive Music promoting custom music with the right mood for an ad film- and using music as a marketing medium (Sonic Marketing) were far ahead niche than “in-game advertising” concepts.

After all this ranting, I have probably screwed all my chances of ever getting a job in advertising. (Oh! The pain).

But really, it was wonderful as ever watching these geniuses and interacting with them. At the pinaccle of their careers and decision makers to the most creative works in the world- they are unassuming, humble, full of humor and every bit worth looking up to.

What I really really missed was :

Attending Neil French’s (considered one of the pioneers of advertising in Asia)session and Sir Ken Robinson’s (renowned champion of creativity and innovation and author of “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything”) session.

Sorry Rob- you could say- et tu…

You can see the photostream and some ads from the event on my Flickr here.

Shalabh Pandey (@shalabhpandey)