Mumbai, India. Anish Varghese, Chief Creative Officer at Isobar
Tomilli: How to achieve powerful creative concepts?
I am sure a lot of people will agree with me, in 2021, it’s a clever & intelligent situation.
A concept can be powerful when there is orchestration, happens among media, particularly in a connected world which we are living. The success of the creative concepts depends on when these connected media talk to each other. It could be social conversations to film, or a film to an app, there is a bunch of orchestration we can witness in this gigantic, connected world.
As a creator, the key is on how we carry forward the story throughout and how we walk along with our potential follower or fan. Wherein our larger story to build a value on him/her is the core. Once the delightful story built with the orchestration, we could say it’s a powerful concept.
On the principles front, firstly, prepare yourself to discover your inspirations. It’s a linear process, just like how a kid builds a structure with the building blocks. Couple of tips I could recommend, trust me, guys… I’d seen results.
Use the Pomodoro technique to better the concentration – Focus for 25 minutes at a time and then take a break. It’s a mind-hack that helps you focus better.
Give yourself a deadline, as deadlines have psychological power – make the timeframe fun, sometimes the stress which you are in, on its own is a motivator. The crux of the idea of some award-winning campaigns I worked stemmed out from critical timeframes.
How do you audit the power of an idea before it goes on the air?
Ideas influence how people feel. Solutions move people to act. An engagement idea is a sweet spot – it invites an audience to interact with a business, and increasingly this takes place in the virtual world. I would always look for a ‘participatory’ approach, where the audience is no longer an observer of the brand but becomes part of the brand story.
What is the best example of powerful and effective creativity for you? Why?
I would address why first.
In this connected world, if the idea can build a ‘participatory’ approach, where the audience is no longer an observer of the brand but becomes part of the brand story. Which facilitates a value by showing its customers what it offers – for me that’s a powerful engagement idea. There is an orchestration of user journey has to be defined here, which makes the idea even more effective in terms of sales.
I can reiterate my thoughts with an example, Burger King – The Whopper Detour – https://youtu.be/Tea-M817hJY
Here you could notice, the user is a part of the whole campaign journey, he is not a passive viewer, rather a core milestone on every touchpoint.
How much does advertising really influence the purchase decision?
The percentage is very low, we are living in an era in which people are buying a product which doesn’t even have a physical store or an ATL campaign.
The audience had moved towards a subscription model like Netflix, Spotify, YouTube Premium etc. How many people are seeing advertising?
We may have to find new ways to influence the purchase decision, ‘just advertising’ have to be relooked.
Advertisers: Are we sellers or influencers?
We are influencers, as we’d migrated a long way from the selling aspect. As I mentioned earlier, we are living in an era in which people are buying a product that doesn’t even have a physical store or an ATL campaign. In this scenario, the brand must achieve followers who believe in the value of the brand, who eventually fall in love with the product.
How much has the advertising discourse changed in the last decade?
A lot, even the expertise required has changed. I usually call my CD – Creative Solutions Director.
The new way of approaching creative is to imagine that we’re taking our audience on a rollercoaster. There are a start and an end and in between, we build various touchpoints – entertainment – stories that guide people to interact with our brand.
Today, the Creative Director is building an amusement park. Building actionable ideas, where solutions and stories become one big experience.
So, this analogy should ease that creative anxiety: ideas are still fundamental, but digital and consumer expectations are changing the role they play. And it’s going to be one hell of a ride.