BY SURESH ERIYAT
Founder & Creative Director, Eeksaurus
The thumping heartbeat, the thunder of applause, the shrieks of congratulations and elation are just some of the facets that are part of the joy when it comes to winning an award. But alongside the festivities of celebrating wins, there is always the other side - gloomy, distraught and feeling forgotten. These are those who are often left wondering, where did they go wrong?
Having had the opportunity to be a part of many prestigious festivals over the years, I experience a duality of emotions and understanding, both as a juror and as an entrant. In doing so, I have sensed a need for the evolution of the Indian mindset when it comes to appreciation of work through a macro perspective that I have been able to put together as below:
Evolution of a mindset: Sitting on a jury is a great responsibility not only to be able to judge effectively, but also to be able to offer sound representation of the industry that one works in. Awards and events in the advertising industry often tend to look purely for brand effectiveness in terms of creativity and sales for the brand. However, jurors often forget that the advertising industry is strongly connected to a host of complexities such as the socio-political situations/implications, art & cultural influences/implications, current affairs, technology, design movements, gender sensitivity issues, amongst others. The difference therefore, between a typical ad guy and an ideal ad guy is how he understands the content that goes into creating campaigns. An effective example of this would be the Hamara Bajaj campaign, which connected each of the elements in extremely subtle but effective ways and created a connect with the audience. Recent ads from Tanishq, though leaning a bit towards the tear-jerker side, addressed very challenging and interesting aspects from our social fabric. Even the Bournvita running mom ad showed a very progressive version of an Indian mother.
Understanding the film craft category: Jurors may tend to have an elitist air about themselves often from years of creating top notch ad campaigns. But even senior professionals need to introspect at some point of time or the other. Film craft is sadly not understood well. A few heads are not even able to distinguish between VFX and animation or between music and sound design! Because the jurors are not updated, sometimes straight lift-offs from international ads are appreciated immensely for their ‘originality’. And if you happen to be among those who have seen the real ‘original’ and say that the Indian ‘original’ is not that great, then you may be looked at as a biased juror or an ignorant one at that! Sitting on a jury, admen need to understand that some sectors cannot be measured for effectiveness when the category is based on film craft and where execution is the soul of the campaign. They must consider that if films that show a regressive attitude towards women win in any category, it is a clear sign of celebrating regression of our society, where we expect women to behave in a certain way.
To get this message across, ads have huge penetration into society, and can connect multiple times with the same audience. So the usage of this medium, if done judiciously and consciously, can not only have a positive influence on our society but also creatively and technically uplift the film-making process as a whole.
Feedback: suresh@studioeeksaurus.com
