"I used to watch David Ogilvy's tapes for hours": Prasoon Joshi

The adman was felicitated at Goafest 2018. A look at what he said on stage.

Rockstar.... Rockstar... Rockstar... this is how a hall filled with close to 500 advertising and creative minds cheered Chairman of McCann Asia Pacific, and CEO and chief creative officer of McCann India, Prasoon Joshi when he was on his way down from the stage after being felicitated by the Goafest organisers for his special contribution to the field of advertising. Whenever Joshi speaks on stage he leaves the listeners mesmerised with his outstanding oratory skills and great command over language. But on April 7, 2018, he went on stage to address an issue that he believes is creeping into the industry... the issue of insecurity. But he went on to say that he is not worried about the existence of this (advertising) industry and that the creative minds sitting in the room needn' not worry either.

Prasoon Joshi receives a special recognition award from Ajay Kakar

He stated that yes, data is a great tool, but that it cannot touch raw emotions. With an example he said, "Data can get me all of the Urdu poetry lovers who are heartbroken in one room, par Ghalib Ka Andaaz-e-bayan kaha se laaoge bhai? Uske liye yeh industry me aana hi padega."

He added that creative is not about "permutations and combinations" but about venturing into human emotions which have never been experienced before; something that has no track record. "You do not know how a human is going to feel when an artist is going to strike a special chord because that chord is still untouched. Research cannot tell you about a chord that has never been touched before; that chord is where creativity is and that is never going to die," he added.

Before wrapping up his speech he had a word of caution for the people in the hall, "I am not worried about existence, what I am worried about is that individual interests should not take precedence over the collective intelligence."

We spoke to Joshi on the sidelines about what he said and why he thought it was important to address the insecurity and warn the congregation about individual interests taking precedence over the collective intelligence. He replied, "The existence is questioned every now and then in forums across the world. I feel that the answer is actually in the collective intelligence. In survival mode, we become very inward-looking and start thinking about the survival of our own and become selfish. Doing that, individuals will survive, but the industry will get fragmented and weak and we will get used. We will not be able to get the correct pricing and the industry will suffer because of it."

He added, "People fear that AI 1 and AI 2 will speak to each other and the human will not understand anything, but this is not something that can happen because I (creative minds) won't let this happen and this is something we all need to understand. I will befriend data, I will use data and I have no reason to fear data."

Joshi is of the opinion that it is a phase of transition and a very challenging phase for advertising, "We are finding solutions every day and it is exciting. On one side we hear ads are struggling on YouTube and on the other hand, there is a Lego movie coming out now. You can call it an ad or you call it a movie, but it's a solution at the end of the day."

He also believes that advertising needs to attract more talent as a creative mind today has multiple options which he or she did not have 15 years ago. "When I came into the advertising industry there were very few options. Today, if you want to become a filmmaker you can jump the long queue and pick up a camera, shoot some footage and put it online. So advertising needs to attract talent in a much better way," he added.

Joshi feels that the industry is not doing enough to nurture talent; instead, the investment of time in nurturing has declined in the industry. On this subject, he concluded with one final thought, "During my time at Ogilvy, I remember I had a rigorous six-month training program. I had to watch David Ogilvy's tapes for 3, 4, 5 hours a day and had to write on magic lanterns... these days I don't think we are paying so much attention to nurturing."