AURORA: What attracted you to copywriting?

SHOAIB BALOCH: I had a flair for writing right from my college and university days and I wanted to be part of the advertising industry because of the glitz and glamour. I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to do, but I had this craziness to join and be associated with an advertising agency. I started in client services at SMS Communications and what would happen was that I would go and meet the client, take the brief and by the time I was back at the office I already had a campaign in my mind. I would brief the creative department and also suggest my ideas for the copy and visual. They appreciated my ideas and in the end I told SMS that client servicing was not my cup of tea and I might as well stay in the office and work on the creative. This is how I moved to the creative department. It was the start of my career, the passion and excitement, and there was no looking back. I think I have met some of the best people in the industry; I was at the right place at the right time. I then joined Gravity. I was lucky to have great teams and great mentors. Shahzad Nawaz was a real mentor; he taught me and gave me the courage, the energy and the boost to spread my wings and fly.

A: Do you sometimes feel that copywriting is a rather underrated profession and that the design people tend to gather more recognition?

SB: I think it is more of a team game. Copy people tend to work in isolation, although for me isolation is a no-no, because the more you interact with the team and your art director, the better the outcome. A lot depends on the copywriter. How open he is to ideas, how social he is and how strongly he believes in his work. Advertising is about knowing the target audience; the more engaged and interested you are in people, the better.

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#### "The first thing is discipline, inspiration comes from your boss; if he comes to work on time, if he is producing and delivering good work. Be there and be disciplined and you have won half the battle. A creative team is a salad bowl of many ideas, cultures and lifestyles. You cannot expect all of them to give their best all the time."

A: Yet few people go into copywriting compared to design.

SB: When people watch a TVC, they don’t see the team who worked on the concept. Similarly, when people read an ad, they don’t see the strategy behind it. I think this is what discourages most people. Another issue is that they don’t know what they have to say. Writers become discouraged, because they think they have written this amazing bit of copy, but the problem is that it is not relevant to the brand. This is where the issue lies. And when will it become relevant to the brand? When you have the strategy in place, which is why isolation doesn’t work. Once you have the strategy in place you start loving your job because you know which path to take.

A: The brief is such a vital component to the advertising effort, so why is it that very few people in the industry, be they on the client, agency or research side, know how to put one together?

SB: If I were to address this issue in a single word, I would say discipline. Agencies, clients, brand managers, whomsoever is working with the brand, are not disciplined and from this lack stem all kinds of issues.

A: What do you mean by discipline?

SB: They don’t care enough about the brand; they don’t get into the details of it. MNCs and the big players do, because it is mandatory for them. They have to get into the details because there are guidelines that need to be followed, but otherwise we are not disciplined. Probably as a nation we are not disciplined and as industry, being very detail-oriented, going deep down into the research, understanding consumer mindsets, pulling out insights, all this is missing.

We don’t want to go through the grind; we want to do things in the most minimalistic way possible. Another issue is ownership. Depending on the position you are in, you don’t want to own something which has not worked out for the brand. Ownership and discipline are the two main things that are lacking.

A: Ownership in what sense?

SB: Even if the brand manager likes a great idea you have come up with, at the end of the day, it is his boss who has to give the green signal. People are not able to convince others even if they are sold on the idea; they find it difficult to sell it to their marketing heads.

A: Do you agree that creative people prefer to go into television and production rather than advertising? Have agencies lost their glamour appeal?

SB: First of all, candidates should see whether their own vision matches that of the agency they intend to join by at least 80%, otherwise things don’t work out. Secondly, they have to think about where they want to go. Copywriting is a stepping stone; it is one of the foundations that can lead to creative directorship. Young people are too hasty. They want to explore too much, they have to show some patience if they want to build their careers.

A: How does Prestige attract and retain its talent pool?

SB: As an agency we have a rich history. We have been in the market for about 50 years and we are affiliates of Grey, which is a great group. We are also one of the few agencies that have built local brands. It is easy to work on a global brand; to just adapt regional campaigns. Working on building a local brand, now that is really something. We offer the opportunity to work for brands which are local, where there are no pre-determined guidelines and where you have to really dig for local insights.

A: How much learning does Grey input in terms of training?

SB: Training is there but we would want even more because there are hardly any local training platforms in advertising. However, we have access to Grey’s tools and know how to apply them.

A: As a creative director, how much emphasis do you put on market research?

SB: Most of the research and data out there is already outdated because things change at the pace of lightning. So both clients and we as brand custodians have to actively think about how regularly we get into research and pull out the insights, because research equals insight. A powerful and robust insight can only come from relevant and up to date research. You have to keep track of changing trends and consumer habits.

A: How involved do you get with strategic planning and research?

SB: As much as I can, because that is the ultimate goal; this is what teamwork is about. Unless you are on the same page with your team internally, how can you think of something new for the brand? Isolation doesn’t work for me or the agency.

A: Do you think traditionally trained creatives can make the crossover to digital?

SB: I call digital, a nai naveli dulhan, everyone wants to impress her and get the most out of her. As creative people we should be ready for anything that comes our way and I see digital as an opportunity. We are at the experimenting stage because we don’t have a bigger platform. How many digital agencies are there?

A: But doesn’t making the digital crossover involve a fairly fundamental mindset change?

SB: It’s going to be tough, and you are going to have to wait and watch. You can’t predict what will happen because you don’t have the right playground and the right training. So it will have to be trial and error, maybe you will have to take risks.

A: Doesn’t that make clients nervous?

SB: It does, but then no risk no gain, is how I see it. Advertising and communication is about risking and trying out new things. It is about challenging the current facts and figures. The relevance is more important. Just because a media platform exists doesn’t mean it will necessarily complement or enhance your brand image or identity. These days I see the word digital mentioned more frequently, so the awareness is there, but there is still a long way to go before we fully embrace digital. As I said, nai dulhan.

A: Which campaigns have given you the most satisfaction?

SB: HBL went through so many phases and renaissances and it was fun to work on this account. The brand team was very different from the rest of HBL and the best part is getting to know people who accept new ideas; for a creative person it’s like Eid hogai jaisay us ki. The brand team there is really receptive to exploring new ideas and they challenge us, which we like. Working on HBL has been a great experience for me. Recently with the HBL Freedom Account, we had to really get into the product and challenge the client. We met a number of branch managers from specific business hubs and we talked to them about the product and their customers. Another campaign I really love and which I worked on when I was with JWT was Lipton’s chai chahiye. I wrote jingles for it and it is something that I still feel proud of, because it was already a heritage campaign so it felt good taking it to the next level with a new, modern approach.

A: What in your opinion are the essentials qualities a creative director must possess in 2013?

SB: First he has to have a strategic side to his work, in the sense that he has to understand the client’s business and not just the brand. For example, if the product is a credit card, he has to understand the banking industry. Secondly, it is about the way you see the brief, which can either be a foe or a friend. It can work against you or it can take you places. Creative directors need to change the way they tackle the brief.

A: Change in what way?

SB: By raising questions; you don’t accept whatever is written on the brief. You challenge the client. We ask our clients why they make this product and what does it do? You have to go beyond target sales and get into the depth of the product. The brief itself is going to give you so many reasons to think beyond the conventional. Thirdly, it’s about consumer insights; it’s all a game of insights. You have to be interested in people. You have to sit with people and talk to them. You have to be hungry about knowing what they do, their lifestyle, who they are, what their interests are, then create the relevance of the brand’s benefit to their needs. This is what the real game is.

A: Where do you get your inspiration from?

SB: From two sources. One source is my Lord, because the Holy Quran has lots of similes, metaphors and puns that people don’t tend to see. Also creativity is everywhere, even in religion there is creativity. The Holy Quran is full of creativity; it is like a brief that you have to interpret.

A: How do you inspire your team?

SB: The first thing is discipline, inspiration comes from your boss; if he comes to work on time, if he is producing and delivering good work. Be there and be disciplined and you have won half the battle. A creative team is a salad bowl of many ideas, cultures and lifestyles. You cannot expect all of them to give their best all the time. I let them be who they are and gradually bring them to the point where they become more relevant and more powerful for the brand’s communication.

A: Do you feel that advertising agencies in Pakistan need to restructure themselves to deliver better?

SB: One area we don’t think enough about is the client-agency relationship. If we transform our approach from an ‘I’ and ‘me’ approach to a ‘we’, this industry will really flourish. At times you feel you are presenting concepts to a position, not a person. If the common thing between you and the client is the brand then you ought to be on the same page. The worst thing for a creative is to present a concept to a position.

A: Meaning?

SB: The person in authority is going to make the decision; it is not about the concept and if you don’t have a relationship with that person, he is just going to throw away your concepts and ideas.

A: Are you are saying that if I am the boss, you have to appeal to what I like because only then will I give my approval?

SB: That is what I have experienced so far. But I think if we try to change this and bring harmony between clients and agencies, the industry will skyrocket.

A: So what do you enjoy most about your job?

SB: The pressures; they keep bringing something new within me. Otherwise, I think I would become too complacent.

A: Dislike most?

SB: I am really a very accommodating person. Mornings, dogs, neighbours, they don’t affect me. I think when people are not being open about things; this hurts at times, because you want to achieve a goal, you want to get to a certain destination but there is someone who is not willing to give you that key or road map.

Shoaib Baloch was in conversation with Mariam Ali Baig.
For feedback, email aurora@dawn.com