Trying to believe
I have been working in advertising for almost four years now. After spending a very short, but super productive time at my first agency, I branched out on my own. Considered by some to be overly-ambitious, with many wondering ‘what the heck is she thinking,’ my main reason for opening my own agency, albeit at a miniscule level, was my need and desire to change the way it’s done. Or at least try.
My experience in churning out fresh, fun concepts for campaigns was basically having most of them shot down in favour of settling for something that was generic and safe enough to be approved by all. To me a good campaign idea consists of three elements. One, a brilliant never-been-done-before idea; two, aesthetic design and a clever one too; three, the risk factor.
Advertising gets my adrenaline pumping when done right; when something works it makes me really proud and happy. So when I was asked to write for ‘campaign watch’ I was stumped. It is difficult to be objective when barely any campaign(s) get(s) my heart pumping with inspiration.
For the most part, advertising in Pakistan has become a blur for me, mainly because agencies and clients have assumed that consumers are morons. When I see a campaign, I know immediately how much the brains behind it actually believed in the product or service they are selling. The questions that arise are, did they try the product? Did they see what their competitors (both locally and internationally) do? Did they ask people what makes them choose a particular product? Did they brainstorm to see how they can wow the consumer? Having said this, I understand that creatives have absolutely no freedom on the final campaign! We all love our clients, but they really need to let creatives do their job.
I drove around looking at one mundane campaign after another, plastered all over like an advertising hall of shame.
I liked some because of the good, clean design, but mostly because I had to say something nice. The rest, well you can read what I think below.
BRAND: Skimillac