Grounded in Creativity
AURORA: What led you into advertising?
Zohra Yusuf: I was always interested in writing. I came to Karachi after my graduation, and at the time the city was new to me. A friend who was in advertising suggested I apply to a few agencies, the ones which were then known for the quality of their work, and she particularly recommended MNJ. She said that it was a new and upcoming agency and that they could be looking for people. So I applied to MNJ as well as to a couple of other agencies and Javed Jabbar called me for an interview… And after that, I guess I was hooked. I joined as a copywriter trainee; I later became creative manager and then client services manager. I spent 10 years there before I thought I’d had enough of advertising and went into journalism by joining the Dawn Group of Newspapers.
A: How did you find journalism?
ZY: Actually I was appointed Editor of the Weekend Star, and at that time it was absolutely in total conflict with what I believed in and what I would have liked to see in a newspaper or even in a magazine section of a newspaper. They were basically printing poster-sized pictures of film stars and it was entertainment-oriented. I didn’t think I would last. I was told to just ‘carry on’ with the same policy and the same kind of look because apparently it sold, but as I said, that was not what I was really interested in, and it took me about three months to make the transition and eventually change it around. I joined in June 1981, and in January 1982 direct censorship was lifted. At that time there was censorship, which meant that every day the entire newspaper would go to the Press Information Department after it was pasted, and they would go through it with a blue pencil and edit out material; ask us to remove this, remove that. In January 1982 direct censorship was replaced with a system of ‘press advice’. For example, ‘advice’ would be given regarding not publishing a particular story or an item. We were also supposed to exercise self-censorship. If you thought that a particular column or some reference would not go down well with the military or government, then you were expected to delete it. Also, all those laws that could punish an editor, like seven years of rigorous imprisonment and flogging, were still in place. What happened after direct censorship was lifted was that we were able to bring in more writers and better-known journalists and turn the Star into a more political newspaper, with political comment, etc. However, we were treading a very fine line between what would be acceptable and what would not be all the time. Week after week we would have to change our strategy. For example, if there was something that was considered objectionable we would retreat and let it lie for a while and then later come back for the kill. In those days, the Weekend Star was distributed with Dawn up north, all over Punjab and in Islamabad and many bureaucrats in Islamabad thought that it was a part of Dawn, so Dawn would often get into trouble because of what the Star was publishing. But then the information minister or the information secretary or other members of the Cabinet would often show the Star to foreign journalists, pointing out that “you say that there’s no freedom of the press but look at what is being published.”
A: What made you go back to advertising?
ZY: Well, after the first six months or so I did begin to enjoy journalism but then there were different kinds of pressures. I think I ultimately felt I couldn’t cope with self-censorship. It’s alright when there’s somebody outside censoring you, but when you have to censor your writers yourself, either through internal or external pressures, I found that very hard, so I decided to go back to advertising.
A: Coming to advertising, as a creative director what does the word ‘creative’ mean to you in an advertising context?
ZY: In an advertising context it will always be limited because it is determined by the marketing brief. Creativity in this context is dependent on the ground realities, like what is the competition; what are the sales targets; what are the attributes of the product; and who the target consumer is. The challenge is to be creative and original within those parameters. I think that’s the exciting part of advertising: to be noticed in a very competitive environment and meet the needs of the product and the client.
A: What do you think of the trend here in Pakistan whereby very often it is the client who dictates the creative approach to a campaign?
ZY: There are two things here. Obviously there is a client brief, and sometimes, as you know, suggestions also come from the client. First of all, we do have to meet their marketing brief. You can’t create something in a vacuum, come up with something creative and say this is great. So keeping that in mind, here at Spectrum, we encourage our creative people to do something original. It may not have everything that the client wants; for example, the client may want a certain situation-based commercial. But we encourage our creatives to develop something else so that, at least, the agency is in a position to present the client with another option, and sometimes the client goes with it. Secondly, not all clients dictate to the agency. I think this happens more with larger accounts or when there are global campaigns. But yes, at times there are clients that impose their ideas, and unfortunately, at the end of the day, because we’re a business, we can’t say we won’t do it.
A: How much pressure does the client service department put on the creative director to fall in line with the brief that comes from the client?
ZY: At Spectrum, none. Here I would say the emphasis is tilted in favour of the creative department. However, by and large, I think the balance tends to be tilted towards appeasing the account managers because they are the ones who are bringing in the business.
A: Do you think this a good thing?
ZY: I don’t think so. I think creative people need the space to think, develop and create without being pressurised (I don’t mean the deadlines because those obviously have to be met). But from the account management perspective, it’s easier to find out exactly what the client wants because then it will be easier to sell the campaign to the client. However, in the long run, clients will begin to wonder why they have an advertising agency if the agency is just producing exactly what they tell them to. Clients begin to feel that in that case they should hire their own designers and supervise them themselves. So, at the end of the day, by always doing exactly what the client says, the clients themselves begin to feel there is no value coming from the relationship with the agency.
A: Is there much competition among the creative directors of different agencies in terms of the quality of work they are producing?
ZY: We obviously look at which agency is producing what and how creative or not so creative they are, but I don’t think there is a sense of competition. I don’t think there are creative parameters or standards that anyone feels they should meet. Each agency wants to do something that is different and original, but I don’t think they are inspired or challenged by what another creative director has done. Here, the tendency is more to be inspired by what’s being done outside. In the seventies and eighties our inspiration was the West and agencies tended to use a lot of foreign models. Most of the commercials were made in English, and the settings were geared to an upmarket and Westernised feel. Now we seem to be getting more Indianised, and commercials seem to be following the trend of Indian commercials. They’re bringing in humour and characters that are not necessarily glamorous but more down to earth.
A: Generally, do you think Pakistani agencies are creative?
ZY: No, I don’t, but I think that’s a criticism that can’t be restricted to the advertising agencies only. In terms of the visual arts, apart from painting, where you see some original thoughts and ideas, we tend to be followers, whether it’s television, cinema or advertising. We were following the West at one time, and now we seem to be following India, and the same applies to television programmes and stage shows. I think it’s a lack of motivation, of competition, and of recognition. Unlike their counterparts in India, most creative people in advertising in Pakistan are not bothered even when they get a PTV or a PAA award.
A: Why?
ZY: Because they suspect the whole system of judging. The way the system is structured is very antiquated. For example, the APNS has the same old categories, like best copy, best visual, best black and white ad, and best colour ad. In most other countries, they go by categories like household equipment and financial advertising, and then these categories are further subdivided into print, audio-visual or the overall campaign. The same applies to the PTV awards. They have categories like the best 60-second jingle. You can’t just judge a commercial and decide that the soundtrack deserves an award but not the entire commercial. The whole process needs to be better integrated.
A: What do you think of the new generation of ad people?
ZY: I think they certainly like to experiment more; they’re certainly more open to ideas, and their exposure is greater but I think they lack direction. If there was a good training institute, perhaps you’d get better results, although the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture is there. They are producing a fairly good crop of people. But again, I think even their curriculum needs to be improved so that the students are better fitted to the needs of the market and, at the same time, encourage more original thinking. I feel they work too much in a vacuum. Although they are given full freedom, they aren’t given a target to keep in mind. It’s good in a way that they are able to develop their creative abilities but it has to be tailored to more fully meet the demands of the market.
A: Would you agree that advertising agencies don’t put in much creative effort in developing the soundtracks for their commercials?
ZY: By and large, clients tend to go more for jingles. You often have clients who tell you, even before the concept has been developed, that they want a jingle. In general, commercial music as a thematic soundtrack is not taken seriously. There are some exceptions, like Spectrum’s commercial for Morven Gold, ‘Rhythm of Unity’ which was a fusion of the music of the four provinces. It had no commentary whatsoever; it was all based on the music and movement of the dancers and the choreography. Many years ago, MNJ shot a commercial for the Sun newspaper which just showed Sohail Rana’s hands on the piano. The music was an original composition by Rana, and superimposed on the keyboard were various aspects of the Sun’s coverage: sports, fashion, news, etc. The theme of the commercial was ‘The age has a rhythm and the Sun has a pace.’ It was a one-minute commercial, and it was totally music-based.
A: What were the defining characteristics of advertising in the seventies?ZY: If you look at trends in the early seventies, television was still an elitist medium, so most of the commercials that you saw were, as I’ve said, westernised in terms of their concepts. The models wore western clothes and the language was mostly English. Over the years, this has changed. There is more and more Urdu in terms of language, and there is now something pretty awful, a mix of English and Urdu. What would you call it, Minglish? Again, that is something that is probably inspired by Indian television. I think in the earlier years there was more emphasis on concepts. Now, possibly because the environment is more competitive, everyone is in a hurry and there is less time to develop concepts, so conceptually we are weaker than what we were, but in terms of technology we are stronger. What we produce now is far more slick, especially print advertising, where we have certainly improved; there are more and better qualified designers coming onto the market.
A: Why is it that compared to Indian commercials, which are often irreverent and full of humour, our commercials are so very staid?
ZY: It’s something cultural, I think. We don’t really know how to laugh at ourselves. Even in TV programmes or stage shows, if there’s a spoof on something, there is always a backlash.
A: Do you think that the standard of creative work in Pakistan is compromised because most advertising agencies are run by businessmen rather than creative heads?
ZY: Having worked there, I don’t want to keep on reverting to MNJ as an example, (although unfortunately MNJ itself was not able to sustain the creativity it achieved in the earlier years), but if you look at the history of advertising in Pakistan, one person who would stand out for creativity is Javed Jabbar. Today, perhaps it’s easier for a smaller agency to be creative. When you have giants like Lever Brothers or Philips, it’s very difficult to be creative, because a lot of their strategies are developed internationally at the corporate level. Also because of their size, they are able to dictate and it is very difficult at certain levels to resist that. I think it’s easier for smaller agencies like The D’Hamidi Partnership, for example, to do something different and provocative. It will be interesting to see if the smaller agencies will be able to sustain their creativity as they grow larger or whether they might even opt to stay small. Even larger agencies find it easier to develop good creative work for their smaller accounts.
A: Apart from Javed Jabbar, who would you say are the people that have made an impact on creativity in Pakistan?
ZY: Mahmoud Sipra for one. He was responsible for developing the first Lyla commercials for Lawrencepur. That was in 1970-71, and Sipra featured these models wearing flared bell-bottoms, which he filmed on a train. He did a lot of trendsetting commercials for those days; he also introduced a lot of different shots, wide-angle shots etc. I would say he did set the trend in the seventies. In terms of graphics, I would say Imran Mir and Tannaz Minwalla; a lot of people are following the kind of layout and the use of typography they developed. I think they have been an influence in terms of print advertising.
A: And the major influences on the business or account management side?
ZY: I would say SH Hashmi and Taher Anwar Khan.
A: Is the poor representation of women in the higher echelons of the profession an industry problem or a gender problem?
ZY: I think it’s more of a gender problem. I don’t think there’s anything that’s keeping women down as such. For some reason, they haven’t either wanted to take up the challenge or haven’t been efficient enough.
A: In terms of clients, who are the ones that have had a positive impact on creative advertising?
ZY: I think as far as Spectrum is concerned, certainly Mohammad Farooque Textiles, mainly because they’ve always had this requirement that in spite of the fact that they produce fabrics for women, they don’t want to show any models in their advertising. Consequently, one is pushed into doing something different. And their advertising stands out. If you look at the lawn commercials that came out this summer, you’ll notice that they are all very similar, and you really can’t tell one manufacturer apart from another. In the case of Mohammad Farooque, in spite of the fact that they haven’t advertised in the last few years, people still remember their commercials. In fact, the last commercial we did for them was shortlisted in the London International Advertising Award, and it also won the Aurora Award for print in 1992. The commercial made its mark because it just hints at a woman’s presence without actually showing her, and the music is also very good. Another client would be Peek Freans. In the early seventies, Peek Freans adopted the Pied Piper, a concept introduced by MNJ, which is now integral to their communications strategy.
A: Any other commercials you would consider groundbreaking?
ZY: I would say the Sun commercial, which I described earlier. Apart from the fact that the client gave a lot of leeway to the agency, the Sun was the first newspaper to advertise in both the electronic and print media. Morven Gold’s ‘Rhythm of Unity’ was another groundbreaking commercial because it depicted Pakistan’s culture through its folk dancers and its music, without ever showing the product, just the product’s colours (all the dancers were dressed in red and yellow, the colours of the pack). There is no mention of the product anywhere in the commercial; we had to do this because cigarette advertising is not allowed on prime time, and the client wanted to run the commercial on national days during prime time. This commercial was also groundbreaking in that after it was released, it had a lot of imitators. Another groundbreaking commercial would be the recent one made for Standard Chartered Grindlays, which featured a grandmother riding a motorbike. That was groundbreaking, and I wish it would also be trendsetting.
A: Why trend setting?
ZY: In banking there’s a lot of stereotyping, and banks don’t seem to want to show women in their advertising, They want to show them shopping, but they don’t want to address women, because they believe most of their customers are men. Although women do have credit cards, the advertising is still directed towards men. And here, in the Standard Chartered Grindlays commercial, they show a grandmother on a motorbike, somebody totally unlike their target customer, and I thought that it communicated the proposition very well, that anyone can have a credit card, even this elderly grandmother who is driving a motorbike. The concept came through very well and I think it takes courage both on the part the agency and the client to go ahead with something like that.
A: Have you ever thought of opening your own agency?
ZY: No. Firstly, I’m not, let’s say, passionate about advertising. To me it’s a profession. Secondly, I’m very possessive about my personal time. I like to have a lot of time to myself reading, listening to music, and visiting friends. That means a lot to me. If you’re running your own agency, then time is really not your own.
**A: What would you consider to have been your greatest contribution to advertising?
ZY:**What I’ve enjoyed doing is training people in creative. It doesn’t mean dictating to them, but basically giving them the freedom to grow. People who come here have very few restrictions imposed on them. They have the liberty to do what they wish to do, and even the liberty to move away totally from the client’s brief and present their own ideas. That is something I enjoy doing and in so doing, perhaps I’ve contributed to something in developing the profession.
Interview conducted by Reema Abbasi.