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STATES: ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
2001
Consumers Are No Fools
With reality dawning
on the dream merchants, more and more agencies are on the lookout for
the model next door. Many companies, in fact, have made a "conscious
decision to not lean on celebrities to sell their products", says
another advertising professional. Augustine recalls how he waded through
some 400 portfolios for a model for a beverage ad before spotting a lightboy
in the studio who had "just the look of disgust" that was required.
And the boy lived the part in the ad. Says the proprietor of a local modelling
agency in Delhi: "Earlier, advertisements were based on fantasies.
Today, the people in them have to look credible. You can no longer have
a Hema Malini pushing washing powder. Today's consumers are no fools."
"It's all about touching people's hearts.
To be able to relate to a powerful consumer idea in a real life situation,
you no longer need to do it with a Rahul Dev or a Milind Soman,"
says Delhi-based fashion and still photographer Tarun Khiwal, who often
spends hours with clients discussing the cast.
If the advertising strategy has changed, so
has the profile of models crowding the offices of advertising agencies.
"Earlier, we would strictly have three slots-male, female and children,"
says Aashoo Dabral, director of Delhi-based model coordinating firm Laxya.
Says Pranesh Mishra, international client director, Lowe Lintas &
Partners, who heads the Hindustan Lever account in Mumbai: "There
seems to be a new variation in terms of characterisation that has led
advertising to look more real. There are no more perfect people or perfect
models. Casting and characterisation have become all-important today."
There was a time when fat, bald or thin people
aspiring to be models would be laughed at. Today, there is an altogether
new category called character models to include them. Sethi calls himself
a "character model" because "I wear glasses which helps
when you are playing a father or a ceo of a company".
Fuelling this trend is the overcrowding of the
Indian marketplace. The multiplicity of brands, products and services
as also the profusion of media have become the marketing manager's nightmare
come true. As the cacophony of advertisers reaches a crescendo, the only
way an advertising campaign can attract the consumer's attention is to
do something outrageously different or feature something uncommon.
Gurpreet Singh, 23, a Delhi student, came to
Laxya with overgrown hair, blue eyes and big dreams but his portfolio
was kept aside. Frustrated, he tonsured his head. That got him his first
assignment. He's also modelled for Lee Cooper. Says Arpan Banerjee, director
of Face to Face, another modelling coordinator in Delhi: "It's a
heterogenous mix of people that walk in with their bio-datas today."
ALL this does not mean that glamour and good
looks are no longer the driving forces behind advertising. In certain
categories of products-like textiles, readymade clothes, luxury cars and
high-end consumer durables-the accent is on looks and glamour. "It
is only for fast-moving consumer goods and items that are bought by the
middle class that advertisers use these ordinary looking models,"
says an advertising professional.
But that is hardly a deterrent for the growing
number of wannabe models. Kusum Vasudeva, 54, otherwise the ceo of a Sahibabad-based
company manufacturing automobile parts, is another hopeful. Her first
brush with the advertising world was when she modelled for a nail polish
brand while in college. More than 30 years later, Vasudeva brushes her
brown, coiffured hair and makes her age lines disappear with an overpowering
smile. "If everybody else can do it, so can I." In advertising
today, where there is a will, there will be a way.
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