From Reading Tea Leaves to Consumers – What Fortune-Tellers Hide?

By Pratima H

MUMBAI, INDIA: There is very thin line between Tasseology and Tasseomancy. Just like that small dotted fence over which users of digital tools or analytics keep stumbling. You may use it just for the sake of it or you may think of it as a big boiler that will wonderfully turn everything you put inside into some delicious stew as long as you don’t watch the pot.

But the ‘it’ in question here – the art and science of Tech-vertising – is more than tossing out long reports and graphs (which are often incomprehensible to the average Joe’s eye and ears) or jumping on the digital bus. ‘It’ is not a Genie that will pop out from the bottle of software you so vainly show off these days. This ‘it’ is about patterns, about context, about the ceramic sides of the individual tea cup and tea-drinker in question and a lot more.

Big Data is not in sediments - that's what most of us confidently believe. But when we filter this very delicious conversation with a seer who has inhabited both the occult worlds of advertising and technology with equal poise, we find out that every good fortune-reading ultimately depends on ‘what and how well you ask the right question?’.

The sage we sit down over a cup of intellectual tea with here, is none other than KV Sridhar, Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro, India. Fondly known in the industry brethren as 'Pops', he has for many years been at the helm of advertising in India as the Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett- India and Subcontinent. For over 17 years’ of his agency association and his stint in the creative playground of India, he played a significant role in the regional creative management of the agency and was also part of Leo Burnett’s Global Product Committee.

Across a vast and deep métier of over 33 years in the genre, he has contributed immensely to brands like Coke, ThumsUp, Limca, Maaza, Minute Maid, Fiat, GM, Samsung, LG, and now as the first Chief Creative Officer of SapientNitro’s India operations, Sridhar is responsible for the leading the creative strategy of the agency. He has also been part of many national and international juries including, Cannes, D&AD, New York Festivals, London International, Adfest, and several regional and local award shows. As per some latest news, this soft-spoken and extremely amiable Gentleman is going to be part of the enviable role of being part of the Press Jury at this year’s Cannes Lions awards (Oscars of Advertising for the uninitiated).

The man himself was there to give a new and honest peek into new contours of digital age at C-Change 2015 at Kochi just a few days back. We sat down and tried to ask this extremely accomplished maven all the right questions hoping for a glimpse of what the future beholds.

Your role involves creating strategic advantage for SapientNitro’s clients at the intersection of creativity and technology and you are also a member of the global SapientNitro executive creative team. What is your view of Analytics from where you stand? Have users been using it the right way or are we eating too much? Are we eating the wrong food hoping these tech-intestines will digest anything?

It has been and will always be about taking the relevant data. Ask yourself – why do you need that data in the first place? You want to map your customers better and improve their experience across all mediums and the whole spectrum. Remember how two parts work here – Data insights are about behavior of people. Human insights are the second piece, which is about the ‘why’ of whatever they are doing. Is it the result of the device or convenience factor? Or is it something else? You cannot get your answers unless you juxtapose context with data. Data, alone, is of not too much use. It is about how to use insights to create seamless experiences. Today, brands are thriving in a virtual world where Google has democratized everything. The stakes have changed.

Correct! Does that mean that digital pieces gave cannibalized traditional advertising or marketing as we know it?

They will co-exist. But the form will change. Remember how everyone thought TV will kill print? Did that happen? But the creative and execution form did evolve over a period of time. There is a segment today that watches TV lesser and lesser every day and this young target audience needs a new way of storytelling if you are a brand wooing them.

You have won 22 Cannes lions and over 100 international awards including, One Show, D&AD, London International, New York Festivals, Clios, Award, Adfest, Spikes and over 600 national awards. Does creativity really intersect with technology? How?

There is a change that started rolling five to six years back. What we started doing then, is what keeps me busy and intrigued at Sapient. On one hand we have MIT lab kind of folks mesmerizing with science and on other hand we have people from wildest creative zones. I am still doing the job of being a strong and interesting story-teller. We adapted to TV, and now we are adapting to digital modes. We go wherever people go and if today’s customers are going towards new levels of technology; we have to make stories that fit there and are still as compelling.

What does digital mean for advertisers in the new age? Can we carry forward what we tried and embraced in the TV age?

You cannot drive the ‘what’ and miss the ‘why’. That’s not done. What matters to a customer is not what can a brand do, but what can it do for that customer. It is all about relationships and not transactions. The transaction era was all about creating brand loyalty with transactions following down at the end. Today, the triggers are coming from anywhere and everywhere and brands need to become a little selfless and create immersive experiences. You have to make digital emotional because a brand is equal to a certain experience. If you go to a below-30 years group today, about 78 per cent of them won’t believe what a marketer says but they will readily hear what their friends say, so brands have to change. There was a time when Print medium was extremely emotional in the kind of ads it had. Words could make you cry and laugh. Even on TV, we have evolved to better stories gradually. The shift from ‘awareness’ to ‘emotional driver’ is happening in new mediums too, and pretty quickly. After all, advertisers are ten years behind consumers when it comes to really understanding the ‘digital’ medium.