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On the face of it, yes its too harsh a step, sacking senior management of the “Creative Department” at JWT India & the marketing official in question, at Ford India.
I found the statement of Mr. Bobby Pawar ex – Chief Creative Officer and Managing Partner, JWT India, very mature, “As a leader, this incident happened on my watch. I have to take moral responsibility for it,”
Been reading the reactions of the entire advertising fraternity. The uproar from “suffocating the creative expression” to “damning of scam ads”, to “ O I love the ad, Screw Ford “ etc. I am sure most of you reading this, have also read the same.
or google ford ads india
Now lets look at it from a different perspective.
Sacking is never a pleasant situation. Ask the people who have had to be in a situation to take those decisions. The issues are far more layered than what meets the eye.
Advertising industry is wise. We work for brands. We exist because of these brands. I am sure some of you may agree with me that it takes a long time … really long time to build a brand value. FORD, GE, Volkswagen, BMW, Channel, Christian Dior, Virgin Atlantic, IBM, Gillette, Beetle, RR, Forbes, Nestle, HP, Harvard University.. closer home TATA, Godrej…. I can go on.. have been working on the core values for decades some even a century plus.
The core. The foundations. The values they stands for. These are NOT to be compromised. These are clearly stated in the brand guidelines that are so painstakingly written at a different stage of product evolution. They are handed down to the marketing departments and ad agencies to follow. To create within a broad framework.
Why ?
So that the customer identifies with the core values of that brand.
The customer trusts the product.
The customer trusts the people who work for the brand.
This is commercial work. A lot of money is at stake. Even the salary that you take home.
From a car, lets say Ford here, as that’s the brand on the hot seat, to your bed linens Bombay Dying .. Hastens .., from the bread you and your family eat Harvest ( Bakwas advertising First Class bread , if I am not wrong Swapan’s agency Red cell to take the credit for this one ) to the precious DeBeers that you gift your loved ones. They all are in conjunction with the core of the brand. That is why we trust them.
Each brand has its own DNA and we as creatives, need to be responsible towards it. Just for an argument sake if this campaign was done for Virgin Atlantic, the reactions may have been totally different.
One cannot force creativity against the DNA of any brand and justify it as creative freedom.
One cannot justify that negligence of this level is acceptable.
The brand in question, Ford, is one of the reason for the existence of an agency as big as JWT. A $ 2 billion is a big account and is sustaining thousands of families across the globe. Both for Ford & JWT. The management took this decision, probably to safeguard the bigger picture.
The desperation to win awards has taken the focus away. One cannot dress up Mahatma Gandhi, in bikini briefs and sipping coconut water in Bahamas with a bunch of bikini clad women AND endorse a brand.
Dear over zealous creative boys and girls, one can sure do it as YOUR own piece of work and endorse it was YOUR work of art.
But not for a brand that has such clear concise core values.
Unless.
The brand decides to do so itself.
I am not the best writer in world, but having worked with some of the best brands in the world & at various levels in the marketing department, I felt it was important for us to look at the entire issue from the big picture point of view.
Ford and JWT took some decisions. Yes. Heads rolled. Vijay is a friend and I know that he will agree with me that the lesson here is for everyone.
Yes. You were the victims here and in no time you will bounce back, learn and move on. Bobby, gracefully bowed out and it makes him larger. He took responsibility of a faux pas.
As Ford says in its official statement “These were necessary steps owing to the direct accountability of the concerned individuals as we work to ensure that both the right oversight and processes are strictly enforced so that this never happens again.”
The lesson was important. Important for all of us to ponder and introspect.
About Scam Ads.
About being Role Models.
About respecting the sentiments of the Brand.
asha chaudhry
sugandha…
spot on!
this is alok’s post on the ford ad (am adding here since it’s relevant – am sure you’ve read it already!)
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/how-to-leave-all-your-worries…
How to ‘leave all your worries’ behind? Learn from Ford India!!
Having a bad day? Wanna tie up your boss, put a ‘rope ball’ gag in his mouth, and then drive him up the Lonavala ghats and then toss him down the valley?
Sure!!
All you have to do is call FORD INDIA!! They have it all planned for you!
Check out the latest advertisement that Ford India released for its Car (that’s what they call it) FIGO:
I love the baseline – it says ‘Leave all your worries behind.’
Yeah!!!!
In fact, Ford India has taken the inspiration to a more humanitarian level – given that women in our country are objects of ‘anything you want them to be’, they have shown women gagged and trapped, wearing delightfully decent clothes, in a state of utter entrapment.
And the driver? Oh, who better than the most respected Man on the planet? Of course it’s the ‘bungabunga’ party thrower, the bud-dha (old man) who likes to have sex with 17 year prostitutes and also run a country on the side! Sure, it’s ex-Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi!
Now, we all know that Ford India has got RAMMED thanks to this ad campaign. Type ‘Ford Figo India’ and see what you see on google.
This is not another “haylaa – what did Ford do” article.
This is an ‘Oh I see, let’s see WHY did Ford do this’ article.
So, let’s assume that this ad was released by the Al Qaeda from the caves of Afghanistan (where the decision makers can’t be found and reprimanded). Then, the ad would remain publicly available and open for ‘advertising Ford Figo’.
Now, if your last car got burnt on the Sea Link or a couple of buffalos you were transporting died in the car and made it unusable, and you were looking out to buy a new car, you COULD consider the Ford Figo after seeing this AD because:
A) The car would make you a sex star like Berlusconi who claims to last out through the night ‘performing’? Hence, your bills on Viagra could be used to pay the car EMI!
B) You could enter the flesh trade and transport women conveniently?
C) You like buying FORD because it teaches you how to live with the worst
performing car brand in the world and therefore improves your patience?
D) You work for JWT India and want to show the SALES effect of this wonderful AD?
E) All of the above!!!!
Choose what you may, but the answer really is NONE OF THE ABOVE.
JWT India’s Nuclear Scientists released this ad for the MOST NOBLE reason on earth!!
(Nope, it was not charity or helping kids in Mongolia or to help find how Anopheles mosquitoes have sex. )
IT WAS TO WIN AN AWARD.
Yup!
This is so so reflective of the advertising business scene in India today:
– Let’s go to Goa, dance on the beach, drink beers and win awards!
– To win awards, let’s upload ‘some stuff’ on ‘some stuff’ that just proves that an ad was created.
– Shhhhh – don’t tell the brand. We are their agency no? We ARE THE GUARDIANS of their brand image, their consumer perception, their reputation. They will not mind this!
– After winning the awards, we will brush our teeth with coconuts and smile and smile and smile and get more photographs than Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift!
– Then, those photos and those awards will come in the newspapers and EVERYONE in the office and building will congratulate us.
This is the sorry state of advertising in India.
Ford – if you have the balls (bearings) in your cars, FIRE everyone that has anything to do with this ad and send the right message to the Indian Industry:
“Advertising is about truthfully telling consumers why they should buy a Company’s product via a message that is meaningful, fun and memorable.”