Candid to the bone, R Balakrishnan, national creative director, Lowe, is donning two hats at the moment. While advertising is as integral to him as breathing, his foray into feature filmmaking didn’t come as a surprise to many. Balki has never made any attempt to hide his love for Bollywood and cricket, a love that has endured from before his entry into the world of advertising with Mudra Communications.

Balki’s passion for advertising has only grown after more than 10 years at Lowe. He still believes in doing his utmost to provide the most effective creative solutions to his clients. In a candid chat with Devina Joshi and Ankit Ajmera of agencyfaqs!, Balki talks of Lowe’s performance at the Effies this year, the bond Lowe shares with Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) and his first brush with Bollywood...

Q. That was quite a show Lowe put up at the Effies this year – nine metals, its first Grand Effie and also the first ever Agency of the Year award. Did it come as a surprise or do you think this win was long overdue?

A. Frankly, at Lowe, we have never based our evaluation of ourselves or our work on external awards. When an adman makes a good ad, he knows in his gut that he has created a masterpiece. That knowledge, according to me, is an all-time high, not some award.

Sometimes, a mediocre piece of work wins an award, which is not to say it doesn’t feel good for the winner. But I’ll put it this way: Even though people will applaud me on that win, I actually know in my heart that it’s not exceptional. So, personally, that doesn’t give me a high… that’s just not in my DNA.

On the other hand, when we have actually done good work – like we did for Lifebuoy, which got us the Grand Effie – we get that feeling of joy from inside and then it doesn’t matter whether it wins an award or not.

Honestly, we treated the Effies this year just like any other awards ceremony – a night full of nothing but loads of fun and drinks! (Laughs) To sum up, yes, awards do matter, but they never change the way an adman is or the way he works.

Q. One can’t help but notice that seven of the nine metals scored by Lowe were for HLL (Hindustan Lever Ltd) brands. Lowe’s strength obviously lies in the strong relationship it shares with HLL. Lowe is even referred to sometimes as the HLL agency. But don’t you think overdependence on one client, no matter how big, can be dangerous for an agency in the long run? Is Lowe past its label of ‘the HLL agency’?

A. Firstly, it’s not a bad thing at all to be regarded as an HLL agency! HLL has some really good brands in its custody.

But I wouldn’t agree that we’re solely an HLL agency. Although HLL is a very big client of ours, people will be surprised to know that 70 per cent of our business is non-HLL. We have produced some good work for our other clients such as Bajaj, Tanishq, Saint Gobain, Greenply, Maruti Alto and Britannia.

Fundamentally, HLL is important to us because the management there knows how to encourage good ideas. Any client that encourages good and unconventional ideas, understands them, accepts breakthroughs and supports them all the way, becomes very important to the agency because, then, he starts start making sense out of advertising, which is very beneficial for the agency. And it’s not just HLL, some others such as Bajaj, Britannia and ICICI Bank also know how to spot and support good work when they see it.

Q. So, was it a case of sweet revenge for Lowe, getting that upper hand on arch rival O&M at the Effies this time?

A. No, it’s nothing like that. (Grins) It was just that we happened to do some good work this year, which we entered for the Effies, which managed to win. O&M also won some good awards this year. Eventually, it depends on an agency’s performance year on year. Whoever does good work at that particular time wins the awards. Who knows? This year, it was Lowe, next year O&M may steal the thunder.

Q. The bulk of the agencies were missing from the Effies this year. Do you think that this made things a bit easier for Lowe in a way as it was only Lowe versus O&M?

A. I am not sure if this bulk that you’re talking about wasn’t there at all. I’m sure a lot of work was entered, which didn’t end up getting short-listed. And regardless of the other agencies’ work, this year, the competition would have been between Lowe and O&M anyway because of the kind of work and the sheer number of entries from both of them.

Q. Much has been said about the ‘camp’ system that has crept into the Indian advertising awards. Hasn’t this fight stretched on for too long? Isn’t it time for Lowe to kiss and make up with the Abbys?

A. There are no issues with the Abbys, although I admit there was one a long time ago, but I’d rather not delve into that.

Well, as is known, we tried our best last year (2005) to make the Abbys and the AAAI stand for two different things, but that didn’t materialise. Many countries do have two parallel shows standing for the same thing, so it’s the same case here, I guess. But then, this becomes a chance for everyone but the agency to make lots of money. Agencies have to pay through their nose to enter these awards shows. We don’t have issues with a particular awards show. We just have a problem with the system.

There are also many categories, particularly the Integrated Campaign of the Year one, which one can’t enter unless one creates scam ads. If the client is ready to spend the entire Rs 20 crore budget on TVCs, the agency has to convince him to spend also on radio or outdoor or any such media just to enter for this award category. So, yes, that is wrong and awards encourage this trend and all agencies are party to this. It’s not that we at Lowe haven’t done the same for awards. Everyone does it. It’s all one big game, these awards, and if you have to play it, you’ve got to play it all the way, wholeheartedly. If not, that’s a choice you’re making. But what I don’t like is how some agencies adopt this half-hearted way of cursing this scam ad system, while still being a part of it.

Q. Why does Lowe’s stance on awards shows keep changing? Are you for or against playing this game?

A. I wouldn’t say I am for or against playing this game. It’s just like playing cricket. Some days you want to play it and some days you don’t feel up to it. It totally depends on the mood. But if an agency decides to play the game, then it had better be prepared with work in all the major categories before entering an awards show. I would say the only reason we didn’t enter the Abbys this year was because we were not prepared to play. We didn’t have entries in all those categories.

We hope to enter next year with full preparation.

Q. What prompted you to turn to filmmaking? Were you always fascinated with the world of Bollywood and Hindi films?

A. Yeah, I mean, I did get into advertising with the thought that I’ll make films some day.

This particular film idea just struck me out of the blue; it’s not like I had planned it for years and then went ahead with it. The moment I thought of the storyline, I spoke to Amitabh (Bachchan) and he quite liked it. So, we are going forward with it.

The film is about a comical love story between an old man, essayed by Amitabh Bachchan, and a young woman, played by Tabu. It explores the problems they face in convincing the woman’s father (Paresh Rawal) about their relationship. I wrote the script specifically keeping all three of them in mind as they can effortlessly get into the skin of their characters. The film is called ‘Chini Kam’ (‘Less Sugar’). Because it’s a comical love story, it has a tagline that goes, ‘The sugar-free love story’. It will be released on February 23, 2007.

And I’ll tell you one more thing – this film isn’t ‘hatke’ or different at all. It’s just a regular Bollywood masala flick with all the usual elements.

Q. That’s quite brutally honest! Does your film take off from where Big B’s ‘Black’ left off? ‘Black’, too, touched upon the topic of a young woman and an older man in a different setting...

A. No, it’s as far away from ‘Black’ as black can be from white. While ‘Black’ was a serious film, this is more of a comedy. And it falls typically in the category of Bollywood films which always have a happy ending.

Q. Most admen venture into ad filmmaking first and then move on to mainstream films. You never thought of doing that?

A. Okay, let me evaluate that. A creative guy’s job is to come up with solutions to a marketer’s brand problems. Once he has done that, he passes on the solution to the ad filmmaker to execute. The filmmaker takes another two weeks to devise and put together the best way to execute the film. Now, if a creative head of an agency was to dabble with filmmaking as well, then he would be wasting his time, in my opinion. He would be spending time ideating and executing, when he has the easier option of passing on one of the tasks to an expert, the ad filmmaker. This will give the creative fellow more time to move on to the next brand problem.

I have nothing against ad filmmaking; it’s just not my cup of tea to provide a creative solution and execute it at the same time when I can easily utilise that extra time in doing something else.

Q. How different was it to use Amitabh Bachchan in a Dabur Hajmola ad and to direct him in a feature film?

A. Oh, the Big B is absolutely honest and straightforward in his work. He is exactly the same in an ad as in a film because he really lives the role when he acts, whatever be the character he’s playing. There are no complications with him as his understanding of the role and the script is very comprehensive. The same is true for Tabu and Paresh (Rawal).

Q. Why are so many admen turning to the world of cinema for creative satisfaction? Is it the glamour? Whether it’s Prasoon Joshi penning lyrics for ‘Hum Tum’, or Rensil D’Silva co-writing the dialogues for ‘Rang De Basanti’, advertising doesn’t seem to be their sole creative outlet any longer...

A. It’s not a case of not liking advertising or being fed up of it. Rather, it’s a very automatic transition, this innate need to do something different and express yourself. Some people write books, some act, some write lyrics and some make films. It has nothing to do with glamour, it stems purely from the heart. It’s just doing what you really want to do the way you want to do it.

Speaking for myself, I’m not switching professions or anything. I’m still pretty much in love with advertising. I’ll do the occasional film as and when I feel like.

Q. The media fraternity is rife with reports about you considering potential offers from Omnicom. Some say that could be because you are bored after spending ten years with the same agency. Is that really just speculation? Or is there a grain of truth?

A. Of course, I met up with the guys at Omnicom. In fact, they have been meeting virtually everyone in town. But that does not mean a switch for me. I don’t know about tomorrow or the day after, but as of now, I have no plans of going anywhere. I am quite happy with what I am doing at Lowe right now.

Q. But there can’t be any smoke without a fire...

A. Ah, well, I do believe smoke can exist without a fire, which is the case here. This is just another popular proverb, which is nothing but a myth. A lot of these proverbs surround advertising and marketing, too… One of them goes, ‘Good advertising can’t sell a bad product’. I believe it can. Take the case of ‘Dhoom 2’. I just caught the flick a few days ago. I really believe it is a bad product, except for Hrithik Roshan’s bit. But look at the monies pouring in, just purely out of hype and the indisputable fact that the movie was marketed so well.

Q. Lowe has been doing some dramatically different work, particularly for Surf Excel and Lifebuoy. But with success comes the baggage of great expectations. How do you plan to follow up on the ‘Daag Achhe Hain’ and ‘Little Gandhi – Koi Darr Nahin’ campaigns for the two brands?

A. Yes, there are expectations, obviously. We just have to try harder every time. There is the next stage of Surf Excel ‘Daag Achhe Hain’ and even the Lifebuoy campaign, on which we are working. These will carry the same ideas forward, but we are still in the briefing stage as of now. They’ll probably come out by early next year, so I can’t talk much about them now.

Some other good stuff that has come out recently is for Camlin and the Berger stain-free paint. The work for Tanishq, ICICI Bank and LG is progressing, too. For ICICI, particularly, I think we’ll have to do something different because the advertising for most of the other banks is also in the same emotional space. There are only three ways to do advertising. One is emotional, the second is rational and the third is humour. Oh, perhaps a fourth way could be boring. So we’ll either try to treat this emotional space differently or do something completely away from the whole space. Let’s see.

December 04, 2006
Mumbai
You can write to R Balakrishnan at
r.balki@lowemail.com