Balance of advertising to shift towards emerging markets

The balance of advertising will move in the direction of emerging markets, says a top executive from the industry, basing his analogy on the numbers that are growing in the emerging markets. "Creatives [for advertisements] are bound to change as consumers in emerging markets will question the concepts and even the faces that they may be seeing in ads that have been coming from the principles in the West," said John Hunt, TBWA Worldwide Creative Director. He was here to present his globally-acclaimed book The Art of The Idea, and to address a select audience during the Third Dubai International Advertising Festival. He said: "Big advertising firms that have been based until now in the 'so-called developed world of advertising' will have to rethink their strategy and even move in to emerging markets, if they have to stay close to their clients and customers." Bric countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – have become a major consumer block and the existing system of imposing advertising from the Western world will not be acceptable for very long, warned Hunt. "Creativity is the first to be affected as consumers in China, for instance, may not relate to American faces in a car advertisement that they may be seeing. But with creativity, the business itself is bound to shift direction, as these emerging markets are the majority for most clients," added Hunt. Accepting the fact that in the recent past, the industry has seen no new players emerging to take on the old guards, he believes that mergers and acquisitions by big players are the only strategic way to grow, but emerging markets will soon demand a change in reality. "Some of the top executives in the industry may not agree with me, but it's my opinion and I base that on the reality I see in the boardrooms and not just in account books," said Hunt. Known for his unconventional and upfront approach in the industry, Hunt has stated his perspective of successful means of communicating in 20 different ways in his recently-launched book that is soon to be translated into Spanish and Thai language. "I am excited about its popularity and was glad to know that the publisher was eager to take it beyond the borders of English-speaking boundaries," said Hunt. The book was not written with the intention of making it a bestseller, he said, adding "but the simplicity of its content has contributed to its success, I believe." This book is an amalgamation of his thoughts that he jotted down mostly during the long and frequent flights, he said. "I would often pen down points about my meetings and realised that a certain pattern is repeated that leads to success in meetings. "That became the idea of this book. So its various observations and ideas that have contributed to positive meetings, were compiled in this book." However, the book is not written as a do-it-yourself of how to do things to achieve success, but conveys that "I do not support that idea of 'manuals' to fix you life or help you achieve success, but merely my idea that helped me achieve things – successfully." The book is not about ads or about the advertising industry. It is about ideas that have contributed to positivity and positive conclusion of his meetings and dealings, according to Hunt. "But it does touch the creative element – be it in the communication industry or in our life. Mostly we are working on global clients who need a global perspective to communicate, and that's a creative challenge. "Most of my meetings are involving people representing different backgrounds and from various parts of the world. This gives me a perspective that's international and ideas that are globally diversified. This has helped me in conveying and containing creativity in my book," said Hunt. Commenting about the level of creativity in the region, he said the amalgamation of talent from various parts of the world, all working together as a team, is a natural source of creativity. "The region has a unique advantage of creative people from different parts of the world… that generates healthy debates and cross over of creativity," said Hunt. Hunt has been sharing his creativity outside the book as the Worldwide Creative Director of TBWA, when he moved to the New York headquarters in 2003. Under his watch, he reshaped the network to think less about ads and more about ideas and make TBWA the vanguard of setting the standard of innovations in the industry. Under his leadership, TBWA has been voted Creative Network of the Year at the Cannes and in numerous publications, including the Gunn Report. This year, TBWA was once again voted Network of the Year by Adweek and AdAge. In 2005, John was appointed President of the Cannes Film, Press & Outdoor Advertising Festival. He has also found time to write a number of television and theatre plays. Among other awards, he was named South African Playwright of the Year for Vid Alex, a play that condemned censorship during apartheid years. Recently, John returned to South Afri