ABOUT
With great creative power comes great responsibility. This is something that is relevant not only for advertising but any form of creative expression that impacts popular culture. Advertisements in India have to adhere to a code of self-regulation prescribed by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). This self-regulatory body has a detailed code to ensure truth in advertising.
In line with the ASCI’s commitment to the cause of self-regulation in advertising on different platforms, and ensuring protection of the interests of consumers, exchange4media has undertaken to partner ASCI to conduct a festival of debate named ‘Creativity, For Goodness’ Sake!’ at Mumbai on March 20, 2015. Our attempt is to create an engagement platform, not just another event or seminar. Therefore we hope to present a forum to uphold creativity that is exciting and memorable, but with a conscience, based on the premise that there is a critical need to create awareness, belief and advocacy for the very concept of self-regulation in advertising. We expect exciting conversations and even opposing views from the audience.
The festival will have international speakers such as:
Marc Mathieu, Global Senior Vice President, Marketing at Unilever. He oversees Unilever's global corporate branding effort; marketing training, including the Unilever Marketing Academy; marketing services; agency relations; and return on marketing investment.
Sir John Hegarty, Worldwide Creative Director and Founder, Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) has worked in the advertising industry for over six decades. He was awarded a knighthood in 2007, has won the D&AD President’s Award for outstanding achievement and been admitted to the US One Show Advertising Hall of Fame. His first book, Hegarty on Advertising – Turning Intelligence into Magic, was published in 2011. He is currently working on his second.
Shantanu Khosla, MD, P&G India. He has been with P&G since 1983. He has over the period gained experience of overseeing P&G’s international businesses in UK, Malaysia, Japan and Singapore. He is also a member of the board of governors of Advertising Standards Council of India.
Film-maker Rajkumar Hirani has been director, screenwriter and editor of box-office successes like Munna Bhai MBBS (2003), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014).
Anuradha SenGupta, journalist; Sam Balsara, Chairman & MD, Madison World; Sunil Lulla, CMD, Grey Group will be the moderators for some of the speaker sessions.
At the centre of the festival will be a debate on the parameters of creative expression in advertising with participants drawn from the top echelons of the creative industry, advertisers and consumer activists. The debate will take up the conflict between boundless creativity and ethical boundaries, and tackle the issue of self-regulation and creative responsibility from various angles.
The debate will see points put forth by:
Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director Ogilvy & Mather India. Pandey is synonymous with several memorable campaigns for brands such as Fevicol, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Asian Paints. The latest addition to his celebrated portfolio is the line ‘Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar’ written for BJP’s campaign during the Lok Sabha elections.
Santosh Desai, MD & CEO, Future Group is known as one of the best thinkers in the advertising business. An IIM-Ahmedabad graduate, he served as the President of McCann-Erickson, one of India’s premier advertising agencies. Having spent 21 years in advertising, he is a veteran in the domain and has been involved in strategically building many key brands for numerous local and multinational organizations.
Paritosh Joshi, Director, Provacateur Advisory. He chairs the technical committee for the Indian Readership Survey and is a member of the technical committee for the Broadcast Audience Research Council. He is also on the board of the Media Research Users' Council. He was the CEO of STAR CJ Network India.
Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, Global Head of Brand and Chief Marketing Officer of Standard Chartered Bank. A hands-on and internationally experienced leader with professional experience across global consumer organisations: with the leading financial services giant, Citigroup and prior to that, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever. One of his current key focus areas is the development of online and mobile marketing in the financial services industry. He is a visiting faculty at Wharton Business School, Judge Business School, Cambridge and Imperial College, London. He is also a member of the Global Advisory Board of the Open University Business School, UK.
Anish Trivedi, novelist and former investment banker, will chair the debate round.
