Correspondent
KOLKATA, July 09 2020 (HS): Claiming that the billion dollar advertising world across the globe has suffered a 'collateral damage' because of Covid -19 pandemic, a panel of experts in the advertising business here Thursday felt that though the crisis had affected almost every life and portrayed an uncertain picture, there was a need for advertisers to look for new relationships and interpret them in the present digital era.
Participating in a Webinar on the 'Role of Advertising in the current Global Scenatio; its Challenges and Opportunities', organised under the banner of Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), the expert panellists were unanimous in their views that though curiosity and creativity were the two most important factors in the advertising world along with compassion, the time had now come for brands to take cognizance of the fact that 'we are in the digital era and that there is a need for everybody to become digital savvy to remain competitive'.
According to Sagar Kapoor, Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas, as the people were quickly getting used the new normal norms there was a need for advertisers to look for new relationships and interpret them in an attractive manner.
"Due to the pandemic, all of a sudden we are all having the same emotions at the same time and everyone is trying to reach out to each other in a unique manner," he said.
Also speaking at the webinar, Sonal Dabral, Creative Consultant and Former Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy South and South-East Asia said that this was for the first time that a global health crisis had brought 'all of us together' and under the present circumstances the Brand owners needed to have empathy for their customers and the companies should also take care of their customers.
Hemant Bhandari, Producer, Director, Co-Founder, Chrome Pictures said good products were now even produced now from the comfort of new work from home concept.
Tapan Tushar Basu, Director of Photography (Advertising and Films) felt that Brands were now more leaning towards their social responsibility and had now become people centric. 'Every brand is moving toward social consciousness.When it comes to content and communication, creativity comes out during hardship', he said.
Among others MCCI President Vivek Gupta and its Past President Deepak Jalan also spoke.