Sam Balsara on instilling a certain pride and craft into Print Advertising
The Dainik Bhaskar INK Awards were held in Mumbai on August 21, 2015 to celebrate creativity in Print advertising.
Madison World turned up big winners at the event with multiple wins between Madison Media and Madison BMB.
Madison Media won the award for Media Agency of the Year along with a Gold in Best Direct Response Advertising –National sub-category of Media awards, for ‘Shower of Purple Hearts’ for client Mondelez. The agency also won two Silvers for the same work — Best Innovation in Newspaper Advertising-National and Best Media Planning Strategy incorporating Print-National.
Madison Media’s ‘De-MYTH-ifying Colour’ for Asian Paints bagged them a Silver for Best Innovation in Newspaper Advertising-National. The agency also won a Bronze award for Best Contextual Newspaper Advertising –National, for Godrej’s ‘Google Search on Print’.
Madison BMB won two Golds for ‘Jiyo Parsi’ campaign done for PARZOR Foundation for Best Copywriting-Campaign and Best Creative Advertising –Single ad or Campaign-Not for Profit and Public Service.
Speaking to exchange4media at the 2nd Edition of the Dainik Bhaskar INK Awards, Chairman and MD of Madison World, Sam Balsara said of winning the Media Agency of the Year Award, “We are absolutely delighted as this is a hat trick for Madison. A few months ago we won the Radio Agency of the Year, last month we won the Media Agency of the Year and now at the Print awards we win the Print Media Agency of the Year Award. The focus that we had brought about on awards two years ago is beginning to pay off.”
Further discussing the direction of advertising in Print, Balsara spoke about the expectations from the medium in the future. “Print media today, has a larger percentage share of the total advertising pie because print operates on a much wider canvas than television. If television has 30,000 advertisers, Print has 1.5 lakh advertisers. While it’s true that among the large advertisers, the share of print sharply comes down every decade, I think the number of new advertisers who are emergining in this country is phenomenal and print is always the entry point for these advertisers. Therefore, I have no doubt that print is going to continue to gain in this country for a long time.”
He pointed out that the expansion of newspapers to include various regional editions will aid in bringing in new advertisers.
“The language papers are going berserk expanding editions. As these editions expand, there will be more and more local advertising that will come into this. While Print all over the world is seeing a slow down, I have no doubt that in India Print is going to continue to grow for quite some time to come. I don’t think we should be so worried about market share. It’s important for the medium to get in newer advertisers and instil a certain pride and a craft into Print advertising so that they are able to create magic with a combination of just four or five words. An outstanding example of that is our ‘Jiyo Parsi’ campaign. My favourite two lines in it are, ‘Isn’t it time you broke up with your mom?’ and the other ‘Be responsible. Don’t use a condom tonight.’ The combination of just four or five word and it conjures up so much in your mind. That is what I call crafting and we need to infuse that skill in our young creative talent only then will our print pages begin to fire advertisers’ imaginations,” Balsara explained.