Goafest 2023: ASCI's session delves into power of collaboration within the Creators community

Ideas can come from anywhere, the only thing that matters is how they are made big and for that to happen all the collaborators need to have it as the one and only goal, as per Rajdeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer and CEO, Leo Burnett, South Asia, India and Chairman, Creative Council, Publicis Groupe - South Asia.

OMS Digital, a part of the Times Group, presented the session at Goafest 2023 titled ‘Creator Calling Creator’ - a session curated by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI)’ at the Goafest 2023, which was moderated by Subhash Kamath, Former CEO, BBH and Publicis Worldwide, India | Former Chairman, ASCI. 

The panellists included Das; Shreya Agarwal - Head of FilterCopy, Pocket Aces; Smruthi Rajagopalan - AGM Maybelline, L’Oreal and Prableen Kaur Bhomrah, beauty, fashion, body positive and lifestyle influencer. This session narrowed down the connection between content creators, collaborators, inspiration and the need to foster a thriving creative community. 

The questions posed also garnered answers that summed up the sentiment of brand-agency relationships today and their applicability during campaigns.

Das said, “Ideas can come from anywhere, the only thing that matters is how we make it big. For that to happen, all the collaborators need to have one goal - to make the idea big.”

In summary, the conversation underlined the power of creators coming together to exchange ideas, share knowledge and elevate their craft.

Rajagopalan said that in the last few years everything has changed so drastically that it's now a new world of opportunity to reach the consumer. There are so many different mediums today, as compared to many years back where you just had a 20- or 30-second TV media plan, before digital started sweeping in.

“Today it's multiple forums, all going viral at the same time and it's truly a multimedia campaign. We have multiple agencies to deal with. There is a mainline agency who we still believe is the custodian of the brand. Then there is a digital agency and then there is an influencer agency because we deal with hundreds of influencers and we need someone who understands that craft as well,” Rajagopalan stated. 

Furthermore, she added, “So, it's a huge opportunity to be able to tailor your message to the consumer in every possible way you want to. But it's a huge challenge at the same time to maintain the brand's consistency across all the places, because for us we are consumer-first and brand-first. We want our message to reach the consumer and we want our brand to be intact. We are brand-first and while our mainline agency is still with us on that journey, the others aren't.”

Kamath said that you don't get any freedom when you work with a brand and you have 10 different mandates. They have all the freedom and they do what they want. 

Das said that today one has to create things with what they have and Data is one of the biggest tools today. “While ten years back it was insight, now it's data,” Das said. 

Kamath said that there are brands that behave in a particular way on TV and then completely differently on social media and the audience simply can't believe that they are the same brands. 

He asked Bhomrah, “Do you choose only the brands that fit into your personality and expression. What is something that you are not really a part of?” 

Bhomrah replied by saying, “I do feel that our followers are what drive us. We need that kind of validation and love. The reason why I started out (as an influencer) is because I wanted to motivate them. Brands came in very late for me but when they did I understood the kind of money it comes with. I do believe that you need to have certain specifications of what you stand for.”

“You really have to stand true to what you believe and the brands will come back to you. You don't need to completely give everything for every brand that you don't even believe in,” she added. 

Adding to her point, Rajagopalan said, “That is when you say they have freedom and they are follower-first, which is their strength and we appreciate that, because there are influencers who come back to us and who work with our brand very often on some categories. But at times they (influencers) have come back to us saying that a particular product is not working for them and I do not want to be a part of it. It is totally fine because we respect the fact that you have your expertise and you are following that.”

Agarwal stated, “The communication is very different on different platforms because the entire ecosystems are coming together and making sure that there is some consistency, so maybe the formats are different but somewhere the communication comes together with any brand that we work with. The way we all are coming together creating content for different formats being consumed is what forms our strength.”

Agarwal said that FilterCopy has a lot of successful campaigns that have come out of collaboration where the agency partners themselves have recognised that the platform is great to communicate their message to the audience.

Rajagopalan said, “Today the lines with agencies are also blurring, we have a mainline agency but today when we are in a discussion, we see the lines blurring. So, collaboration can be a very big part of this entire process.”

Bhomrah said that whenever a brand comes to creators, it comes with a brief explanation about the product but it is up to the creator to go forward with it or not. When a brand approaches, there is some kind of flexibility because influencers can say no to brands in case the product is not working for them.

Agarwal said, “From a content perspective, I think so much matters on the brand objectives as well. Some brands coming in want to build the brand, they may not think about convergence at that point of time. It matters so much on the objectives and we come up with solutions based on that.”