Frontline ·
Arts, culture, entertainment and media
An ambitious history of Indian advertising
Ambi Parameswaran’s 10th anniversary edition of Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles on the history of much feted creative ad work and long-lasting client-agency relationships is now all the more relevant with a new chapter on the fragmented mediascape we live in.
A few days ago, a friend shared some pictures from our college days on a WhatsApp group. I was struck by how we were all in trousers. Not a pair of jeans in sight. Coincidentally, I had just been reading Ambi Parameswaran’s history of Indian advertising: Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles. In the book, he talks about a hostelmate at IIT Madras who was the only one in the whole institution to own a pair of Levis. How much our world has changed.
Today, we are at the threshold of a sci-fi-esque world of hyper-targeted messaging, virtual screens, and neuro marketing campaigns for everything from hi-res phones to low-waist jeans. Algorithms seem to know we need something even before we do. A remarkably well-timed ad pops on our timelines, and we dutifully click all the way through to the payment page.
Is studying the history of our advertising, then, even relevant? Are Complan Boy, Rasna girl, Santoor mother, and Dairy Milk dancer anything more than fragments of nostalgia? When the family no longer sits around a TV at an appointed time, devouring whatever broadcasters beam for them, does a case study of a once-beloved bar of soap even matter? When newspapers and magazines are no longer handed down in a choreographed ritual, from the head of the family to the last minion, do print ads from the past deserve any attention?
Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles: India Through 60 Years of Advertising (10th Anniversary Edition)
The fact that there is a 10th anniversary edition of Ambi Parameswaran’s popular book suggests that India’s advertising history has many happy takers. Through the first few chapters, I asked myself who these people could be. Students of marketing and advertising, diligently delving into the past? Current practitioners, searching for inspiration, instruction, and insights from their predecessors? Sociologists, studying the changing fabric of a complex nation? Or just a bunch of boomers reliving the simple joy of a once-popular jingle?
After a few chapters, I did not care for the answer. I just enjoyed the ride. It was like rewatching a Basu Chatterjee film, sighing wistfully at places that have disappeared, chuckling at bell bottoms and puff-sleeve blouses, pointing out roads and landmarks with childlike excitement, and humming with Amol Palekar as he courts Vidya Sinha.
As a veteran of the ad agencies FCB Ulka, Rediffusion, and Boots, Parameswaran enjoyed a ring-side view of the persuasion business for more than half the period covered in his book. Not surprisingly, brand stories are offered to the reader thick and fast. From Air India to Zodiac, fascinating bits of trivia pepper the narrative. For example: the first Amul topical hoarding’s headline was “Thorough Bread”, timed to coincide with the horse racing season; Kishore Kumar has appeared in an ad for Brylcreem; and “Bole mere lips, I love Uncle Chipps” was the first major Hinglish campaign. And several other nuggets especially useful for quizzers.
Parameswaran makes the effort to credit filmmakers, creative directors, music composers, clients, and even planners. In an industry notorious for its personality culture, this is a generous gesture and a refreshing change. While the big names get due mention (Gerson da Cunha, Frank Simoes, Mohammed Khan, Bal Mundkur, Chris D’Rozario, A.G, Krishnamurthy, Kamlesh Pandey, Piyush Pandey, Kersy Katrak, Alyque Padamsee, R. Balki, Agnello Dias or Aggie), several from the supporting cast get a nod too, including copywriters, art directors, ad film makers, jingle composers, photographers, models, planners, and researchers. That the index runs into several pages is proof of how much the author has packed into this book.
The book wends its way from the days of stereotypical roles in advertising (“mothers who care use Dalda”, macho men in “tandurusti ki raksha karta hai lifebuoy” [Lifebuoy protects your fitness], and the cigarette ad, “Relax, have a Charminar”), to early signs of softening masculinity (“Jo biwi se sachmuch kare pyaar, Prestige se kaise kare inkaar” [he who truly loves his wife can’t say no to Prestige]), to women expressing themselves (in ads for Liril, Vimal, Garden, Kamasutra, Fastrack), to a wave of woke-ness (in Tanishq’s ad featuring an inter-faith couple, Myntra’s Anouk ad on the stereotype of women as homemakers, Bhima Jewellers’ ad featuring a transgender woman), to AI enabled technical wizardry (Cadbury Celebrations’ Diwali campaign using Shah Rukh Khan’s digital avatars).
Alongside stories of much feted creative work, Parameswaran also talks about many campaigns that may not have come within a mile of an award podium but kept the cash counter ringing and clients smiling. He doffs his hat to several long lasting client-agency relationships: Fevicol-Ogilvy, Bajaj-Lintas, Amul-daCunha, Santoor-FCB Ulka, Rasna-Mudra, all of which are testimonies to the importance of sustained creativity over singular moments of brilliance.
Parameswaran sprinkles more data over his stories than an Amdavadi vendor grating cheese over street food. While the numerically-minded reader may pause to process the data, inveterate stat-skimmers like me do not let the numbers come in the way of the stories. Much like during a visit to a museum, a reader can either choose to assiduously study the exhibits or casually browse through them. And for the utter newbie, there are sporadic stamp-sized insets of trivia, like peanuts tossed in poha.
The add-on chapter in this edition covers what is probably the most unsettling decade in advertising the world over. A far cry from the days when a spot before Mahabharat or Hum Log would give an advertiser the whole nation’s attention, we now live in a fragmented mediascape where each member of a family is being served by a different algorithm. The agencies that created adland folklore have merged, amalgamated, and reengineered themselves beyond recognition or, worse, just vanished off the map. Mid-tier marketing managers are blissfully oblivious of the pre-digital era. With six-second pre-roll ads, influencer reels, moment marketing, performance advertising, and granular measurement metrics taking centre stage, the baton of creativity has probably fallen off the track somewhere. Or have the athletes veered off-course to run an entirely different race?
In the last paragraph of the book, Parameswaran raises the question on everyone’s minds: will AI render us obsolete, or make us better at what we do, or change the contours of our business irrevocably? He ends with a teaser suggesting that his next book might be devoted to answering that question. Given how prolific he is, the wait may not be too long.
Ramakrishna Desiraju, better known as Ramki or by his Twitter handle @ramkid, is the founder of Cartwheel Creative Consultancy. Before that, he spent his career writing advertisements in agencies, big and small.