Ad-filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar addresses students at XLRI. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Feb. 18: Prahlad Kakkar, renowned ad-filmmaker and CEO of Genesis Films, has a word of advice for XLRI students.

“Challenge the status quo, trust your instincts and dream big,” he told the B-school students during an advertisement workshop conducted by him at XLRI campus last evening.

Kakkar has been named the chief mentor of “Knowledge Centre” launched by the Marketing Association of XLRI last evening. The centre is one of its kind of marketing database in India. The ad-server part of the knowledge centre was inaugurated by Kakkar. He also shared his personal collection of 5,000 advertisements and handed over the CDs containing the commercials, which would be preserved at the centre.

The knowledge centre aims to become a one-stop destination for quality articles, news and discussions. The discussion forum would be open to the outside world in the next stage of implementation.

Other mentors of the centre include Ingrid Srinath (CEO of CRY) and Kavi Kumar (CEO of Indiabulls).

The ad guru talked about the exciting and challenging world of advertising, giving them useful insights from his experiences in this field. “Advertising is all about selling your dreams. It is not a game of the mind but of the heart. Most campaigns that have worked are by accident, the theories come only in hindsight. The most successful ones are only those that sell the products,” he said.

He talked about the simple rules that go behind creating a successful ad. “An advertisement mirrors society, it is a reflection of consumers’ dreams. Create a personality for your brand, portray it as your child having feelings and emotions to make it successful. It is important to be ethical, you can only tell a lie once, you cannot fool a consumer twice,” he added.

He further talked about the lack of research on impact of ads on children and how no regulations are in place to check this.