Excerpts from the chat between Swapan and Kiran...
On how much the real ad world reflects in TV series Mad Men...
The advertising world was a bunch of mad men in the ’90s, with all kinds of vice. Is the kind of trash associated with advertising a huge part of it? It holds true for some and for the others it doesn’t.
On the ad world and social media...
TV is no more relevant. I’ll tweet an ad, someone will retweet it, and over half a million people would’ve seen it within seconds. But there’s so much of fear the companies have for social media, they think people will crib.
In town to address the Ladies Study Group at ‘Brand New World’ at The Park, Swapan chatted with friend and fashion designer Kiran Uttam Ghosh, livening up a Monday afternoon with his observations and anecdotes. “Swapan’s clarity of thought and insights on life stay with me long after our conversations. For example, his thoughts on failure and success — that if one deals badly with failure, success will never see you,” said Kiran, who has known Swapan for “over 33 years”.
On who’s making the most of the social media platforms...
Indigo has the finest Twitter handle in the world. I book my flight, check in to my seat, book my meals everything through Twitter. It has such a robust presence on social media.
On what’s missing in the ad world...
Where are all the writings? There are perhaps 10 people in the country that can write a half-decent TV commercial.
On recent ads that caught his attention...
The Bournvita commercial of the mother running with a son. Is the mother single or married? No one knows. But she’s the new tiger mom, teaching her son that ‘you are competing with yourself and I am competing with you, so you better beat me.’ There’s also the Tanishq mother-daughter commercial and the Nescafe stammering commercial. These are great moments and I’m so glad that these commercials have come in. When ads capture the moments of evolution in society, it achieves its greater purpose.
On building a brand and sustaining it...
Brands are made great by acts. A classic example is Indigo. It doesn’t have fancy commercials. But any act of Indigo is an act of brand building, right from the way they greet you at the fast forward counter, down to the way they speak to you in the plane and how they handle their Twitter handle. And because of that you just don’t need money, you just need to be faithful in everything that you do time and time again.
On hanging out with ad men...
Advertising people are the most linear and boring people one can ever come across. The reason I don’t hang out with any of them is because all they discuss is ads and numbers. They don’t discuss art or fashion simply because they don’t know anything about it and how can one not know anything about either?
On parents pushing their children to become brands...
I know this guy whose son is publishing on how to invest in the stock market. That lad’s in Class VIII and has probably just learnt how to spell stocks. I find that atrocious. Personal branding that is being thrown on the face of the child is absolutely unfair. Children don’t need to be brands but just be wonderful people. They will become brands over time.... We did!
Seven nuggets from Swapan to chew on:
1) Your kids will keep you young. Strive to be in tune with the music they listen to, the sport they enjoy.
2) Once a student I taught started to listen to Chopin, inspired by my teaching. If you should manage to inspire five to six young people in your lifetime, nothing like it.
3) Different people define success differently. Only you can define and measure your own success. Ask yourself if you are successful and be your harshest critic. But don’t be taken up by success. Failure and success are the best of friends — when you get too close to one, the other knocks on the door.
4) Make your parents relevant and significant to your life. That is the only oxygen they need. All of us are very busy and parents can get extremely lonely and can get lost in the wilderness of life.
5) Always encourage your children. My mother encouraged me to do my own thing. I remember breaking my leg and being in a cast for two months. The very same afternoon it was taken off, she asked me to kick-start a bike. I said I couldn’t do that, I was in great pain. She said, ‘If you don’t kick that motorcycle today, you will never be able to kick anything.’
6) Kids need to enjoy themselves. They’ll find their own feet. We found ours and no one thrust us into anything. There are enough uncles and aunts in the system who will take care.
7) Stop killing your kid just so he’ll get a 98 per cent and get into DU. There is no sacred tulsi leaf hidden on the DU campus. There are geniuses coming out of colleges like Fergusson in Pune and Loyola in Chennai as well.
Text: Riddhima Khanna
Pictures: Rashbehari Das
