See, I would say one thing is when we were used to create commercials for advertising for a brand.
Three takeaways worth carrying forward.
- 01
But the thin line is that you have to be very specific, your reason to believe has to be very, very strong when you're a marketeer because you cannot like put an emotion out there and say, okay, this is what it is because it has to be a reason to believe.
- 02
It's because the kind of discipline, the kind of interactions with clients, with your servicing partners, doesn't matter whether we argued or doesn't matter whether we fought or discussed about the end of the day.
- 03
Because films come from real life, films come from the people around us, the way we stay, either it's a surreal world and they're taking us into that world or it is about human insights, you're going there.
Connected to the DMAasia operating frame.
Proof
This episode connects brand purpose to credible evidence, leadership archives and field-tested marketing practice.
Access
This episode connects brand purpose to routes into communities, councils, juries and senior conversations.
Ascent
This episode connects brand purpose to learning, recognition and the next generation of marketing leadership.
AdChoices / DAA
This episode connects brand purpose to privacy-first marketing, consumer trust and responsible data use.
Unfinished Business
This episode connects brand purpose to open industry problems that still need senior participation.
Durable lessons from the record.
- Start with the consumer problem, not the channel.
- Treat digital transformation as a behaviour change, not a software purchase.
- Measure effectiveness without losing the brand story.
If brand purpose is now table stakes, what will make the brand genuinely harder to ignore?
Take it into Unfinished Business →READABLE TRANSCRIPT883 words
I think we have an audience who is too smart now because we are competing with an audience who is watching international cinema and they are watching web series. Hi Ashwini, welcome to the HD newsroom. This is our brand master's interview. Today you are a brand master. Hello Ramit. Hello Ashwini. I have actually known Ashwini for two decades and I have actually seen your journey from art director to movie director. It's been a fascinating journey. Tell us a little bit about how advertising to movies, easy transition, tough transition,
exciting, what's it been like? Yeah, it's like from throwing the artworks from one corner of the office to Ramit on the other side. That's bad role model behavior, don't throw artworks. No, in the sense that we had to sign that part, right? So you were like, So yeah, it's been a long journey, but I think I owe everything to what I learned in advertising. It's because the kind of discipline, the kind of interactions with clients, with your servicing partners,
doesn't matter whether we argued or doesn't matter whether we fought or discussed about the end of the day. We got it done. We got it done. Today we are talking about breaking stereotypes. And a lot of movies are breaking social stereotypes, article 15 for example, which is new. Breaking social norms, social stereotypes, the whole, this is acceptable cliche, breaking it. Also, you know, the whole divide between commercial and indie cinema and the fact that commercial cinema doesn't seem to experiment as much.
What we are used to seeing, I know some of your movies have. What side of the divide are you on? Some of our movies have what? Have cliches or no? No, no, I have broken some of those cliches. You broke the world. Broken some of those cliches. But what side of the divide are you on? Can commercial cinema break stereotypes? No, I think we have an audience who is too smart now. Because we are competing with an audience who is watching international cinema and they are watching web series. And we cannot fool them anymore.
And also today's audience is a lot of word of mouth also. So even if you make a good film which may not have like the A star actors or something. But still if it's a good story, word of mouth picks up after the first week, after the first weekend. So, right now it's the best time for creators. The best time for creators to start experimenting on different kinds of ideas is because there are actors and producers who are also willing to look into that.
Because everyone has understood that without a good story, without moving with the times, moving with what we want to, things are now going to change. But having said that, we will still have the big films because that's not going to go anywhere. Tell me, now that you've been in Bollywood and you're successful by every standard and you've seen Bollywood success. What can marketeers learn from the success of Bollywood movies or from the failure? What can marketeers learn from Bollywood?
See, I would say one thing is when we were used to create commercials for advertising for a brand. I always used to see clients telling us that yeh movie jaisa look chahi hai. Yeh characters jaisa chahi hai. So that was always a reference point. Because films come from real life, films come from the people around us, the way we stay, either it's a surreal world and they're taking us into that world or it is about human insights, you're going there.
So there is a lot of cross, I would say cross pollination which happens between advertising marketeers and making films. But the thin line is that you have to be very specific, your reason to believe has to be very, very strong when you're a marketeer because you cannot like put an emotion out there and say, okay, this is what it is because it has to be a reason to believe. In cinema, a reason to believe, even if it does not exist, it's okay. Yeah. Like, I mean, it's a story. It's a story.
Last question, where do you continue to get your inspiration from? What do you do after work? What do you do when you're not toiling? I like reading a lot. I read a lot and I am more of a home person. So I do, I like being around my plants, my nature. Then my children take a lot of my time. Do your children give you feedback on movies? Oh, yes. Hundred percent. And I think it's important that they give feedback is because if we don't, and also it makes us more responsible is because the kind of movies we want to say.
I would first put that filter saying that would my child be happy. Awesome. Thank you so much, Ashwini. Thank you, Ravi. Lovely meeting you after all these years and having this chat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. !