Indian Ads VS Pakistan Ads – Advertising Experts Give their Verdict

This article was first published on Brandsynario

Time and again, the advertising fraternity of Pakistan has been told how their counterpart, India, is not just better in cricket but in advertising too.

With a mission to find out a definite answer to this rather harsh yet realistic question, the Brandsynario team took the views of industry experts at the PAS jury sessions.

Keeping in mind that India’s market size, advertising spend and overall advertising size exceeds that of Pakistan, we decided to get expert’s insight based on the creative aspect of advertising only.

Take a look at the views of some of the leading names in the industry with regards to the rivalry between India and Pakistan when it comes to advertising.

The responses were clearly tilted towards an easy acceptance of India’s supremacy in executing relatable and creative ads but sometimes the onus doesn’t fall on just one side – clients play a role too. 

According to Imtisal Abbasi, COO – IAL Saatchi, Pakistan, “Behind every great ad you may not find a great agency but you may a lot of times find a great client. Agencies anywhere in the world can deliver from the sublime to ridiculous and it’s for that client who is approving to pick up those great ideas.”

“Pakistani agencies are nowhere less than their counterparts at least in this region.  If our clients become a little bolder to  pick those ideas up and maybe work with our agencies creative’ s who are young and dynamic, we can develop a framework with them we can stand there,” he further added.

Faraz Maqsood Hamidi, Co-founder – The D’Hamidi Partnership also admitted India’s creative dominance, he said,“I think you are absolutely right. They are better than ours because they are the bigger market they can source more sophisticated talent the clients are exposed so all of that blends to the right recipe of the right mix.”

Backing up the argument, Zohra Yousuf, Executive Creative Director – Spectrum Y&R said, “Absolutely yes! They (India) show very real situations and very real people. They often go for glamour, but most of the time, when they are talking about ordinary products or services they show very true to life people and the language, is also very daily language.”

Mansoor karim Sheikh, CEO – JWT Pakistan explained his stance saying, “Because I think they focus on how to connect the brand to the consumer. They spend a lot of time there and they spend a lot of focus there and that is why their advertising is clicking.”

But Aly Mustansir, Chairman PAS Awards Committee and Chief Marketing Officer Bank Afalah held a different point of view from the rest. In his opinion, “The answer is yes and no. They are better at insight determination and insight conversion. They take their research very seriously, hence they have a better sense of getting under their consumer skin. They understand how they think and then they make stories that are relevant. A lot of times, I have noticed that an Indian ad is entertaining, but it doesn’t leave you with an effective brand message."

He further added, "A lot of time I see ads and can’t remember which brand it was for. They also work within a few genres – it’s either funny or  emotional and then there is Shahrukh Khan! And not every time is the brand really popping out of it. In our case, our best work is probably better than India but on average we tend to show ourselves of low quality. In Pakistan, there is not enough brand building work being done and there are one or two industries that lead the pack on ad spend and I don’t see almost any brand building in their advertising.”

All in all, the advertising fraternity’s front-runners acknowledged India’s creative insight but at the same time cited viable reasons for our shortcomings.