The Himalayan Times_PERSPECTIVES

March 20, 2016

 

When woes replace wows

Advertising industry still trying to strike a balance

Soni Rai 

Kathmandu 

According to the Advertising Association of Nepal ( AAN), the total annual business of the advertising industry in Nepal is above Rs five billion. However, the industry being capital centric is not a good sign. The flow of recognition of mass media such as newspapers, magazines, television commercials ( TVC), radio advertisements, et cetera from consumers’ point of view is limited outside the valley, which automatically hinders the growth of the advertising business.

Capital centric

 “ The advertising industry at present is improving but the bitter truth is that it is Capital centric and has limited scope,” says Tripti Dhungana, Head of Department of Public Relations at Prisma Advertising. “ Advertising industry is moving at a fast pace and annually the profit margin is 10 to 15 per cent,” says Santosh Shrestha, President of Advertising Association of Nepal ( AAN). Shrestha also says, “ The blockade had an adverse effect on the advertising industry which led to 60 to 70 per cent decrease in revenue.”

 Sekhar Chettri, Managing Director of V- chitra Advertising says, “ the blockade resulted in increase in operational cost and most of our regional activities were paused, we could not work on our projects and campaigns.” 

According to Dhungana, because the economy is yet to find balance after the blockade, the fate of the advertising agencies is still in a limbo. She shares, “ Due to the blockade there were no product launches, even during the festive season there were no special offers for customers. There were no sales and there weren’t many products for us to market.” 

Challenges ahead 

Shrestha shares, “ The main challenge faced by the advertising industry right now is unhealthy competition among agencies, low industry margin, lack of high skill manpower and unfavourable government policies.” He also adds that the perception of clients is a major problem faced by advertising agencies as advertisers see advertisements as expenses rather than long- term investment. According to Chettri, the lack of understanding between clients and agencies is the main challenge.

Dhungana further adds, “ As we have a niche market in advertising, we fail to analyse the target audience properly. For instance, Close- up focuses on teenagers, Pepsodent focuses on children, eventually both are toothpaste but they have target markets which make connections with the consumers.” She believes that once the target market is analysed half of the advertising industry’s problems will be solved.

Why consumers don’t acknowledge the industry? 

Dhungana shares, “ Consumers believe in what they see, for instance, in a band people recognise the lead vocalist but they ignore other members. Same goes with our industry. Consumers recognise the advertisement but they won’t bother to find who were the brains behind it.” Chettri believes that slowly but surely consumers will recognise advertising agencies for the work they do. He shares, “ Value for money ( VFM) varies from client’s perception, whether s/ he is a trader or a brand maker. We need more of people/ client to belief on ad agencies rather than just focus on selling objective.” 

What’s ahead

“ Exploration and creativity is what the advertising industry always demands. In the advertising industry people are not restricted to think, for instance, if you are launching a new product you should have the information about that very product in detail and in depth,” says Dhungana. She further explains that the advertising industry has a bright future if people are willing to explore and come up with creative ideas and understand what the client and consumer actually wants. Shrestha informs that soon AAN will be coming up with a personality training course for people interested to explore the world of advertising. This help and training will also be extended to those who wish to make a career in this industry.

Clean feed and dubbing issues 

According to Shrestha, they are still lobbying with the government for a clean feed policy and the process is ongoing. He says, “ For now a clean feed committee has been formed and we are hopeful that the committee will bring a positive change in the advertising industry.” Dhungana is of the opinion that everything has its pros and cons.

The good point of foreign language dubbing is that multinational companies are entering the local market which somehow brings opportunity whereas, in dubbing only the voice- over is recorded which is a loss of opportunity for many.“ To ask for a ban in any policy is not a part of the solution because 98 per cent of our economy depends on foreign products, so it’s wise to take a diplomatic stand rather than to advocate for any kind of ban policies,” believes Dhungana.