Advertising Club Calcutta hosted a session by veteran advertising professional Agnello Dias, in association with t2, on February 11 at Bhawanipore Education Society College. A day-long masterclass, ‘Aggie Unplugged: What Works And What Doesn’t In The Creative Process’ was attended by professionals from the media, marketing and advertising industries along with students. Talking about the essential binary of commercial art and fine art, Aggie talked about advertising as a creative process with numerous tenders that separate it from other art forms. Bringing forth his works, he talked about the creative processes that went behind each, while dabbling in the politics and grammar of the craft. In a short conversation with The Telegraph, he talked about his journey.
How did you get into the world of advertising?
In the Nineties when we got into the world of advertising, it was completely different. There weren’t any academic courses, and we got into advertising because there weren’t other jobs in hand. The gateway to advertising at that point was a reasonably good grasp of English, and we ended up gravitating towards the craft because of a lack of anything else to do. That is absolutely not the case today.
How do you think advertising as a craft has evolved over the years?
The most important evolution is the ability to reach people who are thinking of your brand and are interested in it, which was not the situation earlier. We did not know who was invested in learning more about the particular brand. And that’s the reason we just blindly created desire. We made the people feel that they needed something. Now, technology is being able to bring out that target audience, focused groups of people that we know are interested in the brand or the product.
Advertising is a craft that exploits the unknown and the intrigue that people continue to balance in this society. Do you believe in that?
I’m so glad you asked me this question. Advertising is a soft target for the part of the science that is misused. But if you look at the positive side, in its idealistic form it is supposed to push people to aspire for a higher form of living, educating their children better, when it comes to aspirations, options and choices, in all sectors. Honestly, the cornerstone of human civilisation is that we want more than we have and advertising is just a player in that aspiration. But, there’s always the darker side to it. The abuse of it is certainly wrong. The science sustaining it is certainly not.
Your message to students who wish to pursue advertising...
Usually the dilemma is surrounding the advertising school of thought, where it’s established creativity cannot be taught but on the other hand, a dedicated course would let you into the craft, its grammar and its intricacies. These courses help you make new mistakes that nobody has made before, and push ahead. What I’ve learnt in 30 years, they might just learn the technicalities in three years. Experience is a great teacher, but it is also aslow teacher. So, a course compresses all the mistakes that have been done in the past and teaches you to make new ones, which is very important.
You made the ABP Centenary film, which carried the primary essence of reaching out.
Selling is always a misleading word that is often seen as something bad. InABP’s case, I got the rare opportunity to sell a point of view and a philosophy more than a product. Identifying what ABP stands for as a group, beyond just the basic elements of news or reportage. I had stopped working, but when they said they wanted to put forth the philosophy the company stands for, more than a product, it really intrigued me. In this situation, the tradition of questioning needs to stand strong for us to progress, which is rooted in journalism, but it stands true across.