The organisation that helped make Boroline a household name and its advertisements an element of nostalgia in the collective memory of Bengalis is all set to undergo a revival of sorts. Response India, founded by ad-guru Ram Ray in 1984, has announced a revamp, and bringing about the “renaissance” will be seven of the biggest minds from the industry who will act as guides.
Along with CEO Sidhartha Roy, and owner-director Rashi Ray, other creative minds will be joining in different roles. Anurag Hira will play the role of mentor, Joy Aichbhowmik will be executive creative director, Partha Chowdhury and Shibnath Sen creative consultants, and Rohan Basu a consultant executive producer for what they’re calling Response 2.0.
“Response started around 37 years ago and I’ve spent almost all of my advertising life with one agency. I’ve seen it grow from small beginnings to what it has become today,” said CEO Sidhartha Roy. Talking about what makes Response stand out, he added that the agency has had three unique things. “First, it has shown the ability to build a brand from scratch. New brands have come and thrived whenever they partnered with us. Second, there have been brands that have been around for a long time, that needed a resurrection of sorts, and Response played a very good role there as well. And a third thing, which I feel is very important, is that when Response saw that a brand had reached a point where it could function without our nourishment and support, we have always told the client that their brands are on autopilot and anyone can steer its marketing communications forward. We have always parted cordially, and the brands have always come back to us when they needed to.”
Some of Responses’s biggest and memorable campaigns have been for brands that have a huge presence in the Indian and Bengali psyche — Boroline, Margo and Dabur.
One of Response India’s campaigns for Boroline boroline.com/archives
“We were proud of our work with Boroline and the many famous campaigns that were rolled out. Then comes, Margo, chronologically. ‘Dekhte Kharap, Makhte Bhalo’ has remained in collective memory. We have had a few excellent campaigns for Dabur. We spent a couple of years on the strategy for Dabur Chyawanprash and ultimately anchored it for many years, pushing it to become the number one brand in the country. We also worked on new products like Dabur Nature Care and Refined Isabgol, being the first in the country to do so. These campaigns scored very hard,’ said Roy.
Response’s partnership with Bengal Ambuja (now Ambuja Neotia) drew attention from everybody, including then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, added Roy, and “the legacy still lives on.”
Recalling Response’s 40-year journey, owner-director Rashi Ray said, “The journey has been prolific, working with major brands across the country. My father (Ram Ray) helped many brands grow, and I started about 10 years ago with Response.” The world of advertising has fundamentally remained the same — it’s still words and pictures — since she started, added Ray. The channels and media have certainly evolved, but at the core of it is the message. While a lot of talent has shifted to Mumbai, Ray believes there’s still enough potential in the city. “We’ve on-boarded people with a lot of experience, to bring about a renaissance in the industry and not only within Response.”
Sidhartha Roy agreed that the state of advertising in Kolkata is good and bad at the same time. “A number of big players have relocated and established their headquarters in other cities. They have picked up agencies from those cities themselves. There was a time when there were a number of agencies trying to grab a slice, but that has changed over the years. Local brands have evolved over here, and the generations that started them are giving way to the newer bunch, who have mostly been educated in the Western world. They have fresh ideas about advertising, marketing and creating brands, which has amplified the market for marketing agencies and marketing communications partners in this area.”
Anurag Hira, who has come on board as a mentor, is elated at the opportunity of working with Response, and said that his connection with the company has been primarily through Ram Ray. “We go back a long way and it has always been my desire to be associated with Ram Ray. Since his death, I kept thinking about if I could have had some sort of professional association with him”. Their relationship was always about mutual admiration and the relationship they shared, added Hira. “Every text I received from him was something special. Losing him has left an absolute void. So, once they learnt of my desire, they took hold of that opportunity when they were shaping Response 2.0.” They wanted Hira on board and he couldn’t say no. Hira’s role will primarily be of a mentor because he’s on a sabbatical of sorts, owing to family issues. “But being there to mentor the new framework is something that I really look forward to.”