Why the manufacturing sector seems to be lagging, Marketing and Advertising News, ET BrandEquity

Have you wondered what the power of “creativity” can do for your brand? Ask Asian Paint, Cadbury, HUL, cola brand, Vodaphone or Apple. They will tell you – this is huge. There are a million other brands that have become household names through the sheer power of strategic communications to be incredibly creative and clear up the clutter. I have used the term “creativity” broadly to encompass various forms of communication, whether advertising, social, digital or PR. However, since the scope of this article is too broad, we will limit it to advertising.A report by IPG Mediabrand shows that the Indian advertising market is expected to grow by 11.4% to reach Rs 1.22 lakh crore in 2024, after crossing the Rs 1 trillion mark in 2023. This bodes well for a wide range of companies representing different sectors that have benefited from being part of this ecosystem, but if you dig deep into it, it’s only a small part. It doesn’t tell the whole story. Let me set the context.

India aims to become a $5 trillion economy by 2028. Who do you think will make the greatest effort to achieve this ambitious goal? Industries such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics, automotive, industrial machinery, textiles, etc. are expected to play a key role. What is the common thread that connects them, they are all in the “production” space. The thing is, many of them are unknown to the world.

Currently, estimates suggest that there are approximately half a million manufacturing companies of all shapes and sizes operating in India. We barely hear or see about a handful of them in the media. Partly because most are not direct-to-consumer, but business-to-business. Good point. But even then, we can be sure that there is a whole universe of companies that miss the boat of “creativity” altogether, either due to lack of awareness or lack of utility in the bigger picture.

This is a vicious cycle because many of them consider themselves outdated in their thinking, have established ways of doing things, are slow to adapt to newer technologies, and are generally afraid to disrupt the status quo. All these reasons and many more keep many creative agencies from avoiding working with these companies. Moreover, it is quite likely that many of these small and medium-sized enterprises, and in some cases large enterprises, do not have professional marketing and advertising tools/practices that internally guide them on the right course of action.

The brave ones, to name a few, like Asian Paints, Ambuja Cements, Ashok Leyland’s and Pidilite Industries have focused heavily on advertising and have been reaping the benefits for decades. The most boring categories seem to have a refreshing, creative approach. How else to explain an adhesive brand that is as boring a category as it gets but has such mass market appeal? You know what brand I’m talking about.

For Gen Z and below, you can search for “Chutki main chipkaye‘ to know who I mean. For the potential advertiser who was touched by this article and wants to understand how creativity and media move the needle, let’s analyze some statistics. According to the Kantar report, an effective advertising result is 50% creativity and 50% media buying. 50 percent of the score comes from creative quality, 25 percent from reach, 16 percent from frequency, and 9 percent from data synergy. Both creativity and media are important to the success of a campaign.

So, while the services sector enjoys the lion’s share of India’s GDP (i.e. over 50 percent), the manufacturing sector is equally important in the scheme of things where India can reach the trillion-dollar mark. The sector currently contributes about 17 percent to India’s GDP, which is estimated to increase to 21 percent in the next six to seven years. I think it is in the interest of the creative industry and the production world to unite and cooperate. This is a gold mine to tap into.