Pops (K V Sridhar), veteran of over 32 years of advertising brilliance, who led the team at Leo Burnett that created the only metal winner in the Radio category at the recently concluded Spikes Asia Awards 2010, speaks of the award-winning Bajaj Mixers radio campaign  in particular and creative radio advertising in general. In conversation with Pavan R Chawla.

Congratulations on being the only winner in the Radio category from India at the recently concluded Spikes Asia 2000 awards.

Thanks. Winning is always very good; only winner is not a good thing. India should have won more medals… that would have been far more satisfying.

Creatively it was an excellent idea because it actually gave a tangible experience of the USP of the product you were promoting: the pleasure of mixing. And in a way that was uniquely relevant to Radio…

When a consumer durable client asks you to do a commercial, the easy thing would be to write something for the housewife and then do one of the jokes which is what most of Radio advertising is all about. But the brand team did a really wonderful job. They started with the central idea of �mixing is a wonderful thing', and then brainstormed and came back to me with Vikram Pandey's idea, and said, �Pops, can we do this?' I liked it immediatelyOne, it was on the brief of the client, who said that the mixers that we have are not painful; in fact, they are great products and �mixing' with them a pleasure.

We loved the creative, particularly because it blended radio music to communicate the key product USP of happy mixing. But since it involved playing the spot on two different stations, in split-second simultaneous timing, we wondered how it could be pulled off, and then concluded that it could never be pulled off! Both stations would have to patch it at exactly the same time, because otherwise the rhythm would fall out of sync and that would be the end of the creative concept.

[click here for the radio spot ]

And how did the campaign finally see light of day?

I think what worked to help take this bold idea to fruition was the solid partnership and collaborative effort between us, the client and the media agency.

My dear friend  Lynn Dsouza, and Satyamurthy, really believed in the idea and never felt it was not theirs. They actually owned the idea and went ahead and got the rival radio networks to collaborate.

I must also appreciate Ram (Ramakrishna R, Executive Director  – Bajaj Electricals) (It's a joy to partner with Radio: Ramakrishnan R).  He's a fantastic supporter of new ideas. You will never find any client like him. Once he sees the potential of the idea, he makes it  like his own mission to ensure that it sees light of day  In fact, he has been the one who is pushing it to the next level, like saying, â€?Can we get M S Subbuluxmi and another completely different artiste from a different genre to collaborate in a mixing effort?'

I have worked with many clients in my 32 years, but Ram really ranks amongst the best in the way he supports ideas which are relevant to the brand, and have a very fresh creative approach.

It was an industry first, wasn't it -- two rival radio networks partnering over an ad campaign that told their listeners to go immediately to the other radio network to enjoy the mixing experience?

Yes. Both the stations received hundreds of requests, asking them to repeat the spot, because people were enjoying mixing the two tracks, which was fantastic.

Only three entries from India were shortlisted at Spikes this year in the Radio category, and you won the sole metal. You also won at Cannes  As a veteran and an acknowledged leader in the creative space, what is it that is either lacking or needs to be stressed upon to achieve excellence in creative Radio advertising?

The best radio advertising work across the world is no different from good advertising on any other medium. But here, when it comes to the internet, or radio or the outdoor, or any other of the less glamorous mediums (than television), we tend to forget all the principles  of good advertising. We actually try to overdo things. Because it is Radio, we will use a silly joke, or overdo sound effects, or music, or imitate a big star. Just imagine, on Radio, you can take the shortcut of getting a  mimicry artist to have Amitabh Bachchan's voice. But using a cheap substitute takes away from the stature and the seriousness of the communication.

Good Radio advertising is no different from good print or television advertising – the same parameters apply. You must have a good central idea, you need to have an insight, you need to have the relevance to the target consumers, you need to have the relevance to the product and its USP. We tend to forget all these simple principles when it comes to Radio advertising.

Why do you think that happens?

Radio advertising costs much less than – in fact, it's only a fraction of – a television campaign. And buying space for a radio spot will cost a fraction of what a television spot would. Therefore, there is carelessness. Nobody takes it seriously. There is no senior creative resource to create or evaluate the radio creative. One junior copywriter will write; one junior executive will present it to one junior client, and then junior client will take it to his Media guy. But if the entire chain takes the work seriously, then there can be fabulous work, because the medium is only as good as the content it has.

If the advertising on Radio is also as intelligently and effectively created as that on television, Radio will really fly. Nobody listens to radio because the commercials are good, but people watch television for the commercials because they are so good. In fact, people will narrate in detail the memorable TV commercials from the Nineties too. If Radio adheres to the principles of good advertising, 90 percent of the battle for Radio will be won.

Any other Radio commercials from your team that you particularly like?

One of the best Radio spots we ever made was almost  14 years back. It was one of the first  radio campaigns from India to have won many international awards. In fact, since FM was not so popular then, it ran on Vividh Bharti.

It was about the, KB125 bike, the Kawasaki  Bajaj motorbike. The brief was to play up its acceleration – from 0 to 60 in some 12.2 seconds. So what we did was first there was a voiceover (Pratap Sharma) that said, Despite what anyone else is saying, only the new  Bajaj KB125   goes from zero to sixty in less than seven seconds!.... Then, sound effect of the bike roaring into the distance. The voiceover comes on: End of ad. But there's still over 23 seconds left. Enjoy the silence.... Followed by the following sound effects that exaggerate the silence: a crow cawing, crickets chirping, a dog barking in the distance, a cow mooing. Then, the voice over, saying, simply: Thank You.... (listen to this 14-year-old KB125 radio spot here).

Any other, more recent work, and done by someone else?

Yes, Cheil's excellent radio spot for a home theatre, and Prasoon Joshi's brilliant work for the ad for Chevrolet Uva. Two guys in a car, the co-passenger describes the hair in the driver's nose! It's because the car they are in is so small and cramped that the two are sitting extremely close together. That was an excellent ad for the need for a more spacious and comfortable car model that it was advocating.

See, ultimately, the message must evoke the special value that the product or the service adds to your life, but in a creative and telling way, with a strong central idea and a connect with the TG it is intended for.

The day people start listening to Radio not just for the music it plays, but also because it airs great, memorable commercials, will really be the day.