Welcome to AME's exclusive Grand Jury interview series created to showcase our esteemed jury of strategic leaders. Within the 2024 AME Grand Jury, you'll find some of the world’s foremost creative and strategic minds in advertising, marketing communications, and brand building, representing agencies across the globe. Globally recognized for their award-winning campaigns and dedication to pioneering effective work, their ability to consistently deliver distinctive and effective results for global brands ensures that the entries they evaluate receive meticulous attention with an international perspective.

2024 AME Grand Jury member Abhinit Agarwal is a strategy leader with close to 16 yrs of work experience across leading advertising agencies in Singapore & India. He is currently working as Senior Strategy Director in TBWA Singapore, leading global strategy for Singapore Airlines & Mandai Wildlife Reserve and APAC strategy for Hilton.

Previously Abhinit served as Regional Planning Director at Publicis, Wunderman Thompson & Ogilvy Singapore, where he led strategy for Unilever brands - Lux & Pond's Men (Global), Vaseline & Comfort (APAC) and P&G brands - Head & Shoulders, Rejoice & Oral-B (APAC). Before Ogilvy, he worked in leading advertising agencies such as Publicis, MullenLowe Lintas, DDB & Leo Burnett in India and led strategy for brands such as Heineken, Kingfisher, Twitter, McDonald’s, Volkswagen, Skoda, OneTouch (Johnson & Johnson), Kissan (Unilever), SonyLIV (OTT platform), Firstcry.com and Zee TV.

In the interview below

AME Awards: Why are effectiveness competitions like the AME Awards important?

Abhinit Agarwal: Effectiveness awards are not only a great way to build a case for creativity as a shortcut to brand fame & growth, but also a big training ground for planners to hone their strategy & storytelling craft.

AME Awards: As a creative strategist, what stand-out attributes do you recognize in award-winning creative effective advertising?

Abhinit Agarwal: The key attributes which stand out for me in an award-winning effectiveness case are as follows -

·       Simple yet creative storytelling in the case narrative

·       Resolution of a real problem through communication

·       Tangible results which directly address the problem and meet the desired objectives

·       Surprising creative execution 

AME Awards: What future forward trends and innovations are brands embracing for 2024?

Abhinit Agarwal: The biggest trend and opportunity that brands can leverage in 2024 is resurrecting humour in their communication and acts.

Data from Kantar Link+ database showed an uptick in usage of humour in advertising in 2023 after a steady decline for last 20 years.

In a world engulfed by doom and gloom, humour can act as a refreshing relief for people. A recent Happiness Report from Oracle found that 91% of global consumers want brands to be funny, with 90% saying funny brands are more memorable. The humourus GenZ #delulu movement to confidently navigate life pressures has over 5.7 billion views on TikTok and #cringetok content now has more than 2.6 billion views on TikTok.

Humour can also act as a category differentiator and help break clutter through fresh approaches to creative execution. Irreverent challenger brands such as Liquid Death and Ryan Air have successfully created their own niche through consistent usage of slapstick humor.

Most importantly, humour can also drive effectiveness & results. A recent VML Intelligence report revealed that the number one reason that people are more likely to purchase from a brand is if it brings them a sense of joy.

What holds back many brands from using humor is the risk of misalignment with their brand values & tonality. But the good news is that humour comes in various shapes and forms –

·       Affiliative Humor: Making others feel better

·       Self-enhancing Humor: Making oneself feel better

·       Self-Defeating Humor: Antagonizing oneself

·       Aggressive Humor: Antagonizing others

AME Awards: With an increasing emphasis on corporate social responsibility, how do brands effectively communicate their values and societal contributions in their marketing strategies?

Abhinit Agarwal: In today’s world of accountability, brands must walk the social purpose talk. They cannot just say, but they must commit and act.

The trick is to act in the most authentic and seamless manner.

Brands must stay true to their values, audience and even product in their social acts. Even better, if they can integrate their social purpose seamlessly into their business, marketing and communication models.

Pedigree is a great example of a brand which ticks most of the boxes when it comes to activating a social purpose.

They are a dog food brand and want to make this world a better place for dogs. They achieve this through their,

·       Core product offering – nutritional dog food

·       Pedigree Foundation which actively drives dog rescue & adoption

·       Brand Platform – Feed The Good (Dogs bring out the good in us. Pedigree brings out the good in them.)

·       Clutter Breaking Communication and Activations – E.g. Selfie Stix, Child Replacement Program

Perhaps, not every brand can be as purposeful as Pedigree but can take a leaf from the brand’s book to better streamline their social responsibility strategy.