Advertising in the post-Google era

Ramanujam Sridhar is visiting professor at several IIMs and other management schools in the country and has delivered lectures at Cornell University in the US. He is immediate past-president of the Advertising Club, Bangalore and the former president of IIMB Alumni Association.

Switching from finance to advertising in 1983, Sridhar has extensively assisted in creating several market winners and value for the brands and the companies he has worked with.

In a career spanning 25  years, he has been executive director, RK Swamy / BBDO; executive vice president (South) Mudra; CEO Prathibha Advertising and now as CEO of brand-comm, the branding and communications company he launched in 1998. He talks about advertising and branding to domain-b's Aruna Rathod.

Are we becoming too brand conscious or is it a sign of our times?
Brand awareness had definitely grown. Today there are various media to reach each consumer. At a mall, besides your mobile phone you have hoardings, OOH, banners...  it's all out there grabbing your attention.

Definitely media awareness has grown. Youth are becoming extremely brand conscious. Labels like Nike, Levis, Adidas have an aspiration value. Everyone waits for 50 per cent off sales, if they can't afford these labels at the full price. This talks about the strength of the brand. Everyone wants to own a label and this is a sign of our times.

The online medium is still a secondary choice for advertising. Will it become the first choice soon?
With the online medium, there is a greater opportunity to reach the consumer. It's a one-to-one medium. Of course, it is not easy to reach them at all times but it's a challenge.