Templatization: Does the art of standing out mean not standing out?

Advertising in India has evolved much over the decades. It has moved from basic and vanilla messages to complex, multi-channel campaigns. But amidst all this change, what has become a worrying trend is ad templatization. Though the industry yaks day in and out about the importance of creativity and uniqueness, one can count on fingers the number of ads that are genuinely unique. 

The number of ads an average person sees daily is realistically in the multiple of hundreds. With such a barrage of ads being thrown at people daily, it's easy for all the artillery to be ignored or go unnoticed if there’s little to no perceivable difference between them. And strictly speaking in a realistic sense, it’s highly unlikely that an average person–except for people working in advertising or marketing or other related fields–would consciously think of an ad among the gargantuan number of ads they’ve seen in a day. 

So, it essentially boils down to standing out of the clutter, and not only standing out but making a mark to an extent that the ad makes its way to the viewer’s long-term memory. However, considering the increase in the number of ads every year, there don’t seem to be long strides taken when it comes to creativity–not to say that creativity is scarce, but it does not seem proportional to the sheer number of creatives the industry is churning out.  

Evolution from the Golden age

Indian advertising has a rich history that mirrors the country's socio-economic changes. From the iconic ‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaign in the 1980s, which captured the spirit of a nation, to the emotional narratives of the 1990s like the ‘Cadbury's Dairy Milk’ ads, storytelling has been at the heart of memorable Indian ads. 

Perhaps one of the most iconic and defining campaigns of the initial Golden Days of advertising was the ‘Liril Girl’ campaign spearheaded by Alyque Padamsee. Such was the impact of the campaign that the Pambar Falls in Kodaikanal became known as the Liril Falls. 

The memorability of ad campaigns continued as adman Piyush Pandey brought in his own flavour to advertising. With a focus on emotional resonance, storytelling, and catchy one-liners, Pandey changed the landscape of advertising. It wasn’t about selling products anymore.   

The early 2000s saw a surge in humorous and quirky ads, such as Fevicol's ad campaigns, which broke the clutter with their wit and creativity.

Who could forget Mentos’ iconic campaign ‘Dimaag ki Batti Jala De’ featuring a donkey and a monkey–supposedly our ancestor. It quirkily turned the Darwinian theory of evolution over its head with a fictional twist. Despite being animated, its distinct imagery and sound made a significant impact on collective memory. 

As the taste of the audience evolves, advertising evolves with it. And naturally, there has been an evolution in the ads that become memorable. 

Nitin Khanna, VP - Marketing, Acko, says that the change in audience’s taste and preference is representative of the progress of the country as an underlying theme in scripts. He outlines the evolution, “Firstly, attention spans have gotten shorter. People are not just making advertising for one visual medium, but for multiple visual mediums. For example, instead of communication being TV-driven, now there are more D2C brands creating just for Instagram. Audiences have moved in terms of where and how they consume advertising. Brands and marketers are also creating for specific platforms. It's no longer a one-medium world.”

“Secondly, due to shorter attention spans, recent advertisements that stick out often use a bit of stunt-based or shock-and-awe treatments, unlike earlier storytelling-led ads. Previously, ads were more simplistic and slice-of-life. Now, because attention spans are so short and mediums have changed, there’s a lot more dependence on clever devices or standard hooks to engage viewers in the first few seconds. Many brands are leaning towards this direction and constantly reinventing creatively,” Khanna explains. 

The imitation game 

When communication for a brand is planned, it involves the intersection of a lot of elements. Very often, the focus shifts from creativity to media planning and buying. And while it is important to focus on media planning to effectively target your audience, it would ultimately turn out to be fruitless if it does not substantially stand out creatively–a thousand other brands might be using the same mediums and channels. 

A report by KANTAR highlighted that creative quality contributes to nearly 50% of media impact. Being a substantial determinant, creativity often seems to be relatively overlooked given its weightage on the overall outcome–often leading to an industry-wide templatization. 

But why, then, after the manifold discussions and reports in public knowledge, brands can’t resist templatization?

“Templatization often stems from a certainty in outcome - the thought of ‘this has worked, so lets do it again,’” says Samyu Murali, Creative at Talented. She says that it begins with having a culture that values creativity over conformity. 

Murali underlines another perspective of looking at templatization, especially in the digital age. “While the term ‘imitation is the best form of flattery’ seems archaic to say, templatization in the age of reels and shorts stirs up a whole other conversation. After all, isn’t jumping on a social media trend a form of templatization? From recreating popular movie scenes to remaking a meme for a topical moment to reusing a format, what makes that piece of creative stand out is the way a brand uses it,” she remarks.  

“Templatization is always a concern in advertising. Many similar campaigns can be seen in the market, leading to the worry that advertising is becoming templated,” says Krishnarao Buddha, Sr. Category Head - Marketing, Parle Products. 

Buddha, however, does not think that templatization is due to lazy marketing. He attributes it to the sheer number of ads being produced. “Over time, we've seen a disproportionate rise in advertising. Two decades ago, if there were 1,000 ads, today there might be 50,000 ads. It's not easy to have unique ads, so there could be a possibility of templatization taking place. This can definitely be a concern if brands are not able to stand out in the clutter, especially with the rise of media clutter in recent years. There is a need for cut-through and breakthrough advertising,” he remarks. 

Competition: 1 | Creativity: 0

Suyash Khabya, CCO, The Womb, listing down industries where templatization is a common sight, says, “Most of the automobile advertising, beauty brand advertising has fallen from their heydays because all of them have templatized themselves and added to the 'sea of sameness'. They look like video brochures and have skipped strong storytelling.” 

Khanna points out that a key reason behind templatization is marketers falling in the trap of imitating competitors.

“You see your competitors putting out something that follows a certain template and getting good results from it. One temptation that exists both among marketers and in boardrooms is to think, "Hey, it seems to be working for them, why can't we do something like that as well?" he shares.

While healthy competition often leads to lower prices and better quality products, the flip side is conformity, as seen in the social media landscape. Short-form videos originated with Vine and Musical.ly; soon, every tech platform followed suit. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have all converged to emulate this format, resulting in a repetitive trend within the industry. 

Khanna shares that marketers often think that if a particular template is working for a competitor, there's some merit in chasing that. “As soon as that becomes the predominant mindset, over time you'll see that an entire industry is putting out a homogeneous set of communications. Everyone gets stuck in the same pattern. Typically, what happens is that the market leader dictates the pace. You end up feeling that if the market leader is doing it, maybe they're doing it right. There's thought behind it, so you just follow the market leader,” he expounds. 

Competitive pressures often push individuals and companies to conform rather than innovate. A report by The New Atlantis argues how instead of fostering genuine creativity and progress, competitive forces in various industries, particularly in technology and media, tend to replicate successful models, resulting in a cycle of imitation rather than genuine advancement.

The ROI-creativity equation 

While standing out of the crowd seems like an immediate area of focus, ROI also has to be factored in when planning a campaign–after all, advertising is not cinema, you’re selling the proverbial soap at the end of the day. 

Thus, the question arises, does creative uniqueness lead to increased ROI?

In the words of Krishnarao Buddha, the answer is a “100% yes.”

The seasoned marketer from Parle says, “Creative ads have a strong correlation with purchasing decisions. If I like the ad, I am more likely to buy the product or service. I am completely disposed towards that brand and think, "Wow, it's so good, I'm enjoying it." So, there's every chance that if I need to consume a certain product, I'll pick up that product because I quite like the ad. There is a strong implication that a unique and standout ad can drive purchases.”

All the experts seem to unanimously agree on creativity influencing purchase decisions. “If your creative asset is distinctive, you don't need to spend as much from a media perspective. An average, templatized creative might need to be shown to a consumer 20 times, while a distinctive one might only need 10-15 times. Investing more in creative thought and production can yield up to 10x results through media savings,” holds NItin Khanna. 

Khanna also underlines that creativity also has a long term impact on brand building, opining, “Distinctive advertising also increases brand consideration. In crowded markets with many competitors, being in the top two or three brands that a consumer recalls at the moment of purchase is crucial. Distinctive ads increase the likelihood of being in that consideration set, leading to better ROI.”

Similarly, Suyash Khabya observes, “Creativity done for 'business' vs 'awards' definitely gives business results and there is a clear ROI to that. As an advertising professional, I truly believe that advertising DOES influence buying behaviour. Agar ad acha laga, samajh mein aaya toh people will check out the brand (if the ad is likened and well understood, people will check it out).”

The art of standing out

In 2023, television advertising revenue took a hit, falling by 6.5%. Average rates fell by 4%, primarily as the share of lower-yield sectors like FMCG increased while sectors like gaming, crypto, D2C brands, e-commerce, etc., reduced volumes on the medium. Naturally, these sectors moved to other mediums, specifically digital. However, regardless of the medium, in fact more so digital, standing out of the clutter remains bottomline. Thus, comes into picture, the art of standing out–which seems to be fading as the focus shifts to other aspects of marketing. 

How then, can brands revive the fading art of standing out?

For Samyu Murali, the answer lies in building a distinct brand identity. “To truly stand out, brands need to carve a distinctive identity that resonates authentically with their audience. This brand building takes time, and that's what leads to better brand loyalty that drives business outcomes. Resonating with the audience long after the ad is over is what will subconsciously stay in the minds of consumers as they stand in front of your product in the grocery store or hover their cursor over the checkout button,” she advises.

“Attention Retention Time is an ART now. Literally! Our world is cluttered by reels, tik-toks, 6-second pre-rolls, WhatsApp forwards. Nobody seems to have patience. But that's where the catch is - as a brand if you try to populate yourself in this templatized maze, you will get totally lost. To survive, to be etched in memory…you have to stand out. No choice! You have to be 'unignorable' and yet be 'simple',” shares Khabya. 

Continuing from his point of brands imitating market leaders, Khanna says, “If you're not the market leader and you're a challenger brand, you risk your own failure. As a challenger brand, you need to carve out a niche for yourself and establish your own identity in the minds of the viewers who are exposed to your advertising. This cannot be done by just following the herd. You need to figure out what your authentic brand personality is and how you can stand out in a crowd. It takes bravery and requires brave decisions from the marketing team, the leadership of the organisation, and your agency partners, who act as key enablers or catalysts in what you're putting out.”

Khanna shares a few key points for brands to stand out creatively: 

1) Insights: Base your communication and campaigns on deep rooted customer insights which makes it relatable

2) Be brave and authentic: Stay true to your brand ethos. Be brave and do not follow other competitor brands blindly.

3) Invest in creative innovation: Don't shy away from investing the extra mile when it comes to creative development. The right creative device done consistently makes the brand memorable and sticky.

It seems, as Samyu Murali points out, that advertising’s reliance on and proclivity towards conformity has made it wander off the path of storytelling that made it stand out in its glorious days. The over-reliance on clever devices or standard hooks to engage viewers might help in the short run, it’s not, however, a remedy for the longer marathon that involves getting etched in the long term memories of audiences. The onus, thus, lies on marketers and advertisers to weigh in the long term impact of creativity and balance out other marketing endeavours to stand out of the clutter–with the hope that someone, a few years down the road, might say, “Remember that ad of xyz brand?”