Ajay Thrivikraman (Vikram) has spent much of his career with Publicis Groupe in leadership roles across Singapore for global clients in APAC, and now across six countries in the SEA region as Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Groupe, South-East Asia. Under his creative leadership, the Groupe’s work across multiple agencies has delivered strong business results, global account wins and growth, entered pop culture and helped drive social impact across the region. This year, he has been chosen as one of ADFEST’s Magnificent Seven Jury Prsidents, leading the Film Lotus, Outdoor Lotus, Press Lotus and Radio & Audio Lotus juries.

It's been a big year for Publicis. What do you see as its standout assets/qualities?

Ajay Vikram: At Publicis, we’re very clear about what we want all of our creative work to achieve: solve business problems for our clients by creating work that truly resonates with consumers and deliver effective results. Simple? Obvious? Well, in our business, it’s not always the most well-trodden or easiest path to awards success. But you’ll see that at Publicis, a “big year” is always built on this same edifice: impactful work for our biggest clients like Heineken and McDonald’s and P&G and Samsung and Mondelez and more, with ideas that have scale, visibility, and cultural impact. We’re bloody minded about client-centricity, and it’s the route we take to creative success everywhere in the world.

You have had a long career at Publicis. What are the major changes (good and not so great) you have seen in the industry during your time?

Ajay Vikram: You can’t talk of change now without mentioning the impact that AI is having on our work and our psyche; and while the scale of change varies from year to year, the fact is that it’s been the only constant. You mentioned my long career at Publicis, and it’s one of the key reasons I’ve stayed as long as I have - I’ve always found Publicis to be open to change, to be nimble and entrepreneurial enough to adapt to it, and most critically, to execute at pace. The agencies in the Groupe around me have changed so significantly with the times that I haven’t had to think of moving anywhere. I’ve only had to think about how I can change.

TVCs, print and outdoor advertising persists but the range of advertising formats has undergone – is still undergoing – a significant shift, accelerated in the last few years by a “muddying” with PR. Have the identifiers of what makes excellence in advertising changed for you? What is standout (award-worthy) advertising to you?

Ajay Vikram: The identifiers of excellence in advertising should be, and have always been, our consumer. I’ve never believed in the excellence of craft that doesn’t take the consumer along with it. It’s not art for art’s sake, but art for the sake of building truly excellent brands that drive people’s choices. We make commercial art, and the end result matters.

If there is media fragmentation today on digital and social platforms, well, that’s where people are, and rather than complain about what people like nowadays, we adapt and do what our consumers have always wanted us to do - not be an unwelcome intrusion, but have respect for their time and add value and a little good taste to their very busy, fulfilling lives.

What do you see as the greatest challenges  - and conversely, opportunities for advertising creativity’s future? 

Ajay Vikram: Same as above, our challenges and opportunities will evolve with people’s day-to-day lives. How they change is how we change, how they adapt is how we adapt, how they consume is how we know what to make and when to make it. We’re a part of human civilisation and progress, not an observer, not on the outside looking in, not a hidden persuader…We are humans making things for other humans, with the best tools at our disposal.

I was told recently that Asian advertising “marches to its own drum” – at least in production. A generalisation, yes, in a very diverse region - but are there distinctive features of advertising in the region – or distinctive features that stand out in individual countries in your realm?