How did you start your career in advertising?
I started my career as a journalist in Bangladesh Observer. After getting married I went to Karachi. I used to work for a women's magazine called "She" over there. I used to hang out with some ladies who worked in different advertising agencies. I used to write copies for them in my free time. Next day, either I saw it printed or they would say, "Tum to bengal ka jadu kiya, client ne pasand kiya." I became very interested in copy writing from then.
After coming back to Bangladesh, I joined Interspan as a Copy-Writer, after one month, I got promoted and became the General Manager with no increment. Next month, the company made me the Executive Vice President again with no increase of salary. I worked there for 2years.
While working there, I got a good exposure to clients. They had confidence in me. This is how I started my career as a copy-writer.
When did you start your own agency?
I had a difference of opinion with my boss, Karim one day. Thereby, I decided to quit. I gave him a month's notice along with updated files and left the job.
The first day when I'm at home unemployed, two foreigner client called me and they asked me to open my own agency. I got scared. But later on by the family's support, I agreed.
I went to a newspaper's association to know the procedure of opening an agency. They said to open an agency of my own; I've to become a member of that association. To be a member, I need a bank guarantee worth fifty thousand taka. I didn't have that money. But I wanted to do it on my own. Hence, I went from bank to bank. No one agreed to give me a loan of fifty thousand. I had only 10 thousand taka. The 6th bank I went to was the bank of a client of Interspan and that guy had knowledge about my work. He then asked for agreements from my two clients with the proposal that they will pay me through their bank. I opened the agency with that money since they approved the application.
I started with a very small office with one room. I got five employees who agreed to work for free since I couldn't provide salary. I couldn't afford a fan either. With five people, capital of 10 thousand taka and 2clients, we started Adcomm. It was a difficult journey.
How difficult was the journey?
There was only printing media over here. I had to go to printing press late at night. People in the press used to stare at me because I was the only lady working late at night. People even clients used to think women can only have either beauty sleep or go to the parlour.
How did you promote girls along with boys?
Once I was working on a milk ad, I selected a girl child as a model. They rejected the girl because a report says that 98 per cent of mothers give the first glass of milk to the son. They said the sell will drop if they promote girl child drinking milk. Then I proposed to show both boy and girl child drinking milk together. First, I will give the first glass to a boy child and then to the girl child. I challenged him that the sell will go up dramatically. Then the client agreed. This was a success.
Another client wanted to do an advertisement of tea, where I wanted to show that a husband is bringing a cup of tea for his wife. The client agreed. After the advertisement being aired, I went to different shops to survey how the product is going. So, one day, I went to a grocery and asked the salesman about the tea. He replied in an astonishing tone, "Did you see the ad? A man is giving a cup of tea to his wife?" In that time, men used to do groceries. "Which man will buy this tea?" he added. Then I went to Dhanmondi and Gulshan to check the sales rate thinking that since these areas are modern, they might have a different opinion. But no, I was wrong. All of them had the same remarks. Later on, I asked my husband's friends about the ad. They started taunting me. It was a failure. So, I went to the client to tell that it was a failure. It didn't work out. Just because of my honesty my client said, "It's okay."
What would you say regarding the use of Indian model in the ads of Pran and RFL?
Pran and RFL factories are set up in India as well. So, it's alright. We are no longer limited to national business. We use their local model to make them feel it as their own product. Otherwise, they will not buy.
How do you generate ideas?
I talk to people and figure out. For example: for a condom ad, my client called a pitch. It was Panther's ad. When I asked the shopkeeper about the sales, they gave me a killer look and started murmuring, "ei maiya bhalo meye na. Condomer kotha jigay." Then I stopped asking and I used to sit in different dispensaries and told them that I am waiting for my husband and would observe the sales.
In the meanwhile, I noticed that men ask for condom in whisper. They take it in envelope. Panther was not pocket friendly and the animal panther was not known to our people. It was black and black cat was a bad sign in our context. So it did not have a good sell.
Therefore, I suggested the client to make the packet a little smaller and change the black cat into a golden tiger. The client agreed and the sell had a shoot up after that.
Likewise, a shampoo manufacturing company followed 27steps to ensure good quality, where they used real egg yolks. Despite of so many efforts, they didn't have good number of customers. A shampoo should match the type of hair. So, I thought to make a newspaper ad with 27steps and a TV ad with a suggestion to buy the shampoo which matches with the hair type. I asked the marketing manager, he said, "We can't even sell 5000 pieces of bottles and you are suggesting spending money on ad?"
Later, he did little research and asked me to tell it to the foreigner client. He listens and asks me, "Can you assure that I will have 50 per cent of sales growth?" I said, "Yes" out of excitement. He calls his secretary made an agreement, "If she fails, we have the right to sack her." I got scared thinking what if it fails. Fortunately, they achieved 270 per cent of sales growth with my suggestion and they congratulated me with presents. I felt very elated then.
What suggestions would you give to the ad makers?
If a client moves from one agent to another, he needs a no objection certificate from the first one even in India. But in our country, we do not do that. We lack ethics. My advice would be, " Please learn and follow the ethics."
What advice would you give to the students?
You need to be honest. Honesty doesn't mean financial honesty. You need an honest purpose and dedication. When I started as a copywriter, my degree in English literature was okay. But when I got promoted, I had to learn marketing strategies. So, I started reading books. I went to seminars and symposiums.
I spend money on knowledge. Students should do that too. Another thing is that the majority of this generation is concerned about salary, days of leaves and office timing. You shouldn't be concerned about these, rather focus on your work and skills. Be dedicated to your work sincerely.
Geeteara Safiya Choudhury is the Chairman of Adcomm Ltd. She also carried out her responsibility as an Adviser to the Ministry of Industries, Jute and Textile, Social Welfare and Women and Children Affairs under the Caretaker Government.
