MUMBAI: The Advertising Club Bangalore president Laeeq Ali is positive about the growth of the advertising industry in the country given the boom in technology, and creativity. He also said that government policies are going to pave the way for a good future for the industry.

“It is heartening to see several small niche boutique agencies mushrooming in the country, specialising in various aspects like AI, VR, and mobile-centric advertising,” said Ali in an exclusive interaction preceding the Big Bang Awards 2019 on 20 September.

It is the first set of Big Bang Awards happening after Ali became the president of the club.

He mentioned, “I am looking forward to it as we are into an exciting phase at the club, where we are trying to change a lot of things in terms of the roles that we play. The Big Bang Awards 2019 is a starting point to that.”

Ali further added that they have tried to make the awards more exclusive by dividing it into two parts. “After listening to the whole fraternity and taking ideas for them to make Big Bang Awards more inclusive, we tried to have them into two parts: one for creative & content and the other for media & health etc. The second set of awards will be taking place in the month of November.”

Speaking about the nominations that the club received for the first set of awards, Ali noted that more than 100 agencies from across 13 states have sent some “hatt ke” (offbeat) entries to participate.

“This is for the first time that we have taken the whole nomination and judging process online and it was heartening to see the response we have got in terms of nominations. 20-25 high-profile judges have gone through these entries to select the winners for Big Bang Awards 2019,” he said.

On being asked what some of the key trends were, which the club observed from the nominations, Ali replied that there has been a boom in content-led advertising.

“The challenge for any creative agency is to actually strike a balance between content and creativity, and how do you come with interesting content properties for brands to engage with their consumers,” he said elaborating more on the concept.

He asserted that agencies are trying hard to find this balance and have come out with a lot of interesting campaigns.