Advertisers wary of delayed campaigns, confidentiality, as new ad regime debuts

Screen grab of the advertisement featuring Rahul Dravid (Courtesy: YouTube/CRED). According to the new ad regime effective from June 18, advertisers have to generate self declaration certificate before publishing ads.

The new ad regime seems to have unleashed a burden of paperwork for marketers and advertisers who are worried about a leak in sensitive information.

Imagine a high-impact campaign for a phone launch is planned and all the specifications and prices are revealed during the self-declaration process, which goes before ad campaign on the newspaper front page or on Instagram, pointed out Siddharth Devnani, co-founder and director of marketing agency SoCheers.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has mandated all advertisers to declare compliance by generating self-declaration certificates (SDCs) effective from June 18, a mandate which is a fallout of misleading ads by yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. The SDCs have to be generated before publishing an ad.

"The idea of cracking down on misleading ads? We're all for it. But the actual implementation? It's got some kinks to iron out," said Chaaya Baradhwaaj, founder and MD of marketing agency BC Web Wise.

Privacy pangs

Like the issue of privacy, as the current upload process is not secure, allowing unauthorised access to uploaded materials, noted Mansi Gupta, chief business officer of OpraahFx, an influencer marketing agency.

"This means anyone could search for a brand name and view all current and upcoming assets, compromising confidentiality. This is especially concerning for new product launches, where secrecy is crucial for maintaining a competitive advantage," she said.

Advertisers/marketers are required to submit detailed information about advertisements, including full scripts and descriptions, running the risk of exposing creative concepts, and proprietary data.

Marketer Rajnish Rawat, co-founder and CEO of Social Pill, is worried that ad content or strategies getting exposed earlier than intended could potentially lead to leaks or competitive disadvantages if not managed carefully.

"The process of regular reporting and verification could lead to potential leaks or unauthorized access to confidential client information, undermining trust and collaboration between clients and their advertising agencies," said Yasin Hamidani, director of Media Care Brand Solutions.

Delayed campaigns

While advertisers are rushing to generate self-declaration certificates as they don't want their campaign launch to get delayed because of paperwork, Baradhwaaj said that new ads might get stuck in the pipeline due to the extra step of generating and submitting SDCs.

"We have started generating self-declaration certificates, however, we are facing technical issues with the portal with constant server error. It involves multiple steps and it takes time. Imagine writing a title and description for each static post or ad, convert that in pdf, convert the ad in pdf before submitting, said Rawat who has created a GPT that can read the ad and auto create the title and description for ads.

However, not many ad agencies have started taking help of artificial intelligence (AI) models and they are concerned that the compliance process will delay campaigns and affect the flow of new ads.

"Managing numerous declarations can be overwhelming and time-consuming, potentially delaying the launch of campaigns and affecting their timeliness and relevance in the fast-paced digital environment. This will potentially need a compliance desk, which is an added cost on the client," said Ambika Sharma, founder and MD of Pulp Strategy.

She added that the new ad regime can hamper the flow of new advertisements at least till everyone involved is adjusted to the process, and pre plans for it. "The time-consuming nature of gathering and submitting the required information can cause significant delays. For time-sensitive campaigns, this delay can disrupt marketing strategies and reduce the effectiveness of advertising efforts."

Hamidani highlighted that advertisers are now prioritising compliance over innovation to avoid regulatory pitfalls. "This can stifle creativity and experimentation in ad content. The need to substantiate every claim with detailed evidence can slow down the approval process, reducing the speed at which new advertisements reach the market. This cautious approach may lead to fewer dynamic and diverse ad campaigns."

More impact on digital, influencer ads

Marketers are more anxious about their digital campaigns as obtaining and submitting SDCs can be particularly problematic for digital ads, where the volume and frequency of new ads are high, pointed out Rohit Agarwal, Founder & Director, Alpha Zegus, a marketing agency.

"It's fairly more loathing for digital and influencer marketing as there are too many videos involved in the process. Influencers, who often operate independently, may find it challenging to comply with the new requirements, especially if they lack the resources or knowledge to navigate the process," he added.

Within digital, SDC is most cumbersome for programmatic, followed by social, said Devnani. "This is because the number of creative units for each rupee spent is very high. In influencer marketing this depends on the scale like if hundreds of nano-influencers are involved then it is very burdensome. But if it includes a couple of A-listers then it's okay. TV and print is manageable because the number of creative units per brand per day is just a handful.

Influencer advertising is favored for its ability to promote products or services organically as brands often send products to influencers for testing, after which the influencers create posts or stories about their experiences using the products, noted Gupta.

"Since brands usually do not provide a script when sending products, and there's no assurance that the influencer will actually post about the product, meeting the Self-Declaration mechanism's requirement is quite challenging. Moreover, many digital platforms take the route of live stream events for advertising products and services, often on a spontaneous basis. Requiring all advertisements to undergo self-declaration before publishing could potentially impede these innovative outreach efforts," she said.

Moment marketing is another area where getting SDCs will slow down the marketing process. "The requirement to certify each ad individually hinders the agility required for moment marketing, where brands respond swiftly to current events or trending topics to maximize engagement," said Rawat.