McCann Print Ad: An advertising trick that backfired?

India woke up to a full page McCann Print Ad on Economic Times' front page and well, everyone is now confused!

McCann Worldgroup's front page 'Congratulations' ad in mainline newspaper, Economic Times, today created immense buzz on social media. It was quite interesting to see, how a mainline paper ad could strike conversations in the advertising and marketing industry.

The copy of the print ad read - 'Congratulations McCANN Worldgroup India for becoming India's Most Awarded Agency.' The wins of the agency, across award shows like Effies, Spikes Asia, Clio, D&AD and Cannes Lions were mentioned. The names of the agency's clients like Paytm, Asian Paints, Dabur, nestle, Incredible India and others, were also displayed in the end of the ad with the line - 'Proud of our winning partnership with McCann'.

Advertising guys from other agencies were surprised as they failed to understand the intention behind the ad. While few mocked the copy writer's shoddy work, there were others, who expressed their confusion on who is congratulating whom - whether it is the agency or the clients?

Satbir Singh

Naresh Gupta

Karthik Srinivasan

A bit confused on who is congratulating McCann, given the 'Proud of our winning partnership with McCann' line at the bottom. All those brands congratulating McCann? Or, is ET congratulating McCann? pic.twitter.com/CNVqUGMYKI

— Karthik (@beastoftraal) February 7, 2018

Ashok Lalla

While the fraternity is definitely happy for McCann, the idea of advertising like this on a pink paper like ET posed a huge question, leaving many confused.

What are your views on it? Does the ad make sense or it leaves you gaping at the choice of medium or the copy. Let us know in the comments below or write to us on team@socialsamosa.com.