What will India look like 75 years later? (Part five)

We ask industry honchos to turn ‘Paul The Octopus’ and predict what the country will look like 150 years after its independence...

Aug 23, 2022 07:56:00 AM | Article | Campaign India Team

Campaign India released a print issue to celebrate India's 75th year of Independence. In this print issue, we asked industry heads to make outrageous predictions about what India would look like at 150 years.

In part five of this series, read what Piyush Pandey, chairperson - global creative and executive chairperson (India), Ogilvy, and Prasoon Joshi, CEO and CCO, McCann Worldgroup India and chairperson, McCann Asia Pacific, had to say.

Piyush Pandey

To predict 75 years, you need to be God and I’m not God.

For all you know, tomorrow one country will disappear, and another country will not get food because of that.

If you go back 75 years, to 1947, would you predict that everyone would have a mobile phone around the country? Would you predict which year a colour TV became a common thing in every household?

Having said that, I have a wishlist for the years ahead.

Firstly, we need to make sure we never lose sight of human emotions, human needs, human desires and human joy. Technology will enable us to do a lot of things, which is wonderful, but as communicators, we should not become price catalogues in the world of e-commerce. We should remember that all things being equal, the difference is made by the human touch that your messaging has, be it messaging for selling goods and services, or propagating messages of public interest. So, the next few years will be a test for all communicators, to find the balance between the use of technology and their genius to keep the human angle alive.

We also need to keep our crusade on for the next 30-40 years in saving the environment, because that will decide the future of the rest of the 40 years.

My third wish is that the world learns to live with each other. And does not destroy what has been created by people over the centuries.

Prasoon Joshi

Apart from having great consumers, India will be seen as a great creator market.
India will be looked at for thought leadership.
We will see the rise of India’s entrepreneurial talent. It would be an innovation hub and centre.
We will see more and more women in the driving seat across sectors.
What is called ‘rural’ and seen with a distant lens will morph into the mainstream.
The philosophical and inherent belief of the land, that of living in rhythm with nature and not in conflict with it, will be universally understood. Be it through the lease of sustainability, higher order or nuanced thinking.