Creative guru ‘Guththila’ revolutionises advertising landscape with innovative way forward

Guththila Marcom Approach

While the advertising industry has been languishing in the doldrums with slow growth and formulaic creativity, Guththila Advertising has made its mark with its unique brand of creative excellence, backed by a strong results-based focus on the sales curve of clients, comprising industry leaders. 

The Agency, which is now in its 17th year, is headed by U.A. Palliyaguruge, a creative entrepreneur with diverse interests in various aspects of this wide-ranging field. He is best-known as a film director/producer and lyricist, having directed ‘Super-Six’ in addition to producing ‘Pani Makuluwo’ ‘Sama Kumaru Kathawa’ and ‘Soosthi’. He also directed the teledrama ‘Crime Scene’, while producing ‘Thuthiri’. He has more than 500 TV commercials to his credit. 

Udara Palliyaguruge

Armed with a Bachelors in Film Making from the National Film Institute in Pune, India, in addition to considerable industry experience, U.A. Palliyaguruge has widened his knowledge in various aspects of audio-visual communications by following specialised training programs overseas. These include Brand Management and Media Planning (TV and Radio) – Singapore; Digital TV and FM Radio Channel Management – Singapore; E-Marketing in TV, Radio, IPTV, Web TV, Digital TV – India.

He has also participated in numerous international advertising and communications programs and awards ceremonies over the years, including AD Asia 2005 to 08 – Singapore, Broadcast Asia & Communic Asia– Singapore, Team Tech TV and Radio conference – India. He is also a Visiting Lecturer – University of Kelaniya, Faculty of Marketing Management.

Guththila Advertising, which is accredited with all media in Sri Lanka, is noted for its track record in image transformation and product development from start to finish, with a strong focus on selling aspect of its communication to maximise its impact in the minds of consumers. The Agency is also a strong believer in creating new ‘content within the context’ of solving clients’ communication needs.

‘Crysbro Next Champ’ is one such unique concept which was created to discover and reward promising young sportsmen and sportswomen from all parts of the country, especially those from the rural hinterland and underprivileged backgrounds. In addition to offering financial help, this project provides these sportsmen and women with much needed coaching and overseas exposure. While this program is telecast each week, its culmination is the ‘Crysbro Next Champ Mega Colours Night’ to reward the top performers in 30 different categories of sports, 

The Agency can also claim to be truly tri-lingual, by creating original content to suit all three languages spoken in Sri Lanka – instead of merely translating from one language to another. While having a strong Sri Lankan identity and ethos, Guththila Advertising regularly invites foreign resource personnel for strategy inputs, in order to keep abreast of the latest trends and advances in the industry.

The digital landscape, including social media, is another area in which the agency has invested its resources, as this is a fast-growing communication medium with immense potential to grow exponentially. Though Sri Lanka’s mobile phone penetration is in excess of 100%, e-commerce only occupies 0.5% of retail sales. However, this is rapidly changing, as Sri Lankans embrace the online purchasing habit, in addition to a very high penetration of the banking sector across the country. 

Though 360-degree marketing has become a popular catch-phrase in the industry, Guththila Advertising uses the totally integrated promotional marketing approach, optimally utilising all media – online, offline, and mobile – as well as all consumer touchpoints.

Guththila Advertising is currently focusing on setting up operations in Australia, harnessing Sri Lanka’s high level of creative and digital related talent, in addition to a relatively low cost in terms of staff and infrastructure. With the Sri Lankan ITC industry expected to reach $ 5 billion in exports by 2022, this could be another venture towards reaching that ambitious figure.