MxMIndia

Tag: Aniruddha Oka

  • Having worked on both sides, client and agency, Aniruddha Oka is in the perfect position to give us his point of view.

    The Anchor: 7 ways of building a successful agency-client relationship

    By Aniruddha Oka

     

    #1 Like any business relationship, a successful agency-client relationship stands on the basic pillars of involvement, trust, mutual respect, empathy, freedom and space.

     

    #2 Firstly, for a relationship to be successful it has to be a win-win situation in the long run. And it’s here that the empathy becomes an important factor where one needs to see from other’s window, of course without detriment to one self.

     

    #3 A successful relationship can be built on trust, integrity and an egalitarian platform where both the parties respect and acknowledge the need for each other. This is built only over time, and one needs to invest that.

     

    #4 Getting to know the client’s brands/products/services as much as he/she does, if not better, is essential. Specifically so for industrial/techno products. Get to know their clients and customers, because a different perspective and POV is what clients seek and respect their agency for. And without a deep understanding of client’s customers, an agency cannot provide one. Similarly, getting to know the agency key people as ‘people’ is critical for understanding their unique strengths to harness.

     

    #5 Respect each other’s capabilities and give freedom/space/time to do their best in what they are best at. Understand and appreciate that clients have their internal clients too, and so does the agency.

     

    #6 Be truthful, honest and frank while giving advice, since it helps both, clients and agency, in the long run. I’d rather be remembered for a piece of advice that’s not liked, than one that was not right but just pleased someone.

     

    #7 Meet off-line in a deliberate and planned way to give and take feedback. Encouragement works wonders and does not cost much, but surely goes far beyond.

     

    Aniruddha Oka is Chief Operating Officer, Quadrant Communications.

     

  • Behind every great commercial is super strategy. Every week, MxMIndia will bring you the brief and the strat as given by the client and whatever else that went into creating a winning ad. AdStrat is compiled by Shubhangi Mehta.

    Ad Strat: Kirloskar – Engineering Solutions

    Aniruddha Oka, Chief Operating Officer, Quadrant communications

     

    1. Name of the Campaign:

    Kirloskar – Engineering Solutions – just a phone call way

    Client: Kirloskar Proprietary Ltd. (owner of Kirloskar and Kirloskar Green Brands)

    Client Person: Mr. Vijay Varma, President

     

    2. The Brief:

    Take the Engineering high-ground by dramatically communicating the engineering capability that Kirloskar possesses of handling seeming impossible, large challenges (in water and power businesses) with ease and also build awe /respect for Kirloskar.

     

    3. Research insights:

    Though, Kirloskar enjoys a high brand recall, the relevant TG like key decision makers and general public are not completely aware of the true capabilities that the Kirloskar possesses.

     

    Though, the brand is known for a wide range of products it offers, there was a need to highlight the magnitude and ease with which they can provide engineering solutions.

     

    Moreover, a foreign consultant acknowledging/endorsing a brand to a set of Indians delivers a surprise value that in Africa andMiddle East, Kirloskar has earned a high reputation with the European/American consultants for large projects.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL27uKluzaU[/youtube]

    4. The thought process behind the creative:

    When you have a highly capable giant on your side, even the toughest daunting tasks

    appear simple. Utilising this insight, the TVC highlighted Kirloskar’s engineering capability by actually de-glorifying large challenges like shifting a lake up the hill, a capability Kirloskar has actually exhibited while executing the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam’s Project in Saurashtra – the world’s largest irrigation scheme, inIndia.

     

    Lastly, if a company can handle such complex engineering problems so easily, handling my problem is a child’s play is what the unsaid message to the TG is.

     

    5. Media vehicles chosen:

    TV (primary) – Select Infotainment, Business and news channels – with support of the Internet.

     

    6. Key issues kept in mind while executing the ad:

    While dramatically projecting the largeness of the problem/task, the challenge was to deliver the “shock value – just a phone call” and yet make it look very real.

     

    7. Does the treatment do justice to the brief?

    Well, we think it does.

     

    8. What according to you is the differentiating factor about the ad?

    Unlike the other engineering/project sector advertising that shows products and project details in full glory and actually highlights their complexity, here it takes the air out of them making it seem very simple, thanks to Kirloskar.

     

    9. Market and client feedback:

    The TVCs were well appreciated and were viewed even on Youtube and other sites.

    The video pre-rolls on ESPN.com during World Cup Cricket last year, were viewed in such a large number, that the client’s website bandwidth went for a toss. And even when the viewers had the option to skip, almost 90% surfers viewed these ads completely before watching live cricket.

     

    The “Call whom, God? and ” No Kirloskar” were the elements that had a very high recall amongst viewers.