The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and The Advertising Club have announced the Champions of Excellence awards to recognize and honour six champions of excellence at Goafest 2017.
Speaking about instituting the new awards, Raj Nayak President, The Advertising Club said: “We believe that this initiative will plug a very important white space in the process of celebrating excellence in advertising. The advertiser’s product or service is the raison d’etre for advertising and their role in inspiring good advertising is imperative and must be celebrated.â€
Added Nakul Chopra, President AAAI: “These awards celebrate clients who motivate and encourage their agencies to push the creative envelope and create winning campaigns. They also acknowledge clients who invest in meaningful relationships with their agencies.â€
Said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman, GoaFest: “The presentation of this award at Goafest makes our festival more complete and comprehensive. Now we have all the people playing an instrumental role in bringing alive the magic we call advertising, assembled and recognized in one place.â€
Nominations for the awards are invited from agencies for Champions of Excellence, and will be judged by senior members of the Awards Governing Council of the Abby awards. The entry should mention the name of a senior member of the advertiser team who could be considered for this high honor. It should include a note of not more than 500 words explaining why the individual was deserving of this award. The entry should be signed by the NCD or CEO of the Agency and sent to the AAAI (aaai@vsnl.com) before January 31, 2017. Multiple entries are permitted. There is no entry fee.
The Advertising Agencies Association of India and The Advertising Club has announced the dates for the 12 edition of Goafest. The three-day fest will be held from April 6 to 8, 2017 at the Grand Hyatt, Bambolim.
Said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman of Goafest 2017 & Vice President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI): “It is our endeavour to make Goafest 2017 more fascinating and rewarding for all stakeholders by providing an Enriching, Engaging and Entertaining festival experience. The objective is to offer learning enrichment to participants through thought- leadership platforms, engaging with them through debates and discussions forums on relevant and industry- imperative topics. Keeping up the spirit and ethos of the Abby Awards, the 3 day festival will also keep participants entertained though high decibel networking events. We are sure that the Goafest 2017 will help build synergies and add significant value to the learning curve of all participants.â€
Speaking about the elite speaker line-up, Nakul Chopra – President of AAAI, said, “Continuing to be the most impactful ideas-exchange platform for the industry, Goafest 2017 will consist of a great mix of world-class speakers and industry thought leaders. As in the previous years, we will continue to see representation from senior advertising and marketing professionals who will share their experiences and learnings. Our effort is towards providing an interactive platform for the 2500+ participants to listen and engage with the best the world has to offer on global advertising trends and ideologies.â€
It is for the 10th year that AAAI and The Advertising Club will come together to deliver the Abby Awards, India’s premier awards in the field of advertising that celebrate creativity. Speaking about the awards, Raj Nayak- President of The Advertising Club said, “The initiatives introduced last year were widely appreciated by all the stakeholders and played a decisive role in establishing the preeminence of the festival and the awards. We will continue to follow the stringent standards and now well-accepted norms for the Abby awards that makes it the most competitive and sought after awards in the industryâ€.
He further added “This year the shortlisted Abbys will also be open for the industry to review through a seven-day window before the final judging round.â€
The three-day festival will include the Industry Conclave to be held on Day 1; the Knowledge Seminars on Day 2 & 3. Closing the Festivals will be the Leadership Summit to be held on 8th April, 2017.
The Award shows for various verticals are tentatively scheduled as under:
:: April 6: Media & Publisher Abby Awards
:: April 7: Radio, Radio Craft, Design, Direct, Brand Activation & Promotion, Public Relations, Out of Home & Ambient Media, Print Craft, Branded Content & Entertainment & Broadcaster Abby Awards
:: April 8: Digital & Mobile, Print, Film, Film Craft & Integrated Advertising Abby Awards, Gender Sensitive, and Young Abby’s.
Post this, Tanay Kumar, CEO, Co-founder and Creative Director of Fractal, will join the Dentsu Aegis leadership team in India and will report to Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia. Co-founders Geeta Suthar, Hemant Suthar and Priyanka Agrawal will also continue in their roles as part of the management team.
Said Ashish Bhasin,Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia on the acquisition: “Fractal is the leading digital design studio in the country that provides not only the mobility and UI/UX designcapability, but also has an ideal combination of technology and creative services. Given the impending explosion of Internet of Things, wearables and mobile, this unique skill set will add to the group’s statusof being digitally ahead in India.
Added Jean Lin, Isobar Global CEO: “To deliver immersive Brand Commerce experiences that close the gap between brand inspiration and transaction,we need passionate talent with strong in-market design capabilities. Fractal is a highly reputable digital design studio in India and having them on board further strengthens our local mobile and experience design capability. We are very excited to welcome the Fractal team on board as part of the Isobar global family.â€
Said Tanay Kumar, CEO, Co-founder and Creative Director of Fractal: “We have come a long way in the last six years in establishing ourselves as leaders in the digital design and strategy space. Dentsu Aegis Network is the fastest growing group in the country and has demonstrated a strong momentum not just in terms of growth, but also in their culture and values. Its strong presence around the globe as well as their shared vision towards the digital and connected world will allow us to tap into latest industry best practices and tools as well as scale our operations geographically.â€
Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN hosted its annual One-DAN conference in Dubai last week. The annual seminar saw over 700 managers assemble under one roof to foster collaboration and partnership amongst the network’s group agencies.
The annual conference was woven around the clear objective of positioning Dentsu Aegis Network as the No. 2 marketing communications group in India by the end of 2017. It was also hosted to celebrate Dentsu Aegis Network’s strengthened and expanded foothold in creative that was demonstrated at the Goafest’s 2016 edition.
The three-day conference saw the exchange and cross-pollination of leading-edge ideas across the different units of Dentsu Aegis Network India including that of its latest acquisitions – Happy Creative Services and Perfect Relations Group. The platform introduced all teams of the newly acquired agencies to the one P&L model of the group and also help them imbibe the values that the network stands for. Integration and data continued to be the buzz words at the conference. DAN’s leadership status in areas like OOH, Creative, Digital and Media was also highlighted.
The annual conference, correspondingly, also recognised the network’s long-serving employees and talents across different group units who have worked relentlessly all through the year to bring Dentsu Aegis Network India to the position that it holds today. Rajni Menon, President Carat, won the Chairman’s Award for 2016.
Speaking about this recent conference, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia, said, “Our goal of making Dentsu Aegis Network India the #2 communications group in India by end-2017 will only be made possible when every one of our 3000 people across DAN India make it their mission to collaborate and relentlessly help their clients win in the market. That is what One-DAN is all about, and that is the DAN India ‘One Team One Dream’ emphasised.â€
It’s the appointed day. December 9, 2016. And since we don’t ‘conduct’ the award presentation offline, we aren’t dependant on venue availability and rates negotiations. Hence, we do the awards on a weekend, not a weekday… when the mood is just right. Celebrate if you are happy with the announcement, or give us the choicest expletives (yes, you got it right, expletives means gaalis!) if you thought someone else deserved it more.
(Note: The MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year Award was until last year called the Mediaahperson of the Year Award… an earlier version of this story which has found its way to the social media had the image errorneously saying Mediaahperson when it ought to have been Mediaperson…)
So how are we different from other awards?
First, it’s not based on a survey. It’s not based on any industry poll. But it’s based on a study conducted by me through the year. This makes the decision-making tougher, as we can’t pass the blame on to research. Or the collective view of the industry. Or of a jury.
Second, it’s an A&M industry study. Agreed CEOs are important, but we are looking at CMOs and not CEOs of well-marketed organisations.
Third, we look at performance through the year, and don’t base it on the highs of the last two quarters of a year which tend to influence any voting-based process.
Fourth, we give you a clear reason why we have chosen the winner, and why we didn’t choose others who may have done some striking work.
And fifth, we are as sincere and honest about the awards as one can get. There were suggestions that we should make it an on-ground event. But then that comes with its own set of issues. We even had one large media group expressing its interest last year. But we think it would’ve influenced our decision. Perhaps next year, with some more wisdom in our blood streams.
So: the MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year 2016 is an online award. It’s an accolade that’s for the truly well-deserving. And for the True Achiever of 2016 in the Indian Media, Advertising & Marketing arena.
With the backgrounders done, here’s how we went about our task.
I’ve always maintained a notebook that records important developments of the year. Since one started out in an era when there was no Google, it’s a drill that ensures one can do recaps etc with ease.
So for the Mediaperson of the Year, one reviews names, quarter-wise. This helps that the choice of the award doesn’t suffer from the recency factor.
We looked at various names. Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna was one entity that made it to our shortlist. But other than just investing huge monies in advertising and taking on the MNCs, there wasn’t enough for them to be out Mediaperson of the Year 2016.
We also had Arnab Goswami in the shortlist, but there were a large number of negative attributes for him, and that ruled him out of the final three.
From this year, we have also added the Big 25 media entities into our checklist. For, it takes a lot to ensure that it’s business as usual. And who are these people? Samir and Vineet Jain,  The Guptas of Dainik Jagran, The Agarwals of Dainik Bhaskar, CVL Srinivas, Shashi Sinha, Piyush Pandey, Uday Shankar, Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka, Sudhanshu Vats and Raj Nayak, Prasoon Joshi, R Balki… just some indicative names to give you an idea of the list. This is a dynamic list, so an R Balki will move out next year.
Other than turning MP, Subhash Chandra started playing a slightly more active role in the entertainment business as also launched the English news channel.
Another set of names we had in our shortlist were Sudhanshu Vats and Raj Nayak (collectively and separately for Nayak). There’s a lot of growth that happened there with Vats assuming leadership roles in the industry in a bigger way. Also, for Raj Nayak, the success of Goafest and the Abby Awards ensured that he continues to play a significant role in the ecosystem besides ensuring Colors was the #1 Hindi GEC at significant times in the year.
So who’s the MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year 2016?
We were looking at someone who has made a significant impact in the year. Has achieved it against several odds. Also, this achievement should have been through the year or if it happened only in one part of the year, then it should stand out amongst the various others.
We have great pride in announcing that the MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year Award goes to…
Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO – South Asia at Dentsu Aegis Network, and Chairman Posterscope and MKTG – Asia Pacific.
Ashish Bhasin
Bhasin is on the road to achieve the ranking of the second-largest media services conglomerate in the country. After WPP, that is. His role is unique from that of the others. While WPP has a country head, Ranjan Kapur doesn’t play an executive role, like Bhasin. Other international networks such as Publicis, IPG, Havas do not have a single head of business. There’s Madison, of course, headed by Sam Balsara, but the network doesn’t have a significant presence in creative advertising.
Other than being on a shopping spree in the form of agency acquisitions, Bhasin has had a great ride this year. It started last October with Carat bagging the Mondelez business from Madison. But the shift happened with effect from January 2016. There were acquisitions in the form of Perfect Relations and Happy Creative Services. Taproot was on a roll with awards and some top quality creative work and even its other creative agencies were on a high.
It may be remembered that Aegis Media was a loss-making-50-staffer company. Not many thought this company would go far. Except for Ashish Bhasin.
Ex- Executive Vice President and Asia Regional Director – Integrated Marketing Lowe Worldwide, President – SSC&B Lintas and President – Initiative Media felt differently and had big dreams for Aegis Media, and came in and turned things around. He was given control of the entire Dentsu Aegis Network, a company with over 2700+ employees as well as an envious leadership team at the centre of it all, with industry leading profits, in the short span of only six years.
DAN is home to 18 independent businesses, reportedly growing organically at 300 per cent. In addition, Bhasin has taken charge as Chairman of the Goafest 2017 organising committee. H e was an integral part of several global juries including Cannes Lion 2007 and 2016, the Dubai Lynx 2008, the Festival of Media Global 2013 (in Montreux) and the Asia’s Most Promising Brands and Leaders 2013. He also holds several industry positions, and received a coveted award from Campaign South Asia recently.
A truly deserving winner of the 2016 MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year Award. Taaliyaan!
Whether it’s banking on the go, catching up on news or flicking through friends’ holidays photos, mobile is the device that has people’s time and attention. It has transformed the way people around the world connect, share experiences and discover new things. Many of the first-time users of internet in India are coming via mobile phones.
This presents a huge opportunity for brands as Facebook has over 166 million monthly active users, of which over 95 per cent users log in via mobile. Facebook is at the heart of a mobile-first shopping journey and can play a significant role to help brands and advertisers reach out to consumers who form a huge and core target audience for them. Speaking to the media in Mumbai on Monday, Umang Bedi, Managing Director, Facebook India started off the session by saying,“Our journey has been focused on connecting people. They said the world is going mobile but that is not correct. The world has gone mobile. India is leading the way on mobile purchases.76% use mobile for e-commerce for exploration, 76% use mobile for shopping, 74% use mobile to post purchases and 42% use mobile to transact/purchase. 90% consumers who seek information on Facebook are likely to buy the product. Facebook is at the heart of mobile-first shopping journey and Facebook users are heavy mobile shoppers. 9 out to 10 e commerce shoppers are active on Facebook.â€
Facebook has partnered with India’s top 100 advertisers wherein they have launched their products or engaged with consumer on Facebook which has led to conversions. Some of them include Mondelez, Kingfisher, Tanishq, Goibibo, Adidas, Garnier, Durex, Shopclues amongst others.
Kingfisher launched a new drinks brand on Facebook, bringing its personality to life through vides, photos and slideshow ads aimed at youth on mobile device. Similarly, Goibibo used Facebook, audience network and Instagram to reach Indians on mobile on a massive scale, driving over 15x more installs in three days.
Said Siddharth Banerjee, SVP Marketing, Vodafone on Vodafone’s key learning using digital: “It’s not just about digital marketing in a box but about doing digital marketing in real world. I see three trends in this. The first one being understanding the marketing trends, i.e., What will Facebook/Twitter deliver to my business. The second trend is reorienting creative. We at Vodafone have always understood the value of good story telling. In the last few quarters, we have brainstormed on how to make thump stopping at Facebook. And the third trend is area measurement. Area measurement has enabled us to put more funding. We brought the pug back because the pug connected with our audiences.
Speaking about future of mobile first and digital marketing in India, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network said ,“Video is very important for us and with JIO and Vodafone coming in market, the data cost will fall and once that happens, the lines between digital and outdoor and other mediums will blurry. Everybody who predicted 40% will be digital will be proven wrong because by 2020 I think 80-100% will be digital.â€
Adding on to what Bhasin said, Siddharth Banerjee averred:’We see great opportunity with m-pesa in the future. We are seeing huge spurs with the payment banks now available. In the future, There will be many Indias within India. There will be a leap from 2G to 4G and we will have the services, offerings to power the road to digitalisation.â€
“As the shift to mobile accelerates in India, businesses have to be faster in adopting mobile strategies that reach people at every step of the fragmented commerce journey. We are committed to helping businesses grow .Whether it’s brand building, generating demand, driving leads or sales, we are focused on helping business unlock growth opportunities and help them move their business through solutions that drive results.†said Umang Bedi, Managing Director, Facebook India.
“Mobile, in India, is becoming an integral part of doing business, not just for communications. In some ways, the recent demonetisation decision of the government will further accelerate this process and as a country we will leapfrog a generation, thanks to mobile. It is an integral part of a consumer’s life and brand and purchase decisions. At Dentsu Aegis Network, we want to be at the cutting edge of this revolution, along with our partners like Facebook, to bring the learnings and best practices to India and provide a world class product to our clients” said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia.
Leading digital and social media agency WATConsult wrapped up the first edition of WAT’s your Big Idea (#WYBI) on Monday with 160 entries and more than 350 students participating across colleges. #WYBI was launched last month with the aim of providing a platform offering opportunities in the field of advertising and marketing.
Students participated from leading educational institutes of India like MICA, SIMC, Amity University, XIC, IIMB, IIM (Indore), SP Jain, Jamnalal Bajaj NMIMS, MET, Jai Hind amongst others. The winning trophy was awarded to MICA, followed by Delhi School of Communications as first-runner up and JBIMS as second runner up.
Each brand associated with the competition shared a brief with the students pertaining to its target audience. While Jack & Jones wanted ideas that helped them to get more footfall and sales, Radio Mirchi looked for ideas which would increased their website traffic and HUL’s brief was for Pepsodent, wherein participants had to use ‘smile’ in their communication. LYF wanted applicants to uplift their conversation and take it beyond mega-pixels and price, L&T Mutual Fund looked for ideas which create high level awareness and relevance in the mutual fund category amongst the Indian population and Warner Bros. India’s brief was around increasing social media engagement and tune-ins.
Speaking on the same, Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult said, “I would like to congratulate all the winning teams. It was great to see young talent present in front of a well-known jury. We received a tremendous response from all the colleges in our first edition and look forward to scale the next edition to greater heights.â€
Sharing his views, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network said, “It has been a great experience judging WAT’s Your Big Idea. The millennial generation is truly digital savvy and we saw that in the innovative ideas presented to us today. The competition is also a great way to introduce fresh talent into our industry.â€
Kushagra Gupta from the winning team on his team’s big idea said, “Our idea is called #SeriouslyCasual. There is a notion attached with the narrative of casual that it is worn only on leisure days and not productive days. We had to hit on that idea and tap on it to change the narrative of casual that casual can also be used for doing serious work. You can to a board meeting wearing casual on a Monday as well. Your clothing does not define your productivity.â€
We want to make it bigger next year: Rajiv Dingra
The ‘WAT’s Your Big Idea’ idea: I was at Cannes this year and I saw the Young Lions and felt that there is nothing like in India and I felt there is an opportunity to create an event that bridged the gap between institutes and brands and the world of advertising and digital advertising, that’s where we came up with this event. We are named WATConsult so the ‘Wat’ in ‘Wats your big idea’ is a brand play for us. Beyond that as we came up with the idea and we thought it sounded excellent and it would get people excited and that’s exactly how it did. Sometimes good ideas just need a small push and it snowballs into a big thing and that’s what has happened with this one.
160 entries in the first year: That just shows that there is a huge gap in the market when it comes to the bridge between colleges and brands and the bridge between where they are at college level and they have a hunger to prove themselves and clearly brands also believe in the power of youth and freshness of ideas. They want different people coming and giving them ideas.
We saw a lot of different entries in our first year itself. Of the 28 that got shortlisted, there were positive comments on more than 70% of them which also tells us that from a quality perspective they were fantastic and brilliant. The judges were not being lenient just because they are students, they gave a whole day to this event where they don’t give a whole day to an agency. Kudos to each of the institute for putting in the effort that they did and congratulations to the winner but overall I was happy with the way it turned out.
Plans for the event next year:Â We want to make it bigger. We want to do a preliminary round in the colleges, start a little early than we started this year, try and widen our net and bring it down to 20-25 top-notch entires and possibly look at giving this a video platform either on digital or television so that this kind of idea and reality format can be taken to a bigger platform as well.
Commenting on his appointment Nakul Chopra – President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) said “Ashish has been a celebrated industry veteran and holds deep understanding of this event. I am sure that he will bring new fervor and spirit into the event this year. I am sure that his vision will make Goafest 2017 scale new highsâ€
Welcoming the announcement, Raj Nayak, President, The Advertising Club said, “Ashish has been an intrinsic part of the Goafest Organising Committee last year and has played an important role in its success. I have had the privilege of working with him closely and his biggest strength is to be able to carry along People with him. I am sure that his rich experience, vision and insider view of media and advertising trends make him the best man for the role.  I look forward to an outstanding Goafest 2017 under his aegisâ€
On being nominated as chairman, Bhasin said,†I am honoured to have been given the opportunity. The event has emerged as a key thought leadership platform and I hope to be able to further elevate the experience of Goafest 2017 for the entire fraternity.†The scheduled dates for Goafest 2017 will be announced soon.
Leading digital and social media agency WATConsult has announced an ideation competition for colleges across the country – WAT’s your Big Idea (#WYBI).
Spread over 40 days, a student or team of students compete for a prize where ideation is the main predictor of the winner. The students can log onto www.watsyourbigidea.com and crack the creative brief given by a brand live, post which WATConsult will screen their applications (*See disclosure).
Shortlisted teams need to share a video detailing the idea which will further be shortlisted by a panel of esteemed jury which includes, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network; Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult; Vineet Gautam, CEO and Country Head, Bestseller India; Kailash Kulkarni, L&T Investment Management Limited; Vishal Sampat, Chief Digital Officer, Reliance Jio; Sashwat Sharma, Head – Oral Care, HUL; Rahul Balyan, EVP Head-Digital Initiatives, Radio Mirchi and Rohit Bhandari, Sr. Director and Network Head of English Entertainment, Warner Bros. India, before announcing the winners.
The selected winners will be rewarded monetarily with an endorsed certification and job guarantee. WATConsult has partnered with 20 leading educational institutes across India, like MICA, SIMC, Amity University, XIC, IIMB, IIM (Indore), SP Jain, Jamnalal Bajaj NMIMS, MET, Jai Hind amongst others. The brands on board are Pepsodent (HUL), Jack and Jones, L&T Mutual Funds, Warner Bros, Radio Mirchi and LYF Smartphone+.
Speaking on the same, Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult, said, “We are elated to announce WAT’S your Big Idea where ideas for different brands are the main deliverables. WYBI is a unique platform that brings the industry together – brand marketers, agency and aspiring students with a singular goal to inspire and appreciate great ideas. We encourage students to bring forward their best ideas and would love to support them in every way possible.â€
Sharing his views, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network said, “It gives me immense pleasure to be on the jury for such an exciting initiative. The young generation is always bursting with vivacious ideas and with WATConsult’s initiative; we are sure we will witness some great ideas and introduce new talent in the industry. Dentsu Aegis Network has always stood for innovating the way brands are built and this is a good example of a step in that direction.â€
Disclosure: MxMIndia is partnering WATConsult for this competition
It’s been doing the rounds for many months, but when the news came in of Dentsu Aegis Network of acquiring Bengaluru-based creative agency Happy Creative Services, there was much happiness all around. Happy has being doing some spending work in the past and the Dentsu Aegis acquisition will ensure that it grows bigger. Plus with this, mcgarrybowen enters India and it will possibly carry some of its global mandates here. A few hours before complete the final legal formaties of the deal on Thursday, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia and Happy co-founders Kartik Iyer (also CEO) and Praveen Das (also Managing Director) took time off to speak with Pradyuman Maheshwari and Santosh Jangid. Excerpts from the interviews.
To me the most important thing in an acquisition is chemistry: Ashish Bhasin
One more acquisition?
Yes, it’s another global brand that we have managed to bring to India with this and now Happy Mcgarrybowen is going to be our fifth creative agency in the market.
While the Happy acquisition is significant, the big other story is that you have got a large full-service agency like mcgarrybowen to India. Tell us about that.
mcgarrybowen is one of the most creative agencies which started off in the United States. It’s really huge there and some most outstanding global brands that they have worked on. Their philosophy is that they don’t want to have 200 offices in 180 countries. They have picked up few centres of excellence of places where they will operate from – in Asia, that is China, India and Singapore and we are very proud that they have selected India as one of those markets. They are now present in several European countries and perhaps in South America and few countries they are gonna take on. So it is a very big opportunity for us that such an agency which is known to be one of the most successful and large creative agency networks, we are able to bring in to India with this partnership with Happy. So that’s going to be Happy mcgarrybowen
How will it be different than the other four agencies in the Dentsu Aegis Network fold in India?Â
Each agency that we have has its own independent leadership, its own independent creative directors and its own independent set of clients and they operate as completely separate agencies. Each of them has a different flavour and that depends to a large extend on the leadership, the creative directors and the business heads as well as on the flavour of clients that they have. So you will see each one of them having a very different flavour, different sub-culture. What we try to do is we allow each of our businesses to maintain their own sub-culture which they use to growing up with, which is healthy and which is why they have been successful. But we bring it under the over arching umbrella of Dentsu Aegis Network’s culture. We all subscribe to same vision, same values and that’s what binds us. But we don’t want to make any agency or any part of the business look like another part of the business.
So why Happy?
To me the most important thing in an acquisition is chemistry. When you meet somebody you must get that sense that these are people I want to wake up with every morning on a work day for next ten-twenty years. Their quality of work has to be superb because that’s what clients really want and value and their value system should be very similar to our value system. We had very straightforward meetings, we had two quick discussions and by the end of the second discussion itself both of us were very clear that we wanted to go ahead. Of course this being India and processes being what they are it takes a long time from that time to the acquisition to be finished but the actual decision-making process in my mind happened the fastest in this instance because the way the chemistry just stuck.
Are you going to grow the mcgarrybowen network in India in terms of more acquisitions?
I’m not sure in terms of more acquisitions but I’ll be happy if Kartik and Praveen are in an agreement, i would be happy for them to go to more bigger clients, I would be happy that we target some of mcgarrybowen clients which are there globally but we don’t have here in India because we are just setting mcgarrybowen now. I will also be happy if need be and if clients want more offices of Happy mcgarrybowen in rest of India I don’t think another acquisition is what we will go for mcgarrybowen but definitely we would like to go for different clients, different cities, different set of challenges we work it.
If you want to stay in business, stay relevant, you have to keep growing: Kartik Iyer and Praveen Das
Why the sell-out after nine years as an independent creative agency?
Kartik Iyer: We are not looking at it that way because we are still sitting here and doing everything we did up until now and in our perspective this is only going to help us do it better. Happy is an organically grown debt-free company and anybody who has been in business knows that at various stages of growth, money is what makes more money and we have done everything in our capability without pulling too many favours to bring this agency this far and our clients and campaigns have worked and our campaigns have brought to life the fact that what we are trying to do works and is correct in a lot of ways. It just came to a point where we had to give Happy everything it needs. We have always been very clear with that. We both are the founders of Happy and we are not Happy and to be able to compete in a market with the biggest guys we needed to equip the agency with everything that it could require. Happy has come to a point where we can’t turn away10 people especially because we are handling large clients saying that we can’t do this or you will have to find somebody else. We must have it all. Not saying that we provide every service that’s available but I think it needs that kind of muscle to pull forth from every angle.
Does your acquisition and that of various others in the past meant that there isn’t much of a future for independent agencies
Praveen Das: I don’t believe that. It’s a fact of life but when we started Happy we said we would just be 35 people and we will do some really kickass work but though we did that with that bit, there were a lot of people who wanted to join us and at that point we reached a stage where we were neither small nor big. So we thought why not just go to the other end and become a large agency with the same culture of a small agency.
Kartik Iyer: Let’s not forget there are independents in the industry today who have aspirations to buy networks. So there is no hard-and-fast rule that the network is the end-game. For some it could be end-game for some it could be means to the end.
Is acquisition the only way out to go to the next level?
Praveen Das: We had Flipkart and Myntra when they started off and as they grew bigger we also had to grow bigger.
Kartik Iyer: I wouldn’t look at it as a way out. It depends on what kind of business you are. Growth is the only law of business. So if you want to stay in business, stay relevant, you have to keep growing, at various stages capital is a very important ingredient. So far you can provide it yourself it’s fine but at a later stage you need that capital to be coming in and lastly it’s got to do with what is your vision, what kind of agency you are and what is it that you want. For some it could be a way out, for some it could be a way in.
At which point did you think this is the way to go?
Kartik Iyer: It’s a matter of perspective. Are we aligning ourselves with a large one or are we taking on the backing of a large one? Are we wiring into the nervous system or are we using their muscle? So it is a matter of perspective and that is the difference between different agencies. There is no single formula, there is no single perspective.
Why Dentsu?
Kartik Iyer : We met pretty much everybody. We have always had the belief that it doesn’t matter what organisation or brand who represents if long as the guy sitting on the other end is a monkey run. So it didn’t matter and it was all depended on the individuals we met. There was a certain no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point-kind-of person that Ashish is that we felt very comfortable about.
Praveen Das: We met a lot of people before we met Ashish who came to our office and met us but we never found any fire on the other side but when we met Ashish we knew there was a leadership that was on fire.
Kartik Iyer: We were very clear that at some point we would merge with someone. It wasn’t so much of a network but we wanted to merge with someone who would really bring in to the agency that would be a match in the philosophy and Ashish came speaking to us about mcgarrybowen. DAN was just the holding company. The brand and the philosophy that we were marrying into was mcgarrybowen and mcgarrybowen has a pretty much similar story as Happy. So we saw their work, we met them and there was a match in culture. At one end you have the DNA of a Japanese firm which we both are a big fans of Japanese culture and the work that they produce and on the other end there was a brand which was coming out of New York. It was a dream come true.
What would be tangible difference apart from a name and ownership change?
Kartik Iyer: One is opportunity, two is working with global units on global pictures, third is exchange of in talent which we had no one to ask, other agencies write to someone and dust it off and say, send me your presentation on this, but we had no one to send us any presentations.
How are you looking at growing the mcgarrybowen brand in India?
Kartik Iyer: We are not seeing Mcgarrybowen as a separate brand, we are not seeing Happy as a separate brand. How we are going to grow Happy Mcgarrybowen in ways that we didn’t till now. We plan to go and take a shot at bigger accounts.
Dentsu Aegis Network has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire creative marketing agency, Happy Creative Services. Happy will join the global mcgarrybowen network of agencies and be rebranded as Happy mcgarrybowen. The acquisition will mark the first mcgarrybowen agency in India and expands its footprint in Asia – with other offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and China. The deal is expected to close in the next few weeks.
Established in 2007, Happy is regarded as one of the most promising independent creative outfits in India, Happy boasts a staff of 100 across three disciplines – Brand Design, Integrated Brand Communication and Digital, building and rejuvenating brands through media agnostic ideas, customised to deliver on key business and brand metrics.
Joining the Dentsu Aegis leadership team in India is Happy’s co-founder and CEO Kartik Iyer and co-founder and MD Praveen Das who will both report to Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia.
Said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia: “Happy has carved out a very strong digital and creative reputation in the Indian market. Founders Kartik Iyer and Praveen Das – who are among Fortune India’s 40 Under 40, are prominent and well-respected figures in the industry, and this acquisition will add creative bench strength to the wider team. This will enable us to launch mcgarrybowen in India and we will be another step closer to our mission of being the second largest agency group by the end of 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in the market.â€
Added Gordon Bowen, mcgarrybowen Founder and Global Chairman: “India is an important creative market that boasts world-class talent and an enviable group of multinational clients, both of which represent untapped potential for mcgarrybowen. We knew that successfully expanding in this very competitive market required finding great partners that share our passions and values. With a respected reputation and well awarded creative offering, Happy is just that kind of partner and I am proud to welcome them into the mcgarrybowen family.â€
“Like us, Kartik and Praveen believe in the power of big organising ideas, collaboration and strong client partnerships. Together I am confident we will fuel even greater creative and business success for clients here in India and around the world,†he added.
Kartik Iyer, co-founder and CEO, and Praveen Das, co-founder and MD of Happy said: “It has taken us a good nine years to come this far in terms of talent, business and reputation. There comes a time in every business to take a big leap to propel it to the next level and being a part of Dentsu Aegis and mcgarrybowen supports this growth ambition and provides us with the right platform.We are presently working with a number of marquee clients that require the support of a global network and we have always been clear that Happy should to equip itself to compete with the biggest players on the largest stage. In mcgarrybowen, we found a true match in philosophy and belief and being a part of their vision makes us truly proud.â€
Most recently, Happy bagged the ‘Agency of the Year’ title at the 2016 edition of Maddys, organised by The Advertising Club Madras. Happy’s work on the ‘Ola Boat’, which was an emergency boat service set up by Ola Cabs, to help stranded people in the city of Chennai during the Nov 2015 floods, has also won numerous national and international awards for the effort.
The India Chapter of International Advertising Association has elected Neeraj Roy, Managing Director and CEO, Hungama Digital Media as its President. Monica Tata, COO – BTVi, was elected as Vice President and Pradeep Dwivedi, former CMO of the Dainik Bhaskar group, is the new Secretary. Jaideep Gandhi, Chairman, Jaya Advertising, has been elected as the Treasurer.
In addition, Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, MCCS India (ABP News), Janak Sarda, Director, Daily Deshdoot, Abhishek Karnani, Director, Indian National Press, Shreyams Kumar, Director, Mathrubhumi and Anand Sankeshwar, Managing Director, VRL Media Ltd have been elected as members of the Managing Committee.
Speaking about the development Neeraj Roy said, “International Advertising Association in India over the past few years has played a key role in bringing the Media, Marketing and Advertising community together and I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to serve as President. On behalf of our new team and management committee we would like to thank Srinivasan K Swamy for his stellar leadership over the past few years and we look forward to serving the ever changing needs of the marketing and advertising fraternity as India is at the cusp of a digital transformation that will impact all aspects of life.â€
The first Managing Committee meeting conducted immediately after the AGM, coopted additional members as per IAA Constitution. They were: I Venkat, CEO – Eenadu, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India & CEO – South East Asia, Director – Posterscope, Aegis Media Group.
In addition, the following senior professionals were invited to be part of the Committee: Srinivasan K Swamy, Immediate Past President, IAA and Chairman RK Swamy BBDO, Kaushik Roy, President – Brand Strategy & Marketing Communication, Reliance Industries Ltd, Pradeep Guha, Managing Director – 9XMedia Pvt Ltd, Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director – Madison Communications Pvt Ltd, Ramesh Narayan, Founder, Canco Advertising Pvt Ltd and Raj Nayak, Chief Executive Officer – Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd. More members are likely to be inducted in a few weeks.
And here’s what some of the officebearers had to say:
Monica Tata: “I am humbled and honoured to have been given this opportunity and I am looking forward to be part of the next phase of IAA under the new leadership.â€
Pradeep Dwivedi:  “There has never been a better time for our industry to evolve and transform itself. I am keenly looking forward to working with industry leaders to sustain the rich legacy of past IAA initiatives and contribute to new ones.â€
Kaushik Roy: “In the last four years under the able leadership of Mr Srinivasan Swamy, IAA India Chapter has witnessed tremendous energy and dynamism. With Mr Neeraj Roy, a luminary in the digital world, as the new President, India is on a good wicket to grow stronger in the coming years. One can also expect great momentum and healthy growth in the advertising industry across the Asia Pacific region. With strengthened senior level representation from India and the Asia Pacific, IAA globally is well poised to support and nurture the interests of the advertising, marketing and media fraternity. I wish the newly elected India Chapter Management Committee a very successful term. It will be my endeavour to forge strong ties in the region and across the world.â€
Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the acquisition of Fractal Ink Design Studio Pvt Ltd (“Fractalâ€), a leading experiential design studio which will join the network’s digital agency – Isobar, and be rebranded as “Fractal Ink Design Studio – Linked By Isobarâ€. The acquisition will add scale to the agency’s expertise in mobility and user experience. In addition, it will bring together a team of a thousand digital experts, one of the largest in India, including the combined Isobar team and the existing network digital brands iProspect, WATConsult and Dentsu Webchutney, notes a communiqué.
Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN hosted its annual One-DAN conference in Dubai last week. The annual seminar saw over 700 managers assemble under one roof to foster collaboration and partnership amongst the network’s group agencies.
