MxMIndia

Tag: Dentsu Aegis Network

  • WatConsult Founder and CEO Rajiv Dhingra talks on his growth journey as his agency celebrates 10 years of existence

    Dentsu Aegis is the most liberal network…

     

    It’s celebration time at digital and social media WatConsult. The Rajiv Dhingra-promoted agency which is is now part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, completes a decade today, started on a modest note 10 years back. But from a team of four then to over 280 now and a roster of having worked with over 150 brands and over 100 awards, WatConsult has indeed come a long way. Dhingra, Founder and CEO of the agency, took some time off with MxMIndia a fortnight back to reminisce his early days and the journey. Excerpts from an interview…

     

    As you look back would you have taken the same route that you did finally… from the time you have started WatConsult to what it is now?

    To be very honest, I didn’t think and that’s probably the best thing I did. I didn’t think about the future at all. I lived moment-to-moment. Let me start by, when I even started WATconsult, it was a client at of PR event happened to tell me that we are looking for some blogger solutions. Can you come and talk us about it?  I was a blogger before that.  It so happened that I saw an opportunity, a window to make a business and I acted on it.  And that’s what set up the first client and an advance payment of four lakh which became the seedfund for WatConsult.

     

    Which at that time was huge.

    Yes.  For a 21-year-old, yes.

     

    What you would have done if you hadn’t started WATconsult?

    Funnily, I was running WATblog and wanted to scale it as a media thing and it was doing well. The blog was doing well, but it was not making any money.  If I would have failed at that too, I would have probably would have take a job in digital marketing or advertising or something like that.  Knowing myself, I would just keep dabbling, because I have not worked in a job anywhere in my life.  Right out of college, I had started something called jobsforfreshers.com.  I had a registered private limited which failed miserably after one-and-a-half years.  It earned decent popularity, but at that times dotcoms were not… So that was my first startup and WatConsult happens to be my second commercial venture if you don’t consider WatBlog as a commercial venture.  You can consider it a hobby because I really didn’t end up monetising it too much.

     

    Except that it helped you …. 

    Get a lot of respect because I was able to bring together a community of writers. Iin general I think I read a lot and that created a very strong base for my understanding of the digital space.  I spoke to so many people, I handled so many events  that at 21 you are like a sponge, you just absorb everything and your mind starts making those connections much later.  So that foundation kept me in a very good space to actually get into WatConsult and do a decent job at a young age.

     

    What did your parents think about it?

    When I started my first company, jobsforfreshers, my father thought I had gone mad.  I have done a job.  I did a campus placement for exactly 21 days and I quit that and I

     

    They must have been aghast?

    My dad who use with the Reserve Bank of India was mortified.  But I must tell you one thing, my dad is very liberal.  He is someone who doesn’t force himself on anyone.  So he kept telling me this is wrong but he eventually did register the company along with me.  He was the other director.  So I ended up starting jobsforfreshers so for one year he just saw me do this job site and hardly make any money.  I made Rs 2 lakh over one year.  For a fresher it was not bad…

     

    Yes, in 2005, 2 lakh was not a bad amount 

    For over a year selling job postings and all of that.  So that’s what laid the foundation because I marketed that job site that gave me an insight into digital marketing.  Then I read a lot due to WatBlog and met a lot of digital guys.  I would go to every event and expose myself and then I got this client…

     

    Who?

    It was Rediff.  Very kind of Mr Ajit Balakrishnan, never forget him.  Never forget your first client.

     

    To get business from Ajit Balakrishnan is very good because he is very discerning. 

    Yeah.   My first pitch in my life for WatConsult, I got feedback this is brilliant.  So it was not bad for a 21-year-old to stand in front of Ajit Balakrishnan and hear that and then get a fairly large amount as an advance.  I insisted on it because I had just Rs 3000 in my account.  So I didn’t have any money to do what I was claiming that I could do.

     

    So how many people working with you at that time?

    Nothing.  I had zero people because WatBlog was all freelancers working for free because they had passion for digital.  I was a 21, and working out of home.  I just had a laptop and a pitch that I did to Rediff and suddenly I was four lakhs richer and that’s when I started the company.

     

    So from one person to what you are now 

    280 plus almost touching 300.

     

    It’s a huge journey.  As you look back, obviously the first Rediff client was a huge milestone and an entry point. What do you think was your turning point?

    I don’t have one, but two to three turning points after the entry point.  I think the first turning point after the entry point was the crash of 2008.  While I knew digital advertising or I knew I was creative enough, I was enthusiastic enough, I was reading enough to be able to advise others or to work with brands, but I was not a businessman.  There is a difference.  Business is not about skills.  It is about financial discipline as well.

     

    You hit the 2008 crunchjust two years after starting up?

    Yes.  I hit it hard.  Because I realised a lot of my clients were projects, a lot of them like 20% of my business was via other agencies.  My cash flows were not in shape.  And that’s when I hit it hard.  I was 15 people in 2008 October and I had to lay off almost the entire team in three months because I just couldn’t pay them.  I had to take a personal loan of Rs 5 lakh, which I did not, but my sister took because I had no credibility at 23. Soon I did six events which was around WatBlog.  That’s the only money WatBlog made throughout its journey which were through events.  I did WatSummits and I did WatBlog panels.  And I did this thing called WAT mix up, WATblog Wednesdays.  So, WATblog Wednesdays and WATblog panels, I did six or seven of them and saved about six-seven lakhs in three months. I put together a three member team again in January 2009 and I sort-of rebooted.  I never shut the company because I had one client that was paying me a retainer of around 80-90 thousand, which I was servicing personally.

     

    Who was that?

    That was TimesofMoney guys at that point in time.  They had no clue that there was no company at the backend for three months.  Nobody had a clue.  You don’t go and announce these things.  They were paying me and I was delivering everything that they were asking for.

     

    2008 was one milestone.  What else?

    I think after that the big milestone was in 2010-11 when we started working with the big brands – P&G, Godrej.  That gives us experience.  Tillthat time we were not working with that big brands who have global creatives or who bring all the mainline agencies together in a room and discuss.  We had decent clients.  We had media clients like Warner Brothers and Neo cricket.  But these were not clients that had big budgets, big thinking, TV campaigns.  They didn’t have that kind of stuff.  We had a few others as well along with this.

     

    2011 was the big year 

    Yeah, 2010-2011.

     

    What next?

    I think post that, the biggest milestone was obviously in January 2015 when we looked to partner with the Dentsu Aegis Network.  That really gave us a global exposure.  I went abroad quite a bit.  I learnt how they function globally.  I think most acquisitions tend to take away more than they tend to add.  In our case thankfully they have added more than they have taken away.  To give you a sense, over the last two years we’ve gone from four global brands for whom we handled the India mandate to 26 global brand for whom we handle the India mandate.  These are not coming from the group though but the fact that we are a part of Dentsu Aegis Network we get an entry into clients much easier than an independent group.  There is a difference.

     

    As you look back, professionally what has been most satisfying experience?

    I can think of a few of them.  Let me mention around the 2010-2011 period, when we were working with both Godrej and P&G, I realised that I could take on the big agencies creatively. It dawned on me that we could be here for a really long time, because with all due respect, I didn’t see that I couldn’t either figure or better the work done by the big agencies who worked on that account.

     

    If you ever think of something that you would possible relook, if you had a chance to get back and possibly tweak it a bit, is there something that you would think that you would like to redo?  A Ctrl-Z?

    Nothing.  I think all of it was necessary for my learning.  So I can say that I would like to redo this but I don’t regret that because it happened.  Everything has a timing and that timing is very important.  Only after you fall, do you learn to walk a certain distance.

     

    Was there any fail that taught you a big lesson?

    There were several.  We did lose P&G.  That was due to some errors that the team made.  But P&G happened to us at a time when we were growing. It was too large a client for a small agency like 40-50 people for us to leave everything and focus on that client and leave the growth that were getting from the market.  So in a way, in hindsight, it is great that we lost P&G and we didn’t have it continuing with us because at that time it was a large part of our business.

     

    You are on a roll, 280-300 staff, a hundred-plus clients. Are there things that would possiblygive you sleepless nights? 

    Yes.  Definitely.  I think there are two kinds of worries; one is the worry of future growth as to where do we go from here how do we scale on because we are scaled and we don’t want to stagnate.  What keeps my blood flowing is the fact that I see growing numbers and growth in general.  How do you scale on a scaled agency? How do you scale qualitatively, how you scale in quantity?  That is definitely one aspect that keeps me thinking.  Then there’s recognition.  We believe that we are doing a lot of good work, but a lot of good work doesn’t get packaged well.  When I went to Cannes this year, I saw how they function.  I have realised that they do less but do great justice to each piece of work.  I think that is something that we want to learn and imbibe to at least 20 to 30% of the work that we do.  It is not that all the work need to be packaged that well.  Some of it is run-of-the-mill.  But then out of that work, there is 10% of our work which if packaged well, will put us on the global map as an agency.  That is definitely something that keeps you wake at night as to how do I crack that.  I think that the other thing in terms of operations, the sleepless thing would be, is when you become this large, a sort of hierarchy, bureaucracy and a slowness sets in and what has been our most emphatic USP is our agility as an agency both in responding to clients, in acting on trends, in acting on real-time insults because we started out as a social media specialist but over time we now have full-scale services.

     

    How do you ensure that you continue to stay in nimble and agile?

    You empower.  The problem with the lack of nimbleness is, in larger organisations is as you get large, in fear of mistakes you tend to create layers and layers of approvals. I think the only layer of approval that is needed is on the commercial side in our business.  On the creative side, on the visual side, on the work side you need to empower people to believe in themselves and to take decisions.

     

    Commercial approval… trait of a first generation entrepreneur

    I have never been someone who likes to keep all things to myself. If that was the case I would have started something called Rajiv Dhingra and Consultants.  I have started WatConsult.  It stands for Web Advertising Technology.  Yes, initially a lot of the company was known by my name.  Today nobody knows me.  If you get called for pitches not because somebody has heard me at a conference, you get called for pictures because of the work that people have seen of WatConsult.  The brand WatConsult has by far overtaken Brand Rajiv Dhingra.  That was always my

     

    But the reason that you got acquired the reason that you got known was because of the enthusiasm and the dexterity that you brought to the table.  Is there a fear that you might possibly lose that?

    Not at all.  That is why we invest in young talent.  Young talent by de facto comes with enthusiasm.

     

    But they also make errors?

    That’s  alright.  Errors are good errors to learn from. For them to learn and for us to learn as well. There are two parts to it.  They can’t make errors that can easily be avoided given our pool of internal knowledge.  They’ll make new errors which is good.

     

    Looking forward, what do you think is the road ahead?  Does it worry you that there are various mini WatConsults coming up?

    Not at all.

     

    Some of the large players are also getting into the same thing.

    It doesn’t worry me at all.  In fact, when our team get poached into younger companies or smaller companies or larger companies, in either case, that tells me two things.  One, we are still ahead of the game because younger companies want our people.  They are not trying to hire from somewhere else.  They are trying to hire us.  It means our people are good enough to work in agile startup companies and when larger companies hire our people, I look at it from the standpoint that they must have that kind of quality and maturity that a larger agency wants to hire them.

     

    That’s good to say but the reality is that the larger agencies, larger creative agencies, larger media agencies are now getting into digital and social media.  Does that worry you?  Is there a fear that it can take away potential business?  

    No.  Our job is to be ahead of the learning curve.  That’s what we have tried to do over time.  We started with social media in 2007, we started video production in two years.  Video now is very big.  It took us time to grow in each one of these things.  We have done well with that.  In fact, if we do lose some clients, it’s great to have that because at this point, I  am at a position where I can command a change within my agency instantly if I see an opportunity to do that.

     

    But since you are a part of a network, can you do that?

    Yes, because Dentsu Aegis  is the most liberal network out there.  There are no operational guidelines… from the standpoint of nobody interferes into how I run the agency.  There is financial reporting and there is IT compliance.  What laptop you use and what software runs on it has nothing to do with how you run the business.

     

    Any goals for 2017?  It is crazy to even ask you for the next 10 years.  So any goals for the next 18 months?

    Definitely. I think from a growth standpoint view compared to last year, we will be doing almost a 100% growth in net revenue this financial year. We would at least want it to be in the higher double digits next year which is 60 to 70% growth next year.  That is financially.  Talking about brands, I can’t tell you the brand name, but we just won the Asia Pacific mandate for a global brand.  So that is great validation of the kind of value that we are bringing to the table.  The third thing would be definitely global recognition through awards.  We are making a conscious effort.  We have a creative training workshop with a global trainer who has trained global agencies, who is coming and training us, who is coming to India for the first time actually.  No other Indian agency has gone through that creative training.  There have been agencies in Eastern Europe, Western Europe that have gone through that training, in US and South East Asia.  So that the first time we are investing and that’s a sizeable investment as you would appreciate to have that kind of creative training happening so that people can think in a global fashion.  There may be applications with Indian clients they may not be applications with Indian clients.  The exposure is important.  I think the only way I have learnt is through exposing myself to the industry in a big way and to very opportunity given.  So, I went to Cannes this year,  the Consumer Electronics Show… so that all the technology, best of technology is there.  In the same way, I would want my team to have all the opportunity to expose themselves both to creative and technology and other things so that they can grow and come up with bigger ideas, which is why we invested in virtual reality.  We have an HTC Vive device and an Oculus device inhouse.  It’s not that clients are dying to use them.  But VR is very interesting.  It is an interesting growth story that is happening globally.  Apple is surely going to get into VR.  I want to make sure that my team at least has all the exposure that somebody sitting on a London, New York, Sydney may have and maybe even more than that and certainly cutting edge exposure as far as digital is concerned.

     

    So 70% growth in the next year?

    Yes.  Would love to do that.

     

    And in terms of team size?

    I think we will definitely be close to 400 people.

     

  • The account will be handled by the agency's Bengaluru office

    Dentsu Webchutney bags digital mandate for Swiggy

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network’s digital agency, Dentsu Webchutney, has won the social and digital marketing mandate for food ordering and delivery start-up – Swiggy, following a multi-agency pitch. The account will be handled by the agency’s Bengaluru office.

     

    Said Srivats TS, Vice President – Marketing, Swiggy: “By bridging the gap between restaurants and consumers, it’s our mission to completely change the way India orders and eats food. We’ve always put consumers first, bringing benefits such as fast deliveries, innovative product features like live tracking of your order and ordering without a minimum price cap. Now, with Dentsu Webchutney on board, we aim to move the graph forward on the brand side by communicating our proposition strongly to our consumers.”

     

    Commenting on the news, Gautam Reghunath, Senior Vice President and Branch Head, DenstuWebchutney – Bangalore, says, “Here’s a great home-grown product competing in an exciting category and a team with an ambitious vision for it. Swiggy is ubiquitous in our everyday life, almost a habit to us. We’re thrilled at the opportunity to create some truly memorable work for them and help establish Swiggy as a passion brand across India. Both sets of teams have discovered great synergies over the last few weeks and now we go forward together – full steam. 2017 looks exciting already.”

     

  • With the Fractal acquisition, DAN develops a formidable digital force amongst media services networks in India

    Yet another acquisition for Dentsu Aegis Network as it nets UI/UX shop, Fractal

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the acquisition of Fractal Ink Design Studio Pvt Ltd (“Fractal”), a leading experiential design studio which will join the network’s digital agency – Isobar, and be rebranded as “Fractal Ink Design Studio – Linked By Isobar”. 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.

     

    Established in 2010, Fractal specialises in user experience and user interface design (UI/UX) and digital design strategy services for major clients including Aditya Birla Group, Raymond, Idea group, MetLife, Times Network and Axis Bank. It is amongst the top three largest design studios in India, boasting 65 digital experts operating from Mumbai and Bengaluru, the communiqué adds.

     

    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.”

     

    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.”

     

  • The annual seminar saw over 700 managers assemble under one roof to foster collaboration and partnership

    Dentsu conducts overseas training conference for employees in Dubai

    By A Correspondent

     

    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.”

     

  • The chairman of the Dentsu Aegis Network is the recipient of the coveted MxMIndia yearend award

    Announcing: The 2016 MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year: Ashish Bhasin

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari [Updated]

    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!

  • That was the underlying them as a cross-section talk of how to profit from the mobile-first Indians

    Going mobile-first via Facebook

     

    By Santosh Jangid

     

    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.”

     

    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.”

     

    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.”

     

    “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.

     

  • Dentsu Webchutney won the account following a multi-agency pitch after contending against four other agencies that participated in the pitch

    Dentsu Webchutney wins D’Decor’s digital mandate

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Webchutney, the digital agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has bagged the digital mandate for D’Décor. As part of the mandate, the agency will handle duties for D’Décor across the social and digital media. This includes media planning and buying.

     

    Dentsu Webchutney won the account following a multi-agency pitch after contending against four other agencies that participated in the pitch, notes a communiqué. The account will be handled from the agency’s Mumbai office.

     

    Said Nikita Desai, Vice President – Strategy and New Business, D’Décor: “We are happy to welcome Dentsu Webchutney on board. We areat a juncture where we will write the digital chapter of our business. In this, we have taken strong & conscious steps to remodel the business to see clear ROIs from online sales. Over the next few months, you will see a dramatically expanded digital footprint. Our partner of choice for this endeavour is Dentsu Webchutney”

     

    Said Roopesh Shah, Senior Vice President and Branch Head, Dentsu Webchutney Mumbai: “When we took on the challenge to pitch for D’Décor, we went in knowing fully well that we are pitching for a business that is deeply creative in it’s own right and the world’s largest at that. We pulled all our resources and it is thrilling that we have come out winning. The icing on the cake was the way teams on both sides connected. We found strategic fitments at multiple nodes and levels of our offerings. While this is a fantastic victory for Webchutney, we see it as an opportunity for us to work with D’Décor as One DAN (Dentsu Aegis Network) and really deliver on all those service nodes and levels.”

     

  • MICA, The Delhi School of Communication and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies emerge as winners at the first edition of ‘WAT’s your Big Idea’

    MICA wins WATConsult’s big ideas hunt

     

     

    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.”

     

    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.”

     

    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.”

     

     

    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: 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.

     

     

     

  • Named Binary, this latest service from the Vizeum stable, aims to bridge the gap and provide the right mix between the old world learnings and new-age solutions

    Vizeum launches Binary Consulting Service for digital transformation

    By A Correspondent

     

    Vizeum, the full-service media agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has launched a media consultancy service in India in an attempt to help mainstream media companies adapt and transform for the new-age digital ecosystem.

     

    Named Binary, this latest service from the Vizeum stable, aims to bridge the gap and provide the right mix between the old world learnings and new-age solutions.

     

    Binary will cover customizable and dynamic modules under two key areas – the Transition and the Transformation roadmap.

     

    “In this age of media disruption, the mainstream media companies have no option but to transform. The new milieu is unlike what we have experienced in the past and needs a fresh perspective. The consumer-media interface is at a tipping point even as the youth of India continue to consume news and content through newer platforms. Clearly, the need to have and follow a transformation roadmap is but inevitable. And yet, few companies have one,” says Shripad Kulkarni, MD, Vizeum India.

     

    “There is still time and opportunity for mainstream media to capitalize on their strengths. But it needs a ‘refresh’ strategy to be absolutely relevant to Young India and to the digital brands that target them. The transition must be consistent and lead them into a Transformation Vision Roadmap,” he added.

     

    Binary Transition will cover the four modules – RevenueMax (New Age Pricing and Sales Strategies for revenue maximisation) True 3600 (Holistic, Marcom Strategy to be relevant in the new milieu), Trainware (Getting the team trained and ready for the New Age challenges) and Sales Assist (Technology based real time sales support).

     

    Binary Transform covers the sequential modules – Digital Audit, Content Strategy, “The New Company” and Strategic Road Map for Digital Transformation.

     

  • The digital and social media agency has associated with more than 20 educational institutes, leading brands and brings on board 8 jury members

    WATConsult launches digital ideation competition for collegians

    By A Correspondent

     

    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.”

    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.”

     

    Disclosure: MxMIndia is partnering WATConsult for this competition

     

  • Text and video interviews with DAN South Asia Chairman & CEO Ashish Bhasin and Happy co-founders Kartik Iyer and Praveen Das

    Happy days for Dentsu Aegis Network!

     

    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? 

    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.

     

  • Prior to this Gautam Mehra was Vice President – Social Media at iProspect, a Dentsu Aegis Network company

    Dentsu appoints Gautam Mehra as Chief Data Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Gautam Mehra

    Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the launch of Data Sciences in India In an attempt to help clients and marketers understand and predict the influences of human behaviour on media and advertising. Data Sciences has been designed to effectively catalyse the decryption and interpretation of the overwhelming amount of data that agencies within the Dentsu Aegis Network explore and exploit every single day to drive efficiencies for its clients. Meanwhile, the team will also face clients directly and come up with customized solutions for them.

     

    Led by Gautam Mehra, Chief Data Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network India along with Vivek Bhargava, CEO, iProspect India, the division houses a capable team of economists, statisticians and computer scientists. Apart from driving efficiencies within the network, the team will come up with data driven solutions to solve complex problem of clients, help effective data management within the group and that of the client and will work with all the network companies to bring Data, Analytics and Technology together to provide business intelligence at the click of a button. Prior to this, Mehra was Vice President – Social Media at iProspect, a Dentsu Aegis Network company.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Commenting on the launch, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope& MKTG Asia Pacific said, “In order to take a leadership position in managing the ever-growing Data requirements for our clients, we have invested in a team of experts, led by Gautam, who will use technology to bring Data and Analytics together. We want to invest ahead of the curve as leaders in the Digital Marketing services to ensure that Dentsu Aegis Network clients in India get the best-in-class Data Management solutions, of a world standard. Vivek Bhargava will be the executive sponsor for the team and this will help us further strengthen our position in Digital Marketing services.”

     

    He added, “With Gautam and the team, we are welcoming the avenues of smarter marketing by not just providing our clients with data, but also giving them tools  that can help them make better business decisions.”

     

    Vivek-Bhargava

    Expressing his view on the new initiative, Vivek Bhargava, CEO, iProspect India said, “Data rests at the centre of all brand marketing in modern times. The new-age marketer keenly studies customer action and envisions disruptive products and campaign communication in accordance. It was a no-brainer therefore that as a network that leads in digital capabilities, we had to own a data division that adds immense value to our client campaigns across categories, in-turn boosting business achievements. This is definitely a sign of exciting times ahead.”

     

    Said Mehra, “Digital plays a critical role in the evolution of marketing. Data is being generated everywhere, that too volumes and volumes of it. The first challenge was to measure and collect it. The second obstacle to store data, which resulted in concepts like the cloud. And the third hurdle was to analyse and fructify it. And that’s where the need for a data team came into place. At Dentsu Aegis Network, we believe that data is a multiplier, not just a layer and needs to be analysed in milliseconds. Our Data labs consist of contemporary propriety tools that will positively provide effective and practical solutions to clients. I’m thrilled to be given this unique opportunity and certain that the data division will see great success.”