Dentsu India has announced the launch of DAN Prism, a unique video planning and insights tool that provides a single audience view across television and digital.
DAN Prism overlays the consumption pattern of the digital consumers on Facebook, YouTube and programmatic video with BARC to provide rich audience insights. These insights are then used for planning and activation through a single reach curve across all media platforms in a matter of minutes using a series of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms.
Gautam Mehra
Speaking on the launch, Gautam Mehra, Chief Data Officer – Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia said: “In the ever-changing media landscape, we are experiencing a golden age of Video Consumption in India with fantastic content and platforms. The proliferation of smart devices is changing the way consumers consume content. Today India boasts of 800+ TV channels watched by 780 million Indians. There are nearly 100 million subscribers to OTT platforms and nearly 260 million online video watchers in the country. Evidently, multi-screening has become a part of the natural video consumption habit of the average Indian. One of Dentsu Aegis’ core objectives today is to deliver a proprietary, audience-first approach to video planning that maximizes client investment across TV and digital video. The idea here is always to harness the true power of data. DAN Prism is just one more step in that direction.â€
Rajni Menon
Added Rajni Menon, CEO, Carat India: “The TV viewing landscape of the country is swiftly changing owing to the mushrooming of a large number of OTT players, better connectivity and increased smart-phone penetration. As a country, we are now spending a lot more time watching video content. A large part of this is done on the mobile and on tablets. DAN Prism serves to be a powerful tool that reflects people’s behaviours today, enabled by convergence.â€
For nearly a year Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of the Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia, has been saying that he is working towards DAN being the #2 agency network in the country. What Bhasin hasn’t spelt out in so many words on record is that he is looking at making DAN as second only to the WPP group, and displacing IPG, short for the Interpublic Group.
Earlier today (Wednesday, Feb 15), we received a mail from the corporate communications team at DAN with a communique making the claim. On record, via a communique. This is a claim that has been dismissed by many in the industry who MxMIndia spoke with as one without any basis. MxMIndia hasn’t looked at the numbers directly and we weren’t able to get official numbers to prove or reject the claims.
List of Companies/Brands within IPG & DAN
(as per information received from the communications teams of two groups)Â
INTERPUBLIC GROUP (IPG)
1. Lodestar UM
2. Initiative
3. Interactive Avenues
4. Reprise
5. Rapport
6. Ansible
7. Magna Global
8. Mullen Lintas
9 Lowe Lintas
10. LinOpinion
11. dCell
12. LinConsult
13. LinEngage
14. GoLinOpnion
15. LinProdcution
16. Linteractive
17. McCann WorldGroup
18. MRM/McCann
19. Momentum
20. McCann Health
21. Craft
22. Weber Shandwick
23. FCB Ulka
24. FCB Interface
25. FCB Interactive
26. FCB Healthcare
27. FCB Cogito Consulting
28. FCB Asterii
29. FCB Aquila
30. FCB Neon Brand PR
DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK (DAN)
1. Carat
2. Vizeum
3. Dentsu Media
4. iProspect
5. Isobar
6. WAT Consult
7. Taproot Dentsu
8. Dentsu Webchutney
9. Dentsu Impact
10. Dentsu One
11. Posterscope
12. Brandscope
13. Ambient
14. Hyperspace
15. Milestone Brandcom
16. The Story Lab
17. Dentsu India
18. Fountainhead MKTG
19. Happy mcgarrybowen
20. Perfect Relations
21. Fractal
But first let’s look at what DAN is claiming. Here are excerpts from the communique:
Dentsu Aegis Network has entered the top two bracket of the Indian advertising space to become the # 2 Agency Group in India. With this, Dentsu Aegis Network has now overturned for the first time the existing rankings, which have historically been in place for over 80 years in this country.
Despite being a late entrant in the Indian advertising space, Dentsu Aegis Network today is the fastest growing agency network for three years in a row. The group has steadfastly helmed some of the industry’s most successful acquisitions in the recent years includingthat of Milestone Brandcom, Dentsu Webchutney, Taproot Dentsu, iProspect (Communicate2), WATConsult, Fountainhead MKTG, Perfect Relations, Happy Mcgarrybowen and Fractal Ink. This has, in turn,not only helped it aggressively scale up its operations organically and inorganically in India but also expand itself to a 3000+ people network. It is pertinent to note here that the latest Fractal acquisition has now brought together a team of over 1,000 digital experts inside DAN, the largest in India, including the combined Isobar team and the existing network digital brands iProspect, WATConsult and Dentsu Webchutney.
Meanwhile, with Posterscope and Milestone Brandcom under its umbrella, Dentsu Aegis Network is not just the leader but a dominant player in the OOH space in India. It is also home to the most sought-after creative agencies of the country, the biggest social media agency in India and has the most comprehensive marketing communication offerings under its unique One P&L philosophy.
In the past year, Dentsu Aegis Network India took a huge leap with dramatic improvement in scale, making India a key contributor towards Denstu Aegis Network’s global revenue growth. While the business in India grew 300% of the market growth, the network went on to win some of the largest accounts in India, include Mondelez, Maruti (digital and creative), Carlsberg, Nokia, Microsoft, General Motors, British Airways, Allied Blenders, MasterCard, Sony, Hindustan Times, Panasonic and several other key accounts in the past two years. Digital business grew by 250% (industry average 30%) and OOH advertising by over 150% (industry average 6.1%). The network’s turnover growth stands at a 102% (Industry average 11%) while its revenue growth is over 100%.
This is what Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia, said in the communique:  “We are delighted to have overturned 80 years of history. I stuck my neck out and publicly announced our ambition and my superb team worked hard and smart to deliver what then looked like an impossible target, well ahead of time. We will use the rest of 2017 to further consolidate our position because from here onwards the top slots of this industry are likely to be, more and more, a two-horse race… We have changed the paradigm in our industry and will continue to strive to ensure that we keep raising the bar to global standards as we march towards a Digital India.â€
The worry is that given that since none of the ad agency majors are listed, the numbers aren’t public. Also, the balance sheets filed with the Registrar of Companies are as of March 2016, and so current numbers aren’t official, but only on the basis of what DAN may present.
Many observers and senior people in the industry we spoke with in the last few weeks and since this morning are wondering why DAN got into the numbers war, when they don’t really matter in advertising since one is looking at the quality of work. It’s almost like mine’s bigger than yours, said one CEO.
We asked Bhasin on whether he needed to do it all. After all, the industry has taken note of the rise and rise of the Dentsu Aegis Network. It has been winning business steadily (at the time of writing, there is news that the group has also bagged the Maruti Media AOR aggregating around Rs 400 crore), and it’s no longer a poor cousin of the various agencies. Agreed it’s not won big in the media awards or the Effies, but in the creative awards, the agencies have been fairing well. So why make this claim, and get into a tu tu-main main?
Bhasin says it was necessary as it was an impossible target he had set for himself and this was a celebration of the achievement. The big thing, he said as in the official communique, is that it has changed 80 years of ranking… It was exceedingly difficult, Bhasin told us given that DAN has started out late and with no major base.
However, industry observers say that if you compare the work and revenues, it’s difficult to believe IPG is lagging behind DAN. The agencies of IPG – in the MullenLoweLintas Group, McCann and FCB Ulka still have big clients. And even factoring in the loss of a Maruti, Mediabrands is ahead of Carat and Dentsu Media.
In terms of staffing DAN may be ahead given that digital typically is employee-intensive, but that we are told is not consequential.
Our attempts to interact with the IPG group in India were unsuccessful as the group doesn’t have a collective leadership. However, we did speak informally to some senior to mid-level employees in the group as well as well as some independent observers, and they were dismissive of the claim. Not yet, and not for long is what we were told.
Clearly, we haven’t heard the last of this war of oneupmanship initiated by Dentsu Aegis Network. The worry is whether in the process the agency business – which is already experiencing some rough weather – will be a loser. And will get used by marketers to be beaten down in margins and profits.
Asia Pacific Effie Awardshas named Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia CEO Ashish Bhasin as jury head for the 2017 edition of the APAC Effie Awards.
Commenting on the appointment, Bhasin said: “I am very pleased to accept the invitation to be the Head of Jury at the APAC Effie 2017. It gives me a great opportunity to see some of the best work around the region, across markets as well as to interact with some of the best minds in our business. I look forward to APAC Effie 2017 being a grand success.â€
Also appointed to the jury is Jean-Paul Burge, Chairman and CEO of BBDO Asia.
Now in the fourth year, the APAC Effie is recognised by agencies and marketers to be the most prestigious and ‘must-enter’ effectiveness awards in the region. It celebrates ideas that work and honours marketing communications that have achieved the most significant results.
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€
Transformation appears to be in the air at Dentsu Aegis Network’s Dentsu Branded Agencies. In a move to help clients better leverage the capabilities of a global network, Dentsu Aegis Network has realigned agencies across several countries under three groupings.
Consequently, Dentsu Communications will now be known as Dentsu India, Dentsu Marcom will be Dentsu One and Dentsu Creative Impact will be known as Dentsu Impact. Taproot Dentsu and Dentsu Webchutney remain unchanged.
Ashish Bhasin
Said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network, India & South Asia: “This new nomenclature is a first step towards expanding and reinforcing the global and regional services we provide our clients in India. It will help us serve our global clients better as well as acquire more new business.â€
Commenting further, Bhasin said, “We are consolidating our capabilities under a global agency network, with a uniform identity across markets, in order to strengthen the coordination across our network and expand the high quality service we consistently provide. The most important ingredient in creating innovation in an ever-changing environment is collaboration. This realignment will fuel, just that in newer, more efficient ways. This will help us further accelerate the tremendous success that Dentsu Branded Agencies have experienced in India over the last year, including the spectacular performance at Goafest awards and in the area of new business.â€
However, while some names may change, but leadership or teams at the individual units stay unchanged. Simi Sabhaney will continue as CEO and Vipul Thakkar as NCD of Dentsu India, Harjot Narang as President and Titus Upputuru as NCD of Dentsu One, and Amit Wadhwa as President and Soumitra Karnik as NCD of Dentsu Impact. Meanwhile, Narayan Devanathan continues as the Group Executive and Strategy Officer of Dentsu Branded Agencies, India.
L to R: Soumitra Karnik, Kartikeya Srivastava, Amit Wadhwa and Narayan Devanathan
A few years back, not many would have known about Dentsu Creative Impact. But their debut at Goafest 2016 sure got everyone to sit up and take notice. A part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, they won 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 18 Bronze metals across seven categories, which included Radio, Print Craft, Print Single, Direct, Design, Ambient and OOH (Out Of Home advertising). Competing against seasoned industry names, the win did take everyone by surprise. Pradyuman Maheswari speaks to Narayan Devanathan, Group Executive and Strategy Officer, (erstwhile CEO, Dentsu Creative Impact); Amit Wadhwa, President, Dentsu Creative Impact; Kartikeya Srivastava, SVP & Head of Strategic Planning, Dentsu Creative Impact; and Soumitra Karnik, NCD, Dentsu India Group, the men instrumental in making this happen.
23 metals at Goafest, the # 4 creative agency… how it did happen, all of a sudden?
Soumitra Karnik (SK): I think it has been part of the plan. It is not something that has surprised us because we went about it very methodically. In the first few years, we had to stabilise the business side of Dentsu. And then very clearly we defined what the creative product will be eventually. So, even the hiring of the people that we have been doing for the past some time is in line with what we are seeing now.
You all have been around for a while, why did you enter Goafest now and not earlier?
SK: Team structure-wise we were not there very clearly. And when you say Dentsu has been around for a while, we count only the last four years. A lot of people from different agencies came together for a common cause.. There was no single vision or agenda. I think I give credit to Rohit (Ohri), he really brought the people together, from that point, we say, the birth of Dentsu 2.0 started, four years back.
What were the milestones achieved in this journey?
Amit Wadhwa (AW): If you cut to 2012, the basic objective was survival at that point of time.
That was when when Sandeep Goyal moved out?
2011 is when he moved out. Probably it was December, when we came together and obviously that was the year closing also. For all of us it was like, oh, is it a good thing that we have done?
All of you came together despite knowing the fact where Dentsu was….
AW: What we were trying to achieve was something that we could have created history or become history. But we finally did manage to create one. At that time it was a big challenge. Finally, the likeminded stuck together and we managed to pull it off. At that point of time, the basic objective was how do we grow and obviously our business and creative are linked together. The prime importance was we needed to be above floating line, we needed to manage the numbers nicely. We won a lot of businesses in 2012
Kartikeya Srivastava (KS): I was already there in Dentsu and you know everybody came together. To me, it has been a huge turnaround story. The three-four years saw the strengthening the fundamentals and foundation. Having lived in the early 2011 era, it was not even an advertising agency, to be very honest. The key really to our turnaround for me was the instilling of the right culture. It is an organic process and over the three years we have built a strong culture base.
What is the current staff-strength?
110 people at Dentsu Creative Impact (DCI) based out of Gurgaon.
What did you aspire to be eventually?
Narayan Devanathan (ND): Probably not size-wise but focus more on quality.
AW: In terms of numbers, I do not want to go by number of people. But we intend to grow 40% this year. So,we are not stopping on growth in the number front but what we are saying and seeing is that if we are doing well in the creative front, the other bit of growth will automatically come.
Santosh Padhi made a statement at Goafest that, ” Those guys are 2000 people, so many offices. We are 40 people and we got 40 metals and they have got 47″. So, how much does size matter?
SK: It does. I have been part of JWT for a very long time. It is a very strong network, it is a very well-oiled machinery, resources are available. The culture already exists for the past 100-odd years. So, the network support eventually, whether you call it financially or in terms of manpower, it does make a difference.
But in terms of, if metals are the indicators of how good you are, then Taproot has got 40…
All: That is fantastic.
SK: That is the point he was making. If these guys have 2000 people and if 1000 fire, it is still a substantial number.
ND: Eventually it boils down to the focus. Like Amit and Kartik said, last 3-4 years we were about stability. What we like to say is that, this is kind of bungee jumping. If the rope holds, thrill of a lifetime and if it doesn’t, hopefully you won’t feel the pain. But to add to Amit’s point is that, this is a ship that needs turning around and it won’t happen if people are standing on the shore and cheering. It is all hands on deck, power to everybody in the ship. That’s what is happening right now. This is the focus that we are driving towards to push stability. Creative excellence will take us further.
Where does DCI fit into the larger Dentsu portfolio?
ND: Each has an individual identity. Back in 2013, when Taproot became part of the group, we thought of it as a tugboat to pull the ship. But right now, this is more than a tugboat. Creative Impact on its own steam is going to take the Dentsu brand forward. Where we are now, there is enough steam on our own.
What were the surprises like? Was it a “God, these guys exist?”
KS: No, the surprise was that ” Oh god! We never knew these guys would exist”. The fact of the matter is that we were up against biggest agencies in the business. We could pull the rug out of a lot of people’s feet was happening, stood out for DCI.
AW: If you look at what we have been trying to do and what we have been trying to do and what we have done so far, we have managed to surprise. No one expected us to win. We managed to surprise them by winning 80% of the pitches in 2012 itself and managed to hold on to handle one brand of HT, now we handle 4 brands of HT, from 4 brands of Maruti Suzuki to 13 brands of it.
12. Where does DCI stand among other networks and why people should look at you’ll for their brandsand not the others?
ND:. There’s a reason behind it and the reason is that this is the difference in Creative Impact. It continues to be young and the average age is 28. It’s the young being fearless and thinking there’s nothing to lose. Bringing the A game whatever the consequence may be, not being afraid to do the unsafe.
There are agencies which are creatively run and some by suits. What about DCI?
SK: DCI runs creatively.. A simple reason is we all are creative. If one person comes into our thinking sessions, it could be a planning guy cracking an idea, could be an account management guy, it could be anyone. It is a free flowing session. What I say as a creative leader, when we started advertising, none of us said that we want to be an account management guy. We all said we want to be an advertising guy. So, all of us have to be ideas people. The thinking is creatively driven kind of a thing. Ultimately, we all drive towards creating a creative idea.
Is it really that everybody does everything?
AW: I’ll give you an example. We discussed this around 2013.. We had gone into a bit of rhythm, we had managed some numbers, we were stable and we said okay, next what? What should be our positives? What should be our playground? How should we be running the show? All of us are creatively linked. I keep pestering Soumitra with some idea or other, most of them he rejects. So does Kartik. We all have that creative streak. What we decided was that anyone and everyone who comes into the system needs to have that streak. SK: But you’re right that so far it has worked, going forward it might not. Nowadays, people are open. If I were reading the same article you’ll publish, I would be worried that here’s an agency where an account person is meeting the creative person. But it is not as bad as it sounds.
ND: I would be as cynical as you, if I read that. ‘Yaar ek aur agency aagayi, phir wohi baat bol raha hai’. But,two indications. Can’t name the client, as recently as last week, some grey hair and experienced heads were in the room defending this out-of-the-box idea that we had presented to the client. How much logic we put in front of the client , they weren’t buying it. The juniormost writer in the team stood up and said ‘ You know who are you trying to sell this to? You’re trying to sell this to me’. He made an amazing argument and didn’t hesitate to speak up. This is one indication. The other is a ghar wapsi movement. People have switched from our agencies to other agencies and it’s been less than 3 months they said ‘ ‘Acchi jagah nahi hai yeh. Can we come back?’. For us it is a testimony that we’re doing something right.
What is the path ahead?
AW: In terms of numbers we are very clear on how we want to go. But we are selective about what all we are going for. So,what is of prime importance is the set of brands that we have . Usually, what happens is that in the stretch of growing you go on pitching and you start neglecting the existing brands. It’s a conscious decision that we are going to make sure that we deliver on existing brands and obviously grow also. What will talk about us is the work we create.
SK: What could be flattering was that Aggie called up. He was in London that time. He has already set us the next year’s target. He said you guys should be the next Taproot. That’s a clear target, work wise and expectations also in the network,coming from the guy.
Awards are an indicator that you have arrived. How do you think you fare if you were to enter some of your work with Effies?
ND: Honestly, it’s a journey. Part of it is oriented internally to approach so that the data mindset is there. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Effies are the brand put together under case studies rather than work that has been envisioned and has been done. You have a data from an independent firm, that maps the results, which is always not the success seen on ground. Not all of our clients or us are oriented towards working like that.
KS: This is a start. I’ve always felt, professionally, that Effies are a great way to judge, to get recognition. The kind of work that we do today make us a good case.
How are you aligned towards 2017 where Dentsu wants to be the #2 agency network in the country?
SK: I don’t think specifically it would be awards and cut-throat competition and we’ll start doing work only for awards. Have we tasted blood? Yes. Does it add to the expectations of the network? Yes. So, I think we are completely aligned with the vision set in front of us both in terms of business and creative output.
ND: I would like to add what Amit was saying earlier about where next. And I’m coming at it from a not just Creative Impact point of view but specifically, I would like to make it about Creative Impact. One of the things we have going forward, biggest strength is that we are part of the Dentsu Aegis network and therefore the partners that we have within the group driving growth organically, through the networks internally, is the key KRA for all of us. But what Amit has done and this team has done is quietly without talking about it made it work already.
AW: And it’s important what Dentsu Aegis brings to the table, the scope of thinking has widened. We think of an idea and keep the rest for the client to execute. Now we know the intricacies of the other mediums, because we sit together, work together, interact a lot more and the idea is very closely guarded. What we have realised in the last few months is that clients are appreciating that a lot. And, the kind of output we’re getting is far far better. That’s another part of the change that is happening at DCI.
ND: We are lucky to have a creative leader like Soumitra who never starts a meeting by saying TVC banate hain. ‘ Kya idea kya nikalna hain first’ and then it will take form.
The two are a study in contrasts. One, flamboyant, aggressive, very media-friendly, and the other a hardnosed planner, huge believer in research and statistics and understated.
S Yesudas, the marathon-runner and stylish outgoing CEO of Vizeum, is known to be among the most press-friendly media agency captains. The joke is that news on his account wins hit the media even before people in his organisation get to know about it. So even though it will never be known on how the news leaked to e4m, Bhasin, who was leaving for New Delhi on Wednesday evening, was reportedly livid.
Vizeum may have been winning accounts at steady intervals, but Bhasin and the Vizeum worldwide bosses wanted the agency to take a different course. And being an old Carat Chief Operating Officer (Carat is Dentsu Aegis’s flagship media arm), Shripad Kulkarni, who was looking to exit Percept Allied Media, was a natural choice for the India office of the London-headquartered agency. While Yesudas was offered special projects to look at content and analytics, it was clear that he was evaluating options outside the group, including investors if he doesn’t find the right suitor.
Kulkarni requested that he doesn’t want to be drawn into any conversation on the transition. “The sheer dynamism of Vizeum as a brand excites me,” said Kulkarni.
Both Kulkarni and Yesudas will report to Bhasin. Yesudas spoke to MxMIndia and indicated that he is considering options outside the group too. His Facebook post though said it all: “Friends, It has been an incredible 6 years with Vizeum India, starting the company from scratch with a laptop and 100 business cards, without any global clients or automatic alignments, we managed to carve out a niche for ourselves. ”
And it added: “After two decades of media planning and buying which included setting up successful/ profitable businesses both in India and overseas, all those organisations going on to winning many awards and accolades, helping move many brands up the ladder and touching the lives of many a talents, I thought it was time for me to jump and develop my wings on the way, on two areas which I feel will hold immense potential for the future of brand-consumer connect, CONTENT and ANALYTICS. For those closer to the media business, SoV in my definition is Share of Vision and SoE is Share of Empathy, the former being brand to consumer and later the other way. Wish me all the best and watch this space for more action.”
Kulkarni meanwhile has his work cut out for him. Vizeum may be doing well international as per RECMA ratings, but in India the qualitative assessement is in the negative. Â With more than 30 years of experience across various media specialisations, Kulkarni was until last week, CEO of Percept Allied Media which he founded in 2006. An MBA from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Mumbai, Kulkarni has worked in agencies like Contract, Clarion, Ogilvy and his own entrepreneurial venture called M:ideas. He serves on the Board of media research body MRUC.
Commenting on the appointment, Bhasin said: “With the wealth of experience that Shripad brings in and the thorough knowledge of the business that he has, I am sure Vizeum India will touch new heights under his leadership.”  Some of the clients that Vizeum handles in India include BMW, Lotus Herbals, TI Cycles, MTV, Hindware, Jet Airways, Allied Blenders and Distillers, Luxor and the recently won HDFC Bank  amongst others.
Hours after it emerged that Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO – South Asia of the Dentsu Aegis Network, would take overall charge of the network in India and South Asia, he spoke to Pradyuman Maheshwari on the advantages of an integrated agency network and his plans for the next few years.
Other than you getting overall charge of the Dentsu Aegis Network for South Asia, what does this development mean for your business?
What we’re actually trying to achieve is have just one P/L for the country. We believe we can service the needs of clients seeking special help – be it digital search or social media, in outdoor etc, without the work being done in silos. The legacy creative agencies, each about 100 years’ old, aren’t able to move talent freely. With Dentsu Aegis Network, we are able to do that.
It’s been in the works for some six-odd months now, right?
These things do take time. We are a large organisation now, with 1700 staffers, 700 of who are in digital alone. We have15 standalone companies, four of these being in digital.
Rohit Ohri is looking forward to regional role as CEO, Dentsu APAC (excl Japan)
Rohit Ohri who has moved out of his role as Executive Chairman, Dentsu India and CEO, Dentsu Asia Pacific (South) to a more regional one as CEO, Dentsu Asia Pacific, spoke briefly to MxMIndia.
Having worked 26 years in India, he says this is an opportunity that will help him “see regional brands and look at greater challengesâ€.  “The agencies in India have turned around, we have some strong CEOs handling each agency and the next step was to build a strong regional network and get on board non-Japanese clients,†he said
Ohri moves to Singapore this month, but will be at Cannes Lions later this month and will also take a short vacation. Although he didn’t indicate it to us, most likely he will settle into his new role in July.
As CEO, Dentsu Asia Pacific, Ohri will continue to oversee the five creative agencies currently under him, the head of which will also report to Bhasin.
The reporting of the Dentsu-branded agencies will be quite like the individual agencies at GroupM. Dual reporting – one to your agency regional head and the other to the GroupM head in the country.
Dentsu is known to be a full-service network.
That’s right. The difference between 50-100 years ago and now is earlier it was a bundled offering now, it’s no longer that because we want specialisations. Media and everything is unbundled, each of those businesses have to be standalone. You can’t go to a client and say, just because it’s part of my network, therefore you should use it. You have to go and say because this is the best in class, as it so happens it’s also a part of my network. That whole thing, we’re able to bring it together by this one P/L and that’s the idea of bringing Dentsu Aegis Network together under one management in every country.
Yes, one figured your structure was a lot complicated when we interviewed Rohit Ohri some months back.
For historical reasons, they were two different businesses. No doubt about it. The Aegis media business which I’d brought in to India and the Dentsu business which Rohit was looking after. Now with this merger, we’re going through the entire process of bringing it all together. When a client is talking to us, we will be able to satisfy his/her entire communication and marketing communication-related needs, whether it’s creative, media, outdoor, digital, retail, whatever.
Isn’t there a flipside to the building of the group image given that it’s critical to build each of the individual agency brands to attract competing clients?
It still is the same. They are standalone individuals, separate agencies. Each with their own front-end managers, planners, creative folk. There are some areas where you can take advantage of the collective. For example, in the media area, wherever it’s feasible, we try to bulk up clients together so that our clients get benefit of larger volume. Wherever a benefit can be drawn for our clients, we bring it together. Think of it as a garden with many gates. A client can enter into this garden with any of the gates that they want. Obviously, we try to cross-sell and upsell all our services in the group. But a client has the option to choose one service or several or three which are most relevant to him etcetera. That’s the advantage it gives us. We make sure there are complete Chinese walls between each of the businesses. There’s no commonality on the front end of each. Each has its own managing director.
What are the targets you have set yourself post this integration?
In India, we had a very small and late start. We only had Carat on the Aegis side and Dentsu has also been a relative young network. Our competitors have been here for 90 to 100 years. We have a long way to catch up. I have a clear vision that by the end of 2017, we must be the distinct No 2 group in the country. At the moment, WPP is clearly the largest. IPG is quite big and then there is us, Omnicom and Publicis being roughly of the same size. So, we’re at No 3 today and there are other contenders too. We want to be the distinct No 2 in two-and-a-half years. If we have to do that, it has to be a combination of good organic growth, up-selling and cross=selling all our services to our clients. So, if today a client is buying only media services from us, tomorrow we should be able to bring digital services to him or search to him or creative services. Our own clients who we know well and already have a relationship with, it’s much easier for them to trust us for a larger repertoire.
End-2017 is pretty ambitious.
We’ve been the fastest growing agency group for the last two years. We’ve come a long way from where we were and the way I look at it is that there are still competitors who are a long way ahead of us, so we have to make sure that we don’t look back and we just have to make sure that our growth is disproportionate to the market. We’re growing at least two-and-a-half to three times of the market growth rate. If we can sustain this for another three years or so, we’ll be a very clear No 2 in the market.
But some of the biggest media accounts are still with your competitors.
They are, that’s why we’re still not the market leader. If you look on the media side, for the last seven or eight months, we’ve won the Microsoft business, we’ve won the General Motors, Nokia, British Airways, Allied Blenders, Panasonic, Sony and so on. On the media side alone, we’ve won nearly Rs 2000 crore business in 6-8 months. I don’t think any agency has seen this growth. So, we’re not No. 1, clearly GroupM is. But, we’re by far, the fastest growing and now our scale is significant. So, we hope to keep building on it. Jet Airways came in last year, the number of clients that have come are… of course we have our existing clients and now we’re pulling all our muscle together collectively. We’ve got Dentsu Media, Vizeum and Carat… they’ll continue to be independent agencies because they have independent clients and wherever it’s beneficial for us to pool our volumes together, we’ll try to.
Dentsu Creative is headquartered in Delhi, thanks to Rohit being there. Earlier too, it had a large base in Delhi. Will that shift to Mumbai now?
No, Dentsu has four creative agencies. Two of them were headquartered in Delhi. Taproot Dentsu is in Mumbai, Dentsu Communications has been headquartered in Bengaluru. Dentsu Marcomm and Dentsu Creative Impact have been in Delhi. That will continue exactly like that and each of them will have their head who’re already in place. Simi will continue to head Dentsu Communication. She now reports directly to me. I’m going to be announcing a new Executive Council very soon. Each of the representatives of the media as well as creative agencies will also be members of that and collectively that executive counsel will run the full country.
Are you looking at any second-in-command or a COO for the network?
No, our model is slightly different. We have a managing director or a CEO for each of the businesses and all these heads will all form the Executive Council.
And will you have a centralised buying arm like the CTG of GroupM?
We’ve appointed a trading head in Harsha Joshi and we’ve already started seeing the benefits and our clients are already getting the benefits. Yes, we’ll have a centralised trading. It won’t be a company, the buying and trading will keep happening in the companies but it’ll all be brought together.
Any acquisitions on the anvil. One hears that the Dentsu Aegis Network is hungry for more!
Yes, we are. See, the thing is I’m 90 years late in this market
Dentsu Aegis Network has been slow on the awards front. We don’t see a Carat or Vizeum winning big at the Emvies or the Media Abby
If you notice for the last few years for most of the places, we didn’t really have much of a business in India so our focus was on building the business. Two years ago was the first time when we started entering awards and we said we’ll focus on international rather than the Indian awards. Campaign Asia, we won the agency of the year, South Asia, not just India. The same year, Carat won Gold, Vizeum won Bronze, Isobar got…
So only international awards for you?
Well, all awards matter and Posterscope has won more than 45 or 50 awards already in this year. They’ve swept every award function.
Hmmm, Posterscope is active and so are your digital arms. But your media agencies aren’t
We’re very new to the game. so to speak. It’s only in the last year or two that we’ve even started of entering into awards. We’re so busy building the business and getting it. Going forward, we’ll concentrate a little more. It’ll be on a selective basis. It’s not that we’ll enter every single media award show.
On a personal front, is it good to get back to creative?
Of course. I started off and two-thirds of my career has been in creative. Obviously, there is the thrill and joy of going back to it, looking at good creative work, interacting with creative directors. I think the exciting today is given the technology and business prospects being so vast, how do you take it to the next level?
What’s more fun and creative? The media or creative part of the ad business?
The biggest fun, challenge or opportunity is bringing it together. I don’t think creative or media should work separately from each other. That doesn’t mean I’m saying they should be bundled together. That’s not going to happen. The door is bolted on that one. If we can find a way to make our digital, media and creative agencies work together, we’d have created magic which no one else can. That’s really the philosophy of one P/L , because; today if you look at any agency; somebody creates a campaign, somebody else goes and briefs it to the media and in the end you’re trying to force-fit thing to see how it can be brought together. On the other hand, if you can conceptualise it together, you can really create magic and to me, that’s a big opportunity. That’s the big thing we’re looking for.
Obviously, you’ll now be spending more time on creative than media.
Yes, I will have to, because, for one it’s an area where a lot of activity is happening at the moment. The second thing is that with Rohit’s moving out there’s a little vacuum that I’ll have to step in and fill up on the leadership. The media, outdoor and digtal part of the business is something I am familiar with it so for the next few months, I’ll have to spend more time there.
Are there going to be any new people or any change?
At the moment, we’re not envisaging any new people. There isn’t any immediate change or anything as such, because we have enough people running each of our businesses. But, if opportunities arise, if there are better career prospects and great talent available, we’ll obviously look at adding on. But the structure is in place. I’m in that happy position where I don’t need to make a change at the moment.
The fact that Rohit has moved to Singapore indicates that like is the case in GroupM, you will see people from India also moving to regional roles
Yes, of course! In fact, we believe completely in liquid talent. When I was running South East Asia and South Asia for six years for the Aegis Media part of the business, there were quite a few people who we moved. V S Mani, who runs Carat in Vietnam has moved. Anupriya who runs ZenithOptomedia now used to run my Singapore operations. There are tonnes of examples of people who’ve moved up and down. We’ve actively encouraged that and we’ll definitely have much more of that. I think Indian managers are best in class! We completely underestimate them. There will always be a very high demand for Indian managers, because they are of such good quality. But, however, you do have to respect the sentiments of the country you’re in. It’s a very fine balance you have to keep. Some of our competitors have a problem that they’re seen as Indian mafia in some countries. I hope we never get into that scenario. It’s an issue of balance.
Dentsu Aegis Network exhibited good dominance at the Asian Customer Engagement Forum (ACEF) Awards that was held on April 25 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai.
While Dentsu Aegis Network’s iProspect Communicate 2 was named the Most Admired Agency in ‘digital marketing’, Carat Media Services India/psLive was named the Most Admired Agency in ‘events & promotions’. Posterscope India was named both the Most Admired Agency in ‘out-of-home media’ as well as the most admired customer engaging agency in ‘retail touch points & merchandising’.
Haresh Nayak
Also, Haresh Nayak, Regional Director, Posterscope APAC, was honoured with the Outdoor Advertising Professional of the Year award.
Posterscope India bagged a total of 27 awards including 8 golds, 12 silvers and 5 bronze metals along with the agency titles. It was their work for clients such as Mother Diary, Philips, Nissan, Disney, Mattel, beam Suntory, Datsun and Movies Now that brought home the awards in the following categories – effectiveness, creativity and successful use technology in retail, outdoor and ambient spaces.
Carat was awarded a total of seven wins- 5 Gold and two Bronze. The Philips Aquatouch “New way to shave is here†campaign was awarded Gold for Promotion using Events. Philips LED lights “Change karo save karo†won Gold for successful use of technology. The overall activation was done in tandem with their sister concern PSLive which is into all things activation. Philips Trimmers bagged another Gold for “Best use of Celebrity Endorsementâ€. The Philips Airfryer campaign added yet another Gold to the tally under “Creativity on Television†category. The fifth Gold came in the form of “The Most Admired Agency for Events and Promotionsâ€. Carat also won two Bronze for Philips Kerashine Range and Preethi Blue Flame Gas Stove launch campaign respectively.
iProspect Communicate 2 picked up a total of four metals across various categories. The Big Bazaar ‘Everything for Nothing’ campaign was awarded a Gold metal for ‘Promotion using Digital Marketing’. The agency also picked up two awards in the ‘Successful Use of Technology’ category, a silver and a bronze for their Cleartrip and Koovs campaigns, respectively. In the Online Media category, iProspect Communicate 2 picked up a bronze medal for their ground-breaking work for HDFC Bank.
Amongst the other DAN agencies, Isobar India went on to win a Silver in the promotions category for ‘Digital Marketing’ for the work done on Microsoft Lumia. Vizeum won a Gold for Viacom 18’s MTV Campus Diaries under the events category.
Ashish Bhasin
Commenting on the wins, Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network said, “I am thrilled to know that the Dentsu Aegis Network has been able to achieve such recognition at a pan-Asia level. Sustaining customer engagement in this competitive market is a key task for our clients and I am happy that all our Dentsu Aegis Network companies have worked together to achieve this. It is a further testimony to our unique one P&L operating model, whereby we are able to provide our clients all the benefits of specializations without the hassles of dealing with silos. Heartiest congratulations to iProspectC2, Posterscope, Carat, psLive, Isobar, Vizeum and to Haresh Nayak for their respective wins. This further strengthens our position as the only network in India that can provide all marketing communications and media services, of world standards, under one umbrella.”
Ashish Bhasin of Dentsu Aegis has been declared the Media CEO of the Year – India at the 2014 Business Excellence Awards announced in London recently.
Voted for by a worldwide network of professionals, advisers, clients, peers and business insiders, the Acquisition International Business Excellence Awards celebrate the individuals and firms whose commitment to excellence sees them exceeding clients’ expectations on a daily basis while setting the bar for others in their industry.
The awards, open to businesses from any sector or region, are handed out solely on merit. They are given to only the most deserving businesses, departments and individuals who have consistently demonstrated outstanding innovation, performance and commitment to their business or clients over the past 12 months and who have received independent nominations from their clients or industry peers.
Speaking about the awards, AI Global Media awards coordinator Siobhan Hanley said: “Our Business Excellence Awards are quickly becoming one of our most popular, with businesses all over the globe eager to showcase the amazing work they’ve been doing to achieve stellar results for their clients while really setting the standards for what can be achieved in their sector. We’re proud to be able to showcase some of the most innovative and committed organizations from across the business world and the winners can be rightly proud of the game-changing work they’ve been doing over the past 12 months.”
Ashish Bhasin
Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network, said “I am honored to receive the 2014 Business Excellence Award for Media CEO of the Year. I am lucky to have such a wonderful team at Dentsu Aegis Network.The award is for my team’s efforts, I am just receiving it in my name. It’s been an amazing journey for Dentsu Aegis Network in India but the best is yet to come.”
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.
