It’s not easy doing an interview with Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India. He reads your mind, and has perhaps guessed all the questions you are going to ask. But that’s why it’s challenging interviewing him, as we revive a new series of power interviews with industry captains. Excerpts from a freewheeling interview with Rana Barua.
Let’s start by taking a stocktake of how things have been since the last time we interviewed you. How has it been since then?
Honestly, we’ve probably surpass the expectations of the group in terms what India could overall build or achieve. Every global media company has a certain ambition when you are literally starting from a certain base or scratch. I think we have built a fabulous place-we have grown, we have built, we have created, we have hired talent, we have got clients.
We have got an ecosystem where we currently have close to 15 agencies under the three verticals of creative, health and media. We are over 1200 people. We have become a very strong ecosystem where we have acquired agencies, we are doing well our creative and media are independently doing very well, and health is been quite steady. So, I think where we have reached a point where we are now only going to get bigger in our own ecosystem of Havas Group internally. We are setting much higher targets within the Group for ourselves and the global team is supporting us.
You spoke on expectations – were the expectations high or low given that even though it’s been a while since Havas has been around in India, it has never really been among the top flight agencies.
Havas Group, a French network, had not really invested in India. They were testing waters carefully and cautiously, which is why Bobby and I were brought on board to help turnaround the network. That’s what a lot of international companies have done – they have come to India, they have seen, they have tried and if it’s not happened, they have quietly left. Or some people have reduced their investments or some people have stayed there because of whatever reasons.
You’ve spent some time in the recent past with the WPP Group. What is the key differentiator between WPP and Havas? The WPP Group is said to be run by accountants. What would you say is Havas?
So, the WPP Group was naturally very finance-driven, very clear about the bottomline and numbers and all. I think the clear difference between WPP, and I think that is why I am enjoying my time at the Havas Group, is that Havas is very entrepreneurial-led. Of course numbers are important, profitability is key, and why not? We are not a charitable institution – we are all running a business. But it allows you take a lot of risk, t allows you take a lot of decisions on your own.
They allow you to make mistakes?
Yes, of course. Absolutely.
Anything that you can give an example of that perhaps as you look back may have been a mistake and they have said screw it, it’s all right.
So, I wouldn’t call it a mistake. One of our acquisitions didn’t work out for cultural reasons, for the reasons of the business model changing post-Covid. Before Covid, there was a reason why we had bought a certain agency with expertise on digital and we thought that this is how we are going to integrate it into the system. In the Covid years, we realised that it was very tough, things changed and the model changed. There were different conversations. So, culturally, we drifted. But we moved apart beautifully. No clients got impacted. We are rebuilding and we have started looking for newer acquisitions which fit our culture.
Would you look at another acquisition in the same space?
Absolutely in the same space. The agencies that we are talking to are aware of everything. I think one of the big conversations that happen in our group is reputation. What is your reputation in the market? And that is something which is tougher than deliveries on financials.
On a scale to 1 to 10, how would you rate the agency since you joined
There are two ways to look at it. We see it one is as per your external environment — how you are doing in India vis-a-vis people and competition. And the other is your internal benchmarking. So, if I do an internal benchmarking, let’s say at a time when we came in, it was a 2 or 3. Are you part of the global team? Are you part of the global council? Are you part of the G9 or G10 as we call it as the best companies? No, we were not anywhere near that. There was no global reporting, we would never have any direct interactions and all. So, let’s say we were at a 2-2.5-3 out of 10 which probably has moved to 6-6.5 internally or a 7 which is a great place to be. Because now you are among the Top four-five countries where investments are happening, conversations are happening, centres of excellence are being formed, expansion plans are happening, acquisitions are happening. We didn’t have clients then and were probably at 2-2.5 to 3. We have done a fab job, So a 5.5-6. .
On creative output, on creativity?
5.
And where were you earlier before you came?
I don’t think we had any value. I don’t think we were even known, Now there are so many new clients who have come on board. I am not saying that the last two years has been very easy for the industry. So, I would say that we have raised the bar to a certain quality from where we were, and the investments have started.
Investments?
In terms of people and quality that we are hiring we have just announced few days back that Anupama (Ramaswamy) has joined us as the CCO with Bobby. We are going to be investing in a very strong CSO very soon. I think we realised that we probably invested a bit too early on a senior strategy head maybe we should have got the ecosystem right and then have someone.
And awards? Not too many awards so far.
No. Not at all.
So, when do you think they will happen…
From next year we will definitely see some…
Your budget on sending entries will increase?
Yes. Absolutely.
Will you sending some 500 entries?
No, not so many.
That’s the shortcut to get many awards.
Now, you are taking me to a heavy discussion.
No. Fine. At the end of the day, awards are important for a creative agency
Very important. When I joined, I said let’s give it three years. But then the pandemic happened. I have now done four years now, so in my fourth, fifth, sixth year is when we will see a lot of these recognition, awards and proper movement into a higher zone of growth and size and everything that’s now.
Would you say that in the next two years you should be getting a good amount of awards?
100%.
A creative agency is looked at by the kind of work you do, and the awards you get?
Yes, and that’s the same focus for media also we are looking at Emvies and Effies in a much bigger light. If your client list has moved up from two or three or four. If you look at the media client list or the creative clients list it’s now into 40s, 50s, 60s there are too many clients now they are all going to ask for recognition in any form.
What is the pitch you give a person who is with another agency – why should they select Havas? Or, why should a start-up come to you?
I think one of the main conversations we have on is the philosophy. It’s for everyone to see that people have started investing in this brand. So, if you look at the Havas brand, in the last few years, it has suddenly become a brand of choice for many people. They are seeing a very positive ecosystem which is delivering effective results. We have zero attrition in media, not a single client drop out in creative. There is a genuine effort to get the product right for the client, there is a partnership intent. I am actually telling people: invest in Havas and you will see the difference. If you ask me, what number am I? I will say I am number 4, 5, 6 whatever you tell me. But we are a very big number in our scheme of things, which is giving us the confidence to taken on large clients. We are invited for some of the largest pitches in the country. We may be winning some, we may be losing some… but we are striking gold in many places. We have got a lot of Tata work in… Tata CLiQ, Tata Luxury, Tata Beauty, Tata… we are part of most of the Tata pitches that are in the market right now. In media too, we are doing very well.
How is the status of your acquisitions? Anything new coming up?
I would like to first integrate and then look for newer ones and not just keep adding on agencies. Because one of my core philosophies is that you don’t grow on acquisitions, you need to have your own code and then add the acquisition. You can go buy 35 companies and you will have a number, but you will not have a culture. You won’t have a Havas Group. You will have a plethora of agencies which form a group. So, that was never the intent and that was one of the clear beliefs.
I have always maintained that in India you have to build an ecosystem around creative and media.. So, while there were few acquisitions which came in under the creative banner, it took us two three years to fully integrate. There is absolute clarity on where we are headed, we are looking at an acquisition in performance marketing, we are definitely looking at a PR agency.. we are looking for a digital agency. A B2C, hardcore, an integrated one and we are also looking for size. That’s the big difference from three years back. We are also looking at consumer experience journey, content, data…
And how is activation and events agency doing?
Very well.
Even though the last two years were bad…
Yes, Shobiz has done a phenomenal job this year.
Since you are talking about Havas Integrated, is the money more on digital or is the money more in traditional advertising?
In terms of media spends?
Yes.
In terms of media spends, it’s pretty much I would say 60-40. When you say traditional means you are talking about TV and all offline mediums right? It’s still 60%-65% there in media. But your returns on that 65% might be very little because you know how the commission model works. Your returns on that 35% would be much higher because that’s what digital allows you to do. In sum, if you look at the mix, India is still very skewed towards traditional formats.
If we interview you a year from now what are the two three things that you think we will be talking to you about
I think one will be on awards. And when I say awards, it means it just not one creative award it can be you won a lot of Emvees or you won a lot of Effies or you won an international award or something. So, I think that is one thing you are going to definitely talk about, is did you move the needle at all? The ecosystem is now on track. You can’t pull it back because the foundation has been created, people have come, system has been created. It’s in a great place now…
The Advertising Club revs up to announce the 54th edition of ABBYs, South Asia’s Gold standard, which has been recognizing creative excellence in advertising for over five decades. Held over three days, The ABBY Awards, are scheduled to take place on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of May during Goafest at Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, Goa.
Rana Barua was the guest at the fourth Rediffusion Red Talks, a series of talks by Rediffusion alumni.
Havas Group India has announced the launch of UK-based creative agency, Cake, in the country. Cake India is billed as the country’s first creative agency specialising in sport, culture, and entertainment. It will be part of Havas Creative Group India.