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Tag: Goafest 2016

  • Goafest 2016: Believe in instricts and data to keep up with change, feels Carter Murray

    Goafest 2016: Believe in instricts and data to keep up with change, feels Carter Murray

    GOA: “Around 90 per cent of the internet traffic will soon be video based. Quoting figures from Google US, he said there are 60 trillion web addresses in the world with 4 million applications with 3 billion web searches per day.

    Kick-starting the second session of the last day at Goafest, FCB worldwide CEO Carter Murray spoke on surviving and thriving in the times of intense change, replete with case studies and insights.

    The 40 year old CEO said Murray pointed out that 15 per cent of the searches are never seen before. “This means that there are 450 million searches every-day for something that’s never been asked before. If there is a 0.5 second delay on a Google search, there is a 20 per cent drop in traffic. While on Amazon, a 0.1 second delay will cause a 1 per cent drop in sales.”

    Speaking about what is happening at Silicon Valley and listening to some speakers at forums, clients and agencies, he said “We have to start being aware of fake prophets. You have to trust your own instincts. You should take what’s going on around the world and add it it to what you know. You don’t have to start fresh,” he noted.

    He started his talk with the cryptic example on the difference between ‘being involved’ and ‘being committed’. “Take for example a bacon-and-egg breakfast. Chicken is involved and bacon is committed. What we put in and how it comes out has changed.”

    He said marketers use only 6 per cent of data for decisions. “Data is waiting for its Scorsese. When are we going to use data to improve creative product not just improve sales?”

    With agencies and marketers trying to be ‘different’ in a changing and challenging environment, he said, “Different doesn’t always have value – better does. Steve Jobs did not invent the telephone; he made it ‘better’.”

    The CEO divided work into three buckets: Hero, Hub and Help. He explained the model in which Hero stands for what you want to say wrapped up in an emotional story which is memorable and invites further participation. Hub symbolizes a platform which is updated regularly or a social profile worth returning to. Help stands for what your target market are searching for.

    Explaining this model, he cited examples of a few brands like Hero, Nivea and Valspar Paint which amused the audience.

    He stressed on how important talent is when it comes to surviving and thriving. “This is an exciting time focus. Never think that an idea or brief is finished. You always learn and evolve. If you make a mistake, stand-up, and apologize. Do not try to hide it. Identify your micro-moments, deliver on needs in the moment and measure and optimize to connect the dots”.

    Change is happening but instead of freaking out and trying to incorporate every change, the marketing community needs to believe in their instincts and data, he stressed.

  • Goafest 2016: Believe in instricts and data to keep up with change, feels Carter Murray

    Goafest 2016: Believe in instricts and data to keep up with change, feels Carter Murray

    GOA: “Around 90 per cent of the internet traffic will soon be video based. Quoting figures from Google US, he said there are 60 trillion web addresses in the world with 4 million applications with 3 billion web searches per day.

    Kick-starting the second session of the last day at Goafest, FCB worldwide CEO Carter Murray spoke on surviving and thriving in the times of intense change, replete with case studies and insights.

    The 40 year old CEO said Murray pointed out that 15 per cent of the searches are never seen before. “This means that there are 450 million searches every-day for something that’s never been asked before. If there is a 0.5 second delay on a Google search, there is a 20 per cent drop in traffic. While on Amazon, a 0.1 second delay will cause a 1 per cent drop in sales.”

    Speaking about what is happening at Silicon Valley and listening to some speakers at forums, clients and agencies, he said “We have to start being aware of fake prophets. You have to trust your own instincts. You should take what’s going on around the world and add it it to what you know. You don’t have to start fresh,” he noted.

    He started his talk with the cryptic example on the difference between ‘being involved’ and ‘being committed’. “Take for example a bacon-and-egg breakfast. Chicken is involved and bacon is committed. What we put in and how it comes out has changed.”

    He said marketers use only 6 per cent of data for decisions. “Data is waiting for its Scorsese. When are we going to use data to improve creative product not just improve sales?”

    With agencies and marketers trying to be ‘different’ in a changing and challenging environment, he said, “Different doesn’t always have value – better does. Steve Jobs did not invent the telephone; he made it ‘better’.”

    The CEO divided work into three buckets: Hero, Hub and Help. He explained the model in which Hero stands for what you want to say wrapped up in an emotional story which is memorable and invites further participation. Hub symbolizes a platform which is updated regularly or a social profile worth returning to. Help stands for what your target market are searching for.

    Explaining this model, he cited examples of a few brands like Hero, Nivea and Valspar Paint which amused the audience.

    He stressed on how important talent is when it comes to surviving and thriving. “This is an exciting time focus. Never think that an idea or brief is finished. You always learn and evolve. If you make a mistake, stand-up, and apologize. Do not try to hide it. Identify your micro-moments, deliver on needs in the moment and measure and optimize to connect the dots”.

    Change is happening but instead of freaking out and trying to incorporate every change, the marketing community needs to believe in their instincts and data, he stressed.

  • Dentsu Aegis Network tops Goafest 2016 metal count as a group

    Dentsu Aegis Network tops Goafest 2016 metal count as a group

    On the road to its stated ambition of becoming #2 in the Indian ad industry by 2017, the Dentsu Aegis Network units quietly combined to bring in the highest tally of metals as a group at the Creative and Media Abbys at Goafest 2016.

    With 6 gold, 32 silver and 45 bronze for a total of 83 metals, Dentsu Aegis Network units in India showed that there was an equal momentum to the creative reputation as there was to its business growth.

    Taproot Dentsu (40 metals), Dentsu Creative Impact (23 metals), Dentsu Webchutney (13 metals), Isobar (3 metals) and Dentsu Marcom and Vizeum (2 metals each) put in their collective best to surpass all other groups at this year’s Goafest. With wins across the entire gamut of categories—from film to print, out of home to activation, design to digital and direct, media to craft—Dentsu Aegis Network showed itself to be a creative force to be reckoned with, even as its business growth has been ample evidence of clients’ faith in the group’s capabilities.

    Commenting on the performance, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network, South Asia said, “Business growth can only be sustained on the back of fantastic creative work, and our performance at Goafest 2016 is a demonstration of that. Having said that, this is only the beginning. Business stability and growth form a solid foundation upon which creative work can flourish, and that is precisely what you will see from us – in market, and in peer forums like Goafest.”

    “This is a very happy reflection not just of the range and depth of our talent but also of clients’ trust in our abilities. And this is happening because the business and planning heads at each unit are getting behind the creative 100%. The effort that each of our creative leaders has brought to bear is clearly visible here and I thank each of them for this outstanding performance. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India,” he added.

  • Dentsu Aegis Network tops Goafest 2016 metal count as a group

    Dentsu Aegis Network tops Goafest 2016 metal count as a group

    On the road to its stated ambition of becoming #2 in the Indian ad industry by 2017, the Dentsu Aegis Network units quietly combined to bring in the highest tally of metals as a group at the Creative and Media Abbys at Goafest 2016.

    With 6 gold, 32 silver and 45 bronze for a total of 83 metals, Dentsu Aegis Network units in India showed that there was an equal momentum to the creative reputation as there was to its business growth.

    Taproot Dentsu (40 metals), Dentsu Creative Impact (23 metals), Dentsu Webchutney (13 metals), Isobar (3 metals) and Dentsu Marcom and Vizeum (2 metals each) put in their collective best to surpass all other groups at this year’s Goafest. With wins across the entire gamut of categories—from film to print, out of home to activation, design to digital and direct, media to craft—Dentsu Aegis Network showed itself to be a creative force to be reckoned with, even as its business growth has been ample evidence of clients’ faith in the group’s capabilities.

    Commenting on the performance, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network, South Asia said, “Business growth can only be sustained on the back of fantastic creative work, and our performance at Goafest 2016 is a demonstration of that. Having said that, this is only the beginning. Business stability and growth form a solid foundation upon which creative work can flourish, and that is precisely what you will see from us – in market, and in peer forums like Goafest.”

    “This is a very happy reflection not just of the range and depth of our talent but also of clients’ trust in our abilities. And this is happening because the business and planning heads at each unit are getting behind the creative 100%. The effort that each of our creative leaders has brought to bear is clearly visible here and I thank each of them for this outstanding performance. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India,” he added.

  • Goafest 2016: JWT leads with 3 golds on ABBY day 2; Taproot Dentsu bag most number of metals

    Goafest 2016: JWT leads with 3 golds on ABBY day 2; Taproot Dentsu bag most number of metals

    MUMBAI: Day 2 at Goafest 2016 saw Creative ABBY being given out to the most creative works  in eight different categories namely — Radio Single, Radio Craft, Branded Content, Brand Activation, Broadcast, Print Craft, Public Relations and Direct.

    Overall JWT Mumbai emerged as the clear leader of day 2 bagging as many as three golds in Radio Singles, Brand Activation and Public Relations categories. Apart from this the agency bagged 11 silver and three bronze metals. Their total number of metals came to 17.

    They were followed by Taproot Dentsu with two golds to their name in Direct marketing and Print Craft categories. Adding up their six silver and ten bronze metals, Taproot Dentsu took home 18 metals home on day 2.

    The agency to bag third most number of metals is Cheil India with two gold, five silver and four bronze.

    Category wise break up of metals winners are as follows:

    Radio singles: JWT Mumbai bagged one gold in Radio Singles  for Godrej’s  MAMAcampaign  in the category followed by one bronze and one silver. They were followed by Contract Advertising getting eight bronze and two silver,  and Dentsu Creative Impact winning seven bronze and one silver.

    Radio Craft was led by Scarecrow Communications getting five bronze metals followed by  Rediffusion Dentsu Young & Rubicam with two bronze and one silver. JWT Mumbai too fared well with one bronze and one silver to their name.

    Print Craft: Taproot Dentsu stood out in the print category with a gold to their name for their campaign for Indian Outdoor Advertising Association. They also secured nine bronze metals and and three silvers in the category. Apart from them, Ideas@work bagged four bronze metal followed by Dentsu Aegis Network with two bronze and two silver. There were n total one gold, 23 bronze and 11 silver metals given out in the category.

    Public Relations: This is one category that attracted the most number of golds, with total 8 golds, 16 bronze and 9 silvers. Sarva Integrated emerged as clear winners with two golds to their name, followed by Cheil India with one gold, one bronze and one silver award.

    Broadcasters: Broadcasters category saw a fascinating showdown with over all 15 bronze, four silver and two gold metals. Star India bagged the most number of metals with 10 bronze, two silver and one gold. They bagged their gold for Mauka Mauka as the Best TV sports channel program promo. Zee Entertainment enterprises bagged the second gold in the category for their work on Bond Vs. Bond as best movie promo on TV. There were total 2 golds, fifteen bronzes and four silvers in the category.

    Branded Content: Brave New World bagged the gold in the category for their campaign for The Roadster Life Co followed by Maddison worldwide with three bronzes.

    Brand Activation:  In the brand activation space JWT has bagged the only gold in the genre along with five other silver metals. They received their gold for Udaan for Airtel. They were followed by Cheil India with one gold for Samsung Joy Plus TV, two silver and two bronze; and DDB Mudra with one gold for UNICEF and one bronze metal to their name.

    Direct: In direct marketing category, Taproot Dentsu won the show with one gold, two silver and two bronze awards. They bagged their gold for Waiting For You for Times Of India. Dentsu Creative Impact received a gold award for their work on One Breath: He She and Them for Max Health Care. In total there were two golds, 13 bronzes and nne silvers awarded in this category.

    Percept Limited director Ajay Chandwani who had overseen the entire process closely, right from the round one of shortlisting of entries, to jury discussions on it to the ultimately anonymous voting to choose the winners mentioned that the jury had been extremely fair and meticulous in selecting the winners.

    As per Chandwani, “Firstly the number of golds have gone down. The reason could be that the judging standard has gone up by quite a lot, therefore there are fewer golds and nothing so far has received a Grand Prix.. The other thing to note is that if there is a powerful idea the creatives have had, they making the most of it by entering it in several categories. So there are some campaigns which have gotten recognition in several categories, although the judging in each category may be different so while it gets a bronze in one category, it may get a silver in another. This is a worldwide trend not restricted to India alone.”

    The evening held special significance as the media and advertising fraternity also came together to felicitate Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director, O&M India on receiving the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India. Vineet Jain, Managing Director, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. was also felicitated for his significant contribution to innovative growth in the media industry, unstinting support to the advertising industry, his unflinching belief in the importance of creative communication and his ongoing efforts to use communication as a force for societal change.

  • Goafest 2016: JWT leads with 3 golds on ABBY day 2; Taproot Dentsu bag most number of metals

    Goafest 2016: JWT leads with 3 golds on ABBY day 2; Taproot Dentsu bag most number of metals

    MUMBAI: Day 2 at Goafest 2016 saw Creative ABBY being given out to the most creative works  in eight different categories namely — Radio Single, Radio Craft, Branded Content, Brand Activation, Broadcast, Print Craft, Public Relations and Direct.

    Overall JWT Mumbai emerged as the clear leader of day 2 bagging as many as three golds in Radio Singles, Brand Activation and Public Relations categories. Apart from this the agency bagged 11 silver and three bronze metals. Their total number of metals came to 17.

    They were followed by Taproot Dentsu with two golds to their name in Direct marketing and Print Craft categories. Adding up their six silver and ten bronze metals, Taproot Dentsu took home 18 metals home on day 2.

    The agency to bag third most number of metals is Cheil India with two gold, five silver and four bronze.

    Category wise break up of metals winners are as follows:

    Radio singles: JWT Mumbai bagged one gold in Radio Singles  for Godrej’s  MAMAcampaign  in the category followed by one bronze and one silver. They were followed by Contract Advertising getting eight bronze and two silver,  and Dentsu Creative Impact winning seven bronze and one silver.

    Radio Craft was led by Scarecrow Communications getting five bronze metals followed by  Rediffusion Dentsu Young & Rubicam with two bronze and one silver. JWT Mumbai too fared well with one bronze and one silver to their name.

    Print Craft: Taproot Dentsu stood out in the print category with a gold to their name for their campaign for Indian Outdoor Advertising Association. They also secured nine bronze metals and and three silvers in the category. Apart from them, Ideas@work bagged four bronze metal followed by Dentsu Aegis Network with two bronze and two silver. There were n total one gold, 23 bronze and 11 silver metals given out in the category.

    Public Relations: This is one category that attracted the most number of golds, with total 8 golds, 16 bronze and 9 silvers. Sarva Integrated emerged as clear winners with two golds to their name, followed by Cheil India with one gold, one bronze and one silver award.

    Broadcasters: Broadcasters category saw a fascinating showdown with over all 15 bronze, four silver and two gold metals. Star India bagged the most number of metals with 10 bronze, two silver and one gold. They bagged their gold for Mauka Mauka as the Best TV sports channel program promo. Zee Entertainment enterprises bagged the second gold in the category for their work on Bond Vs. Bond as best movie promo on TV. There were total 2 golds, fifteen bronzes and four silvers in the category.

    Branded Content: Brave New World bagged the gold in the category for their campaign for The Roadster Life Co followed by Maddison worldwide with three bronzes.

    Brand Activation:  In the brand activation space JWT has bagged the only gold in the genre along with five other silver metals. They received their gold for Udaan for Airtel. They were followed by Cheil India with one gold for Samsung Joy Plus TV, two silver and two bronze; and DDB Mudra with one gold for UNICEF and one bronze metal to their name.

    Direct: In direct marketing category, Taproot Dentsu won the show with one gold, two silver and two bronze awards. They bagged their gold for Waiting For You for Times Of India. Dentsu Creative Impact received a gold award for their work on One Breath: He She and Them for Max Health Care. In total there were two golds, 13 bronzes and nne silvers awarded in this category.

    Percept Limited director Ajay Chandwani who had overseen the entire process closely, right from the round one of shortlisting of entries, to jury discussions on it to the ultimately anonymous voting to choose the winners mentioned that the jury had been extremely fair and meticulous in selecting the winners.

    As per Chandwani, “Firstly the number of golds have gone down. The reason could be that the judging standard has gone up by quite a lot, therefore there are fewer golds and nothing so far has received a Grand Prix.. The other thing to note is that if there is a powerful idea the creatives have had, they making the most of it by entering it in several categories. So there are some campaigns which have gotten recognition in several categories, although the judging in each category may be different so while it gets a bronze in one category, it may get a silver in another. This is a worldwide trend not restricted to India alone.”

    The evening held special significance as the media and advertising fraternity also came together to felicitate Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director, O&M India on receiving the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India. Vineet Jain, Managing Director, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. was also felicitated for his significant contribution to innovative growth in the media industry, unstinting support to the advertising industry, his unflinching belief in the importance of creative communication and his ongoing efforts to use communication as a force for societal change.

  • ‘Be a doer not a make believer’: Benny Thomas at Goafest 2016 Day 2

    ‘Be a doer not a make believer’: Benny Thomas at Goafest 2016 Day 2

    MUMBAI: ‘Actions speaks louder than words’ is perhaps a phrase that has been quoted to death and applied to all sorts of scenarios. The phrase is both a boon and a curse to use a famous quote as it makes people expect a lot or it is put in a ‘generic tropes’ box. Therefore when Crispin Porter + Bogusky‘s strategy head Benny Thomas started his speech with the phrase, not many ears perked up  and nor were eyes raised. They did however, when the man played a few AVs of his company’s recent campaigns. Some of these were extremely popular and familiar international campaigns such as the ‘Pizza crust’ campaign the agency did for Dominos that saw their sales soar. Thomas clearly practiced what he preached– ‘Be a doer not a make believer.”

    Addressing the fairly successful new creative agencies that aren’t the Leo Burnetts or O&Ms of the world, Thomas said, “Being a micro network amidst big layers, at some point when the start-up feel wears off and you start seeing a bit of success, it is easy to start wondering where you stand and lose direction. This is where ‘action’ will play a huge role in having to wonder in a world full of biggies on where we stand and not lose direction.”

    Action to Thomas isn’t simply verbifying a message. “A compelling message is actually not that hard to create when you have a powerful copywriter or writer and an amazing man behind the cameras. But that is again a ‘message’ and not action,” Thomas clarified. “It’s the way the brand behaves is what will take the brand forward or make it stand out. Moreover, action also causes or asks for a reaction that can be the fodder for a whole new campaign. Some of the successful campaigns have come from people who could predict the reaction from consumers in advance and prepare ahead.”

    A good example was how CPB advised a well distributed FMCG brand when it approached the agency to put it on the shelf, not announce it. “Put it on the shelf, let’s do a shelf test with millions of packets. We could see that the change didn’t affect the sales at all, and that became our campaign. We had a series of TVCs where we see a guy from the brand revealing what ingredients were changed, and no one could tell the difference!”
    Which also brought Thomas to advise fellow creatives – “Don’t be afraid of the elephant in the room.”

    “We often don’t face the embarrassing truths about brands. Confronting the elephant in the room, or being honest about shortcomings can bring brands way more closer to the people. It’s true for both humans as well as brands.  Coming out honestly can help brands build a stronger relationship with consumers. If you avoid the elephant in the room, you will alienate yourself from the people you are catering to.”

    In his ending note, Thomas emphasised the need for agencies to take brands as partners and not as clients, and that often depends a lot on how the creatives are positioned in the market. “Creatives often criticise and complain about brand managers or business owners not understanding a good creative idea or the concept and opting for something that looks less ‘quirky’ or smart. Agencies need to put themselves in their client’s shoes and that won’t happen unless creatives understand the business, and that won’t come from PPT projects.”

    “Unless you run businesses yourself you can’t understand what challenges your clients have,” Thomas frankly stated. To bring in a perspective he went to share how CPB had built its own business by using their strength in design and creative solutions, such as a bicycle hiring service in the United States or producing and designing a bourbon bottle that they created, branded and then sold.

    One take away from the session that added to the novelties that Goafest is often known to introduce was the phrase, ROC or return on creativity’. The phrase definitely got the auditorium full of budding creatives as well as old players thinking of their own ‘return on creativity.  What do they really take away in the end? Was it clients, pay checks, awards, or more stories to tell?

     

  • ‘Be a doer not a make believer’: Benny Thomas at Goafest 2016 Day 2

    ‘Be a doer not a make believer’: Benny Thomas at Goafest 2016 Day 2

    MUMBAI: ‘Actions speaks louder than words’ is perhaps a phrase that has been quoted to death and applied to all sorts of scenarios. The phrase is both a boon and a curse to use a famous quote as it makes people expect a lot or it is put in a ‘generic tropes’ box. Therefore when Crispin Porter + Bogusky‘s strategy head Benny Thomas started his speech with the phrase, not many ears perked up  and nor were eyes raised. They did however, when the man played a few AVs of his company’s recent campaigns. Some of these were extremely popular and familiar international campaigns such as the ‘Pizza crust’ campaign the agency did for Dominos that saw their sales soar. Thomas clearly practiced what he preached– ‘Be a doer not a make believer.”

    Addressing the fairly successful new creative agencies that aren’t the Leo Burnetts or O&Ms of the world, Thomas said, “Being a micro network amidst big layers, at some point when the start-up feel wears off and you start seeing a bit of success, it is easy to start wondering where you stand and lose direction. This is where ‘action’ will play a huge role in having to wonder in a world full of biggies on where we stand and not lose direction.”

    Action to Thomas isn’t simply verbifying a message. “A compelling message is actually not that hard to create when you have a powerful copywriter or writer and an amazing man behind the cameras. But that is again a ‘message’ and not action,” Thomas clarified. “It’s the way the brand behaves is what will take the brand forward or make it stand out. Moreover, action also causes or asks for a reaction that can be the fodder for a whole new campaign. Some of the successful campaigns have come from people who could predict the reaction from consumers in advance and prepare ahead.”

    A good example was how CPB advised a well distributed FMCG brand when it approached the agency to put it on the shelf, not announce it. “Put it on the shelf, let’s do a shelf test with millions of packets. We could see that the change didn’t affect the sales at all, and that became our campaign. We had a series of TVCs where we see a guy from the brand revealing what ingredients were changed, and no one could tell the difference!”
    Which also brought Thomas to advise fellow creatives – “Don’t be afraid of the elephant in the room.”

    “We often don’t face the embarrassing truths about brands. Confronting the elephant in the room, or being honest about shortcomings can bring brands way more closer to the people. It’s true for both humans as well as brands.  Coming out honestly can help brands build a stronger relationship with consumers. If you avoid the elephant in the room, you will alienate yourself from the people you are catering to.”

    In his ending note, Thomas emphasised the need for agencies to take brands as partners and not as clients, and that often depends a lot on how the creatives are positioned in the market. “Creatives often criticise and complain about brand managers or business owners not understanding a good creative idea or the concept and opting for something that looks less ‘quirky’ or smart. Agencies need to put themselves in their client’s shoes and that won’t happen unless creatives understand the business, and that won’t come from PPT projects.”

    “Unless you run businesses yourself you can’t understand what challenges your clients have,” Thomas frankly stated. To bring in a perspective he went to share how CPB had built its own business by using their strength in design and creative solutions, such as a bicycle hiring service in the United States or producing and designing a bourbon bottle that they created, branded and then sold.

    One take away from the session that added to the novelties that Goafest is often known to introduce was the phrase, ROC or return on creativity’. The phrase definitely got the auditorium full of budding creatives as well as old players thinking of their own ‘return on creativity.  What do they really take away in the end? Was it clients, pay checks, awards, or more stories to tell?

     

  • What agencies need to do for their clients

    What agencies need to do for their clients

    GOA: Often clients are in a quandary when it comes to partnering with an agency. A session at Goafest 2016 organized by AAAI and the Advertising Club attempted to shed light on some of the factors that a client needed to look at when it came to a business partnership with an advertising agency. The Industry Conclave presented by Discovery Channel discussed the key elements that needed to be focused on when it came to what clients as well as agencies needed to do.

    The topic of the day was ‘3 things the agency can do better’ with the speakers discussing client agency partnerships while highlighting some of the possible avenues where such partnerships could be strengthened by the agency.

    Setting the tone for the discussion was Mondelez India MD Chandramouli Venkatesan who spoke about what agencies could do to make strong partnerships. Underlining four factors that were important for a better client-agency relationship, Venkatesan said that they included providing complementary strengths in addition to shared purpose and passion, trust and friendship. Inspired by the partnership between the famous duo Jay and Veeru in the Bollywood blockbuster Sholay, Venkatesan said, “It takes effort to create a partnership like Jay and Veeru. A partnership is a two way street. You get back exactly what you put in it”.

    He further discussed the three key things that agencies could do for better partnerships. Outlining the importance of generating trust in this two way process was the main focus point which was the bedrock for honest and open communication.  “Trust enables cutting-edge work. Trust is actually what enables the brave decision making you so often want to make,” he further added.

    Citing examples of the risks that were taken by his company with three of its clients’ ads, namely, Cadbury Gorilla, Bournvita Taiyyari and Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk, Venkatesan said that his company believed that risks could be taken when there was trust in the relationship. The three main aspects required to earn trust were mainly through better decision making while keeping the client interest in mind; by being commercially responsible; and by not compromising on integrity.

    To win the talent battle, agencies had to disrupt their talent model and must attract the best talent. “Ideas are temporary, talent is permanent. Talent gives rise to new ideas. One of the most important things is to build brand stewardship. It’s about quality and longevity of talent”, he said. “Ideas can work great, but not build stewardship.”

    Another important thing that he stressed on was to build strong processes. Preparing for a strategic alignment at multiple levels, building project management capability and a strong team management was what the agencies need to invest in. “Process is a dreaded term in the agency world. Process is an enabler of creativity. Great partnerships always deliver outstanding results” concluded Venkatesan.

    While on the other hand, United Breweries Ltd SVP marketing Samar Singh Sheikhawat pointed out that the agency as well as the client needed to know the business. A major part of understanding the client, according to Sheikhawat, was understanding the consumer. “With multiple realities in India, we ourselves don’t understand the entire world as it changes every now and then. Different countries have different business problems and hence different solutions. We have to know our consumers”, asserted Sheikhawat.

    With the evolving medium of delivering messages, there was an observable explosion of content leading to multiplication of content and hence amplification of platforms to give out multiple content. Citing the example of how Kingfisher Buzz was launched he said, “With 99 per cent of males drinking beer, we noted that we have to also deliver something to the female population. The biggest challenge that we face is that our product does not deliver to a majority of the population”.

    Agreeing with the key points mentioned by Venkatesan, he further added that the agencies need to have creative solutions to the common problems faced by the clients.

    With key notes from FMCG and brewery companies, the next speaker on the row enlightened the audience about what an automobile client looked for in an agency. To maintain the status of the favourite hello and the hardest goodbye between the client and the agency, Volkswagen AG head of connections panning, media and international communications Oliver Maletz summed it up succinctly by saying that the agency should be the one entity that the client calls first and hangs up on last. He said, “Agencies need to focus more on thinking harder before becoming true business partners. They should know our business better than us”.

    With competitive analysis, industry analysis, suability benchmarks and situational assessment, an agency could identify opportunities and reach a successful goal. “There are more opportunities now than what we had in the past. I think the agencies should be open to take risks”, he added.

    He further advised that an agency should not innovate just for the sake of being innovative. It should deliver meaningful value to a meaningful number of people. With agencies approaching clients through a ‘selling’ perspective, Maletz pointed out that the agencies should stop selling their ideas, capabilities, companies, inventories, etc., to the clients. “Start helping us to sell our products and build a better brand. Be our business partner and stop selling yourself”, he added further. He concluded by saying, “Everything will follow with a good business partner”.
    The evening of the Industrial Conclave wrapped up with a short panel discussion where the audience was encouraged to pose their questions to the experts via the Goafest 2016 app which had been specially designed to facilitate the best digital experience for the attendees of the festival.

  • What agencies need to do for their clients

    What agencies need to do for their clients

    GOA: Often clients are in a quandary when it comes to partnering with an agency. A session at Goafest 2016 organized by AAAI and the Advertising Club attempted to shed light on some of the factors that a client needed to look at when it came to a business partnership with an advertising agency. The Industry Conclave presented by Discovery Channel discussed the key elements that needed to be focused on when it came to what clients as well as agencies needed to do.

    The topic of the day was ‘3 things the agency can do better’ with the speakers discussing client agency partnerships while highlighting some of the possible avenues where such partnerships could be strengthened by the agency.

    Setting the tone for the discussion was Mondelez India MD Chandramouli Venkatesan who spoke about what agencies could do to make strong partnerships. Underlining four factors that were important for a better client-agency relationship, Venkatesan said that they included providing complementary strengths in addition to shared purpose and passion, trust and friendship. Inspired by the partnership between the famous duo Jay and Veeru in the Bollywood blockbuster Sholay, Venkatesan said, “It takes effort to create a partnership like Jay and Veeru. A partnership is a two way street. You get back exactly what you put in it”.

    He further discussed the three key things that agencies could do for better partnerships. Outlining the importance of generating trust in this two way process was the main focus point which was the bedrock for honest and open communication.  “Trust enables cutting-edge work. Trust is actually what enables the brave decision making you so often want to make,” he further added.

    Citing examples of the risks that were taken by his company with three of its clients’ ads, namely, Cadbury Gorilla, Bournvita Taiyyari and Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk, Venkatesan said that his company believed that risks could be taken when there was trust in the relationship. The three main aspects required to earn trust were mainly through better decision making while keeping the client interest in mind; by being commercially responsible; and by not compromising on integrity.

    To win the talent battle, agencies had to disrupt their talent model and must attract the best talent. “Ideas are temporary, talent is permanent. Talent gives rise to new ideas. One of the most important things is to build brand stewardship. It’s about quality and longevity of talent”, he said. “Ideas can work great, but not build stewardship.”

    Another important thing that he stressed on was to build strong processes. Preparing for a strategic alignment at multiple levels, building project management capability and a strong team management was what the agencies need to invest in. “Process is a dreaded term in the agency world. Process is an enabler of creativity. Great partnerships always deliver outstanding results” concluded Venkatesan.

    While on the other hand, United Breweries Ltd SVP marketing Samar Singh Sheikhawat pointed out that the agency as well as the client needed to know the business. A major part of understanding the client, according to Sheikhawat, was understanding the consumer. “With multiple realities in India, we ourselves don’t understand the entire world as it changes every now and then. Different countries have different business problems and hence different solutions. We have to know our consumers”, asserted Sheikhawat.

    With the evolving medium of delivering messages, there was an observable explosion of content leading to multiplication of content and hence amplification of platforms to give out multiple content. Citing the example of how Kingfisher Buzz was launched he said, “With 99 per cent of males drinking beer, we noted that we have to also deliver something to the female population. The biggest challenge that we face is that our product does not deliver to a majority of the population”.

    Agreeing with the key points mentioned by Venkatesan, he further added that the agencies need to have creative solutions to the common problems faced by the clients.

    With key notes from FMCG and brewery companies, the next speaker on the row enlightened the audience about what an automobile client looked for in an agency. To maintain the status of the favourite hello and the hardest goodbye between the client and the agency, Volkswagen AG head of connections panning, media and international communications Oliver Maletz summed it up succinctly by saying that the agency should be the one entity that the client calls first and hangs up on last. He said, “Agencies need to focus more on thinking harder before becoming true business partners. They should know our business better than us”.

    With competitive analysis, industry analysis, suability benchmarks and situational assessment, an agency could identify opportunities and reach a successful goal. “There are more opportunities now than what we had in the past. I think the agencies should be open to take risks”, he added.

    He further advised that an agency should not innovate just for the sake of being innovative. It should deliver meaningful value to a meaningful number of people. With agencies approaching clients through a ‘selling’ perspective, Maletz pointed out that the agencies should stop selling their ideas, capabilities, companies, inventories, etc., to the clients. “Start helping us to sell our products and build a better brand. Be our business partner and stop selling yourself”, he added further. He concluded by saying, “Everything will follow with a good business partner”.
    The evening of the Industrial Conclave wrapped up with a short panel discussion where the audience was encouraged to pose their questions to the experts via the Goafest 2016 app which had been specially designed to facilitate the best digital experience for the attendees of the festival.