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Tag: Independent agencies

  • The One Show opens its doors to the insurgents

    The One Show opens its doors to the insurgents

    NEW YORK: The One Club has shaken up its awards structure in the most significant overhaul in decades, launching The One Show Indies—a dedicated competition designed to level the playing field for independent agencies, design firms and freelance creators locked out of the global creative spotlight by better-resourced rivals.

    The new category, debuting within The One Show 2026, is a direct challenge to the holding company orthodoxy that has long dominated the industry’s most prestigious accolade. Entry is restricted to truly independent outfits: at minimum 51 per cent founder or staff-owned, with no more than four physical offices. The signal is unmistakable. The One Club reckons independent shops are being starved of recognition, and it intends to rectify that.

    The One Club chief executive Kevin Swanepoel  framed the initiative as an act of creative liberation. “The One Show Indies is like a new rebel wing inside The One Show,” he said, summoning the rhetoric of insurgency. “We’re recognising independent shops and creators who make powerful work without holding company budgets and restraints.”

    The economics of entry have been designed to entice participation. Submissions are capped at a modest ten entries per eligible shop, with each piece of work allowed into no more than three categories. Entry fees come at a steep 20 per cent discount off The One Show’s regular rate, whilst burdensome case study films are restricted in their use as judging material. The combined effect is tangible: a genuine attempt to remove the financial and administrative friction that deters cash-strapped independents from throwing their hat in the ring.

    The jury will be drawn entirely from creatives at independent agencies, using the same rigorous judging standards that underpin The One Show’s reputation. Winners will claim Gold, Silver and Bronze Pencils and Merit awards, with an additional Crystal Pencil bestowed on an overall Best of Indies champion. A separate celebration event is planned, staged in casual surroundings away from the formal May ceremonies during Creative Week.

    The One Show Indies crystallises a shift in the creative industry’s consciousness. Independents have spent years grumbling about glass ceilings at award shows dominated by multinational holding companies. They’ve complained—often with justification—that the costs of entry and the judging structures inherently favour agencies with dedicated awards departments, bigger budgets, and armies of administrative staff to shepherd work through the submission process.

    This new category doesn’t solve that structural imbalance entirely. But it cracks the door open. For smaller shops punching above their weight, a One Show Pencil—even one contested exclusively amongst independents—remains a genuine prize. It offers market validation, bragging rights, and the kind of industry credibility that shapes client perceptions and staff recruitment.

    The One Club’s motives are plainly also commercial. Awards bodies thrive on volume and participation. Attracting a hitherto underserved cohort of independents will swell submission numbers and fortify The One Club’s position as the creative industry’s dominant credentialing authority.

    Entry deadlines are stacked across four rounds, with the super-early window closing 30  October  2025, offering the deepest discounts. Regular entry runs until 23 January 2026, with a final window through 20 February 2026. Judging commences in January, with winners announced in May.

    The One Club operates as a non-profit, recycling revenue from entries back into industry programming across four pillars: education, inclusion and diversity, gender equality, and creative development. That circularity—awards funding grassroots support—gives the organisation a moral sheen beyond the commercial calculus of conventional awards schemes.

    The One Show Indies lands at a moment when the creative industry is reassessing who deserves a voice. This rebel wing may just prove to be the most inclusive—and competitive—corner of the awards landscape.

  • AdTech Today concludes first edition of EMERGE 2024

    AdTech Today concludes first edition of EMERGE 2024

    Mumbai: AdTech Today successfully wrapped up the first edition of EMERGE 2024 – The Rise of Independent Agencies, an event that celebrated the innovation and creativity of independent agencies in the advertising and marketing world. The event provided a platform for these agencies to showcase their excellence, while fostering connections with venture capitalists and brands to build long-term partnerships.

    Supported by Blis as the session partner, Explurger as the support partner, MRSI as the knowledge partner, and Treize Communications as the PR partner, the event kicked off with a keynote by AdTech Today’s CEO, Srikanth Rayaprolu who highlighted the company’s vision for disrupting the media industry.

    India at Blis, head of sales, Nabajit Nath followed with an insightful session on “Using Location Insights for Marketing Campaigns,” revealing key statistics on the power of location-based data.

    The panel on “India’s Media Boom: Independent Agencies, Economy, and Growth” featured Amit Singal (FluidVentures), Karun Arya (Get Vantage), Tamanna Gupta (Umanshi Marketing and Branding), Tufayl Merchant (HOWL Digital), and Avik Ashar (Artha Ventures), and was moderated by Amiya Swarup from EY. The discussion highlighted key insights from VCs and independent agency leaders, emphasizing the role independent agencies play in driving the media boom and supporting the SME ecosystem, with a focus on agility and brand adaptation. It also stressed the importance of shifting from vanity metrics to real growth metrics, balancing debt and equity, and the need for agencies to evolve as strategic partners, not just implementation partners, to meet the expectations of brands and investors.

    MRSI’s Ebu Issac delivered a keynote on “Understanding the Indian Phygital Consumer,” while Explurger’s head of monetisation and business partnerships Jwala Kumar who spoke on “EMERGE with Impact: Redefining Social Engagement Through Explurger’s Innovation.”

    The panel on “The Future of Ads: Independent Agencies and Phygital Trends” featured experts from technology platforms, clients, and agencies, including Dev Batra (Lyxel&Flamingo), Tejas Chaudhari (Unilever), Kunal Joshi (Enormous), Amaresh Godbole (Publicis Groupe), Rahul Dutta (Microsoft), and Kaustubh Pawar (DSP Mutual). Key takeaways included the rising importance of integrating digital and physical experiences, with phygital here to stay, the full-funnel phygital and omnichannel strategies, and the advent of AR and MR in enhancing these experiences, emphasizing the need for businesses to plan for the phygital future.

    The final panel on “Thriving Independently: Adapting to tech, media shifts and competing with Giants” was closely aligned with the event’s theme, and featured leaders from top independent agencies in India. Panelists included Ranjeet Kumar (Team Pumpkin), Ravikant Banka (Eggfirst Advertising), Nisha Singhania (Infectious Advertising), Harikrishnan Pillai (TheSmallBigIdea), Sowmya Iyer (DViO Digital), and Ahmed Aftab Naqvi (Gozoop), with Chirag Bhatia (Channel Factory) moderating the session. The discussion highlighted how being independent provides agencies with greater agility, flexibility, and speed, allowing them to leverage their strengths to foster a culture of innovation and gain a competitive edge both domestically and internationally.

    The event concluded with the EMERGE Awards 2024, celebrating independent agency achievements. Buffalo Soldiers, DigiChefs, DViO Digital, and White Rivers Media were among the winners. A special tribute was given to advertising legends Bipin Pandit and Josy Paul. Pandit’s poetic shayari and Paul’s inspiring message on turning weaknesses into strengths left a lasting impact on the audience.

  • YAAP creates stirring tribute to the spirit of independent agencies in India

    YAAP creates stirring tribute to the spirit of independent agencies in India

    MUMBAI: In the wake of the Covid2019 crisis that has affected countless lives and crippled industries in ways that we could have never imagined, unity with a sense of collaboration and staying high-spirited have become more important than ever. 
    Echoing the same sentiment, digital content company, YAAP has released a stirring tribute dedicated to independent agencies and their workforce, who have had to show immense strength and resilience in the face of adversity.
    The video, which was published on YAAP’s social media pages, is an acknowledgment of their struggles as well as a symbol of solidarity for the advertising and communications industry at large, in these trying times. 

    The tribute draws inspiration from the iconic ‘Here’s to the crazy ones’
    advertisement and uses this iconic advertisement to pay respects to the people working hard behind the scenes.

    In their pursuit of paying respect to independent agencies and extending their support for the industry, YAAP is giving preference to those who have been displaced, by offering them a role in the organisation.

    YAAP creative director Manoj Pandey explained his process, “While we’re faced with the larger crisis as humanity, we, as a community of independent agencies, also have a set of day-to-day realities to deal with. Keeping the lights on, delivering work for our
    clients with minimum disruption, and most importantly, keeping everyone inspired. At this juncture, we felt, this needed to be said – we’re all in this together and we’ll all sail through it too. This film is an ode to the unflinching spirit of independent agencies. A homage that draws inspiration from one
    of the most iconic works in the history of advertising.”

    In supporting their fellow independent agencies, YAAP has also released a series of recruitment ads, which themselves are an ode to the signature, old-school copy-based ads with a contemporary splash of colour. The ads urge professionals who have fallen victim to mass retrenchment across
    independent agencies to apply and get preference at YAAP.

    Partner at YAAP Manan Kapur said, “This has been a challenging time for our industry and it’s more important than ever that we come together and try to make the best of these testing times. This initiative is YAAP’s way of supporting the talented professionals who have lost their jobs by offering them the opportunity to come work with us. We want to show them that while YAAP may be a new home for them, they’re still in the same family – a family of passionate, like-minded people from independent agencies.”

    This film was created in collaboration with KSlient Productions.

  • MSME sector under the yoke of COVID-19 lockdown; agencies bear the brunt

    MSME sector under the yoke of COVID-19 lockdown; agencies bear the brunt

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: India, just like the rest of the world, is staring at a bleak economic future on account of the nationwide lockdown caused by COVID-19. Already its GDP growth is at a decadal low. Adding to the cup of woes, productions are now being shut and many businesses are expecting a substantial dipping of numbers in their cash registers. The fear of an extension of the ongoing 21-day lockdown is making things worse.

    The MSME sector, which has been bearing the brunt of dipping demands for the past couple of quarters, has found itself in a dark spot.

    SBICap Securities institutional equity research head Rajiv Sharma notes that leveraged SMEs with outstanding debts will be vulnerable. Because of current projects getting delayed or cancelled, a payment crunch is expected.

    Sharma, however, notes that smaller agencies can be smarter to leverage the digital side. “Small agencies can still find some business on the digital side if they have made that transition,” he says. The recently-released BARC data shows that digital viewership is spurting because of the lockdown with the first week showing smartphone time spent up by 6.2 per cent.

    With its own prospects impacted, these businesses are pushing their agency partners over the edge as well. Many independent agencies have been complaining about delayed payments and closing of ongoing projects because of the lockdown, putting great pressure on their businesses.

    The Media Ant co-founder Samir Chaudhary admits that business loss across the spectrum is inevitable, especially for services-based companies where manpower is low. He, too, is expecting at least two months worth of turnover loss, as the agency is experiencing a stretch in its payment cycles.

    Founder-director of Punjab-based OOH agency, Kanhiya Advertisers, Deepak Singla feels that business is almost shut these days. “All ongoing campaigns have been dropped with the announcement of the curfew and lockdown and payments have either been cancelled or delayed indefinitely,” he tells Indiantelevision.com.

    Singla says that he can’t calculate the loss right now, but is expecting that bigger problems will arise once the market reopens. “Lots of business houses will wipe out. Indian Outdoor Advertising Association is working on arranging a meeting with government officials regarding some relaxations as we don’t fall under the purview of any benefits announced by the finance minister,” he adds.

    CIDROY and Dronsena co-founder AMJ Ramaraju, who has been developing an AI-tech for billboards that can make OOH advertising similar to digital with targeting and counting of reach and impressions, says, “We were all set with the working prototype for showing demos and getting leads, but then things turned out not as we thought due to COVID-19.”

    He was in touch with many small agencies in Goa and pan-media aggregator The Media Ant as well, but with the current hiccup, he is now expecting a loss of Rs 2-3 lakh in March-April. If the situation continues, the month of May might see an additional loss of around Rs 8-10 lakh.

    Another freelancer and founder of a small-time agency in New Delhi, on condition of anonymity, admitted that many clients have stopped payments causing great stress on the business.

    Elaborating on the sales cycle, Sharma notes, “Every month contributes to eight to nine per cent of sales. This 21-day lockdown is about six to seven per cent of sales. If you are a seasonal business or a cyclical business, there will be a gradual loss. We are talking about at least 10 per cent revenue pressure.”  

    Reviewing the situation, Elara Capital VP – research analyst (media) Karan Taurani feels that smaller agencies might be shutting shops by the end of the lockdown.

    “The amount of support in the market, liquidity and advertising condition is very poor. So, the advertising industry is going to be highly competitive. The larger ones have the scale and they can definitely give a tough competition to smaller ones. Whenever there is a liquidity crunch and poor ad spend, the competition intensifies. You will see a smaller player having a more negative impact. So, there will be some small players with niche offerings who will survive but the larger portion will wind up,” points out Taurani.

    Sharma agrees with this viewpoint. “India may have one to two bad quarters, not more. If the lockdown extends, more businesses will collapse and that will lead to layoffs, direct and indirect,” he says grimly.

    There is one glimmer of hope though. “I don’t see any kind of layoff in the near term for at least the next three to six months. They will save other costs and protect employee interest,” says Taurani.

    Chaudhary supports the prediction as he notes, “If the situation improves by April end, most of the agencies with sound fundamentals will recover. However, if the lockdown goes beyond April we will be forced to downsize or cut costs.”

    SBICap’s Sharma is hopeful that the government will announce relief measures for SMEs in the coming days. With the government’s relief package for banks and EMI payments, it can serve as a temporary fix for agencies and employees.

    An extension of the lockdown might offer a big blow to the smaller agencies, which form the core of extensive regional and targeted marketing. Only time will tell, how will they fare in adversities, but they are expecting some government initiatives to rescue them.