Mkth - BBDO & W+K

Both big names abroad, both keen on India. Wieden+Kennedy and BBDO are on a mission: Slowly but surely, the two agencies set foot in the country late last year with big dreams and solid plans. afaqs! explores how they have fared so far and what the road ahead looks like. (W+K)+A=Mission IndiaWhat started as a smallish outfit in Portland over 25 years ago has gone on to be a worldwide framework with eight offices in all (Portland, New York, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing and, finally, New Delhi). Globally, Wieden+Kennedians pride themselves on being a small but powerful bunch, with clients such as Coca-Cola, Nike, Visa, ESPN, Honda and Starbucks. The agency’s brush with India started around the same time that the Nokia account was up for a global review. Having won the creative account around August 2007 (JWT won the network marketing duties), W+K was looking to enter India to service the account from here through an alliance with an existing Indian outfit that was familiar with the way things happen in India. A Advertising, a Delhi based creative agency, posed the perfect opportunity.
Started in 2004 by admen and partners Mohit Jayal and V Sunil, A Advertising was formed keeping the independent agency model in mind because the two partners “didn’t want to be limited by giant global network parameters”. A Advertising, with only a Delhi office, maintained that it was not a creative hotshop or boutique and managed a decent set of accounts over the years, including Royal Enfield, HCL, IndiGo Airlines and Incredible India (the last one in conjunction with other agencies). It also worked as a consultant with Nokia in 2004 on the Made in India campaign for the Nokia 1100, while Bates was the official agency on the account. When W+K was looking to enter India with the intent of managing Nokia here, Dave Luhr, global chief operating officer, W+K, was comforted by the work A Advertising had done on Nokia. “He looked at our smallish office in Delhi with 10 people in it and exclaimed that it was very similar to W+K’s way of thinking!” quips Mohit Jayal. The philosophies of the two agencies – “we’re small but can handle big accounts” – matched, too. So, A Advertising became history as it was merged with W+K. The resultant entity, W+K India, is wholly owned by W+K Global, while Jayal and Sunil have a profit sharing agreement. What changed… and what didn’tAll of A Advertising’s accounts are now part of W+K India. The only exception is HCL Technologies, which parted ways with A Advertising after two years of being together, around the same time the merger happened. But Jayal insists the merger had nothing to do with losing the account. “We gave HCL an idea they weren’t ready for, so it was a mutual decision. We’d love to work with them in the future,” he says. On A Advertising’s decision to finally go with a global network as also undergo a name change, Jayal says, “We didn’t mind shelving the name A Advertising for a well known, reputed one like W+K – it would have been arrogant of us to do otherwise, as they are known as W+K in every other market.” A Advertising will also benefit from the goodwill of W+K globally and this will help score with Indian clients who might have been apprehensive about a “wildcard agency like A” in the past. “We now have a global wildcard agency that has been at it for over 25 years, so that should dim clients’ insecurities some,” quips Jayal. The agency has also increased the number of people in the W+K India family (20 in all at present). W+K India will not, contrary to expectations, import talent from abroad; it hopes to invest in identifying, training and nurturing raw talent in India itself (while avoiding the poaching route).Some things remain unchanged for A Advertising: It sticks to its earlier model of abolishing client servicing and including what it calls brand managers in the agency setup instead. These managers worry about the client’s business even beyond advertising and every aspect of business – backend, research, etc. – is their domain. “These guys help run the client’s business, and not service relationships,” says Jayal. Another thing that hasn’t changed is the agency’s love for Indian entrepreneurs and their businesses: While global alignments of accounts are inevitable, Jayal and Sunil maintain that the agency will fully support the sons of the soil, so to speak. The Nokia agencySince its launch in November 2007, W+K India has focused primarily on servicing Nokia, something that could probably limit it to being “the Nokia agency” here. Jayal says, “I can see how outsiders may think that. But we’re talking of an intense client and a business of that size demands our time.” Nokia’s ad spends, according to sources, is well over Rs 100 crore in India. Rumour has it that in India, JWT is likely to handle the local work and briefs, while the global creatives to be adapted in India may in all likelihood be done through W+K India.Jayal assures afaqs! that over the next four months, one will see visible work from the agency on other brands as well. Incredible India, for instance, is another of W+K India’s accounts (courtesy A Advertising) and has ad spends of Rs 50-70 crore internationally. Work is on for the next campaign for this business. The way aheadWith W+K energies floating around in the Indian outfit, it doesn’t seem likely that the agency will rest with Nokia; surely, poaching other W+K global accounts present in India (such as Coca-Cola and Nike) would be next on the agenda? “See, they are doing good work right now, so it wouldn’t be wise to approach them,” says a cautious Jayal. “If we feel we have a better idea, or if they are going wrong somewhere, why not?” In that case, W+K India doesn’t want to steal businesses away from other agencies; instead, it wants to follow either the consultant model or be a part of the roster – much akin to what A Advertising used to do earlier with Nokia and Incredible India. BBDO India: 7 is the lucky numberNamaste IndiaAfter months of speculation, BBDO India was finally set up in December 2007. Unlike W+K, BBDO as a network has enjoyed a presence in India thus far, in the form of RK Swamy/ BBDO and Media Direction. According to Josy Paul, chairman and national creative director, BBDO India, “We originally set up an office in my car. Seriously. We moved from coffee shop to coffee shop, meeting talent and friends of BBDO.” BBDO is the globally aligned agency for PepsiCo, and in the country, BBDO India commenced business by winning the 7Up account in a competitive multi-agency pitch, breaking the 18 year old JWT-7Up relationship (JWT continues to handle the rest of PepsiCo’s portfolio). BBDO Worldwide owns a majority stake in BBDO India, while the rest is divided between RK Swamy/ BBDO and Josy Paul. Meanwhile, BBDO Worldwide continues to hold a minority stake in RK Swamy/ BBDO. After the 7Up winPaul, who moved from JWT to BBDO India, was the first man on board, followed by the rest of the team: Seshadri Sampath, regional director (based in Singapore), Sangeet Pillai (planning director), Sandipan Bhattacharrya and Manoj Deb (executive creative directors); Ranjeev Vij (business director and vice-president), Rajesh Sikroria (general manager), Partho Sengupta (creative director) and Manoj Yogi (studio manager). Work on 7Up followed, with the high decibel ‘Bheja Fry, 7Up Try’ campaign doing the rounds. An ad on television, ‘The Train’, followed by the ‘Mat Pooch Why’ radio series and the online campaign completed the effort. This campaign, according to Paul, gave 7Up a much needed cause as it was at a turning point in its lifecycle. A new film is under way. “To have PepsiCo as our first client is no doubt a big advantage,” says Paul. Soon after, the agency won Hewlett Packard’s imaging and printing group business worth Rs 10 crore. Paul claims to have won a “new developmental brand” and to have two more potential multinational companies in the pipeline.The way aheadBBDO India hopes to further the cause of ‘The Work, The Work, The Work’, which happens to be BBDO’s philosophy globally. “Our network is this amazing matrix that allows you to fly without fear of falling,” says a philosophical Paul. “We have good parents.” BBDO is a strong brand abroad no doubt: It has been ranked the most creative network for the last two consecutive years in the Gunn Report, apart from winning several biggies at Cannes 2008 (including Network of the Year and Agency of the Year for BBDO New York). However smooth it may appear, BBDO India sure has a long way ahead. For one, Omnicom (of which BBDO Worldwide is a part) trails behind competitors WPP, Interpublic and Publicis Groupe in India. So, BBDO, while strong globally, has to hold its own in the region. It will also take effort to live up to the mammoth creative image of BBDO globally, but Paul and Co. seem ready to battle it out. Paul tells afaqs! that plans are on to import Proximity, BBDO’s global integrated marketing arm, into India to help BBDO clients here. While a soft launch has already happened, the formal announcement and setup is yet to fructify.