Can ad-Women Ever become Head Honchos?

In India’s Ad History, how many Businesses and start-ups have been powered by Women Bosses? and how have They Fared? 4Ps B&M’s Consulting Editor Monojit Lahiri does a speed-profile Snapshot of a handful of such Women and Focuses on the latest edition of a firm called Curry-Nation headed by The Ubiquitous priti nair to prove The Obvious!

Let’s face it guys, it really is a man’s world. And although women are just as smart and effective – and proving this conjecture true everyday across diverse male-dominated domains – it’s still, mostly, men who call the shots. Sad (or not!), it is but true. Otherwise, wouldn’t there be at least a handful of the gentler sex heading some of the top 20 ad agencies? Mercifully, there have been some glorious – brave, gifted, dynamic, fearless – exceptions who have cut loose to script their very own success stories.

Sure, there was the gorgeous Nargis Wadia in the late sixties and seventies, but it was Elsie Nanji (the founding partner of Ambience, rated as one of the hottest creative shops in its very first year of existence!) who set the ball rolling around two decades ago. Trained by the redoubtable Mohammed (Enterprise) Khan, Nanji has been a multiple-award winner at most of the revered shows, both at home and abroad. Presently, she is a Managing Partner of a design cell of Publicis Worldwide, Red Lion and today has established it to be one of the top five design brand outfits in the country!

Next up is Preeti Vyas, Chairperson of Vyas Gianetti Creative (VGC). Widely hailed as one of the country’s foremost creative minds, Vyas launched VGC in 1997 with the single-minded focus of transforming a sluggish market into an exciting aesthetic space through “strategic design and communication solutions”. Ranked among India’s greatest brand builders, with branches at New Delhi and Bengaluru, VGC continues to demonstrate amazing entrepreneurial chutzpah and be a true game-changer for their clients.

And so on to Priti Nair! Short, dusky, flashing cute dimples and distracting nose-ring, don’t ever begin to be deceived by the looks of this tough, feisty, fearless, gifted, much-awarded and acclaimed professional powered with creative artillery and ammunition designed to blow you away! Priti’s entrepreneurial venture, Curry Nation, has literally spiced up the ad-nation since its launch. But was it the woman in her which led on to her firm being called what it is?

The dimpled smile appears along with her very special take: “Weird as it may sound, it has to do with my passionate patriotism and passion for food! We are a multi-layered and multi-textured entity, as a nation. Same with our food. So, shouldn’t that, seamlessly, translate into our advertising DNA? Hence, the name!” Priti apparently wasn’t too worried about breaking away from a hi-profile designation in a globally respected agency (Managing Partner, BBH) – and that was because “after two decades in the business, I think I had done time and owed it to myself to do the kind of work I wanted to do, the kind of people I wanted to team up with, the kind of clients and brands I wanted to associate with, the size and direction I wanted to go with – on my own terms.”

Heroic words as these are, Priti didn’t feel quite as bold, fearless and confident leaping into unknown territory, continents away from the (earlier) secure cushions of Leo Burnett, Lowe, Grey Worldwide and BBH. “Absolutely! I was nervous as hell and terrified about the admin paperwork etc that comes with the territory. Would it dilute my creative drive and threaten the persona of the agency? However, I must say that the immense and amazing support and encouragement I got from all quarters really helped. They assured me that it wasn’t a big deal and once I got my team in place, it would all work out fine. The hiring and recruitments have started and I am beginning to breathe again!,” says Priti. What about clients? “Emami is already on board with three of their brands, Fast Relief, Hairlife and Lalima. I can never be grateful enough for the confidence they reposed in me! I had worked with them earlier when I was with Grey, and even then they had promised that should I ever plan to open shop, they would come on board. There was no pitch; the brands just walked in,” says Priti.

Curry-Nation is in talks with other clients too. And Nair is quite clear about the profile of clients. “I love working with Indian brands and clients. Greenply & Camlin were fabulous experiences. I shall focus on them. There is an entire bouquet of new, exciting categories too – healthcare, infrastructure, education, retail, realty – which need to be addressed. FMCGs are certainly challenging but our vision will consciously have a broader bandwidth, hugely engaging the Indian companies. I am open to tie-ups with like-minded people because we live in an age of confluence & collaboration, not conflict.”

One swallow does not a spring make and one quaint femme success does not a trend break. Sure, Priti’s successful, and how; but her, and her predecessors’ successes do not in anyway whatsoever prove that the future would see many more women lynch mob up the entrepreneurial bandwagon to start up ad agencies! Yet, Priti’s example brings the quaint hope and realization that the ad world – unlike other industries – is more receptive to and protective about women entrepreneurs. Well, for whatever it’s worth, that’s surely a good start. I’ll still wait for the spring though...

Can ad-Women Ever become Head Honchos?

AD-Land's Latest Toing …Statistics

What’s with The Numbers game in Adville, Guys? 4Ps B&M Monojit Lahiri tries to Cut in on this Bizarre new Game in Town!

Hey, don’t get naughty ideas, okay? Toing is not that … but fixation, obsession, hot focus. And statistics (or stats, as they say) does not stand for vital or Pam Andy, but clinical numericals, got it? Jeez, we seem to be living in real sinful times when everything is put under the scanner, laid bare … and – forget it!

Okay, let’s get serious. In recent times (more than ever) stats are being yanked out to sell, promote, inform, educate, hype, persuade … wassup? Two minutes of brushing with Pepsodent removes 95% germs! Listerine announces that your tooth brush reaches only 25% of your mouth! Ek Minute is what Surf Excel takes to wipe off dirt from your clothes! One pack of Maggi wheat flour noodles is equal to 3 chapatis! Fair & Handsome promises gorapan in 3 weeks, while Pond’s White Beauty Cream offers flawless skin in 7 days. Rival Olay declares that it fights 7 signs of ageing, while Head & Shoulders announces 7 Scalp & Hair benefits! Wow, kinda hair-raising, huh?

“Not really,” says Head honcho of Virus Communication, Rupam Bohra. He believes all this is happening because there is a huge bankruptcy of ideas “and this reflects dramatically the troubled state that the Creative frat are in, in today’s Ad scene. They are under huge pressure to constantly perform and deliver in a fiercely competitive marketscape with clients looking for results – and no corny, pseudo-creative, edgy crap, please! Now, in a space where everyone is desperately wanting to be bigger than China, confusion can get confounded! Result? Transform emotion into numericals!’’ He is convinced that it is a sign of desperation and recalls a recent meeting with a client who valiantly tried to convince him that “my products, when consumed/used, are bound to make the consumer 30% happier!”

Lowe’s Creative Head (North) Deepesh Jha is suitably amused at this anecdote but brings to the table his own special spin. Jha believes that it’s not very prudent to make sweeping statements because ultimately it all depends on the focus and direction the brief wishes to connect with. “Sometimes stats need to be emphasised to power and define the ad in terms of potency and edge – like Dove soap. Otherwise too, if it makes for an interesting value-addition to the narrative, why not?,” he tells 4Ps B&M. Jha doesn’t remotely believe that it has anything to do with either creative bankruptcy or desperation. “That’s a rather naïve and simplistic way of looking at this issue. Eventually it is about who is using it, in what manner, to address which constituency, to achieve what result. Stats can be very effective if used in a relevant manner … or corny and brain dead if used in a clichéd, moronic way,” says Jha.

President (Corporate), Tata Teleservices Lloyd Mathias offers a client’s perspective. He believes that today’s consumer is far more savvy and informed than his predecessor and demands proof for his full-value-for-money transactions. This has suddenly – in many categories – eliminated or toned down the soft-sell, charming and romancing of the target group. “Of course, there are brilliant exceptions like Vodafone which continues to do its own thing – Pug, Zoozoos – because they are brand building devices. But, it depends on the marketer, product, focus, and the target audience. In today’s crazy market place, anything that gives the client an edge into propelling the purchase intent must be pounded, fast n’ furious … nobody cares about the textbook do’s and don’ts today,” says Mathias.

Ad–watcher Pravesh Mathur believes it’s clearly a sign of the times. “Be it the growth-rate, Sensex, movie-rating, cricket-rating of the best side and cricketers, per capita incomes – the number game is hot n’ happening, boss,” says Mathur. Agrees Copywriter Tania Khanna as she tells 4Ps B&M, “the proliferation of me-too brands blitzing diverse messages of funny and emotive nature engages the consumer, but also confuses her. Often it even de-sensitises her. That’s when measurable tools – read benefits – come handy. Enter stats!”

Be that as it may, stats can be misleading too. Remember the high profile and controversial Heinz-Complan face off that shook the industry and media sometime ago? It only reveals that stats can be a double-edged sword. Concludes the local wit: “It’s a lot like marriage, sex or even advertising. It’s as good, relevant, meaningful, fulfilling and effective – or terrible, ghastly, flawed, fake or misleading – as you make it, buddy!” Touche!

AD-Land's Latest Toing …Statistics

Do Agency Guys Make For ‘Better’ Clients?

Do Ad Agency Professionals, Crossing over to The Clients’ side, Guarantee a more Confident, Evolved and ‘Sorted’ Communication Manager – or are they Misfits who are more Enthusiastic than Clued-in? 4Ps B&M Investigates

It has happened before… and will happen again. It comes with the territory and is often seen as a natural extension, a transition, a seamless move from point A to B – ad agency pros jumping over to the clients’ side. Critics, however, are not so sure and believe that the similarities in portfolio are only cosmetic. They point to several who rushed in, tempted “by the glamour, perks and the opportunity to give-it-back” but ended up with egg on their face because they couldn’t read the ‘’! The demands are different and in the end, it just didn’t add up.

This certainly wasn’t the case for ToI’s Rahul Kansal (Director, Branding). Powered with a solid two-decade agency experience, the MBA from IIM Kolkata made the switch in early 2002 and appears totally relaxed, fulfilled and in-control. “It really seemed the right thing to do at that point in time and it’s worked out fine,” Kansal tells 4Ps B&M. No glitches, teething problems, initial nervousness? “No... because I was quite confident of what I was doing, where I was going, where I was coming from and what I needed to bring to the table. I think some of my senior colleagues may have had some reservations – rightly so – but soon, everything fell in place, once I delivered. I saw this new calling as both a huge challenge and an opportunity; and gave it my best,” he adds. Kansal makes no bones about the fact that his high comfort levels with the editorial guys and briefing sessions with ad agency hot-shot creative – Freddy-Naved, Aggie-Paddy – is due to his agency experience. However, he appears very disappointed with the new breed of crossover clients. “Unfocussed, under-qualified, non-serious, even frivolous, it’s all very cosmetic and there seems to be more hollow posturing than real, grounded contribution,” laments Kansal emphatically.

Esha Guha takes the debate to another level. The director of the Delhi-based Concept Advertising is clear that ad-agency experience is certainly no guarantee that “the switch across the table will be meaningful for the agency bloke. The mandate and demands are different, which is why most of these guys are at sea and quickly conform to their organisational blueprint instead of bringing in a fresh, interesting, creative perspective to the communication process which could add value to the brand equity of the organisation’s products/image quotient.” She believes most fail to understand and grapple with the basic difference between “taking a brief and giving a brief!”

Ex-President of McCann and present CEO of Future Brands, Santosh Desai agrees as he tells 4Ps B&M, “Overall, tough as it is to generalise, I’d say that most agency guys don’t make the cut – and the reason is simple. The complex conflict between the person and the role, perception and reality throws them [off]! The simple transition is not so simple after all, leading the been-there, done-that agency smart-guy to confusion of the confounded type!”

Comparatively, non-agency clients have neither the baggage nor the pretence of any game-changer agenda. They bring a no-nonsense kind of direction and have a focus that is devoid of the I-know-what-to-do, but don’t know-how-to-do-it mumbo-jumbo, believes Desai. Disagreeing totally is Naresh Kumar, the Chief Corporate Communication Manager of Power Grid. The youngest professional to hold such a senior position in the PSU domain, he makes no bones about how critical his ad agency background has been in making him an enlightened and clued-in-client, confident in dealing with his 17 ad agencies! “The experience was invaluable and gave me a total understanding of how the publicity machinery operates. Today, no agency guy can fool me about what is possible or not, because they know that I know! Similarly, I know when to blow the whistle when – sometimes – impossible deadlines are demanded by some. My confidence, drive & achievements as a client are largely due to my agency experience. No two ways,” says Kumar.

What better person to articulate the last words in this debate than Agnello Dias, Co-founder & CD of Taproots. Unlike Desai, he is of the belief that generally speaking, the strike-rate has been pretty good and points to some of the star cross-over successes – Rahul Kansal, Punita & Sanjeev, Alex Kuravella, Santosh Desai – to reiterate his stand. However, he is quick to add that “it largely depends on the kind of experience the person had while working in the agency. If it wasn’t fun, exciting and interesting, he/she would be unlikely to bring any real value as a client. If it’s a true collaboration, it could rock!” In fact, from personal experience to their bonding with ToI, and to Kansal (as demonstrated through ToI’s Teach India & Lead India campaigns), all bear testimony to his take “Ours is really more about relationship than partnership. The client-agency line doesn’t exist. It’s living with – not off – each other in this amazing voyage. Yeah sure, I am biased, but can you blame me?” Dias finishes.

Do Agency Guys Make For ‘Better’ Clients?

Booming Delhi Adbiz Has No AD Film-Maker To Speak Of!

A Rocking Adscene. A High-end, Classy, Client roster. A Whopping Adspend… But ooops, Zilch in The Ad Film-maker and Production House Area!

When I moved from Kolkata to Delhi in 1978, it was pretty much – certainly in the ad space – a village trying like hell to ape a city! Hardly a single mainline ad agency thought it worthwhile to have a full-service branch in what they condescendingly dismissed as a “sarkari, PSU-centric city”. It was either a solitary representative or a small skeletal branch to establish a ‘presence’, with the taskforce flying in to take the brief, do the job, make the presentation before hot-footing back to Mumbai! One of my late bosses regularly threatened, warned, begged us to ensure that we booked his air passage “back to Mumbai, ASAP!” The fact is, back then, compared to Mumbai and even Kolkata – then hub of multinats – Delhi was boondocks terrain and just “a great place to get a letter from, son,” as mockingly described by a Mumbai hot-shot.

Asian Games & colour TVs in 1984 marked the turning point; and thereafter, the zoom North (pun intended!) was unstoppable! Today, with Gurgaon being the locale for an astonishing number of red-hot, globally-revered clients along with almost all, major multinational agencies (fully-staffed) totally equipped to deal with every segment of communication requirement, Delhi/Gurgaon takes on Mumbai anytime in the ad sweepstakes! Ironically, it is the Mumbai guys who now need to come here for client meetings – not the other way around! However, amazingly, the one area in this advantage-Delhi juggernaut that remains totally unaddressed is the ad film scene! The Delhi ad-universe reportedly commissions around 1,000 TVCs a year – mostly from the FMCG and auto sector – but how many are made in Delhi? Isn’t there, despite a booming top-of-the-line ad activity and environment, even one worthy, respected ad film-maker (like Prahlad Kakkar, Prasun Pandey, Abhinay Deo, Vinil Kumar, Amit Sharma, et al ) or production house who can respond professionally to a Pepsi, Coke, Airtel, Sony, P&G, Maruti, Mercedes or Toyota brief and deliver a TVC, made-in-Delhi, as good as the ones made in Mumbai?

“No! And the reason is historical.” This is Kolkata-based filmmaker Jeet Choudhury. He believes that unlike Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai – cities with a proven cinema-making culture – Delhi is without any similar background or DNA. Also, unlike the IT or BPO industry (quintessential Delhi landmarks), filmmaking is not something that you can acquire overnight and make a mark in, nor is this field simply about machines and hardware. As per him, it’s about individuals, drives, mindsets, a special brand of evolved creativity demanding a very special skill set, which does not lend itself to the character or nature of a city like Delhi, which remains a definitive political city, a trader’s city, a Doordarshan space! Respected and hot Mumbai-based ad filmmaker Abhijit Chaudhari, for his turn, sees no reason why ad film-makers should go out of their way “to re-invent the wheel”. In fact, he cites the example of the established, age-old Bollywood and ad-film scene existing in Mumbai for the last six decades (if not more), ready with every conceivable trick in the book in terms of service. “Why would any sane professional suddenly attempt to get adventurous and try some silly, risky, stuff? Besides, even if some guy with deep pockets and manic desire wishes to put Delhi on the TVC map, it’s going to take a long time to establish the credibility required to match Mumbai,’’ Chaudhari tells 4Ps B&M.

Sandeep Marwah blows the whistle loud and hard and rubbishes these claims. As the moving force behind Noida’s Marwah Studios, he reels off a list of ad films that have been shot in his studio. “That much for limited infrastructure and equipment! My staff and I also have frequently helped in locating the right professionals – like art directors etc. to do the job for them. The problem lies elsewhere… star- convenience and preference,” says Marwah. He adds that stars (film-stars or cricketers who seem to be doing most of the endorsements) are crazily busy people and therefore often request the ad-film guys to shoot at the location they are working in. For film stars, it’s Mumbai. For cricketers, it’s wherever… that’s the real reason!

Delhi-based film-maker Ishani Dutta adds to this pro-Delhi chant with passion and purpose as she tells 4Ps B&M, “Actually, it is a matter of perception and branding. While admittedly Mumbai has a definite history of B-town and ad-films, we continue to do excellent work in the docu and corporate film space; and given an opportunity – along with the right backing and encouragement – would definitely be able to produce the goods. Fact is, we live in an age of brands and Brand Mumbai totes up, values – real and imagined – that rate high in the glamour and professionalism quotient for the ad frat.” She is convinced that like the feature filmmakers homing-in on Delhi, the ad guys will follow too. “Great value at an economical price is our USP; and sooner or later, they will realise that Brand Delhi is a worthwhile brand too,” says Dutta definitively.

The last words however must be reserved for someone who actually ran a very successful ad-film unit (Apocalypso) with his partner Pradeep Sarkar in Delhi around a decade ago. Shovon Chowdhury, Strategic Planning Director of the Delhi-based ad agency Street-life is focused and lays it on the line. “Let’s face it. Most talented ad filmmakers invariably dream of making a feature film some day; and sooner or later, gravitate to Bollywood. Also, in terms of scope and scale even in the advertising space, Mumbai is matchless. For clients, be it easy access to infrastructure, skilled, trained technicians, professionalism, Mumbai remains streets ahead. Hence, why would any evolved, savvy or informed client/agency bother to look elsewhere?” says Chowdhury. He admits that their ad film production company did good work and rocked for a while “but soon, predictably, the exodus to Mumbai began and you can’t run a quality production house without quality people…” Case closed, decision sealed, Mumbai it is... for now!

Booming Delhi Adbiz Has No AD Film-Maker To Speak Of!