IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Despite being small fish in an ocean filled with multinational sharks; despite the (still) strong trend of clients choosing the muscled multinats over small, independent agencies; and despite starting their ventures in so-called troubled times (remember the slowdown?), Acharya, Jacob, Menon and others of their ilk are not worried. In fact, they are virtually gloating over how some big clients have already started favouring their relatively small ‘outfits’ over tried, tested and fancy agencies like O&M, McCann, JWT and other big guys. Cut The Crap already handles accounts of Jyothi Laboratories, Redbricks Junior, Xcellon Institute, Hills Cement and is on the verge of signing up a renewable energy account and another real estate brand; Jacob’s kitty is plush with names like NDTV Imagine, GM Modular, Geodesic and Fox Star Studios; while Menon’s Black Swan has recently landed a part of Domino’s account. Explains Menon, “We created mailers for them keeping buying behavior in mind. We also created Pizza Signs (like Sun Signs).”
Sure, display of such entrepreneurial spirit in the ad industry is not new. After all, there was a Sam Balsara in the 80s who left Mudra to start his own Madison with three spill over clients; or even Kunal Lalani who launched Crayons as an independent agency in 1986 and has built it into one of India’s largest independent agencies. But what’s new this time round is the veritable flood of independent small agencies that are suddenly coming out of the woodwork and bagging big-ticket accounts with swift speed. The list of renegades has been growing over the last few years. On Communications, Cartwheel Creative, Saints and Warriors, Creativeland Asia, Taproot, among more are all new independent set-ups, boosted by veterans of India’s ad-land and drawing the attention of the entire industry because of some great trend setting works in this short time. Agrees D. Ramakrishna (Ramki), Founder, Cartwheel Creative, “This time is no different from others. There have been people who have broken away in the past too to start their own outfits. But yes, last few years have seen more corporates coming in than individuals. This flood is different because individuals have broken away and launched agencies with different work. That’s why its the talk of the town.”
Beyond the hype and the hoopla however, cynics rule. An industry veteran, on conditions of anonymity says that it would take a long time for these new kids on the block to get their act in place. “There are three growth stages for every independent agency and they will also have to go through the same grind before they can challenge the established agencies,” he says, adding that the first stage is the roll out where their bread & butter comes from boutique work (print campaigns of real estate companies or the regional ads for big clients); the second phase is when they start getting inquiries from home grown brands and the third phase happens when even the multinats take the trouble of seeking them out. “These guys have only just touched first base,” he sniggers derisively.
“That’s old hat,” Ramki waves away the argument. “Big clients are already dropping into the laps of independent agencies.” One only needs to look at the list of who’s who clients that these small agencies have eating out of their hands, to realise how well entrenched they’ve become in client mindscape. A case in point is the Ramki promoted Cartwheel Creative itself. Ramki, who gave up a job as JWT’s creative head at Mumbai to set up Cartwheel, got invited for the Reliance Communications (RCOM) bid through a wild card (he had worked with Sanjay Behl, brand head, RCOM while at Lintas and Lowe). “Initially we were brought on board to do the RWorld portion while the major chunk of the account went to Leo Burnett and Mudra. During that time, my car got washed away in Mumbai’s 26/7 floods. Besides, I was my own one man army who had to be office boy, peon, creative and client servicing and I did not even have a car,” Ramki reminisces. Though certainly not the best of times, Ramki still cherishes those bitter sweet memories and has no regrets in going his own way. “The sheer excitement to be finally able to do things my way was enough to get me going and with time even the size of RCOM’s account with us has grown significantly,” he adds.
Even multinationals are recognising the benefit of smaller, nimbler and local agencies. Fox Studios (22 Feet), JP Morgan (On), Domino’s (Black Swan) have already landed into their net. Forget India, in fact, globally there is a trend for multinational marketers to not use multinational agencies. The growing argument is that MNC agencies tend to be more rigid and less responsive to client needs. In contrast, local, entrepreneurial and independent agencies tend to be highly creative with their international accounts.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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