'India will bring in innovation and new ideas'

TBWA, part of Omnicom, the world’s largest ad agency holding group, has been known for applying its disruption theory to advertising. In India, too, the company has applied the concept successfully to creatives for Nissan, Allianz, Dabur and, most recently, the Sony Max IPL 2 campaign, highlighting the power of a billion. TBWA Worldwide Chairman Jean-Marie Dru and TBWA India CEO Shiv Sethuraman chat with Suvi Dogra and Sapna Agarwal on their plans for India. Edited excerpts:

How does India fit into TBWA’s worldwide strategy?
Dru: The pace at which the Indian economy is growing, the country will be one of the top 10 markets within the next two years. Second, India is not only a base to service our global clients but also to innovate with its vast diversity, which makes us believe that we must invest in the country. Omnicom as a group is very focused on India.

How has the TBWA strategy in India changed after Omnicom gained 100 per cent ownership in the agency last year?
Dru: We wish to drive growth in India, in the next two years, at a fast pace.

Sethuraman: The good thing about the whole process is that we will be challenged to be as good as any other TBWA office in the world. The focus was on building a new management and make significant changes to the quality, we deliver.

But you are a late entrant...
Dru: TBWA is a decentralised company and we believe in leveraging from our strengths, world over. For instance, our best work in digital services comes from Los Angeles (LA) and Amsterdam, group integration from Paris and South Africa, brand building again from LA, and so on. We see India as a long-term market in terms of bringing innovation and new ideas. In India, too, we will adopt a strategy similar to our other group agencies. While we have around four-five different expressions or disciplines, in India we do not currently wish to create a new medium but build momentum around what we have already have ie TBWA and Tequila.

Sethuraman: The current economic environment is more suited for growing our business through TBWA and especially through our interactive arm — Tequila.

Please elaborate on your plans for Tequila in India.
Sethuraman: The plan is to integrate Tequila with the overall TBWA India business, instead of treating it as a different P&L, given the nature of services. It is all about solving marketing problems creatively, producing measurable results. The significance of a beyond-the-line services arm is becoming more significant, as advertisers are shifting their budgets in the favour of non-traditional media. Recession has further accelerated this shift to non-traditional advertising.

The other aspect that Tequila will increase pace on is the retail communication and marketing service. It has been largely concentrated in the southern part of India till now. The aim is to spread its outreach across the country hereon and aggressively invest behind it. We hope to grow Tequila’s revenue contribution to the India operations to 35 per cent, from 15 per cent now.