Content, health biz, digital experiences top priorities: Ogilvy global CEO

'Borderless creativity requires that all stakeholders contribute to nurture creativity', she said

One of the world’s top advertising agencies, Ogilvy, appointed its first Indian-origin woman CEO in Devika Bulchandani last month. Bulchandani, 53, who migrated to the US in the mid-1990s, is making her first trip to India since taking over as the global CEO, tells Viveat Susan Pinto, her plans and how she sees the advertising space evolving with women making their way to the top. Edited Excerpts:

What would be your key focus areas as Ogilvy's global CEO?

The three priorities for me at Ogilvy are clear. One is to accelerate our content delivery. The second would be to drive our health business in terms of how we can use creativity and new-age tools to drive healthcare communication. This has gained importance following the pandemic. The biggest priority for us, as humans today, is health and wellness. I would like to capitalise on this momentum and drive scale from a global point of view. The third area would be to drive our digital experience business — to create awareness among clients regarding digital experiences and story-telling.

Most advertising CEOs speak about digital and their priorities there. Yet, the biggest disruption in advertising has been led by start-ups, technology firms and consultancies, causing advertising people to switch jobs. How are you addressing these challenges?

I have only one thing to tell people who are and want to be a part of the creative business: If you want to understand brand-building, you have to be a part of the advertising industry. People are leaving advertising because it appears to be old-fashioned. Just see some of the work we are doing in markets such as India. We leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) to create hyper-personalised spots for local businesses in different pin codes for Mondelez India’s Cadbury brand in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, we are using QR codes and tech to help street sellers get visibility as part of the Cadbury campaign for Diwali. So, we got to keep modernising the way we work and ensure that people who hunger for the cutting-edge in terms of work have it here in advertising.

You have a consulting division within Ogilvy. What would be your plan-of-action to counter the influence of global consultancies that have stepped into advertising and marketing services in the last few years?

We have a consulting arm with over 200 people globally. We are investing in this division so that we can help clients grow. But to your point on global consultancies influencing the advertising business, they haven’t replaced agencies. Advertisers continue to turn to advertising agencies for their brand-building and communication needs.

Piyush Pandey, chairman, global creative and executive chairman, Ogilvy India, describes you as the face of borderless creativity, which is what Ogilvy stands for.

Borderless creativity requires that all stakeholders contribute to nurture creativity. The future of advertising in a globalised world is all about how we can get people to collaborate irrespective of where they come from. For instance, I grew up in India in a very conservative family. And now I am in a very liberal industry. Advertising is about great ideas and how you execute them. Different perspectives allow you to create better work for your clients. I bring that perspective of difference to the table because of who I am and from where I come. I will continue to encourage different perspectives at Ogilvy, which is what borderless creativity is about.

How do you propose to encourage diversity and inclusion at Ogilvy? Your appointment has brought this debate to the centre of the table, given that there are few women at the top in advertising.

For me, the diversity and inclusion debate is very personal. On the one hand, it feels good to be the first Indian-origin woman CEO at Ogilvy because it gives hope to a lot of women of colour aspiring to grow. At the same time, there is a sense of responsibility that comes with the job. The few things I would like to focus on is how do I bring empathy to the workplace; value people for who they are. Parallelly, at the WPP level (holding company of Ogilvy), we have a lot of programmes to encourage diversity and inclusion. For instance, for women who dropped out of the workforce to look after family and parents, we have a programme called ‘Making Space’. We also have a hybrid working model in place, so that people can have a sense of work-life balance. We are also increasingly focusing on pay equity at the workplace.