Q&A: John Hegarty, Chairman & Worldwide Creative Director, BBH

John Hegarty, chairman and worldwide creative director, Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) is one of the most successful advertising professionals in the UK whose work is keenly followed by many across the world. The brands he has worked on include Levi's, British Airways, Audi and Johnie Walker among others. The co-founder of BBH, which was set up in 1982, attended the Goafest last week. He spoke to Viveat Susan Pinto. Edited excerpts:

How would you rate the work coming out of India?
Indian advertising has huge potential. I have seen some good work here, but not necessarily great work. There is a lack of consistency. Having said that, there is still a tremendous energy and excitement about India. Therefore I think India has a fantastic future in terms of the communications industry. However, there is need for some more competition here. It is beginning to happen with lots of new agencies setting up shop. But there is still need for more. The UK example shows competition creates tremendous energy, innovation, and consequently very good work.

What are the areas you find Indian agencies lacking?
Scam ads have to stop. For instance, 90 per cent of the ads I found displayed in the print section at the Goafest were scams. I can spot them from a mile away. Big double-page spreads for some esoteric brand one has never heard of. You need a magnifying glass to see the logo. What you have to do is stop the creative talent here from expending their energy doing scam work, and get them to do real work. There are some very talented people here. If they go on doing this scam work, the Indian advertising industry will be laughed at. I actually thought India would be better off than other Asian countries, where I can see scamming. But that is not the case. This has to stop.

But is scamming an Asian phenomenon alone?
I am not sure. But that is besides the point. Somebody has to say no. India has a phenomenal future, but as long as it bases its work on stuff that is not real, nobody will take it seriously. And sadly I find agencies here are not doing enough to stop this phenomenon. BBH, for instance, is clear about scam ads: We will not tolerate it. Secondly, it is also easier to do scam ads in print than any other medium. Technology has made it possible.

What are the standards you have set for the Indian unit of BBH?
My ambition for BBH is that we should be the best agency in India. I am not interested in being the biggest agency here. But I definitely would want it to be the best, an agency that people would love to be a part of. An agency that is not obsessed with growth, but with quality, and is one of the leaders in Indian advertising. We already are working with some good clients including Hindustan Unilever and Marico. We are building our client base here. And we are excited about where we want to go. In a way what we have done is build a good bed, now we have got to do some outstanding work. Demonstrate it, as I keep saying, “ At BBH, we turn intelligence into magic.” On Vaseline, for instance, we have got to start doing some more magical work. We had some brilliant ideas which we presented to them. We hope to change the way people look and think about Vaseline.

Is it easy retaining people despite the creative credentials BBH has?
It is not easy. We run five offices around the world, Mumbai is the sixth one, but it simply isn’t easy especially if your standards are very high. It’s easy to do mediocre work, but it’s difficult when you want to do outstanding work.

A lot of international creative hotshops are making their way to India. But can agencies aligned to global networks be shaken by the hotshops?
Agencies are coming here because they find the market dynamic. Competition will compel agencies here to be more innovative, more inventive. That will benefit the industry here. You will really have to perform. If I were one of the big network agencies, I’d begin to worry. Ogilvy is a great agency here, but I would argue that they haven’t had a lot of competition. Now it’s coming.