A Charged Pitch

It is the new face of American ad agency Leo Burnett in India. Big ticket clients, saleable creative and a host of new businesses are the hall marks of Chaitra Leo Burnett. Twenty five years after it was set up, the agency ranked twelfth in the advertising sweepstakes last year, is charging ahead at breakneck speed.

In the last one year, new business worth almost Rs 60 crore has flowed in from domestic and international clients pushing billings to Rs 140 crore. There was Coca-Cola, Reebok, Dabur, Bajaj and many more. Whats interesting is that some of these international clients earlier just wouldnt have budged from their affiliated agencies back home. So what is giving Chaitra where Leo Burnett has a 51 per cent stake this zip and pep? Whats driving this rejuvenation?

One reason is the change of guard. For far too long, Chaitra has been a tightly controlled, conservative family-owned outfit. Started by 14 friends and spearheaded by Walter Saldanha the current chairman, it rewrote advertising history in the eighties with the launch of Balsara Hygiene Products Promise toothpaste. From one of the top 10 agencies in the last decade, Chaitra slipped in rankings as accounts and then people began deserting it for a host of creative hotshops. But since the last 18 months, Chaitra has become one of the front-runners for prestigious client pitches.

Today, Chaitra is a more professional outfit. Theres also a new found urgency and desire to excel, not just by churning mouthwatering creative but advertising that sells. And piloting this new phase is managing director Arvind Sharma, 41. An Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad alumni, Sharma who joined Chaitra as senior account executive 14 years ago attributes the agencys growth to three factors. He claims that running the show with him is an entire battery of new generation managers whove been exposed to international expertise and resources. Then theres been a rehaul of processes and vision. And lastly, the agency is adapting itself to a changing marketplace.

It is the exceptional understanding of the rapidly changing consumer backed by great creativity is whats fuelling our growth, says Sharma. This is borne out by the fact why Coke moved from McCann Erickson three months ago. Coke was said to have been happy with Chaitras handling of its sister brands Thums Up and Limca. And that Leo Burnett is not a Coke agency worldwide hardly made a difference. Even Reebok is believed to have moved for similar reasons.

There is also a strong consumer focus as many of the Leo Burnett techniques are being transplanted into Chaitras Mumbai headquarters. For instance, according to an agency executive, all client servicing people have to spend 20 per cent of their time directly with consumers. This means, visiting homes, purchase points and talking to the man on the road.

All this to cater to an ever demanding client.

For until four-five years ago, Sharma says there were just two types of ad agencies those that did client servicing and those that did creative. He feels the act has now changed. Today, we have to bring exceptional creativity to the party but must serve the cause of brands and the clients business as well, says Sharma.

In the last two years, he has tried to adapt the Leo Burnett line of work in the Indian context. Our aim is to provide our clients with an agency that truly lives upto the promise of Think global, act local, he adds. What he aims to do is to redefine the Indian industry standards in areas of strategic thinking and creative planning. With the Calcutta branch breaking even within a year of its origin, Chaitra hopes to grow at 50 per cent, when the industry growth is poised at 15 to 16 per cent.

Sharma, who has spent his early years marketing consumer products in Voltas, before being lured into advertising, understands the need for competence in this fast developing industry. That is precisely why Chaitra pitched itself against multinationals and not other ad agencies during campus interviews. At Rs 2.5 lakh per annum, its salaries are on par with Hindustan Lever and Procter & Gamble. Cynical, as he is, of the closed-door intellectuals, Sharma takes pride in his team which feels is perfectly acclimatised to the new mantra of advertising.

Chaitras ideas team is what Sharma would like to define as truly creative. There are three creative heads looking after different sets of clients who Sharma claims give that little extra to the agency with its motto creativity with a purpose. In the world of advertising creativity for the sake of art is no longer viable. My team is committed to subjecting their work to the jury of consumers, and that is what makes them so special, says Sharma.

Like many other agencies Chaitra also harps on its consumer orientation. It spends almost Rs 2.5 crore every year to keep in touch with the consumer pulse.

Also, unlike earlier when a campaign took about one year to materialise, time frames have now been drastically reduced to six to eight weeks, old processes have been done away with. What is now required is an enormous amount of teamwork. The Thums Up bungy jumping commercial was prepared in about eight to nine weeks.

And a growing client list is what Chaitra is aspiring for. Here, its affiliation with Leo Burnett is coming in handy. Chaitra tied up with Leo way back in 1987, when unlike today, there was no noticeable rush for the Indian agencies to add a foreign name as its suffix. Leo Burnett brought with it the mid-western concept of advertising which strikes a balance between science and creativity.

However, it was only post-liberalisation that Leo Burnett took 10 per cent equity in the agency in 1992. It was raised to 26 per cent in 1995 and the name of the company was changed to Chaitra Leo Burnett (CLB). With clients once again seeking out Chaitra, Sharma vision for the future is realistic. We want to be the best agency in the clients opinion by 2001, he says. And that shouldnt be a tall order.