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What led to your inclusion in Advertising Age’s listing?
There were three broad things we did in 2014: We re-focused our creative product to make it the centre of everything we do. Second, we got a lot more aggressive in our new business pursuit and we have managed to retain our talent. I think these three were key to our 2014 journey. We have also been told we are the only Indian agency to figure in this list. It does make us feel happy that an international body has recognised work coming out of India.
Coming after the Effie loss, is the consolation enough ?
I will not say that I wasn’t disappointed for losing out on the ‘Agency of the Year’ trophy at the Effies. We only enter work in advertising effectiveness awards in India and across the world. This is an award that is taken seriously by both clients and agencies because what we are talking about here are campaigns that work in the marketplace. We had won last year and were hoping to win this year, too. We lost despite having the highest number of golds. It is disappointing. But we have to take this in our stride.
At the Effies, Lowe and Ogilvy & Mather were the only two to have won across brands. Lowe, for instance, had award-winning work across FMCG, telecom, jewellery, tea, appliances, lifestyle, online classifieds... Is this something you have consciously worked upon in the past year?
I am of the firm view that any agency should have as diverse a portfolio as it can. First, there is a business angle to this. That is, if any category goes belly up, the agency should not suffer. Second, with a sectoral span, the learnings that you have are enormous. Plus, from a talent point of view, it can be boring when you are working on one category. A diverse portfolio of clients can help you rotate and retain talent.
Lowe handles 21 out of Hindustan Unilever’s 30 actively advertised brands in India. Is it easy managing such a large portfolio?
It is not easy. Clients have become promiscuous. There’s a danger that business could be nibbled upon by rivals. Having said that, FMCG comes easily to us. It is in our blood. We know the client. They know us. They know our style of working. We know theirs. I think all of this helps when we’re working together.
Lowe has taken a stand over the past decade it will not participate in creative awards. After what happened at Goafest in the past two years and the hesitation among agencies now to participate in the Abbies, do you feel vindicated?
We are not against creative awards. But I am of the view as well as Balki (chairman & chief creative officer, Lowe), Arun (Iyer, national creative director, Lowe) and Amer (Jaleel, national creative director, Lowe) that if an award does not take into why a piece of work was done and what was the impact it had in the marketplace, I think it doesn’t make sense.
We are not in the art business. A client trusts us with his advertising money. If an award does not judge a piece of work for what it is worth, it is meaningless. So as long as the parameters of judging don’t change, we have taken a stand that we will not be a part of creative awards either in India or globally.
