Why they exist

ADVERTISING: Small homegrown advertising shops survive, and are taking a broad Indian sensibility global.

At the airport, if you come across a couple of youngsters wearing Rolex watches and chewing Baba zarda, do be surprised.

Evoking response "" some kind of response "" might be their job. And getting an Indian kick out of advertising, even as globalisation goes on apace, might be the stuff that keeps them revved.

It's what many creative minds at homegrown ad agencies do. Take Crayons Advertising, which has been in business for two decades without a foreign partner, and is not exactly suffering for it.

It has a unit in Dubai, has clients like Fujitsu, Estee Lauder and Pioneer, while in India, its client roster boasts Rolls Royce, Bang & Olufsen and the tourism ministry("Incredible India" campaign).

Other non-globally-affiliated agencies are doing well too: Oxygen Communications, Dacunha, iB&W, Dhar & Hoon, Advertising Avenues, Alok Nanda & Co, Lemon and Preeti Vyas Gianetti, to name a few.

They're not winning big at international award shows, except the odd accolade for Stori and Perialli won by 1Pointsize, but that's no comment on the quality of their work.

They have a broad Indian sensibility in their creative work, and that's beginning to win them some international business too. Mumbai-based Six Inches, for example, has done work for Technology Associates and Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf ATM.

Almost a year ago, London's advertising magazine, Reel, ranked it as one of the most promising creative shops from India.

Oxygen's Crabtree ad, meanwhile, is being used by the client internationally. Crayons is planning offices in Kuwait and Dubai.

"Our business in Kathmandu did suffer due to political turmoil, but we decided we will not shut shop," says Kunal Lalani, managing director, Crayons, "today our business has taken off again."

The success of these "hotshops" is all the more remarkable because in the 1990s, they were widely thought to be doomed, as MNCs drove in their stakes and blared their bugles loud. It was a false alarm, says Tarun Das, director, integrated ideas, Oxygen, which handles international brands like Absolut and Remy Martin.

"MNC ad agencies come with a lot of baggage and always have their hands full. As a result, there is no out-of-the-box thinking," he says.

Smaller offices are less structured and thus more conducive to creativity. Sharad Haksar of 1Pointsize offers another reason that small agencies are often more creative. "MNC agencies go by the size of the account and billing," he alleges. Often, junior guys are put on Rs 1 crore accounts and seniors on Rs 10 crore ones.

What smaller outfits lack, in terms of media clout for example, they try to make up by pooling strengths. Crayons is part of a guild for centralised media buying. "The guild helps us get the financial muscle," claims Lalani.

The biggest advantage that hotshops claim is the age-old logic of passion. As Haksar says, small agencies exist primarily for creativity, not for money "" though of course, creativity is supposed to spin money.