In the April 2006 issue of Pitch, Sandeep Goyal, Dentsu’s Indian face, detailed plans for the launch of Dentsu’s media independent agency in India. His ambitious targets were mocked at by competition (on and off the record); and his ‘under cutting strategy’ was made a talking point. The man the advertising industry loves to hate, Sandeep Goyal, in conversation with Gokul Krishnamurthy, no holds barred – well, almost! Excerpts:

You had shared with us some targets in a previous interview to Pitch magazine -- Rs. 1000 crores in five years of operations. Are you on track?

I am very clear that in five years of operations, Dentsu India will be at least a Rs. 1000 crore entity. I think we are more than adequately on target. We closed December 2006 with capitalized billing of about Rs 550 crores. My own personal target for this year is Rs. 800 crores. Let’s say we hit between 750 and 800 crores. And the split between full service clients and the rest is at 50-50. Dentsu Media is currently on a billing base of about Rs. 400 crores.

Do you see that changing with the launch of Dentsu Media?

Yes. It may not change with the constitution of the full service business. But Dentsu Media may now add on a fair amount of pure AOR business, which is currently zero in the portfolio. We will then have three sources of income – pure creative, pure media and full service. Therefore getting to that Rs. 1000 crore number by the end of 2008, is something I am very clear is not difficult at all.

Did you feel the need at some point to revise targets?

Let’s see… if the market continues to be buoyant, we might outstrip those numbers. Fact remains that we have geographically expanded since you and I last met. We now have offices in Ahmedabad, Chennai and in both places we have interesting clients. And we have sort of upped the scale in Delhi – figuratively and otherwise. Dentsu Creative Impact, the third agency, through Iki, is picking up in strength; we will be adding more business in the next month or two. That has added to the volume too.

The last time we did a story on Dentsu was last year, around the same time, in Pitch magazine; and there were a lot of comments on your ‘undercutting’ strategies…

I wrote to some of those people who had commented and you must know that they themselves have undercut Dentsu in the past in the Indian market. We wouldn’t be so large and profitable if we were undercutting to get business.

When it comes to negotiations, we continuously keep refusing business. There are times when the client sends us the letter and then comes back to us and tells us that so and so agency is quoting so much lesser. So go to them. We know what we are worth. Don’t dream of Dentsu if all you can afford is some cheap agency.

The guys who talk big things and accuse others are the ones who actually indulge in such things. If smaller agencies do it, one wouldn’t blame them. Surprisingly, it is bigger agencies that do this.

It is very simplistic for people to wish you away by saying that Dentsu is a price warrior. The fact of the matter is that today clients are not looking for price warriors. There are a few and I would rather tell them to f*&% off.

(Full story in Impact) more...

‘Most Entrepreneurs I know actually can’t stand humans’- Verne Harnish

He is enthusiasm personified. His passion and commitment towards helping companies grow is clearly illustrated in his sessions. No wonder, he was named one of the ‘top ten minds in small business’ by Fortune Small Business Magazine. Meet Verne Harnish. Founder of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and a syndicated columnist, Verne Harnish addressed young entrepreneurs and company executives, in a special management workshop – ‘Making of Indian Giants’ in Delhi. Often dubbed as the ‘growth guy’, Verne shares his gyaan exclusively with Impact, in this chat with Ruchika Chitravanshi about entrepreneurship and why this is the most amazing time to be young! Excerpts:

How have the workshops been so far?

There has been no rest. I have been to Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and now New Delhi for this workshop. I have been speaking for four days. I have been so impressed with the raw intelligence and insight of the people here. I have already said to my folks back in States that this is the sharpest audience I have ever addressed in the world: highly educated, great intellect, the love of the bait, good rooting in theory. What I am trying to do is bring something practical, that here’s what you have to do tomorrow.

In your talk you stressed on the importance of a coach in the life of a professional. So are you playing that role here?

No, I am the educator. It is learning plus coaching that is required. So I am hopefully facilitating some learning on the education side. What is difference between the coach and the educator? One talks, one listens… generally speaking in learning, the teacher’s talking. In coaching, you get the students to talk and solve their own problem.

Do you feel challenges faced by entrepreneurs are different for different businesses?

There may be one percent difference. Though actually there is no difference at all. Everyone thinks that my company is different from all the other companies. I have people telling me, ‘oh you are talking about business-to-business I operate in business to consumer section’ or other way. Actually it is not B2B or B2C, it is P2P- people to people. You know what, people are the same. An entrepreneur should know, what it takes to attract talent, retain talent tools to fi gure out strategy, the habits that are necessary to execute. That checklist that we have is the same for all companies. Those are just basic human habits, so we can get humans organized to do business.

(Full report in Impact) more…

‘IAMAI will push for pending, new endeavours’- Murugavel Janakiraman

It’s a momentous achievement for Bharatmatrimony’s Murugavel Janakiraman who has been elected as IAMAI Chairman for 2007-08. Well versed with the metaphor: with great powers come great responsibility, Murugavel already has his hands full for the internet and telecom sector in order to give it the much-needed zing. In conversation with Johnson Napier, Janakiraman talks of the positives to expect from IAMAI in the forthcoming year and the need to expand broadband across the length and breadth of the country. Excerpts.

What would be your immediate priorities having taken over as Chairman of IAMAI?

We are working on four major agendas: the first is getting IAMAI to be a more visible and remembered identity, the second thing is that a lot of agents are still comfortable giving ads on the traditional medium; our focus would be on getting more ads for the online medium. The third is a lot of players are increasingly getting into the internet business; we would want to forge ahead and support them in their quest by providing our support, mentoring abilities, and show them the path of how to go about setting up a successful business model in the internet space. The fourth would be to increase the Internet user base in India. While driving IAMAI membership would be an ongoing activity, we would concentrate on increasing broadband penetration across India.

Any unfinished agenda that you would be taking up upfront?

Most of the things are in place as scheduled. What ever was the agenda last year like making the IAMAI a democratic organization, and the other issue of membership that only the elected can become the General Council Members, has already been achieved. We are also looking at doing some kind of research on the various verticals.

There’s an increasing thrust you plan to lay on encouraging entrepreneurship in the domain? Is it so much of a necessity given that there’s no dearth of interested players in the space?

That’s not the case. In fact if you compare India to the rest of the countries, the number of Internet players and penetration is very less out here. We don’t have too many service players too. All we hear is players outsourcing content and talent from outside. Also a lot of services could be brought online. Then there is the issue of newer players in the space not knowing how to go about setting up base in India. That is the gap we want to plug and forge encouraging relationships with new entrepreneurs. We are still in the early stages of Internet revolution in India.

What according to you are the reasons for the IT Act not yet being tabled in the Parliament? When do you see it being passed?

Can’t comment much on the above. Should happen sooner or later.

Full report in Impact) more…