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Volume 4 Issue 30 14Jan.- 20Jan. 2008• Rs 30

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IMPACT INTERVIEW

‘It shouldn’t be, but the standards are different’ – Mohammed Khan

He’s arguably busier today than he was in his last position of Chairman, Bates David Enterprise. The ad reproduced here gives an account – much better than we ever can – of the first 10 years of Enterprise, in many ways regarded as Mohammed Khan’s palatial province in the advertising kingdom. He surely ruled, in terms of the talent that flocked to his creative abode. After over 40 years in advertising, he hung up his boots but is more than game to work with young people and get into training. What he decidedly does not miss about advertising, though, are the deadlines. Enterprise gave rise to Enterprise Nexus. And today it presents itself as an entity called Bates David Enterprise. But this interaction was not about the agency. In this interview, we try and go through the last 40 years of Indian advertising through the mind and eyes of the veteran ad man, and see what signs the past held for the future. He maintains that the quality of Indian creative is not up to the global standard. He insists that the mere entry of global creative shops into the country will not change things around. “There’s no particular agency that dominates today, not in terms of awards but in terms of the work that we see out there,” he says, in conversation with Gokul Krishnamurthy. Excerpts:

Is the Indian advertising industry better for young creative talent today than it was when you came in?

Yes and No. I don’t think there’s a black and white answer. In some ways it is a better place. It is more professional today. From when I started out, it is today a lot more professional today. The money is better, for some – once you make the grade. The process of creating advertising has become very professional now.

But, there’s a downside to this as well. I have said that advertising is less about advertising, because I feel that advertising today is less about advertising and more about deal making.

Look at what is going on. You have a pitch, a large pitch – it could be an MNC, a large Indian FMCG company or whatever else. You go and you make the presentation. There’s a lot of work that goes into a pitch, these days. There’s an awful lot of money and an awful lot of effort that goes into doing this pitch. You will make the pitch to the marketing people. At the end of it, if you make it to the shortlist, they unleash the commercial guys. The commercial guys come and discuss terms with the agency and they decide which agency they are going to work with. That decision, is thoroughly, based on the terms to which you agree to work on. You have commoditised the business. I don’t think we have to go through the charade of going through pitches. It’s heart breaking then for the creatives and the planners and whoever it is. The amount of work and the amount of passion that goes into doing a pitch… I don’t think the clients have a clue of what goes into a pitch. At the end of the pitch, you have now reduced it to a ‘Tender’.

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IMPACT INTERVIEW

‘Creativity should not be sacrificed for size’ – Sonal Dabral.

Sonal Dabral, is a worthy successor to drive the creative focus at Bates David Enterprise forward, feels Mohammed Khan. Dabral admits that it is a challenge, but reminds us that it is challenges such as these that have urged him to take up assignments with Ogilvy Malaysia and Ogilvy Singapore in the past. We know that he has met with a great amount of success with both of those, as also with Ogilvy Mumbai before that. You’ll find his career graph on several websites, so we won’t take you through that. At the beginning of this interview, Dabral was packing his bags for Dubai, where he addressed senior creatives from across the Gulf in a workshop. The interview ended when he was in the Dubai. In a lot of ways, it fits in with a career that’s almost spanned the entire region. Sonal Dabral, Chairman, Bates David Enterprise India, and Regional Creative Director, in a telephonic interaction with Gokul Krishnamurthy:

Welcome back to India. What brings you back to India?

I had thought about returning to India in the last three to four years. I’ve spent my life across India from Agra to Ahmedabad to Delhi to Bombay. India is very much there. On top of that, there’s exciting work happening here. In terms of energy and a whole lot of friends, India was attractive to me.

In the context of another merger, and Mohammed Khan’s shoes to fill: what would be the key challenges?

Every time I have become comfortable in a place and every time a challenge has been thrown at me, I have succumbed to it. I get really excited by the challenge. When I was in Ogilvy Bombay, after all the hard work that Piyush (Pandey) has done and along with him, I had done, Ogilvy Bombay and Ogilvy India reached a No.1 position starting from ’93 or ’94 onwards. When Ogilvy Malaysia required me to come over and make it into a powerhouse, that also seemed like a very steep challenge. It would also be my first overseas venture. So, it was uncomfortable. From a totally comfortable, riding high kind of a situation, into what you would almost call the ‘charm of the unknown’ – that’s why I took it up. Five years later, when Ogilvy Malaysia was doing extremely well, I was shipped in when Ogilvy Singapore needed me to. That was another challenge, to take an office that was riding high on awards even higher. That also, my some grace and lot of hard work by the team, happened.

Would you agree that this is a slightly different kind of challenge, coming as it does at this point in time and this stage of the agency? For starters, we hear that t alent would be a key focus area for Bates David Enterprise. Would ‘Sonal Dabral’ attract the right kind of talent?

I guess so. There is a duality to this role. I will be looking after India and I am also the Regional Creative Director. On both fronts, there is work to be done as far as the sheer creative profile is concerned. On the face of it, it is damn challenging and exciting. With the mergers and everything happening, at the end of it all, the last couple of years have been good for Bates in terms of new business and the kind of work they’ve done. Subhash Kamath with his boundless energy and enthusiasm, and the other bunch of people within the network, like Jeffery Yu – both of them are extremely passionate and enthusiastic. It seems like a really good time and good place that I could contribute to.

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INTERVIEW

Times Now : An Update

Towards the end of the year 2007, we caught up with two people behind Times Now, Sunil Lulla, its CEO, and Arnab Goswami, its Editor-in-chief. The year has been eventful for the channel. Both Lulla and Goswami are buoyed by the numbers delivered by the channel during the year. While impact does not engage in stories based on ratings, the sustained growth of the channel prompted us to catch up with the Times Now spokespeople. Sunil Lulla and Arnab Goswami, in conversation with Gokul Krishnamurthy:

‘We certainly have an investment priority, and that is in the smaller markets’ – Sunil Lulla.

What has been working for the channel in the last one year?

What has been working for us today is what was working for us always – it’s just the focus on delivering relevant and credible news. The viewers of Times Now recognise that what we provide to them is relevant and credible. Our mix of stories is always interesting. Our prime time programming is well-formatted. Our focus of being committed to providing credible, unbiased and relevant news works.

That hasn’t changed much, has it? So are you saying that the audience has woken up to your kind of news offering?

I don’t know what you mean by ‘it hasn’t changed much’. It has become much stronger as a news product. The audience has learnt to get habituated to that. It has obviously worked in building their loyalty and trust. And therefore, they have taken to it.

With respect to numbers, which geographies do you still think need some working on?

One should not get so analytical about these numbers. The base is extremely small for the category. One should look at healthy trends and overall trends. Market by market data, even Mr. L V Krishnan will tell you, may not be the precise way of looking at these numbers.

‘In six months, we would have widened the lead by far’ – Arnab Goswami

What has changed in the second half of 2007, since the last time we spoke?

If you look at the Male TG, that’s where we have grown phenomenally. Even around the time I spoke to you, which was in mid-2007, we were pretty much in a close leadership position for the 4+ audience.

Since then, our increase in the 25 + Male TG is more than 65 to 70 percent. I remember telling you then in that interview, that I don’t know what the exact formula would be, but I told you that we’re going to close the year at No.1.

Principally, I think it’s our news. Today, people say Times Now is setting the agenda across news channels – we are the leader among news channels, not just English. Who does the first interview with Charles Sobhraj? Who does the first interview with Narendra Modi? Who does the first interview with the Dalai Lama? It is Times Now. It’s not just interviews, but also in terms of stories. We pretty much are setting the news agenda for
India.

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