‘DIVERSITY IS A GROWTH STRATEGY, NOT AN HR INITIATIVE FOR FCB’
Q] In 2014, you were given the task of turning around FCB network’s worst performing office, Canada, after which you helped transform North America into a growth driver for the network. What is the mission as Global CEO for you this time? Q] You have brought on board clients like Walmart and GSK, also campaigns like Whopper Detour were under your watch, tell us about the most interesting campaigns and clients you have worked with? Q] Would you say consultancies and tech companies are encroaching on ad agency turf in a big way today? Did the acquisition of Droga5 by Accenture Interactive signal that brand communications have gone beyond advertising? Q] You have seen FCB’s work globally, at what stage is India in when it comes to the fusion of creativity with technology? Q] FCB India used to be an agency which for close to 59 years didn’t manage to win even a single Cannes Lion … cut to 2019 when it won India’s only Gold and in 2021 became the most awarded Indian Agency at Cannes…. Q] How much does India contribute to the overall FCB global revenues? Q] Today everyone is running the Digital race, you yourself are known for your digital expertise …but as far as FCB India is concerned it is still considered a creatively inclined mainline agency as opposed to tech first digital agency…. Is that an impression you would like the leadership here to change?
Yes, at that time Toronto was our worst performing office in the world. I think I’ve always been attracted to turnarounds. Be it the Toronto team or our CRM agencies in New York and in parts of North America, the formula has always been the same-- to find great people who have a shared vision, and who want to do the best work of their careers. I wouldn’t say FCB right now needs a turnaround. I think our brand is incredibly strong and we’re leading in many ways. For me, it’s really just about extending the momentum that we’ve had around the world, and focusing on how we can ensure that our teams in India continue to thrive the way our other teams have.
From a campaign perspective, I loved Whopper Detour, primarily because I am from a Digital background. I also loved the specificity of that brief, it said “We need to drive app downloads for the Burger King app.” For a number of years, the strategy had been to use performance marketing to buy downloads but when they came to us, we said, “Hey, there are some more creative ways to think about how to get people to download.” Obviously, we spent some time geofencing, hundreds of McDonalds with a BK team, and the rest is history. The five weeks after that launch, BK saw more downloads than in the previous five years. That to me defines the type of work that we want to be doing going forward. Another campaign close to my heart is the one with Google in Canada for the Canadian Down Syndrome society where we got on board 10 children who have Down syndrome to answer the top 40 searched questions by expecting parents who have detected the Down syndrome marker in their babies. This is a great example of how we can use creativity in places like search, which typically aren’t creative spaces. In India the ‘Unbox me’ work on the transgender community is amazing. Also, we’ve just launched a campaign in the UK, where we have worked with LinkedIn, and Richard Branson to add dyslexic thinking as a skill within your LinkedIn profile
Q] How much did FCB grow in 2021, once everyone came to terms with the ways of the pandemic?
We were very privileged even in 2020, from an FCB perspective, because we were able to grow even in the middle of the pandemic’s worst point. We’ve accelerated that growth in 2021 and seen very good strides throughout. E-commerce brands or those in the CPG space grew and so did many online ordering apps. At the same time our clients in the hotel, entertainment, tourism sectors were badly hit. But I would say in the last six months, I’ve been more optimistic.
Q] What are the biggest challenges that agencies face today, is it retaining talent, shrinking margins or threat from consultancies and tech companies?
I think one of the biggest threat areas is talent, we are trying to retain talent by promising our teams that when you join FCB, you will create the best creative work of your career because we shall equip you across a range of different capabilities. Both my parents were lawyers and they wanted me to become one too, so I studied to become a lawyer till a mentor of mine said, “Have you ever thought about advertising?” He got me an internship at Publicis in Toronto and I still remember the day I walked into the agency because it felt so dynamic and creative. I called my parents a couple of weeks later and said, “I want to be in advertising.” That type of energy is what defines us as a business. For us as an industry, we have to return to that, because great advertising can change brands for the better, and can be great for people.
I admire David Droga, his creativity and the agencies that he built. I remember I was at the agency when the Air Force One video was launched. After the acquisition of Droga5, what Accenture is trying to do is offer a wide array of services to clients coming through the consulting kind of door. What makes us different is that we really believe in not only providing great strategy but also creative ideation, bringing it to the market and making it work and become really special.
Q] Data is an integral part of advertising, does it help add to the creativity or should it be the basis of creativity today?
Data tells us how to be differentiated and to understand more about the target segment. I think a lot of our creative ideation has come from interesting data points. For example, BMW is our partner and one of our planners found a statistic that showed that if a luxury car was sitting in the driveway of a home that was listed for sale, on an average that home would sell for $10,000 more than if the car wasn’t there. So our team used that data point to suggest that we partner with one of the largest real estate brands in the market, and we staged BMWs in driveways of high end homes, which would help the seller get more for their home. It would also help all of the potential buyers see a luxury BMW. It helped in driving huge growth for the brand.
Q] You had successfully launched FCB/SIX, FCB’s award winning creative data specialist agency which is present in six geographies now, any plans of getting it to India?
Around three weeks ago, we launched FCB/ SIX in New Zealand. We’ll be launching it in all of our major markets in the next quarter hopefully, including India.
To see some of the work we’re doing with incredibly modern, digitally-led brands in India, like Google, as an example, is inspiring to me. I think that the stage of maturity from a digital standpoint is certainly different than what it would be in North America. Progression in terms of social media, site, mobile application is very robust. We have amazing teams that are really leading the way in India, to help clients modernize their approach.
Q] You acquired a stake in Kinnect, some months ago, any acquisitions on the cards?
I’m currently focused on our team in India but I’m sure in future there will be acquisitions. One of the special things I’ve seen here in India is that we have some very long-term client relationships that are rare in our business, like Amul. The work we have done for their 75th anniversary is great.
I can equate it with FCB Canada when we won the only Gold years ago, it was a proud moment. To have won that one Gold for India in 2019 is an unforgettable moment. We have also seen what they have done since then, Rohit, Swati and team won 4 Grand Prix in a row at Spikes. Long term success is what we’re striving for. We’re not striving for a Gold once every decade, we’re striving for strong creative ideas year in and year out on our biggest and hardest brands. So that to me is something I’m really grateful for in India, because we have built up such an incredible track record of doing great work.
Q] But what according to you changed here all of a sudden, these accolades eluded the agency for several decades after all….
We started this conversation by talking about turnarounds and I think turnarounds start with great leaders and great people. We have Rohit, who’s an amazing person, a great leader. I think he did two amazing things. One is that he unlocked the potential of the people who have been with us for a long time. He gave people who’d been committed to the agency for years, a new vision and a new perspective, and a new energy. He also attracted new talent into the agency to complement them in a really great way. I think that’s the sign of a true leader. When I look at the track record of the last six years, it has been so many of our different teams contributing to that success. It hasn’t just been one person or one unit. When I think about the types of agencies that I want to build, and be a part of, they’re not defined by one person, or one creative, or one CEO or one leader. They’re defined by a collective of people.
Q] With Swati at the helm, we’ve seen a lot of work on gender, and sexuality. Be it ‘Out and Proud’, Mirror or the recent ‘Unbox me’ campaign, is diversity and inclusivity something that FCB wants to be seen supporting strongly globally?
Absolutely so. We have what’s called a ‘brand bedrock’ process, which is a tool that we use to help brands define their purpose and understand what their foundations are strategically. We did that process on ourselves, and created our own bedrock for FCB which is creativity through data and technology to activate brands in the short term and build them in the long term. But one of the things we talked about as a team was, the more diverse and representative our people and agencies are, the better is our work. So, we added diversity to our bedrock. If you are at FCB, you can bring your full self to work, no matter who you are, no matter what your sexuality is, it has helped people to be a lot more open. They’re passionate about topics that are critical. See, one can either perpetuate negative stereotypes about people, or embrace change. We have trained people for 10 years and have a process called ‘intentional inclusion training,’ which is about understanding what your biases are. When our teams work on campaigns, they are systematically challenging stereotypes that they see in advertising. When our teams are representative, our ideas are better, and our work is more effective. Diversity for us is not an HR initiative, it is a growth strategy.
India is one of our biggest markets by far. I see the potential of India, and that it could grow to become massive. Over time it’s going to become an even more important player in our mix globally.
I think it is very similar to the agency I took over in Toronto in 2014. At that point, we had a Digital department inside a mainline agency. One of the first things I did was to disband it and say, look, it’s not about mainline and Digital, we should be an agency that communicates with our consumers through any means necessary. What that means is that you have to understand the platforms that our people are spending time on. Doesn’t mean you have to know how to code. For example, I have no idea how TV works. I couldn’t put a TV together or tell you how it is powered but I can tell you why people watch TV and what content will resonate with them. The same metaphor is true for digital platforms. The term mainline agencies, integrated agencies typically mean they’re good at making TV spots. The term Digital agencies typically mean they are good at social, technology, etc. But our consumers don’t think like that, they want to buy a product that suits their need and connects with them at the right time. That’s really our focus from an evolution standpoint, and we are thus also working with great partners like Kinnect who are so strong and specialized.
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