Indiantelevision dot com's Interview with Interview with JWT senior vice president Jagdip Bakshi

Interview with JWT senior vice president Jagdip Bakshi

"Brand growth , not billings or awards, decides the leader"

Posted on 11 August 2003

"The glitz and glamour in the media is mistakenly seen as the success of that agency, and you find peacocks being referred to as leaders" hard hitting words by JWT senior vice-president Jagdip Bakshi. Bakshi, who has spent 23 years with JWT, returned to India after a two-year stint in the UK as global business manager on Unilever.

In this interview, JWT's Bakshi has offered his take on some debatable issues such as the succession issue and the need for increasing JWT's creative output.

How about groping for answers to a question which has no simple solutions? Funny, intriguing, insipid…Well, the same has been the case with the much debated question - "Who will succeed Mike Khanna in JWT India?" The quest for the successor to JWT India chief executive has been covered extensively by the media. Time and again, various names have been thrown up for the seat not only from India but also from JWT operations internationally. JWT has also been criticised for functioning without a national creative head before Syeda Imam came on board.

"The succession issue will follow it's own course, and we'll all cross that bridge when the time comes. It is not a real discussion point within the agency. More so, it has been media speculation that has kept the topic alive," is Bakshi's forthright answer.

"The king of the jungle isn't the elephant. I don't think true leadership can be evaluated on the basis of awards either. If that were true, if the number of awards won at advertising shows qualifies as a benchmark for leadership, the peacock would be the king of the jungle!" says Bakshi, on judging an agency on the basis of awards.

Bakshi spoke to Indiantelevision.com's Ritesh Gupta on what marked his return and how Delhi office has performed since his return in early 2002. Excerpts:

What shaped your comeback to Indian operations?
Senior management changes were made at JWT India when Sunil Gupta exited the company. Kamal Oberoi, who then headed the Delhi office, moved to Mumbai as chief operating officer and I was asked to take charge of the Delhi operations.

I shifted from JWT London - where I was the global business manager handling beverages for Unilever; essentially Lipton worldwide and Lux in the personal wash category for Europe.

Prior to the London stint, I was a manager at JWT Bangalore. From Bangalore, I shifted to the UK for a couple of years and here I am again. In all, I have spent 23 years in JWT.

At your time of joining, there was a lot of speculation as to who would be the successor to Mike Khanna. What do you have to say about the role of media in raising this issue?
In any major corporate structure, succession is always something that is watched and speculated upon. JWT is the largest advertising agency in India. So, it's not surprising that media has focused on this issue. On the specific question 'who will succeed Mr. Khanna in JWT,' senior management will cross that bridge when we get to it. At the moment, media speculation seems to have overtaken due process within the agency!

So why wasn't the issue cleared up once and for all?
Media interest and speculation cannot determine the established norms and practices within a company. The point is - when it is time to restructure, all relevant issues will be addressed.

If the media think that succession is a big question and begin to seek answers, chances are that you in the media may not get answers quite simply because it is not a priority for that moment within the agency. Speculation feeds on itself - 'Oh he is not answering this, wonder why.' But the truth is if it's not being discussed within the agency, how can it be addressed internally or externally?

"The essence of creative leadership is effective or distinctive creative work on brands"

What do you feel about the fact that the agency didn't even have a national creative head for quite some time? Do you think that the criticism directed at this style of functioning was justified?
Having a national creative leader is important and there is no doubt about it. We have taken cognisance of this fact and this is why Syeda came on board. But it's important to realise that most of the work is done by creative teams at the ground level in each branch.

The essence of creative leadership is effective or distinctive creative work on brands. And we do have very strong creative leaders in every office who are well-equipped to precisely do that.

In all our locations, our offices are full-service offices. In Delhi for instance, we are perhaps three times the size of our nearest competitor. And we have significant creative talents in every location who do justice to the brands that the agency handles.

While you were away in the UK, were you keeping a tab on the Indian operations?
I moved to a different country, not a different company. Having spent almost 20 years in JWT prior to the move I kept in touch with my colleagues here on a regular basis.

How does it feel to be back?
It was like coming home. I have worked in the Delhi office for over 15 years at various levels - from being a management trainee to holding the number two position before I went to Bangalore. One of my dreams was to be a manager of this office and in that sense, coming to Delhi as a manager has fulfilled one of my ambitions.

How would you sum up JWT's presence in Delhi?
JWT's position in Delhi has always been very strong. I joined way back in 1980. It's just grown, grown and grown. It's not a flash in the pan but sustained growth - for over two decades, the Delhi office has seen consistent growth.

The true testimony lies in the additional assignments and brands we get from existing clients. The new business record has also been equally strong as has been organic growth. JWT is strong due to a combination of all these factors. It has stayed ahead of competition and every other agency.

"Billing is definitely an indication of size. But size is not leadership. The king of the jungle is not the elephant."

What do you think is the qualitative way of judging an agency?
Billing is definitely an indication of size. But size is not leadership. The king of the jungle isn't the elephant. I don't think true leadership can be evaluated on the basis of awards either. If that were true, if the number of awards won at advertising shows qualifies as a benchmark for leadership, the peacock would be the king of the jungle!

To my mind, the true way of judging an agency is examining the reputation and growth of brands handled by the agency. The effectiveness and distinctive role played by the advertising in meeting the brand's goals also decides an agency's performance. In this agency, our primary purpose is to enable brands to grow and sell.

The glitz and glamour in the media is mistakenly seen as the success of that agency; and you find peacocks being referred to as leaders. Whereas the true leadership of an agency should be determined by the gains (brand equity or fame or sales growth or enhanced profitability) to a client's business or brands. It is only when your clients say that you are a leader, that are you a leader.

In agency tracking studies, if you look at how clients rate an advertising agency - especially how clients of an agency rate their agency - you get the true worth of how good an agency is.

So what about JWT Delhi office?
Our clients rate us highly. And this has been borne out in every tracking study. The last few years have been turbulent for the industry but the Delhi office hasn't lost any business. I believe that the strength of an agency lies in building the client's business over the longest time, over years - not sporadic sparks of brilliance that don't endure.

This doesn't mean that JWT concentrates on building only big brands. We have built some of India's best known challenger brands which began as small start-ups; hit a bigger scale and eventually overtook competition.

For example: Pepsi was launched when Thums Up was the big cola brand and today it's double the size of Thums Up in terms of market share. We launched Boost in the mid 70's and today it has overtaken Bournvita in terms of market share. We have been associated with the biggest successes of Hero Honda as well. In fact Hero Honda has overtaken Bajaj as the number one two-wheeler in India. It's gone on to become the number one two wheeler manufacturer in the world.

"The strength of an agency lies in building the client's business over the longest time, over years - not sporadic sparks of brilliance that don't endure"

Do bigger agencies have an edge over others when it comes to realignment of business as per the international markets?
Having globally aligned accounts cuts both ways. There are agency conflicts because of which you need to give up businesses locally but the reverse is also true. Alignment can bring you business as well.

The short answer is that for a multinational agency, it is very important to have multinational clients; but it's equally important to have strong local businesses. In addition, if you do not focus on local business, you loose the flavour of the local touch.

We pride ourselves on the fact that we handle large international businesses which are non-aligned like Pepsi and GSK as well as internationally aligned businesses such as Reckitt Benckiser and Nestle. We also have very strong local businesses such as Hero Honda, Hero Cycles and Oswal Woollen Mills to name a few.

What do you think are your major challenges, considering some of the sectors are still mushrooming?
Advertising is growing but not at the pace witnessed in early and mid nineties. Truthfully speaking, advertising follows other business growth. Of course, as sectors open, so will opportunities. But the real challenge is how small national growth actually is.

If you compare us with China, you'll see what I mean. And if you project the GDP of both countries, five years from now, the gap widens even more. We need all the energy, speed and success we can get. Any kind of opening up in the economy is good. As a country, we need to try everything in our power to raise our game.

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