Wunderman India chief executive officer Rajat Sethi is frank enough to admit that the direct marketing communications has a long way to go before it realises its potential. Shortage of trained resource and talent pool, and lack of fair understanding of DM's potential are some of the challenges which the industry faces today. His own testimony, 'has been there, done that'.

But Sethi is unfazed by all this. In fact, he and his team have gone from strength to strength over last 14 months or so. In his short stint with the Y&R Worldwide Group company, which Sethi joined early last year, Wunderman has not only consolidated relationship with existing clients but it has also added new ones in its portfolio.

Apart from adding two senior professionals in strategic planning and CRM, Wunderman is also working on developing a new tool called the 'Brand Experience Scorecard' which essentially measures customer equity on 'satisfaction' and 'involvement'. Wunderman is also investing in setting up a relationship management centre in Mumbai.

Sethi, who was nominated as a jury member from Asia for the Lions direct at Cannes last year, spoke to indiantelevision.com's Ritesh Gupta on Wunderman's operations and the status of DM in the country.

Excerpts:

How would you assess the performance of Wunderman India in the recent past?
Any measure of success in a business needs to be viewed on two parameters: business growth and financial performance, and developing our core competencies. In both, we have had a spectacular success. In the past year, we have grown our business exponentially and are today one of the largest direct marketing agencies in India.

Last year not only did we consolidate and grow with our existing clients such as Citibank, Ford, Taj, ICICI Prudential, Exide and DHL... but we also had a great new business record winning substantial projects from Airtel, Oracle, Castrol, British Council and WNS (business process outsourcing company).

Apart from strengthening of relationship with client and new acquisition, what else has been area of focus?
As regards our contribution to the growth of our craft and competencies, our focus has been primarily on strengthening two key aspects of our business, namely, data analytics and creative excellence.

In the area of data analytics, we have strengthened our own internal competencies and are now even examining the possibilities of outsourcing analytical work from here to our global network. A key recognition of Wunderman's leadership position in this region also came in my being nominated as a jury member from Asia for the Lions direct at Cannes last year. All in all, we have had a great year and this year we can only grow from strength to strength.

Is there any major change in management restructuring or expansion of operations in Wunderman?
Yes, we have invested in talent in two key areas. Firstly, we have appointed a new Strategic Planning Head - T R Ramanunjam and secondly, we have taken on a senior resource as head of our CRM practice - Niranjan Jayaram.

Also, in response to our clients needs, we are also investing in setting up a relationship management centre in Mumbai. This will be a stand-alone center with data management, telephony, on-line integration and high volume fulfillment capabilities.

How do you think direct marketing as a tool has evolved in the country in recent context?
Direct marketing has taken an evolutionary path from direct selling and direct mail to today's technology-enabled Relationship Management.

To quote our guru, Lester Wunderman, "If the objective of previous and present generations was to create new customers, ours will increasingly be to manage and maximize their lifetime value. The four R's of our time will be relevance, relationship, repurchase and retention. Those will be the key words and concepts of the new world of advertising that we are already busily exploring and attempting to master... the theory of focusing on the customer is one thing, but the practice will be another."

Today our business is media-neutral. Our focus is on driving customer acquisition, retention and value enhancement through data driven, relevant dialogues across all channels and touch-points.

How do you think industry is shaping in terms of mushrooming of talent?
Like I said before, there is a dire shortage of well trained DM professionals and the onus lies on us to help build this talent base. And the process can only start by first building knowledge amongst the youngsters of the career opportunities that our industry will provide going into the future. We need to disseminate more information on our industry at Management and Communication Institutes and then help in developing a relevant curriculum to build DM competency. And the need is not just for capable managers, but also for creative talent as well as for data management and analytics professionals.

A lot of the fault for shortage of good creative talent lies with the advertising industry. In India, for example, there are hardly any DM categories in any of the major advertising awards. Now, with Cannes having a separate Direct Marketing category for it's awards, creative people can now aspire to winning in DM at a global forum.