MAM
Young Indian indies can bloom under consolidation wave
MUMBAI: Young Indian advertising agencies will not be affected by the consolidation of the big daddies and they will still find room for growth, industry experts feel.
The two recent mega acquisitions of creative hotspot BBH Worldwide by Publicis Groupe and Indian agency Mudra by US advertising giant Omnicom will, for instance, make the top agencies fight more fiercely for the larger clients as they aim at gaining market share in India. The consolidation will not stop the new crop of Indian entrepreneurs from winning comparatively smaller clients or getting project work to handle big brands.
Traditionally, small independent shops have lived by working on projects till they attain critical mass. Says DraftFCB Ulka ED and CEO Mumbai Ambi M G Parameswaran, “The situation has not changed now. India has seen a sharp increase of indie shops during the last five years. This has injected more action in the ad scene. The BBH sale will have no impact on this trend in India. Let their tribe increase. And let them not be driven by the next buyout but by professional excellence and long term brand success.”
The scope for growing retainer clients, in fact, stays unhindered. The smaller agencies can have more time and full-focused energy to care for the specific creative campaigns of a big brand that works with a larger agency for its integrated approach.
According to Leo Burnett national creative director KV Sridhar, there will be many instances where bigger brands will prefer to work with a local agency for a specific creative. “The independent Indian agencies have the advantage of not getting married to any one brand. They can, thus, explore different brands and clients. They may have the disadvantage of not having the backing of a strong parent but they do not have the pressure of showing scale and have no rigid processing structure,” he says.
Euro RSCG vice president Sheel Saket shares a similar view. “The creative independent agencies were formed because some creative professionals wanted to get out of the process bound environment and focus on great creative ideas that work for brands. Also, they want to do more of brand campaigns and are happy to work on assignment basis as long as they have the freedom to be creative and not be bothered by work that is mundane, compulsory or run of the mill,” he says.
Taproot India co-founder Santosh Padhi believes the creative business runs on people and parental strength can‘t smother the growth of the independent agencies. “It is people with ideas who can move brands, there is nothing called a ‘group‘. A network holds nothing but people. Clients don‘t go to bigger agencies because they have 500 people working there; they will go to them if they think that there are five people who can make a difference to their brands,” he says.
The younger Indian agencies are not prepared yet to handle the entire creative account of high-spending brands. They will need to gather more financial muscle and human resources before they can take the giant step. “These agencies do not have the bandwidth to carry out the creative duties for big brands,” avers Saket.
Scarecrow Communications, which had a magic run last week by bagging four accounts, has followed the strategy of getting the consolidated creative duties of a group. It has got Religare‘s account barring its mutual fund biz which is being still handled by Ogilvy.
The young Indian agencies will still have the running option of selling out at a time and value they think is appropriate. Percept/H chief executive officer Prabhakar Mundkur compares the process with that of parents “getting the bride ready for marriage”.
Like any other marriage, both the partners have to find mutual value. And that is what independent agencies will have to create. Says Mundkur, “I worked in JWT when it was bought over in the late ‘80s and it was, perhaps, one of the first significant acquisitions in the agency business. If you create value, finding the right buyer is that much easier.”
Taproot is open to the idea of diluting stake and has started weighing options. Says Padhi, “We are happy with our work and growth. But associating with a bigger group will help increase the momentum of growth. If collectively we can grow, we are ready to join hands with the bigger agencies.”
Creativeland Asia is not ready yet to align with a bigger agency. “We are very young and we have a long way to go before we think of getting consolidated to any bigger group. Every young agency has its own working model. The market is large enough for everyone to grow,” says the agency‘s national creative director Raj Kurup.
MAM
Ganesh Chana Sattu ropes in Ravindra Jadeja for new campaign
Cricketing all-rounder fronts ‘unnatural energy’ push for high-protein roasted gram flour drink.
MUMBAI: Ganesh Chana Sattu has just bowled a natural Yorker that feels positively superhuman and Ravindra Jadeja is the man delivering it. The nutrient-rich, high-protein roasted gram flour brand has launched a fresh campaign featuring the Indian cricketing legend. Conceptualised by TBWA\ Lintas, the campaign playfully explores how something truly natural can unlock extraordinary energy, using extreme visual exaggeration and Jadeja’s larger-than-life athleticism to show the power of sattu in action.
Rather than relying on dramatic storytelling, the film celebrates sattu as an age-old, completely natural ingredient that delivers performance so effective it borders on the unbelievable. It positions the drink as a refreshing, cool fuel for the body perfect for a generation seeking honest, high-protein nutrition without the hype.
Ganesh Consumer Products Limited director Devansh Mimani said, “Sattu has always been valued for its nutritional goodness. With this campaign, we wanted to showcase that energy in an engaging way. Ravindra Jadeja’s personality and athleticism helped us bring alive the idea that a natural drink can power seemingly unbelievable energy.”
TBWA\ Lintas unit creative director Tritirtha Chatterjee added, “The thought was to position Ganesh Sattu as a refreshing, cool drink that naturally powers the body. Ravindra Jadeja was the perfect fit to bring this idea alive. As an all-rounder, his game demands constant energy across batting, bowling and fielding.”
The campaign is now live across TV, digital platforms and social media channels, aiming to boost both brand awareness and product consideration among consumers looking for natural, high-protein alternatives.
In a category full of flashy promises, Ganesh Chana Sattu is quietly reminding everyone that sometimes the most powerful fuel comes from the simplest, most honest ingredients. With Jadeja on board, the brand has found the perfect all-rounder to prove that real energy doesn’t need artificial boosts, it just needs the right sattu.
