The Hindu Business Line : `Marketing, tech have to connect for success'

With the advent of the Internet, there is increasing convergence between advertising and technology. In an interview to BrandLine, Gaston Legorburu, Chief Creative Officer, Sapient Corporation, talks about how his company is strategising to give the traditional marketing companies a run for their money in the age of convergence. Incidentally, Sapient is the largest interactive agency in the US and the second largest interactive agency in the world, according to the 62nd Annual Advertising Age Agency Report. Legorburu also talks about his views on the Indian market and shares insights. Excerpts from the interview:

Gaston Leborguru, Chief Creative Officer, Sapient Corporation

What are the reasons for the increasing convergence between marketing and IT?

There is increasing demand from buyers for innovative marketing services as they are moving away from traditional agency services. A marketing department now has to be connected to technology in order to be successful. Further, the explosion of digital content is changing the way people engage with information. An increasingly sophisticated user base is placing a new premium on innovative ways to engage with information. This is the result of a change in consumer behaviour - how they buy products and integrate marketing. Realising ideas, that's where the real magic is!

As marketing technologies evolve, new opportunities are arising for companies to become more sophisticated to reach their customers. Digital marketing, product promotion and Web analytics are becoming increasingly important tools with innovative Web designing solutions being created in the context of a company's overall marketing and brand strategy, bridging the divide between marketing and technology. This has led to the emergence of a new genre of service called experience marketing. Industries such as media, consulting, financial services and retail are all set to deploy the experience marketing service.

What are the advantages of a business innovator like Sapient over a traditional marketing firm?

It's easier for us. Our experience marketing practice is a response to market changes and anticipated demand from clients who would like to leverage the most current technologies to better reach their customers. Sapient is best positioned to service the experience marketing needs of its clients due to its rich heritage of expertise in brand strategy, Web site development, Internet consulting, analytics support - a gap which traditional advertising agencies are faced with.

A lot of traditional advertising agencies are trying to integrate tech folks into their organisation in an effort to integrate technology and marketing, but their culture has a difficulty merging the two. If you look at interactive agencies in the US, we have probably more horsepower than all of them combined. We have a better incubator for creative talent than ad agencies. In fact, we recently won 12 regional ADDYs in the West Coast of US. The American Advertising Federation's ADDY award is the largest advertising and communication competition in the world, with over 60,000 entries and a tough three-tier judging system. We've been awarded for our work for clients like Logitech.com/Vista Partnership, Quicken.com, G4TV.com, Sony VAIO and Citigroup.

What is your perception of the Indian market for your services?

Our global clients with an India footprint have shown an interest in our EM practice in India. Our culture of Global Distributed Delivery (GDD) has helped us in this. GDD is a distributed approach to design, implementation and long-term support, which is effectively implemented by teams in multiple geographies. Our Indian operations have full capability.

I do perceive a lot of momentum in India. The country offers a huge opportunity for us to actually do business with global clients. We are looking at duplicating capabilities available in the US and Europe. I also feel that there is an amazing opportunity to recruit talent in India. Further, there is immense potential for growth in India.

According to the IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) 2006 report, the Internet base in India is predicted to grow to 100 million users by 2008. This will be the outcome of increased PC penetration that is the agenda for the Indian government at large. The user base as of June 2006 was 38.5 million.

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