The Hindu Business Line : We want to be a creative superstore

Once a name to reckon with, somewhere down the line the advertising agency lost sheen and steam. But it now seems to have woken up from slumber and it promises to be back with a bang. At the Goafest this year, Rediffusion was a serious cont ender in all awards categories and it was evident in the energy and confidence the team exuded. The agency won 50 awards, including six gold and 23 silver medals.

Mahesh Chauhan, President, Rediffusion, explains to BrandLine how this transformation took place.

What was the thought process that went into reshaping Rediffusion? What changes did you bring in?

It has been eight months since I joined Rediffusion. It’s a very simple algorithm that I follow: I get the people right first. Then I get down to collectively defining a goal post. While these two are happening in parallel, the culture transforms ... to being more fun, exciting, demanding, challenging and more learning. My simple premise is we spend roughly about 12 hours at work. So, if I don’t make the people at Rediff feel like coming to work, then they won’t give their best.

From a fundamental business point of view, the change right now is more in the domain of talent. The most important thing is to get talent on board. I don’t think we had the best of talent when I came in. There have been changes across all the offices by design at the top. There are new creative heads in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and the South.

If you get the right people and empower them, your job is done. This is my biggest differentiator. That is why we won 50 medals at Goafest. We didn’t have processes in place. We had nothing in place. We were by far number one. Not just in numbers but in spirit as well.

We have rewarded people out of turn. It’s a very clear game. You do well, you get rewarded, you don’t do well, you get punished. We had a system so far where reward and punishment were not a part. Increment is not by routine any more. Democracy will cease to exist in Rediffusion going forward.

Conceptually, there had been a bit of a decline in the agency. Arresting that will be our job. In the next perception study, as and when it happens, you will see a different perception of Rediffusion.

What has been the immediate impact of these changes at Rediffusion?

At the Goafest, we were the No.1 creative agency in the country. The industry was shocked. It was also shocked by the energy Rediff had at the fest. I had warned the media to expect something. I told them even if we don’t win Goafest, which I didn’t expect to, you will see a different face of Rediff in terms of the happiness and energy of people. That is the consequence of the cultural change brought about.

We used the first day at Goafest to have a team-building session on the beach in the morning; then we had our own party in the evening with fireworks all over the place ... we had people gate crashing. Such things, besides other factors, transformed the mood completely.

What are your short and long-term goals?

We were a leadership agency in the Eighties; we have slipped perceptually and fallen financially as well. We are number four in the industry. I have a very ambitious target. I am clearly targeting number one, not just in India, I am benchmarking ourselves globally.

I am not happy with the current creative product of Rediffusion. We need to raise that on an immediate basis. I am looking at changes in terms of bringing in new talent, creative heads ... changes in mindset. We are having far more training and interaction to open up perspectives. We are also evaluating the products of the best creative agencies and using that for our future work. Going ahead, you would see a different product - far more cutting-edge work, which is not just self-indulgent, which makes both the client and me famous.

We will focus on raising the bar of the creative product, doing more insightful work. We plan to augment our strategic resources and invest in consumer knowledge. The consumer is more the king today than he ever was. If you don’t make him the king, he will ignore you, and you will not exist. It is no longer the supplier’s market; it is very clearly the buyer’s market.

I want to be inward-focussed, product-focussed. If you do your product well, the business follows. Sure, we will reach out to clients we want to reach out to. My target is to double our size in financial terms in two years.

Your view on the increasing fragmentation in the media and advertising space?

Clearly, I am not looking at creating one more creative workshop. I am looking at an agency where there is a width of talent right from the digital space, to the retail space, pure design, the traditional space to the new space. I’m not looking at having five verticals. These days, it is fashionable for every agency to come in and open one new shop or the other.

I’m looking at creating a creative superstore where everything is under one roof. I don’t believe in fragmentation. I know it happened in media. And there is fragmentation within each media vertical as well - for example, television and retail have fragmented. The solution is not for us also to fragment into pieces. Somebody has to hold the brand. If I fragment, my hold on the brand will loosen. The solution is to have expertise in the domains. I wouldn’t fragment. In that sense, I am away from the industry ... and look to un-fragment myself.

I don’t like where the industry is headed. It is heading into a fragmented state where everybody is a supplier of a little piece. There is a clear worry point as to who manages the brand and who partners the client and giving him the bandwidth. There is a lacuna in this domain. We are going to change the direction the industry is headed. We will provide both verticals as well as the full Monty.

What is the future of the industry and where do you see Rediffusion in it all?

There is very strong focus to augment the digital media in Rediffusion. A lot more money is going to be in that space. In the foreseeable future, even TV will move into the digital space with TiVo coming in. The computer and TV screen will merge ... and not just TV, the entire entertainment of watching a movie or listening to radio will merge into one screen. Digital is headed there. There is a huge convergence taking place, after the entire divergence. There was a time when the phone wouldn’t talk to the computer but today, this is phone, computer, TV rolled into one. Human beings don’t like complexities in life. They like to simplify life. People are not swayed by the technology part of inventions; they are swayed by their benefits. The net result: there will be three media - the screen, the paper, it’s not dying, no way, and the third is the one-to-one media - whether it is events or direct marketing, it’s going to become more and more significant as time goes by.

Is advertising still an exciting industry to be in? Any concerns, worries ...?

When I joined advertising it was by choice. I was a techie from IIT. But I was one of the most underqualified guys in Ogilvy those days. There were all MBAs from decent institutes; there were IIM guys in the industry. But the talent we have now is fairly embarrassing. Those days, there was lot of talent coming in. Today where do you hire from? That’s a responsibility I have taken upon myself. You will see change in our approach. Leo Burnett this year did a fantastic thing in getting people from IIM-Bangalore. I am looking at raising the salaries to industry standards in 12 months’ time to match the other industries - be it software, FMCG or telecom ... we should be on par.

The house is divided for the lack of a common cause. Although there are many causes evident in front of us. We have petty battles like the Goafest vs the Abbys. It is stupid to fight these battles which are self-fulfilling in terms of a couple of egos being satisfied. I don’t want to get into that space. I come from the next generation, and I have a responsibility. The film industry has 20 award shows. So, if there are two award shows in advertising I don’t see any reason why there should be so much brouhaha about that. I will be happy participating in both award shows and many more. The larger issues are the relevance of the industry, the quality of the industry and the talent ...

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