‘India is one of the few gems in our portfolio …'

Ninety-six countries, 9,200 people: where do the Indian ops figure?

India is in our top 10 markets. There are nine major hubs for us: New York, Chicago, the UK, India, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg, West Asia and Hamburg. These account for about 80 per cent of revenues. India is one of the few gems in our portfolio, probably coming in at fifth in the top 10.

The management team here has been together for about 15 years. They know each other, have a sense of transparency, are a cohesive operating unit, and are all fundamentally aligned to the single common goal of growing a very healthy business and a culture.

Draftfcb is nothing but a composition of small businesses. Each one of those small businesses was an entrepreneur with commitment and desire to do well and make a mark. They share certain common characteristics. They understand how to cultivate cultures that let people feel empowered. You can't create that in a large corporation where people are categorised, compartmentalised, and put into boxes. In a smaller organisation, you do everything that you need to do to get the job done.

We've been going through a very intense planning process. While we're celebrating the past 50 in India, and the growth in that 50, we want to increase the momentum of growth. What we achieved over the last 50 years, we want to reach in the next four. The priorities are to maintain our competitive edge, offer a holistic integrated model, identify the gaps and the talent we need to hire. What I am putting out is the objectives to my key team in India. They have to offer the plan to get there.

They exceeded their goal for 2010. Now, rather than just doing the annual plan, we're laying out the road to 2014.

Any specific areas you have identified, for portfolio expansion?

Digital is clearly going to be the centrepiece of every agency. We have a good digital offering. There are digital agencies we might take a look at too.

You have a very large population here. And a lot of time is spent outside home. Retail ecology is a possible focus area and so is experiential. We need to introduce services that take into consideration the nuances of the people who live here. We have to get them to experience the product in a very intimate way.

How we grow will partly be defined by what our client base needs. It's also about taking a look at opportunities that exist that no one is tapping into, and doing it first.

You have made announcements globally about building apps for the iPad and iPhone, technology partnerships, and the like. What's the role of the agency here? Is IP a focus area?

A lot of our folks would love to get into the whole IP and innovation space. It might yield very strong revenue. But I don't think we've mastered what the essence of our model is yet. We're 80 per cent of the way there in the top 10 markets, and 70 per cent in others.

Before we develop IP, technology and apps, we need to first be true to the real charter of why we exist. And that's really to perform marketing communications for our clients. Once we get our entire network up and running, then the dialogue about innovation leading to other revenue streams can happen.

If you look at Ulka, there is such clarity of vision about who they are. When companies go under, it is because they got misdirected or seduced by things that were not organic to what they are as an organisation.

When I mention digital, retail or experiential, those are organic to what we offer. To say that we are a wholly integrated, seamless, communications company, our portfolio should be wide and deep.

For the digital space - is it better to acquire companies or develop talent in-house?

It's a function of the life-cycle stage that the company is in, and the client mix. If we have clients who need digital, they're not asking us to acquire agencies. They're asking us to bring in the talent. In other markets, the best way to build a portfolio in digital may be to make acquisitions that come with a set of clients.

When you introduce new talent at the seniormost level, or introduce a new organisation and create a new alliance, it can either help elevate one's game or reduce it. So it's imperative to know what you're getting from a competency point of view. If the goal is to have the best in class, you really need to ensure that they are on the leading edge of that discipline.

On the other hand, who you're doing it with is critical. If they don't fit into your culture, they can destroy it. That balance of competence and character is critical.

In India, we have a good digital capability. We really want to expand that capability. How we go about that is a subject of discussion now.

Could you give us a broad corporate view of what Draftfcb is up to, in terms of expansion?

What we're doing in India is not isolated. We're doing this in all 10 markets. We're in the process of closing a digital acquisition in UK, have identified one in China, and one in the US. They will be assimilated as our digital offering. So when we talk best practices, it's not just best practices we already have or develop, it will also be best practices that each one of these digital offerings bring in. That will help us identify the new standard by which we will identify ourselves. In India too, we've identified organisations we want to have conversations with.

We have also created what we call ‘Global Capabilities Group', which consists of the leading authority in each individual discipline. Their purpose is to ensure that we are looking at the best talent around the world in that space. Even as an integrated offering, we should be effectively competing in a pure play pitch for one of the disciplines.

On 50 years in India …

Drafctfcb Ulka in India is true inspiration to our entire network. It is home-grown, has the best, brightest and, in a modest way, the most ‘humbly proud' people we have. It is just a great testament to them that they have been able to endure and excel in these 50 years. More importantly, they have a sense of purpose that the next 50 will see much faster acceleration. There's a well-deserved level of pride in being who they are.

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