Ajay's blog: How to start an agency from scratch?

How to start an agency from scratch?
That’s a very potent subject for a seminar, given that many among the audience of over 1000 people must be having just this question in mind. Being an entrepreneur and launching an independent agency is a very attractive proposition for a person who is successfully building brands for somebody else’s agency.

Chuck Porter shared his experiences on the story behind his legendary agency. He felt that today is a great time to set up your own agency. As against the era gone by when communications flowed one way, he takes inspiration from the one million blog posts every day, to remind us of today’s need for brands to engage with their consumers on a daily basis. He encouraged creative people to set up and set new standards.

The legendary creative director David Droga felt that these are ‘early’ days for his agency and therefore chose to dwell on the ‘why’ to start an agency from scratch, rather than the ‘how’. He confessed to feeling restless and found himself searching for something ‘more’…until four years ago he asked himself why was he doing work for someone else’s agency. He then gained guts to walk out of a great job, when logic said no. He knew that he was not a business man, so decided to focus on just doing good work….and the rest is history. With a highly successful Droga 5 behind him, David keeps reminding himself that he can make things happen – because as an industry we have the power to influence people. That’s why he has set a vision for his agency to be the most influential creative agency in the world. His philosophy is to hire generous people, who are confident enough to ‘give’. He also believes in hiring people who are cynical about advertising, so that they are always on their toes – to make sure that they are creating magic for their clients. “Have courage and conviction”, he urged the audience. “Do good work. And the money will follow, automatically,” he believes. He believes in the need to reinvent the industry and feels that we need many more entrepreneurs.

Miles Nadal, the Chairman and CEO of MDC Partners, then set the cat among the ‘pigeons’ so to speak by making a loud and open proclamation that he was open and seeking to fund anyone up to a million dollars each, as a 50% partner – if they had an idea worth backing. He believes that our profession is a balance between art and commerce. So while we must care for brains and talent, he cautioned that if we have no money, one can’t even focus on work. “If you have an idea, dare to dream”, he said. “But the economics of an idea must work, to survive in the agency business”, he summed up.

Back home in India I do believe that from the days of Alok Nanda onwards many have and many are daring to dream. Learnings from this seminar may just urge many of the fence-sitters to start their own new world. Big agencies beware of what may be brewing in the minds of your senior/valued talent.

There were two other interesting Seminars during the day that had two of the world’s largest ad spenders - P&G and Unilever - in conversation with their agency partner.

First off the block was Keith Weed, the new CMO of Unilever, being interviewed by Sir Martin Sorrell. Sir Martin had some very pertinent questions to ask and Keith had some very strong views to share. The agency-client dynamics were there for all of us to hear and learn from. In response to Sir Martin’s observation that Procurement has gone up and Marketing down, Keith emphasized that Marketing is key. But there was need to professionalise the buying. He expressed the need for great creativity, combined with effectiveness. And smart buying is one of the ways to increase the effectiveness. Sir Martin felt that the agencies were easy targets. And wondered whether the pressure should not be on the media owners, instead? Keith responded by saying that everyone in the value chain needs to make money. And be compensated for the value received.

While Sir Martin queried the importance of traditional mass media for a brand like Unilever, Keith mentioned the need to ‘fish where the big fish are’. And therefore he shared his conviction in the digital space, that allows a brand to engage with its consumer on a one-on-one basis. And to be a step ahead of the consumer, he mentioned his intent to double their spends on this media.
On the question of big versus small agencies, Keith emphasized that size is not very important. But the need for hunger and motivation within his agencies is. “How do you get the best people to work for you will be critical. And I only wants to work with the best,” he said.

Sir Martin had the last word by reminding all in the auditorium that clients need to pay adequately, for the agencies to be able to hire good talent.

We then heard P&G’s President and CEO, Bob MnDonald, in conversation with Maurice Levy of Publicis. Bob shared his company’s daring ambition to touch a billion new people’s lives as customers. And his 3 point strategy to get there:
-    To launch environment friendly products
-    To further reduce the already low carbon footprint and impact of their factories
-    Actively encourage opportunities for employees to contribute to society.

Bob too mentioned the importance of Digital. But reiterated that a good idea was far more important. And the audience shared their appreciation of his conviction in ideas with a hearty applause.

And now for another celebrity mishap: Tim Mellors, the Global Chief Creative Officer of Grey invited Yoko Ono for a conversation. And the importance of music in advertising was to be discussed. But what followed was a series of bizarre events. We had Yoko take out a measurement tape and measuring Tim’s sleeve…Yoko hiding under a huge sheet of cloth and forming a tent like structure, inviting Tim there too…Yoko removing her hat and shoes, from under the sheet…Tim removing his shoes and jacket while opening his belt…Yoko doing yoga on stage…and for every attempt by Tim to ask a question, Yoko had a totally unrelated answer. In between she, however, mentioned something about the power of women.

But what about the subject on hand? What about the audience?

Yoko then started swaying and dancing on stage, with Tim following. Soon, much to the shock of her security, she invited the audience on stage to join her in the dancing. And just as the crowds on stage became unmanageable, she was swept off the stage by the security and organizers.

Pray what was that! Was it by intent? Was it rehearsed? Was there some hidden message? The audience was left dumb struck, each drawing his own conclusion.

Wow, what a day! And tomorrow is another day. The last day of this enchanting and exciting week…

Ajay Kakar is chief marketing officer of financial services at Aditya Birla Group.