Rediffusion Y&R's new approach: Brand conversations

In the presence of the key leadership team of Rediffusion Y&R Group and the media, Mahesh Chauhan (pictured), group CEO, Rediffusion Y&R made a strong case for agencies becoming more client centric organisations rather than “being self serving entities”.

With the aide of videos, slides and pure memory, Chauhan reflected on the past two years for Rediffusion, outlined the changes within the agency, admitted to the mistakes made and attempted to paint a new picture of Rediffusion Y&R – one that would see the consolidated approach when making a business case for any client.

The umbrella term for this - 1Rediffusion - will function as a cohesive unit utilizing Rediffusion Y&R group companies to address a brand’s specific requirements.

"For long, as an industry we’ve been too intent on meeting our business deliverables and not what the client really required. As a result, the agency model has become obsolete making us only TVC producers. So we (Rediffusion Y&R) decided to reinvent. And reinvent comprehensively," Chauhan said.

The reinvention has two parts to it – one, within the agency and two, with respect to solving clients’ business problems.

Over the last two years, the agency has attempted to put better systems into place by partnering with the likes of Grant Thornton, KPMG, Hewitt, Superstar Business Solutions, Nex Sales.

"The new organisation structure aims to put better performance and resource management systems. We want to be the number one employer," said Chauhan.

For clients, it will now use its new proprietary approach – Brand Conversations – built on the premise that in today’s world, brands need a real, ongoing, two-way conversation with consumers, to recognize that the brand is not just what resides in the consumer's head, but is actually co-created with them.

Brand Conversations has been conceived together by Arvind Mohan, chief strategy officer, Rediffusion Y&R and Divya Radhakrishnan, president, TME and Rediffusion Y&R PR.

Mohan said, "The role of branding and communication needs to be re-imagined today. The question no longer is whether I delivered the message to the right address, but what conversation did the message start."

Radhakrishnan added, "The key challenge is to identify the right neighbourhood i.e. the appropriate environment where it is best for the consumer to have a conversation with the brand."