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Anurag Chhabra
Vice President
Percept/H
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The New Age Integration
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Let’s Pledge Integration
The western world has gone digital and we are, as always, a few years behind them. Maybe India lags behind because of less broadband and computer penetration, but Piyush Pandey (Executive Chairman, O&M) and Vikram Sakhuja (CEO, Group M) have pledged to go digital this year nevertheless. The time has come to realize that the traditional one way media channels through which the marketing communication was carried out is no longer sufficient to get the requisite eyeballs for the brand. Clients think they are not getting VFM so they blame the agencies and the agencies maintain that the client doesn’t get it.
In the multifaceted media environment of today the agencies still are at an advantage since the creative idea is of more importance today because of the sheer number of messages and amount of information fighting for the consumer’s attention in all the mediums. The relevance of a core central idea or theme in order to be heard as one voice across the mediums is the need of the hour and calls for a real need to integrate all services.
The Present Bottleneck
The agencies have on the other hand taken the role of delegation; they are like the general contractors of marketing, in charge of outsourcing to subcontractors. My feeling is that this is counter to the best interest of the clients. Not only does this system add unnecessary and murky layers of transactions and middle hands, but it also means that the creative agency becomes a purveyor of services with a vested interest in making a profit on each deal. The result is an escalating price tag for the client, where not only is there a built-in incentive to inflate prices but also to provide the most expensive production possible. We have been seeing enormously bloated campaign productions that are staggeringly expensive and so big and complex that it becomes impossible to track ROI. Instead, the success of the campaign is measured in metrics formulated by the advertising industry.
It might sound as though I am making a strong case against the advertising agencies. I do think that they will become obsolete if they continue to operate according to their established model. However, I am confident that the external change that information technology has brought upon will force them to adapt to new media landscapes and behavioral modes of information consumption. |
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The Way Out
So, how should the ideal marketing campaign be set up? I think the answer is – decentralize, integrate, and collaborate. In order for a truly integrated campaign to take form, the current model with the advertising agency serving as the central power has to be decentralized because if we shift power from a central body with limited expertise and start empowering the many constituents that make up the whole, campaigns can be created more efficiently, at lower costs, with superior results. Once we have decentralized the power, the need for these different organizations to come together and synergize arises. There are several excellent tools available, enabling people to collaborate in developing a project, even if they are sitting hundreds of miles away from each other. I find wikis to be an excellent and cost-efficient platform to collaborate with partners and also report back to the client. The key to successfully integrating the different agencies is to create a transparent work process, where everyone can see what is going on and pitch in with expertise and experience when and where it is needed. In order to avoid chaos and people stepping on each other's toes, there needs to be a clear sense of roles and responsibility. Each party needs to understand where his or her area of responsibility starts and ends, and how it contributes to the process as a whole. Usually the assignment of deliverables falls pretty naturally, since everyone has an expertise that dictates their role.
I think in the future there would be this new breed of agency, an independent strategic planning agency whose allegiances lie closer to those of the client than to the current agency world. There needs to be a body that delegates according to rigorous processes governed by attributes such as quality, price, creativity and track record.
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The Modus Operandi
This brings us to the next step: how to manage the process. A decentralized model often means that more responsibility falls on the client to manage and monitor the process. I believe in a model of ‘representational democracy’ – a steering group consisting of project managers from each agency should be created with the purpose of making sure that all providers are contributing optimally to the whole. Because different marketing disciplines are co-dependent in creating a campaign, it seems natural that they would benefit hugely by sitting down around a table together and work out deadlines, deliverables and overcoming challenges of integration. Furthermore, by engaging different disciplines in dialogue, new perspectives and cross pollination will foster innovation and progression in the industry. I think such a set-up can have a fundamental impact on the industry because we are basically stripping the top men and women of their powers.
One problem that I have often come across is that different agencies look at each other with mistrust and competitiveness, especially if they were brought aboard by the client. It's a feeling akin to jealousy and it inevitably brings about competitiveness. While competitiveness in many cases is excellent, it can sometimes function as a hindrance instead of a catalyst. People start hiding information from each other and revel in the other's failure. Obviously this is detrimental for the larger good of the campaign; it is energy wasting and juvenile.
In order to align everybody to push in the right direction, they need to be incentivized and rewarded for inter-disciplinary innovation and solutions. Creativity is nothing without skillful administration and an ability to move from a platonic ideal to something tangible. This is what the industry needs to understand, value and reward. |
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Founded in 1984, Percept, an entertainment, media and communications company, today , is at an enviable leadership position with a team of 1200 people and 62 offices across India and Middle East. This publication has been exclusively created for our stakeholders. The contents of this publication has been created with inputs
from Percept Companies and Divisions. This document may not be reproduced or circulated without prior consent from the Corporate Communications Department at Percept Limited.
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