Q. Who are your main clients? Tell us something about some of the memorable ads that you have done?

Saints and Warriors handles the creative duties for Amul innerwear, Pantaloons, Frankfinn, Wire and Wireless, Elf, Staples, Oyo, Lokmat, Ticketvala and Cremica. We’ve had the pleasure of creating some very brave and audacious work for Amul Macho. The work has transcended advertising and entered the realm of popular culture with a ‘toing’.

The first year saw the entire country divided between those who loved the campaign and those who loved it only in private. Sanaa Khan became the fantasy of every red blooded male in the country. In the second year, we used orangutans to drive home the same theme of ‘crafted for fantasies’. And if initial reports are anything to go by, the campaign retains the high clutter breaking quotient that has come to be associated with Amul Macho creatives. The end result has been a 104 per cent YOY growth for the brand.

Frankfinn is another case study. We started out last year with the ‘Fly high’ campaign, which brought alive apprehensions and aspirations of the small town girl. Encouraged by the response, we’ve carried forward the theme this year with a huge dose of belligerence. It is such a joy to overhear people in buses and trains talking about the ‘Frankfinn ads’.

We have also been very visible in print and outdoors with Pantaloons’ new ‘Colours of the season’ campaign. Translating fashion for the masses is never an easy task, but this one seems to have struck the right balance between imagery that is aspirational and imagery that alienates.

Q. What is your view on the need to build digital platforms? Have you done anything in that area?

Digital advertising holds the potential to redefine the media pie just as colour television did post-Asiad ’82, and while pundits abound, it is not exactly clear how digital advertising will shape the Indian market and vice versa. I suspect digital will not talk to the masses at large, but the segment that is most affluent and open to change. Digital advertising will impact marketing with the quality of its reach.

The competency required for digital is classical print and film skill sets, combined with an understanding of net as a medium. This is the reason for huge confidence at Saints and Warriors around the medium. Frankfinn already has a full-fledged digital campaign running with extremely promising results. In the course of time, to maximise revenues one will have to position digital as an offering separate from conventional media advertising. One is looking at no more than two months for this to happen.

Q. On a scale of 10, how would you rate your agency? What are your strengths?

Saints and Warriors, as you are probably aware, started out as a two-man outfit and catapulted to Rs 65 crore in billings within two years. What is probably more significant is today it enjoys strong relationships with blue chip clients. These have been cemented largely on the basis of deliveries on the creative product.

Obviously, there is something that this 42-man outfit is doing right. The offering of big agency creative and strategic prowess combined with the nimbleness of young blood seems to be cutting brilliant ice with businesses across, especially the Indian businesses.

I would rate the best agencies in India no more than 8 on a scale of 10. Even at my dispassionate best, I would give Saints and Warriors the same score. The challenge now is to scale up the pace for the bigger clients and continue to guard the premium and positioning we command in the market.

Q. What are your expansion plans?

We do not report to anyone in Singapore, London or New York. This gives us the advantage of speed in our decision making. Also, it automatically sets in a culture that is bottom-line rather than top-line driven.

While at this stage I would not like to discuss the exact nature of our plans for fear of them being duplicated, all I can say is do expect innovative verticals from us in Outdoors, Digital, Research and Advertiser-funded television and feature film content.

Q. What in your opinion is the most effective medium of advertising?

That is a tricky one. While television continues to be the most cost effective medium if you are a national advertiser, there are certain advantages that print enjoys, the power to persuade rationally through words, for example.

Internet is galloping, but it may not necessarily get us reach, though it does give access to a quality, high purchasing power target group. Mobiles will most definitely change the rules of the game in India, although it is early days there as well.

Outdoors is already the medium of choice if you seek to beef up presence in pockets and smart advertisers are harnessing a TV-outdoor combination with devastating effect.

Radio, especially FM, can give a lot to the local advertiser. Although, I think radio companies are being foolish and shooting themselves in the foot. When they offer advertisers deals that include creating the spots, they not only end up littering their own channel ambience, but also create bad blood with the agencies.

Net-net, the answer to your question is, I don’t know which is the best medium, it depends on the client and the occasion.

Q. Do you think that the impact of an ad depends on duration or on the idea?
The most successful advertisers have always outsmarted rather than outspent the competition. It is always the creative brilliance, which, I believe, is a combination of idea and execution that matters. The rest is just discussion fodder for the pseudo academics.

Q. How has the increase in purchasing power in the younger generation affected advertising?
Today, the most coveted target group is 15-34 SEC A, B, all adults in top 8-10 cities. Not only do they have the purchasing power, but they are also open to new things. While value as an integral part of the Indian psyche will never vanish, its degree of importance will certainly decrease. A lot of Indians now seek emotional gratification from their purchases over anything else. The product experience rather than the functional benefit is what more and more marketers will work towards.

Q. A lot of mergers are taking place here. What is your take on this?
I haven’t come across too many mergers, although the last remaining medium sized Indian agencies got acquired some time back. Marketing services, outdoor and digital companies are prime acquisition targets today. The most admirable merger, if one can call it that, was Mudra’s reintegration of media planning with the creative agency. I believe, from a client perspective it makes a lot of sense to see the two together.

Q. Do you think the pursuit of awards through scam ads is becoming a deterrent to creativity in mainstream advertising?

It was a hilarious experience the other day watching on national television an agency head defend his award winning ad, when it is common knowledge that the client never commissioned that piece of work. Who are we fooling? The clients? I promise you they know better. Worse, they resent this self-deification on their money. The consumers anyways don’t understand these ads. The only ones who seem to enjoy them are the incestuous advertising circles. Proof of this is the fact that agencies sometimes dare not put their international winners on showcases when they go soliciting clients.

In many ways, advertising awards, especially the international ones, are like p*****g in a dark suit. No one notices, but you feel damn good with the release. However, the most dangerous fallout of this is that today agencies are increasingly populated by young creative guys who don’t know how to create for the markets, their only concern is pushing the boundaries of lateral thinking in splendid oblivion.

At Saints and Warriors, we have never cultivated this hypocritical culture of treating brand work as bread and butter of the peasants while all the tender loving care is reserved for the scams. The result is a real body of work with consistently high standards. It makes me swell up with pride to note that our real work competes with their scams at the local award shows.

Q. Advertising per se is seeing a severe talent crunch. What is your take on this?
When you pay peanuts you get monkeys. If there is a talent crunch today, it is not because young people are not stimulated by advertising as a profession, but the fact that our salaries don’t match up. And for this, agency heads should shoulder the blame. They agree to work at such a pittance for every client who comes along. In fact, one of the revelations for me in our two years of existence has been the fact that the big agencies have consistently indulged in undercutting.

Q. How do you see the Indian advertising scene evolving over the next five years?

The rampant economy has subconsciously made some advertisers and a lot of agencies extremely lazy. The accent has been to get the communication created on time and not necessarily on creating the most effective communication. Open any page of any big newspaper or glance any prime time slot, it will be evident that people are relying more on the medium than the messaging.

Now that the economy is taking a reality check, some amount of emphasis may return to the messaging. We may see a rise in creative standards. (I am talking about the real ones not the Cannes variety.) This will be triggered by market forces.

Another trend I foresee is some hard times for the medium-sized agencies. Their bottomlines are already on hot irons. More and more will diversify into marketing services.

The other lovely thing to see is a gradual realisation across that we have more to offer the multinational networks than they now have to give to an Indian partner. We will see more of them reconciling themselves as minority stake partners.

Q. What are the two things you would like to change about the Indian clients?

I think the well run Indian entrepreneur businesses make for very good clients. They understand the value addition you bring to their business and are willing to remunerate accordingly. Some entrepreneurs, though, are penny pinchers and subsequently get the agencies they deserve. For example, the real estate guys.

The multinationals are a completely different ball game. They maintain they are looking for creative solutions, whereas actually all they need is systemic and process driven comfort. Decision making more often than not is led by insecurity. Unilever is a typical example.

My only request to clients across is, yes do use the tools and processes at your disposal to evaluate your agency’s produce, but before you do that, can you please react to the work at a touch-feel level? Chances are, if the work makes you laugh or tugs at your heartstrings, then it may well do the same to the audience and make for compelling communication. Otherwise, the whole exercise is merely academic.