For Tze Kiat Tan, CEO of BBDO Asia, that one Cannes Lions trophy to her name occupies a place of pride in her office shelf right above her work desk in Shanghai. It is a constant reminder of her commitment to creativity. She strongly feels that while BBDO China is financially in a better place when compared to BBDO India, courtesy the fact that it operates in one of the world’s biggest advertising markets, the latter is definitely a bigger powerhouse of creativity despite having a smaller workforce.
Z, as she is referred to in the advertising circles, gives credit where it is due, to Josy Paul, Chairman and CCO, BBDO India whom she calls an iconic creator. However, in the same breath, she makes it clear that she expects the agency here to contribute more to the global BBDO ranking after a not-so-impressive performance at the Cannes Lions festival this year.
In conversation with the two top leaders at BBDO about how they are driving the agency forward with a renewed focus on new business wins.
Q] What’s the biggest difference and similarity between Indian and Chinese markets?
Tze Kiat: We have a similar consumer pool and way of looking at work, as our countries are developing. I can’t speak for other agencies or industry people, but I envy this office. The main difference is that we have money in China, but we don’t have good creativity flowing yet. Whereas this office has the power of creativity despite having a smaller workforce. Also, we don’t have Josy Paul, who’s not just an iconic creator but also has tremendous energy. We meet every Friday for what we call a creative council, and he is always giving new ideas.
Q] In one of your older interviews, you mentioned that everything that’s not digital is going to be dead, if not already. I’d like you to rate BBDO India on a scale of one to 10 on its digital prowess and tell us about your favourite Digital work from India?
Tze Kiat: No client asks for a TVC in China and that’s because everything is on Digital there. In India you need the big Digital idea, whereas in China, everything starts from content to commerce immediately, and there’s no need for a discussion on that. India would follow suit, gradually. BBDO India office is very good at putting up insightful ideas. I don’t want to say that the team here is too good on Digital but they definitely have the capability. I would give them a seven on 10. It’s their choice if they want to find a partner to help them with Digital. I really liked the recent campaign for Milkbasket on ecommerce buying but my favourite work done by this office is the P&G Ariel campaign.
Josy: Our first campaign in 2008 after setting up the agency was ‘Gillette’s Women Against Lazy Stubble’, it was no big film, it was all Digital. It started on a Facebook page, later becoming a discussion across whatever social media was available back then. Our next campaign for Quaker Oats- the mission to make India heart healthy, was completely Digital. We even created an app to check the heart health. #ShareTheLoad has never had a film on TV.
So, if you ask me are we doing enough on digital, the answer would be ‘No we are not’. But we can create that big idea that sparks conversation allowing brands to rise, becoming relatable and thus becoming a part of society, and not just one laugh in the corner. We want to sit in the centre of the circle and not be a one-off thing. A lot of our work is about creating a social currency and starting conversations which will then convert into real currency for brands.
Q] BBDO India was the most awarded creative agency from India in 2016. In the years leading up to 2023, what has been the agency’s next big goal?
Josy: After launching ‘Women against lazy stubble’, I sat for nine months in coffee shops, not knowing what the next big thing was, but I sensed it after talking to people. Cannes this year is a great representation of where creativity is going. I want to understand that better, but at the same time, we have to look at what clients need immediately. That’s why we’re focusing on social impact, brand impact, and business impact. We’re fortunate to have clients who are in sync with us. Somewhere between all of us, we’ll find that answer. It’s not me alone. I cannot do this alone. I’m very dependent.
Q] Z, what is the business target that you’ve given to Josy?
Tze Kiat: I’ll say it on behalf of entire Asia that BBDO is all about creativity. We believe that people plus work is equal to profit. We have the right people, therefore, we believe that profits come very naturally. When we look at the challenges faced by this office, this year’s Cannes comes up and admittedly, we didn’t do well for Asia. We should do better to contribute to the global BBDO ranking. We believe in doing work that shapes the market, and this office knows how to do it. Therefore, the challenge for Josy is to bring the entire Asia office together and lead its creativity, and he knows what to do.
Q] How much has the agency grown over the last year? And what’s the focus today—winning new clients or older relationships?
Josy: We’re focusing on growth and new business. That’s almost 100% of our focus. This allows us to look at new areas of work, people, and creativity. The more the clients are from diverse areas, the more it helps the bottom line as well as our growth as individuals. For e.g., somebody in the area of sustainability and recycling in Goa came to us. All this is new-age. I can’t get into figures at this point.
Q] Can you talk about some of the businesses that you won this year and what’s in the pipeline?
Josy: I’m not good at rattling out these names because I focus on work. I know we’ve done reasonably well on new business, but we’re not very happy with our progress. That’s all I can say right now, but in the next month-and-a-half, you should be hearing more from us.
Q] Ariel’s Share The Load campaign has won consistently since mid- 2010s except this year at Cannes. How important is winning awards for you at this stage?
Josy: Our mission is to increase our recognition. Recognition creates motivation and allows more people to see our work. Sometimes that work gets lost, but recognition allows people to focus on it. Awards are important from that perspective. But awards are not what starts the work. What starts the work is an inherent quality of individuals to find something new that affects society, impacts the brand, and creates good business sense. For that, we’re constantly focusing on human beings and on consumers, and if you shift that focus, it’ll become artificial. Focus on the cake, icing follows.
Q] Today, creative agencies are focussing on specialist verticals. What according to you are the new-age efficiencies that are imperative for them to have in-house today?
Tze Kiat: It depends on the needs of the market, for e.g., in China for one of our big clients, Mercedes, we have a team of specialists that manage every aspect of their marketing, be it the platform, the media, or other needs of the auto business. The need for specialists depends on the client’s needs. We always start by suggesting a partner who is really good. Collaboration is the most important thing in today’s world. I won’t claim that we know this and have that. Do what you are very good at and partner with somebody.
In China, we have an AI team that helps clients manage assets. We also have a branding consulting company called Batten & Company. We help clients with segmentation before they start marketing. We have a team called BBDO Live that does live marketing for our clients. But we believe that if our client doesn’t need that, we should not force it, instead work with a partner.
Q] At this point, have you invested in any of these capabilities in India?
Tze Kiat: We are going to get the AI that manages assets here. Suraja Kishore, our CEO in India wanted to launch it in the next three months. As this team is good at planning, we want to launch Batten & Company here too. Furthermore, this office’s specialist content team, Flare Studio, is great. The MilkBasket campaign’s production was done by them.
Q] BBDO’s overall philosophy has been ‘Acts and not ads’. You’re also talking about brand purpose here. Is it the purpose that the brand serves in a consumer’s life, or is it the brand’s purpose towards society at large?
Josy: For me, it is about giving meaning to people. People are not buying brands; they’re looking for meaning. We’re offering meaning through our products, services, and brands. Some call it brand purpose, others call it social change, but it’s really about the individual. It’s not about changing society; it’s about helping somebody find meaning. The individual becomes an ambassador upon finding the meaning, who in turn affects another thereby creating a social movement, one person at a time. For us, it’s important to impact one person. When many individuals get affected, communities are formed. Communities then form conversations, leading to the creation of brand sentiment. And from that, desirability happens. Like Share The Load, the amount of comments we get from individuals is incredible, it is like catharsis and a confession box. Basically there is a collective of people who feel the same way.
Q] Is this a long-term process, and how feasible is it considering that even marketers today don’t have long term associations with the brands they work for. It is a world fast consumed by performance marketing.
Josy: Our first campaign for Ariel #ShareTheLoad in 2015 resulted in a nearly 70% increase in sales in just 4-5 months. It’s not that long-term. We tend to use words like ‘brand purpose’ but it’s really about finding meaning. People are looking for meaning, not brands. It’s like being a therapist. For e.g., the brand idea ‘Create like a child’ which we gave to WhiteHat Jr, an online education brand launched during the pandemic. Two years into the pandemic, it was sold at an amazing price to Byju’s. The brand was going through a PR crisis when the owner came to us. They know the value of meaning.
Tze Kiat: Many people follow the short-term solution. They do the quick fixes, but don’t follow up on brand equity, which is absolutely wrong. It’s like building a house. If every brick that you use follows the same format, you are building a house. But if you go out and do live marketing and don’t follow brand equity, it becomes rubble. I always remind my clients to not waste a single cent. One brand that has been doing very well in this regard is Corona. All their campaigns revolve around saving the ocean. I don’t think they are spending a lot of money but they are building a good brand ahead of them.
Q] Earlier we had Alyque Padamsee and Mike Khanna’s era, then came heavyweights like Piyush Pandey, Prasoon Joshi and you. Will the next era of advertising still be personality-led, or will agencies be only as good as their last piece of work?
Josy Paul: Personalities were built because there were fewer mediums. Today, the mediums are all over. The notion of who’ll be the iconic figure of advertising will change drastically. What will not change is great work. The person, of course, will get the reputation. But the work is what will get talked about more. In the past, people knew the person and then the work. Now it will be vice versa.
‘India can be amongst BBDO’s top 3 markets in Asia in 5-7 years’
Hans Lopez- Vito
Chief Operating Officer, BBDO Asia
Q] From a BBDO perspective, where does the Indian market rank in Asia?
Currently India is amongst BBDO’s top five markets in Asia, however I feel it can topple Thailand to take the number 3 spot in the next 5 to 7 years. I feel like India is currently where China was in 2008 when things were really taking off in a big way. We’re starting to sense that energy here, both from a digital environment standpoint and also the vitality of the economy here. When you talk to clients, sometimes they put forth the forecast for the year to their bosses and get a pushback saying, ‘That’s not aggressive enough. You can do better than that’. At how many places in the world are you going to hear that kind of optimism and dynamism? Not many. We heard that in 2008, 2009, 2010 in China. We’re hearing that here now. India is very important now, but it’s going to be much more important in the future.
Q] You’re the architect of the BBDO Voices Report that you just unveiled in India during this visit, what is the highlight of that?
Well, what it seems to tell us is that our consumers are getting jaded and sceptical about brands and companies. In this digital age, they can tell that a lot of what brands are selling is just purely fluff. However where brands have an opportunity to make an impact and to connect with the new generation is if they stand for things that are much bigger than just what the brand does.We’re seeing that especially in India, where consumers feel there are many gaps in society that oftentimes you cannot expect the government to close. And they actually look to private companies and to brands to close some of those societal gaps. And many big brands are actually instrumental in the progress of the nation. So, that’s really the main headline that brands need to step up and fulfil that expectation of consumers.
‘We are shifting from purpose to social currency’
Suraja Kishore
CEO, BBDO India
Q] What are the big changes at BBDO India?
We are a 150+ team in India with offices in Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore. I am seeing a lot more energy here today. At BBDO, the kind of work we are doing is shifting a little from purpose to social currency, because the latter moves at a very high speed. For e.g., our campaign for ‘RALCO, No Pressure Delivery’, wasn’t done in the way we did #ShareThe Load. Brands like Milkbasket and Moms Co need a very different solution. They don’t have the waiting time of three months, they want to get their sales going. Purpose has to be relevant to the business, so we have a huge amount of business revolving around performance marketing and an entire suite of services in terms of content which is becoming huge. In fact, Omnicom has a production company, Flare through which we are generating content for clients at a high speed.
