'If you want to scale, don't work in the business but on the business'
In the past decade, there has been a shift in how advertising is being done. A lot of independent agencies have been at the forefront in driving this change from creating immense opportunities for Bharat to creating cultures that attract some of the best talents.
At the e4m Confluence - Media Investment Summit 2023, Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, Global CEO and Co-Founder Gozoop conducted an elaborate discussion on how in the evolving advertising landscape, clients are now valuing the agility, creativity, and expertise that independent agencies provide. Hence, is this finally the ‘Era of Independent Agencies’?
Prasad Shejale, Founder and CEO, LS Digital; Chaaya Baradhwaaj, Founder and MD, BC Web Wise; Siddharth Devnani, Co-Founder and Director, SoCheers and Shradha Agarwal Co-Founder and CEO, Grapes shared their take on the same lines.
Kickstarting the conversation with what different independent agencies have to offer, Baradhwaaj said, “Independent agencies can provide more personalised attention and for us, the accounts are bread and butter. We as founders ourselves get involved in every account. On the other hand, we also hear the other agency did not deliver, were not up to the mark, and I think that is the primary reason why today we are well-poised.”
Another benefit of the founder being so close to the action is to track changes, and adding the tadka of strategic consulting on top of it at a free cost becomes very critical, added Shejale.
Speaking of challenges that Devnani’s independent agency has faced, he shared: “We repetitively have faced challenges on the brand value of the network agencies. So, when you think of it from the perspective of a brand manager, it turns out to be a very safe decision. It feels riskier to go with an independent agency rather.”
Agarwal added that there are challenges faced even by larger agencies. “I remember I was speaking to a large group and they said while offline agencies may enjoy 15-20 lakhs of retainer, digital should come from Rs 50,000 to four lakh of budget. So, some kind of remuneration benchmarking should come up when it comes to digital retainers.”
“Additionally, to get the right output, you need the right talent,” she added.
Towards the end, as a one-liner advice to independent agencies, the Grapes executive said, “If you want to scale, don't work in the business, work on the business.”
“Stay hungry, stay foolish,” said Devnani. BC Web’s Baradhwaaj said, “We need to focus on the profitability of the agency to be able to sustain ourselves and scale.”
Shejale concluded the discussion with, “Don’t operate to make your agency big and then sell it off. It's a tough business and big is beautiful.”