Whyness is all about putting in place a seamless structure: Ravi Deshpande

He had made his exit as chairman and chief creative officer of Contract India in April this year.  While his design school in Central Mumbai was doing well, he was working on a project which he would tell us in good time. Which he has with Whyness Worldwide. Three offices – Mumbai, Paris and Boston plus alliances with Boston-based big data tech firm Findability Sciences and a branding and design company called Seenk from France.

Said Ravi Deshpande, who is designated founder, chairman and CCO of Whyness, in a communiqué: “We are an integrated communications agency for the new world.  We address brand challenges with solutions that combine human insights, creativity, design and technology.

In a sense, it’s an agency that bridges the gap between traditional agencies and digital agencies.
We wanted to mix up things and produce surprising results that actually work for brands and companies. Design and Strategy combined with technology, Creativity mixed with Algorithms.”
This isn’t Deshpande’s first attempt at being an entrepreneur. In 2001, he quit Contract to start Lemon.

In a free-wheeling chat with Pradyuman Maheshwari, Deshpande goes behind the setting up of Whyness, the name, the integration of tech and design in an ad agency and whether he would look at hooking up with a bigger player.

Other than Ravi Deshpande, how will Whyness be different from the others?
Whyness is born with a different genetic structure, and that flows through the way we approach businesses, marketing challenges and storytelling with the help of technology. We have built our team around that ideology. In a sense, Whyness will bridge the gap between traditional agencies and typical digital set-ups.

There is an emphasis on Big Data at Whyness. While we have had India perform well in the international Echo awards, is Big Data really big for advertising agencies? Wouldn’t advertisers prefer specialists for that?
It should be. With so much emphasis on social media, both by advertisers and marketers, it’s perennial to know your audience and have smart data to validate every step. It is a practice in Whyness, we don’t do anything without asking the right questions, and to ask the right questions, you need to have market intelligence. Big Data is just that, and it’s the lack of such practices why Whyness is born with a specialist Big Data alliance called Findability Sciences.

Ditto with design... there are a fair number of exclusive design boutiques here?
Technology without design is soulless, and art without the use of new techniques of expression is stale. Both are disciplines that help you solve a marketing problem, and at Whyness, we stitch them together in order to create more immersive experiences.

A lot of agencies display the ‘integrated’ tag... Is integrated the same as full-service or is it different?
Integrated is not necessarily full-service agency. It is really about a seamless structure that combines storytelling, tech, strategy and design.

Will you be having the strategic planning and media buying/planning functions as part of ‘Whyness’?
Strategy and planning would be an integral part for Whyness. We are exploring digital media planners being part of the ecosystem.

Any clients on board? Anyone moving from Contract?
We are in conversation with businesses from India and the US.

Tell us about the funding?
It is a self-funded venture.

This isn’t your first experience with entrepreneurship? Any lessons from Lemon you won’t repeat?
The biggest learning is that you have to control your own destiny.

Is there room for another creative shop?
Indeed, there is a need for an agency such as Whyness. Marketers in India and around the globe feel the need to integrate disciplines on communication. But there aren’t many agencies that successfully manage this... I don’t know of any such agency in the country that is built around a technology core.

(By arrangement with MxMIndia.com)