Each award makes us hungry for more: Mindshare India's Prasanth Kumar

Mindshare India is on a roll. The GroupM agency network notched up over 176 awards last year, and this year, the agency’s Unilever team in Mumbai bagged a Grand Prix Glass Lion at Cannes for creating India's first transgender pop group, the Six Pack Band, in partnership with tea brand Brooke Bond Red Label. Started last year, the Glass Lion honours creative work that highlights some significant cultural or gender issue. Hindustan Unilever’s Brooke Bond Red Label partnered with Mindshare Mumbai and Y Films on a campaign that would draw attention to -- and generate debate around -- transgenders, by creating a band unlike any other.

In an exclusive interview, Prasanth Kumar, CEO of South Asia at Mindshare took questions from Pradyuman Maheshwari and Anuka Roy, about the Grand Prix win and the agency’s relationship with long-time partner HUL.

This must be the first-ever Grand Prix where a home team, which worked on a winning campaign, wasn't there to collect a Lion. How come all of you were in Mumbai, not enjoying the salubrious climes of Cannes?

First of all, we are very excited and delighted that we could win a Grand Prix for the work we have done. We were planning to be there, but some things came up, and we decided to celebrate the award from India. Ours is a large network, and some of our colleagues are there. If everything goes well, next year a couple of us will surely go to Cannes.

Though there is no bar on anyone from sending in an entry for the Lions, typically entering the Glass Lions is the preserve of a creative agency, right?

From what I’ve been told, the Glass Lions are about the creative work that gets picked up. We believe that every work and stakeholder in the ecosystem can be creative and do the right things needed for the brand. A lot of understanding of the brand, the market and consumer, [provides the] right perspective. Then, it is about being creative, by putting the right treatment of what communication to use, what platform to adopt, which is what every team gets into. That is how we look at this category as well. Today, it is also important that brands get integrated treatment and they are able to get the right insights, creativity and technology to use. Therefore, all this enablement should provide the right solutions for the brand.

While one might say it's the clients’ business that is the best thing for any agency, what does the Grand Prix for the Glass Lion mean for you as CEO of Mindshare South Asia?

It means a lot to me. We were told that this is the first time ever that a media agency is winning a Grand Prix for a Glass Lion. We need to be lot more creative and innovative to break the clutter. This means so much to us that it encourages and motivates us [to opt for] the new things and the new innovations and product frameworks that we are putting out; our content is a separate focus where our content team is working on getting some newer products, partnerships and a better ecosystem in place, so that we are able to bring more and more precise solutions, and also bring in some clutter-breaking creativity. It also reassures us that some of the actions we have taken have started resulting in recognition for the work that we

Please talk us through your relationship, as an agency, with Hindustan Unilever…

We just completed 20 years of our relationship last year. It almost feels like an anniversary gift, and God has been kind to both of us. A lot of things have gone into the relationship: Shaping brands for two decades, launching new brands, inventing new practices that are born off more challenges. In this space, we do not feel tired even when we challenge each other, because we feel and believe that when we debate and are able to be radical, which encourages us to get precise solutions for the brands. We are happy that Unilever has also grown from strength to strength in terms of recognising our work, and also being a part of us as we feel a part of them. [Over the years] the leadership has changed, and new people have come in, but we have only grown from strength to strength. We celebrate this relationship as one of the best that we have.

Specifically on this campaign, what was the brief and how did it come about?

This is primarily a content initiative, and many of the ideas got discussed, co-created and stumbled upon. That is how winning ideas get formed; they develop from A to B to C, and then the teams debate on it. It then gets co-created with clients, such as us and the Y Films team. It is not a single campaign; it is an ongoing one, and we have a sixth video coming out. It is more about creating a particular cause and a platform for it, so that the associated brand is able to leverage that platform.

Media awards are being won by creative agencies and creative awards like yours are being won by a media agency. Your comments.

The borders are getting blurred. New technology, a way of looking at solutions, insights-driven and creativity-driven solutions are all getting into a more exciting space. What’s more, people are trying to break our records for what we did earlier, which is very encouraging because we have just won at Cannes and we cannot be complacent. We need to look at how to keep innovating.

Media agencies are typically retained for media planning and buying. How much is creativity a focus area at Mindshare India?

I don’t think a media agency does only planning and buying today. Our focus on data, content and digital has been so intense that our products have also evolved over the years. And being the leaders in the market by far, we also take the responsibility of shaping the practice and the market to a certain ‘right way’ of looking at solutions for brands. We have a very large content team, headed by Deven, while Ajay Mehta is content head of Fulcrum and works with Deven and Navin. Ideas can come from the media, message, and content, or from anywhere. We deal with it in every form. Some use media to understand consumers, their tastes and what they like and dislike. All of these allow the creator to understand things better and get a little closer to magical idea of creativity, which can help thebrand more.

Hindustan Unilever has some of the best creative shops working for it. So why did it get this campaign created by Mindshare and not a creative agency?

It’s not about why they didn’t go with someone else. We had the content, and the content team’s purpose was to come up with different ideas. This magical idea happened and that’s how we got the job. We believed in the capability of doing it and had our own partners, Y Films, and came together to create a story. We are happy we won a Grand Prix for that. We’re also happy that the client supported and encouraged us so much that we able to come up with some great work. Last year has been good for Mindshare – the Emvies, Media Abby, the Grand Prix and various others. And we have the Emvies coming up soon. We have got to win the Emvies and make sure we fight for that. Last year we won some 176 awards as well as ‘Agency of the Year’ across platforms, besides ‘Digital Agency of the Year’ and ‘Global Agency of the Year’ too. We began this year with a bang, with ‘Festival Agency of the Year’. We topped the Abbys by far and won the IDMA digital awards. And, now we have a Grand Prix. We are not going to get tired, but we are hungry: Every day and every award makes us hungrier. Every good work, makes us hungrier to do better.

Indian media agencies, including Mindshare, typically don't do well at the Media Lions at Cannes. Why?

Better understanding and better creativity and ability to get the brand reciprocate on better ideas, is required. It is a global platform. We see lots of work from different part of the world, and the best of the best ideas win over there. But making the shortlist is equal to a great award. However, if you have not done well as a country, it is because we need to focus on how others look at you. Many a times, learnings from others gives us more clarity on what we should do. We are happy that we have been able to make the country proud. We take it as an opportunity to learn and be better the next time.

Many critics say that 'cause'; campaigns are done more to generate buzz and free publicity. And of course awards. Your views?

This happened 13 months ago and was not created for Cannes. It was done for the brand. We will continue to do it, with the sixth song coming out soon. It is also true that for some of the band members, it has changed their lives. This band has made them more acceptable. It is not easy to start with an idea like this. We do not want to do it for the sake of it. Our philosophy and that of our clients is that we believe in it, and we would treat [transgenders] with the same dignity as any other celeb. That is what Y Films also did, and hats off to them for managing that. That is what we believe in, and would continue to do.

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