Indie agencies come into their own at 2009 Creative Abby awards

The O&M, JWTs and Mudras might still be lording it over in the ad world, but smaller, independent agencies are definitely making a splash.

In the last couple of years, they have been making their presence felt with some impressive work and awards to boot. At the 2009 Creative Abby awards, Mumbai-based Ideas@work won 14 medals — including two golds — beating the likes of McCann Worldgroup and Contract Advertising.

Creativeland Asia, another independent agency, bagged 10 awards. Both finished in the Top 10. These were only two of a long list of indie agencies which had a creditable performance.

Their performance at the Abbys in 2010 is not as good, but nor is that of their bigger peers in the industry, for 2009 was hard-hit by the downturn. Creativeland reprised its performance this year too with one gold, two silvers and seven bronzes. Taproot India, founded by ex-JWT chief creative officer Agnello Dias, walked away with five medals. Zarvan Patel, co-founder, Ideas@work, said his agency did not have many entries this time because of the slowdown but added that things were already back on track.
What makes these agencies click?

“Clients get more attention because we are smaller and get better quality of work,” said Patel, formerly of Rediffusion. ABN Amro, GoAir and bigadda.com are some brands that Ideas@work handles. He added that companies were becoming more open to working with small agencies.

Talking of competition with larger agencies, Sajan Raj Kurup, chairman and chief executive officer, Creativeland Asia, said there is enough work for everybody. Creativeland works on brands like Appy Fizz, Frooti, Cafe Coffee Day.

“But because we have done well, it becomes easier for someone to take the jump and start their own agency. Companies are more receptive,” Kurup added.

How long can these agencies remain independent? Will Collin, partner, UK-based Naked Communications, which became part of Australia’s Photon group in 2008 after eight years of being independent, said the company decided to do so because it wanted to scale up. “But that’s not affected the way we work,” he added.

Patel said his agency was not looking to scale up. Kurup also said he was not looking to become really big. “I started the agency because I wanted to be personally involved in the brands I worked on,” he stated.

With these agencies proving their mettle, they are sure to spawn more of their kind.