Email
Print
ShareIn his very first interview for a job at an advertising agency, Thomas Xavier, a mechanical engineer, spent the better half of a Saturday sitting across the table talking to R Balakrishnan (Balki), then creative director at Mudra.
Balki heard him out and then asked, "What would you do if you never get a job in copywriting?" Xavier replied, "I guess I'll have to start my own agency." Balki smiled. Hesitantly, Xavier asked him, "Do you have a vacancy?" Balki then said something that Xavier says he will never forget all his life, "I'll make a vacancy for you."
In an interview, Xavier told DNA Money's Arcopol Chaudhuri how he has come a long way since then.
Today he's chairman and national creative director of Orchard Advertising, a 70-member strong agency. Orchard is a part of the Leo Burnett group in India.
The agency is known for noteworthy creative work on Air Deccan (The Old Man and the Sky) and Manhattan Credit Card's 'Dinku' commercials. Today it handles the creative duties for Godrej, Colors, Nicholas Piramal, South African Breweries, Subhiksha, Madura Garments and J K Tyres amongst others.
Excerpts from the interview:
With the global recession upon us, advertising is seeing tough times now, or is it? Any austerity measure being implemented?
Having been in this business for about 16 years now, all I can say is that it is the same old news. What goes up must come down. Recessions have happened before and the best and the strong agencies in the business have never been affected. Maybe we don't get windfalls. But our core clients continue to spend. People have learnt from previous instances; recessions are good times to get brand messages, because clutter is less. And today, most agencies have moved to the fee model, which means we can continue to offer media neutral solutions. There's no longer the pressure to recommend mass media in self-interest. About austerity measures --yes, we have decided to have training programmes inside the office premises. Inter-city air travel is kept to a minimum. Our offices are linked on video, so that helps a lot.
You're an engineer by qualification. And you knocked several doors persistently before you got a break! What is the scene today like... do you find more people from other industries entering advertising with the same zeal? Elaborate, giving some examples of Orchard.
The number of passionate applicants has definitely come down. That's because a lot of them have other options like music, interior design, filmmaking etc. But every now and then, one meets kids who just want to be in this profession, which uses ideas to sell products. They are usually those who have worked in regular jobs and want to break out. A lot of them are engineers. There's a reason for this. After higher secondary studies, there is so much pressure on these kids to join a course that assures them of a job that they end up in of the many engineering colleges that have sprung up everywhere. Anantha, who is a top-notch copywriter in our Chennai office, is a mining engineer.
Within a span of 10 years in the profession, you have reached the post of NCD and chairman of one of the most well-known agencies in Bangalore. Has the average run-to-the-top for a creative guy become much shorter nowadays?
The average time is certainly getting shorter, because the learning curve has become shorter and there is so little talent to go around. My view would be that if you stick around long enough, you can make it. The question is, do you have the stamina to last it out?
You've worked on Air Deccan. Today, the age of low-frills airlines seems to be over. For an Indian airline -- frill or no frill -- in which direction do you think their creative communication must head right now?
I think the airline industry has done a lot of things for egoistic reasons and now the bills have come in. Now, they should accept their mistake and start taking consumers into confidence. Every product has a right price and manufacturers must not hesitate to charge it. But somehow I get the feeling that airlines are not trying enough to have a direct conversation with the consumer. My advice is that airline CEOs, who are verily the brand's persona, should be hanging out at airport terminals talking to customers about these troubled times and the commitment they have towards the best fliers. Also, never ignore the small-time flier. He was enticed into the airport. Now don't turn him away. In a few years, things will get better for him, but he won't forget. So, overall I would want the creative communication to take on a genuine service dimension.
What are the changes that you think the likes of BBH, Wieden+Kennedy, Naked, Strawberry Frog are bringing in to the advertising business?
Ultimately, what matters is your understanding of the consumer and the work you do. If they have a better way of doing it, we will learn from them. On the other hand, I don't have to defend what I am doing as long we are meeting our marketing goals. I never see another agency as competition. They are just more folks in the same journey. So why race?
Tell me, as a creative guy, what should make me aspire to join Orchard rather than an O&M that is winning medals across the globe?
We have a lot of people who have worked in O&M and are very happy here. At the same time some of our people have gone on to join O&M and are doing well. I guess, an agency becomes the preferred place to work when your goals for personal growth are met. The happiest people in Orchard are those who want an environment where you have independent charge of taking a brand from anonymity to fame. No hiding behind designations, paper pushing, groupism for them.
We know that advertising agencies are instrumental in building brands. How is Orchard building its own brand? How do you ensure that your employees worship Orchard as a brand and have a sense of belonging?
Good question. This year we did something unprecedented. We appointed Monica Bajaj as brand manager for Orchard. The logic is that there are two aspects to the Orchard brand - one, as it is perceived on the outside by clients and others, and two, as it is perceived by those within. The latter is a bigger priority, as of now. The brand manager's job is to ensure that for our talent, Orchard is the preferred brand. So, we have a comprehensive framework within which we keep brand Orchard continuously refreshed. We have 'driving personal growth' as our talent management edict. We have numerous internal programmes. We have a very vibrant website, which serves to glue the agency together. The Orchard blog is perhaps the most active among Indian ad agencies. We have a presence on Facebook where even an ex-Orchard talent can drop in. The brand manager constantly does in-depths with employees to look for opportunities to improve our brand.Very soon, the Orchard brand manager will extend the view to the outside world. Clients, both existing and potential ones, will see a more coherent, energetic persona of Orchard.
c_arcopol@dnaindia.net
