Whether it?s about being acquired by Japanese advertising major Dentsu or winning four gold Lions at Cannes Festival of Creativity this year for its work for The Times of India, Taproot India has always found itself in the news for just the right reasons. Yes, it?s young, in fact, it?s just five years old. And yet, Taproot continues to be one of the most talked about Indian advertising agencies, courtesy Agnello Dias and
Santosh Padhi, the much talented founders of the agency. And now, there is one more addition to an already brilliant team. Taproot India has found its new CEO in Umesh Shrikhande. Shrikhande comes from Contract Advertising where he was the chief executive officer and has over two decades of industry experience. His stint with the advertising world began with Lintas (now Lowe Lintas & Partners). Thereafter, he moved to Euro RSCG (now Havas Worldwide) and then joined Lemon, an ad agency founded by
Ravi Deshpande, from where he moved to Contract in 2008. In a conversation with FE Brandwagon?s Anindita Sarkar, Shrikhande elaborates on what it means to become the CEO
of a company that, though successful, is still perceived to be a start-up. Edited excerpts.
You have worked with Contract, an agency that has been here for long. Taproot, on the other hand, is still regarded as a start-up. How is your stint at Taproot going to be different from that of Contract?
You are right. In many fundamental ways, it promises to be a period of both building on what I?ve learnt and indeed learning to appreciate newer ways of doing things too! For starters, this model?unlike most other bigger agencies?is about a few key and seasoned seniors and many talented and high-energy youngsters. Perhaps, the way it ought to be for an ideas business. So for me, a focus on mentoring and empowering the talented team to do more, together along with building stronger and credible relationships with clients and prospects seems like the way to go.
Moreover, Taproot is a sharply creative-centric agency first. Having been founded by two creative directors, it continues to focus on the quality of the product. The way it is structured reflects this intent and belief, ensuring that all processes lead to a sound creative product that is based on insightful thinking at all times. It is the clear reason why clients come to Taproot and hence protecting that strength at all costs becomes key.
What are some of the key learnings that you have gathered across your two decades of experience that you could exploit and thus give a boost to Taproot?s clientele in India?
Broadly speaking, strategy that leads to good work, sound client relationships and developing people have been my areas of interest and focus for the most part of my experience. Leveraging all of that will continue to be a priority. Equally, it would be important to stay sensitive to what Taproot has already achieved in a significant way so that it is a mature blend between what I bring to the table and what is innately strong and sparkling about Taproot, all of this in the interest of providing interesting brand ideas for our clients so that we make a difference to their business. The brands that we work on are a mix of iconic brands with huge stakes and relatively newer though big brands that need sharp profiling to make them famous. So it makes for an interesting canvas.
What are the key advantages that Taproot?s association with Dentsu brings to the table?
Dentsu is a global powerhouse that is well-networked internationally. Something that?s important in a world where most big brands are multinational. Closer home in India, this association will certainly help us open doors and get into many more relationships. Moreover, Dentsu India Group continues to add many specialist communication companies to its fold. The latest one being Webchutney. Access to this specialist expertise as required is an equally important advantage that Taproot now gets. It?s a winning combination to be able to focus sharply on core story-telling for a brand while having access to specialist communication units.
At the time of your quitting, there was a lot of talk that you would be starting your own company. What happened actually?
After spending many enjoyable years with Contract, that was indeed the idea. In fact, over the past few months I did make a concerted beginning with two interesting consulting relationships and also with some useful groundwork in the areas of customer experience and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
And then Taproot came along offering a rare and interesting opportunity to work with very talented people like Aggi (Agnello Dias) and Paddy (Santosh Padhi). I felt that it would be enjoyable to be a part of this agency.
Do you think clients are eyeing smaller agencies these days to strategise and create their communication plans?
In the world of business where stakes are very high, customised counsel takes precedence over everything else. Quite naturally, clients like to deeply believe in the people who work with them and give them that advice. Equally, spontaneity and intuitive thinking tends to thrive far better in simple and non-bureaucratic structures.
There is reason to believe that all these considerations come together much better in leaner and tighter agencies, which possibly explains the trend that you are referring to. It is interesting though, because over the years agencies have grown bigger in size and structure, essentially at the behest of clients! Perhaps things have come a full circle and clients have begun to see the worth of going back to first principles and working with leaner, rather than unwieldy groups, to ensure better focus and smarter solutions.