It’s a competitive world and who would know this better than the advertising industry? Advertising agencies over the years, to win more and more business have not only lowered prices but also have comprised at many levels. The recent case of Wieden+Kennedy India versus Jindal Steel once again has opened Pandora’s box on who should get the credit, is it the client who ends up paying for all copyrights or the agency without which perhaps it will be rather difficult to build a brand narrative? Interestingly, the creative industry believes that it is about time that the industry comes together and draws a line. “The remuneration for agencies has been declining for a while now. When noticed properly, every time an agency wins a pitch it is always at a lower price when compared with the previous fee. While this has been an age-old debate, imagine the business would have transformed tremendously if copyright stayed with agencies. For example, if Wieden+Kennedy had retained the rights for Nike’s Just Do It campaign,” Ajay Gahlaut, independent creative and former chief creative officer, Dentsu Creative Services, told BrandWagon Online.
The case – how it all began?
Jindal Steel’s campaign, ‘The Steel of India’ won two Lions at this year’s Cannes Lions awards – Silver in editing and Bronze in direction. And this is where it all went awry. To give background, Wieden+Kennedy India, moved to the Delhi High Court after a campaign was released by Jindal Steel in March 2024. At the time, the agency alleged copyright infringement and dishonouring the service agreement. As per the agency, through documents shared with BrandWagon Online, after working on the campaign for four months with the company approving production, Jindal Jindal Steel just walked out of it. Towards the end of March, the agency in this case Wieden+Kennedy India claimed to be taken by surprise when the same campaign was aired. When contacted in an official statement Jindal Steel stated, “The ‘Steel of India’ campaign is an original idea of Jindal Steel. Our vision was released and made into a beautiful ad film by Kondurkar Studio and Early Man Films without any contribution from any other agency – regardless of what is being falsely pushed in the media. As far as W+K is concerned, they had approached the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi and after failing in their attempt to stall the ad film, they filed an appeal and ultimately settled the matter with Jindal Steel. We do not wish to comment any further as the terms of the settlement are confidential.”
As per the legal documents to which BrandWagon has access, on April 24, 2024, the Delhi High Court ruled that Jindal Steel’s ‘The Steel of India’’ campaign draws similarity to the same one on air. Post this an out-of-court settlement between Jindal Steel and Wieden + Kennedy India. “Delhi High Court verdict, clearly stated that prima facie the campaign was substantially like what we had presented to Jindal Steel, be it the theme, imagery or the sound design. Which was subsequently settled out of the court with Jindal Steel and us, with mutual satisfaction of both parties,” Wieden+Keneddy, India in an official statement, said.
For the advertising world, awards are a way to validate their creative work, as a result, agencies enter several advertising and marketing awards across the globe. In this case, the agency Kondurkar Studios along with the production company Early Man Film entered the campaign for the Kyoorius 2024 awards. However, from what it is understood after going through the case, the Kyoorius committee of jury members disqualified these entries across categories. Yet the campaign won at this year’s Cannes Lions. When contacted in an email response,
Marian Brannelly, global director of awards, Cannes Lions International, said, “ ‘Jindal Steel – The Steel Of India’ satisfied our entry criteria. We are aware of the dispute and are in contact with all parties but as the awards organisers, it is not our place to pass judgement on the situation as this is between the parties involved.”
As for Jindal Steel, the company claims that credit has been given to deserving candidates. “Credit has been given to the people who deserve it. Kondurkar Studio and Early Man Films’ original work on the ad film has been recognised by the Cannes Jury. This is a huge achievement for India and a moment to celebrate the recognition of Indian creative talent globally. Attempts to claim false credit by other agencies who have had no role in the campaign would only harm their reputation and credibility,” the company said in an email statement.
The agency model- the need to rebuild
Industry experts opine that the copyright contracts are skewed in a way that all rights are reserved with the brand. In a way, these contracts benefit brands more than agencies. “Agencies have been shortchanged. But one cannot deny that the first idea came from Wieden+Kennedy India. In our case, too, one of our clients had directly entered the ABBY’s awards (Goa Adfest) yet we were given the credit as an agency,” Naresh Gupta, founder and managing partner of Bang In The Middle, said.
Next, in line is the kind of company agencies are working for. Experts feel that while in the case of multinational firms, due to stringent audit rules, there remains a chance of getting the due credit for their work, however, in the case of Indian-owned companies, that remains feeble. What’s more, in the case of start-ups the culture is far more different with a few entrepreneurs claiming to co-create ideas with agencies. “Agencies in their desperation to win business and beat each other in the competition have been lowering prices from project to project and pitches to pitches. It is about time that agencies unite and form a network to solve this problem, or else, it will be difficult in the future to operate business on a wafer-thin margin. This competition and desperation to win businesses also force them to accept one-sided contracts (heavily favouring clients) which makes them vulnerable to exploitation,” Joy Chauhan, founder, SICK Content Studios and former chief client officer (South Asia) and managing partner (North), VML (previously Wunderman Thompson), explained.
Finally, it’s all about the money earned. There was a time when agencies typically worked on a 15% commission revenue model, however, with time that too changed with it being replaced by the retainer model. In fact, there have been times when clients have called for pitches but did not assign the job to any. Popularly known as pitch-shopping or idea-shopping, this process is often compared with window shopping, as per which a customer looks through many shops but does not buy anything. Interestingly, a few agencies claim to have already taken a strong stance towards such an approach. “At Dentsu, we have already taken a call that beyond a certain price point, we will not work. Agencies will have to realise that they need to stop falling below a certain level as far as price is concerned or they will not be able to serve businesses for long. This is a chicken and egg situation, yet the onus of changing the environment resides with both the agencies as well as the brand owners,” Amit Wadhwa, CEO, dentsu Creative India, said.