Snehasis Bose, group chief strategy officer, Saatchi & Saatchi India, BBH India & Propagate India shares how his teams are strengthening their AI credentials, and the significance of brand marketing at a time when advertisers are focusing on performance marketing
At a time when the advertising ecosystem is in a state of flux and agencies are under pressure to deliver measurable business outcomes, the Publicis Groupe has been building differentiation with its integrated services business model called the ‘power of one’.
Snehasis Bose, group chief strategy officer, Saatchi & Saatchi India, BBH India & Propagate India, talks to Christina Moniz about how his teams are strengthening their AI credentials, and the significance of brand marketing at a time when advertisers are focusing on performance marketing. Excerpts:
What are the capabilities you’re building across your teams to be future-ready?
We have been using AI at Publicis Groupe since 2017 with Marcel, our AI-powered platform designed to connect over 1,00,000 employees globally. Today we have 91% AI adoption with more than a quarter of the work we do in ideation, designing, content and asset creation being done on AI. Our employees have access to over 15 AI tools for data crunching and coding, creating consumer cohorts, getting focus group discussions done and creating images and video. This also includes BUZai, the Groupe’s AI-powered data driven insights and recommendations platform.
Further, we have taken a giant leap with Intelligent Content, which is an AI-powered, data-driven approach to creating, producing, and distributing marketing assets at high speed and scale. To accelerate this, we have launched a new way of working called the ‘Creative OS’ which embeds AI, GenAI, and agentic across our businesses and processes to improve speed, quality, creativity, and efficiency.
The past year has been a challenging one for the advertising industry, with several legacy brands having been retired. What role do you see agencies like yours playing in the current industry landscape?
In my opinion, the folding of legacy agencies into new agency structures is a P&L game to ensure that the markets react positively to the holding companies. It has less to do with the value the client gets or seeks. As long as the team working on the business can partner with ownership and deliver solutions with agility and accountability, your client is locked in. When the agency ecosystem, however large, old or expert-laden, gets distracted with fitting internal structures and roles, the client starts getting restless.
The biggest source of new business at Publicis Groupe has always been the work we have done and the referrals our existing clients give us. This is proof that our ‘power of one’ (the company’s integrated services business model) works. It is also proof that the creative has excellence, and that the client’s business has grown. That is what used to count and still does, bells, whistles and super structures notwithstanding.
But would you say that in the current landscape, independent and small agencies hold a distinct advantage over large network agencies?
Both models have pros and cons. What you are calling a distinct advantage will be relevant within a specific client context or need or want. We, however, don’t see ourselves as just an agency. We operate as a group that manages large, integrated mandates. With 80% of our mandates being integrated, spanning creative, digital, media and other solutions, brands increasingly come to us not only for a single campaign, but for broader business transformation.
The ‘power of one’ model has become our way of thinking. With domain experts in the same building, the focus is on creating solutions that matter, free of the worry of executional excellence. While the intent and the claim is often replicated by our competitors, the Publicis Groupe is the only ecosystem that has consistently delivered this integration across sectors and over time.
Performance marketing has clearly become a major focus for brands today, along with outcome-driven advertising. How do you advise clients who prioritise performance marketing over brand building?
We help the client understand that it is not an ‘or’ conversation but rather an ‘and’ play. The brand needs to resonate deeply enough to fuel performance efficiency. If we only harvest, by which I mean focus on performance marketing, and never enrich the soil, which is brand marketing, eventually the land stops producing.
How have the three agencies – BBH, Saatchi & Saatchi and Propagate India — performed over the past one year?
2025 was once again a very good year for us. Despite the adverse market conditions, and the industry going through flux, we managed to put up a healthy growth. It was also a year where we consolidated our 2024 wins, while continuing to win businesses like Lifestyle, AO Smith, Cipla, Home Centre, IIFL Finance, Glenmark, CYBX, Go Boult, and Renew.
Each agency has its own, unique DNA. Saatchi & Saatchi India has built its credibility by winning and managing large integrated, business-centric creativity, while also carrying forward big brand relationships across multiple sectors.
BBH India is intrinsically a difference-driven, creative-solutioning company, agile on both creativity and planning. Propagate is our digital-first creative and content agency, which brings strategic depth and execution velocity. It is the digital layer inside the Publicis Groupe’s ecosystem.