Ranked No 6 globally by The Drum, WPP’s agency for brand and customer experience and commerce, VMLY&R is working towards greater integration across functions. Hari Ramanathan, the agency’s CEO for South, Southeast Asia and Japan tells Christina Moniz about the role of India as an important talent hub, the importance of long-term partnerships with clients and the need for integrated brand solutions. Edited excerpts:
AI and ML are emerging to be a big HR challenge for advertising agencies. What’s your take?
The industry talent pipeline has reduced primarily because of tech start-ups and platforms, which offer a lot of exciting opportunities for new talent today. The industry needs to do more to showcase the immense possibilities for young people in advertising. The concept of advertising has evolved to now encompass marketing solutions, and that proposition is not only attractive to potential clients but also to new talent. The agency culture we are fostering is one where people can work sans silos and get a better understanding of our clients’ businesses.
That’s our pitch and it seems to be working so far. Another thing we are doing to keep people motivated is offering them the opportunity to try new roles and learn different skills. That allows them to feel more fulfilled in their work and it is also great for the organisation.
We also have a strong technology proposition at the agency. We are exploring various ways to use generative AI and empower people not just for internal productivity but also to boost outcomes for clients. We’re not afraid of any new technology. Even if generative AI gets to the stage of replicating human brilliance, there should be no reason to be afraid of it.
The agency’s legacy lies largely in functions such as commerce and customer experience (CX). What are the capabilities that you’re strengthening across the region?
The capabilities we are focusing on are in commerce, brand, creativity, technology and strategy. We’re strengthening these not as silos of excellence but rather by ensuring they are all connected. That has been the focus over the past couple of years. Consumer behaviour has changed and the consumer experience is also far more integrated. What used to be an isolated offline shopping experience now has shades of e-commerce, digital and social. That’s why we have been building interconnectivity in our processes and frameworks. We now approach the brief that a client gives us from a solutions perspective rather than an output perspective. Our solutions are far more integrated and centred on creating an experience. To deliver that, we have various touch points across digital, social and retail or even traditional touch points like outdoor. Importantly, the muscle that we are trying to build is enabling the experts from each of these areas to work together.
VMLY&R India has been winning recognition on platforms such as Cannes. How would you evaluate the agency in India versus other Southeast Asia markets?
As the only country in our geography with an exponential GDP growth, India is our growth engine. It is a talent hub across data, technology, e-commerce, creative, brand and CX. Our India team has over 400 people so far. On the business front, we’re thrilled with the work VMLY&R India has done on existing clients such as IDFC First Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Dell, Ford, etc. We have also had some good business wins this year in India such as Ponds, Vaseline and Titan Skinn.
We’re also happy to have done a fair bit of award-winning work in India but we are clear that awards are not the end that we are chasing. To be relevant to consumers especially in a geography like India with various social and economic challenges, it is incumbent upon every business to make a social impact. We tend to work with clients where there is a clear intent to drive that.
What volume of your business comes from existing businesses and how much comes from new businesses?
To measure the health of the agency, we always look at the top 10 accounts, since they contribute a substantial part of our revenue. The average tenure of our top five clients in the region is around 40 years. The reason we have such long-term relationships is because we believe in imbibing among our teams a deep institutional knowledge of the clients’ businesses. Secondly, we have always kept evolving as an agency in terms of capability and offerings. We have done much work in helping brands navigate changes. In the Indian market, the average tenure of our partnership with our top five clients is around 7-10 years.