"It is time we all got together and considered that the communication strategy, media ideas and creatives we provide actually come at a cost even if they are rejected."

This may have never happened in the world of advertising but it's a sincere opinion from Starcom northern region's executive director and industry's senior professional Anita Nayyar, who feels the advertising industry needs to change its way of functioning.

Nayyar is critical of several issues - especially when big agencies drop their commission percentage in some cases. She feels that when agencies do undercutting in their rates; clients, too, follow suit, and as a result, the work done gets affected. Rather than doing this, agencies need to set right examples and restore sanity, she says.

The entry of numerous media specialist agencies in a short span has not only ignited a war of sorts with shifting in accounts; and reports of undercutting in commission and poaching;but has also prompted varied comments from professionals on the way things are shaping up.

But there are only few professionals who easily accept the complicated state of affairs. And Nayyar shares her frank opinions by providing an insight to indiantelevision.com. She shared the challenges for mid-sized agencies in today's competitive market.

Nayyar, who joined Starcom in March this year, spoke to Ritesh Gupta on her career, state of industry, CAS and on operations of the agency, which has grown to a Rs 850-million agency in a year's span. Excerpts:

How has Starcom performed in Delhi in the recent past?
I have been here for three months now and I think we have been doing pretty well. We got Jindal Photo Films AOR account soon after my joining Starcom and post that we have done a lot of pitches, which largely have been full-service pitches. We have won Atlas Cycles and an NGO `Nexant', which is into energy conservation and now Honda.

So, three-four accounts in three months is not at all a bad beginning. As far as the operations in Delhi are concerned, there was a need to consolidate existing clients and also to add more to our list from the northern market. So things are looking good and hopefully we should continue to perform the way we have been doing.

What prompted you to join Starcom?
I have been in media for a long time and completed 20 years this March. I have been through lots of agencies like Sista's, O&M, Lintas, Grey and Mudra. Each one of them has their strengths and I joined Starcom, because, unlike most others, it has a strong research background. To that extent, this agency is very strong strategically not only in planning but also in buying. At Starcom, there is a decent balance between all the functions.

There is access to lots of international tools, understanding and researches that we use, which actually make studies/strategies on brands from various categories far more interesting and insightful, resulting in impactful media strategies. The other most striking attribute of Starcom is that it is an absolutely transparent agency. To the extent that there is a transparency clause as a part of our contract. I don't think any agency has got a transparency clause. We very proudly maintain that our source of income is only the client.

In Delhi, adopting this kind of an approach was a big challenge because this used to be a small branch. But, the branch has grown tremendously in the last one year. We started only with Rs 50 million last year. There is a huge potential in Delhi as well as the north market which we are tapping with a more focused approach. We have grown at the rate of client a month and let's hope we continue this way.

Do you think the media business is still evolving?
Evolution is a continuous process. I remember those days when media was only costing and execution of advertisements. Then came the concept of media planning and a different scientific approach to media with availability of the readership surveys and other data bases and big respectable names - people such as Roda Mehta.

Planning became a big thing and it was followed by focus on buying in the mid-90's when clients became more savvy and wanted the maximum bang for their buck. Suddenly, everybody was projecting themselves as a media buying agency or a media buying house. I think today we have evolved to being media services agency and from being "in the media business, we are today in media for business".

We actually operate as a profit centre without the backing of the creative agency and manage our own P&L (profit and loss). At present, media experts from the specialised function of media are not only media experts but have a huge focus on the media business running it like any other business.

So how are you going about your deals in the first four to six weeks?
There are certain brands, in which only niche FTA channels are used which reduces the problem. But in case of pay channels, we will certainly go slow. Also there are lots of clients, who do not have metro focus. For instance, clients focusing on markets other than metros are not too bothered and are going ahead with their plans since numbers in metros don't bother them and they are reaching their audiences. We treat our clients money as our own hence like most others are very cautious.