| Interview with Banerjee & Partners,
1947 Communications' founder and brand strategist Dave Banerjee |
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'Outsourcing
advertising is the next big thing and can change the dynamics
of the entire industry'
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| (Posted
on 2 February 2005) |
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Outsourcing
advertising may just be the next big thing. At a time of tight budgets
and fierce competition in the market place; outsourcing helps cut
costs by almost 40-60 per cent. One amongst the first to dabble
into outsourcing advertising is New York based Dave Banerjee. His
agency - 1947 Communications is the
'only real' advertising agency in the South-Asian American space.
Early
this year, Banerjee's "Eureka" came in the form of Banerjee
& Partners, which is the first mainstream ad agency that offers
a blended outsourcing model of carefully considered combination
of onshore strategy and offshore production and creative execution.
The
New York team comprises Losang Gyatso, Seema Trivedi and Mukul Bakshi.
The Indian backend- with offices in Mumbai and Delhi, will have
names like Freddy Birdy, Naved Akhtar, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Robert
Anthoney, Suresh Manian, Tony Lawrence and K J Jacob to reckon with.
The wave of outsourcing advertising is literally knocking on India's
door!
In
this interview with Indiantelevision.com's
Hetal
Adesara,
Banerjee throws light on this upcoming phenomenon and more...
Excerpts:
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You have worked with the likes of JWT, O&M and Lowe and
then you started your agency 1947 Communications… in the midst
of this how was Banerjee & Partners conceptualised?
One evening, I was driving back from work and I heard this hilarious
radio spot on 104.3 classic rock station, about outsourcing to India.
The spot was about a girl who calls a restaurant named “New
Delhi”, and the call is actually directed to a call center
in Delhi, offering to deliver Indian food in New York in five minutes.
This was funny because it was impracticable, but the thought that
went across my mind was:“Outsourcing to India has become such
a hot topic. How come no one is doing this in advertising?”
I
suddenly realised that we were already outsourcing some of the creative
and production work to India, though on a much smaller scale through
1947 Communications. So why not take it to the next level? The next
moment I knew that we were sitting on a great idea, an idea whose
time had come -- outsourced advertising.
Having
spent many years in Indian advertising, I was in a unique position
to compare talents- US versus India. I knew that if I could get
the best of Indian advertising brains I could potentially build
a great agency. It happened just like that. One minute I was dead
tired dying to reach home, the next minute I was ready to set up
a new agency and pioneer a new business model in advertising. From
next day onwards, for over a year, we worked towards setting up
Banerjee & Partners- a mainstream advertising agency that offers
a blended outsourcing model of carefully considered combination
of onshore strategy and offshore production and creative execution.
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1947
Communications was the first advertising agency in the US, which
focused on the South Asian community. Who are your clients and how
is the agency faring?
Despite the South Asian market being very small, we have been
fortunate to work with some major brands like MetLife, Johnson &
Johnson, Wells Fargo, DIRECTV etc. The agency is doing well and
1947 Communications is still the only real advertising agency in
the South-Asian American space.
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What
is the core difference in the functions of Banerjee & Partners
and 1947 Communications?
Banerjee & Partners will do work for the US general market.
Unlike 1947 Communications, it won't have any ethnic focus. We are
now talking about a $280 billion advertising market.
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Who
are Banerjee & Partners clients and what are the different services
that the agency offers?
We launched the agency on 17 January, 2005 with our first client
Alfred Hammel- a Swiss boutique watch brand. Our services are pretty
much identical to what other agencies offer.
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What
according to you is the differentiating factor of Banerjee &
Partners viz-a-viz other agencies?
Banerjee & Partners brings some of the world’s best advertising
talents- irrespective of geographic location- to work on American
brands while offering 40 - 60 per cent cost savings over traditional
agencies. We are pioneering a blended outsourcing model that we
believe will soon become a trend and can potentially change the
dynamics of our industry. We are offering best-in-class advertising,
at an unprecedented cost.
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Banerjee
& Partners mostly outsource work from India. Can you explain
in detail the company’s outsourcing model?
First of all it’s not just India. India is our first stop for
back-end infrastructure, but we are not stopping there. By the end
of the year we plan to set up offices in two other English speaking
and advertising savvy countries.
Blended
outsourcing is a collaboration between advertising professionals
in our NY headquarters and their counterparts in another country.
We have build a very strong team here, that will work with our offices
in India to create persuasive and memorable advertising for American
brands. The traditional outsourcing model can't be applied into
advertising as then it will lack the local market knowledge and
consumer insights.
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'We
are after all the first company to outsource advertising, the
market size could be $300 million or even $1 billion' |
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How
much would you peg the US outsourcing market at and where do you
see it going?
No
one has an answer to this one as there's no benchmark, no research
at all. We are after all the first company to do this. It could
be $300 million or could be even $1 billion.
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In India (Mumbai and Bangalore), who are the core people working
for your agency?
Mumbai office is being set up as we speak. It should be operational
from March and will be headed by Amitabh Bhattacharya who used to
be the creative director of McCann- Bangalore. Bangalore is being
led by four key people Robert Anthoney, Suresh Manian, Tony Lawrence
and K J Jacob. As and when we start our New Delhi operations, it
will be headed by Freddy Birdy and Naved Akhtar, who in any case
are an integral part of our Indian backend.
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Apart
from India, which are the other two countries that Banerjee &
Partners is looking at for having backend shops by the end of this
year? What was the reason for choosing these countries?
I can
only mention one for now- Singapore. We are not really choosing
countries or cities. Our model is about talent. And Singapore has
a lot of that.
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Can
you elaborate on the agency’s proprietary brand planning tool
- Insight Map?
I'Map
is an extension of a model that was created by Geert Hofstede for
understanding various cultures and societies. The original model
was first brought into advertising by Mr Ranjan Kapur of Ogilvy.
I learnt about it when I was at Ogilvy & Mather. We have developed
the model further and have taken it to the next level. It essentially
plots target audience insights and brand insights on two different
plains, and once superimposed, it reveals the hot buttons that exist
between the two.
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Are
there any other proprietary tools being developed?
Not really. |
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Sam
Balsara’s Madison Communications can be touted as being the
only true “Indian” ad agency. Did the thought of opening
your own agency in India occur to you? What was the reason for choosing
the US as Banerjee & Partners’ headquarters?
India
has many advertising people of my caliber and some who are much
better than I can ever be. My dream is to bring all those brains
under one roof and let them do the work they always wanted to do.
And that can only happen when they work on the US market. There
are some exceptional advertising talent in India who will have a
blast creating work for this market. They are unlikely to reach
their peak otherwise.
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What
are the agency’s expansion plans in the near future?
Apart
from geographic expansion, Banerjee & partners will start outsourcing
media planning and buying to India. This one will be only to India,
and will have the same blended model where the front end teams will
handle the qualitative side of planning.
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Will
you be looking at tying up forces with any other ad agency or you
prefer your independence?
Certainly
not with an agency, but may be a holding company. There could be
some backend tie-ups, not front end.
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What
are the latest trends in the US ad market?
US being
the single largest advertising market has many trends in every single
aspect of our industry. However, I think the next biggest trend
will be outsourcing of advertising. The writing is on the wall and
most people are just in a state of denial. This one can potentially
change the complete dynamics of the way the industry is set up right
now.
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What
is the core difference in the way an ad agency functions in the
US and India?
I think
in India agencies take less short-cuts. They still follow the discipline.
They still think of 'ideas'. Here, baring a few exceptions, the
industry is lead by execution. It's all about style.
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