About my work at Leo Entertainment
Having worked with several ad agencies and on brands such as Bajaj Auto, Kelloggs, Videocon, Balsara and Hallmark, I had this idea about 'marrying brands and entertainment' to develop a revenue model. I had joined Leo Burnett nearly four years ago but I conceptualised Leo Entertainment in 2001.

The idea of an entertainment agency vis-a-vis a brand agency somehow always appealed to me. It was an idea whose time had come. I developed a business model on film marketing and presented it to the Leo Burnett senior management.

Leo Entertainment is a full service agency focusing on the film industry and offering integrated marketing services to promote entertainment brands - creatives, on-screen and offline endorsements, ground promotions, public relations, 360 degrees spin. In a way, we helped film makers realise the full potential of a movie. We bridge the gap - bring brands to films and filmstars and vice versa. Currently, we are doing work for both Indian as well as Hollywood films.

Biggest challenge
The biggest challenge at the time of launch was to get an entry into the film industry and convince our senior management about the potential that existed in the business model. It was a new turf and a very different arena as compared to the traditional ad business.

For some people in our ad business, it was difficult to fathom the "organised chaos" which existed in the movie business. For the film industry people, it was difficult to change to the "Hollywood style" of marketing films. Our job was to bring in new systems which would make established people realise that they could look at/do things differently.

Initially, we had a difficult job establishing a connection with people down the chain in the film business - producers, distributors, sub-distributors, theatre-owners so and so forth. Also, the promotional related budgets (percentage as a cost of the production) in India are very less - in Hollywood there are people who spend 100 per cent or more on promotion and marketing communication.

Memorable success and failures
We bagged the mandate of doing business with Ajay Devgan for his film Raju Chacha. The movie was planned on a grand canvas but it didn't fare as well as expected. However, we learnt a lot in terms of valuable experience. In fact, we developed a futuristic model comprising of pitfalls, learnings, things to do; this would become the benchmark for us in the near future.

We tasted success with Kaante - especially the tie up with Thums Up which became a benchmark for Bollywood. For Pooja Bhatt's Jism, we provided an entire gamut of services - calendars with Bipasha Basu, posters, banners, hoardings, promotional literature, in-film placement tie ups with Zingaro beer. The film got a bigger opening than the Aishwarya Rai co-produced film which released on the same day. We have done a Coke tie up for Ramesh Sippy's forthcoming film Kuch Na Kaho (starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan). We have four projects with Ramgopal Varma; Baghban with Ravi Chopra amongst others. We have done quite a few things for Shah Rukh Khan's Chalte Chalte and for Percept Pictures' Makdee (tie ups with Mazaa, McDonalds).

The change I would like to bring about in my business
I won't like to change anything by merely speaking about the need for change. Some of my clients have spent more years in the business than I have - and they have perfected the art of succeeding in the business. However, I would like to bring about change by indirectly stimulating it through our "innovative" actions and path breaking work.

We have to demonstrate that a certain traditional way of doing things can be done in a different way and achieve better results. Clients will accept this kind of a rationale and use it too. When certain bigwigs in the industry follow the new approach, the rest will follow. One thing about this industry is that good work always gets noticed.

I believe that business is all about people and relationships. Every client is a different individual and it is our endeavour to reach their wavelength. Clients are under tremendous pressure to deliver and the onus of sharing their responsibility falls upon us. I always remind my team that we must become partners of 'entertainment brands'.

Of course, some things will never change and we have to work around the system. For instance, we have decided never to meet a producer on the sets in order to bypass the inevitable long long wait. We have to manage our time and clients' time effectively. There are times when we have work on Sundays too.

Also, it is important that the industry people keep a close watch on consumer trends. Things are changing so rapidly that consumer tracking is a must. Also, it is important to keep abreast of western trends. There are some things which can be adapted to the Indian context.

Leveraging expertise from Leo Burnett
We have brought the Leo Burnett approach to our business division. The use of technology has ensured that we are better equipped to provide quality and timebound services to our clients from the film industry. Also, communication has been enhanced and instant due to the progress made in IT - paperless office has become a norm. It has become easier for us to retrieve old ads or TV commercials. Making a artwork takes shorter time. Getting approvals has also become easier due to the computer related interface.

Perception of TV as a medium
In India, film marketing is different from that in Hollywood due to the prominence given to songs and dance sequences. Television becomes very important in this kind of a scenario in order to promote well-crafted trailors, songs, visuals from the movie. TV becomes a uniform medium to address masses as well as classes (of course mix varies from film to film). Also, whenever we have skewed territories - a Mumbai or an Andhra Pradesh or a UP/Bihar - the medium becomes an important tool as the communication changes. There are certain niche films which aren't promoted much on TV.

TV as a medium is changing and growing fast. However, repetition will kill the popularity of the medium. History has shown that the oft-repeated formula will kill the system - look what has happened to the film industry. Consumers and viewers will get bored and the TV industry has to innovate - increase interactivity. The implementation of the Conditional Access System will also bring in a lot of change. Quality software and more content will come in but margins will be under pressure for the different people in the chain - similar to what the film industry is going through.

Passion and hobbies
Right now, my life revolves around my son and my work. I love cricket and films. As far as television is concerned, I watch sports, cricket, news, movies and film promos (work related passion) and music videos.

Also read:
Leo Entertainment capitalises on film placements