In the most recent release of the
2014 Effie Effectiveness Index, Lowe Lintas Mumbai has been ranked the
top Agency Office in Asia Pacific and the second in the world. But this agency ain’t always leading the effectiveness chart. Prior to this year, it was ranked 7
th and 11
th in APAC in 2013 and 2012 respectively. Lowe Lintas has undoubtedly been doing something so right in reaching higher and further through the years in the feat to deliver results to its clients.
In a chat with S. Subramanyeswar, National Planning Director of Lowe Lintas, he shares his thoughts on this remarkable achievement and the current advertising climate in India.
What are your thoughts on Lowe Lintas coming in the top as the Most Effective Agency Office in Asia Pacific? What does this mean or bring for Lowe Lintas moving forward?
For us, this isn’t just one grand moment, but the culmination of year-long spectacular performances at various award shows for effectiveness. This recognition clarifies, amplifies and glorifies our belief in creating authentic and relevant work that works in the marketplace.
Going forward, it is about raising the bar and setting higher expectations to better our own results. Just like a Pole vault event in Olympics. In Pole vault, the goal of the jumper is not to be the fastest down the track, or to be the most efficient at hitting the mark with the pole. The goal is to jump high enough to clear the bar. Then, do it again, and again, and again each time the bar is raised. That is the inspiration for us. We don’t like coming second best to ourselves.
Define marketing effectiveness in one sentence.
It is doing the ‘right’ thing, and the degree to which stated marketing objectives are achieved and the extent to which targeted problems are solved.
In Lowe Lintas' approach to marketing, what aspect of it do you think contributed the most to the current success?
It is the ability to solve business problems (not just communication problems) and the ability to suggest simple solutions to those problems. And our solutions are always based on understanding the larger cultural context in which brands exist because we firmly believe that brands are not part of marketing but part of culture. When you conceive brands/brand solutions as a phenomenon of society, culture, and politics rather than mind, opportunities for innovative expressions created by changes in society are never ignored. Our attempt is always to give brands a cultural authority in society and not just brand authority in the market.
What are the key challenges in achieving effectiveness for a campaign generally and specifically in the Indian culture and market? How can we tackle them?
The challenges for producing effective work are both internal and external. First internal, because effectiveness is not a solo sport. At Lowe Lintas, the collaboration between multiple disciplines – Planning, Creative and Account Management allowed us to capture each other’s fund of collective intelligence at every stage in the path to this success. It’s a culture. And strong cultures always produce sound ideas and generate the force to make those ideas effective.
On the external front, the challenges to produce effective work are fundamentally the same, immaterial of the market or culture. Effective work is an agglomeration of stories (not one sliver) linked together by a clear business purpose. Stories that are inventive, engaging and persuasive, ultimately seducing the audience to the brand.
Anything on the advertising climate in India?
The digital winds of change that have been sweeping the developed markets for quite some time now have caught on the Indian market too by storm. And as is our wont, we skipped quite a few steps and jumped straight into mobile. The more the digital technology is permeating Indian society, the more it is uncovering the truths. Blogging, texting, tweeting, uploading and so on are unleashing both opportunity and caution. Brands can both benefit and be damned by this new force. This is undoubtedly the best time to be in marketing and advertising in India.
At the same time, it is also important to remember that our industry is in the persuasion business – the business of reaching out to large number of people and getting them to consider our client’s products as opposed to those of our competitors. The fact that we can now do that in a multitude of different ways should be a cause for celebration rather than sterile debate about the pluses and minuses of broadcast communication over digital. They’re both incredibly valuable in creating passionate relationships for audiences with their brands.
The question that India should be debating is: how do we link the powerful world of broadcasting to the incredibly efficient developments of digital?