Interview with Subhash Kamath, CEO Bates India

"Bates is ready to shed its reticent image and emerge as an ambitious and aggressive agency."

Subhash Kamath,

chief executive officer, Bates India

When Subhash Kamath took over as CEO, Bates India, the agency’s graph was falling at a steady rate. In just a few months, Kamath has successfully led Bates to its current position among the top 10 agencies in India. But he believes this achievement is just the beginning – Bates has many more miles to go.

Here , Kamath talks about his dreams, plans and ambitions – all of them with Bates as the focus.

Q. Bates is generally perceived as an agency with a low creative output, while other agencies such as O&M and Ambience Publicis (then Ambience D’Arcy), where you have worked in the past, are known for their creative sizzle. Do you think this perception of Bates is changing under your leadership?

A. When I worked for these agencies, they did not have this so-called ‘creative sizzle’. When I worked with O&M, it was a very solid agency with some great work. The creative side progressed only after Ranjan Kapur and Piyush Pandey joined O&M.

I even worked for Trikaya Grey, which was once considered one of the hottest agencies. I am not sure whether Grey continues to have the same reputation. Ambience has also gone through ups and downs.

What I mean to say is that every agency evolves and changes with time. Sometimes, they do lose their creative strength, but they also rebuild it. I always wanted to be part of a very fertile creative atmosphere, which is what inspired me to join advertising. Regardless of the organisation for which I work, I will never lose my passion for creativity.

I agree that Bates has always been very reticent. Even I did not know much about Bates’ creative strength before joining the agency.

I think this perception of Bates is a total myth. Over the years, it has done some memorable work for diverse clients such as Nokia, Indian Airlines, Tata AIG, Hamam, Tata Salt, ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (the launch) and Ananda Bazar Patrika.

Now Bates’ low-key and reticent nature is going to change – it will soon emerge as an ambitious and aggressive agency.

Q. There was a gap of six months between the sudden departure of Rajiv Agarwal and you joining Bates. What were the immediate challenges for you out here?

A. Actually, quite a few. In a people-driven business such as an advertising agency, a large number of initiatives actually start from the CEO’s office. And in the absence of a hands-on leader, work gets either postponed or ignored. That’s what happened to Bates for six to seven months.

It is critical to have a new business activation plan. One has to go out and win more pitches. It’s even more important to get called for more pitches. The lack of such activities makes an agency complacent vis-à-vis competition.

Secondly, in the absence of a leader, the overall enthusiasm in an organisation falls. I truly believe the bottleneck is always at the top. Therefore, in the absence of a leader, one can get diffused. So, activities such as getting people together as a team, driving them towards higher benchmarks, making optimum use of resources, creating better strategies in the creative product line, need constant attention from the top. For the past six to seven months, I have had my hands full with all this.

Q. In the recent AC Nielsen AgencyTrack, Bates India has been ranked number eight among the overall top ten agencies as well as in the FMCG sector study? How do you think this is going to improve your business standing in the industry today?

A. I think it is a terrific testimony to all the hard work that has gone into the last one year. My team has really slogged very hard on all the brands. But it is equally important to constantly improve. My next goal is to take Bates among the top five agencies.

Q. Recently, the Kolkata branch of Bates made quite a splash at the Srijon Samman Awards. Does the industry at large recognise this award as a benchmark for success?

A. Unfortunately, at the national level, the Srijon Samman Awards are not well known. It is a regional award. But that is what India is all about. Each region is like a country on its own, and you have to excel locally as well. While many agencies do not focus on the Kolkata market, it is a very important market for us and this award means a lot for our clients.

Q. How important are awards for an ad agency in terms of image building and establishing itself in ad circles?

A. Awards are very important, especially creative awards. They are a way of recognising and rewarding the work and the real talent in an agency. When you are judged by a group of your peers, it only pushes to improve the graph. Awards keep creating motivation.

But there is also a flip side to them. There are quite a few people in the industry who have started to work specifically to win awards, completely disregarding the brand’s needs. That is fast becoming an epidemic. I personally don’t respect that kind of work.

Q. There is a trend – of agencies going in for re-branding or makeovers – that’s fast catching on in the advertising industry. Does Bates have similar plans?

A. I wouldn’t call it a trend because the word makes it sound like re-branding is a fashion. I believe any agency that goes in for re-branding has actually sat down and analysed its need to change its core as an organisation. And that doesn’t happen like a fashion or a trend. That probably comes once or twice in an agency’s lifetime. Yes, Bates has gone through that.

Two years ago, when WPP bought over Bates, there was a need for it to re-position itself in the Asia specialist network and create a new logo and identity. For the last one and a half years, we have been using the new logo and identity. I do not think there will be too much of a change in the logo now apart from the new Enterprise merger.

Q. Enterprise Nexus has recently merged with Bates Asia. How will this help the new agency in terms of acquiring new businesses? Will this also enhance the creative output of the new agency?

A. I think it will help in a big way. A number of clients in India even today prefer to be only with the top ten agencies. Earlier, we were not considered on that list. Today, we have achieved that position. So, both from the business point of view and the creative aspect, the merger will prove to be a strategic decision. The merger not only brings together a fantastic team, it will also ensure its members much larger scope.

Q. Having talked about the merger, what are the organisational/management changes that Bates will go through now, apart from the senior management changes?

A. The details are still being worked out, but I don’t see too many changes at the management level simply because both agencies do not have any conflict of account. So, the teams are obviously well in place. I am very confident that there will be a very meaty role for every single person in this agency.

Q. Many advertising agencies are offering a wider range of services, be it direct marketing, PR, event management or various below the line activities. Where do you think is the future – in diversification or specialisation?

A. I think it’s in both. If I were to coin a term, I would have called it ‘diversified specialisation’. No agency can afford to grow today based only on mass media revenue. We have to gear up to triumph over our problems holistically. I think there is a very big future in such services.

Q. The Nokia advert has been widely appreciated. How did you manage the localisation of Nokia so well?

A. Well, it is actually a series of adverts and not just one ad. It’s a part of Nokia’s overall plan. Nokia is a brand that really stretches from a very wide range of price points. But there’s a core thought of ‘connecting people’ and that’s what Nokia stands for.

Yet, connecting people can mean so many things in different markets. There are certain global campaigns that we include, but for the most part, we have been successful in launching campaigns that are very local in flavour.

Q. Nokia has a wide portfolio. How do you maintain uniformity in all its adverts?

A. There is a core that remains uniform, regardless of the price points. Nokia always stands for aspirations. So, be it a phone priced at Rs 3,000 or Rs 30,000, we just make sure that the desire is created at every level.

Q. Do you think that DM agencies that are not associated with a large agency are at a disadvantage?

A. Yes and no. Being part of a large worldwide network gives you a better chance to access training, learning, tools and processes. In today’s generation, more and more agencies look forward to bringing that kind of knowledge across the table. Local agencies do not have access to that kind of knowledge. That would certainly be a disadvantage.

But then again, the expertise of any good DM organisation lies in its ability to strategise and use its skills to create a robust and relevant database. In India, database marketing is still at a very nascent stage and even international tie-ups cannot help. If an agency can do this without international help, it is always at an advantage.

On the other hand, when it comes to brand alignment and handling international clients, agencies with international tie-ups will always be in the lead.

Q. An advertising agency is ultimately known and judged for its creative strength or strategic planning. What, according to you, is the strength of Bates India?

A. I consider Bates India to be among the top five in terms of creative strength. But our bigger strength is in strategic processes, which are extremely tech savvy. We have recently launched a tool across Asia and even in India called ‘change point planning’. This tool is focused on monitoring the changes going on in society and how we can leverage these changes for the benefit of our clients.

Q. Having been at Bates for the last seven months and having seen the agency's capabilities, what are your expectations from Bates in the coming two years?

A. Certainly, much of the focus will be on growth and I am personally driving that very hard, both in terms of organic growth and business growth. Having better strategic and creative value for our clients will also be focal points. In the next two years, we want to create Bates Enterprise into a very exciting place to work in and not limit it as an agency that only does some really exciting work.

We want to make Bates a fun place, where hierarchies don’t matter, where ideas will always rule, where people will look forward to coming in every morning, and even the junior most people will get a chance to generate ideas and be heard. That is my dream.