We’re not competing with inventive companies: Ajay Gupte, Wavemaker | Information

Ajay Gupte has spent 15 of his final 16 years at GroupM and states that ‘he is passionately in love with this place’ throughout a dialog with Marketing campaign India.  

He began his profession at WPP by heading Maxus’ Delhi workplace. Since then, he’s additionally labored with MEC (throughout markets) and now leads a workforce of 785 folks in India.   

A month in the past, he received the ‘IAA Media Company Chief of the 12 months’ on the again of Wavemaker having its ‘three finest years from 2020’ in line with him.  

We caught up with him to find out about his time at WPP, the position of Wavemaker throughout the steady, and extra…

Edited excerpts:  

You have primarily been with WPP for the final 15 years, having been with Maxus and MEC prior. How has the group advanced over this era?  

I joined Maxus in 2005. It was a three-year-old company and was working towards the likes of Mindshare, Madison and Mudra, who have been the massive boys these days. We needed to stand out and the one means to take action was by innovating. In a really brief span, we have been quantity two and loads of credit score goes to what Srini (CVL Srinivas) arrange.   

Successful awards was a really excessive precedence. We had a digital and content material workforce in place again then. Not many media companies had these groups in place. We have been already making a differentiated product at that sort of time.  

We differentiated ourselves and stood for an advanced, differentiated product at Maxus. Maxus was very sturdy in Asia, however not very sturdy globally.   

On the identical time, we had MEC which was a powerhouse. It was very left-brained and powerful on information. I joined MEC in Indonesia. At the moment, MEC was very tiny there and was quantity 15 within the nation. I had 18 folks within the company. Between my stints with Maxus India and MEC Indonesia, I’d been to OMD in Africa.   

I’d joined MEC Indonesia, a number of days after it had misplaced its largest account, which contributed 60% to its billings. So the 30-member workforce was all the way down to 18.   

We utilized the identical Maxus guidelines with the MEC tradition and grew. The great story there’s that once we merged MEC into Maxus in 2017, we have been quantity two out there.   

Now, we had MEC which was information, course of and tools-oriented, whereas Maxus which was about creativity, starvation, and entrepreneurial progress.   

This coupled with a altering media setting, through which digital was changing into extra advanced and vital meant we wanted to interrupt the monotony. Innovation was wanted and content material turned vital. Within the regular scheme of issues, you can’t construct this functionality since you don’t make a lot cash on this enterprise. So we needed to deliver MEC and Maxus collectively. The financial savings we had with this have been immense! (laughs)  

We did this throughout 100 international locations collectively. It was referred to as Newco initially. We needed to remodel and create capabilities to make the change. Wavemaker got here from MEC’s content material workforce which was referred to as Wavemaker.   

What have been the insecurities like? Had been the Maxus staffers apprehensive {that a} MEC identify was chosen because the identify of the company?  

No, it was superbly finished internationally. I bear in mind sitting and defining roles and duties. We knew we have been investing in sure areas and needed to re-profile and create new roles and areas of progress. We have been managing inside what we had and creating the power to construct a bit bit extra and so some folks needed to be repurposed into different companies.  

There was loads of rigidity, however there was loads of pleasure amongst whoever was there as a part of the workforce as a result of we knew we have been onto one thing large. The identify Wavemaker was a fortunate shot as a result of it means one thing. Once I inform somebody, you’re a Wavemaker, I don’t want to clarify what he must do.   

What Toby (Jenner, international CEO) has finished by saying ‘we wish to be probably the most needed media company on this planet’, has made it clear to everybody. We’ve stored it easy and that’s been the driving power.   

Of the 785 folks employed in India, what can be the cut up between conventional media and the opposite non-core areas?  

Round 60% can be core. Content material, e-commerce, and information tech mixed have round 280 folks and make up the remainder of the employees.   

With out sounding pompous, 280-300 folks can be the scale of many media companies by themselves.  

I perceive the good thing about scale as a result of I come from a small market like Indonesia. Once I had a workforce of 18 folks, I had no functionality of investing and didn’t have a digital head or a method head. I needed to construct that in Indonesia. Now, with near 800 folks I’ve loads of alternatives to flex.  

For instance, final 12 months when the Metaverse was changing into vital, we had a senior younger chief who expressed a need to do one thing new. We created a Metaverse wing and requested him to run this. He studied this market and the chance and constructed a functionality on the Metaverse. This helped two of our manufacturers be a part of the ‘first wedding ceremony to happen on the Metaverse’.  

A mixture of dimension which permits us to take a position and the width of shoppers permits us to incubate, create and ideal our companies.  

It’s not straightforward to arrange one thing with out enterprise help. We arrange an e-commerce unit with out having shoppers onboard.   

We’ve been fortunate in a means that we’ve got 100 plus shoppers. Something we create can have takers from our present consumer base. We all know that these are vital areas and we’re creating them.   

Now, we’ve acquired an enormous e-commerce workforce and an enormous information tech workforce, which manages shoppers’ first-party information and the way it’s collected and distributed.    

Because you’ve touched upon the Metaverse, we needed to know your view about the identical. Do you assume that craze has died down?  

We’re seeing it being utilized in an advanced and differentiated means.   One learns with time and will get utilized in numerous types. We noticed the ‘Raksha Bandhan’ marketing campaign that includes Hrithik Roshan for Cadbury Celebrations which is a results of loads of learnings from tech being merged into it.   

We’re seeing shoppers doing gross sales conferences on the Metaverse too.

So we’re shifting from being gimmicky into an advanced kind which is being utilized to broader campaigns.   

AI – how is it aiding the company and the workers?   

We have now invested massively in information. We have now AI-powered instruments like Architect which assist shoppers select investments by medium, market, shopper group, goal and product. It’s wonderful. It comes out like a river and its tributaries and appears at stuff like base budgets, markets, and media. It is a software based mostly on real-time information created for Wavemaker internationally.   

We have now different AI-based instruments like Choreograph Create, which helps us deploy totally different creatives to totally different folks. This may very well be based mostly on an individual liking a unique color, or seeking to decide one provide over the opposite.   

What we’ve got been in a position to create right this moment is an company which may resolve much more consumer challenges. Consumer challenges are evolving and dramatically altering. The supply of the product or the sale of the product is throughout far more touchpoints now. We have now a product referred to as MESH which actively tracks shopper sentiments a couple of model and appears for market developments.   

We have now a workforce of 18 servicing 12 shoppers on this house which has helped us add worth from simply being a media company.  

So what’s the way forward for a media company skilled? Would any conventional media shopping for roles be made redundant due to AI?  

Media professionals must upskill.  

Having stated that, I wouldn’t assume folks within the business can be redundant. Individuals will likely be given totally different roles. We’re shifting away from doing the grunt work to with the ability to strategise and provides higher options.   

A fundamental instance of the identical is that once I joined the business, we had Doordarshan and we used to have CNS (Cable and Satellite tv for pc) properties and non-CNS properties. I used to have a guide which might come each week and we must discover particulars of TRPs. There was no software program. My pc HDD was 200 MB.  

So the reality is a few of them advanced from these occasions, whereas a few of them fell off. That is life. However those that can evolve can have an enriched expertise.  

Are all the brand new shoppers coming from the standard media shopping for mandate or are among the content material choices Wavemaker provides additionally serving to win accounts?  

Whereas I’m a really reticent particular person about awards, they’ve helped us loads. We have now seen shoppers who’ve referred to as us for pitches and right away say how they know what we’ve got been doing and wish us to the nice work for them too. It’s a stunning factor to listen to and is music for my years.   

I met a consumer final week, which has translated to a brand new enterprise win for us. I walked into the room for the primary assembly and the consumer stated ‘we want you to do your magic for our manufacturers’. That’s the finest testimonial of the work.  

We’re successful loads of shoppers on the again of being ‘plus plus media’ moderately than ‘media plus plus’. We have now shoppers who need us to do content material and e-commerce. There are some instances the place we’re solely dealing with content material and e-commerce whereas different media companies are dealing with media.   

There have been murmurs from inside WPP that Wavemaker is competing with different inventive models for content material. What’s your tackle this?  

We’re not competing with inventive companies.   

They’re nice in what they’re doing and we can’t create issues like ‘model methods’. A inventive company ought to be taking a look at a selected product, the way it ought to manifest as a model and what ought to be the platform. We’re not into that sport in any respect. We’re media-first and if it requires us to create an advert, we’ll use that model technique and make it occur.   

We have now employed a chief inventive officer, George (Kovoor) who has come from Ogilvy, and is heading our content material division, however he’s not doing Ogilvy’s job.  

Given the shorter agency-client relationships, are shoppers taking a look at companies for ‘model constructing’ now?  

That has a spot of its personal and that’s a unique problem. What we’re doing is that if our viewers makes use of media in a selected means, and we will innovate to make it more practical, we’ll do it and make the model succeed. We are going to use no matter model positioning or assertion that the inventive company has labored on and implement or land it.   

When it comes to new enterprise wins, R3 has Wavemaker ranked fourth in India (until July 2023) with 15 new shoppers. The place do you see this go by the tip of the 12 months?   

We received Reckitt which is an enormous enterprise. We retained Pernod Ricard and Mondelez that are large companies. We have now received a great deal of different companies like India Gate Basmati Rice and Pokerbaazi. That is our best-ever 12 months within the final 4 years and that is approaching the again of us being primary since 2020 when it comes to new enterprise wins.   

There are a number of extra companies within the pipeline which we’ve got received which we will’t discuss proper now.   

It’s additionally about time to mattress them in and consolidate these companies which we’ve received this 12 months. Whereas what’s there on the plate will proceed, our focus can be on the present companies and taking care of them.   

What we’re chasing is to have the ability to do differentiated stuff. We’re making a model.   

The problem that we face is that every one companies are like potatoes, and I wish to be a brilliant potato. That is one thing I introduced whereas I used to be with MEC in 2012, however nonetheless comply with it. I wish to be differentiated and distinct from the remaining and we’re on that journey.   

We wish to transfer away from shoppers simply choosing us based mostly on charges or fee. We wish shoppers to say that they wish to work with us as a result of we create better-rounded options to resolve the enterprise challenges of right this moment.   

When it comes to different targets, we’ve got Marketing campaign’s ‘Company of the 12 months’ arising and we wish to wipe it off! It’s a great way to finish the 12 months!  

You spoke about being ‘plus plus media’ moderately than ‘media plus plus’. Does this typically make shoppers consider you’re not a specialist media company and search for another person for pure media shopping for and planning?  

It’s a problem for positive.  

There are instances when shoppers consider that they should work with specialists. The benefit we’ve got is our scale and our portfolio of shoppers. My potential to create a product and take it to 100 shoppers is way superior to anybody else. That’s our energy, however some shoppers see specialist companies as the primary port of name, our effort is to inform them about us and our scale.