The Hindu Business Line : Leveraging Lintas

It has been 18 months since Charles Cadell took up the position of CEO of Lowe Lintas. An expat who has served in many other countries, he has already taken into account the uniqueness of the Indian market. Be it the commission-driven payment system or the low pace of growth in digital marketing, the Indian landscape has a different look from the rest of the world, says Cadell who has also witnessed the recent recession. So going to Cannes (for the advertising festival) is not on the cards as ‘being frugal’ is in and at the end of the day it is still a luxury albeit a learning process for most employees. In a freewheeling interview to BrandLine, Cadell dwells on some of the changes within the agency and agrees that leveraging the heritage of Lintas will work best for the Indian market.

Recently Lowe reverted to its original name as Lowe Lintas. Why did you drop the name of Lintas in the first place and how is this name change expected to change things for the agency?

Lintas was dropped as a name internationally four years ago as a result of an alignment behind the Frank Lowe name. All markets were asked at this stage to follow the global directive and the India business too dropped the name from its collaterals. However, the company name has never changed and always remained Lowe Lintas India.

We believe, however, that dropping Lintas from our identity in India was premature as significant equity is still associated with the name. It has a heritage of recognition, prestige and quality built up over years by a succession of advertising giants. Our head office was very open to allowing us to bring the old name back if it made sense for us. The name itself will not presage any change other than a re-branding of some of our marketing service units and ensuring we have a consistent brand architecture and style for all the companies in the group.

In 2007, IPG announced the buying back of the remaining 51 per cent remaining equity and integrating Lintas India into the Lowe Worldwide Network. How has the business of the agency changed since then, especially with high-profile exits taking place in the subsequent years?

Outside some senior management changes, there was no substantive overnight change to how we run our business as a result of the acquisition. All our clients are still with us, plus a range of new ones; we have had no unexpected staff turnover and our business is good.

Over time, however, we have been introducing new systems and polices along IPG international norms and new services and ways of working with our clients to improve our delivery. IT platforms for digital workflow; channel planning as a discipline; improved integration with our marketing service units and a focus on our strategic delivery are some of these areas.

Can you describe how Lowe Lintas is structured now? Apart from a flagship advertising agency, which are the current independent companies/divisions within the group?

We have inducted a new management committee comprising senior experienced professionals within Lowe Lintas and they will work closely with Balki and I to chart the future course of this company. Lowe Lintas is an extremely well diversified group and we have strong business units in place to deal with new marketing realities. We are focusing heavily on marketing services (LINOpinion, Lintertainment, LinterLand, Linevents, Linhealth and Linpersonal) and over the last two months have moved many of these staff into the main agency at Express Towers (Mumbai) to ensure strategic and creative integration for our clients. It is an area of fast growth for us due to its cost-efficient delivery, targeted marketing and demonstrable results. LINOpinion, our public relations company, has been around for over a decade now. It has been steadily and consistently growing. Rural marketing through LinterLand is of special importance due to our dominance of this sector, our abilities in it and the rate at which marketers are refocusing on the rural base. We have brought in a number of new units and disciplines. We now offer a branded properties cell (Tonic), a film production unit (Lintas Productions) and an enhanced digital offering.

Over the years your agency has always stayed away from the Ad Club awards. Has this affected your business in any way?

Not in the slightest. We do not believe clients place their business or trust in an agency on the basis of third party subjective evaluation of the creative work. The creative work and idea is of huge importance to this company along with the strategic acuity it brings, and our creative product has long been a core reason for the company’s fame and fortune.

What are your views on the slowdown and what are the trends in ad spends across industries and clients that you have seen during this recessionary phase?

In the last quarter of 2008 and few months of 2009 we saw massive caution across the board as marketers held back commitments to see which way the wind would blow. That caution is still there but now percolated with an optimism that the market will not substantively tank. While budgets have been cut and expenses minimised with us, I believe the optimism is well placed. This economy is still conservatively growing at 4.5 per cent and there are some big sectors that are still witnessing significant growth such as telecom, retail banking and FMCG that are keeping the industry buoyant. Lowe Lintas is poised to successfully grow this year.

At what rate is the advertising industry growing today and what are the challenges ahead for the industry? To what extent is the shortage of manpower today in this industry?

The ad industry grew by approximately 9 per cent this year.

There are opportunities in any crisis and it is the job of any CEO to attempt to maximise the opportunities and use this lever as the catalyst to do it. There are a number of big challenges facing the industry to which we must rise: Digitisation; integration; new remuneration structures; significant new international competition; lack of training; talent shortage and payroll inflation. We have lots to do.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) continues to be one of your biggest clients. How much of your billings turnover would be attributed to this FMCG company? Also, which are the big accounts you have bagged in the recent past?

While HUL remains a core client, I am not at liberty to reveal the proportion it makes up of our revenue.

Our pitch wins in the last few months include ET Now, BBC World News, Kwality Walls Ice Cream, Hindustan Times business, Future Ideas Company – Prepaid Cards & Godrej Sara Lee’s Hit, amongst others.

What is the USP of your agency today with Balki still holding fort as the National Creative Director?

Balki is a USP but then I would believe that so is every other person in this agency!

Other areas are the breadth of our marketing service offering, our unique channel planning approach and the right balance between our strategic business smarts and exception.

Related Stories:
Lintas India to tap into sports marketing
Lowe CEO calls for high standards in creatives
Management rejig at Lowe India

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