InspiRAYtion 26: Vive La Independents!

As the large networks continue to fold in on themselves, like large Imperial Starships of the Sith from Star Wars, there is a ray of sunshine, the Jedis, oops, the Independents.

From Raj Kamble’s Famous Innovations, to Ashish Khazanchi’s Enormous, both established Independents in that sense, to newer home grown start ups like Yash’s Atom and Aalap Desai’s TGTHR. It was a joy to cheer and clap for them winning and winning big.

If there was ever a watershed moment in Indian Advertising, this season of award shows proved that creativity matters ever more to Indian clients and they’re not afraid of going to what might be considered “small” shops to get it.

Personally, I believe it’s not the size of their offices, but the largeness of their ideas that the finest clients are resonating with.

The wins represent something bigger than just awards. It’s almost like these agencies collectively got together and said, “hey here’s a radical idea… what if there were agencies that you know… were bothered about creating magnificent Advertising?”

The era of those who cannot create is over. If you’re not actively adding to the product that ships out the agency door, you’re over too.

The author with Youri Guerassimov, CCO and CEO, Marcel, Paris

Clients don’t want tedious processes, endless vacuous strategies that aren’t cohesive on the same deck, or teams that were mediocre before AI amplified their mediocrity. Clients want people who get their problems, and who come back to them with elegant solutions that create outcomes that are valuable.

It’s not the billable hours clients are interested in, we’re not lawyers after all, it’s what we’re creating for the brand that matters. Independent agencies tend to intuitively understand this better than the large networks and place creativity at the centre of everything.

Interestingly, R/GA my favourite independent agency has been acquired by a private equity firm and they’re more sensitive about keeping things the way they are creatively, than a network would have been.

Private equity firms dealing directly with creative leaders will be a new path for the independents to scale and perhaps in time be bought out for vast sums of money. Looking forward to seeing this play out in India.

In the more traditional structures, from Youri Guerassimov who’s both the CCO and CEO of Marcel in Paris, to David Droga who’s responsible now for both creative and business at Accenture Song in NYC, it’s a new era in Ad Land for Independents and the Creative Leaders that run them.

Just one more step towards making the Roaring Twenties roar ever louder. See you next Thursday!

Rayomand J Patell is an advertising veteran and InspiRAYtion is a weekly column on everything about advertising and marketing.

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