Consultancy: The lucrative second act for veteran ad pros

With more and more veteran admen entering the consulting space, finding a niche has become challenging. The question then is, what makes this space lucrative?

Ambi Parameswaran, independent strategist and brand consultant, is quick to clarify that admen not just in their 60s, but 40s, and those who could not find a job in another agency despite experience also enter into the consultancy space.

There has been a spate of new consulting firms set up by admen who have previously held leadership positions. For example, Naveen Gaur, former group chief operating officer - growth at MullenLowe Lintas Group, recently launched Fairway Consulting India, and Rohit Ohri, former FCB global partner, rolled out a culture consultancy company OHRIginal in May.

Other examples are Meenakshi Menon and Ashish Bhasin, who headed Carat India before establishing pitch consultancy company firm Spatial Access in 2003; and led Dentsu International as chairman and CEO, South Asia, before cementing the foundation of The Bhasin Consulting Group in 2023 respectively.

Parameswaran, Subhash Kamath, and Suman Srivastava too are other examples of leaders who had a good run in advertising with stints in prominent agencies such as Lintas (Now MullenLowe Lintas Group), FCB Ulka, Rediffusion DY&R, Grey, Ogilvy & Mather (Now Ogilvy), Publicis Worldwide and BBH India. They entered into the consultancy space in 2016, 2022 and 2017 respectively.

Joseph George, too held stints at Leo Burnett (now Leo) and MullenLowe Lintas Group before he established brand and communications consultancy Tilt Brand Solutions which functions as an advertising agency, especially as ‘Agency-On-Record’ for clients like Enamor, Britannia Industries and so on.

Swati Ravi Nain, who worked as a copy supervisor at DDB Mudra Group between 2012-2014 is another example; and now works as an independent creative consultant, providing copywriting, content, and brand strategy services.

Gaur explains that with heightened discussions around the disruption in the industry, which in turn comes with opportunities, ‘consulting’ offers the freedom to work directly with clients, crafting tailored solutions that drive impact.

“With evolving consumer trends, seasoned leaders look towards leveraging their expertise in more agile, independent roles. Clients now crave strategic, creative guidance over traditional campaigns, and consultancies allow professionals to meet that demand with flexibility and focus,” he said.

Ohri, after a nearly three-decade run in advertising, has come to believe, ‘Culture is the true competitive advantage.’ He also busted the assumptions of people regarding advertising and culture consulting being worlds apart.

Ohri said, “When you’ve spent your life uncovering insight, building narrative, aligning teams and managing creative ecosystems, you’re already halfway there. The difference is: this work is slower and more systemic. You’re not creating campaigns — you’re building coherence.”

He added, "Culture is not just a set of values on the wall, but a living, breathing system of choices. A pattern of behaviour. A set of signals, loud and silent, that define how an organisation truly works."

Menon was deeply concerned about the way the agency business was functioning, especially in the early 2000's. She was shocked by the tendency among some agencies to buy space in bulk and sell in retail making huge margins of 25 percent and more.

“Clients were getting tied down to global alignments and hence could not move even if they knew the agency was taking them for a ride. Local clients were also in the same boat,” she recollected.

Menon supported this with an example. A very famous brand was charged Rs 2,400 for each ad spot that went out to a TV station. The same agency was charging another client of theirs Rs 400 which was the standard charge. “My focus was to help the client understand where and why they were spending their media and marketing monies, help them trim wastage and increase impact,” she stated.

After 17 years of building Spatial Access to a roster of 150 active clients and a team of 50+ people, it was acquired by Deloitte in 2020.

Gaur, who had more than a three-decade run in advertising, wanted to take his passion for creating growth and brand-building to the next level. “Launching Fairway Consulting will make me work closely with clients, offering bold, customised strategies that cut through the noise and also give more new age measurable solutions,” he added.

Kamath had held a senior leadership role for 24 years in an agency, 17 of them as CEO. When he left his corporate role in 2023, he started thinking about “What Next?”. That is when Kamath realised that ‘Mentoring brands & mentoring people’ was something he was passionate about.

He further credits his ad agency experience with helping him understand brands, different clients and their motivations, which came handy while dealing with founders and entrepreneurs.

Kamath’s challenge as a consultant was the constant reminder that he was to help and guide, and not drive the brand himself. He said, “That takes a bit of ‘unlearning’ when one has been in the driving seat for so long.”

Culture consulting is also challenging, according to Ohri, as many organisations still prefer shortcuts. A slogan. A poster. A one-day offsite. “Culture work resists shortcuts. It demands that leaders reflect, not just direct,” he added.

Key clients?

Kamath works with a few young agencies, a couple of FMCG clients, a client in renewable energy and some others. “As far as training workshops go, I conduct training modules for a whole variety of people, both on the client and the agency side,” he added.

During Menon’s stint at Spatial Access, the best testimonial that was received was from Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, who said that their said approach helped him save money and focus on building his brand at a significantly lower outlay.

“Investing money behind a brand makes sense. Spending it behind a customer is a waste. That was our approach and that helped a lot of clients get more bang for their buck,” she added.

brandbuilding.com is the consultancy unit of Parameswaran, where he is the sole employee. The clients handled in the past have been PepsiCo, Wipro Consumer, Sun Pharma and Abbott, among others.

Ohri’s clients include a global ed-tech brand, a fintech startup post-acquisition, merging two divergent cultures, a legacy manufacturing business, and early-stage startups.

As per Gaur, Fairway Consulting aims to partner with ambitious brands across diverse sectors, from startups seeking to carve their niche to established companies navigating digital and market disruption.

Ohri’s next steps is to expand the CulturePrint model into real-time culture dashboards, launch a podcast on leadership culture and original thinking, partner with architects, HR and internal comms to make culture visible in space, systems, and symbols.

“And creating a one-day immersive workshop for leadership teams using theatrical storytelling to surface the misalignments between what organisations say and what they actually signal through everyday behaviours,” he added.

Gaur believes that his deep understanding of consumer behaviour and market nuances will fuel Fairway Consulting’s growth by delivering tailored, authentic solutions which will resonate with clients and their audiences, and drive success in the consultancy space.

Ohri, wants to build a culture movement - one that challenges leaders to move beyond values on the wall and into values in action.

Read More: Who are advertising 'pitch consultants' and what do they actually bring to the pitch table?