For of Rediffusion, the focus is on the future
Aggression has been the key characteristic of Rediffusion in recent times. As you take on the role of Joint President at the agency, give us a sense of your priorities and primary objectives at this point.
I will echo Dr Goyal’s vision for the agency – ‘Create advertising that becomes famous, effective, part of the language, the culture and the conversations of the people’. That is what Rediffusion has done for the past 49 years, and that is what will be our endeavour, going forward. We have had these two posters up at the agency for well over 25 years:
1. You lose 100% of the shots you don’t take
2. You never win silver; you lose gold. For a period of time, we didn’t pay heed to those posters. Now, we not only look at those posters every day, we heed the messages too.
How will responsibilities be split between you and Navonil Chatterjee, the other Joint President at Rediffusion?
There’s a renewed vigour in the agency today as we set out to be an agency focused on the future. Navonil and I have worked together now at Rediffusion for many years, and vibe well together. I am happy to partner with Navonil in this incredible journey forward. I have always admired Navonil's strategic thinking and passion for new ideas. Under his leadership, Rediffusion’s strategic product is the finest by far. We are getting a tremendous response from the industry on reports from Red Lab, our Consumer Insights team. My role is to build upon the thinking provided by Navonil and his team. Take the ideas and make great advertising out of them. My job: create advertising that delights clients; build their brands, grows their business.
Tell us about some exciting upcoming work from Rediffusion Studios that you will head and your overall plans for it.
Viewers are streaming more and tuning less than ever before. As a result, Rediffusion Studios is working on some exciting, immersive content and buzzy originals. Through our team and partners, we are working on how real-time technology, sight, sound, and motion can disrupt the way things have always been done in advertising and communication. We have to think beyond traditional ad films. As part of the Studios we have also started a design studio, not just for 2-D design but also UI/UX and consumer experience. Good stuff is already rolling out.
What would be your take on key new business wins and organic growth at the agency over the last year?
We have won over 15 pitches in the last 10 months! We are on a high with appreciation from the clients for our thinking and creative work on these pitches. Some of our new clients are Jio Institute, 63 Moons, Nippon India Mutual Funds, Glucon D, Vicco, SBI Foundation, Apar Industries, Shyam Steel treatment chemicals, IHCL/Taj Hotels, INBL, JJ Valaya. At least 7-8 more clients are in the contract signing stage. So, there is lots happening all the time. On existing clients too, there has been loads of action
KALYANI SRIVASTAVA, Joint President, Rediffusion was recently elevated to the post after a long innings at the agency, including the last two years as Executive Vice President. Here, she talks of the resurgence of growth at Rediffusion, her enhanced responsibilities at the agency’s Mumbai office, mandate to lead Rediffusion Studios and working alongside Navonil Chatterjee, also Joint President, in the agency’s dual president structure, to produce cutting edge work for clients
with some very exciting new work on Parle, Tata Motors, Eveready, Shyam Steel, SenCo, Brookfield, L&T Realty and more.
How is the revived Everest coming along? What are the challenges you see there in the future?
Very excited and happy with the progress made by Everest in the domains of Metaverse, NFTs, Blockchain, AI, AR and Machine Learning, and more. Also, voice. Everest 2.0 will be a ‘digital first, mobile first agency’. A very senior agency professional has been hired to head up Everest. Business is pouring in. This is also the ‘75 years of Everest’ celebration. The ‘new’ Everest will be as successful and as famous as its earlier avatar.
What is your sense of the advertising market now, with the Indian economy just about recovering from the pandemic? What has been the nature of your conversations with the agency’s clients?
Most clients are gung-ho and are already seeing an uptick in business. Also, clients are looking at diversifications and growth aggressively. The biggest ask by clients is digital connect (and conversion) with consumers. This is not easy, as
We are working on how real-time technology, sight, sound, and motion can disrupt the way things have always been done in advertising and communication. We have to think beyond traditional ad films.” KALYANI SRIVASTAVA
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legacy organizations have a lot of organizational challenges. But our hope is that this is only a passing phase. The change will happen, and happen very soon. At the agency end, we too are gearing up to the new expectations. We have added on nearly 10 new creative directors in the past months. Another half a dozen senior recruitments are in the pipeline. The future looks promising.
Tell us any anecdotes or stories that best describe the business strategy and work culture at Rediffusion under Dr Sandeep Goyal. What are the significant changes?
Dr Goyal is a 24/7 think-doer, with unparalleled energy. And he leads from the front. Even today, he writes his own presentations and stands up to present. We are all trying to emulate his example – and it is working. Recently, a client who had worked with Dr Goyal 20 years ago came to meet him at the office. The ‘chat’ lasted three hours. She walked out, leaving us richer by three brands – each extremely well-known, and a market leader by far! Work is already getting released. What can be more gratifying? Dr Goyal has huge personal and professional outreach and that is helping us reach clients who seemed distant and too far to touch. It gives us all tremendous confidence. More than anything else, Dr Goyal has given us back pride in the Rediffusion brand name.