A lot has happened at Dentsu in India in the last few years. With the appointment of Harsha Razdan as CEO of South Asia earlier this year, a semblance of stability kicked in. In a series of recent interviews, Razdan spoke about his conversations with clients and the focus areas for the agency. In this conversation with Medianews4u.com, he underlines the need to adapt with agility, aligned with client needs. Edited excerpts:
You joined Dentsu earlier in 2023, when the agency was going through a lot of change. You have spent time listening to clients. What are you hearing?
I met around 75 to 80-odd CEOs. The first thing I have heard is that we have to listen to our clients more carefully. It doesn’t mean that we haven’t been listening to them in the past. We should try and solve the problems that clients have rather than trying to sell the solution you have to clients. Rather than saying that we have X number of solutions to offer you, try and understand the bigger business aspects and where as an agency we fit in. Try and make the bigger picture come true in terms of what the client story is – that’s the overall resonating message across all clients.
What are the challenges you have tackled so far? What are some of the challenges that still remain and how are you approaching it?
The biggest one to start with was bringing stability internally and externally, from a leadership perspective. Internally because the people should know that there is someone you can go and talk to pertaining to work; externally because you need a face to the company. This is totally on track.
The second thing was understanding the talent pool we have, as we move to the next phase and aim for the priorities we set. Understanding what they want to do; people can move around within the organisation and take up different roles of their interest, that makes them happier. We need to enable that and if we don’t, then that individual might quit at a later point.
The third one is getting the focus back on clients. We have spent a lot of time around internal issues in the past; what I would say is the client comes first – attention should go towards them and we need to be more market and revenue focused. Those are the biggest things for me moving forward.
In 2024, we are going to shift into the growth gear. We are focusing on stability and making the situation under control. So, 2024 is all about growth and the three things I focus on are: Client, Client, and Client.
Another thing is to collaborate everything into one P&L structure. With the new Dentsu operating model, which Japan is talking to us about, it doesn’t matter where you sit in Dentu; it doesn’t matter as long as we can offer solutions or services to clients. It is not about individual brand P&Ls. If the client is served, you as a leader have done the job. The job of the brands would be to build capability and expertise. Whenever the client asks something, then we should have that something to offer them.
Another thing I would say is, ‘Thinking big’. It becomes difficult sometimes, when the industry is going through a lot of difficulty, but I have been telling people that it’s high time to catapult and move faster. For that if you have to fail it’s fine; it’s okay to fall as long as you are moving forward. People who stretch and do not achieve are the heroes, not people who have a safe target and achieve it. It’s okay to fail as long as you try really hard.
Do you believe the talent leadership is in place to be the ‘client-obsessed marketing tech consultancy’ you see Dentsu as? What are the gaps that need filling?
The basic gap I would say is that we decided to be a company which has 50 pc of the business coming from the CX side. The big thing in talent is around CX; the big domain for us remains data and commerce. For that, we will have to look at new talent coming in and also look at grooming some of the internal talent or upskilling some of them. That could be the balance going forward.
In a nutshell, the positioning in our mind is around a company at the intersection of marketing and technology. We have always been consultants, we have always been selling ideas. In short, marketing and tech are the two domains we will deep dive into. While we power the current media and creative, we will rapidly scale CX, data, and commerce.
Do you believe the new consultancy positioning makes Dentsu less attractive for advertising talent?
No, not at all. We are here if a client wants to advertise or wants creative talent. We are not going to dissolve any of the brands. Whether it’s Dentsu Creative, Carat, or any of them, they are the reason we exist. Even in the new model which we are talking about globally – the one Dentsu operating model – the brands are the energy, they house all the talent. They are the reason why we are called by our clients. But the fact is that that cannot be the only reason why we are called by clients. Engagement and discussion with clients need to be a little broader rather than just on specific brands.
Creative, Media, CX: Which have seen the most gains and most change? What are the changes within and how has it impacted clients?
It’s been only five months since I came into the system. We have the plan in place. We have to embark on the journey and we are already on track to rapidly scale. From a creative and media stand point, I think stability has been seen. One question that has come to me also is about the few clients we lost before I came in. At the same time, we have won many. For me the core remains the core, but it needs to become more efficient, needs to move faster than in the past. But if you want to balance your portfolio and make it a true marketing and tech company, there is no way you can do it without the CX domain.
Like you said, you have lost accounts like Maruti Suzuki, won accounts like Berger Paints, Aditya Birla Capital, Carlsberg, Torque Pharma. What is the new business scorecard looking like between April and now?
I think there is pretty much nothing to worry about. I don’t think we have lost too much. At the same time, it depends on which part of business you are looking at. We are relatively stable, we are where we were. The big gains that are expected to come would be in the new domain of CX. Going forward we hope to onboard more clients on the creative and media side. We will win very rapidly in the CX domain. Everyone who operates in marketing and tech is my competitor. We are not saying that CX or creative or media is more important. We are a balanced portfolio company. We want to be number one and number two in every category we work in.
To be in the top two or three, in the five or six domains you are in, is the stated target in three years. Which are these domains?
Apart from creative and media, areas around data, cloud, sales enablement, CRM – these are the domains we will go after very aggressively.
Is it an optimistic target, especially in areas like media planning and buying? And given the competition on multiple fronts – established networks, consultancies and a new wave of independents?
I don’t think so. To be in the top two or three is not very difficult – I would say we are already there when it comes to the creative side. In digital we are certainly there. In the media, as I see it, it is a revolving game. The clients come up with pitches regularly. Sometimes it’s one of those tough journeys where we lose one or two of them. I see a lot of pitches coming next year, I think it is not at all over-optimistic. It’s about how much we can stretch in the current domain and how much we can establish our presence in the new domain. A balanced portfolio helps in gaining much stable revenue.
Dentsu India scaled on the back of some high profile acquisitions in the past. Do you see acquisitions as a potential way forward for growth? If yes, in which spaces?
You are right, we scaled on the basis of acquisitions. We also then went into a three service line-structure of creative, media, and CX because clients came back to us and said that they are getting confused with too many brands.
Going forward, we will continue to scale and build organically. We have got amazing talent. Secondly, yes, we will have calculated acquisitions, not a rapid acquisitions strategy. The calculated acquisitions can be in any domain, but it won’t be duplication – it will be more complementary. In the CX domain, there will be acquisitions – there is no doubt about it . There is enough to be done. There will be fast track acquisitions in CX, but we are on the lookout for companies in media and creative also. But clearly, there is no intention to duplicate.
Categories like Dentsu Gaming and Dentsu Health. How are they performing in India and what is the potential?
There is huge potential. At least for the last few years we haven’t done justice to those domains. The good news is that our Global CEO & President Hiroshi Igarashi was in India last month. We have full faith and confidence from the Japanese standpoint. Igarashi has gone back very reassured about the India business and future of the country as the economy is on the growth path and what India can leverage in the global stage.
He has also discussed the propositions that can be taken from India to the global scenario. These two domains are going to be big with the help of our Japanese colleagues.
What is the share of globally aligned Dentsu clients in the fold today? What do you see as the split between globally aligned clients and others in the future?
We plan to double down on Indian clients because that’s something which makes an impact in India. We are going to deep dive into around 75-odd clients, some of them being MNCs.
We split clients into three parts – domestic, MNC clients (non-Japanese) and Japanese clients. We enjoy considerable rapport with the Japanese clients. We will continue to have three different strategies for all three of them.
You have spoken of practices like NPS. How will you judge the creative output?
NPS is more about knowing how you are perceived by clients and internal stakeholders. When I talk to a lot of people internally, everyone seems to put in a lot of effort and the most common thing was most of them claiming about the efforts they have put in. For us, it was not about how much time an individual or that department has put in, but what perception they have left in clients and internal teams’ minds. For internal perception, we will have NPS scores done once a quarter, people can give a number anonymously, they can reply with a phrase or a word around the function. We are attempting to improve our scores based on the feedback that comes from the clients also. It’s not a way to gauge creative output. Instead, it is a way to gauge client perspective and impact.
What emphasis will you assign to creative awards, which catapulted Dentsu India to the top of the global stage recently?
It is of huge importance for us, very clearly. I saw an article recently where eight out of the 10 top CCOs were ex-Dentsu. We are very proud of that fact. Awards are extremely important. It helps in building an image and also helps in stretching ourselves to do better. I have been telling our people, it’s about running a business. If you can have a mix of winning awards and running the business, then it’s perfect.
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(Amended at 17.50 hrs on November 8, 2023 to reflect Razdan’s time of joining accurately.)
