Media buying agency Carat is restructuring itself as a communications specialist. How does a man pulling a bus with his teeth help your brand? (You're not selling toothpaste.) Or a bunch of thrill seekers racing up the side of a tall building? (It's not your building.) adidas found these stunts lifted brand awareness by more than 20 per cent on average.
When the global sports apparel and footwear manufacturer launched its "impossible is nothing" campaign, it didn't rely on just the usual television spots and radio ads.
Instead, it opted for unusual, eyeball-catching events like the vertical sprint in Hong Kong, as well as online video ads on the home pages of Yahoo, MSN and ESPN. Those ads were streamed over 5 million times and led more than 1 million users to the "impossible" website. They also helped creative agency TBWA and media buying house Carat rake in the awards.
Even until a few years ago, juries would have probably dubbed the adidas campaign "different" "" and handed the award to someone more conventional.
Now, the adidas approach is probably the only way you can reach your consumers. In five years' time, India will have three times its present number of television channels.
At the same time, the intensity of engagement with television is reducing: television is now a companion, not the soulmate of today's youngsters, unlike just five-seven years ago.
Meanwhile, access to the Internet is increasing exponentially, while digital media avenues are exploding: blogs, podcasts, direcTV, online videos....
Clearly, routine TV, print and radio campaigns will no longer be enough and creative agencies are already toeing the new line. They're setting up specialised units to offer extra communication alternatives to their clients.
Now it's the turn of a media buying house. Carat India (2005 billings: Rs 368 crore) is transforming itself into a one-stop shop for all promotion and communication activities "" still barring the creative end, though.
The process started across Carat's European and North American offices some time last year "" helping the agency win the Procter & Gamble account in the US and the Philippines "" but has been formalised only now.
The idea is to "provide a higher level of brand experience", according to Carat Asia Pacific Acting CEO Patrick Stahle, who was in India to announce the shift in positioning.
"Our clients have to be the boat in the front. We have to lead the way, not look back at competitors," he adds.
In a sense, Carat's decision brings it full circle. In advertising's original avatar, the agency was the custodian of the brand and responsible for all activities surrounding it. The unbundling of media and creative functions started with the growth of specialist service providers: direct marketing, public relations, sales promotions, event management and so on.
Carat's decision now to create a single window for all brand communication activities is a somewhat belated attempt to recapture brand custody.
"We want to increase our clients' return on investment (ROI) and also ensure revenue realisation for ourselves. This is an opportunity to move out of the 2.5 per cent bracket most of us are caught in," points out Charles B Jenarius, group CEO, Carat India.
That means finding new ways of communication, and Carat is prepared. The adidas campaign typifies the new Carat approach: aiming for higher consumer engagement through demo/ experience-based activities.
"We want to reduce the wastage created by consumers' ad avoidance [by switching channels during commercial breaks, for instance]. The idea is to move from channel-centric planning to consumer-centric planning," says Jenarius.
Accordingly, the company has created three new divisions that will be responsible for the new bouquet of services on offer.
The consulting practice is Deep Blue, which will bring a brand sensibility to the process. The brand strategy will be formulated based on its understanding of how consumers engage with the brand and others in the category.
The strategy, in turn, will be implemented by Carat Brand Experience. This division will work in three communication spaces; on ground, involving product launches, retail experiences, road shows and exhibitions; digital, which will revolve around the growing category of online advertising, viral marketing, blogs, podcasts and so on; and branded content, which is still in its infancy in India.
Carat is now tying up vendors: Endemol for branded content, Eventos and Showbiz for events and group company Isobar for interactive, digital promotions.
The third division SPI (short for strategy, productivity and insight) will create econometric models to evaluate just how well the new communications strategies are working.
Feedback based on, among other things, footfalls, incremental sales, coupon redemptions, dealer enquiries, call centre volumes and website traffic will be used to assess whether the ROI "" the Holy Grail of the advertising world "" is being maximised.
The flow of information is circular, so these numbers go back to Deep Blue, which tweaks its strategies and recommendations accordingly. Carat's already worked with one client in India using these techniques.
While Jenarius doesn't name the client, he points out that the econometric analysis showed that the Diwali period accounted for 13 per cent of the company's annual sales. Marketing and communication strategies are now being worked out based on that insight, since the festival season is just round the corner.
Before the new business can take off, though, there's an important issue the company needs to address: people. The new work profile will be quite different from plain vanilla media buying and Carat executives say they are aware of the need for training.
The company is rolling out a 3C programme to inculcate curiosity, creativity and collaboration among its employees. That includes training in cross practices, setting up an intranet to share best practices and learnings, and building up a community of category specialists.
Teams will be sent on immersion sessions where they will spend time with target customers to better understand what moves them. Planned excursions to malls and theatres apart, Carat wants its strategy and consulting experts to visit museums, book readings and art galleries to inspire creativity.
As Jenarius points out, "You can't move the market unless you know your customer."
