Creativity calling

London's Reel magazine recently lauded a creative agency from India for having delivered promising work, full of creativity and verve. No, it didn't talk about any reputed agency, nor did it mention any well-known ad professional from India.

Instead, to everyone's surprise, it was a small agency from Mumbai that walked away with the laurels and praises showered on it by the magazine.

Called Six Inches, the agency has done advertisements for international companies like Technology Associates and Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf ATM. Based on some of their work, Reel ranked it as one of the most promising creative shops from India.

Back home in Mumbai, Pravin Shah, CEO, Six Inches, is visibly excited. "Size doesn't matter," he says, explaining, "it really doesn't matter whether our agency is big or small." "At the end of the day," he says, "a mediocre idea can't sell. You need to think big."

Shah's tribe is thankfully increasing what with a clutch of promising agencies emerging in the so-called mad world of advertising. Take Bangalore-based Fish Eye Creative Solutions, a company started by Suresh Mainan in 2003.

Mainan, a creative director with agencies like Contract, Enterprise Nexus and Rediffusion DY&R, felt the need to explore more possibilities and expand his creativity.

But wasn't it a risk to leave reputed brand names and start afresh? He says, "The mindset of clients," he stresses, "is changing and invariably it's good work rather than a good brand name that really counts."

But what makes these small agencies click with the bigger clients? Gaurav Chaudhary, former brand manager, United Breweries says, "With smaller agencies, the level of involvement is very high and from the top boss to the account executives, everybody gives their best shot."

According to him, "Newer agencies pay attention to clients, unlike big agencies that usually have their hands full with other accounts."

Fish Eye produced an ad for Shooterz, a product of United Breweries and, according to Chaudhary, "the experience was excellent". Besides United Breweries, Fish Eye has produced print advertisements for companies like Wipro and WorldSpace radio.

Though most ad professionals want to spearhead their own creative movement of sorts, the going, they admit, is never easy. Monetarily speaking, the investment may range anywhere between Rs 10-30 lakh. Says Shah, "It really depends on the scale of the agency that one is setting up and the number of people one wants to hire."

Moreover, he says, "It also depends on the kind of accounts that the new agency wishes to work on."

However, a majority agree that once the new agencies are able to attract the right kind of clients, the going doesn't seem too tough what with the moolah that also pours in.

"It's tough to give an exact figure of our earnings" says Mainan. A case in point: "We only worked on Shooterz for United Breweries, but that doesn't mean all of United Breweries products are done by us."

"We're not competing with anyone," says Sharad Haksar, CEO, 1pointsize, a Chennai-based agency. Like Six Inches, this agency too was mentioned in Reel magazine.

Haksar, a photographer by profession, had worked with several reputed ad agencies and decided to open his own shop three years back. He feels there's a valid reason why most ex-creative directors of reputed agencies start their own agencies.

"A majority of small agencies," he says, "are started due to the lack of creative opportunities in the bigger agencies." He adds, "Creative abilities can sometimes be curbed in reputed agencies."

Shah, on the other hand feels, sometimes it's the bigger agencies that can spell good times for the newer agencies. "Most big agencies have a mixed bag of clients and invariably diversify into other areas such as media buying, event management and public relations. This," he says, "gives small agencies an opportunity to showcase their creative talents."

He points out, "Clients go to big agencies for consumer research, media planning, creative and lots of other services "" 360 degree solutions "" that frankly no agency can provide."

So while most of the big agencies make lots of promises to their clients, "smaller agencies", he points out, "with their single-minded focus on ideas and innovation manage to attract important clients".

However, Haksar differs on this view slightly. He says, "When a small creative agency wins awards and gets attention in the advertising fraternity, it can become a threat to bigger and more reputed agencies."

Though no one wants to go on record, a majority of the newer players admit that reputed ad agencies make counter offers and dissuade smaller agencies from emerging successfully on their own.

Sometimes, it's an intelligent survival strategy. A case in point: Dhar & Hoon, a creative agency that started its operations in 1994, merged with M&C Saatchi in September 2005.

Though merging sounds financially lucrative for agencies, most admit it's the creative vision that gives them the courage to start their own set-up. "One should be able to cope with pressures," says Haksar.

They might have faced initial hiccups, but individuals like Shah, Haksar and Mainan are in sync with a dream they've achieved. Or, should we say, a creative dream they've fulfilled.

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THE PEOPLE

Sharad Haksar started out as a photographer and worked for agencies like O&M, Mudra and JWT.

Suresh Mainan worked as a creative director for agencies like O&M, Rediffusion DY&R and Contract

Pravin Shah: Didn't work with any agency but knew a lot of creative directors at a personal level. "My interaction with creative heads", he says, "helped me start Six Inches"

THE WORK

1pointsize was started in 2002 by Sharad Haksar. Based in Chennai, the agency has worked on accounts like apparel brand Stori, Derby and Kerala Jewellers

Six Inches set up shop in 2003 and is headed by Pravin Shah. It's based out of Mumbai and has handled accounts like Technology Associates, jewellery brand Aastha and Nixdorf- Wincor

Fish Eye Creative Solutions was set up in 2002 by Suresh Mainan. Based in Bangalore, the agency has handled accounts like United Breweries' Shooterz and SF jeans