 "Colvyn Harris")
It is 1.30 p m on a busy Wednesday. Five months after I had first suggested a lunch in Delhi with Colvyn Harris, chief executive officer, JWT South Asia, I am seated at Thai Pavilion, the first-floor restaurant at Vivanta by Taj, located on a particularly faceless stretch of Gurgaon. His media relations coordinator calls to inform me that Harris has arrived at the hotel and would join me in 10 minutes.
I look around to get a feel of the place, I examine the cutlery and re-read the menu... and then it strikes me. I am told Harris is a fitness freak; what if he chooses celery sticks and a low-cal soup and makes a quick escape? The menu looks gorgeous and expecting me to eat frugally too would be quite a let-down after a five-month chase.
Just as I'm getting antsy, Harris shuffles into view as if he is uncertain of his surroundings. His welcome is warm if a bit hesitant. I know what he is thinking: will the BS journalist start off with probing questions on the scam advertisement fiasco that hit JWT around this time last year? The issue still rankles and, since then, many heads have rolled at JWT, the biggest advertising agency in India by a long chalk. The client at the centre of the storm was one of JWT's most coveted - Ford India, which has stayed with its agency despite the bad press the incident generated.
I have better sense.
As we sit down, I ask why it is so difficult to meet Mr Colvyn Harris, who his peers and subordinates describe as the most affable advertising agency boss. "Oh, I travel a lot," Harris waves his hand. "In the last three weeks I have been in the US twice," he adds. "More importantly, I have an agency to run."
And that is not the easiest of jobs these days, with clients tightening budgets and the internet rapidly changing the rules of the game in his industry. I suggest we place the order. As starters we order Som Tam, a Thai papaya salad, Pla Kapong Neung Manao (read steamed fish in lime sauce) and Kai Bai Toey (deep-fried chicken wrapped in pandan leaves).
"So how difficult is it really?" I return to the train of thought. "Every day is a treadmill," he says. "But the fun part is we get to do fun things all the time - learn new tricks, build new brands, meet Shah Rukh Khan and Kapil Dev, go to exotic locations to shoot ad films..."
"Having said that, the kind of changes our business has undergone in the last five years is like what we would have seen in the previous 50. The biggest change is that we are addressing a completely new consumer these days."
And why is she new or different? Because she is more knowledgeable and more demanding and completely disengaged. "This whole debate around consumer engagement is a load of bunkum," I say. "Okay tell me what's the front-page ad in today's Business Standard?" he asks. Ummmm, I rack my brain. "Thank you. You must be watching a lot of news TV. So tell me about two ads you saw last night." "Well, aaa... listen, when I watch news I really concentrate on the news," I say diffidently. "See, that's the problem," he jabs a finger to emphasise his argument. "The traditional ways of communicating to people involves way too much wastage. That's the reason you hear all the talk about 'engagement' these days. You have to find ways to get into people's conversations, be part of that conversation. You simply can't interrupt people."
I interrupt him nonetheless to decide on the main course. A very patient waiter who is helping us choose suggests Gaeng Ped Kai (Thai red curry of chicken with coconut cream, bamboo shoots and herbs), Kung Pao chicken and Gaeng Kiew Warn Koong (green curry with prawns). Harris rolls his eyes; we acquiesce without a murmur of protest.
I can see why he is so agitated. An industry veteran, Harris has really seen the ups and downs of Indian advertising during his three-decade-plus stint in the industry. There have been many slowdowns before, but the current one is simply showing no signs of letting up. Also, JWT has had a fairly tumultuous three years in a row (2011, 2012 and 2013) - it has lost creative leaders and has seen bits and pieces of business move to smaller shops. Worst, managing partner Rohit Ohri moved to Japanese communication house Dentsu India Group after two decades in the JWT system.
Interestingly, in an industry in which job-hopping is the norm, Harris has been a JWT lifer. He has worked on most of the prestigious fast-moving consumer goods, durables, financial services, telecom and services brands on the agency's roster. He has also been president of Contract Advertising, a JWT group company, which is an independent and parallel network, and managing director of JWT Sri Lanka.
Under the leadership of this "smooth, charming and unflappable personality" - as the head of another ad agency once described Harris to me - JWT India made history in 2009 winning two Grand Prix awards, both a first for India. These were the Cannes Grand Prix for the Lead India campaign, which also won India's first Titanium Lion in the Integrated category, and the Jay Chiat Grand Prix for DTC's Diamond Bride, India's first Design Gold, Promo Gold, Film Gold, Film Craft Gold.
Not that he had it all very easy. About a decade ago, when Harris took over the JWT India baton from the company's then honcho Mike Khanna, very few gave the unassuming 40-something a fighting chance. His detractors said he was put on the hot seat because, like his predecessors Subhash Ghosal and Khanna, Harris had always been with WPP (which owns JWT) - he joined the then Hindustan Thompson Associates as a management trainee in the late seventies, working his way up the ladder one rung at a time.
Harris has obviously lived up to the expectation placed on him - he became chief executive of South Asia in 2012, responsible not just for India, but also for Sri Lanka and Nepal. At that time he was also in charge of JWT's second agency Contract, Hungama Digital Services (a full service digital agency, which is now headed by Mohit Hira), JWT Mindset (an outfit formed with the acquisition of Hyderabad-based Mindset Advertising in 2011) and brand activation, events and content creation agency Encompass.
That's quite a lot on his plate, to say the least. As I see him polishing off his food, I quickly ask the question I have been itching to ask. "What purpose do advertising awards serve?" "Believe me, the client's success is the only award," Harris says sincerely. "Clients and their brands do well in the market for a variety of reasons. If a bit of that success is ascribed to the work done by the agency then that should be your best reward, I tell the young people who join the agency."
Time to drop a bombshell: "If that is what you believe in, how could the scam ads get past you?" "It was really unfortunate. How they went through the system that's the question we had to probe and you know we have taken steps to see such things don't happen." The answer was short, but at least he didn't evade the question as I had anticipated.
It has been a leisurely two hours and his media coordinator reminds him that he has another meeting. The rather long bill arrives. "You really got to allow me to pay," he insists. But before he could say any more, another diner a few tables away descends on him. "Mr Colvyn Harris? In Delhi? Having lunch outside of office on a work day? With a lady?" he goes on and on.
Now, it is my turn to look for a quick escape.
