Chandradeep Mitra, President, Optimum Media Solutions

Just on the face of it, it is difficult to isolate any one media. But when you look deeper, because of emergence of through the line or integrated marketing communication, the emphasis is shifting from the creative side of the business to the media side. The role of account or strategic planning, which was once an important component of an advertising agency, is now seen in a media agency and not a creative agency. Simply because media agencies have access to the small and big picture of media consumption habit, where the consumer is, and what are the different ways of reaching him. And in the process, even the remuneration or commission is getting closer between the media and creative agencies.

When Chandradeep Mitra parted ways with Lintas Healthcare and Lintas Personal to join Mudra’s media arm, Optimum Media Solutions (OMS), as President in November 2005, media was the only discipline that was missing in his career graph, which has seen him do stints in advertising, direct marketing and interactive amongst other responsibilities. The role in a media agency gives him a first hand 360-degree experience of the industry.

In this conversation with exchange4media’s Noor Fathima Warsia, Mitra speaks about his intentions to translate this experience into a way of life at OMS and the key trends that he sees emerging in the Indian media and advertising industry.

Q. And should we expect different from you in this year?

I promise you that.

Interactive is clearly growing faster than the others and so is PR. The thing about these mediums is that they don’t face problems like, say a segment like direct marketing does. In the case of direct marketing, you are dependant on the quality of databases, which in India is a problem. Then Indian postal doesn’t give you economies of scale like the US. These are areas that have to be corrected before we see other sectors doing well in India.

It’s happening in a few places, but it isn’t as rampant or bad as it is in the creative agencies. Also, you must realise that the client knows the investments of a media agency, which are far higher than that of a creative agency. And they want good work, so many of them don’t argue with media agencies on remuneration the way they would with a creative agency. And now, when there is a shift in relative importance of non-traditional side of business, media agencies have to spend that much more to be in the know of all the new mediums.

I think that the discipline that is in any case deciding on where the advertiser monies have to be allotted and in what proportions, and at the same time, is on the lookout for new kinds of mediums to reach targets, should be given the responsibility to lead communication. And clearly today, media agencies are doing this duty, so why shouldn’t they lead charge?

As the Indian economy prospers, there are various counts where communication needs will arise. One such example is the healthcare industry, which, I believe, is poised to take off in the Indian market in a significant way. And it simply has to do with the fact that people in India are younger, suffering from lifestyle related diseases and will spend money in self medication. Then, healthcare costs are going up significantly – for the same problems that you spent X amount of money yesterday, today it is 2X and it is only going to escalate.

As is the case with just about anything, the advertising will have to grow – both generic and specific advertising – where you will build the brands for both consumers and doctors, so we will definitely see growth here.

It is, but you know the funny thing is that advertising has grown with limited data and that was ok. But how much do people rely on available data? The sample size is small, the measures are disputed many a times, and there are many other problems – so there is research problem in conventional media as well. That doesn’t stop a media from growing. The whole principle of direct is that it has to give you 100 per cent accountability. But there is a response rate in such mediums and if it isn’t up to the mark, then there is a problem. I still see these mediums growing, but I do feel that they would have had grown faster had we had access to research and data.

I’m having a ball! Not many people have done 360 degrees in their career and I think I can claim I’m close to it than many others. For me it has been a dream run and I hope what I have is a broader perspective of the media industry. We keep talking about integration and when all agencies claim that they are moving towards it, I think the only ones doing it today are the clients themselves.

There are no overnight missions that I have embarked on, if that is what you are asking. But yes, there are long term plans that we are working on. One of them, as I said, is the conscious move towards integration. Second is in the broad area of branded entertainment. We are working closely with Mudra Videotec and Tantra to achieve this. The third is the whole area of research and knowledge – the long term objective is to create a proprietary RoI model. All are still premature, but the thinking has begun. For instance, on integration, we are already talking very closely to Tribal DDB and Primesite to have shared planning kits. So, there is certain amount of cross training that is being facilitated.

Not if you have the right skill set and integrity execution. The planning and budget fit can be done by the core team, and then when you have to execute it, it can be passed on to our partners. There is a lot that you can do.

I’m saying that we all believe in integration. At Mudra, we have a great opportunity of making integration practically happen. All of us working to find a way forward. When there is something concrete on how we can take this forward, Mudra as a group will support it.

It would be difficult to generalise, especially because I think trends in India are changing year-on-year. There was a phase when interactive was growing fast and then everyone was writing obits, and now it is growing again! So, there are phases that different businesses go through. That said, there are two or three broad trends that you still see. One of these is the fact that advertisers’ reliance on mass media advertising as a simple one stop solution is increasingly being questioned.

There is greater emphasis on media planning and buying as a way to get better return on investment. Marketers are seeing that while at one level, the growth in media is creating problems of fragmentation, at another level, it gives the opportunity of creating targeted communication and some times even different communication for different people because media allows them to break up the market into manageable pieces and hence, allow better return on investments.

The third trend is seen in the dilution of efficacy of mass media, and this isn’t because of fragmentation but an overdose, there are too many marketing messages going across. In all, the issues of ad avoidance, zapping, intrusions are leading to the emergence of new areas – people are looking at alternatives.

Well, there was a time when advertising was divided in a 12.5 per cent commission for creative and 2.5 per cent for media. The 12.5 per cent is dead and buried and people are even speaking of fixed fees than commissions. But that isn’t the case in the media side of the business.

I think there are two models of integration – agencies have tried one without success and the second is where the client has been the integrator. In the first model, integration happens at the brand idea level, where we think of how an idea can be taken to different mediums considering the filters of that medium. But the creative agency is developing the idea and the filters or nuances of a medium are really known to the media agency.

Just on the face of it, it is difficult to isolate any one media. But when you look deeper, because of emergence of through the line or integrated marketing communication, the emphasis is shifting from the creative side of the business to the media side. The role of account or strategic planning, which was once an important component of an advertising agency, is now seen in a media agency and not a creative agency. Simply because media agencies have access to the small and big picture of media consumption habit, where the consumer is, and what are the different ways of reaching him. And in the process, even the remuneration or commission is getting closer between the media and creative agencies.

Many are saying that it is going to be a 50:50 divide, but in how much time I can’t tell you, and if someone else did, I would still have my doubts because of the pace at which things are moving in India. Did you know six months back that SMS would be what they are today? Predicting more than six months is very dangerous, but even in the six-month period, I see non-traditional media growing.

Well, we have been a silent performer, and since we don’t make noise, the industry does tend to put us in the bottom rung, which isn’t really where we belong. Is this a problem? Yes.