"It is great working with people who talk about doing something in the future and like to do it the next morning, as opposed to discussing it, and writing memos about it and pondering over it. It is a simple thing to do and it's a refreshing experience that makes you do a lot of work and ensures that you have great fun all the time, which is the idea of being in the media industry. If it is boring, you may as well be in another industry."
Mainardo de Nardis created a wave in the global media world when he moved on from WPP to join Aegis Media in August 2006, as CEO for Aegis Media Global, a position newly created at the time of his appointment. Born in Turin and educated in Italy, Switzerland and the UK, de Nardis started his career in marketing services in 1980 at McCann-Erickson, and then for five years at Young & Rubicam in Italy.
After co-founding the third-wave advertising agency Alberto Cremona in Milan, de Nardis moved from advertising to media communications and became Vice-Chairman and Partner of Medianetwork, soon to become the largest independent media specialist in Italy. In the late 1980s, he developed Medianetwork International, a European association of independent media agencies. After moving to London in 1993, he led the negotiations between Medianetwork and CIA, resulting in the merger of the two companies and the launch of CIA Medianetwork across Europe. He later stepped up to take on the role of Worldwide CEO as all CIA regions aligned to form CIA Worldwide.
During this time, de Nardis also co-published with Marco Benatti -- now Country Manager for WPP in Italy -- 'The European Media Map', one of the first books to deal with the development of the European and global media scene. Following the WPP acquisition of Tempus and the merger of CIA with The Media Edge in January 2002, de Nardis was appointed as Global CEO of Mediaedge:cia, the first global communications planning and implementation agency.
In this interview with exchange4media's Noor Fathima Warsia, de Nardis speaks about the evolution of the media domain, and what he sees as the way forward for players related directly or indirectly to this sector. Excerpts:
Q. Media was seen as a back office function for a long time. What attracted you to this medium?
I actually started on the other side. I was in the client servicing function initially, when I was started with McCann and then Rubicam, and then I was a shareholder in a small media company. I have to say that my background in media was not much. With a marketing background and experience in client servicing, I was more of a generalist. Then one day I decided that I have had enough of advertising and marketing. This was around 1986, and I wanted to give it a go at media, which is when I joined a small agency in Italy -- it all started from there for me. The agency became the largest agency in Italy and then we merged it with CIA in London. Then in 1993, I moved to London and we created a global network there -- one thing led to another, and now I am here.
Q. Hasn’t it also made it a lot tougher?
It sure has. Life may have been easier when there was one newspaper, one TV and radio station, and some billboards here and there -- very simple. Today, however, life is interesting, fantastic and engaging, even if it means working a lot more and being a lot smarter. There are communities to talk to, materials to be distributed, get the consumer to play with the brand -- there are so many more things you can do. Our Brazil office recently did an innovation for Fiat, where you could choose an ending for the Fiat film that would play in the theatre before a movie, and you can SMS your choice. Then the ending would be what the majority voted. This is making cinema interactive -- whoever thought cinema could be interactive, it has been the most passive medium. Now isn't that fun to do...
Q. ...sure is. There is a huge media debate on how there should be more collaboration between media and creative. What is your view on that?
I think we are at a time of change. I just gave you the Fiat example, where we used cinema in an interactive way for them -- where would you qualify that? Digital, cinema, interactive, new media -- what is it? Today media agencies do content and creative, and creative agencies do strategic media. And media owners own agencies -- what is Microsoft? Where would be categorise it? WPP owns some media. The boundaries have collapsed. Unlike seven to eight years ago, when the creative sat on a particular chair, the media on another and the media owner on yet another, when there was a discussion, today you can change your place on the table and wear any hat.
In such a background, I don't think we would ever go back to full service -- that model was dominated by creative and that is why it was rejected. I think media agencies will go their way, and creative agencies will create agencies of the future their way, and over the years, we would see what is working for which client, which geography, and may be have models that are different from market to market. More importantly, I can say for Aegis Media; and at least we are not a media agency, we are a communications agency -- we are in the ideas business -- we do creative, we do content and the whole gambit that will take our clients brand closer to the consumer.
Q. What are your plans for India?
We are very ambitious. We are not where we want to be in India. We want to be far bigger and better, and in fact I would say that about every market we are in, because we are never satisfied. But India is one of the largest and most important markets for us. So there is a lot that we are planning for India. This whole communication revolution that we are seeing worldwide today is very big in India, especially in the mobile medium. This opportunity to communicate will change life in India further and being the best in digital, we want to be there for these changes and deliver the best to our clients.
Q. Anything immediate on the agenda for India?
I don't think I would be revealing any big secret on that -- digital is the most important area for us for India; we want it to be the centre of all our work. Another focus area is consumers, and to know everything about them. The geographical spread is very important too, and we want to do better in media like out-of-home, the complete potential of which have not been tapped as yet.
Q. How has the experience of Aegis been so far?
Great fun! It is more entrepreneurial in nature and there is a lot of work. The work is great but the people are even better -- people who talk about doing something in the future and like to do it the next morning, as opposed to discussing it, and writing memos about it and pondering over it. People discuss an issue and take a decision, which is a very refreshing experience for me, and is really different from other places. At the end of it, Aegis keeps what has to be done simple, and that ensures that people are having great fun all the time, which is the idea. We know that there is a lot to do and the competition is tough, but while we are at it, we should have some fun too. That is the idea of being in the media business -- if it is boring, you may as well be in another industry.
Q. You have seen the media side for almost 20 years. How does it look today, as compared to then?
To begin with, I think people lie when they calculate my work experience to be over 20 years -- it feels too old! Seriously speaking though, it has been 20 years and I can tell you that media as a function has changed so much that I feel I have gone back to the origin, of being at full service. Today, it is all about big ideas, communication ideas, creativity, a focus on consumers and consumer insights -- there is strategy involved in every function. The circle has completed in the last few years, and today I am in the same job that I was in when I started with many more opportunities, and that makes everything fantastic.
Q. What is the big change that you see in the domain?
The big change has to be digital. Technology and the emerging digital media has changed the way we can interact with consumers; we look at consumers and can converse with them. It has given us infinite new opportunities today. The digital age is teaching us so much more about consumers. Through media, we know the attitude of the consumer; but through digital, we know the behaviour of the consumer. We know what they see in a product, what they want, what they buy and how they use, and we have information on individuals and groups. The digital medium has changed our world.