David Bell, Co-Chairman, Interpublic Group

"There will be some modifications along the way, but the business - at the end of the day - is still about ideas. It’s still about attracting and growing business with ideas. There is a great pressure on the individual’s ability to attract business."

David Bell, Co-chairman of The Interpublic Group, is among the world’s largest marketing communications and services companies. Following the True North-Interpublic merger, he served as Vice-Chairman with leadership responsibility for two operating divisions – The Partnership and, later, Advanced Marketing Services. Prior to the merger, Bell was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of True North Communications Inc, the world’s sixth largest global advertising and marketing communications holding company. Before his appointment as CEO of True North, Bell led Bozell Worldwide as President and Chief Executive Officer. During his career at Bozell, the agency grew from $12 million to over $500 million in revenue. He came to Bozell in 1975, when the agency acquired Knox Reeves Advertising, where he had been President since 1972. Prior to that, he was an Executive Vice-President – the agency’s youngest Vice President – and an account executive. Bell began his career at Leo Burnett in its Executive Development Program.

A 1965 graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, Bell was President of the student body and a champion debater too. He went on to become the college’s youngest trustee. Bell received both the Macalester College Distinguished Alumni Award and its Charter Centennial Medallion. exchange4media's Gokul Krishnamurthy spoke to David Bell over the phone during his recent visit to India. Excerpts:

Q. Any segment (from India) that you see poised to make a mark in the international markets?

On the exports front, many of the segments could do well. Some Indian companies like Mahindra have started doing this already and it’s only a matter of time before more companies across segments look at the export market.

I think it depends really on what they have been doing so far in their careers. In any of the creative kinds of businesses, there will be some level of success that they experience coming from related businesses. For example, the measurement and ROI guys coming in from the consulting business. In the end, even with a number of specialist schools, the great practitioners will still come from learning within the business.

Public relations, for one, is fast becoming a global business. There is a better understanding by marketers today of its relevance. They realise that it is critical; that it can be a very powerful tool in a consideration economy.

There will be some modifications along the way, but the business, at the end of the day, is still about ideas. It’s still about attracting and growing business with ideas. There is a great pressure on the individual’s ability to attract business.

Having said that, we are witnessing an inflow of people from other streams. The role of the specialist is also increasing. We have witnessed the addition of a number of measurement experts, analytics professionals and database experts to the system. This will only keep increasing as the business environment expands, but the core of what we do does not change.

That division is its own discipline. At Interpublic, we have the world’s largest firm doing that in Jack Morgan. From the opening and closing of the Athens Olympics to several other mega events, Jack Morgan has done a lot. We’re seeing that space become a major area. From every instance of the way a company interacts with its internal audience to major public events, the potential is enormous. I think it is poised to explode.

That means marketing communications professionals, too, will have to adapt faster, in tune with the changes happening around them. The digital solutions market is growing very quickly. The Internet is growing as a content rich medium. The web was all about banner ads and other quick things and solutions. Now it is not just peep information, but as we talk about creating brand experiences, it goes far beyond.

Clearly, in the Indian and the Asian markets, as technology continues to grow, we will see a whole lot of segments booming. Given the present rate of development, the technology sector, the automobile business, and the consumer durables businesses will drive growth. As people have the ability to make more and more choices, this can only grow further.

We see the Asian market moving very quickly and very strongly. We see India and China among the drivers for this market. For a long time, we’ve had a strong position in the Indian market. As we move forward, we shall continue to put emphasis on these markets. The market continues to grow faster than in the rest of the world.

What is happening increasingly with the advent of broadband and increased usage of the Internet is that the consumers are establishing their own process. They are doing it and learning about the market. Marketing needs to enable customers to create the process rather than engage in push marketing, as has been followed through the years.

The Internet will become a much bigger factor. Across the world, Internet access is only growing. Even with the current access levels, it is still playing a key role. The way the medium is dealt with best, is by realising how it connects to the traditional media. The traditional media and the new media need to work in partnership and not in isolation.

I think public relations in many sectors is lagging behind even in the developed markets. The Asian markets tend to be further behind, but are catching up fast and that is true for public relations too. We are proud of our public relations capabilities in India.

I can’t give you percentages on that – almost all things have some media component to them. Be it a major event or an announcement to one set of stakeholders, there will be media in some way. But PR at its heart shares one thing with traditional branding and advertising – it is about the idea.

It is difficult to compare markets that way. If you ask me, characteristically, Indian business houses have a great strength of entrepreneurship and a great ability to see and explore opportunities. The education levels of Indian practitioners of business are also very high. The ability to adapt to change is excellent. And as we experience more and more technological growth, this will play a key factor in their growth.

I think the business in general will demand a different level of trained people. While we largely have single discipline practitioners, we increasingly see a need for holistic training and thinking from professionals in the field. The kind of education they will need ism therefore, a holistic, all round training, and that will help them throughout.

It is definitely moving in that direction. The younger people will not have so much of catching up to do with respect to the digital world because they have grown up in this environment.

I think that depends on the various contexts. Typically, service businesses are not the best leaders of change. They are the best adapters. The quickness with which they adapt to the varying landscape is what matters in the marketing landscape.