Clients need customised technology, say founders of marketing agency Schbang

Integrated marketing agency Schbang, which was launched in 2015, has created a stir in the market with 50 new accounts and 28 awards in the past one year. 

According to Schbang, it has an employee turnover rate of less than 12 per cent versus the global average of 30 per cent and are hoping to grow to a 500+ team by 2020. 

We caught up with Harshil Karia, Akshay Gurnani and Sohil Karia, Co-Founders of Schbang. Harshil, who is also the Managing Director, has been in the digital space for 11 years. Gurnani from being a content writer, account executive to a team lead now holds the CEO post at Schbang. Meanwhile, Sohil has formed and trained the entire design and web team of the agency and is Technology Director at Schbang. 

In a conversation with exchange4media, the trio spoke about the firm’s success mantra, factors that led to the birth of Schbang, its  expansion plans and more. 

What is Schbang and what led to the birth of the agency?

2015 was the year when a whole lot of consolidation occurred in the digital advertising industry. A lot of digital shops were bought over by the giants. And there was a need for an independent agency which had a digital heart but an outlook which merged all creative advertising and marketing solutions for clients that matched not just with digital but also with mainline services.  

With the digital industry growing significantly, we were not just required to be digital friendly, but instead, have a good balance of digital and traditional media.  Keeping this perspective in mind and understanding the growing need for an independent agency providing integrated solutions we founded Schbang in 2015. 

Schbang, originally spelt, as Shebang is a word created in the 17th Century and added to the lexicon of the English language. It typically is used as the phrase “The Whole Schbang”. The Whole Schbang is a testament to our wholeness or completeness of offering. The idea of bringing various integrated marketing service needs under one roof is our reason to exist. Our logo which is a # fused with an ! is a UNIX code operative that coincidentally (or not) is called a Shebang. It essentially means “read what follows in its entirety” - a reference again to our quest for completeness.

Our guiding motto is simple. We deliver Solutions for Customer Experiences across Holistic Media for your business to create a bang. 

We are headquartered in Mumbai and our first branch office is in Bangalore that services the southern part of India. 

Four years, 50 new accounts and 28 awards in a year. What’s your success mantra?

The last 4 years has been a great ride, the growth being tremendous both in terms of the clientele and team size. We aren’t afraid to invest in things that matter the most in the business. We place the right bets to create an environment to foster a culture that helps us deliver growth. We are in the people’s business and hence investing in our people is the top priority.  

We pride ourselves on the quality of the talent that we have been able to retain by creating a superior culture. It’s not just retaining the talent but we have also been able to retain a lot of our clients (Finolex, Godrej Consumer Products, Baskin Robbins, Raw Pressery, Mattel, Castrol, Ashok Leyland and Xiaomi to name a few). We are able to understand what they exactly require to compete in the marketplace and we focus our offerings on ensuring that we are closest in helping them meet their marketing and business goals.

Having said that, a strong set of principles has been able to guide us and the team this far in achieving everything we have set out for. One of the most important ones being ‘Client’s business wins, we win!’. Having the right kind of culture sets the right tone for the quality of output provided to our clients. This has been the key for us.

How are you using technology as a support system for the organisation and clients?

Schbang always believes in putting technology to the best use to reduce mundane tasks for employees which allows them to use time effectively for other creative activities through the day. There is an internal repository built called Schbang Wiki, which acts as a storage for all key information and documentation. This is currently being developed into a full-fledged ERP system, so as we scale, it will act as technology backend for the company. We have also created an app mainly for internal protocols, tracking for every employee, be it leaves consumed, hours worked, or salary computations. 

And for clients, it is being used pretty interestingly - both with existing technology and tailor made technology. And when we say tailor made, it is absolutely customised basis the infrastructure and exact requirement of the brand - something to track on-ground sales, develop lead generation systems or even global brand centres. 

Coming to interesting innovative use of technology from a hack point, we are building Instagram filters, Facebook filters (Barbie - You Can Be Anything, Baskin Robbins), filter games - such as the one built for Castrols recent campaign.

What is the Schbang X HaikuJAM Young India Feels 2019 report all about? 

‘Young India Feels’ is a report that taps into the subconscious thinking of today's millennial youth. Using HaikuJAM's AI and machine learning technology, we have scanned through 90,000 lines of haiku to study and understand how Young India thinks about the IPL, Politics, Beauty, Owning A Car, Music and many other pertinent topics. With the amount of content being produced by digital natives today, what they say or type, gives a very clear insight into their minds. And when some of these words they say are scaled up in a quantifiable fashion you can get some very clear directions in terms of what these users and consumers are thinking. 
It’s a first of many from Schbang. 

Tell us more about your clientele and the ways in which association with Schbang has enhanced their brand value.

Most of our clients are on a retainer basis. This has been possible because of the integrated approach. Brands like Finolex, Ashok Leyland, Baskin Robbins to name a few, that started off as just digital mandates, have now moved to complete integrated solutions requirement. 

The fact that we are not just a digital or a creative agency to the brand but considered as a business partner on their side is what gives us an added advantage and makes us stand out in the kind of output we are able to deliver. 

What are your expansion plans for the year and goals for the future?

This year has seen the start of our new division - Activations & Events where we are bringing Schbang on ground. Our third office in Delhi is in the pipeline. We are hoping to grow to a 500+ member team by 2020. And use India as a feeder market for the rest of the world and create a footprint across the globe.