Advertising: Bright Youngsters Give It A Miss

I had the privilege of meeting with the legendary Bal Mukundkur on the backwaters of Cochin last year. The occasion was a party thrown by George John, the ex-CMD of TBWA India. George, known for his hospitality and lavish parties, had sold his stake in TBWA India, and was a very rich man. So, to celebrate he had called likeminded employees who had worked with him during his working life. Mukundkur, during his informal speech to spirited men, had jokingly remarked on how he joined advertising many decades ago. He said: “My father said that if you are good for nothing, join the navy. If you are no longer good for the navy, join advertising. And I did as he said and was lucky enough to take Ulka to great heights.”

Many decades later, when I joined advertising in the eighties, my father who was an army pathologist asked me, after a good education, why did I join an advertising agency? His dissonance came from his training and experience in the medical field. He said, “If you are an agent then you are always dependent on the principal’s health. If he does well you do well; if he is doomed, so are you. So you will never be independent. Hence unity and harmony within the agent is of critical importance. Else it perishes. Like bacteria in a human body.”

I did not appreciate the comparison and did not pay attention to what he said, as advertising business was booming and the 15 per cent commission on the investments was a big catalyst in creating the right environment, and spirit and the happiness quotient within the agency was always high. It was common during after office hours for agency executives to stand in for colleagues who had to rush off for personal pressing matters. For youngsters it was a dream job with the highs being really high when a campaign got released. The adrenalin was flowing, and it was a sunrise business.

Campus Placements Were The Big High
In the eighties the top advertising agencies visited the campuses of the premier business schools to hire talent. They never got the first day, first session, as that was always reserved for the multinational FMCG companies. Top Agencies got session 2 on day 1, or session 1 on day 2. But the key thing to highlight was that there were bright youngsters who said no to the multinationals and waited for an advertising agency job. In spite of the Agency paying lesser than the FMCG company. This was the power and passion of the advertising business in those days.

My father couldn’t have been more right about the imperativeness of Unity in the business. But destiny had different things in store for us. Came the nineties and one wise Finance man from across the Pacific decided that the business needed disruption in structuring and functioning. He seemed a go getter then, and got some followers here in India, and thus started the process of division in the name of specialisation.

Key changes that resulted in the management graduates saying ‘No’ to an advertising career or vice versa:

Creative Divorced From Media
Commonsense told us that this was crazy, but those with superior mental faculties thought this would ensure a brighter future. Can you imagine a separate hospital for pathology and a separate one for neurology and cardiology? Unless the diagnosis was accurate the illness could not be treated by the cardiologist. Similarly, if there was no amalgam between the medium and the message how could the consumer be receptive to the overall message? Nobody listened to logic as logic seemed to be the art of going wrong with confidence. The business was doomed, and the downslide had begun.

The IIT Trap
This lineage, is supposed to be the most desirable prospect in terms of pedigree, mental faculties and skill sets. We could not have been more wrong. The IIT engineer meandering into an advertising agency was a failed guy at what he was trained to do. Advertising agencies, welcomed him with open arms but for him was a default profession, and hence complacency set in. He also hired more from his tribe and created a superior group vs the other performers. He worked less, delegated responsibility, kept authority and got paid more for doing less.

The Remuneration Cut
Moving from the 15 per cent commission to a fee based on man hours took its biggest toll on the business. Margins reduced, undercurrents increased, politics flourished and the happiness quotient started plummeting. The bright guys could not take it any more, and moved on to set up shop on their own and doing well by taking the clients they were handling for years at a lesser fee. Clients loved it but the original advertising agency ‘Josh’ disappeared.

For the last many years no top advertising agency visits any top premier business school, and neither has any management graduate from a business school joined an agency. So the advertising business survives on mediocre talent.

The learning is clear, as my father had mentioned three decades ago. If there is no unity in different disciplines within the agency, collective remuneration will drop, resulting in drop of passion and the happiness quotient. So, if you are not happy, which bright youngster would get up in the morning and die to rush to office to work. It was the case in the eighties and nineties, but sadly not anymore. We only have ourselves to blame.

The author is a Delhi-based business strategist