Amit Akali launches full service digital agency 'What's Your Problem'

Co-founders Amit Akali and Praful Akali, along with founder members Huzefa Roowala and Hammad Khan announced their full service digital agency, or rather their ‘agency for the digital world’.

The concept:

The following rant – our reason for existence, has been printed on our cards, doors, even desks and mugs, as a constant reminder of why we do what we do:

“The problem is that there are mainline agencies and then there are digital agencies, but there are very few agencies for the digital world. The problem is that most digital agencies are so obsessed with technology that they forget they’re actually agencies first. So platform strategies override marketing strategy, while the brand personalities change schizophrenically, insights lose out to CPC, storytelling to technology, and ideation gives way to execution. The problem is consumers do not consume advertising, they consume content, while advertising agencies are comfortable creating just advertising, not content, platforms and experiences.

The problem is that most digital platforms multiply and evolve each day. Faster than digital agencies evolve.

Forcing clients to hire multiple agencies…”

Hence, the solution: What’s Your Problem – WYP Brand Solutions Pvt. Ltd. ‘Creative Brand Solutions for a Digital World’ is our tagline. Every word of which has been debated heatedly and best summarizes what we bring to the table. For example, the words Digital World have been used – and not digital agency. The digital world is an ‘always on’ world, where all media get integrated and all brands are present, at all times. Which is why we’re a full service digital agency offering web design and development, mobile strategy and apps, search (SEO/SEM), media planning and buying, content, social media, video, e-mail marketing, CRM, analytics, etc. Brand – it all starts with understanding the brand, its problems, its target consumer. Therefore, the services we offer include positioning and brand identity. Solutions – we don’t just create communication but solutions to marketing problems. And the solution could really come from anywhere: A design idea, product idea, website, SEM, SEO, SMO, social listening, ORM, CRM, anywhere… Amit explains, “Of all the work I’ve been involved in, I’ve been most excited when we’ve (obviously as part of a larger team) created solutions and not just communication. For example, for ‘Hutch Rangashankara’ the solution came from a series of street activations, or for Bingo the solution was a distinctive, crazy tone of voice, for Killer Green Fold the solution was a design idea…” Therefore, ‘What’s Your Problem’ focuses on the solution or idea, not the media.  Creative – in this continuous, entertaining, informative, interactive digital world, brand communication competes with entertainment, hence you need to find the most creative, fresh, wow way to grab your consumer’s attention, and that’s obviously where our strength lies.

What we’re calling a digital agency or an agency for the digital world is really the only agency a client needs – one that marries strategy, creativity and technology.

The people:

Praful Akali explains, “While Amit and me were very clear what kind of agency we wanted to build, we were equally clear we wanted the right team on board, one that shares our vision and doesn’t duplicate our skill sets but adds to them.”

Huzefa Roowala (Hozi), Director – Content & Creative is one of the best in the country when it comes to content and video. He’s ex-MTV – ACD, On-Air Promotions (created ‘Semi Gire Bal’ and ‘Piddu the Great’) and a founder member of Ping Networks – India’s first HD multi-channel YouTube network. We believe most agencies get it wrong when it comes to video – a cheaper, longer TVC can’t be your video strategy. Good video content comes from understanding the brand, bringing it alive through great ideas/ scripts, then consistently and economically churning out hundreds of videos at probably one hundredth the cost of a TVC! Thus, we’ve got a team of producers, animators, editors – in house – all led by Hozi.

Hammad Khan, Director – Servicing and Technology is a digital native and technology junkie, with over 9 years of experience in digital marketing, including working at Puretech Internet, Veda Informatics and an entrepreneurial stint at Vordoo. He was last Online Marketing Head – Wizcraft Interntational. He is a GAP and GAIQ certified online marketer, who’s worked across the entire spectrum of online marketing services: Content, web development, search, media planning, social media, analytics, etc., winning numerous awards.

Praful Akali, Managing Partner and Strategy Head is an IIM Lucknow, Marketing Graduate, and has worked with leading consumer healthcare multinationals (Pfizer, Ranbaxy, Boots Piramal) for 7 years before setting up his own healthcare communications agency, Medulla Communications, almost 7 years ago. Along with strategy expertise, he brings in the experience of setting up and running an agency from scratch. Today, Medulla is a 50+ member team, one of India’s top 3 healthcare agencies, India’s No. 1 Digital Healthcare agency and India’s most awarded healthcare agency, servicing clients like J&J, P&G, GSK Consumer Healthcare, GSK Pharma, Novartis,Sanofi, etc.

Amit Akali, Managing Partner and Creative Head has over 18 years of experience in advertising, including as National Creative Head of Grey India (with Malvika Mehra) and member of the Grey Global Creative Council. Other than which he’s worked in various agencies: Enterprise Nexus, O&M (Creative Head, Ogilvy Bangalore). Along with his teams, he’s been involved in winning over 200 national and international awards (Cannes, One Show, Media Spikes, London International, D&AD), including 3 Campaign Of The Year Grand Prix Abby Awards and 2 continuous Gold Lions at Cannes. Amit explained, “I knew that digital marketing has been a gap for the best advertising agency folks, and if I didn’t deep dive into understanding digital marketing now, it would never happen. So, while we hired digital experts, I’ve gone back to school – to become a certified digital marketer! The more I’ve understood digital, the more I’ve understood it’s just a medium but a medium that allows you to do so much more and where all media will eventually converge. More importantly I’ve understood how to marry it with strategy and creative. So, the last year has been a fantastic learning experience.”

Ajay Takalkar, Director – Art & Design who leads a team of art directors, designers and animators at WYP, has over 16 years of experience (Enterprise Nexus, Everest, Dentsu and Ogilvy) and won various awards including an Abby Grand Prix Campaign for Tortoise Mosquito Repellent.  At home with new technology – he’s currently studying the role human psychology plays in UI/ UX design.

The core team gets rounded off with Hensila Kava, Social Media Lead – founder member of social media agency FYA.

Scale at Start-up:

‘What’s Your Problem’ is part of an agency network, which includes partner agency, Medulla – a healthcare communication specialist. Together we form a network of specialist agencies that provide the scale and resources of the best mainline agencies, along with the knowledge and expertise of specialist agencies. Hence WYP starts off in over 3000 square feet of office space at Santacruz, Mumbai, and a 60 member team with industry leading in-house capabilities in strategy, social media, SEO, SEM, digital media planning, analytics, YouTube marketing, web-development, art and design, UI/ UX, copy and content, video production, animation, etc.

Clients:

The reaction has been overwhelming. There’s obviously a need for an agency which gets strategy, is creative and marries the first two skills with an understanding and mastery of digital and technology platforms. A month back we had to take a call between saying no to clients and working on our own web site so we could announce our launch. We obviously took the call to go ahead with clients so wypdigital.com is unfortunately yet under construction, a shame for a digital agency. But while our website will take a week more to be ready, our work is already out there. We’ve done a campaign for Flipkart, in partnership with Chapter Five – to get people to download the Flipkart app on their smart phones. Huzefa Roowala adds, “It’s very clear that clients are looking for digital agencies that understand brands and consumers. We’ve met clients with digital presentations, where they’ve loved the insight and asked if the same could be brought alive in above the line media. We’ve explained – sure, the brand stays the same and so does the insight, it’s just the medium that changes.” Hammad adds, “We are so idea driven, we’ve actually taken a digital idea into mainline and not the other way around.” Similarly we’ve signed up clients for digital and social media and they’ve subsequently asked us to work on strategy and help re-position their brand.

Other than the work we’ve done for Flipkart, some of our other clients are Nilgai Foods – a gourmet food company and makers of Pico Bhut Jolokia, India’s spiciest sauce. Through focussed digital targeting, building their social media community and CRM, we’ve actually helped increase their online sales by over a 1,000% in a little less than a month. Additionally, Brinc is an international client – an IOT (Internet of Things) accelerator based in Hongkong and China – they’re helping creating some fantastic, almost fairy-tale like wearables. We’ve helped them with brand positioning, brand identity and are currently designing and developing their website. Just last week we became the digital and social AOR for Indigo Music, one of India’s leading English radio stations with operations in Bangalore and Goa. We’ve also signed up Indigo Live, which is a live performance club in Bangalore. There’s more news coming soon. And all this is before we’ve officially launched.

Culture:

The only reason for WYP to exist is to do great work that works for the brand. Praful explains, “We make sure that doing great work is the only pressure that’s there on the team, and work hard at removing the pressures that might come with a start-up or from being part of a big multinational network. Of course, all of us being big foodies, there’s the added pressure of – what do we order for lunch today?”

Jokes aside, we’re building a team of people who’re multifaceted and have interests other than work. We believe, that when it comes to content creation, it’s these diverse skill sets, which will add an edge to our work. So, one of our team-members is a biker and test rider, Hammad has been an under-19 state level cricketer and heads a film club, Huzefa runs his own cultural artistic festival – ‘Black Out’, which is soon going to be showcased at the Basil Museum in Switzerland, Hensila is a certified belly dance instructor, Amit used to write his own food column for the Bangalore Mirror, while Praful has authored India’s largest-selling book on diabetes.