Big agencies Vs independent consultants – Why brands need to go small

There is a new trend that the advertising industry is now witnessing – ads in recent months have been made with no big ad agencies being involved in the making. ABP’s latest centenary advertisement co-created by Agnello Dias is an example of this new model. Another example of this model is Cars24’s latest commercials featuring Mandira Bedi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Mr Chibber, and Sharma Ji. Aimed at positioning the brand as the one-stop-shop for the sale of used cars, the ads take on four different troublesome scenarios which a used car buyer/ seller can get into. The relaunch was headed by Vani Gupta Dandia, an independent marketing consultant – her first assignment after moving on from PepsiCo as Marketing Director Indian Foods.

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The new campaign for Nature’s Essence, featuring Harnaaz Sandhu, is also made by two independent consultants – Vani Gupta Dandia and Shalini Singh. Dandia started working on the Nature’s Essence campaign on Christmas eve with an entirely zero base. She and her team started with category understanding, drafting the research with eight different concepts, testing different propositions, and crafting briefs.

The full brand relaunch package starting with consumer research, new proposition, celebrity sign up and endorsement, film shoot, stills, on-ground roll out package, digital, POSM and retail roll out, customer collaterals, brand track process instituted with consumer check on scripts and finished film, all in under 4 months. This is the second time that Dandia pulled this off on a big-ticket campaign with such scale, at a fraction of the cost compared to what the traditional ad agency model would allow.

To quote Amit Chopra, who was very effusive in his praise for the work done, pointed towards some specific aspects that made this work stand out –

“Access to high quality marketing expertise - We were able to lean on your high quality marketing thinking in developing the strategy, the marketing plan, the communication elements and the media channel planning for scaling up Facial Kits.

Speed of execution - At the end of December 2021, when we got you on board, we only knew one thing, that we had to grow the NE Facial Kits. We had no consumer insights, no understanding of category/ brand triggers. From that place to be able to launch the campaign in just 5 months and without short-circuiting any process, it is nothing short of amazing.

Cost effectiveness - We had earlier worked with a couple of larger agencies on previous Esme group campaigns. Those engagements cost us a lot more money across agency fees, creative development and production costs. The project we did with you was a lot more cost effective which is a big plus for a small business like ours.

Single window for end-to-end development and execution - For a company with a relatively small and inexperienced team, we just did not have the wherewithal to find and engage with various partners across the communication planning spectrum. Through you, we got access to proven and high quality partners, be it consumer research or celebrity management or creative development or film production.”

The Esme Group was working with FutureBrands and Mullen Lowe until the end of 2021. So why the shift? What is driving the brands to shift their gears to shift from an agency to an individual consultant? To know more about the Nature’s Essence campaign, the shift in the creative dynamics of the ad world, efficiency in working as an independent consultant, Adgully spoke to Vani Gupta Dandia, Founder, CherryPeachPlum Growth Partners, and Shalini Singh, Founder, Candy Shop Communications.

Edited Excerpts:

Talking about the shifting pendulum of the brands towards freelancers or consultants, Vani Gupta Dandia said, “We are certainly not the first go-to for most companies as they go for the big names.”

Continuing further, she said, “There are young companies that are realising that if you get quality talent that can help them with their marketing thinking, that can act as an outsourced CMO or an outsourced creative thinker, then that is a lot more cost efficient and they can also get far better speed to market because agencies are in tune to working in a certain way they come with structures, deeply regimented processes and large teams that are better suited for very large corporations. But with the younger companies where speed to market and cost efficiency and quality work is paramount over there, I think models of the time that Shalini and I present to the world today have become a lot more viable and young companies seem to be recognising that.”

Shalini Singh added here, “For the major part of my career, I worked in advertising agencies only, and I come from that side of the business, while Vani comes from the client side of the business and there’s a lot of learning and a lot of value-add that you can do to the client, but what actually set me thinking was that at an advertising agency level, there are processes, and you can’t bring speed because there are so many levels involved. So, I think that this is the go-to model and the younger clients, the clients who really want to have results, see good work and that too in a shorter span of time are coming to us.”

Sharing about the Nature’s Essence campaign, Vani Gupta Dandia said, “We had very little category understanding at that time. We tested different propositions and arrived at the right proposition. We arrived at category insights, crafted the brief. I spoke with Shalini, she came on board and within a few days (typically agencies take three to four weeks minimum for the first presentation), and we put together the full package.”

She continued, “Even for selecting the celebrity, first of all we were not sure if we wanted someone or not, and the fees that one will charge. We had a Whatsapp group and we exchanged at least a hundred names. All of this was decided by only three of us (Vani, Shalini, Amit) and it was almost like we are a close-knit family and we are taking a decision as a family.”

Adding further Shalini Singh noted, “It is actually a hands-on approach which I was trying to do in my stint at agencies, but it wasn’t possible because you are loaded with so many brands and you have to do justice to each one of them. And this is what our client really liked that we were really hands on. We were thorough with our research and were a part of every process. The turnaround time too was quick and interaction with the senior person on the team is like a win-win situation for the client which is not possible in a bigger agency set up.”

Vani Gupta Dandia added here, “Most of my clients have found great comfort and appreciated me for the kind of work that I bring to the table. I am able to marry the big structures of brands like Unilever and PepsiCo with the demands of smaller companies and move ahead with speed. So, you are able to get the nub of the matter to do exactly what’s required, and the fact that you can pick up the phone on each other and with large agencies that wouldn’t be the case.”

These are edited excerpts. For the complete conversation, watch below:

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