Ciao '14 | Enhanced focus on growth and new business, Cheil India's Pradhan

Established in 2003, Cheil India is possibly the fastest growing agency network in India. While budding both in existing areas of business and in new services, Cheil India has some of the prominent minds under its umbrella like John Koo, the Managing Director; Rajesh Bhatia who is the Head of Digital & Interactive; Nima Namchu, the Head, Integrated Creative; Kundan Joshee who handles the Integrated Client Servicing; Atishi Pradhan who is the Chief Strategy Officer; Saurabh Mathur, the Head, VM and last but not the least Girish Nalavade who Heads the Retail business and many more.

Cheil India that provides integrated marketing solutions including digital marketing, media planning & buying, communication solutions, intrestingly, all conducted in house has in fact doubled their employee strength in the last two years and continues to build on it. While on one hand they are hiring reputed creative talent and have set up integrated planning, they are looking at rapid expansion in retail, experiential and digital. Focused on expanding the regional services, Cheil now has an offering across all the metros in India and in Sri Lanka. As a result, Cheil India can provide a communications strategy that is consolidated and implemented under one single integrated campaign strategy. Idea Engineering makes us different because it provides an integrated marketing solution covering a broad range of services like these.

To understand the year that is a passé, Adgully caught up with Atishi Pradhan, Chief Strategy Officer, Cheil India who spoke about strategies, plans and trends for 2015 and a lot more…
Cheil plans to passionately welcome 2015 with enhanced focus on growth and new business. According to her the biggest game changer in the media and advertising world was the numerous consumer touch points especially in the digital space like a Facebook page, twitter feed, and you-tube channel are not enough, what is the strategy for pinterest, instagram, vine and feels that the consumers are present on there too and the brands need to make their presence felt on those platforms too. Posing a question to the brands she said, “Is the brand agile enough at these touch points? And while delivering agility, is it maintaining it’s positioning and voice?”

As the consumer is today is claimed to be an evolved consumer so when asked how is Cheil focused to lure the ‘evolved consumer’, Pradhan said, “Firstly, we need to understand the fact that whether the brand is ‘evolved’ enough to chase the ‘evolved’ consumer? This can be at two levels; one is that is the brand using the media that the consumer is using? Worldwide, it is known that consumers spend over 25% of their time on their phones, yet mobile advertising gets only about 10% of the brand’s digital budget.”

Adding further she stated that are the brands at the cutting edge of consumer attitudes as a good example of this is the current work being done on Titan and Tanishq. The latest ad where the ex-couple meet at the airport is brilliant in terms of how women are changing and making choices. And it is executed subtly yet pointedly. Such advertising will definitely create ‘preference’ with the brand’s target group of women with spending power.

As we all know the fact that the year gone by saw internet penetration curve going all the more up but we still see many marketers still prioritizing TV, print and Radio over digital medium. And giving her opinion here Pradhan avowed the fact that for many audiences, TV is still the medium with maximum reach, whether one is targeting women, or lower SEC, or small town youth, or middle-aged men, etc. etc.

As mentioned above, Cheil has one of the fastest growing agencies nationally and internationally. Cheil’s Core Strength is that it is one agency, with all departments sitting together. So ATL, Digital, Activation, Retail & VM, and Media all work in an integrated manner. “This integration is already critical for brands and will be even more paramount in the future,” she added.

“There is going to be far more data usage in planning communication; there are going to be far more number of digital videos being made, which also gives creative teams the opportunity to use longer formats and therefore do more nuanced storytelling and the Consumer Experience – activations, retail experience, digital-led contests, etc. – is going to become even more important. With digital then being used to amplify such interactions/experiences,” Pradhan said on asking about the trends that she could visualize in the coming year.

Having worldwide clients like Samsung, Halonix, Dettol, Tropicana, FoxLife, Dairy Best, Disney, Foodpanda, Timex, Loreal, Hankook, Pizza Hut, Abbott, Lavie, Delhi Dare Devils, Korea Tourism Organization, etc. in their kitty and winning awards in eminent events like Spikes Asia, Cannes Lions, DMAI 2012 Awards, GoaFest, Asia Retail Congress, Adfest, London International Awards, Package Design Awards, Cheil has had a wonderful year that has almost gone by. With 500 employees and yet growing, Cheil India is spread over seven offices in five cities including Gurgaon NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.

Having opened to all set of categories expertise is in technology, internet and youth; Cheil India specializes in Creative, Activation, Digital Services, OOH, Retail and is all set to enter the year that is around the corner with full passion and clear focus. By Aanchal Kohli | Twitter: @aanchalkohli