"Digital marketing will be the biggest ad medium in post-COVID times"

Sandiip Kapur, a successful entrepreneur who runs Promodome Communications, an advertising agency with a track record of nearly two decades, has produced three Bollywood feature films under his banner, Promodome Motion Pictures – ‘Anarkali’, ‘Juggaad’ and ‘Bhonsle’. He has also produced several ad films and corporate films in his career.

Apart from the films, Kapur has also produced several plays with Mahesh Bhatt, which include ‘The Last Salute’, ‘Trial of Errors’, ‘Daddy’, and ‘Arth’, among others.

In conversation with Adgully, Sandiip Kapur, Founder & President of Promodome Group, speaks about his production endeavours, his pitch to the clients, impact ofCOVID and the lockdown on the advertising and media business and more.

You are a full-service advertising agency with a production arm. How big is your entire operation?

Promodome is a premier advertising agency that specialises in delivering 360-degree communication solutions through digital, print, electronics, event and exhibition. We have four offices located across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The agency features a plethora of different verticals ranging from media buying, media planning, creative and digital across multiple dimensions with a dedicated wing for each segment. Our client list includes big-party clients from all over India and we operate with the aim of extending the most comprehensive PR media engagement and advertising for them.

Which is the biggest/ most profitable part of your operations?

Though it is difficult to pinpoint a certain aspect of our operations as the most lucrative one, Promodome derives a major part of its revenue from media buying across different mediums such as digital, television and print. Of all the existing business features, it is this vertical that fetches maximum volumes.

COVID-19 has hit the events and activations space hard. Is the entertainment industry doubling down on digital marketing?

Under the current circumstances, digital marketing remains the most popular mode of media engagement for the conceivable future. While other forms such as print and television will also re-emerge once the lockdown subsides and things return to normalcy, digital marketing is slated to be the biggest advertising medium in the post-COVID scenario.

How did business fare during lockdown – in terms of account wins, layoffs, salary cuts?

Due to the impact of the pandemic, businesses have been affected across dimensions. The media industry, too, has faced its share of detriments. Our agency witnessed the adverse impact of the pandemic first hand, as many of our corporate clients slashed their advertising and PR budgets. Overall, we experienced a budget cut nearing 60-70 per cent during the lockdown. Though the agency did not exercise any layoffs, there were a few salary cuts across the higher-end of the professional spectrum, particularly the higher management and top-level designations. The agency ensured that in such times of duress, the junior and mid-level personnel should receive their salary intact. 

Tell us about the inception of Promodome Communications and its objective/ vision?

We are a 19-year-old media brand that strives to become the most credited, renowned and sought-after media agency across multiple advertising mediums such as digital, television and print by the next two or three years.

What was your pitch to clients before lockdown and has it changed post the lockdown?

Our agency has maintained a considerably consistent pitch throughout its journey. It endeavours to extend the best PR engagement and advertisement practices to its clients across all the mediums. The only change that has ensued in our client pitch post-lockdown is that now we are focusing more on digital modes of advertisement and media buying as compared to television and print.

Have you produced any interesting work during the lockdown that we might have seen?

During the lockdown period, we had the privilege of charting out the PR and advertising campaign for one of our big-ticket clients, called Trell. It is one of India’s leading lifestyle video apps with around 90 million viewers. We managed to rope in acclaimed Bollywood singer Sukhwinder Singh for singing the Trell anthem, which was much loved by fans and followers alike. We further plan to get more A-listers for delivering a highly engaging and exuberant media campaign for our esteemed client.