Best Laid Plans

In this dynamic landscape of the Indian creative industry, planners and strategists have emerged as crucial architects who seamlessly connect a brand’s purpose with the minds of consumers. Their prowess lies in the art of blending meticulous research and strategic thinking to comprehend how consumers perceive a brand and its campaign. As the custodians of insights and market trends, creative planners provide invaluable guidance, shaping the strategic direction of client campaigns through extensive focus groups and industry knowledge. Against the backdrop of an ever-changing marketing landscape, it is essential to decode the evolving role of planners in Indian creative agencies by exploring their distinct functions and how they are adapting to the shifting paradigms of today’s advertising world.

“The creative aspect is just one component of the overall output. It is the agency’s responsibility to deliver solutions that foster growth and build strong relationships through collaborations,” asserts Prem Narayan, Chief Strategy Officer, Ogilvy while sharing that the creative product is the culmination of a process that involves identifying the right problem to solve and working together with clients and creative partners to find a solution. He further states that the agency’s primary objective is to drive business, emphasizing on the fact that ‘maintaining the integrity of the brand in today’s fragmented media landscape is of paramount importance, and agencies play a vital role, working alongside clients, to preserve that integrity.’

There are instances wherein brands have landed into controversy and strategic planning has come to their rescue. From Maggi’s comeback campaign – ‘Miss you Maggi’ to Coca-Cola getting Aamir Khan to swear that its products are ‘Poori Tarah Surakshit’, there must always be sound planning behind a campaign.

Role of planners in creative agencies
Planning as a crucial function in the creative industry has witnessed a remarkable evolution over the years. The role of planners has transformed with the transformation in the advertising and marketing industry. Planners/Strategists continue to hold significance in the industry, but an interesting trend has emerged where CSOs (Chief Strategy Officers) are being promoted to the position of CEOs within advertising networks. This upward movement is not only observed in India but also on a global scale.

Explaining how a planner’s role has become even more significant in today’s fragmented landscape, Suraja Kishore, CEO, BBDO India shares, “The planner plays a vital role in preventing brand fragmentation in today’s fragmented landscape. Previously, people consumed the same media, but now even within families or friend groups, diverse programmes and content lead to fragmented narratives. Specialised agencies have emerged, adding complexity for marketers who interact with multiple individuals. This raises the question of who safeguards the brand’s essence in this scenario. Like a kitchen with many cooks but no chef, delivering high-quality, resonant brand experiences becomes challenging. Thus, planners go beyond short-term tactics, becoming champions of relevance. They synthesize data from various sources, uncover insights, and ensure brand coherence. As the Chief Brand Integrator (CBI), planners are the soul keepers of the brand.”

Aditya Kanthy, CEO, Omnicom Advertising Services believes that planning is even more critical in today’s times as there is so much more opportunity for the consumer to interact with the brand. “It becomes even more important to be consistent, which is the planner’s responsibility. Equal balance between short-term and long-term result has become so much richer with the amount of data available. This makes the planners’ playground more significant. So much that they still want good work, and that must be based on solid strategy to begin with,” he shares.

“I began my career in advertising during a time when planners didn’t exist as a separate role, but effective planning was always present. Many of my seniors were part of the account management field, and they possessed sharp minds that delved into ideas and understood how to address consumer issues. The game was about correctly identifying the consumer problem and collaborating with others to solve it in various ways,” explains Kawal Shoor, Founder and Creative Head, The Womb.

“While planners are a relatively recent development spanning a couple of decades, their role is absolutely central in an agency, especially skilled planners. They are responsible for connecting the dots between client briefs, consumer issues, product truths, and cultural opportunities. By putting all these elements together, they create a space or platform from which creative minds can flourish. In a way, planners act as generalists, working with specialists in areas like client marketing and account management. While other roles have become more specialized and fragmented with the advent of new media, planners serve as the connective thread, bringing coherence to the overall thinking process,” he adds.

“In today’s platform world a brand’s journey to grab the consumers’ attention has become far more complicated. The palette of how brands speak has changed as influencers and Digital media platforms have transformed brand-journey and dramatically altered how culture works,” elaborates Dheeraj Sinha, Group CEO, India & SA, FCB while explaining that Digital audiences are now prolific innovators of culture. Thus making the planner’s job far more critical in understanding consumer journey – especially in the context of today’s times, and translating that to effective strategy in order to reach out to audiences.

Planning and Creative
The planning function and creative process are two distinct yet interconnected pillars that shape the success of campaigns. Both are integral to the overall outcome. Let’s find out how these parallel yet distinct elements come together to create impactful and resonant brand experiences.

Elaborating on the role of a planner behind a successful brand campaign, Jitender Dabas, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Strategy Officer, Mccann Worldgroup India shares, “The significance of planners is much beyond the success of campaigns. It starts much before and continues much beyond just brand campaigns. The word ‘success of the campaign’ necessitates the definition of success and hence a definition of problem. I believe the most important role a planner can play is to help define the right problem before we solve it. The better you get at that, the higher are your chances of success. Once that is done, a Planner is also the ‘Saarthi’ for his creatives. A Krishna for the Arjun before he picks up the pen -to explain to him, inspire him and partner him.”

He further explains that while Planners need to be good deep-sea divers and navigators, Creatives need to be able to fly. “I also believe both need to be good story tellers in their own way. Planners should be able to tell stories off which the creative can write theirs. Planners need to be very good at defining a problem, and simplifying it. But to categorize planning as left brained and the creative process as right brained is an incorrect generalization. The ability to join the dots is a part of the good planning process.”

“Planning is often an overlooked and underappreciated aspect of any agency. As a consumer, you only see the final creative product without realizing the extensive amount of effort invested in the strategic groundwork that precedes it,” opines Gautam Reghunath, Co-founder & CEO, Talented elaborating further that the existence of specific creative ideas can often be attributed to the direction set by the planning and strategy work that took place beforehand. “Unfortunately, planning is not widely celebrated or acknowledged enough for its contribution. This lack of recognition may be one of the reasons why it remains unheralded.”

Comparing the process that goes behind a campaign with football, Narayan explains, “Planning is part of the creative process; they are not separate. It’s like a football field where the team is trying to score a goal. So, we play a bit like the midfielder, passing the ball to the creative person and hopefully we should make the pass that is good so that they can score a goal. What the consumer sees is the end product which is the creative piece. They don’t need to know what went behind. That’s not important. They should act and behave in a manner in which the brand and the client’s business is helped.”

Way forward
As the industry evolves and individuals increasingly seek to become masters of multiple domains, the role of planning stands at a critical juncture. With agencies and functions integrating and converging, the future for planning holds both opportunities and challenges. Is planning’s prominence diminishing amidst the prevalence of transactional interactions and the pursuit of instant gratification?

“I don’t believe that Planning is losing its significance, but rather, the scope of work needs to be approached with a fresh perspective. In the past, planners thrived in a predictable media landscape dominated by television, print, and radio. However, the current media landscape undergoes frequent and dramatic transformations. The question is whether traditional advertising planning divisions have adapted their thinking in parallel. I don’t think Planning will ever become irrelevant, but we need to stay updated and embrace new mediums and technologies without hesitation,” says Reghunath, while also adding that the future of planning will be led by individuals who embrace experimentation and are not afraid to venture into uncharted territory.

“It’s getting interesting, especially with rapid innovation in the digital space. This year belongs to AI. So, strategists need to keep up, constantly learning and unlearning the rules of this changing landscape. But it’s important to see past the buzzwords and look at the implications of these technologies. The fundamentals of brand building and effectiveness don’t change, neither does the power of creativity. Planners must work out the basics well. On this foundation, the opportunities with digital technologies push towards sustainability and key areas that planners ought to focus on. In the end, if planners can contribute to driving a profitable sales growth and enduring brands over the long term, they will have done their job,” affirms Kanthy.

The ability to differentiate and bring forth breakthrough ideas is a testament to the exceptional skills of top planners. A planner is tasked with harnessing their strategic acumen to influence the trajectory of brands, leading to remarkable transformations and successes. Therefore, each successful campaign owes its triumph to a thrilling planning story and a visionary Planner. Let’s delve into the captivating breakthrough planning stories from India’s 12 esteemed Planners as IMPACT presents its list of best Planners from the creative industry. The list has a carefully chosen mix of established and emerging Planners who have created a mark in the industry with their work.

Aditya Kanthy is the CEO at Omnicom Advertising Services. He started his journey with the erstwhile Mudra in 2003 as a strategic planner, taking on various responsibilities over the years, including that of the Chief Strategy Officer, a role in which he helped shape India’s most successful independent advertising agency into an Omnicom-owned integrated marketing communications group. In this interview, Kanthy discusses the significance of planning as a function in advertising.

Q] What is the significance of planners in the success of brand campaigns?
Our positioning which we call ‘The Power to Move’ shows how tapping into people’s emotions and cultural truths can lead to disproportionate growth. Work that’s been built on the back of solid strategic insights has the power to create impact and change lives. Creativity without a strategy will fall flat. And I’d point you to IPE (International Paper of Effectiveness), to understand the practitioners of brand effectiveness. Each aspect of the role arises from the brilliance of thinking, the discipline of staying on the brand, and the accountability that the results course through. All of these papers are at the heart of the planner’s role.

Q] Can you share a notable planning success story or a standout case study from your experience?
McDonald’s has always been a happy place for everyone. So, we were surprised to learn that the basic joy of eating a burger was not inclusive enough. It is a messy experience and therefore a challenge for people with upper limb disabilities. A unique packaging called ‘EatQual’ was born out of that brilliant insight, and it allowed people to enjoy a burger with one hand, without creating a mess. The campaign is in its third year. On the other hand, we’ve been challenging a deep-rooted stigma around periods for the brand Stayfree. The ‘It’s Just a Period’ campaign has been fighting to normalise the conversation for a lot of young girls who grow up feeling ashamed about a natural process. The way to break the silence around this is to bring men into menstruation. We released the fourth film in the series last year. The strategic breakthrough of normalising periods has led to an outsized growth for the brand.

Q] What are the key differences between the planning function and the creative process?
I believe strategy and creative benefit from a symbiotic relationship. They both work towards the same outcome, which is to deliver disproportionate growth for the brand. While their functions are very different, being able to have an impact on each other is not just a hallmark of a good relationship, but also work that is creative and effective in equal measure.

Journey

• Aditya was born in a military family, and moved homes every couple of years. The constant travelling, new places and living in villages and towns across the country, helped him develop a deep sense of empathy and an appreciation of culture at a young age. These early influences translated into advertising as a career choice.
• Aditya graduated with honours in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and is a gold medalist from MICA, Ahmedabad.
• He enjoys seeing the world afresh through the eyes of his little boy.

Awards & Achievements

• His work has been awarded at Cannes, WARC, D&AD, Spikes Asia and the Effies across categories, including a Gold in 2021 for Audience Insight and Creative strategy at Cannes.
• In 2022, DDB Mudra Group was recognised as Spikes Asia’s Regional Agency of the Year – a first for an Indian company.
• He represented India on the jury for Creative Effectiveness at Cannes 2023.

Dheeraj Sinha is the Group CEO, India & SA, FCB. Prior to this, he was with Leo Burnett, where he set the vision for Leo Burnett to be India’s No. 1 new-age agency. By 2022, Leo Burnett had grown 40% in revenue when compared to 2018, and almost 30% of its revenue came from new-age clients. He has authored two bestsellers on the Indian consumer market - India Reloaded, and Consumer India, and also hosts a podcast, ‘Speakeasy with Dheeraj Sinha’. In this interview, Sinha sheds light on what is required for a successful agency-marketer relationship, and how planning is crucial in advertising.

Q] Could you shed some light on the role played by planners/strategists in creative agencies?
Earlier planning was an input function – where the planner would crack the brief and hand it over to the creative team. Today, the process has become far more collaborative, giving the planner/strategist equal stake in the final outcome of the campaign. The planner is on board right from the start to the end of the process – from the brief to the creative process, selling the idea to the client, and ultimately, execution.

At the business end, planners today play a greater role in understanding clients’ business problem. They bring an invaluable blend of creative inspiration and strategic planning to bridge gaps in the marketing efforts to capture the audience’s attention.

Q] Can you share a notable planning success story or a standout case study from your experience?
Our campaigns for Spotify are anchored around the insight that ‘music makes life better.’ During IPL 2022 we created a 15-film multi-lingual campaign capturing everyday scenarios where you might get stuck, but music helps you sail through. The campaign literally prompted us to see situations through the filter of music, making us see humour even in a situation where you are stuck. The clever use of songs and situations made it one of the most loved IPL campaigns of that year.

Q] With the prevalence of transactional interactions in today’s age, do you believe planning is losing prominence due to the pursuit of quick gratification?
Now strategy plugs upstream in the value chain – using the understanding of consumer journey, brands’ needs, and the right platforms to help create impactful solutions. The divide between what’s brand and tactical or short term and long term are wearing out – ‘good strategy’ should be the solution for both long term and short term at the same time. If at all, the role of the planner is becoming even more important and central to cracking a good idea. In today’s world, the shots we get at failure are very few – and not having a clear strategic approach to communication is a chance brands can’t afford to take.

Awards & Achievements

• Under his leadership, Leo Burnett was named the APAC Agency of the Year at Spikes Asia Awards.
• Creative Agency of the Year at the One-Show Abby awards at GoaFest.
• Leo Burnett India won several Grand Prix’s at Cannes Lions.
• Leo Burnett India was awarded Leo Burnett’s Global Agency Office of the Year amongst 86 offices.
• He won Jay Chiat Planning Award, the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Award, and the Yahoo Big Idea Chair.
• He is a three times winner of the Atticus Awards (WPP’s award for best published thinking).
• He has served on the jury of Spikes Asia Effectiveness Awards, APAC Effies, Tangrams, and Asian Marketing Effectiveness awards amongst many others.

*The interview was conducted before the announcement on Sinha moving to FCB

Jitender Dabas (Jeetu) is the Chief Strategy Officer of McCann Worldgroup India, and is one of the foremost strategy leaders in the sub-continent. He is also a member of the Global Strategic Leadership Community at McCann World Group. A graduate of the IIT Delhi, Dabas has worked across leading advertising networks like McCann, JWT, FCB Worldwide & Grey Global for over 20 years, and has partnered with leading global and Indian brands. Dabas shares with IMPACT his notable planning success story, and how he sees the future of planning in the industry.

Q] Can you share a notable planning success story or a standout case study from your experience?
There are many, but let me talk about a current one, on how an exceptional strategy has helped Nescafé leapfrog its penetration in India. For almost 50 years the brand sold itself to Indians as an aspirational lifestyle beverage with cues from how it was sold in the west. It worked to increase the love for the brand, but didn’t really increase the penetration of coffee in a tea drinking country. We realised that beverage habits once formed are difficult to change and therefore trying to convert tea drinkers would be futile. So we shifted the brand’s strategy to target people whose beverage habits weren’t formed yet, i.e. the late teens. We pitched the strong stimulation of coffee to this cohort and offered Nescafé as the partner beverage for this stage in their life. The campaign ‘Badal Life Ki Raftar’ was born out of this. And that has changed the fortune of the brand in terms of its penetration. Nescafé has sold more coffee in India in the last 5 years than it did in the previous 55 years. The penetration has gone from 11% to 30% in just 5 years of the campaign.

Q] With the prevalence of transactional interactions in today’s age, do you believe planning is losing prominence due to the pursuit of quick gratification?
Yes and No. Clients are losing out on the value that planning adds to brands. Project based relationship models will never be able to get the building blocks of brands, and it is not that the clients are not realising that. In fact, clients are now seeking planning for special assignments and they are ready to pay premium. Planning has become a separate service that clients are willing to pay for. But my belief is that doing quick planning hacks through workshops is just another quick-fix approach. Continuity creates a learning model that brands can benefit the most from.

Q] How do you envision the future of planning in the creative industry?
Someone mentioned a few days back that in the age of AI the only function whose value will increase is planning. The best person in the agency to brief the AI engine is the planner. As creativity gets more enmeshed with technology and data, planners would be called upon to make the most of it.

Awards & Achievements

• Recipient of WPP’s prestigious Atticus Award for Original Thinking in Marketing & Advertising.
• McCann Worldgroup India became the No. 1 agency office in the world according the WARC 100 rankings for advertising effectiveness published in 2019.
• McCann Worldgroup India consistently featured in the Top 3 offices in the world in Global Effie Index as well WARC, and was the No. 1 most Effective office in the Asia Pacific in 2022 in the Global Effie Index.
• Winner of more than 100 Effectiveness and Strategy Awards across the globe ranging from National to Asia-Pacific Effies, WARC prize for Global and Asian Strategy, AMEs, the APPIES and the 4A’s Jay Chiat Strategy Awards.
• He’s been on the Jury for Global & Indian strategy, and also in effectiveness awards, including Cannes Lions, WARC, 4A’s Jay Chiat, among others.

A lifelong planner, Kawal Shoor is the Founder and Creative Head at The Womb. Prior to co-founding The Womb, Shoor was the Head of Strategy at Ogilvy India. He has spoken at the prestigious Cannes Festival of Creativity and has been a juror and speaker at many marquee award platforms around the world. In this interview, he highlights what sets planning function apart from the creative process.

Q] Can you share a notable planning success story or a standout case study from your experience?
Truecaller approached us with a unique challenge of building relevance in small-town India where their app had low penetration. In our market research, we discovered that people in these towns were unfamiliar with Truecaller, which is globally known as a spam identifier and caller ID tool. However, we came to know that the progressive young individuals in small-town India welcomed calls from unknown numbers as they could be potential opportunities for growth, such as job offers or business inquiries. It was primarily affluent individuals in posh buildings who avoided such calls. On the other hand, we also recognised the prevalence of harassment and fraud calls in India, targeting women and vulnerable individuals, including the elderly. Sensing a significant opportunity, we decided to reposition Truecaller as a scam identifier in India. Our strategy aimed to empower small-town Indian girls to avoid distressing calls by installing Truecaller.

Q] What sets apart planning function from the creative process?
I hesitate to label it as a ‘creative function’ because that confines us to unnecessary boxes. Instead, I believe in a broader term - imagination. Using imagination liberates many, as it opens up possibilities for everyone to think creatively. There are good advertising people who may not necessarily fit the traditional notion of being ‘creative’. In fact, good advertising professionals can excel in various roles, whether it’s account management, planning, or creative. For instance, some of our most successful campaigns were conceived by individuals outside the creative domain.

The difference, as I see it, lies in the art of thinking imaginatively, which planners excel at, and the craft of bringing ideas to life, which creative people master. Both are crucial, and the ideas can originate from any department, not solely from creative minds. We’ve fostered a culture where planners are encouraged to think creatively, or as we prefer to call it, ‘imagining the future’.

Q] Considering the trend of individuals striving to become masters of multiple domains, how do you envision the future of planning in the creative industry?
In the ever-evolving media landscape, there’s a prevailing obsession with all things tech and new-age. However, as we look to the future of planning in the creative industry, we must remember that while platforms like AI and Instagram are significant media conversations, they aren’t the heart of strategy. The real essence lies in understanding the psychology of marketing, delving into how people think and feel, and uncovering what ideas and products can truly connect with them.

Awards & Achievements

• First-ever IPA gold winner from India for Cadbury Dairy Milk.
• Under his joint leadership with Navin Talreja, The Womb has become the No. 1 Independent Agency in Asia (Asian Effies – 2022), and among the top 3 agencies in Asia (Asian Effies – 2022).
• The Womb has to its credit one of the most celebrated innovations in India – Saregama Carvaan.
• The innovation and communications work on Carvaan won the ‘world’s most effective campaign’ of the year award from WARC in 2019.

Other Interests

• When not working, Kawal loves to spend time with his pets, a Taylor semi-acoustic guitar, and Loki, the gentlest German Shepherd you can ever pet.
• He aspires to learn to live in the moment.

As the Chief Strategy Officer at Ogilvy India, Prem Narayan leads strategy for the creative agency. He joined Ogilvy in 2004, and has been part of the team that pioneered the planning function in the agency. Narayan who has led strategy on some iconic Indian brands, shares the core purpose of planning while highlighting some of his breakthrough planning stories.

Q] Planning is a topic that is not widely discussed and doesn’t receive the same recognition as the creative process. What is your take on this?
Honestly, it doesn’t bother us too much. We approach it with the mindset of ‘who needs to know this?’ For consumers, what truly matters is the end result, the work they see. Clients on the other hand understand the value that planning brings to the table. As a team, we believe in unity and collaboration. When everyone works together towards a common goal, it fosters a cohesive environment. However, if individuals start running their own separate races, it creates fractures within the team.

Q] Given the prevalence of transactional interactions today, is planning losing prominence due to the emphasis on instant gratification?
I can confidently say that planning is not losing its prominence at all. In fact, the proof is evident in our agency’s growth. When I joined, we had only four planners, and now we have around 70 planners across our three offices in India. Clients often request a planner’s presence in meetings because they recognise the value of bringing a consumer-focused perspective to their businesses. The core purpose of the planning function is to bridge the gap between consumers and the agency. We acknowledge that we are not the consumers, we don’t live like them or think like them. Therefore, it’s crucial to approach them with humility, understand their stories, their lives, and bring that understanding into our work to impact the creative process. In today’s marketing landscape, the role of planning and strategy has become even more critical as the complexity of dealing with multiple mediums and pressures has increased for marketers. Having someone who can make sense of this complexity and simplify it is vital.

Q] Can you share a notable planning success story or a standout case study from your experience?
The journey for Red Label began in 2012, and initially, we faced some challenges. We had been handling it since 2007 in Ogilvy Mumbai. Red Label was struggling to maintain market share, especially among local tea buyers. We realised that there was a segment of people who liked the brand but didn’t purchase it frequently. Our approach shifted to focusing on making these consumers love us more by emphasizing the brand’s taste and improving its salience in their minds. We aimed to associate tea with hospitality, inspired by consumer stories that highlighted the role of tea in bonding.

Awards & Achievements

• Authored #EndAcidSale that won India’s first Cannes Effectiveness award.
• Under his leadership, Ogilvy India won a Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness at Cannes for Savlon Chalk and a Silver for Creative Strategy in 2021 for Dove – Stop the Beauty Test
• Ogilvy India ranked No.1 agency in Asia & No.2 in the World on the Global Effie Index in 2020 under his leadership
• In 2022, Ogilvy Mumbai won Agency Office of the Year at the APAC Effie, and the Grand Effie for the Cannes Titanium winning ‘Not just a Cadbury ad’.
• In 2022, Ogilvy India was named the Most Effective India Creative Agency in Asia by WARC.
• He has been part of the jury on the India Effie for many years and also at Spikes Asia in 2022.

NOTABLE CLIENTS

• Unilever, Coca-Cola, Amazon, Asian Paints, Kellogg’s, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Bajaj, Castrol, Ceat Tyres

Suraja Kishore is the CEO of BBDO India. He started his journey as a copywriter, and then went on to become a strategic brand planner, followed by leading businesses and clients. Prior to BBDO, Kishore had worked with McCann Erickson, Publicis, and Lowe Lintas India. He has been part of the jury for prestigious A&M awards like the MRSI Golden Key Awards 2021, the Women Disruptors Awards, the Lisbon Ad Awards, the Drum’s Digital Industries Awards, and the Effies’ Awards. Kishore is the Founder of CCC – Post Graduate Programme in Crafting Creative Communication (CCC) at MICA. He keeps his interest in academics alive as a visiting faculty to a few reputed management schools. In this interview, Kishore explains how a planner possesses three brains and what differentiates planning from the creative process.

Q] What according to you is the significance of planners in the success of brand campaigns?
A planner is someone who has three brains – gut (primal), heart (emotional), and head (logical). A planner is the voice of truth, an advocate of consumers, and a source of inspiration. A planner is the soul keeper of a brand, and is unconditionally loyal to brand and business objectives.

Q] What are the distinct differentiators between the planning function and the creative process?
Planning function is problem-based while creative function is solution-based. Abraham Lincoln said “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” A planner is problem-obsessed and believes that defining the real problem or reframing the problem definition is almost 80% of the solution. While creative is idea-obsessed and believes that an idea is a divine intervention, and therefore must be given its due. What’s interesting is that despite the two of them starting from two polar ends, they meet at the center of creativity. One is in service of another and vice versa. Therefore, it is very common to see a planner and a creative person be equal partners in the creative process, and not separate functional territories.

Q] Can you share a notable planning success story or a standout case study from your experience?
Much before purpose was fashionable, we did something magnificent on Tata Tea. We plugged into the mood of the youth at that time. ‘Rang de Basanti’ was a blockbuster hit and the youth of the country was going through an awakening of sorts. This led us to the breakthrough idea that while other tea wakes you up, Tata Tea awakens you. ‘Har Subah Utho Mat Jaago Re’ as a communication idea was pioneer in purpose-led brand campaigns.
Another great adventure was ‘What an Idea sirji!’ And at BBDO we take great pride in having sustained the most successful purpose-led performance campaign - Ariel #ShareTheLoad. This campaign has delivered on equity and sales.

Best Campaigns

Ariel #ShareTheLoad for P&G | #WhatAnIdea for Idea telecom | #JaagoRe for TATA Tea | ‘It’s Between You’ for WhatsApp

Notable Clients

Unilever | VISA | Marico | P&G | Nestle | Godrej | Tata | Idea Cellular | Citibank | Ford | WhatsApp

More about Suraja

• Suraja believes creativity is the life force that expands our universe.
• He is passionate about nurturing creative energy to scale brands and businesses.
• He loves to work with like-hearted people who value doing good for people and planet as good business
• A long-distance runner, Suraja finds running meditational
• He believes food is edible philosophy and that we are gifted a brand-new life every day.

Anchit Chauhan is the VP Strategy Planning at Wunderman Thompson Delhi. As an advertising strategist, he has been on this exciting journey for 12 years. From iconic firms like J Walter Thompson (now Wunderman Thompson) to cutting-edge ventures like Dentsu Webchutney, Chauhan has worked on a wide variety of clients from diverse industries. He has a rare blend of experience in mainline and digital agencies. Chauhan talks about the most significant challenges that he faced as a planner in the advertising landscape.

Q] What excites you the most about working as a planner in the creative agency, and how do you maintain your passion for the industry?
As a planner, I find myself at the thrilling intersection of business, brands, and creativity. The excitement comes from the discovery of new consumer insights and cultural shifts, delving deep into their understanding. I embrace the challenge of solving complex problems for businesses and brands strategically, seeking ways to make a lasting impact. The most exhilarating aspect is cracking new ideas that not only benefit the brands we work for, but also have the potential to shape culture among various target groups and even at a national level. As an advertising professional, I believe I hold the power to influence culture positively.

Q] What do you consider to be the most significant challenges that you have to face in today’s advertising landscape?
One of the major challenges is keeping up with the rapid pace of change in the advertising industry. The landscape is constantly evolving, with new trends and technologies emerging frequently. Just three to six months ago, the focus was on the Metaverse, and now AI has taken center stage. Before that, it was all about social media. Staying updated with these dynamic shifts can be quite demanding, but they also present a great opportunity. As a planner, being able to adapt and keep pace with these developments sets you apart.

Q] Can you share an example of a recent campaign where you faced a unique challenge and also mention how your strategic planning helped you overcome that?
One of the most recent and well-known campaigns was for Apollo Tyres featuring Sachin Tendulkar. The challenge we encountered was Tendulkar’s long association with MRF tyre throughout his career. People still perceived him as an MRF ambassador, even after he joined Apollo Tyres a few years ago. Our strategic planning aimed to change this perception and leverage his influence to benefit Apollo’s brand image. In this campaign, named Apollo 10, we discovered another challenge – Tendulkar has been extensively used in advertising, leaving little room for new and fresh ideas. To overcome this, we came up with a unique concept – his cricketing Jersey number was 10, a significant number associated with legendary sports personalities like Messi, Maradona, and Neymar. We highlighted the exclusivity of this number in the Indian context, as BCCI retired the number after his retirement. This insight allowed us to connect Apollo Tyres’ emphasis on performance with Tendulkar’s iconic number 10, making the campaign highly impactful.

Best Campaigns

• Apollo 10 - Apollo X Sachin Tendulkar
• Hero Xtreme 160 R 4V launch - A new race called dragsters
• Apollo Alpha - Add more thrill to your beast - Effie Bronze Winner
• Unjam Bangalore - Times of India - Abby Awards Winner
• Apollo Apterra - Bad Roads Go To Good Places

Other Interests

• When he’s not working, he’s busy being a father, mastering his skills as a golfer, or planning his next road trip

Easo John is the Head of Strategic Planning at Ogilvy India. He leads strategy for the Ogilvy India (South) office that handles some of the most iconic brands based out of the South. He joined Ogilvy in 2013 as a Planning Director after around 6 years at DDB Mudra. He has spent more than half of his advertising career in Ogilvy, and has also worked in the strategy department at Lowe Lintas. In a career that spans over 15 years, John has led brand strategy for some of the leading brands. He tells IMPACT what excites him the most about working as a planner and how he maintains his passion for the industry.

Q] What excites you the most about working as a planner in the creative agency and how do you maintain your passion for the industry?
For me, planning is the best job in the world. Anything and everything in life can be applied to planning. Whether it’s what you read, watch, the conversations you have, or the experiences you gain, everything becomes useful in the world of planning. That’s what I love about being a planner—finding inspiration and new perspectives from various aspects of life. Great insights and ideas can come from anywhere, and that keeps me motivated. The life I live inspires good thinking, and in turn, good thinking enriches my life. That’s what keeps my passion alive for planning as a profession.

Q] In your opinion, what sets apart an outstanding planner, from an average one? And then how do you continuously, kind of strive to excel in your role as a planner?
Great planners I admire possess the unique ability to combine logic and magic. They delve into rigorous study, research, and strategic thinking, leading them to understanding the business, brand, and the communication problem that needs to be solved. Their strategies are fresh, unexpected, yet deeply logical. However, an outstanding planner’s role doesn’t end there. They also play a vital part in inspiring creative solutions that bring the strategy to life. They can answer ‘what’ needs to be said to solve the problem and inspire the highly creative ‘how’ it should be said. Excellence in planning means being proficient in both aspects of communication. Continuously pushing myself and my team to embrace this dual responsibility allows me to strive for meaningful and outstanding planning results.

Q] Please share an example of a recent campaign where you faced unique challenges, and how your strategic planning helped overcome them?
One of the recent campaigns that comes to mind is the Titan Eye Plus campaign, which was about three to four months ago during the IPL season. The challenge was to create a series of ten-second films that highlighted the different attributes that set Titan Eye Plus apart from other brands. The short duration was a constraint, as clients often require brief assets for social media and digital platforms. The insight for the campaign came from consumers’ buying behavior in the eyewear category. We noticed that people typically buy new spectacles when their existing ones are lost or broken. So, in the ‘Accha Hua’ campaign, we showcased engaging and humorous situations where someone loses or accidentally breaks their eyewear, which becomes an opportunity to upgrade to Titan Eye Plus.

Best Campaigns

• Titan Raga ‘Flaunt Your Flaw’ | Titan Raga ‘Boldly Beautiful’ | Titan ‘For the love of watches’ | Titan Eye Plus ‘Achha Hua’ | Mom’s Magic ‘Iss dil ke age sab ki haar hein’ | Bingo Hashtags | YiPPee! ‘Just Happy? Be YiPPee!

Notable Clients

• Titan | Bingo | Peter England | Allen Solly | Kingfisher | YiPPee! | Amazon | Tanishq | Fastrack | Swiggy | Britannia

Mansi Shah is the Brand Planning & New Business Director at Famous Innovations. She started her career with L&K Saatchi & Saatchi before moving onto FCB and finally settling at Famous where she has been working for over six years now. Starting off as an Account Management person, Shah gradually moved to strategic planning to lead the strategy for some of the biggest brands in the organization, and has also been a part of the Effie jury. In this interview, she talks about the challenges in today’s advertising landscape and how strategic planning helps overcome them.

Q] As an emerging planner, what do you consider to be the most significant challenges you face in today’s advertising landscape?
There are a few key challenges that come to mind. First, there is the issue of working in silos that is prevalent in many agencies. At times, account management, planning, and creative departments operate independently, hindering collaboration. However, at Famous, we prioritize teamwork and strive to work together seamlessly. Second, our agency handles both mainline and Digital businesses, which requires marrying the chaos of the new-age consumer and the Digital landscape with the fundamentals of brand building. This balance is essential but often missing in either traditional agencies or new-age Digital firms.

Furthermore, as brands allocate more marketing budgets to Digital platforms, micro-targeting has become crucial. The challenge is to understand and cater to the fragmented consumer base effectively. Different regions and demographics have diverse behaviors and preferences, making it essential to tailor messaging specifically for each audience. This level of customization poses a constant challenge for planners in today’s dynamic advertising landscape.

Q] How do you balance creativity and innovation while still adhering to clients’ expectations and brand guidelines?
Creativity and innovation thrive within guidelines and boundaries. Without any restrictions, there is no structure for creativity to flourish. The creative solution becomes even more special when it is thoughtfully crafted within the framework of brand guidelines and societal norms. India, as a society, imposes specific guidelines, especially concerning sensitive topics like religion, sex, alcohol, tobacco, and non-vegetarian food. Operating within these constraints and still achieving growth and success for the brand is a true testament to innovative thinking.

Q] Please share an example of a recent campaign where you faced unique challenges, and how your strategic planning helped overcome them?
One particular campaign that stands out is when we were pitching for the American Tourister business last year. The client’s strong objective was to establish the brand as an international one, while also maintaining its fun, young, and colorful personality.

To tackle this challenge, we focused on two key aspects. First, we analyzed the emerging travel culture in the country, where we found that young travelers seek unique and adventurous experiences. With this insight in mind, we developed the tagline ‘Born to Cross the Boundaries’ for the brand. This tagline not only emphasized the brand’s international status but also resonated with the adventurous spirit of the young consumers. The concept was reinforced through our campaign featuring Virat Kohli. By aligning the brand’s international identity with the aspirations of the young, adventurous travelers, our strategic planning helped the campaign connect with the target audience and successfully establish American Tourister as a brand for those who seek new experiences and are not afraid to cross boundaries.

Notable Clients

• Burger King Platinum Guild International
• Unilever
• Pepperfry
• Faces Canada
• Haier
• Livpure
• D’décor
• Tata Salt
• Zoiro
• Thomascook

Noor Samra is the Senior Vice President – Strategy at Leo Burnett India. A trained Ethnographer from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, Samra started her career in market research, helming several international projects. She pivoted to a strategy role thereafter. She has anchored strategy for several marquee clients like PepsiCo foods, P&G brands like Whisper, as well as new-age clients like Spotify and PhonePe. She has authored several cases that have won national and international awards, including Grand Effie (India 2023) and Grand Prix (Cannes 2022). Samra speaks to IMPACT about her planning job, and why it is special for her.

Q] What excites you the most about working as a planner in the creative agency, and how do you maintain your passion for the industry?
Being able to process vast amount of informaon and simplifying it into a brief for the creative that’s also exciting enough. I like to think of planners as human calculators. We can crunch the information (both qualitative and quantitative) to provide a viable solution.

Q] How do you balance creativity and innovation while still adhering to clients’ expectations and brand guidelines?
At Burnett, this is the way we think – any act or creative solution we think of has to be in line with the business and category. The point is to find a big problem or data around your business and brand, and then solve it in the most interesting manner. It’s become muscle memory now to balance creativity and innovation while delivering client’s expectations.

Q] As an emerging planner, what do you consider to be the most significant challenges that you face in today’s advertising landscape?
It has to be keeping pace with changing technology and the digital ecosystem. It’s a challenge but an exciting one. You have to constantly keep up with what’s happening around you or you’ll become irrelevant/ extinct.

Q] With the rapid evolution of technology and media, how do you stay updated with the latest trends and ensure your strategies remain relevant?
At Burnett we set high standards for ourselves. We compete at the global level, and keep up with global benchmarks, for each brief, on each brand. This helps us not just to stay relevant but ahead in the game.

Q. What sets apart an outstanding planner from an average one, and how do you continuously strive to excel in your role?
This is something I’ve learnt at Burnett. I try to do the planning in service of a great creative product. Fact of the matter is we are in the creative industry, and our product is creative work. We need to always be mindful of that. Sometimes planners tend to take themselves too seriously and forget this.

Q] Looking ahead, how do you envision the role of planners evolving in the next few years, and what skills do you believe will be essential for future success in the industry?
Hopefully Planners will become even more essential to solving business problems, provided they gain a deeper understanding of new-age platforms where consumers will be spending more time.

Notable Clients

• PepsiCo Foods
• Spotify
• P&G – Whisper
• PhonePe

Other Interests

• Noor is a fitness enthusiast and loves a good book on behavioral economics and sociology.

Radhika Burman is the Vice President, Head – Delhi at BBH India. With over 13 years of experience in strategic planning, Burman now leads the BBH Delhi office and is Sr. Vice President, Head of Delhi. Prior to this role, she was VP – Planning at BBH, before which she has had a few stints across agencies – Dentsu, JWT, and FCB, and on the client side with Platinum Guild.

Q] What excites you the most about working as a planner in the creative agency, and how do you maintain your passion for the industry?
The thrill of working across multiple brands in multiple categories, helping our client partners solve real business challenges through actionable insights, experiencing the impact of a piece of creative work and hearing a response of positive sentiment from a consumer is what keeps us planners motivated.
For me, spending time with client partners and colleagues and learning something new every day (positive or negative), and being stubbornly optimistic gets me going.

Q] As an emerging planner, what do you consider to be some of the most significant challenges that you face in today’s advertising landscape?
Keeping up with the newest technologies and platforms is certainly the biggest challenge, purely because of the pace at which they are constantly changing. Often in the rigmarole of everyday briefs and client engagements, we are unable to put in the time to learn, and planning is a constant endeavour to learn.

Q] Please share an example of a recent campaign where you faced unique challenges, and how your strategic planning helped overcome them?
Recently we had to reposition and build a new compelling narrative for a leading and popular omni-channel jewellery brand. In a category with many large and established players, all with deep pockets, the challenge was to build distinction and reframe the existing jewellery purchase and gifting narrative. In the jewellery category of India, brands try to build newness through new and unseen portrayals of relationships and gifting. However, in a category and landscape over-indexed on expressing emotions, we decided to focus on expression rather than emotion.

Q] Looking ahead, how do you see the role of planners evolving in the next few years, and what skills do you believe will be essential for future success in the industry?
Despite the changing environment, the heart of planning will always lie in ideas. We are in the business of ideas and keeping them simple, logical, free of jargon will continue to remain the strength that planners bring to the table. It is important to stay single-minded, breaking down any challenge that comes to its simplest form will be key to success.

Awards & Achievements

• Part of the Effie jury
• An active member of the Publicis POSH committee
• Leads a team and branch of 30 people across account management, creative and planning
• Managing a dual role of business lead & planning lead on all Delhi businesses.

Best Campaigns

• Caratlane - #KhulKeKaroExpress & First Salary
• TimesPrime - #NoTimesPrimeIsACrime & Mighty Membership - First AI campaign
• Oppo Reno 10 Series with Rajamoulli
• Nescafe Sunrise New Recipe launch
• Ecolink (Signify/Philips) with Pankaj Tripathi

Sabiha Khan is the Head of Strategy – Digital Experience at Dentsu Creative India. She is a seasoned Digital marketing expert with a career spanning over 14 years. With an eye for design in the chaotic landscape of the internet, she has guided numerous brands and teams through uncharted territories, witnessing the evolution of social media from its early days to its ever-evolving form. Throughout her career, Khan has worn many hats, both on the client and agency sides in the industry. She has worked with over 150 brands and garnered an impressive collection of 50+ awards.

Q] What excites you the most about working as a planner in the creative agency, and how do you maintain your passion for the industry?
What excites me the most about working as a planner in the creative agency is the fusion of my knowledge and experience in business strategy, operations, and the agency world. Being able to bring the best of these realms to the table is truly invigorating. As a planner, the art of observing and noticing in today’s noisy world is another aspect that excites me. I strive to stay sharp and keep hitting nano pauses to make sense of everything around me and apply those insights to business and brands. To maintain my passion, I embrace being a jack of many trades. I observe people, pick up on accents and behaviors, and enjoy mimicking them. Engaging in various experiences like cooking, carpentry, cartoons, keeps my enthusiasm alive and helps me feel comfortable in different situations.

Q] How do you balance creativity and innovation while still adhering to clients’ expectations and brand guidelines?
I firmly believe that thinking inside the box is even harder in today’s world than thinking outside the box. While creativity and innovation are important, clients want assurance that their brand’s success is the top priority, not just awards or agency success. Balancing creativity involves joining the dots right and focusing on the brand’s success. I approach advertising objectively, looking for possible gaps and considering business outcomes. Sometimes, this leads to disagreements with the creative team, but I believe it’s essential to assure the client that their brand’s best interest is at heart.

Q] Please share an example of a recent campaign where you faced unique challenges, and how your strategic planning helped overcome them?
In June this year, we worked on a campaign for SBI Life Insurance with the philosophy ‘Apne liye, apno ke liye’. The challenge was to address societal issue of promise fulfillment when it comes to self. In collective societies like India, people often prioritize fulfilling promises to their family and loved ones, but struggle with doing the same for themselves.

To tackle this challenge, we launched the ‘India ka passion pledge’ campaign, encouraging people to take a pledge towards fulfilling their own aspirations while also caring for their loved ones’ financial needs. We created a custom-built platform using generative AI, where people could personalise their pledges. To motivate participation, we added social currency by associating it with a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest number of fashion pledges taken in 24 hours.
Through strategic planning and positive social cues, we have successfully inspired people to take the pledge for themselves, leading to the achievement of the Guinness World Record. This campaign helped change behaviours and promoted the philosophy of doing things for oneself alongside doing things for family and loved ones.

Notable Clients

• Godrej Appliances
• Bridgestone
• Bestseller Group
• Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
• Marks & Spencer
• SBI Life Insurance
• Tata Motors

Other Interests

• Carpentry
• Fondness for Legos
• Up-cycling tires
• Undying love for cats