Saurabh Varma is never to be found in his cabin at the Leo Burnett office, Mumbai. That’s because he prefers to sit with his colleagues in the open office, shifting his laptop from one place to another as and when required. He is also to be found in the uber cool replica of a Starbucks coffee shop within the office, ideating and working out of it. Varma came on board with the ‘change everything’ agenda and remaining in a perpetual state of change to be at the centre of a constantly evolving industry. Two years later, his philosophy seems to have paid off, with Leo Burnett churning out some brilliant campaigns such as Apni Dukaan for Amazon, Memories for Life for HDFC Life, Bajaj V the Invincible with scrap from INS Vikrant for Bajaj, OLX Dastaan for OLX and so on. Varma says he is only midway to his other goal – of being counted among the top 5 creative agencies of the world – and has to scale up in a hurry with a July 2017 deadline. In a freewheeling chat with IMPACT, he talks of his new South Asia role, winning the right kind of business, bringing in a breath of fresh air at the workplace, creating the right culture, talent philosophy, priorities going forward and more…
Q] A little more than two years down the line since you took charge, how do you assess the progress on what you set out to do at Leo Burnett India?
We still have a lot of work to do. We put together a very bold ambition two years back, and we made some significant progress on many fronts, but the ambition is really big, and it has an end date, which is July 2017. From the perspective of the 3Ps- on the people front, a lot of our teams are now coming into their own. We have prototypes getting built on a daily basis. There is alignment on the shared vision and the shared purpose. Everybody will tell you that we want to be amongst the top 5 creative agencies in the world. And everybody is finding ways to get there. So, on a daily basis, we are experimenting, trying new things. We are re-modelling the agency, and we have as many successes as we have failures. In these two years, we have managed to put out work which clearly defines what we have been trying to accomplish so far. Whether it is OLX, or our latest experiment on HDFC Life where we built a digital platform of memories, or Bajaj Vikrant… There is a lot to celebrate but the destination is very far away and we need to travel a lot as an agency at the moment.
Q] Your aim is to be counted among the top 4-5 creative agencies in the world. So, how far are you from there, say on a scale of 1 to 10?
If you ask Raj and me where we are in the journey, I think we would be at 5.5 or 6, which essentially means we have very little time left to create a complete transformation. We are very happy about the building blocks but from here on, we need to scale up in a massive way. We now know what’s working for us. We know what’s also not working for us. And from this moment on, it’s all about scaling up.
Q] So can you tell us what’s working for you and what’s not working?
What’s working is the hiring of young talent who know our new destination, and the experiments we have done around the composition of teams. For example, having an editor as part of every creative team has started making a big difference to output. What’s also working is the dismantling of this copywriter, art director kind of a focus and making sure that the strategists are not sitting and writing briefs, they are ideating and solving problems. What’s working is our ability to solve problems, not just take ideas, and the exposure that we have given our young teams across the world along with creating international benchmarks. What’s working is the integrated account management structures that we have created, and our model called ‘Play’. We are documenting them, learning from our experiences, and like I said it’s now about just scaling it up. Actually, we never really think of things not working. For us, it’s about trying things continuously, and learning from them as we move forward.
Q] What is different about Leo Burnett India now compared to what it was two years earlier?
We put together a very clear mandate of the kind of work we want to do as compared to the kind of work we did in the past. It’s easy for me to say that we have changed, but it’s for the world to acknowledge whether we have really made the change or not. Our purpose is very sharp. We speak the same language - Raj, me and the entire leadership team. And that’s half the battle won.
Q] How ingrained is the agency’s ‘Humankind’ factor within the people here, considering that one of your main aims was to put it into practice in a big way for all your clients? How does it reflect in the work?
Like we keep saying, culture eats strategy for breakfast. Our biggest challenge is not a great strategy but how do you really create culture. A lot of our work is humankind by default. When you look at the work on Bajaj V, it’s the sense of pride which Indians have have about INS Vikrant and now the fact that everybody can own a little bit of this pride. That’s humankind work for us. If you look at our OLX work, and the ‘Daastaan’ experiment which is for the first time opening up channels across India and Pakistan, that’s humankind work. At the same time, the humankind work needs to have a business logic behind it, and I think that’s what we are driving. We are focused not on consumers but people. We are focused not on positioning, but purpose and participation, not ads. The next step is populism, where your work becomes part of popular culture. And that’s happening for us and our brands. We are in that perfect slot at the moment where we have the ability to define the new-age narrative.
Q] Now that you have the South Asia mandate - how is Leo Burnett progressing in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh? How much of give and take is there between the agencies there and in India?
We are working together on a daily basis. We just finished a three-day humankind workshop in Sri Lanka where Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka were together. Now, we have a new business training workshop where Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India are coming together to figure out how we are going to approach pitches in this new age. There are a lot of new-age training programmes. And I think we are one of the best network agencies and people in Burnett genuinely want to help each other; and that’s the kind of culture that we have created.
Q] How has the progress been on the new business front? Percentage-wise, what would be the split between new business and organic growth?
Our new business is very well documented… according to the R3 report, we are the No. 2 agency in terms of new business wins in the country in 2014. In 2015, we were the No. 3 agency in the country in terms of new business. What we have managed to ensure is the quality of new business that we are winning, not quantity. We are winning businesses where we are able to create an integrated offering, whether it is through shopper marketing or experiential, or through the Indigo practice which is part of our mandate. Putting all of that together is what creates the new model for us, and that’s really successful.
Q] Around the time you took over, the APAC leadership of Leo Burnett had stated that they expected India revenues to double in the next three years. Can you give us an idea of the revenue growth that has happened so far?
In two years, we are one of the fastest growing agencies within the Leo Burnett network, and one of the fastest growing agencies in India. We have had our best year ever in 2015.
Q] The last time we spoke, you had said that on your wish list was landing a Telecom, a two-wheeler and a fourwheeler client. Now, you won the Bajaj Discover account back and promptly delivered a great piece of work. Do you expect Bajaj to consolidate all brands with Leo Burnett?
They are a really big client, and what we can do is just focus on great work as an agency. And then, like they say, not focus on the results. We have to get Bajaj great success in the market-place. That’s our objective. And I think if we deliver this for them, the results will come.
Q] Do take us through the Bajaj V work. How did the idea come about? How was it put into action?
Fourteen months back, we built a prototype and presented it to Bajaj. Obviously the prototype was about the problem, the solution and the impact that it would have in the marketplace. Bajaj got very excited with the prototype. Post that we went ahead and bought the scrap. Then Bajaj took the time to figure out what they wanted to do with the prototype. Our original prototype was about a limited edition launch. Bajaj of course thought of it big scale. After 2001, when they launched Pulsar, this is their next big launch after a gap of 15 years. They have created a new bike, out of the idea and on the 26th of January we launched it.
Q] Take us through work in the other agencies, Orchard for instance. How would you assess its performance on an overall basis?
Orchard is an incredible agency at the moment. One of the largest clients in India, Amazon, is part of Orchard. And Orchard has an incredible team both in Bangalore and in Mumbai.
Q] What are your immediate plans?
You will see the re-launch of Orchard in the next few weeks, with a very clear point of view on what it stands for and the role it plays in our portfolio. We all know that it is the challenger agency, but the exact definition of that has been now put in place.
Q] Tell us about the developments at Indigo.
We are blessed to have Indigo Consulting. Just in the Mumbai team, you will see more than 90 technology people, out of the total team of 170-180 people. So it’s essentially a build agency, with its own usability lab, the fact that we have information architects, depth of mobile capability, best in class people, the depth of offering across different verticals is what makes Indigo a fantastic operation.
Q] And how are you looking at Black Pencil? What are your plans?
Currently, we honestly are not clear about the Black Pencil offering. We will need to find a way to figure out what this really means in our portfolio.
Q] You have done some excellent work for Amazon, HDFC Life, Bajaj, OLX, etc. of late. Would you like to be in your colleague Mark Tutssel’s shoes for a minute and predict what the agency’s winning chances are at Cannes?
Honestly we don’t know and Cannes is, you don’t know what works at Cannes. There will be 50,000 pieces of work at Cannes. And anybody who puts up any piece of work, believes they have a chance.
Q] How do you rate the performance of your creative team?
I have never separated my performance from Raj’s performance. We are partners, and we are on a journey together. So, my performance is equal to his performance and his performance is equal to my performance. It’s a true partnership. The work is there on the table for everybody to see, and we are very proud of it. We have a clear road map and a bunch of people who are committed to it. We have a huge number of young people who want to join us because they believe that this is the future. And we are in a really sweet spot. A lot of it has to do with Raj’s leadership, his passion, his commitment and his energy.
Q] What’s happening within the organization in terms of nurturing talent?
We are launching a new unit called ‘Apollo 11’, which is a team of young people. That team is comprised of young people who solve the client’s problems. The composition of this team is quite unique, so there are three people from MICA, two from IIT, three from Film School, and there are 2-3 people from NIIT, besides 3-4 very young talented creative people - none of them over 25 years of age. They will be focused on finding solutions to client’s problems and building prototypes 24/7; it’s like an innovation lab for us.
Q] When is this new unit Apollo 11 going to be launched?
We are not going to have a formal launch. It’s already in the works. We are already putting the team together, it’s already working. A lot of our success in the future we are betting will come from this unit itself becoming a force. It’s a small unit of 15 people but it will grow.
Q] What are the challenges you face in running Leo Burnett India, in growing the business in India?
The challenge is status quo and the ecosystem which celebrates status quo. While we are excited about change, the status quo does not want to change.
Q] What are your top three priorities going forward?
Priority No. 1 is launching the content piece. We are putting together a game plan on the entire content piece. We are also interested in the content distribution and analytics part of the business. Second, we are going to make a big move on the digital front in Delhi. We already have a large Indigo operation in Mumbai. Delhi is getting scaled up as we speak, so that remains a priority for us in 2016. The third big priority is to continue to do great work on brands which defines new age, leadership, and the new narrative.
Q] What would be some of your favorite pieces of creative work from India and around the world that you have noticed in the last one year?
I love the work done by Publicis on Khali. I think that’s really fresh interesting piece of work. It compliments to Bobby and his team for that work. Lowe continuous to do from good solid work across their brands. BBDO in India continues to create great work like Ariel - Share the Load. The Fevicol work done by Ogilvy is brilliant. Globally I think the Jeep work is outstanding work this year. Some grand experiments like what BBDO in Hong Kong and Thailand have done with the motorcycle killing osquitoes is fantastic work. What we have done for Airbnb – is to take Vincent Van Gogh’s painting and make a room out of it. It’s fantastic work for people to experience. I am looking forward to Cannes this year to see all of that work put together as a package.
Q] Let’s talk of reverse mentoring. What is one thing that you would have learnt or picked up from a younger colleague in the course of your career?
We are learning everyday from young kids, and they are the digital natives and just do things which come to them so intuitively which is not the case with all of us. Over time, I have had some fantastic young guys who I have bribed with wine and cigars and good scotch to just learn from them on a continuous basis. They know who they are but they spend an extraordinary amount of time teaching me and keeping me abreast of things happening around the world. A whole bunch of people do that personally for me and I enjoy it very much. It keeps me on the edge - could be the latest Twitter campaign or the best way to use Instagram, or some cultural fuel which has been published which I have not heard about, it could be all kinds of things.
Q] Do you interact with people on a daily basis? Spend time with young colleagues, talking to them…
That’s the reason I don’t sit in a cabin. I sit outside because I can be part of the team. We are not a hierarchical organization, rather we roll up our sleeves and get the work done. So Raj sits in one end of the office, and I sit on another end. My table is probably the smallest table in the office, and I am fine with that. My management style is exactly that - management by wandering about, so I walk around the office all the time and we have a whole bunch of meetings, some formal, many informal, and that’s how work gets created. I speak to most of my clients on a weekly basis to figure out what’s happening. The only thing that matters for us is the work. Keeping the space dynamic is a very critical thing and every three months, we break the office in some way and start building it again. Not the whole office, but some part of it. The future is about the socialization of ideas. We need people to sit together and in an informal way, create great work. They need to be serious about the work but not about the process. The whole office is really becoming like a coffee shop, and that’s by intent. To improve the creative product every month-and-a-half, Raj runs what is called ‘The Fight Club’, where he invites all the creative leadership and some of the young innovative creators. They get into a room and put forward work which they believe is great, and they are brutal with each other in that room. ‘The Fight Club’ is really our method of improving work and benchmarking them, the work against what we call the Global Product Committee scale. Almost every piece of work is measured by this. ‘The Fight Club’ is not just about the work that has happened, but about the new prototype built for clients and the quality of the problems that we are solving. So, that’s again a fantastic initiative, and all these things put together are creating success, and also bringing in energies. If you walk into the office, you feel the energy, you know people are creating, challenging status quo and that’s where our future lies.
Q] Is it any different working with the e-commerce and digital companies – the new age clients per se - and dealing with them on a regular basis? Decisions have to be taken fast and work moves that much faster.
The biggest companies are as dynamic as the new ones. So do not underestimate the power of large companies because they are transforming at the same pace as a creation of new companies. I think it is the need of the hour and anybody who hopes to survive will need speed, dynamism, innovation and they will want to work with a bunch of people who have the hunger to disrupt. If you really look at some of the largest organizations in the country, they are now being manned by some really young dynamic talent who are gogetters and want to make things happen.
Q] Talking about the industry overall, do you think there is a need for change in the way the entire advertising industry works?
That’s the whole reason why we are doing what we are doing. But it’s not just us. Everybody is pushing in that direction. Why would somebody like Abhijit Awasthi leave and start his own firm? Why would he do that? It’s because somewhere down the line, there is a belief that the opportunity is more than just creating television films. There is a belief amongst many people that the opportunity is to redefine what we call the product. I don’t see any reason why we cannot own our own content pieces as an advertising agency. Sooner or later advertising agencies will get there.
