By PRIYANKA MEHRA
Rohit Ohri donned the role of Group Chairman and CEO of FCB Ulka in January this year, succeeding Nagesh Alai, who moved to a global role after 25 years with FCB in India. With the agency’s new global structure in place, Ohri is also a member of the global operating committee and reports directly to Carter Murray, Global CEO, FCB in New York.
Ohri joined FCB from Dentsu, where he was CEO of Dentsu Asia Pacific and, previously, executive chairman of Dentsu India Group. He has wasted no time in filling up gaps within the agency, the first step being the elevation of Nitin Karkare to CEO of FCB Ulka. The second and integral step was the appointment of a Chief Creative Officer, which is now complete with Swati Bhattacharya coming on board. Talking about Karkare, Ohri says, “My first priority in my new assignment is to ensure that we have the right people in the right leadership roles. Nitin’s passion for advertising, his love for the company, his deep bonds with our clients and, of course, his charming and affable work style make him the right person for the position of CEO, FCB Ulka Advertising. He has an impressive track record of building some of India’s most loved brands. I’m confident that Nitin will lead FCB Ulka to new heights and will be a great partner to me in realizing our vision for the Group.”
Another important area for the new CEO and Chairman was to take a look at the existing dynamics of agency-client relationships and decide whether a change was needed. “I have met our clients and they really think FCB is a great partner. The partnership needs to have a new dimension. It is really critical, but in today’s context, we are talking about what form the partnership needs to take. It is not about one facet of the communication plan but across different parts of the plan,” says Ohri.
He agrees that FCB’s strength in the traditional medium is not replicated in the non-traditional medium, making it necessary to beef up this facet of the organization. However, he still believes that this is a great time for FCB Ulka to reach the next level. “What we will do is take some of the best parts of FCB forward. To me, this is a bigger challenge than starting things anew because when you start something fresh, you can do anything; it is like a blank sheet of paper,” says Ohri.
He likens the agency to a book, with him writing one more chapter. “If you think about it from a story perspective, it is like the first few chapters have been written and now the next chapter could take the story into a completely new direction and a new place. So, that’s what I think is really exciting and something I am looking forward to,” he tells us.
Q & A
Q] Are there any acquisitions on the anvil for FCB Ulka?
Yes, absolutely. We absolutely need a couple of acquisitions. The whole point is to accelerate the pace of change. We will look at an acquisition in the digital activation space. I think everything will start from defining what we want FCB to stand for in India. It’s defined pretty well globally, but in the Indian context, we have to decide what we need to say and everything else will flow from there, like the digital assets.
Q] Are you moving to appoint a Delhi head? FCB Delhi seems under-leveraged and you are also very well connected in Delhi.
We are currently evaluating our options. We have some internal talent and we have some external talent as well. So, we are just looking at what is the best bet for us in Delhi. Obviously, I have very deep connections in Delhi; I have been there for 16 years. I know lots of clients and lots of people there, so I will help the agency. I agree that we have underleveraged the potential of Delhi.
Q] What are the objectives you aim to achieve?
I did not come to the agency with pre-set objectives or plans. One of the things I sincerely feel is that if you are a leader and you are coming to an organization which already has a long legacy, a belief system and a culture, you shouldn’t come in with a plan. You have to organically develop the plan after you speak to the clients and understand what the real challenges are; get a sense of what is ‘unsaid’ in the agency and that I think is the most important thing.
Very often, what is said is for everyone to hear but what is unsaid; the hidden strengths and weaknesses are what you need to understand to know what you want to change. So, the whole thing is really to find the unsaid strengths and weaknesses, which are not really easy for people to see. This should not be superficial either; it has to be fundamental to things that you have to change in the agency. This is what I think would create a new and stronger FCB Ulka, going forward.
Q] What are the ‘unsaid’ things that you are picking up at FCB Ulka?
The fact is that this agency is seeing a leadership change after more than 25 years. And that’s a big thing for an agency being led in a particular manner for so long. To this, add the fact that you have somebody from outside coming in versus somebody who was homegrown in the system. There are challenges here for the leader in terms of quickly demonstrating and understanding the culture, because your actions really talk about what is the culture you believe in and it is very important for me to signal to the agency that I truly believe in what the agency has stood for. What I am doing is not changing everything that the agency stands for; it’s just about building new things on that foundation.
Q] FCB is still viewed as old school by many, also may not be viewed as a great destination for young talent…
Actually, this agency has a lot of talent in it. It’s just that there is a perception about this agency being ‘old school’. For some time, even the agency had started believing this perception and so did the people; it was so strong. This is when actually the problem starts because you start believing it.
The big thing that I need to do is really figure out how to change it. To change that perception there is only one way, which is our work; to have campaigns that people talk about, sit up and notice. The fact is that in the past, FCB has done some fantastic work that has built brands from scratch. You can look at Tata, Amul and Santoor for example. The Santoor campaign has been running for the past two decades.
These are fantastic pieces of work that have been done but people have forgotten them. What I want to do is refresh the heritage, which would invoke pride in working with a fabulous agency with a fabulous heritage and a fabulous future.
‘My immediate priority is improving our creative product’
NITIN KARKARE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FCB ULKA
Nitin Karkare has just been elevated to the position of Chief Executive Officer, FCB Ulka Advertising, from Chief Operating Officer, FCB Ulka - Mumbai & Bengaluru. He has been with FCB Ulka since 1986, when he joined the agency as a management trainee. Over the years at FCB Ulka, he has worked on some of the oldest agency brands like Amul, Zee, Tata Motors, Wipro, ITC, Zodiac and Nerolac. Here, he talks about his immediate priority - improving the agency’s creative product, focus areas as CEO, working towards making the agency a preferred destination for clients and talent.
Q] What are the key areas of focus for you as CEO of FCB Ulka?
FCB Ulka has a strong client and talent base. My key focus is to build on these relationships by adding more value to our clients’ businesses and rewarding our talent by creating growth opportunities.
Q] How are you planning to infuse new energy into the system?
My immediate priority is improving our creative product. With Swati (Bhattacharya) on board as CCO, the opportunity is to bring a new creative energy to everything that we do.
Q] Where do you see FCB Ulka in 2017?
I would like FCB Ulka to be the place where the best talent in the industry would want to work - where the talent creates magical work that delivers for our clients. And we become the preferred agency to work with, not only for our clients but also for our prospects.
‘We have to bring out the true potential of our own people’
SWATI BHATTACHARYA, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, FCB ULKA
Swati Bhattacharya, the brand new Chief Creative Officer at FCB Ulka, started her career as a copy trainee at JWT, where she spent 22 years. In 2011, she was appointed National Creative Director, JWT India. In 2015, Swati set up Dentsu Mama Lab as Principal Partner. As she dons her new role at FCB Ulka, she shares with IMPACT her approach to ‘up’ the FCB quotient, not taking pressure to becoming a messiah and doing everything she can to make her new journey a meaningful one.
Q] What are the immediate steps you will take to ‘up’ the creative quotient of FCB Ulka?
I am extremely excited to have a mentor like Susan Credle (Global Chief Creative Officer, FCB) and one of the things she said to me is that there are three essential elements to build a creative culture: People, Place and Purpose, and once it all comes together, every other business challenge becomes irresistible and delicious. I don’t believe in messiahs, so I am not under any pressure to be one. I believe in meaningful journeys, and I will do everything to make this one meaningful.
Q] Are you looking at hiring creative leaders?
Too early to say that - I am yet to truly assess what we have and what we need vis a vis people.
Q] What is your approach to the new role at FCB Ulka?
I have huge respect for the open, transparent, non-political collaborative and hard-working culture of Ulka. FCB Ulka is a great story built by great people, a story about hard work and courage, a story where there is no one hero and no one villain, a story about keepers and keeping. There is a lot of good work they have done in the past and I think all we have to do is bring out the true potential of our own people and go on a journey that takes us from being good to being brave.
Q] What are the challenges you envisage?
The biggest challenge is about reorienting our mindset… to tell ourselves that we are in the manufacturing business as much as we are a service. We give birth to borderless ideas. Ideas that can be watched on TV, shared on scoop, create a chatter on Facebook, be alive inside a shopping mall or become an app on your phone screen.
Feedback: priyanka.mehra@exchange4media.com
