Endorsing the philosophy of doing the wrong thing to get it right to keep up with the dynamic content needs of today’s youth, Raj Kamble, Founder and CCO, Famous Innovations, talks about his latest venture, Garage Worldwide
Why join the Navy if you can be a Pirate?’ is the question that adorns the entrance outside Garage Worldwide’s office in Mumbai. As the question would suggest, the new agency aims to create content and develop designs that are skittish and do not stick to the script, while working with brands that are ready to experiment with their content and design game. Talking about the agency’s focus areas and what sets it apart from its older sibling, Famous Innovations, Raj Kamble, Founder and CCO, Famous Innovations & Garage Worldwide says, “At Garage, we understand where the youth is going for its content needs, and we won’t shy away from being a little bad-ass if that’s what it takes to solve the client’s problems.”
GARAGE IS THE EVIL TWIN OF FAMOUS INNOVATIONS
After a few months of gestation and working on projects with brands like Baggit, Cipla, Communiti Brewery and Taneira, Garage Worldwide has finally taken off from its beta mode with an 18-member team and without any strings attached to Famous Innovations. Along with Kamble, the leadership team has R Subramaniam as Business Head and Monish Ganesan as Design Head. “Garage is the evil twin of Famous Innovations and it will be more gutsy, raw and experimentative than Famous. At Famous, we have always believed in doing what’s right for the brand, but in today’s day and age, we believe that brands should sometimes do the wrong thing instead. With a young, spirited team at the helm of the agency, we are looking for brands that have an appetite for the new and unseen,” says Kamble.
ANYONE WHO SAYS ‘I KNOW DIGITAL’
IS KIDDING With digital at the heart of its business, both Famous and Garage refrain from using the term as it is subconsciously integrated within the functioning of both teams. “We have digital thinkers naturally integrated in the Famous team as well, and we never thought of adding the tag of ‘digital’ to ourselves as we don’t see it as outside of the mainstream. But, the people we have on board at Garage are true specialists and they should be able to carve their own identity. Famous can think digital, but Garage will live, breathe and do digital, design and content day in and day out. Also, we are most happy to admit that we don’t know everything. In fact, given the dynamism in tech today, anyone who says ‘I know digital’ is kidding himself / herself… because by the time you know something about digital, it has already changed,” Kamble comments.
TOO MUCH DEPENDENCE ON MEDIA BUYING
One of the biggest spokes in the wheel impeding the growth of digital creativity is the medium’s reliance on media buying instead of honing talent within the agency. Talking about the need for ‘a Piyush Pandey in digital advertising’, Kamble looks to raise questions that challenge the present status quo of digital agencies all around. “We’ve been looking at the digital agency ecosystem and asking ourselves a few important questions - Why is there no big and good digital agency that doesn’t depend on media buying? There is a rush to create content every day and flood social media with hashtags or promoted videos, but where are the ideas? Why isn’t there a Piyush Pandey in the digital world? Why isn’t India winning at Cannes in Digital? Good creative talent costs money, but with low retainers and heavy dependence on media buying, it appears that digital agencies are finding themselves unable to invest in sound creative talent,” Kamble states.
SOLVING MARKETING PROBLEMS WITH DESIGN
Kamble believes there is a need for brands to find marketing solutions with the right design, and Garage is dedicated to that cause. “While there are many agencies that are good with design on the aesthetic front, we don’t see many examples of design solving marketing problems strategically. We hope to bring the faculties of strategic problem-solving and fresh big ideas together with the execution capabilities of design, digital and content. The work will be out soon. Let’s wait and watch,” concludes an optimistic Kamble.
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