Rohit Malkani: Navigating the Intersection of Mad Men & Math Men

There’s a caveat I need to state upfront. I am terrible at Math! Always have been and chances are I always will be.

So, now that I’ve got that off my chest, how does the Creative Lead of an agency play the balancing act between Math and Madness? To be honest, I find this a slightly odd question. Because it implies that the two exist in separate silos, and advertising mad men have almost zero accountability. The truth couldn’t be further! All truly great work became great because it worked its way into people’s hearts, and made cash registers ring. People have always worked hard to keep this balance in Advertising.

Having said that, marketing, including advertising today, is filled with more inconstant shades of grey than we care to worry about. Be it cluttered marketplaces, insane attrition and pressure to not just maintain a healthy bottom line but to grow it exponentially. Add to this reduced marketing spends, clients wanting tighter controls on budgets and the rise of in-house shops. The truth is that we’re in a state similar to that relationship tag, ‘it’s complicated!’

There are two large oceans that one needs to navigate smartly to succeed today—the internal ocean or the agency’s business, and the external ocean or client’s business. At L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, creative honchos sit in on every business meeting and P&L discussion for a very pertinent reason. Creativity is at the heart of our business and every decision we make affects our offering. So, ensuring the creative leaders weigh in on each important conversation, only makes for a more informed decision. We’re not very big fans of a ‘never the twain shall meet’ attitude!

When it comes to a client’s business, showing sensitivity to budgets and finding out what keeps the client up at night is not just the right thing, it’s the only thing to do if you want to keep winning. It would be myopic to partner with a client without treating it like it’s your own business. Recently, a client wanted to make a new film, although the previous film was barely used and the client had no strong new news. I was excited at first, but the temptation to run off to make a new film soon gave way to advising him about a smarter way of spending money, while still doing it through us! This is what endears a client to an agency - ownership!

The reality is that clients are seeking tighter control over marketing budgets as their spends get reduced. The days of simply signing off on a campaign or buying programmatically via a ‘black box’ are over. As clients spend restless nights, the hot cake is tossed to the agency (understandably so), who then sometimes make creative compromises to keep the client happy, get the work out quickly, and cash in. On the other hand, there is mounting pressure within the agency to win metal and fame. Winning big needs effort and time, which is not necessarily in abundance when you’re working to fill coffers. The trick lies in picking your battles and being smart about creative opportunities, while consistently delivering on the client’s regular business.

The biggest challenge to our industry right now is relevance. For brand communications to be effective, you need big data insights. Only then will you find there is synergy between content creation and traditional advertising. And while this doesn’t mean you need to turn into a number-crunching geek to succeed, advertising itself is getting more measurable by the day.