“The term ‘chairman’ has no significance for me”

He is in the eye of the storm yet again. In light of his movie-making debut and the more recent IPG sale proceeds issue that has surrounded Lowe, R Balakrishnan, national creative director, Lowe India, has become quite a popular figure with the media. Try as he might to sound nonchalant, there’s no mistaking the discontentment and resentment that he feels over the way the situation has been handled.

Balki has never made any attempt to hide his love for Bollywood and cricket, a love that has endured from before his entry into the world of advertising with Mudra Communications. But overriding that is his passion for advertising, which he says has only grown after more than 10 years at Lowe. He still believes in doing his utmost to provide the most effective creative solutions to his clients.

However, the adman is probably thinking beyond client briefs and insights right now. Here’s Balki on Prem Mehta and his current state of mind, in a candid conversation with Prajjal Saha and Devina Joshi of agencyfaqs!...

Edited Excerpts

Firstly, I would disagree that Lowe is a media shy agency. We have been in the eye of controversy several times in the past, too! One can still remember the whole Lowe issue with the Abbys not too long ago. The ad industry doesn’t have many controversies; it could do with some! (Laughs)

However, on the IPG payment matter, things needn’t have turned into a controversy at all, if you ask me. There were matters that should’ve been kept internal, but weren’t. They were discussed openly and without reason. On receiving the proceeds, surely a lot of people here at Lintas are happy. I don’t grudge them that. In fact, such motivational efforts are a benchmark for the entire industry.

But the larger issue looming over all of us is that there are loads of people – deserving people – who were totally left out. So, a certain amount of discontentment and a resultant ruckus was bound to happen; it’s human nature. It was quite insensitive, the way the top manager spoke of things in the media.

Well, I never initiated a conversation with the media at all… I only had to give them an answer on all the points that were raised. No, it is not correct, but once the washing is started, one has to finish it.

Yes, it is about the money, but it is not just about the money, trust me. It’s just that a large chunk of the Lowe employees were just not prepared…they were not briefed in advance about the legalities, which ensured that they weren’t prepared to deal with the blow emotionally, either. They should have been told…morally, more than anything else, it wasn’t correct to keep them in the dark.

Oh, the whole deal was already in execution when I got to know about it. One fine day I was sitting in my cabin when I heard some commotion outside. I stepped out and, on enquiring, one of my boys told me it’s raining money out there. Yes, that’s how I was first intimated about all this. See, I’ll stress this again: Had I been told in advance, I would’ve been prepared. It’s not like I haven’t dealt with adverse situations at Lowe in the past. But all those times, I knew what was coming.

See, the quality of your client’s business is determined by the quality of the people working on it. This wasn’t money that fell from heaven; it was the earnings of a company built by the sweat and blood of its people. You have to safeguard the people of a company, or its worthiness just plummets.

When so much is at stake for people in your company, it isn’t your place to be arrogant. Someone should have had the good sense to break the so-called rules for the sake of the future of the company. It is actually a battle of meritocracy and a stupid law.

There are issues being raised on the way the money was distributed and, trust me, it’s not the creative guys alone who suffered. There were deserving planners and servicing people too, who were ignored.

Yes. Let me explain what I think. A client servicing guy who has toiled for three years and added value to a client’s business should be compensated much more than another who has been around for 20 years and not achieved as much. Look at it this way…IPG didn’t pay Lintas because it has been around for 65 years, did they? They paid it because of what it is today.

Advertising claims to be a people-led business, and this whole issue was a complete breach of that. I have only one objection: Things were not discussed/debated with us. A bunch of senior level people just went ahead and decided what to do. What puzzles and angers me the most is that I don’t know the reason behind this…I only know the reason it shouldn’t have happened. This kind of money changes people’s lives, and it’s sad that simple non-communication is responsible for all this commotion.

But really, I think all that needs to be said, has been said. Sometimes, I really wish all this hadn’t happened at all.

The media didn’t support me or anything; they only stated facts. And I only explained to them what happened, as he (Prem Mehta) had spoken to them. I can say for sure I’m not having a fight with Prem in the media or anything! It’s the stupidity, the absurdity of the whole situation that I’m against.

There are roughly more than 80 people who are consultants with Lintas, who haven’t been given the proceeds. Add to that 12-14 people who are at a very senior level – regional creative directors and business heads, for instance. If you ask me, the first person on the list who deserves her share is Colette Austin, president of our design cell, dCell. Even though she isn’t directly with Lowe the ad agency, she has been adding value to our business for years and years.

Apart from these people, we have several new trainees/junior people who have shown tremendous potential. I promise there will be a programme to resolve all of this, and compensate these people. We won’t let their motivation go for a toss…we will reimburse them in some way, monetarily or otherwise.

Oh, our clients haven’t been affected by all this. They are treating it quite professionally. They know how issues keep cropping up in companies.

Priti’s move has nothing to do with this. She contributed a lot to Lowe’s brands, and is very talented, no doubt. But I guess she had grown to a certain level here and needed to move on. I respect her decision. We must allow our employees to go away at some point. We have suffered a loss of people in the past. We managed then, and we will manage now.

See, as I said before, the terms ‘chairman’, ‘executive chairman’, etc., have no significance for me. In my head, it will be a demotion if I am addressed by these fancy terms. As advertising is an ideas business, I believe that NCD is as high as it gets. It is already a top job. So you can call me what you want, I will always remain an ideas guy. And if you’re talking of the so called ‘additional’ responsibility of management, I can say I know more about management than some of the so-called management guys. It’s really an archaic school of thought that only IIM graduates can run an agency. If creative people aren’t supposed to lead, then Yash Chopra wouldn’t be there, neither would Google or Apple exist.

Thankfully, the old model is slowly dying. This business is about thinking, not about counting money.

Those reports are a wrong interpretation of the situation. I have always been a consultant for as long as I can remember. It is only in my free time that I make movies. What I do with my share of holidays is not anyone else’s business. So, it really isn’t any kind of flexi-job that I’m doing out here at Lowe. None of my work here has suffered because of my films, I can assure you of that.

Firstly, ‘Cheeni Kum’ did well not just with the elite, it did well right across the country, even in states such as Punjab and Haryana, by the way. But, yes, it didn’t do well in parts of UP.

‘Pa’ is a light-hearted comedy that portrays a father-son relationship. I am still in the scripting stage, and yet to finalise the female lead.

Watch ‘Pa’ and you’ll know how different or similar it is to ‘Cheeni Kum’. I write for myself, not for anyone else.

I’ll disagree with you on that. On the contrary, I feel the chemistry is what should be portrayed…it is the ‘wow’ factor. In fact, in ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’, the chemistry between the two Bachchans did the trick. Besides, with the Big B, it’s the script which is woven around the actor and not the other way around! (Laughs)

Oh, the brand was never a part of the film! (Chuckles) The film is set in London, so he could hardly ask for a Kamasutra or something. He goes into a shop and asks for Durex. After the release of the film, Durex decided to brand that scene, and they paid for that shot, launching a TVC in the process. I’m sure they didn’t go too much into the science of Bachchan endorsing it…there was no endorsement as such in any case. ICICI Prudential, too, did something similar, by branding a dialogue between the protagonists on insurance. That wasn’t pre-planned either.

If you ask me, Durex as a brand should never have done that. But it’s okay. Done and over with.

No, I do not have any such plans. As you can see, I am very much at Lowe.

NCD, nothing else!