The first year of St Luke's in India has been nothing short of eventful. Even before the agency could complete six months came the news that Andy Law, the moving spirit behind the London-based agency and the man who was deeply involved with the agency's operations in Mumbai, has quit. Along with it the speculation that the India operations might just decide to throw in its weight with Law and his deputy at St Luke's, Kate Stanners. It took St Luke's in India some time to put the talk behind and prove it was business as usual as it picked up valuable business in the form of ITC, Bombay Dyeing, Godrej, NDTV, Dabur, BPCL and British Gas. Then, just as it was stablising operations in the country, came the news in November 2003 that its creative team has decided to call it quits en masse. But Praveen Kenneth, the 30-something managing director at St Luke's, believes in looking ahead. "Of the few who left with tantrums some were my favourites and they are good, but am sad that they have a bit of a wrong attitude," he told agencyfaqs!. In this interview, Kenneth encapsulates the experiences of the last 15 months and the road ahead for St Luke's in India.

Q. St Luke's has completed just over a year in India. Encapsulate the experience of being a one-year-old agency. Is the agency on track, growth-wise?

A. It's been a tough walk to where we are today. Especially when we look back and realise that we are a 42-member team today with blue chip client partners like ITC, Bombay Dyeing, Godrej, NDTV, Dabur, BPCL, British Gas to name a few and some more to be announced in the coming weeks. And considering that 15 months back all we had was a signed JV document with St.Luke's London … no office, no client, no people, no vision statement ... just the reality that we had to build a company in India, inspired by a global cult brand.

In all honesty, we didn't expect ourselves to get to where we are, with a client list as it stands today. It's been a pleasant surprise to each one of us at St Luke's and it's unbelievable the kind of warmth and support we got from both the existing clients and the prospective clients we have interacted with.

It's been 15 months of absolute grind. Tough, but good.

Q. But then what prompted you to leave a network such as Publicis - which gave you the opportunity to work on large, globally aligned businesses in India - in favour of a medium-sized network that few outside the advertising fraternity had heard of?

A. The St Luke's brand has an unbelievable equity among the globally aware Indian marketing and advertising fraternity. It gave us a definitive reason to exist, as the agency's success is being built on primarily being a client partner and not just a great creative company. We didn't have to really spell, pronounce, explain or hard sell the concept or the company. Yes, we had to assure the clients that the Indian operations had the ability to deliver goods, like we do worldwide. And we worked hard on building and strengthening that belief.

Regarding my reason to quit Publicis, being the youngest CEO in the Publicis Groupe Worldwide was a wonderful experience; it gave me a long rope, it opened a new world window for me. Inadvertently, my international experiences and exposure to global advertising practices sowed the seed of a unique agency idea for the Indian marketplace. Which is where the immensely challenging St Luke's plan to build an Asia Pacific hub out of India and Singapore looked very appetising. Somewhere within me I have always wanted to figure out what I am really capable off. This was the beginning.

Q. Following the departure of Andy Law - who was instrumental in setting up St Luke's in India - there was speculation that you (or the local unit) might join Law when he sets up an independent agency. What are the options before you at that time and what urged you to stay on?

A. Andy has been a great friend and continues to be so. I believe that he is a man ahead of his times, a real speedster. What he created and left behind at St Luke's continues to thrive and win new clients. His fundamental philosophy of being true client business partners - as opposed to being creative suppliers - continues to work wonders for our clients and its success is apparent in our growth.

Q. Now that Law is no longer on board, how have things changed at the agency at the global level? How has that impacted St Luke's in India?

A. Nothing is etched in stone at St Luke's. But the DNA of being a complete creative solutions company stays constant. It's our clients business that we focus on and it's our responsibility to put in the best practices both from global and local learnings to make our client's brands successful. Our London office is in constant interaction with the team here to ensure the best practices are shared in the system that can energise our learning curve on each of our client brands. Every change will be to ensure betterment of output to the clients … and so we go on.

Q. How would you define the character and competitive advantage that St Luke's brings?

A. We live under our clients skin. We have had the good fortune of acquiring a set of brands giving us the opportunity of working as brand consultants with each of them, partnering them on issues of marketing and other niggles that plague a brand, much more than just advertising. (I guess that explains why we don't rush our clients to release full-page, all-edition ads). We make it our true daily responsibility in owning our clients' interest and working alongside them to build strong brand franchises and in the long run build enduring brands and consumer relationships, which will only ensure our success.

Q. Tell us something about the kind of team that you have in place, especially in the light of the departures you recently had?

A. Anil Nair, who is head of the overall operations at St Luke's, brings in leadership in the form of brand ownership. We are blessed to have Sandhya and one more Anil Nair driving our planning team. That's been one of our key growth engines. We have two creative groups headed by Anand Tahilramani and Satish Kirodian along with Sanjay Sagar and Ram V - each supported by a team of young mavericks to create magic. Collectively, this team brings in a unique mix of experience and enthusiasm. Let me remind you that each of our clients have experienced or are in working relationships on other brands with at least one of the top 4 agencies. So we need to work that much harder to gain their respect and be worthy of their partnership.

Q. St Luke's India was on an aggressive new business drive right after it started, and has picked up quite a few high-profile accounts as well. When do we expect to see work out on these clients?

A. I believe, finite time frames are not enough to judge creative prowess or commitment. Nevertheless, some of our current client assignments are huge business start-ups, international brands, new brand offerings or revitalising long serving brands. But one should check out our released work for Bombay Dyeing, NDTV and British Gas. And yes, I agree in due time the world will need to see more of us.

Q. St Luke's has been a surprise participant in a handful of big-ticket pitches (such as Onida, Asian Paints and Whirlpool) in the past. How did it feel to be locking horns with some of the best agencies in the business? What did it do to agency morale?

A. We must thank Asian Paints, Onida and Whirlpool for where we are as an agency today. They kick-started our drive. They were gracious and courageous enough to call this young agency to share its point of view. What we did win though were friends in each of these clients. And we do hope, one day, we will be worthy of their partnership.

Q. While you have been invited to some big pitches, not all of them have gone in your favour. Do you think big clients are still wary of the capabilities of small agencies?

A. I do think, and more so in the current environment, clients are looking for fresher thinking and active solutions to compete in an extremely tough and competitive marketplace. Not that they didn't demand that 10 years back, they have always demanded fresher perspectives. It's just that, today the client is more willing to look at fresher ideas from outside his or her existing basket of agencies, just like what began the splintering of large agencies in the US in the mid-eighties and the launch of entrepreneur-led agencies like Hal Rainey, Fallon, Weiden and Kennedy.

I really don't think it's the size of the agency that matters today. It's the quality of 'brand ownership' that matters.

Q. You are working with ITC in Kolkata and Dabur in Delhi. Yet, you have not opened offices in the other metros. What is your expansion plans for the agency?

A. We realised early that there was no point in being everywhere and ending nowhere. And more so the above-mentioned client assignments currently require centralised handling and in time we are on course to set up our branch offices.

Q. Where do you see St Luke's in terms of billings and in the pecking order of Indian agencies two years from now?

A. I guess we will know better, when we get there. But we know for sure that we have a long way to go and much good work to do for each of our clients in order to be acknowledged as the finest that the market has to offer. We will walk with faith, the numbers will follow.

January 27, 2004
Mumbai
You can write to Praveen Kenneth at
pkenneth@stlukes.co.in