Awards help answer "How good is good?"

afaqs! caught up with Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer, Leo Burnett Worldwide and Arvind Sharma, chairman and chief executive officer, Indian subcontinent, Leo Burnett, in Pops' award-laden cabin, and discussed the potential risk of having an awards trophy as the carrot at the end of the stick, the need to create 'human brands' and 'social ideas', and lots more. Excerpts:

afaqs!: Leo Burnett is one of the most awarded agencies in India and overseas. While that's good, isn't an excessive skew towards awards a risky thing? How do you feel knowing it's probably the Cannes trophy that motivates the young CD (creative director) in the next room and not the need to move the clients' products off the shelf?

And frankly, clients are people too; they, like us, like to feel good. If they're growing at 8 per cent are they doing well? If they're growing at 12 per cent are they doing well? Is 20 per cent good? Awards help answer the question "How good is good?"

An auto company that doesn't have forward-looking prototypes to display at the Auto Expo or an electronics company that doesn't give you an exciting view of the products it has in store for the future, will not last for very long. For agencies, award shows are equivalent to Auto Expos and electronics shows. Agencies that can't excite their clients with their best work at award shows, don't deserve to be there. And as far as awards being the prime motivator for young creative guys is concerned, well, that's a matter of managing the culture within the agency.

afaqs!: Mark, you've maintained that the latest wave of media is not social; rather, ideas are social. What's the best way to go about ideating for the digital medium -- think digital or think creative and tweak the core thought across different media, including digital?

afaqs!: You have always laid emphasis on 'human brands' above all else. Is associating the brand with a social cause one of the quickest ways to up a brand's 'human quotient'?

Tutssel: Well, all brands have to give back to society in some way. Brands that are driven by human purpose create meaning in consumers' lives. And a brand purpose is not a disposable, propositional thing. It's about what the brand believes in.

afaqs!: Doesn't this extended mandate across geographies spread Pops, Leo Burnett India's precious creative property, too thin?

Sharma: In truth, Pops has been playing this role for the past two-three years anyway, so not a lot changes for him. He has been a great nurturer of talent and this move is a testimony to that. For the past year or so he has been pushing me very hard, saying, "Arvind, I need some elbow room to push harder in branded content, mobile, participative platforms and new media." So Pops is impatient to take the agency into the new age. Passing on the India responsibilities to Nitesh (Tiwari, the agency's newly promoted chief creative officer in India) gives Pops some mind space to accelerate that change.

Tutssel: Pops is a national treasure. At his very core, Pops is a teacher. He loves to develop talent. Look at Aggie (Agnello Dias) and Santosh (Padhi) at Taproot -- both schooled at the 'Pops Academy'. Pops has the mental capacity to amplify his talent across the sub-region; and doing so is vital to Leo Burnett. I believe in creativity without borders.