The kind of people we had when we started out was a bit of a joke.

From an NID undergrad under Mohammed Khan's tutelage to Chairperson & Executive Creative Director, Vyas Giannetti Creative (VGC), Preeti Vyas Giannetti has come a long way in advertising. A way punctuated by nomadic and penury-ridden sojourns in the US and West Africa; a dabbling in cinema graphics for filmmakers Govind Nihalani and Ketan Mehta; and a longish stint with Trikaya Grey under the charismatic Ravi Gupta and Christopher D'Rozario, among other things. In this interview with N. Shatrujeet of agencyfaqs!, Vyas shares some of her thoughts on why communication is a much larger project than advertising, how communication has to be more holistic to be effective, the problem with 360-degree-communication as practiced by most agencies… and VGC's future with alliance partner RK Swamy/BBDO…

Edited Excerpts

During my time at NID, I was once delegated to work with HTA to design a pavilion at a trade fair in Delhi. That was my first brush with advertising. And when it was time for me to start my project, I thought it might be interesting to do it on advertising. Of course, in those days it was a bit radical, as nobody from NID went into advertising - advertising was considered to be 'selling your soul' back then. I, as always, had a very different view on things. I felt advertising was a very professional industry. Anyway, I went back to the same people with whom I had worked before… and by that time, Contract had been formed. And the same individual with whom I had worked before was heading Contract. I was told that I was welcome to do my project, but was also told that it would be a good idea to meet the creative director too.

I hadn't a clue who Mohammed Khan was. I was introduced to this very peculiar-looking man with a funny beard. And to be honest, I was most unimpressed. Of course, the moment I started working with Mohammed, I began to understand what a creative powerhouse he was. Once my project was over, he offered me a job. And I hung on. All in all, I worked with him for about four years. And that's really where I got my grounding.

It was just destiny - I never sought him out or vice versa. I just stumbled onto him.

An important part of my personality - which perhaps some people see and most don't - is that I embrace a much larger arena of life. For me, advertising is just a part of other things. And therefore, to hook off and do a little adventure is very much a part of the scheme of things.

There were many people who felt that I was throwing away a great career. People sat me down and spoke to me, but I didn't listen. And I'm very glad I didn't, because I now know that I will never be able to go back and do something like that. Which is, gallivant around and pretend I had not a care in the world. I learnt things… I learnt about survival, how the world works. The exposure to other countries and cultures and vibrant communities was phenomenal. We are all conditioned to think in one blinkered way - which most people in advertising do. I was exposed to all manner of artistic thought, some of it quite radical. Inventiveness, gumption and resourcefulness… these are things I learnt.

I've always seen communication as a much larger project than advertising. Communication, for me, is any interface that tells you something about a product. One has arbitrarily chosen advertising as the Big Brother. Why? Unfortunately, the whole industry has happened around advertising, and it's become an institution… a holy cow. I never saw it that way. I never bought into this idea, maybe because of my NID background.

I always stayed in touch with other avenues of communication. Things like publication design. Now that is also communication. Then I have done a lot of work in the field of graphic design, exhibition design, corporate identities… I've also worked as a consultant for television software companies. I've directed music videos. Then there is the interactive media - the Internet and the CDROM. And each time, the craft and the parameters may change - after all, a magazine is to be viewed over an hour, while an ad will be viewed for a few seconds, and this would dictate a few things - but the mandate of carrying the brand experience is constant everywhere.

Maybe the response required from a brochure is different from one required from an ad. But the mandate of the brochure is to give the consumer the same brand experience that the ad gives him. Consumers interact with your counter display, your ad, your TV commercial, your hoarding… Now if all of this is at dissonance, so will be your brand character. Therefore, I realized that you needed to approach communication in a holistic manner.

That's it! Why is it 'below-the-line'? What is this imaginary equator that you have drawn? Here is an industry that has created innumerable systems, and multitudes of being are coming in and giving reason for this edifice to continue.

But now, suddenly, everything is in question. The top brass in large agencies have begun understanding what's happening - that the world is changing, and there is a need for a new thinking. So you have terms like '360-degrees communication' taking root. But it's not easy to convert every one of your people into thinking the new way. So while one can buy into 360-degree communication intellectually, the knee-jerk will be 'TVC, three ads, two hoardings'.

All of these things, perhaps… and none of them. Yes, Trikaya had become very 'Grey'. It had willingly abandoned the mandate of being a strategic creative agency - wanting to be yet another 'billing agency'. Beyond that, I had grown and matured a lot in terms of how I saw communication. There were not too many people within Trikaya who understood what I was talking about. I felt very uni-dimensional. I wanted to step out and do something that I believed in.

I started this company in '97 knowing that the business had to be structured differently. I knew I did not want to get into media because it coloured your thinking, your recommendations. I wanted to approach communication holistically. We still don't want to get into media. Of course, we now have an alliance partner (RK Swamy/BBDO), and if a client chooses to do media, we will work with them.

Somewhere down the line, we realized that it was important to offer our clients certain services that larger agencies offered. Even as we realized this, we were approached by several larger agencies to buy into us. It was very flattering, but I was not very keen on this as I felt it was still early in the life of VGC. However, with RK Swamy/BBDO, there was no pressure from either side. We did a 'trial' number for a year or so. We were very comfortable with each other.

Yes, we are very different in our profiles, but they are very sound in their strategies. As perceptions go, VGC will always be seen as the more creative outfit, while RK Swamy will be seen as the more strategy-oriented - and all the other perceptions that go with 'big'. It's a best-of-both-the-worlds scenario when we come together. Without upsetting any of the individual talents.

We vibe very well. But it's not as if two entities necessarily need to merge. I don't think either of us is looking at that option. We collaborate on projects. For instance, if client A out of Bangalore needs us, but is also looking at servicing issues - we only have an outfit here in Mumbai - we would be able to use our alliance partner. We have worked together for Aiwa, Zenith… and there are other projects in the pipeline. What they offer is media, infrastructural support and research. And we could actually get involved in the international network too - not that we have, as yet. All this can be selectively passed on to our clients. Likewise, their clients may seek to augment their communication through us.

No. We would not provide creative support to their existing clients. We are looking at fresh businesses where VGC and RK Swamy can pitch together - businesses that would not come to us if we were alone or to them if they were. Businesses that see this alliance as a viable proposition.

I think VGC's approach is holistic because of what I bring to the table. It's not as if I have simply added on departments. The edge that VGC has is that the founder of the place has herself worked on all these disciplines. Today, I can equally sit down and write a TVC as I can paginate for a publication as I can direct a music video. My maverick background has helped me get a 360-degree exposure. And it is a genuine 360-degree exposure that gets passed on to the client. When I recommend a holistic plan, you can rest assured that I have personal experience in each of these. The way I approach projects will be vastly different from the way they would be approached by a regular agency.

A regular agency will instinctively think, 'Three ads, one TVC, two hoardings.' I am saying so because I know - I have been a part of that world, and everybody I get to work here comes from that part of town. It takes a while to break down that way of thinking.

Who doesn't see us as hot? Yes, we are seen as 'small', and we have to battle that. Where it gets most pronounced is when we want to hire people. And client servicing will never see VGC as hot a proposition as, say, an out-and-out multinational. But even that is changing. The kind of people we now attract is different from the kind we once had - the kind of people we had when we started out was a bit of a joke. But it's a process.

But I don't think anybody sees VGC as non-creative. You need to look not at what agencies think. Ask clients. Don't ask the industry - that's the wrong end of the stick. Agencies always pull you down. The agencies that had lined up to buy us were from the Top Five. They understood the value, yet no agency is going to give us credit for what we do.

We are not seen as Establishment, and we cannot be. We are seen as a bit of an upstart agency.

Yes, in pitches, we're seen in the league of Contract, McCann, SSC&B and O&M. So there's this feeling, 'Where did these guys come from?' What they need to do is get into the head of the client to figure out where we came from. Because, we are talking the language clients understand. Clients like ITC, who work with the Top Five agencies, have come to us. Why? Because we don't give them the same old pat answers. People in large agencies say they think out-of-the-box. But I'm afraid they aren't even taking a peep out of it.

In the age of recession, we are being seen as an alternative that brings a fresh perspective to communication.

The trajectory that we've started off in is certainly healthy. If the alliance (with RK Swamy) works out well, we will be seen as the Brave New Venture in communication. We are very much in step with the changing demands of the communication industry. Yes, there will be perception problems to deal with. But we'll also have many more case studies to show how our approach is working.

I have no idea about billing, and I don't want to hazard a guess. But I do see us creating benchmarks in communication.