Great work comprises simplicity, surprise and a smile.

“India has been a sensory experience for me,” says Keith Reinhard, chairman, DDB Worldwide. “The sights, smells, touch, they all surprised me...” In town to make a presentation on 'Creativity in a Changing World’ to the clients of Mudra and the members of media, Reinhard spoke to Sumita Vaid Dixit of agencyfaqs! on how the outlook towards advertising needs to change in view of the rapidly changing media landscape. He also expressed his confidence in Madhukar Kamath, MD & CEO of Mudra Communications, in elevating the creative standards of Mudra. Excerpts of the interview.

Edited Excerpts

Well, I do not think it is magic. It is actually a commitment that began with the formation DDB, Bill Bernbach's DBB. He revolutionised advertising in the 1960s.

Bill Bernbach revolutionised advertising by saying that consumers are very intelligent and we can engage them with wit, imagination and creativity, instead of beating them into submission. He was my idol.

In 1986, two kinds of advertising agencies began to emerge – the top agencies and the creative boutiques. This left little room for mid-sized agencies. But the interesting part was that none of the big agencies had staked out creativity.

So we put two very creative agencies – BBDO and DDB Needham – together to form Omnicom with the resolve to be the creative member of the emerging Top 2. Then, it was my job within the Omnicom group to create DDB Worldwide. And all I did was to hire those who agreed with Bill Bernbach. Those who didn't, were out.

Not too many. We expanded in Europe, South America and Asia. The way we went about spreading our network was by joining hands with advertising agencies that believed, as we do, that creativity was the most powerful force in advertising.

We did not expect people to observe rules, but yes, there were three aspirations that we expected our managers to embrace. First, are you among the top three creatively ranked agencies in the market? Second, are you doing the most creative work in every business category – whether it's pharmaceuticals or something else? And the third, are you the place where the most creative talents in the market want to work?

The most gratifying aspect about being the number one creative agency is not actually being the number one. Though we take pride in that, what pleases me more is the number of contributing DDB agencies from around the world.

No, Mudra has not. Not yet. But Mudra is making progress. The agency is currently at the sixth or the seventh place in India in terms of creative ranking. O&M would be number one, and McCann is probably the number two.

But we are proud of the Electrolux commercial that Mudra has done. So Mudra is making progress...

I agree. I told the people at Mudra Delhi that doing great work has to be an obsession with everybody at the agency. It's not just the prerogative of the creative department. Planners have to inspire creativity, and accounts people have to learn to sell great creative work to clients. It has to be everybody's job.

Unfortunately, I could not talk to the people at other branches. I am confident that Madhukar (Kamath) will raise the standards of creativity from 'good' to 'great'. He is committed to elevating the creative profile of Mudra.

Mudra has just got the Phillips account. It will move to Mudra by April this year. I am confident Mudra will do a very good job.

We would want Mudra to be recognised as one of the top three creative agencies in India. And it will take Mudra two to three years to get there, if the agency really concentrates on it. And, I think Madhukar and Ryan Menezes (creative head, Mudra) are trying to get there.

Now, about your other query on yardstick for great creatives. Actually, it is pretty consistent around the world. Great creative work should be relevant and original. But to be relevant and original at the same time is, indeed, tough. And the other equally important factor is the work should strike with impact. We call it ROI – relevant, original and impact.

In terms of creative execution, we do not have any rules. But we think that most of the great work that we have done comprises simplicity, surprise and a smile.

I think Mudra should move from good work to great work. Good is the enemy of great. Mudra has some solid work and some, which are quite remarkable. But that's not enough.

If you have the right people – Mudra has them -- in the right circumstance, working for the right clients, then the product is the next priority. After people and product comes profit. DDB is not looking at generating high revenues from India. At least, not in the way, Martin Sorrell of WPP is talking about. Martin is talking about acquiring 45 per cent share of the Indian advertising market and eventually, Asia would be one-third of his revenue. WPP has a different strategy. It is about size and share, DDB is about creativity and service to clients.

In fact, the Omnicom group is about creativity and DDB Worldwide is obsessed with creativity. Our focus is on strengthening the Mudra operations with multi-disciplinary offices. Tribal DDB is entering India. Rapp Collins is already operational. Then, Mudra has recently acquired Kidstuff Promos and Events Company. So our perspective is different.

Bill Bernbach had said that properly practiced creativity can make one advert do the work of ten. Our only purpose in great creativity is to provide the business with a very powerful tool that gives clients a competitive advantage over everyone else.

I will take issue here. Shelly (Lazarus) does not say this directly, but she implies that all clients need 360-degree. Some clients want 360 degree, some don't. What DDB practices is custom bundling. . You have to only provide clients with what they need.

So it's not one-size-fits-all. I like Shelly. She is my neighbour in New York. She is a good person. But not everybody needs 360-degree.

My question: Do these consumer insights actually aid the creative process? Some people are of the opinion that creative work is ultimately intuitive and such insights technically do not help. Your comments please.

Consumer insights are the most important things in advertising. We have to be students of human behaviour. We have to be constantly observing, and eavesdropping on people. Consumer insights are very essential in making relevant communication.

Let me give you an example. The jingle for McDonald's, 'You deserve a break today' came from consumer insight. The insight came from talking to hundreds and hundreds of American women, who in those days, were called house wives. Today, they would not be called so.

When we went around asking these women about how they spent their week, one of things that came to our notice was that most of the women found meal-planning to be a boring affair. Women would complain how they would have to plan for dinner every night. They used the word 'break' a lot of time. That's how 'You deserve a break today' was an insight into the consumer, gained from the consumer. Did I write that line? Not really. I got it from the consumer. So, consumer insights are important. That's why we have anthropologists and psychologists to guide us in our agencies.

Yes. We don't. But we need more account planners.

Yes definitely. In fact, Madhukar has plans to get the British planning system into Mudra. Traditionally, there has always been a servicing person, who represents the client. The creative person, on the other hand, ideates in very strange ways.

The Brits decided that they needed somebody who would represent the consumer. So they invented account planning. That discipline was designed to understand from the point of view of consumer.

The communication should connect with the two parts of the consumer’s body – the mind and the heart. If you have to choose between the two, it has to be the heart.

When Mudra becomes a top three agency, I will ask: “What's wrong with number one? Why does Piyush Pandey have to be the number one in all these years? Piyush Pandey has had his turn. But I must say, I like him a lot. And I like Ryan too. One day, you will see Ryan on the cover of Indian business magazines.