K-Factor has new CEO; Kullar moves to creative

Shantomoy Ray, who has bought a stake in the agency, takes charge as CEO

Well, it's all in what one feels, says Shivjeet Kullar, ex-chief executive officer, K-Factor, the advertising agency which is headquartered in New Delhi. Kullar has switched roles from setting up the company as CEO and founder creative director to focusing on the creative side. Shantomoy Ray has taken over as CEO in his place.

"When Ray was buying a stake in the company, I decided and made very clear that I shall only be focussing on the creative function of the agency. When I set up K-Factor four years ago, I was paying attention to the creative bit – the attention ratio between creative and administration was 80:20. But with businesses growing, the ratio reversed – the ratio between administration and creative became 90:10. I want to pay more attention to the creative now," Kullar tells afaqs!

K-Factor has new CEO; Kullar moves to creative

There were rumours that K-Factor would be bought over by one of the giants of the ad industry. Kullar confirms the news, revealing that JWT and Madison were considering buying it out. "At the time, the management people of those agencies also expected me to achieve business targets, which I didn't want to do. And that's one of the reasons why the buyouts fell apart," he says.

Ray, who has 12 years’ experience in the ad industry, has worked in agencies such as McCann and Arms Communications. Kullar and he have known each other for eight years, since they worked together in Arms Communications from 2000 to 2004. Ray helped Kullar set up K-Factor in 2004, though he did not have a stake in the agency until now.

Talking about buying the stake, Ray says, "The purpose is of entrepreneurship and investment. Kullar and I have known each other for quite some time now. He offered me a stake and I picked it up."

Currently, K-Factor’s turnover stands at Rs 2-3 crore, confirms Kullar, while the earnings stand at one-sixth of this amount. Even with Ray’s investment, Kullar continues to be the single largest shareholder in the agency, though he did not divulge the exact details of how much stake each of them holds. Neither Kullar nor Ray spoke about the amount for which the latter bought his stake.

Talking about future plans, Ray says, "Looking at the current state of meltdown of the global economy, marketers are only going to squeeze their advertising spends. With that, our focus will be on retention of our current clients and growing with them."

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com