The heads of the creative function of ad agencies are no longer just mercurial and brilliant ideas people who help raise the creative bar at ad agencies. Instead, the best creative directors are increasingly occupying the coveted positions of chairman or chief executive officer of multinational agencies with new mandates that will see them juggle creative standards and tough business targets set by their international ad networks.
R. Balakrishnan (Balki) was recently promoted from the national creative director (NCD) of Lowe Lintas India Pvt. Ltd to the agency’s chairman and chief creative officer. The creative supremo has ambitious expansion plans for Lowe Lintas, such as starting new agencies and specialist outfits, and everyone expects his famous irreverence to rub off positively on the agency’s image, client relationships and profit margins.
Josy Paul
Chairman, BBDO India
Interestingly, he will be a part-entrepreneur, as he holds some equity stake in this agency as well as associate agency RK Swamy BBDO Pvt. Ltd.
This is Paul’s second shot at becoming overall chief of an agency; before JWT, he was chairman of WPP Group Plc.’s creative hotshop David, which was subsequently merged with Bates Enterprise Ltd, leading to Paul’s departure.
Sonal Dabral—one-time protégé of Ogilvy and Mather India’s (O&M) creative superstar Piyush Pandey—has returned from Singapore, where he was chairman and executive creative director, O&M Worldwide, Singapore. He has now assumed the mantle of chairman of Bates David Enterprise India and regional executive creative director of Bates Asia and is already working on business and creative pitches.
And much before all these relatively recent developments, holding company Interpublic Group (IPG) appointed creative high-flyer Prasoon Joshi as chairman of McCann-Erickson India Ltd.
The trend of creative superstars being called on to head ad agencies was sparked by the promotion of Pandey from NCD to chairman and NCD of O&M India.
Still, there’s nothing new about creative stars moving up the power rungs within agencies. Advertising and theatre thespian Alyque Padamsee was called “God” during his term as creative director, and then managing director of Lintas India Ltd.
“Creative people (being put) in charge of agencies is not a new trend. Whoever is leadership material, and has the vision to run the agency, can be CEO or chairman...,” says Joshi.
Only, the trend is much more pronounced now.