I FIND THE CONSTANT PROCESS OF REINVENTION EXCITING

Once you’ve done advertising, it’s quite likely that you can’t do any other business ever again, says Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO, South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, as he takes us through his 30-year journey in the Indian advertising industry.

- Eularie Saldanha

Q] How has your 30 year-journey in Advertising been so far?

It’s been a great journey. I’ve met some of the most wonderful people in these 30 years and had an opportunity to work on some of the best brands, not just in the country but all across the world.

Q] How have you seen the industry evolve? Can you recall a few anecdotes?

The industry was completely different 30 years ago. I joined advertising as a management trainee in Lintas straight out of MBA. This is only my second job. I’m an MBA in Marketing, that’s when the first sense of business of Advertising started evolving. After liberalization, Advertising started growing significantly. But then the problem was that so many other industries came in and we stopped attracting the best of talent. Clients figured out that they should start dealing with the creative guys directly. Then there was a phase where a lot of industry leaders were creative leaders, people like Piyush Pandey or Prasoon Joshi or Balki… It then moved into a phase where media became really important. Clients realized that 90% of their money was going into media and that they should start focusing there. It is now at the front of the game where the AORs and media agencies are investing heavily on research. The next cusp is the digital wave where there is no line that divides media and creative. So in some ways, the world will come back to where it started. Going forward, digital, data and technology is going to play a much bigger role in Advertising than it ever has. This also means that some of the old legacy creative agencies or businesses will find themselves in a stressed position.

Q] What is it about the industry that excites you the most?