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`We are in the same boat'

He runs one of the largest and most reputed advertising agencies in the city and his maverick rowing partner for the evening runs one of the smallest, yet most influential creative shops around, with the most-coveted awards on his shelves. Krishna Mohan, president, Ogilvy & Mather, Chennai and Hyderabad, catches up with Sharad Haksar, CEO, 1PointSize, on a double scull at the Madras Boat Club on Sunday. Sudhish Kamath is all ears.

Krishna Mohan: I don't know if you remember. You did an assignment for us. Way back. And you did it for Rs. 1,500. (laughs)

Sharad: Yeah. (laughs)

Krishna Mohan: We sent you to Kodaikanal to do that calendar in 1991. That used to be a high point for Ogilvy and Carborundum Universal. I've watched you from a distance. You have come a long way, man.

Sharad: Have I? (laughs) And, now, we are in the boat together.

Krishna Mohan: Over the last couple of years, you've given the big agencies, including Ogilvy, a run for their money and have won most of the awards. Your agency has bagged the best agency as well as the best copywriter and best art director awards. For me, it's terrific to see someone like you put Chennai on the map.

Sharad: When we talk advertising, everybody talks of Mumbai. So it was about time...

Krishna Mohan: There's a lot of good work that happens here. But we are a conservative market. Clients tend to be conservative. So we provide effective advertising but not the kind of work people will sit up and take notice of. Where do you go from here?

Sharad: Get a job with Ogilvy I think. You had better tell Piyush Pandey, `There's this boy who wants to join.' (laughs)

Krishna Mohan: (laughs) Actually, Ogilvy might be interested in buying your company. The future of advertising lies in mergers and acquisitions. We are actually quite seriously looking at acquisitions. In fact, we can go at it if you want to.

Sharad: In the big agencies, the responsibility is so much more. There is a lot of pressure to keep the client happy. In a small organisation, the pressure is not so much.

Krishna Mohan: The kind of pressure to make money is immense.

Sharad: That's what I tell my clients. I'm not here to make money. I'm here to do good work. So when we get a new client, we start off with a one-off project to see that we are comfortable with each other.

Krishna Mohan: We at Ogilvy Chennai have tried something called the Creative Kindergarten. We get smart kids in from colleges. We tell them to work with us. Without time pressures. They work parallel to what the creative team is working on. The kind of work they've been doing is quite phenomenal. We've had 10 students in the last two years and many of them have been absorbed. We tell them: `You work with us for six months and at the end of it, both of us will take a call if this is the right place for you.' When they do it without pressure, the potential really comes out. We are trying to replicate this in other cities too.

Sharad: For a student, it's good when he gets experience in a big agency and his work might go through.

Krishna Mohan: The trend is that there is a lack of good people. People don't know if advertising is that glamorous anymore. Advertising is not paying as much as the other verticals like retail, IT, finance, entertainment. So we are losing a lot of people at the middle level.

Sharad: A lot of guys who have worked years in advertising have got frustrated with the system and the way it works. So they do their own thing and handle two or three clients they are comfortable with. I don't show layouts to the client and wait for their approval. I talk to them over the phone, find out what they need and we work on it, come up with something and tell them: `This is it.' I tell them I don't want to waste their time by talking. It makes the whole thing fast. So it works well with my clients.

Krishna Mohan: How has technology helped you?

Sharad: Thanks to the Internet, we no longer need to rely on courier or wait for things. We just shot something for Nike. We got the brief along with the presentation over email. They wanted me to shoot how young people in India dress.

Krishna Mohan: Trend-spotting is something we do too. Along with photographs, we look at people who have the capacity to pick up trends among youth. For example, someone like Suchi (Radio Mirchi) is on the panel... Talking of technology, do you think digital is narrowing the distance between a talented photographer and a not-so-talented photographer?

Sharad: I don't think so. I think digital just makes sure that the chance of error is less and makes it cost-effective for the client. It's on how you use technology to your advantage.

Krishna Mohan: If you had a bunch of kids from college, would you encourage them to follow in your footsteps?

Sharad: I think it's important that you start off with film and learn the basics, understand how it works and then take to digital. Photography has been accepted today as an art form and we see a lot of exhibitions around.

Krishna Mohan: What got you into rowing?

Sharad: I joined the Boat Club because of the swimming pool and I love swimming. I got hooked on to rowing. It's like meditation. You are all by yourself.

Krishna Mohan: Absolutely. Ogilvy has been taking part in the Regatta and we have a team of 25-30 people. You can truly spot the traits and character of people when you put them on the boat.

Sharad: You are into martial arts too, right?

Krishna Mohan: I have a second Dan Black belt. I started quite late in life. I got my first when I was 34. And, my second when I was 44. I want to go back to it because it is a phenomenal sport. As you get older, you need to get a little careful about not breaking your bones. It's not really about hitting people. My Shihan, who is very good at katas, extremely talented, is phenomenally strong, and has never hurt anyone is his life. It's not about breaking bricks and bending iron rods as much as it is about discipline and determination.

Sharad: It gives you a lot of confidence too.

Krishna Mohan: Yes, the confidence to turn and run away from the fight. (laughs) Thanks to you, we've had a phenomenal outing today on the double scull. The coach did not know we rowed together for the first time.

Sharad: Usually when two people row for the first time there's always a problem with the co-ordination.

Krishna Mohan: We were completely in sync.

Sharad: I guess it's the advertising thinking (laughs).

PHOTO: SHAJU JOHN

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