 Welcome to a very special episode of meeting all odds corona virus has swept the entire world into an into a whirlpool of economic crisis This crisis is likely to have a major impact on advertising and marketing industry in these times of difficulties and problems We need our leaders more than ever with me today is one such leader a leader Who is? Who's definitely a leader in a lot of sense that he's the torch bearer of our society we've been interviewing a lot of leaders who report to him in the last few days and I The man who needs very little introduction with me today is mr. CvL. Srinivas country manager WBP India So, thank you very much for Accepting to do this and coming on the show today Thanks Nazia. Thanks for having me on e4m. Firstly. I hope you're doing well I hope you your family and everybody at e4m is keeping safe and doing well Thank you very much sir. So, sir I want to start on a note of hope and optimism tell us where do you see the light because From everywhere. We're getting bad news. The lockdown is expected to be extended. We are The number of cases have increased Where is hope? Well, yeah, I mean there's no denying the fact that right now we're going through very challenging times You know, I grew up listening to stories about World War two from my granddad who happened to be in London those days with bombs falling all around him and you know, he used to Tell us all those stories and actually this is probably a You know World War two kind of an event for our generation maybe once in the lifetime. Hopefully And it's tough. It's challenging. It's Everything is very different the minute you wake up in the morning You know back that you have to kind of work remotely and you're not sure how long it's going to last We don't even know if there's gonna be a cure, etc. So, yes I mean, there's no denying the fact that it's it's challenging But on the other hand if you if you you don't look for the positives, I think there are many You know, we've seen so much Positive change happened in the last two three weeks if you ask me I don't think we've seen this kind of digital transformation in every aspect of our lives personal professional You know ever that we've seen in the last two weeks if you look at the way we as Organizations industries as people just adapted to this just shows You know that way as a race we're capable of a lot more and as as organizations as well So, yeah, so it's also obviously teaching us to be a lot more patient teaching us to You know, just just kind of be focused and stick to our goals So I think we'll come out stronger There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel as and when we reach that because all said and done India is going to continue to remain the fastest growing major economy. Although the numbers are obviously going to come down It's also going to remain the fastest growing ad market Although again, like the numbers are going to be scaled down pretty much So, yeah, as things rebound You know, things are gonna get exciting and clients would need us A lot more than ever according to me given the challenges they're going to face. So for everyone on the agency side exciting times ahead So as the leader of WPP and you have so many big agencies to handle How are you keeping the morale of your agency heads and your entire? Lacks of employees high at this point of time. What kind of initiatives have you taken? What kind of meetings are you holding with them? What is the message that you're giving to? Yeah, I think what's yeah, thanks. I think what's worked well for us There's a couple of things. I think firstly we started planning for this very early on the fact that we're a global company give us Some insight into how things spanned out in China and later on in Europe in the US And in fact, we had our global Exco The leadership team of WPP in Mumbai for almost a whole week, you know in the first week of March When a lot of this is playing also literally the the policy decisions and all of that we're being taken in in front of us We've been part of the whole thing and therefore started planning quite early on Therefore by the time, you know the lockdown that's just started happening We managed to move for all our people to work remotely from home We have 80 offices in India over 15,000 people across all our companies including our associates. So really talking of a Massive setup in that sense But frankly, I mean I was pleasantly surprised with the way in which it happened so smoothly people adapted to New way of working pretty well. We had fantastic support from all our Leadership teams across the different operating companies the IT admin teams the HR teams and everybody practically across WPP Chipped in and ensured that this worked. So yeah, I think it was collective effort So planning and all of us kind of working together made things Happen, I would say pretty smoothly What are some of the things that you're doing, I mean if you can give me some examples Sure, so first and foremost, you know focusing a lot on our employees are people Transy, how do we ensure first of all? They're safe. They're healthy. They are, you know, in good spirits They're motivated to get back to the desk or their machines at home or day after day So quite a few initiatives on that front. We have for example, created a learning and development program Which is kind of panned WPP where we have a lot of interesting sessions lined up is already kicked off with a fantastic response We have sessions which are Conducted by some of our own champions from within WPP We also have sessions conducted by some of our partners and we have quite a few fun sessions lined up as well In fact next week. We're organizing a concert for all the WPP employees You know, obviously online and it's it's going to be exciting. So there's that kind of stuff going on Sorry music concert. Yes, it's a music concert music concert next week We sent a teaser out today. I don't know reveal the details on Monday and it's gonna happen towards the end of next week And there's lots of fun stuff, which the teams are doing on their own ranging from Well, everyone's every market is carrying out their own activities some of our activities some of our training programs, obviously Are common and shared as a theirs and yeah, there's a lot of exchange happening actually with our global offices on this as we speak So, yeah, and so I spoke about training I spoke about the fun stuff And I think at the end of the day, it's all about, you know, keeping in touch on a daily basis communicating with your teams, you know, actually over indexing on communication But at the same time, I also think this is a time when you shouldn't overburden your teams with too much work I think it's important to kind of just stick to the basics and and be focused and just realize that everyone's going through stressful times and Just help out and reach out To one another so I think as a family as a unit we've come together pretty well In fact, just a couple of hours ago We had Mark read our global CEO do an exclusive town hall for all the WPP employees across India And Mark and I then did a Q&A With all our employees So, yeah, those are some of the things that you keep doing going forward as well To your own employees Clients are very very important part of your ecosystem in your business and they are everyone is equally affected by this crisis How are you dealing with your clients and during these days? Yeah, look, I mean there's no denying the fact that, you know, they are like us I mean all of us are going through a very very tough times and clients are obviously focused more on the here and now Everyone's focused on, you know, how do we kind of get through the next four weeks, eight weeks, 12 weeks So for them, it's a question of, you know, supply chains getting restored factories getting up and running once again products reaching the shelves And therefore the whole cycle then moving So there been yeah, lots of conversations over the last couple of weeks I've had directly with clients as well as through my client teams And one of the things we have tried to advise our clients is to say that if possible try and ensure some amount of saliency for the brand because Study after study has shown that whenever things rebound brands which have some amount of saliency come back a lot stronger and then the other thing we're saying is Be careful with the kind of messaging that you that you run at this point in time need to be empathetic need to, you know position yourself as a brand or service that's helpful and And so on and and of course be very judicious with your spend because at the end of the day You need to conserve your resources for for stronger and better days ahead. So how do you kind of have? The most intelligent kind of a mix at this point in time If you can't really have those big national campaigns, can you use digital media more innovatively so on and so forth? But but having said that in fact if you if you allow me, I just wanted to share some examples of Work that has been done. Yeah for our clients Even even in challenging times like these by the various operating companies within WPP and it just goes to show that You know despite all the challenges and pressures, you know people are you know putting in some some great work And this is it will be very inspiring for everyone. Yeah, and this is this is just a sample I mean, this is not an exhaustive list by any order. So land or for example has pretty much overnight Created a new packaging design for the client Jagadjit industries when they get caught into the hand sanitizer line so that that was Fantastic work, which was literally kind of done overnight The glitch has turned out some very very interesting campaigns in the last couple of weeks for clients like the agile Netflix Lenovo, etc Wonderman Thompson came up with the campaign which is to make your mask for the times of India This is from the Delhi office and this obviously has got a lot of visibility and a lot of appreciation from folks all around They've also done some very interesting work for HUL and UNICEF Group and it's something very interesting. In fact, they had organized the critics choice award which was meant to be a like an on-ground event with one of the industry bodies and Ultimately, obviously the event couldn't happen. So they turned into a virtual event and it was streamed live Few days ago and again received a lot of appreciation You know, it was obviously short thinking on feet and quickly adapting to the times that we're in Autumn Grace campaign for Axis Bank, which we were talking about earlier the first transfer campaign I thought was a fantastic piece of work. 82.5's work for Himalaya, Luminus and Sera again very very interesting Ogilvy has done interesting work again across all their offices if you look at the Tata Sky Nation Paints campaigns Which are on air and Mondalis and other clients from Bombay You know the work they've done for the Hindu and fortune oil from Bangalore UPI from Calcutta and Mother Dairy campaign that they've done from the Delhi office over across the board again some great work and Genesis person Conan Wolf PR agency again coming up with some very interesting ideas for clients like GSK 3M etc over the last couple of weeks So, yeah, I mean great work done across the board. So So look one is on the one hand where we are advising clients to Obviously try and see how best to manage resources creep keep the brand salient, but we're also You know closely aware of the practical problems they're facing and it's actually differs quite a bit by client by sector so I think just talking to them more often and You know being there as a trusted partner is You were telling me something on something that WPP is doing on CSR front as well Yeah, in specific to corona virus Yes, so apart from obviously our people and our clients, you know being a large responsible organization in there We are also very mindful of the fact that this is a time to kind of You know keep our communities in mind and see what more can we do to the communities that we directly work with and and beyond So the WPP foundation through which we channelize all our CSR Investments has been doing a phenomenal Work over the last couple of years. It's run by Rama higher. In fact, she's won practically every award that is to win in the CSR circuit and What we've done in the last couple of weeks again is through Rama and her team We have lined up, you know options for our staff and for our operating companies to kind of contribute You know, they were, you know for all the causes like the migrant issue that we're facing the fact that they need support the the healthcare workers and the fact that you know, there's some contributions needed there as well So we're contributing to these both as individuals and as organizations and it's all being managed through our foundation Apart from that, we're also doing pro bono work for some of the organizations as as as you know WPP and as individual operating companies, you know, anyone who needs our help in times like these Either to raise funds or whatever else we're most willing and most happy to to play a part That's that's really the need of the art. So coming back to the economy and the crisis I was going through a report that said China revenues went down by 17% In first few months of the virus We are still in what one and a half months into this thing and the lockdown effectively came last two three weeks ago What is the sense you're getting for India right now? I mean, I know it is too early to talk about numbers but Where do you see us? Let's let's say it will be done by May or June How much slow how much will it hamper the growth and how much time it may take us to recover from this crisis? Yeah, so just you spoke about the China number because those are those are kind of the numbers going around across businesses You know that have and almost every business has got impacted there And you know, you will see Europe and US also go towards those numbers as things catch on there So I think that's what we could get to see in our market as well in terms of you know, what would be the Dips that we would see it's very difficult obviously to put an estimate on What it was what is it finally going to be as well as how long is it going to take to recover? But the only thing I can say with a lot of certainty is as and when things recover, you know, India is you know going to be one of Probably the continuing to be the fastest growing Economy as well as the fastest growing ad market all those numbers are going to get scaled down quite a bit So, yeah, we'll have to kind of figure out. I guess I guess it all depends on how long this thing prolongs in in our country Mr. Reed was here just barely a month ago and I remember attending his press conference where he said India is a standout market for WPP Now after this crisis all of the crisis has happened in many other markets Does this put more pressure on you because this this is going to be a difficult year. So How do you think I mean if you can tell us some ways that are on your mind that how would we be able to cope with this situation Yeah, look, I think this is one of those Very rare occasions where I think the pressure is kind of equally distributed across every every single person You know every market To that effect and and I'm sure it's the same across organizations. So yes, I think we all we all will feel the pressure I think all organizations will but like I said, I think there are there are a couple of things to to kind of To look up to us as positives I think one is the fact that India is also done a land of opportunity even now. We have a massive headroom to grow We have pretty strong fundamentals actually if you if you look at it And the ad sector has been doing pretty well over the last few years growing a decent double digits We may not have a double digit growth, of course in the coming year But still there is there is some growth which is there and look more than anything else I think we will all soon realize that you know the past benchmarks and the past Rates of growth and the formula and the models that we all got used to Are not going to really be very useful going forward. I think we're all in a reset mode right now And we'll have to figure out going forward. What is a decent? growth level For the industry as a whole and for individual organizations and and that to an extent to a large extent depends on You know the the way the whole product or service gets transformed. I mean, let's talk of our own business the advertising in the media business I I can personally think that there's a massive opportunity for agencies like ourselves to Play up even more important role For our clients and their brands I think there are newer opportunities that we could look at in terms of contributing to their strategy to their the way they kind of redesigned their portfolio or the kind of Brands that they need to kind of bet on in the post-COVID era and even you know work around Purpose and all of that will actually take on a new meaning And I think there's there's a lot that we can do as as an agency community. So yeah The thing is to just stay positive the minute you stay positive you start seeing opportunities Even in the current scenario when we are when bark is giving out numbers which are showing that the viewership has crossed all its It's breaking its own records, particularly news. We are ship or digital Are there certain sectors or some marketers that you think should continue advertising even in these times? You look like I said earlier on the on the one hand It's it's it's important to keep brand salient and and ensure that you you don't completely vanish In times like these on the other hand one also needs to keep in mind some of the practical issues The clients may be facing which like in some cases is like no stock or whatever else or extremely limited resources Which they want to conserve when things come back. So I think it's a it's a balancing act that one needs to do Yeah, yeah, obviously there are there are sectors like CPG there are sectors like, you know BFSI even now Education and anything which is based on a technology or a digital platform Which are continuing to advertise as you can as you can see and also some of the examples that I shared with you So they they will I mean some of them may have reduced their spends But they are still pretty much that media entertainment as well one can count in that But there are other sectors which have been challenged even before the cobit crisis the auto sector for example Or the of the telco sector and To an extent the details and of course real real estate as well. So I think those Will will take us maybe slightly longer time to kind of come out of it. So there are a lot of young people who Got into the business this year or picked up new jobs this year. So They look up to seniors like you for a piece of advice in these gloomy days when you know Just started your career and Something like this happens. What would you want to tell them? I would say I'm an optimist At any point in time and and happened so throughout at least try to be so so I would I would look look at all the positives I would say that this is probably the best year to get into the industry simply because this is the time industry really needs change Agents industry needs people with a fresh perspective industry needs people who can challenge The status quo challenge all the old mental models many of which need to throw out of the window So I think you know, it's that chance to stand up and be counted if anything I think people who really come and make a mark can really fast-track their Progress within the organization having joined in this year So, yeah There's a lot of talk about this crisis having a very major impact on print There was the distribution was affected Outdoor is completely locked because you know people are not stepping out. So nobody is spending on outdoor What are which are in cinemas again another Sector of advertising which has been affected very badly. So How how much time will it take for these sectors to recover or what what should they do right now? I mean as an expert what what would you suggest to them? Well, I think this is the best time to go back almost the drawing board and say that How do I reshape my my business on my platform for the post-COVID era and we've seen shades of that happening already, right? We looked at the the whole print industry and hats off to them. They've all been extremely agile and come up with You know digital PDF easy to read versions on on the mobile and today in fact, I spent a lot of time in the morning reading you know The the PDF versions of several newspapers including what my good friend sends from Bombay You know midday and and and others which otherwise I would I would not have read in Gurgaon. So, yeah So I think that's a great example of The medium adapting to the changing times and I'm sure we're bound to see a lot more such innovation Going forward and look we said this earlier. I think this is something which Ultimately, we will come out of and when we go back to You know building brands and getting brands back on there. It's a time sure all these media will go back to seeing growth Whether it's print whether it's outdoor radio or whatever else, yeah So before we end, what is that one final thought you want the industry you want to leave the industry? I mean something that you would want to tell the industry. Well my okay, it would be to Seize the moment. I think we should say that this is Once in a lifetime opportunity for us, which has come and you know, whether it's about our own personal transformation, whether it's the the organizational transformation whether it's You know coming up with new ideas with innovation Or whatever else, you know, thanks to what we have right now You know, let's let's make the most of it and come out with but something which is which is Stronger something which is more reliable something which is more in tune with the times whether it's a product service or whatever else So, yeah, it's it's it's a great opportunity to unlearn a lot of stuff Which is going to be useless going forward and pick up all the new things. Yeah, so seize the moment Are you also following your hobby you you're a tabla player, right? Yes, I'm trying to I'm trying to yes. I'm trying to yes I'm trying to do that. I'm trying to also be a bit more regular with my yoga I also spend a bit of time in the kitchen. I like Cooking every now and then although my repertoire is fairly limited, but Yeah, so it's quite a few things to keep me busy apart from work, of course So, thank you so much for joining us this interview will inspire many in this industry and Stay at home and stay safe. Thank you. Same to you wish you all the best. Thanks. Thank you very much You