 In the past one and a half months of the lockdown, organizational cultures have seen a sea of change. Clients are apparently becoming a lot more understanding and creative agencies are coming up with ingenious ways to deliver. To tell us more about how his organization is coping with the changes, we have with us someone who is not otherwise very easy to get hold of. We have with us Aditya Kanthi, CEO and MD of DDB Mudra Group. Hi Aditya and welcome to our Beating Our Lord segment. Hi Anita, happy to be here. Aditya, how has DDB coped with the COVID-19 induced lockdown? Has there been any surprises that have really caught you off guard, the way your teams have performed? There haven't been surprises, they've been pleasant most of it as far as the team is concerned. It's been an interesting time for sure. I think as I was saying earlier, kind of tough and inspiring any measure. There's no wishing away the fact that this is a really difficult time. It's a difficult moment. It's not just from a business point of view, but in so many different aspects of our life and it's given us all I think a moment to kind of pull back and reflect a little bit seriously on our place in the world as it were at a philosophical level, as individuals, as businesses, as a community and a little bit of a reframing of what our priorities are. And I think that exercise after the initial kind of shock of what we're dealing with and just the sheer enormity of it and the fact that there are no rules to guide us through this time, that process I think, and you referenced that in the introduction and organization culture, I think that's the single most important thing in a moment like this. I've been in this company 17 years and I think a large part of my journey has been driven by the attachment to that culture and the opportunity to shape it. And that aspect of how the team has come through together has been amazing. It hasn't been a surprise. It's been a reinforcement of what I think is the most important thing in our line of work, perhaps in any line of work which is people and culture. And that's what kind of sees us through a difficult time like this. And like I said, that is the route through a tough situation, watching out for each other, helping each other through the difficult times. And I think our teams have done that remarkably well. And that's why I think the past few weeks have also been inspiring. One, of course, at a global level you've seen the amazing things that are being done by people to make the world a little better in a difficult time and to see yourself as citizens and members of a community. And I think we see that play out in small ways within the agency as well. One of the great charms of being in a part of a creative culture is feeding energy off each other, the positive energy that drives and fuels creativity in the work that we do. And you miss that in a work-from-home environment. You miss that natural kind of give and take of human energy that is so easy to take for granted when you're in the rut of things. And I think that's been remarkable as an organization. It's helped us make reasonable progress in what I said before and as we all know is a difficult time. I think those aspects of how people have worked together as a team, checked in on each other, cheered each other up and keep morale going. And I think importantly at an operating level even coming through for our clients. Some of the kinds of projects that have been on our plate, some of the asks and the opportunities from clients would have been impossible to pull off with the restrictions that we have on how we can work, would have been impossible to pull off without that sense of togetherness and a sense of team which I'm incredibly kind of inspired by within the agency. Everyone's pitched in from the IT guys to the security guards and it's been remarkable. There's also a very real issue with a young workforce like ours on sense of loneliness and anxiety and mental health. And as friends and colleagues, the efforts that people are making to ensure that we're there for each other has been very inspiring. So I would say it's a little bit of a... We've had some moments of difficulty and many moments of great inspiration but I mean honestly our problems are no bigger or less than our competitors, our clients or the rest of the world. But there's one thing that this moment teaches us to have a little bit of a sense of perspective on what really matters and the things one has to be grateful for and not lose sight of that. Absolutely. You spoke about how it was not believed that creative agencies can work in isolation but most of the agencies have proved that wrong. You're coming up with great ideas. So is that something that you're going to consider even after the lockdown has lifted the work from home culture? I think Sunita, I think we'll... after the experience that we've shared as colleagues working with each other and in the way in which we've worked with our clients and that's perhaps a... because you've got no reason why we shouldn't be allowing flexibility to our people to be able to do their work and manage their professional and personal lives the best that they can and I think in a trusting environment where we've actually had that experience of being able to come through for clients it'll give everyone confidence to be able to push in this direction more. So I think you're right. I think we will see this happen more and more as seen as normal by everyone involved. Having said that, I also think it kind of points to the value as I was saying earlier of physical spaces and everyone coming together. We do actually thrive on that on meeting people, on the conversations that one has that are not necessarily related to work on participating in culture more deeply even if it's not in a physical office space and I think those aspects of our work are vital too and if anything this time kind of underlines the importance of that as well. So like with most things in life I think the truth is somewhere in between in that gray and I think you will see this push in the direction of more flexibility but also for all of us to realize and recognize the value of that physical connection as well which I don't think you can underrate at all. I do think that's a really important part of what makes us good at our work and not just being able to do our work well but also to enjoy it which I think is equally important. A lot of our energy comes from the feeling of being connected to other people and physical spaces and being able to engage in the world more deeply does that for us as well and it's such a vital, it's the oxygen of our business. So I think you'll see a little bit of both those things happen. Yeah tell me what kind of work is your agency focusing on right now? Oh there's so much going on I have to say it's strangely busier than pre-COVID if I can call it that. There's lots of work happening I think to start with there's some clients who are going through a huge amount by virtue of the nature of the work. So to give you an example our teams in Delhi work with the Delhi airport very closely we are their long-standing partner you can appreciate how difficult this phase has been for the folks at Delhi airport and our teams have been remarkably busy and doing I think extraordinary work in supporting the airport in many ways. They've had almost exclusively now the airports communicating through its social channels that's work that's being managed by our teams and on our average day the number of queries that we're getting because the call centers aren't necessarily people's national port of call it's the Instagram and Twitter where people are asking those questions and where dial is actually giving out information as well to people between 15,000 to 20,000 queries a day and I think that work and that contribution of course as clients but also to the community there's a lot of interest the relief work that's happening is happening in India out of the Delhi airport lots of people who are stranded and away from their families India and abroad are interested on a daily basis what the changes are in what the infrastructure and what the regulation will allow at any given point in time so there's work of that nature keeping us very busy we've launched a brand in the middle of a lockdown we've shot films including work that involves shooting with kids remotely which is very hard to do and I think we've produced some pretty good work in that time as well so from a day to day client engagement point of view there is high pressure operational work of that nature but equally I think all of our clients are seeking a different kind of partnership through this time as well even if they're in a lockdown and the business is curtailed in very obvious ways in the short term there is a lot of time and effort being spent on what one needs to do to prepare for the next few weeks and then for the medium to long term as well because like you've said quite rightly the changes that are going to get are going to be normalized after this in all aspects of how we work and how we relate to each other and the way we shop the way we think about spending money the way we think about brands it's a time to revisit some of those and our teams are doing an extraordinary amount of work our strategy teams have done some very interesting work what does this mean for the big themes that shape society and culture so they've published a series which I'll send to you I'm sure you'll enjoy reading them called Covid Chronicles which looks at the impact of this time on education, on gender on the way we think about our homes on entertainment, on leisure on identity and how we form those ideas as well that define who we are and other such so there's that kind of deep high level strategic work that's being done with we have over 100 clients with all of our clients and all aspects of our business from the digital agency 20 feet through to GDP to Interbrand and to OND Mudra Max on the media side so we've got I think questions being asked as a media strategy partner as a digital marketing and technology partner as a creative agency partner and as a brand strategy and design agency and it's interesting to see how those kind of lines are occurring as well and then there is the from a client perspective a lot of very interesting conversations happening on digital transformation and what that could mean going for various businesses in categories like retail like auto automotive categories what does this mean for the way in which dealerships need to be set up or the buying, the consumer journey frame so there's a lot of work to be done there and we've got of our 850 people close to 300 of them are experts in digital marketing and to get their talent apply that talent and their thinking and their experience on these problems across the board is keeping us so busy I have to say of course as a company we have to also spend time thinking about what this means for our future and the kind of company that we want to be and working as a leadership team very closely I'm blessed to be surrounded by amazing talent and have an incredible team of leaders and we're talking to each other all the time more than we have perhaps in the past on addressing the things we have to do internally as a company as well to be more exciting and attractive to talent and to be as useful as we can be for our clients as well going forward so long answer to a short question but we've been very busy but tell me does that mean as an agency it's time to focus on business solutions more than just making ads like you mentioned automobiles nobody's going to go out and test drive a vehicle like that now after the long term so how do you sell the brand even if you build a great brand image no that's right I think there is I wouldn't say that film in general or video or what you might call classic advertising will be relevant I think that still has a huge role to play and in fact might have a more significant role to play in the future with the amount of video content being consumed not just in classic kind of TV but also on OTT and on tech platforms so I think this is will continue to see the principles that draw great advertising the basic discipline of brand building kind of recognizing what the foundations of a brand are and what the memory structures are and doing work that is consistently building for brand over time I think it will continue to see the importance of insight and craft and beautiful storytelling matter as well but to your point I do think to exercise development and stretch new muscles as well these are capabilities that exist at the agency strategic capabilities with a view to business and not just production of creative assets but with a view to business kind of a deeper understanding of how our clients businesses are going to be challenged and reshaped and the opportunity for instance in our group to bring media thinking technology thinking strategy thinking content and design together in different interesting new combinations to navigate that in ways that don't necessarily always involve the production of a piece of film I think that is very important and not just such a thing which we band together we have a group across our various specialists but also the way in which we work with seamlessly with external partners I think the it's a little bit of a fallacy to suggest and it's a fashionable fallacy a fallacy to suggest that one company has all the answers I think it is a wrong headed notion and I think if we have to truly be good partners to our clients we must embrace that mindset of learning constantly not just from our clients and within our closed ecosystem but also with other partners and having a mindset like that as a company willing to embrace a partnership that are useful to clients regardless of whether we control or own that capability or not I think will become even more important going forward so I think bringing those pieces together having the right types of people around the table every time we're having a discussion that is pertinent to and as you can imagine with over 100 clients we're looking at categories ranging from personal care and taking care of babies through to you know big decisions that are more discretionary in nature which are high ticket items like luxury cars and I think that spectrum of challenges there is no one size fits all there's no broad brush but we should be able to cast teams of people there's been a lot of learning from the DDB global team as well I think this is another moment in history where we are kind of are shared across geographies as well people coming together across markets we're having that to a huge extent in DDB so from our colleagues in China and Hong Kong Singapore who've had a certain experience with COVID in Brazil United States and Europe as a kind of a global leadership team as well we've learned a lot from our friends in other DDB markets on how to how they're coping with that change as well because some cultures and communities are a little bit I don't want to say ahead in a sense but you know what I'm getting at they've had a certain set of experiences that we may be going through perhaps a few weeks later I think that is useful as well I think the spirit of how we have to engage with this time is that to your initial provocation we have to think differently outside of just being you know kind of producers of creative assets and try to bring as much of this more fundamental thinking which links to business and consumer journeys and the ways in which we can make a difference there with the same principles of brand building creativity technology and design which is the real value that we bring to our clients businesses but tell me why you know like you mentioned agencies are trying to be great partners with clients the isolation after a point does get to you so in the face of an impending recession how are you keeping your teams motivated and also I've heard that Omnicon Rehobal has started with salary cuts how is it impacting the India business that's a good question Neethan as I was telling you earlier conversation is the one thing that I think matters the most let's put it that way in our business which is our people right our people and our culture it is really the heart of everything that we do and I am particularly concerned and focused on that right which is why at the top of our conversation I mentioned how inspired I was by the efforts that we were making for each other as a team checking in on each other making surprise calls to each other hanging out together digitally even though physical spaces don't allow it and I think those kind of informal networks that bond that we have as an as a team is hugely important in tiding through a time like this but equally I think you need interventions that are led by specialists by people who for counselling I mentioned to you with a lot of young people who are away from their families living alone not just you have a lot of work but also a lot of work at home you also have to attend to things that you perhaps weren't used to doing in normal work circumstances and I think that that pressure, that sense of isolation also makes a difference and a serious bearing on the mental health of our teams as well so we've tied up we've had now for over a year an immensely useful team of counsellors who are accessible to our people and are being accessed by our people to help them tie through these times as well and need a professional to make a set of your own feelings I think that's another way in which you have to support your people and you're right there's also very real a business reality as you will appreciate dependent on the economy and on our clients for our business and when the economy hurts and when our clients hurt, we hurt too and that is where again I think a sense of togetherness of ensuring that we will take whatever hits we have to take together as a team that's the spirit in which we've approached the financial impact of Covid as well which is very real there is no running away from that much like Omnicom globally or any of the large holding companies and more importantly many of our clients we've also think through address and be prepared for the measures that are appropriate in a time like this but the spirit in which it's being done is to try and carry as much of that burden as we can together as a team and to ensure that there is as little impact on as a result of the decisions that we might have to make in the near term as little impact and as short term impact as possible on our people but it is inevitable I think that all businesses are going to have to but you know there is the Diwali this year is quite late and advertising can come back with a bag in the second half of the year if things kind of settle down in a couple of weeks or months couple of months maybe I certainly hope so Neeta I don't know I have to be honest I don't think anyone does we have to wait and watch there are some very fundamental structural challenges it's not just about consumption and buying which is the way in which you usually think about the festive season and the promise and excitement around that this is also about the impact it's had fundamentally on our clients ability to do business it has an implication on manufacturing facilities it has implication on supply chains it has an implication on last mile delivery so as things start to open up I think you will find some of those other challenges also kick in it's not just a problem around consumer demand and people being willing to spend money it is that there is just one part of the puzzle the ability of many many businesses to tie through what is a serious liquidity crisis serious cash flow issues huge disruptions in some categories more than others we have to recognize the fact that supply chains are global and even in India when you look at various categories the dependence on farming and agriculture for example the inability to be able to tend to your crops the cotton season that is ongoing many farmers who even harvest that what does that mean for the supply chain for the fashion industry for example so I think all of those implications there are clients they employ thousands of people many more than we do who are daily wage earners and there is a serious humanitarian crisis there when factories have to be shut down and people have to be provided for in the great interest of humanity it also has an implication to do as a business so I think this is a serious enough problem and a deep enough problem for us to hold our horses I think a little bit on the prediction around how quickly the bounce back will happen I doubt very much that anyone has a clear answer to that question I think what we can do and what we can hope for is that we are listening very carefully that we are thinking as deeply as we possibly can and are committing to change which I think is really important this is a kind of a significant moment in our lives to commit to serious change in all aspects of our life what do we prioritize how do we go about ensuring that our time is following those priorities and how serious and committed we are to changing the way we do things not just as individuals as human beings but also as companies and of course as communities as nations as humanity that piece of work the seriousness which we engage in that is I think the big opportunity if you do that right then regardless of how quickly the economy bounces back which could take two quarters, three quarters four quarters one doesn't know one has to hope that better sooner rather than later but the thing that is in our control is this other work between us and our clients we are asking those questions seriously and pushing for that change to be deep and meaningful learning new things working in new ways and challenging some of the things that perhaps get in the way of us delivering on the things we keep talking about accountability and effectiveness and agility and purpose there's a lot of talk around that and there are usually lots of excuses and why we can't do it this is a good time to walk that talk