AndAnd Brand Partners is a boutique advertising and marketing agency that cherishes partnerships over individual names and takes the same spirit to its clients. To deliver on that objective AndAnd has constantly stuck to this aggregation of skills and services.
Full service, through-the-line, Advertising Digital Agency offering 360-degree (ATL, BTL, Digital) advertising solutions. It has a 75+ team across Gurgaon, Bangalore and Mumbai. Clients include Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles Domestic and International markets, Kohler, Gionee, Havells, Buffalo, Keventer’s, Toshiba, Carrier-Midea, Narayana Health, Games 24×7, Kohler, Dunkin Donuts, etc.
Medianews4u.com caught up with Andand Partners co-founder Rajesh Minocha(ex-McCann, Lowe, Saatchi & Saatchi, BITM, Leo Burnett and Dentsu) to find out more.
Q. What sets And And Brand Partners apart in a highly competitive agency environment?
Our foundation and flexibility is majorly what sets us apart. We are not a monolith taking forever to adapt. Our core lies in always adapting and evolving. But at the same time, we are not like a newer agency trying every flash in the pan. We go back to the basics of storytelling like muscle memory, and more often than not, it helps us wade through the fog of today’s world of advertising.
This ‘highly competitive agency environment’ of today is more from the abundance of agencies and options. It has given rise to a culture of “show me what you got, and show me now”. To the flirtatious client, to their impatient side, this might be fertile grounds. To the agencies, it looks like a threat, all the time.
But can you live in constant fear? The whole idea of being a creative agency is to be fearless. We realize that one cannot keep everyone happy, every time. It might sound contentious, but we are not in the business of delight. We are in business of communication, and finding methods to make it effective for businesses across the board.
So we spend more time getting under a business problem with honesty and curiosity. We spend more time dissecting audience behaviors and insights. And we spend more time digging into our roots of storytelling to pull a rabbit from the hat. That’s real delight and that is what sets us apart.
Q. In a fragmented media environment is it more challenging to deliver ROI to clients compared to a decade back?
The simple answer is, yes. The fine line between brand building and tactical measures has blurred. Media plans are more fluid since there is a fair bit more to choose from. And pardon me for this, for most clients it is getting more and more difficult to get decisive about what works where. A script that’s asking for a few lakhs can easily become a series of posts with zero spends or an influencer video.
A little BTL activity can become a big digital idea. Sometimes it is not the fragmentation but integration of media that creates case study material. But more often than not, it is that script idea being relegated to an animation video or posts with no money. Now does “no cost” give you best RoI?
Q. Could you highlight recent work done for clients that stands out?
For Tata commercial vehicles, we took a small brand that is the end-mile passenger vehicle in small or mid-town India. The film we did for Tata Magic set new benchmarks for the client’s approach to storytelling and emotional connect for the brand. A few others include, a campaign for Narayana Health’s West Bengal units with an endearing film and local OOH campaign, an Instagram AR filter for a stylish Lloyd air conditioner, and a stunning campaign for Planet Lasik showing how people who want to get rid of their glasses feel trapped in them.
Q. What role is AI playing for the agency in terms of enabling better operational efficiency?
In the short term, under the hammer of time, it is a big yes. But what we are calling efficiency today, can render brains ineffective in the coming years. Think of it like Google Maps. When in doubt, follow the line and you’ll reach your destination. But many of us are losing the skill of figuring a way out.
So it all depends on how much one wants to depend on AI. It could get a young talent to outshine other young ones, but it seldom give them the mental practice or process to single out and reach the best options that wins them some quick brownies. Balancing and moderating one’s dependability can become the key to unlocking the potential of AI in a creative agency such as ours.
Q. How is AI’s ability to learn, unlearn and relearn transforming the marketing and advertising business?
Machine learning is the slot machine that gives out the best regurgitation of the collective wisdom of whatever resides on the internet. If a certain subject is prejudiced historically, will AI be able to show you a counter point and talk against the grain? It is like smartphone photography trying to overcome the racial slur on dark skinned people that creeps in their image correction features. It is done with a specific intent that comes from identifying the human bias that has crept into tech.
By itself, tech takes us into echo chambers of our own cognitive biases. When AI throws up suggestions that may not stick with you, soon enough it will give you results that you would latch on to faster. And there you go, that is a certain AI tool’s ability to become your preferred tool.
As we are discussing the marketing and advertising business, it excludes advertising or creative execution tools that allow for imagination. While those have their own pitfalls, the business of marcom works better with human brains changing with the changing times. Or else, over the years brands would not have accepted LGBTQ or the black people or even the role of women in this world.
So perhaps we need to surprise AI by not getting predictable. By selecting thing that are contrary to our own choices from the same platform on same subjects. So, before AI says, “look guys, I cracked you”, it’s for us to say, “thank you for helping, but it’s fine if you won’t get it”. I guess we need to be smarter than our smart tools.
Q. Is digital signage making outdoor advertising more attractive?
Well yes. It does bring new creative possibilities on the medium. The medium now allows for animation, ideas, engagement and more. Some of thee most innovative ones are also using it to increase audience interaction.
Q. For better remuneration do agencies need to focus more on client’s business outcomes?
Yes, of course. Our industry was always meant to be the best and biggest asset for a brand’s marketing function. Today, agencies are doing their best to live up to this. See it in the light of startups, which came up in big numbers over the last few years. If you have one in your agency, it better get big under your watch. Else, they either move on or go bust.
