Ashish Bhasin, CEO APAC and Chairman India, Dentsu Aegis Network, needs no introduction. One of the most respected thought leaders of today, Ashish Bhasin is not only an evangelist but also an industry captain. Home to one of the sharpest minds in his trade, Ashish Bhasin here lists down the most important factors that Dentsu Aegis Network must Focus on in 2020.
Growth
For any agency in any market, especially a high-growth market such as India, growth is an absolute essential. Only when an agency grows in a nation like India will it be able to garner further resources that in-turn will help make additional investments for the benefit of its clients, employees and shareholders. Therefore, I firmly believe that Focus on Growth will be very very important for us in 2020.
People
The second area of Focus for us in 2020 will be People. I don’t think this needs any explanation. Everybody knows that people are the most valuable assets in advertising. However, and unfortunately, the quality of talent is tumbling and as an industry, we have not put in enough efforts to grow fresh talent. On the contrary, our focus has always been to poach from one other. Today, there are hundreds of industries that are vying for the same talent, and within that, advertising needs to make itself attractive enough to acquire fresh talent. Therefore, I think, that’s a very clear area of Focus for us – People!
One P&L
I think our One P&L strategy has been our strength. Most of our competitors are trying to catch up in some way or the other and we believe that DAN’s One P&L model has been one of the reasons why we have done so well in India. There are several marketing communication services that a client needs. And yet, he does not want the hassles of siloization. Rather, the client wants to experience the benefits of specialization. Now, given that we can offer this benefit under one P&L, it immediately gives us a competitive edge. And we want to keep building on that competitive edge!
Digitally Ahead
Digital is the fastest-growing media of today. Even through this slowdown, it continues to grow at a rate of about 25 per cent y-o-y. Fortunately, we predicted this trend a few years back and quite strategically decided to attain leadership in this area. The decision has paid us handsomely. We want to make sure that our leadership in digital continues. India is, after all, a young nation and is expected to exhibit exponential growth in digital. As leaders in this field, we believe that we have a significant advantage to take from this.
