Talk to Ahmed Kapadia, Managing Director, Synergy Advertising, and what comes through is his belief in Pakistani talent.

AURORA: In what way is Synergy different from any other advertising agency?

Ahmed Kapadia: First of all, unlike most advertising agencies in Pakistan, the business is not inherited. This gives us an edge because we are professionals. I started my career as a client service executive at MNJ Communications, and worked my way up. I’ve also worked on the client side at Lakson Tobacco. This has given Synergy a good mix of advertising and marketing experience. Secondly, Synergy is not a one-man show; it doesn’t revolve around me. I love talent. I like to hire talented people.

In Pakistan, there is no concept of ‘mentorship’ as such. Talent by itself is not enough, it has to be guided. I give a lot of leeway to my people. I lead and I guide them. Thirdly, we have a very proactive approach. Rather than sit back and let the client give us the brief, we use our marketing knowledge to understand the issues. Lastly, we position ourselves, and expect to be treated at par with the client. We’re not merely a supplier to a client. Maybe that was the attitude until the 80s, but today clients are inviting agencies to provide solutions to certain problems; it’s like a doctor-patient relationship.

A: Yet clients are notorious for not treating their agencies as equals.

AK: Things are changing. I think both parties were responsible for the earlier attitude. It takes two to play, and I blame both the agency and the client. For example, how many times does one come across (especially in multinationals) brand managers, straight out of the IBA, who are not aware of some of the technical aspects of advertising, and yet start to dictate certain things, without understanding what it takes to deliver a job?

Good advertising is always the result of both parties working together. I cannot do anything without my client, and vice versa. I’ve developed client relationships where clients listen to and respect your opinions. The key is to be consistent and honest; then the client will realise you are not just interested in your 15% commission.

A: What is your strongest point in terms of the services Synergy delivers?

AK: There are certain clients who feel we are very good in servicing. I don’t agree with them. Other clients say we are very good in creative execution. I don’t agree with them either. In terms of the total package, yes, we are good. The total package means, that if a client has a problem related to any aspect of advertising or promotion, we will find a solution, even if we have to go outside the agency. We will not shy away; we will provide a solution.

Clients need media planning, client servicing, creative execution, event management, and more. We are not experts in all these areas, but we concentrate on the total solution. This is also how we differentiate ourselves from other agencies.

A: Synergy has no affiliation yet. Are you looking for one?

AK: It’s not an issue, but we are open to the idea. However, apart from the fact that you acquire an aligned account, I don’t think there are any great benefits to an affiliation.

A: Surely, major benefits come from the quality of training an international affiliate can provide?

AK: Absolutely not. It depends on the leadership. If I’m in an agency, with a global affiliation, and if I don’t have the professionalism or the expertise, I will never be able to draw on the strength of the global agency. It depends on the individual and how he or she utilises those services.

A: In today’s changing advertising scenario, do you think an agency can survive just by providing the ‘traditional’ services?

AK: It depends. If an agency offers traditional services only, but delivers better than most, it will survive. However, moving into different areas also depends on the objectives the agency has. To achieve economies of scale, generate alternative sources of revenue. Another reason in favour of expansion is that everything has become specialised.

A: Is Synergy planning to move into other areas?

AK: We have already done it with Synergy Marketing, which is an event management and entertainment marketing company. My objectives are to invest in my people, provide them financial security and growth opportunities. After that I want to empower them, so that they become independent, and after they become independent, they will become interdependent, which means the company will not be a one-man show. It is the people that will make the company. I want to develop people with potential, and five years down the road, I will try to make them project managers. I want to create opportunities for people, teach them to run separate operations. I can open up five separate companies right now, but who’s going to run them? I’m not.

A: Given the rate of turnover in the industry, how do you propose to make people stay the course, over a five year period?

AK: It’s a challenge. Previously, I used to think that the high turnover in the agency business was the fault of the advertising agencies themselves. Now, I realise it works both ways. Employees are also responsible for this trend. Pakistanis are short- term in approach. Take a client service director, with five- or six-years’ experience. It will take me 10 minutes to find out how much is he really worth. Most of the time, in terms of ability, he has not reached the position he is in. Yet, because mediocrity has risen to such proportions, his salary is inflated, and this has been done by the advertising agencies.

In this frank, and wide-ranging interview, Kapadia speaks about changing times in the ad profession, the rise of merit, and the importance of empowering today’s young advertising professionals

The challenge is to share your vision with your employees. I’m talking about independence, not about changing jobs. I’m talking about running your own business. But it is a challenge to convince people to stay for five years, not to take the better offer and work elsewhere. Salary is not the only thing; it’s the total package. The thing is to show people a future, a vision, a possibility of growth. To make them understand that, if in time they become good in certain areas, they will be put in charge of those areas. To make them understand that ‘without you I’m nothing. I can choose to work independently but I choose to work with you.’ I think that for people like us, from middle-class backgrounds and who’ve just come up, this is the only way to survive. Depending on each other. That’s what synergy is.

That is why I’m constantly looking for good people irrespective of whether I have a vacancy or not. If I spot someone who has a talent in a certain area, I try to nurture and develop it. I could give you a profile of who will succeed in the communications industry and who won’t.

A: What would that profile be?

AK: Attitude is the key. A positive attitude and a proactive approach. Curiosity, and a willingness to take up challenges, and honesty. After that, it is your role, as head of the agency, to nurture and coach this talent. One of the problems with advertising, even today, is that some people don’t know the boundaries of their jobs. Even after working for two years at MNJ, at the beginning of my career, I didn’t know exactly where my responsibilities ended and where those of the creative department began. This should not happen.

A: What attracted you to advertising?

AK: Nothing. I joined advertising in 1986 by accident. I was not doing anything. I hadn’t done my MBA yet. I was a rolling stone. It was S.M. Shahid, who suggested I speak to Javed Jabbar, and although I didn’t know anything about advertising, he offered me a job in the client service department at MNJ.

The best thing about advertising is that it’s not limited to one area; you touch so many different areas and that teaches you a lot. You cannot do creative work if you do not know about human psychology, consumer behaviour, and so on.

A: You eventually joined Lakson Tobacco, but then moved back into advertising. What prompted this return?

AK: Even before joining Lakson, I had my doubts about whether people in marketing were really that great. The moment I joined Lakson, I knew that a good advertising person could make tremendous progress in marketing, and I had no intention of going back to advertising. But then I got a very good opportunity to work at Orient McCann- Erickson, and make a difference there.

Over a period of two years, I completely restructured the agency. In 1995, Orient had a different positioning from what it has now. We made a strategic plan, developed a new wing, initiated digitalised studio computerisation; all this helped improve the business tremendously. The billing went up from 13 to 20 crores during the time I was there. I was not the only one responsible; there was a whole team involved.

A: Do you agree that the business of advertising is becoming more specialised and more professional?

AK: I do, and it is a good thing because merit comes into play. At Synergy, we’re totally into merit; we know how to do our job and provide our clients with solutions. This is a change we welcome. Initially, the advertising business, even in the 80s, was not merit driven. Contacts mattered then. In our case, we worked the other way around. We won two of our major accounts on merit, and it was only afterwards that these clients became good friends.

A: Are you in favour of clients adopting a fee structure and doing away with the commission?

AK: I’m all for the fee structure. At the end of the day, I want my overheads to be taken care of. I’m not interested in making millions or playing with the “media money.” But to implement the fee structure, you have to understand how it works and how the fee is calculated. If the client doesn’t have this understanding, he’ll be on my case, asking questions all the time.

A: Why are advertising agencies in Pakistan still lagging behind in terms of creative execution, especially compared to India?

AK: Simple. When I went to India in 1980, there was almost no television. Once a week, there was a half an hour sitcom, and the whole of Bombay used to watch that programme. The quality of ads at the time was pathetic.

When I went back to India in 1993, everything had changed totally in just thirteen years, and the reasons are simple. First, the market is very big. Secondly, the ad industry draws its technical strength from the cinema industry which is the largest in the world. Third, because the market is very large, there is tremendous professionalism.

In Pakistan, we are lagging behind in creative execution, and this is because it takes two to play. If clients are not willing to provide the environment, the people, the framework and the cost, if they themselves are not very clear about what they want, how can you expect an agency to deliver? It’s a very simple equation. Quality of output is dependent on the quality of input.

A: What do you mean by environment and framework?

AK: Problems like the brief. Advertising can never be decided by a committee, it has to be centralised. If you give me a brief, I’m going to create something that has come from your mind. If I then make a presentation before a committee, they may not understand what I’m doing, because they were not part of the briefing process. One person has to be in charge, be it the brand manager or the managing director. Only then can you get clarity. This is happening in multinationals, and in one or two national organisations, and that’s why they are ahead.

Often clients insist that a concept be developed in two days. In that kind of timeframe only garbage can be produced. So you present garbage to please your client, and this is what goes on air. There is this simple thing called a deadline. Deadlines are always mutually decided. If you give me a deadline, how can it be a deadline if I don’t agree with it? Clients should also invest more in gauging the consumer’s psyche.

Another problem is that often clients insist that a concept be developed in two days. In that kind of timeframe only garbage can be produced. So you present garbage to please your client, and this is what goes on air. There is this simple thing called a deadline. Deadlines are always mutually decided. If you give me a deadline, how can it be a deadline if I don’t agree with it? Clients should also invest more in gauging the consumer’s psyche. Indian commercials are better because of the consumer insights they have.

A: Some of the commercials we watch seem to be very heavy on brand presence and light on situational concepts. Do you think this is because brand managers are focusing too much on the brand?

AK: No. It’s because, very often, the account executive in an agency has just done his MBA and is relatively inexperienced. He meets the brand manager, who is also inexperienced. In these circumstances what will be the quality of the input and the eventual output? Agencies should be spending more time developing their client service executives, developing systems, and guiding their creative team.

Similarly, the same thing should be happening on the client side. Once, a brand manager rejected something we had presented, but then a senior person, with a clearer perspective, intervened and made the brand manager understand that what we were proposing would work. Brand managers must realise that just because they’ve done their MBA from LUMS or the IBA, it doesn’t mean they know everything.

A: Agencies are often accused by clients of not doing enough consumer research. Do you agree?

AK: Agencies are not supposed to do formal consumer research. That is a specialised job. We can design and implement the research, and Synergy has done that for different clients. We have also done surveys whenever there has not been enough data. The question is what is the compensation? You expect me to do research, but you’re not willing to pay for it. How can I do that? Maybe, if you have ten big clients that are paying adequately, then you might consider digging into your own pocket and undertake research. Synergy is already doing this. Nobody is paying us to do so, but we have to because one cannot work on the creative without having certain data. But it’s very unfair for a client to expect us to do formal consumer research without paying for it.

A: Do you agree with the contention that it is the multinationals that have been responsible for introducing new concepts to, and improving standards within the industry?

AK: Unfortunately, we have a gora culture. People are talented here, but it is in the Pakistani psyche that, if it is ‘made in Pakistan,’ it has to be bad. But it’s not. Look at Tapal, they understand the concept of branding very well. This is a Pakistani company that is at par with Lever Brothers. In Pakistan, there are numerous examples of companies comparable to the multinationals.

My philosophy is, what counts is the quality of the leadership, irrespective of whether the organisation is local or multinational. The problem in Pakistan is that there is tremendous absence of leadership, and where leadership is lacking, there will be mediocrity. It’s very simple. If the leaders are not good enough, how can you create institutions? Who is going to guide you? Who is going to give you the vision? You may have the talent, but talent is not enough. You need guidance. Agencies are full of talent.

A: Why are advertising agencies not developing that talent?

AK: Many agencies cannot see beyond their noses. Suppose I am the biggest agency in Pakistan in terms of billing. Then my role should be to give back something to the system, provide for all those things that are missing. Instead, I further my own cause.

If you take the top five advertising agencies in Pakistan, and you compare their work in terms of creative or any other aspect of the business, with agencies like Synergy or Brand, you will find no difference in terms of quality of output. Why? Because there has been no investment in people, and that is one of the causes of the high employee turnover experienced by the industry. People don’t leave jobs only because of money. It’s the work environment and the enrichment they get. If you’re learning and you see growth, you will not leave. These agencies should invest in their people, in training, in personal development.

Interview conducted by Mariam Ali Baig, originally published in the Nov-Dec 2002 edition.