From winning pitches to awards, Wavemaker India is showing a consistent performance over the last couple of years. The GroupM-owned media agency has been diversifying its services to e-commerce, martech, adtech, performance marketing and content, among others, to change its image from being just a media agency to being a brand consultant for all its clients. Hamish Davies, global chief growth and marketing officer, Wavemaker, who recently visited India, was pumped with optimism. In an exclusive chat with Storyboard18, Davies indicated that currently India is one of the top 10 markets for Wavemaker. “Given the diverse demographics and entrepreneurial spirit, in the next few years, we do think India has the potential to be one of the top five markets,” said Davies. Today, Wavemaker India is part of most global pitches. That apart the agency’s India unit is also winning local businesses of multinational companies.
Racing in the pitch game
In 2018, when Mondelez had called for a multi-agency media pitch. Davies had come down to India to participate in the last round of presentation. Part of his mandate is to go to local markets when a global pitch is announced. At the Mondelez’s pitch meet in India, Davies made a few observations about his teams here. “It was one of the best local pitches I have ever been a part of. The level of intellect that they bring to the table is impressive. They were good at their math and rigor. They kept a close track of every little detail of the client’s business. However, they also stood out in their creative understanding and delivery. That kind of combination is rare to find in media agencies,” he explained.
Recently, Wavemaker India picked Reckitt’s Rs 1600 crore media business. Storyboard18 was the first to report that the company in India initiated a media pitch and that the media duties were assigned to Wavemaker. This wasn’t a global pitch. The four month intense pitch process was won because the agency was able to demonstrate how they can help the company grow their businesses keeping different facets in mind. Davies is of the opinion that today pitches have moved beyond price. “Many moons ago, pitches were price-centric. Today, there is greater appreciation of the time agencies invest in pitch meets. Processes are lengthy and sophisticated. Clients are looking for great leadership, progressive agencies that have strong both planning and creative teams in place. This helps in sharply structuring commercial deals. As clients grow, agencies also scale up,” said Davies.
At an industry level, it’s often argued that all that clients want is cheap rates. He agreed that there are such scenarios too. However, the definition of value has changed, he said. Also, today, he is seeing procurement and marketing departments working closely more than ever before to articulate and have a holistic approach towards deals.
Davies’s local visits, especially for pitches, are to bring in a level of consistency across the board. He also has to consider local insights and maximise opportunities. His role is mainly to keep things in check and balance.
Read more: Storyboard18 Exclusive: Wavemaker India wins Reckitt Benckiser’s Rs 1600 Cr media business
Role of CGOs and CMOs in agencies
There are very few agencies around the world where there are chief growth officers (CGOs) and chief marketing officers (CMOs). Wavemaker got Davies on board to combine growth and marketing duties of the agency together. “Marketing should drive growth for the agency both organically and via new businesses. It is also critical to grow talent base and needs. I need to combine the two. When that happens, growth gets easier. It is symbiotic,” he said. Davies’s primary task it to make sure growth is on the top of mind for everyone in the agency. Be it organic or new business growth. He runs a growth community worldwide. It a pool of senior vibrant executives across who are approaching pitches and establishing performance culture from a different lens.
As a chief marketing officer in an agency, Davies has a small budget to play. B2B marketing for an agency is to keep their profile healthy and refreshed. He candidly said, “Ours is an over supplied industry. There are plenty of very good media agencies there. Our competition is excellent. We are great too. The task then is to actively be present in pitches to keep us on the top of the game. We also need to keep our profile strong so that clients know what we have to offer.”
Defining new business dynamics
A combination of purpose, creativity and technology is at the centre of work that’s coming out of Wavemaker India. While the pieces of work from India is an inspiration to the entire network, there are pockets of excellence everywhere, said Davies. The agency’s core business is not just media planning and buying. It is now also to offer marketing consultancy and marketing services. Along with that outcome-based businesses and sales generation activities are also taking a fair share of the business pie for the agency. “As we are focusing on these areas, the outcome is actually driving our clients’ bootomline more than ever before.”
Read more: Media Mavens: Wavemaker’s Ajay Gupte on the agency’s report card, generative AI and more
Wavemaker Worldwide started 2023 with an all-time record pipeline well in excess of US $4 billion with 15 multi-market pitches in play. According to Davies, the agency’s ambition is to have a record year from a new business point. While it is still early to make any firm predications, he said, that the agency is ‘on track’ to reach their $3 billion target worldwide. Currently, Mondelez, L’Oréal, Dream 11, Netflix, Colgate -Palmolive, Pernod Ricard India, Tata Consumer Pvt. Ltd., Zydus Wellness, PayTM, Perfetti-Van Melle are Wavemaker India’s top clients.