Agency Spotlight - Flying Cursor - A Day at Flying Cursor

This article is published under our Agency Spotlight feature. The Agency under Spotlight for this month is Flying Cursor.

I am sure you’re going to have a great time!

This is exactly what I was told by those who knew Flying Cursor when I told them that I will get to spend a day there. And they were bang on target!

I have visited a good numbers of digital agencies in the past and to be honest, Flying Cursor stands out from all of them. The way the agency is built and works is totally different.

To an outsider like me, this Goregaon based agency initially looked like a commotion of people having mad fun; but as the day progressed I realized that it is the work they derive fun out of.

Talking about work

As I grilled Parag Gandhi, Cofounder & Director, on how they function, I realized how their approach is more like a mainline agency than a pure-play digital one.

Which is natural considering they have a sister agency, Rickshaw, who specializes in mainline advertising. Hence, their approach is more towards aligning strategies to the brand than going all out and running random campaigns, which is the bane of most of the digital agencies out there.

The team focuses more on big ideas that align with the brands during the pitching process. And I am told that it is these big ideas that have won them their clients. Parag shared:

"We don’t think medium or platform. We think of how an idea can be relevant to a brand or the brands consumers. How this could be the best idea that creates conversation or change. Once we have that central thought or idea, we start extending it to people’s lives, in the bargain using digital and various platforms to communicate one powerful brand thought. Also the fun lies in providing solutions, creating impact and touching people live's.”

It also helps when you have a person like Mahua Hazarika from the brand side as one of your partners. The perspective you get from a person who has worked in the brand side is of tremendous help to a brand.

Another interesting thing I noticed was how fluid the agency is. There are no silos at all. So you won’t find account directors, social media managers, account managers and all those fancy designations.

There is a copywriting team, a creative-strategy team, design team and the team that handles technology. All the operations are led by the cofounders.

So once the client comes on board, a team is allocated for it which works towards implementing the ideas that were pitched and the execution is overseen by either Parag or Shormishtha.

The Crazy People at Flying Cursor

I wanted to know more about all the team members at Flying Cursor, so I asked Kopal if I can meet HR. And man was I was embarrassed to ask that question!

Because at Flying Cursor, there is no HR. As Shormistha told me:

“I am HR, and so are my partners. As founders of this agency, if we don’t know what our people want or don’t want, then what’s the point. I might as well go back to doing a job. I don’t want someone who doesn’t eat, breathe and work closely with them, to formulate policies for them and the company. I want them to be a part of that formulation with us.

Which is also why we hire people like that. Who are team players, who want to be part of Flying Cursor, not just as a person who works there, but as a person who has a stake in their future and thereby the future of FC.”

And I like Flying Cursor’s belief of hiring people with varied interests. The more aware and informed you are, the more ideas you can think of. I feel it is this confluence of different backgrounds (they have a Lawyer in the copywriting team!!) and personalities that has made what Flying Cursor is today.

As I moved around asking people how their usual day is like, I got the same response from everyone: mad, crazy, fun, great!

It was nice seeing everyone having a great time, cracking jokes, pulling each others’ legs (they pulled my leg too!) and still crank out good work!

Flying Cursor is a pet-friendly agency. So anyone can bring their pets. That's Milo!

Wrapping Up

As my day at Flying Cursor was coming to end, I had a long discussion with Parag on how the industry will shape up. He seemed excited at the prospect of brands creating more properties and how the digital media spends are growing vis a vis traditional.

Agencies who think beyond hash-tag contests and silly campaigns, who understand brands and its needs, who think of impactful ideas is what our industry needs. And in that front, Flying Cursor is very well placed.