Swimming against the tide: Finding your space as a young ad agency

For Gautam Reghunath, Co-founder and CEO, Talented, the advertising industry has always been a huge part of his life. His drive to create great work comes from having grown up surrounded by his father’s ad magazines, creatives, and proofs lying around the house. This has translated into an extensive advertising experience of 17 years as he has grown with agencies like Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi and Dentsu Webchutney, creating award-winning work and even serving as a jury for Cannes Lions in 2023. 

With pitching creative ideas, however, comes the desire for creative freedom wherein one feels like ideas deserve a fresh start with no baggage that aligns more closely with personal values and creative vision. 

Building his own agency seemed like a natural progression which gave birth to ‘Talented’, a two-year-old agency that has led creative work for brands like Swiggy, Urban Company, Myntra, Google India, Goibibo and more. 

“The clear reason for us when we began was that we had way too many disruptive ideas on how agencies needed to be run that were fundamentally different from how agencies are actually run.”

Reghunath isn’t the only one to find this drive for freedom inside him. Aalap Desai wanted to find his version of an advertising agency, one that broke away from the systemic approach.  

For him, there was a version of a system that was more talent-focused and concentrated on joy as a motivation rather than fear, which Desai believes will result in creating better work. 

Desai, who has an extensive experience working with network agencies like Ogilvy, JWT, Leo Burnett and Dentsu feels grateful for the giants that taught him the work and the business, but believes that a colossal system comes with its pros and cons. 

With the biggest motivator being freedom, Aalap Desai became the CCO and Co-Founder of the recently launched agency ‘tgthr’.

“The advantages are vast, like job security and predictable growth, but there are disadvantages, like the pressure of massive, and often unachievable, targets and how they handle culture. There is always a version of "your way" that exists in your head that you want to create somewhere, someday,” shares Desai, as he speaks about the cornerstone of building tgthr. 

While agencies launched in the past five years are relatively young and can be termed ‘new-age’ agencies, this trend goes beyond their lifespan and has given birth to newer ways of fostering working dynamics. 

Working at network agencies or companies can open your eyes to cultural gaps. These ‘new-age’ agencies, helmed by industry professionals, are working towards attracting a better talent pool through their versions of work culture while specialising in specific skillsets that garner brand attention. 

The drive to build something different 

Take the agency Lesssgo for example. Specializing in social media content, the year-old agency has connected with the audiences through its relatable content for clients like Swiggy Instamart, Bumble and Slice. 

With bite-sized content that garners interest from younger audiences, the relatively new agency has been crafting a niche as it attempts to set itself apart from larger giants in the industry. 

The agency’s founder, Srishti Modi, mentions, “While my main motivator to start Lesssgo was my confidence, I wouldn’t lie about not being obsessed with “this I will do differently,” “this no one should face,” and “this should entirely stop.”

But a shift in the agency culture is not at all about recognising Gen Zs don’t stand bullsh*t, as per Modi. 

She continues, “Of course, that keeps you accountable. But it’s mostly about recognising agencies/companies thrive when they’re built on empathy, shared ownership and having fun. And it’s very beautiful to just see everyone choosing to be kind and mindful.”

Labels? No, thank you!

While these professionals have learned the ropes by working with advertising giants, they are now swimming against the tides to make a difference, either through culture or creativity. They are rejecting labels and creating their version of an advertising agency.

As per Pallavi Chakravarti, Founder & CCO, Fundamental, ‘non-traditional’, ‘traditional’, ‘boutique’, ‘hotshop’ are adjectives that look pretty in write-ups. Having developed her expertise in crafting creative work for clients at agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi India, JWT, Grey Group, TAPROOT DENTSU, and DDB Mudra Group, Chakravarti’s focus has been making employees feel empowered and accountable by remunerating them well for their efforts. 

Through meaningful work, Chakravarti wants to bring joy back into the advertising process. Once she started her agency Fundamental, she tried not to add a label to it. The agency, established in 2023, has crafted reels and long-format content, designed textbook covers, and executed big-ticket television campaigns, like many other agencies. 

Chakravarti thinks, “Clients should be able to see value in what you’re bringing to the table - that will automatically change how they view you, not the descriptor you flash on your creds deck. And this will happen only if one knows what one is best equipped to do and the answer to that is not ‘everything’.”

Talent sets the tone

The meme marketing agency Youngun’s Founder and CEO, Saksham Jadon, Founder and CEO, Youngun began his career as an intern at Zomato and noticed a glaring issue within a year and a half into advertising - a lack of brand exclusivity. Brands sounded the same, lacking distinct personalities. This led him to believe there should be some personality of the brand itself.

From there, his agency has focused on making brands like Netflix, Spotify, Tinder, Ajio and more relevant in topical discussions by leveraging humor, recognizing its virality on social platforms.

Considering the agency relies on social media, their hires are also defined by the same. “Our agency culture emphasizes hiring individuals from every possible generation with every possible consumption pattern. Young people define social, and then, slowly, it gets consumed across the medium.”

Jadon believes that agency culture often stems from unclear client objectives and unrealistic timelines. He elaborates that clear communication and understanding between clients and agency teams are significant in dealing with unhealthy work hours. He also believes every team member should understand each other's roles and capabilities.

It’s not only about hiring talent for their skills and giving them the freedom to create content where their creativity takes them. It’s also about fair pay. 

At Stonks Studios, Co-Founder and Partner, Nikhil Jain, doesn't base pay scales on what they think a creator deserves, instead choosing to do it on what they want. This comes from the belief that good creators know what they are worth and what value they bring to the table and price their services accordingly. 

“Our psychology says, if we can’t bring ourselves to pay what they need, they are probably better off with someone who can.”

The larger aim for him while starting the agency was to build a place that they would want to work at. Jain hasn’t placed value in degrees and certifications, instead choosing to do it in creativity instead. As a creator, he has realized that there is no fixed template that you can make creators work in.

“We wanted to build a space where all these creators could come together to build exceptional content for people, and in return, we offer them what they have always deserved - freedom. Freedom of delivery format, freedom to build on their time, freedom to put themselves first as creators.”

According to young agencies, this freedom to create also helps attract better talent. However, this also requires a strong belief system that supports creativity in different ways. 

Gautam Reghunath of Talented suggests that companies begin with the beliefs and values of their founders. However, having principles is the easy bit, according to him. 

“Early hiring becomes key. Your first 10-20 hires become magnets for the next 50, and so on. If you get the early parts of the company right, those behavioral patterns trickle down through the company over time.”

Similarly, Aalap Desai of tgthr believes that we need neo-traditional agencies, stating that it is no longer about setting up a three-person digital team in a traditional agency or a TVC in a digital agency to call yourself integrated. 

“We need to deliver on both fronts. To create that talent that has done both and can deliver on both fronts is the need of the hour. If you don't have them, we must invest in training them.”

Desai’s point of investing in talent shows that what one puts into a culture will define the output. Training employees within a business can be a tool for retention, as per research from LinkedIn which found 94% of employees would have stayed in their role longer if their employer had invested more time in their professional development.

Small fish in the pond

When it comes to the prefixes of being digital, creative, new-age or non-traditional, highlighting the kind of work and culture an agency has built, Reghunath believes, at the end of the day, on most occasions, his agency is pitching alongside the likes of Ogilvy and Burnett for the exact same briefs and the same marketing budgets. 

“The real differentiation with those types of agencies and other competitors will not be in what we’re called in comparison, but in our creative product itself,” he continues.

While there are already existing agencies providing full funnel services, there has been a rise of specialised new-age agencies with expertise in social media, AI, memes and more. And brands go to different service providers as per their needs. 

“Now, we are known for our internet-first approach. But its pillar is that we understand how people consume social, and we quickly adapt to all the changes and understand them,” says Youngun’s Saksham Jadon.

According to Jadon, traditional agencies often lag behind in understanding and utilising the latest social media trends and humour, which gave them an edge.

When asked what according to him characterises a non-traditional agency, Jadon says, “For the first three to four years, every agency has to start from a niche and break into that niche. That’s how their roots are formed. Their next step is keeping those roots, and style of work consistent and then scale up.”

Better hires = Better work

Agencies want to create work that resonates with the audience, and hiring plays a part in that. Fundamental’s Pallavi Chakravarti says that culture is a big word and a much-abused one. 

However, she continues, “We’re primarily about two things - the people and the work. We want to create work we’re proud of - insightful, needle-moving, popular, well-executed, persuasive. Note that the above may not necessarily be LinkedIn friendly - we design for the real world, work that works for our clients.”

Nikhil Jain of Stonks Studios points out that while they build content for brands, the goal is never to appease brands. Building for brands involves filtering thoughts to match what a brand wants to say. But, a better strategy, according to him, is to always build for audiences. As long as agencies make content that works, brands start placing faith in you.

This works in terms of making hiring decisions as well. 

Jain comments, “We hire based on vibe - it's about how well individuals can create what people want, regardless of background. In today's digital world, anyone can make an impact, so we focus on finding creators who can adapt and deliver.”

In a nutshell, Jain implies that agencies need to start valuing creators and creativity more than past successes, both in terms of hiring and of building work.

While he is not certain that new-age agencies have a monopoly on trying to foster better work environments, Talented’s Reghunath comments that companies regardless of size and age, attempt to do so. However, starting from scratch helps manage the issue, this is why younger agencies should have zero excuses not to.

Srishti Modi of Lesssgo shares some learnings that have shaped the culture at her agency.

1. Many creators find joy in getting credit for their work (it makes sense) or hate someone else taking their credit (it makes sense, too). It becomes everyone’s responsibility within the team to acknowledge the brain while celebrating the brainchild.

2. In an industry that is so consuming, it is important to make up for the unofficial work hours by reducing the official work hours. The unofficial work hours include time-consuming reels, observing trends, and even watching a cricket match. 

3. You can never make your problem of losing a client become a team's problem. Knowing that clients have read all the agency-client memes, there’s more awareness, more attempts, better relations, and equality than ever before.

By embracing diversity, creativity, and a commitment to positive change by remunerating their employees well, new-age agencies are redefining the boundaries of what is possible in advertising and paving the way for a more inclusive and dynamic future.