Agency Feature: Art-E

Who are we?

Art-E is a full-stack, integrated marketing and technology agency. We fuse tech, media and art to create experiences that appeal to our client’s businesses and the consumer’s hearts. Started five years ago, we have come a long way since our first office out of a garage in the dingy lanes of Amar Colony. On the back of a handful of Arteans back in the day who continue to work with us, today we are a family of 200+ people. Our first client was Google and it was our stepping stone in the world of advertising. Since then we haven’t looked back. Today we are present in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru along with satellite offices in Indore, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh.

What’s in the name?

Defying Shakespear’s famous quote - “what’s in the name”, Art-E's identity is based on it. Fusing Art with Technology is what we stand for. Before the entire technology game came in, be it AR, VFX or CGI - we started with a mission to blend technology with art to create some groundbreaking futuristic work. If you were to ask the old Arteans, they will tell you a little secret behind the reason for choosing the company name (Hint hint - Our agency name has the acronyms of our 3 founders!)

What do we do?

While a part of our work lies at the intersection of technology, digital, and consumer experience to help brands engage with their customers like never before, the second task on our list is to have fun doing what we just mentioned above and inspire Arteans to have fun too. The first task of course is to go beyond my daily step count. Our team works across vertices such as - Mainline and Digital Creative Services, Digital Marketing and SEO, Media Planning and Buying, Technology and Design, Martech Integration, Digital Content Creation, Ecommerce Channel Management, Corporate and Brand Films and our latest partnership with Defodio offering Influence and Marketing Management.

Why do we do it?

A long time ago, five and a half years to be precise - the niche of MarTech was still untouched and the minds of our partners and half-psychics saw the potential and went into it with full force. We would consider ourselves a pioneer in this industry, blending art and technology to give customized and futuristic experiences and products to our clients. Looking at the body of our work today ranging across industries and mediums, we are proud of the psychic abilities of the founders to tap into this niche, build on it and evolve each day.

How do we evolve?

Evolution doesn’t happen over time, it happens every day at Art-E. Be it in the form of our Creative Director taking sessions on Mid Journey after getting his hands dirty, teaching and exploring at the same time with the team or changing the ways of working to be more efficient to blending in two websites to create one integrated mobile application for one of our clients - nothing happens over time. It happens overnight.

The ‘want’ to evolve and move with time or in certain cases ahead of time, requires a certain mindset of inquisitiveness which we try and inculcate in each Artean every single day.

Social responsibility in social media

Being the voice of brands, the ones that we use or come across on a daily basis is no easy task. In India, entertainment has the biggest impact on the masses, and an advertisement that you see scrolling through your Instagram feed or driving across a road holds a much bigger impact than the occasional movie that one would willingly pay and go see.

As advertisers, it is our social responsibility to drive change and be at the forefront of it. The most recent example that comes to mind is our work for Hisense on World Earth Day. The idea for the creative came out of the proactive ‘pick any client-open brief’ weekly session where our designer and copywriter developed the visual and we took on ourselves to go live. The provocative thought around the concept of sustainability and reducing carbon footprint is essential to be shown to the consumers even if it’s for a second on social media. And that’s how we strive to take responsibility and make an impact in whatever way we can.

Need of the hour

Creativity with a purpose. And just not the purpose of following the brief, going beyond it and delivering.

We learned the hard way

Three co-founders - a Xoogler, a Creative Enthusiast and a CA, one would ask - what did we know about the business of advertising? Well, truth be told - we didn’t. We figured it out but figured it out together with a bunch of loyalists who just wouldn’t leave our side and continue to inspire us to do better and bigger. We have won pitches, lost clients, hired people, saw them leave - regular business life cycle. In between all these milestones - the Eureka moments and excitement felt in the process of pitching and; hiring people and at the same time dealing with the disappointment of losing businesses and people, we learned.

Did we just share that?

Too many to list down.

They work with us

Listing down our clients turned creative partners turned friends turned mentors or mentees - Google, Pidilite, Crompton, Godrej, Ethos Watch Boutique, Coursera, PayTM, Axis Bank, Saatvik, Jubilant Food, Aditya Birla Group, Pantaloons, Mercedez, Apollo Tyres, Skybags, VIP, BharatPe, Panasonic, Flipkart, Domino’s, Nokia, realme, Hisense, Pari Match, We Work, Cavin Kare, Antara.

Industry as we foresee

In the brave new world of advertising, we’re entering an era brimming with digital wizardry, where strategies are fueled by data-driven brilliance, campaigns are tailored with the precision of a bespoke suit, and a spotlight is shining ever brighter on the twin stars of ethics and sustainability. Those intrepid advertisers and agencies who dance with these trends, pirouetting gracefully in the ever-shifting landscape, are poised not just for success, but for an applause-worthy performance in this captivating show.

A day without Internet

Peaceful.

Gender ratio and policies at your agency?

We believe in work in progress, and we know that we have miles to cover in order to course correct the age-old imbalance of gender ratio in our industry. However, we have made some progress - in September 2022, women comprised 30% of the total workforce. Cut two, September 2023, we have an ever-growing 50% workforce of women.

Technology and Design teams have been infamous for the lack of women force, but more than 50% of the team members are women, with more to grow. We understand and acknowledge the importance of safety and the freedom to ‘be and own it’ at the workplace. With POSH and Gender Sensitivity workshops, we aim to safeguard the mental and physical safety of our Arteans. On a day-to-day level, we provide flexibility in terms of Work from Office/ Home roster. We are of the opinion that while policies and processes can be set, it’s in the daily routine that the true spirit of diversity and inclusion comes into play. And we are proud of squashing the stereotypes and believing in equity.

Tell us about your inclusive policies

We’ll again point out the fact that policies can exist, and exist in your company handbook. At Art-E, we attribute the inclusivity factor to two things - Proactiveness: The initiative by our HR team and leaders to unlearn what we thought we knew and learn what we don’t know. 

The second most important is consistency - Consistency in the behaviour to make the other person feel welcomed, included and equal.

Tell us about your maternity and paternity leave

Parenthood is much like advertising. While a new brief is exciting to work upon, it comes with its own set of challenges to decode, nurture the idea and oversee the execution at its best. To support the new parents, our Maternity policy offers 26 weeks of paid leave and the Paternity policy offers 15 days of time off. In addition, we have introduced an Adoption Leave policy which offers 12 weeks of time off to take care of the little one(s).

Can you tell us a bit about your work culture and values that you believe in?

Our four core pillars form the foundation of our culture: 

Responsibility - Family looks out for each other, right? We are no less. Everyone has your back! Responsibility towards people and deadlines go hand in hand. 

Transparency - We don’t believe in keeping secrets from each other. Financials, policies, and processes, help us get better by sharing knowledge.

Commitment - Work is worship? Our commitment goes beyond clients. Tough times don’t last, but together we will

Little things - Not only do we get into the skin of our brands, we leave no stone unturned in making small gestures into big memorable moments for our People.

How has the agency grown YOY?

We believe and have proved to be the tortoise from the story of the race between the rabbit and the tortoise.

Can you share any testimonials from your clients?

Having worked with our marquee clients for years, we have managed to establish a strong creative partnership on the back of some amazing work. These relationships are what we are extremely proud of - the trust shown by our clients has led us to go beyond the brief and deliver creative and technologically advanced solutions.

Vipin Yadav, Director Marketing at Hisense (Full range) and Toshiba-TV says, “Art-E brings full involvement to the table with their strategic and creative brilliance, this has significantly elevated our brand’s presence and engagement in the Indian market. Their expert management of our social media channels has not only increased our visibility but also driven meaningful connections with our audience. The latest campaign #ColorsofEmotions is the perfect example for Art-E teams’ dedication and innovative approach!”

Bhawana Sharma, Digital Marketing Head at CavinKare says, “Our digital advertising agency, Art-E, is an invaluable creative partner. Their creative prowess shines through in the content, elevating our brand’s image. They expertly manage our social media, fostering engagement and growth. Their media planning and buying acumen optimize our ad spend for maximum impact. In the competitive FMCG landscape, Art-E is one of our trusted allies, consistently delivering exceptional results and we look forward to continued success together.”

Can you tell us a bit about your work

The trust shown by our clients has led us to doing some proud pieces of work. I hope this list becomes longer by the time we sit down to pen it down - Bachon Ka Khel for Flipkart - The campaign built a strong connection among the seller community. With around 30 million views overall, the campaign garnered 170 million impressions, approximately 4.5 times more than the projected number.

#TarakkiKe5Din for Flipkart - Launched a campaign #TarakkiKe5Din with Anil Kapoor. The objective was to reach out to the maximum number of non-Flipkart sellers to register for the brand’s 5-day online event to onboard them. It was a big hit and resulted in around 10K registrations of sellers in the span of five days and garnered 6.4 Million views in a very short time period.

#SoMuchToDo for Panasonic - We took one phone across the 29 states in 29 days to showcase there is so much to see and do in India. The campaign covered a total length of 25K kilometres and was trending for 132 hours. Total engaged users were 81,000 and the total reach of the campaign in 29 days was 120 million. The campaign also made it to the India book of records for covering 29 states in 29 countries, awarding a smartphone every day.

Gold for Gold for Goodknight - A Whatsapp campaign that helped us with multiple lead generations. Once the user purchased the GoodKnight Gold Flash Pack, they stood a chance to win a gold coin from GCPL by entering the form into the Whatsapp bot using an 8-character code. Through the “Gold for Gold” campaign, we got over 70% code redemptions. 100 customers received the gold coin and were also featured on the Goodknight landing page of Gold for Gold.

Nokia India E-Commerce Store Management - We had the responsibility for Middleware Tech management and ECOM backend and Shopify storefront management. We created offers and managed daily order status along with handling 1300-1500 orders per week and resolving approximately 150 tickets.

Have you had an opportunity to bag awards?

We don’t (read: do) care about awards and recognition, but it’s always encouraging for our people to be recognised for the work they’ve put in. While the awards list is small, we do aim to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with network agencies at Effies, Cannes, Kyoorius.

Our humble list of awards featuring some of our best works include:

#ColorsofEmotions for Hisense fetched us 2 Golds at Masters of Modern Marketing Awards’23 for Best Digital Campaign for an Electronics Enterprise and Best Multi Channel Campaign for an Electronics Enterprise. We were also awarded a Gold as the Top Agencies - Independent and Top Professionals - Young Achievers.

The Video Media Awards and Summit graced us with Top Video Content Agencies - Independent in 2023.

Godrej HIT website creation and app management along with Republic native app

creation in 2018 won us IAMAI Indian Digital Award, IDMA Award and MMA Award.

Lastly, how many employees work with your agency and are you hiring?

A staggering 86% growth of Arteans since the September of 2022, we are growing across teams and cities. We are inviting job applications in the creative, media, technology and production teams at careers@artemedia.co.in