It's the people who set us apart: Aalap Desai reflects on tgthr’s first year

The core of the agency ‘tgthr’, began with Aalap Desai, after his departure from Dentsu Creative. 

Formed with a group of seasoned advertising professionals like Rahul Vengalil, CEO & Co-founder, tgthr, the agency was born out of a shared desire to do things differently on August 1, 2023. 

The inception is a story of camaraderie and a shared vision. Aalap Desai, CCO and Co-Founder, tgthr, worked with the team for years and realised they wanted to work with each other without distractions. “We realised that our best versions come out when we are with each other and that’s why humne iss dosti ko rishtedaari main badal diya,” Desai reflects as the agency completes one year in the advertising industry.

The second motivation was a desire to remain connected to the work they love. Having worked at network agencies, Desai notes, "Networks have a process, and the scale takes you away from the work you love. An independent agency keeps you rooted to the work." This focus on staying close to the creative process and the people you work with is what drives the agency.

Behind the sentiment of wanting to achieve goals ‘together’ is Desai’s focus on building a team with quality over quantity. Unlike many agencies that start with a mix of senior and junior talent, tgthr prioritised quality from the beginning. While hiring juniors can prove to be affordable, it can have its downsides with the quality being compromised. 

Desai explains that the agency values quality over anything else. That’s why it started with the senior leadership in place as Founding Members. This team, since its inception, includes Rahul Vengalil, Anadi Sah, Vibhor Yadav, Pragati Rana and Anirudh Venugopal at the helm. 

“This is risky because it is expensive, but the upside is that it is a sure shot way of ensuring the depth of conversation. Our work is better because of the experience that is being poured into every brief.”

The agency now boasts a team of 23 individuals spread across Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. Desai emphasises that this structure has allowed them to maintain the standards they set for themselves. "Since we are bootstrapped, we were super scared to start like this but it’s paying off now. It is sustainable and scalable as we will now be expanding the teams under them."

Learning and Evolving

The first year of tgthr has not been without its challenges. As a young agency, they have had to navigate the complexities of building a business from scratch while maintaining creative integrity. Desai candidly shares, "When we started, we drew up a list of friends, clients, and plans that would help us sustain ourselves. Most of the ones that had a 100% in front of them over time turned out to be 0%."

This unpredictability taught them the importance of adapting. "We thought we had a road map, but when it came down to it, we had to draw up a new one. Plan B became Plan A and so on. It is unpredictable, and the only way to handle it is by being nimble-footed," Desai remarks.

Despite these hurdles, tgthr is committed to its core values. While the advertising industry is infamous for its toxic cultures, the agency is determined to foster a positive work culture, free from toxicity. The team has collectively worked in toxic agency environments, with a long list of things in agency culture that they hate. By eliminating the list from the mix, they aim to create a happy place. 

"We will never do what we have hated in our previous jobs. Does that make us mistake-free? Absolutely not. It just ensures that we don’t repeat mistakes from the past," Desai asserts.

Positioning and Client Relationships

As tgthr moves forward, it is clear about its positioning in the market. Desai believes that attention and understanding are rare assets in the industry, and the agency is equipped to offer both. "We have senior-most people who have worked on all the mediums sitting across the table – paying all the attention they have to a client brief," he states. 

In many agencies, outside of top management, teams are often overworked or understaffed, which leads to a lack of focus on the actual work. Clients often notice that top management is only involved during the initial pitch and then disappears, only showing up when problems arise, as per Desai. Traditional agencies sometimes hire a few people well-versed in digital and claim to be fully integrated, but just hiring people isn't enough, understanding the various media platforms is important. 

With the senior management team at the agency that is well-versed on all mediums, Desai emphasises, “That’s what sets us apart. It’s the people who work here.”

Together, the team has managed to achieve milestones that young agencies can only dream of. It won the Cannes Lions Glass for Harpic's ‘Loocator’ campaign in the Change category, all within one year of inception. 

Desai mentions that, despite being a young agency with achievements to their name, it will not alter its approach to acquiring clients. He adds that while the agency is young, it is also experienced, and as a result, they do not pursue clients indiscriminately.

One of the reasons we started tgthr was to be free. Free to realise our creative potential, free to create the environment we want, and free to say no to the clients we aren't on the same page on.

While newer agencies could focus on gaining visibility and showcasing exceptional work to establish themselves, tgthr balances this by being selective in client acquisition, choosing only those who align with their vision.

Desai explains the core reasons behind the founding of tgthr. He describes that one of the primary motivations was the desire for freedom—to fully realise their creative potential, to cultivate the desired work environment, and to selectively choose clients whose vision aligns with theirs.

“We want to love our clients and want them to love us back. That's the key to the exceptional work we want to create. Clients who believe in us, clients with exciting briefs, clients with a hard brand challenge and clients who are just nice are our favourites. That’s all we need,” he continues.

Looking ahead, tgthr has ambitious goals. In the short term, it aims to work on diverse briefs while maintaining the spirit of the agency. In the long term, it aspires to be a true partner to the clients, evolving with time and improving its creative offerings.

As Aalap Desai shares the agency’s one-year journey with us, he mentions that the team celebrated its anniversary at Pondicherry. He shares his wish with us saying, “We hope to create a place where people are happy and love to work. We have run out of such places recently and we hope tgthr can be one.”