Parikshit Bhattaccharya was appointed as Publicis Groupe-owned BBH India’s chief creative officer in March last year.
He has been a part of the advertising and marketing industry for over a decade and has worked at some of the top agencies in the world.
Bhattaccharya started his career as a copywriter at Fallon and went on to work at Y&R Dubai, JWT Singapore and TBWA\ India before he joined BBH India in 2023.
In an interaction with Storyboard18, he spoke about India being on its way to becoming a creative superpower, the growth of technology in the space, the secret mantra behind long term agency-client relationship, AI and more.
Edited excerpts
You have completed one year at BBH. What are the incremental changes you have witnessed within the agency since you took up the position?
The last year was about building a high talent density team, creating a robust client roster, pushing out modern work, and creating a culture where everyone is at the service of an idea. All of this, simultaneously. We now have a high-energy, super-collaborative, optimally formed creative leadership team consisting of Ashwin Palkar (Executive creative director), Nisheeth Srivastava (Executive creative director), Arvind Menon (Executive creative director), and Swati Balani (Executive creative director).
Under them, we have a diverse, hungry, ferociously talented bunch of creatives. What was needed when I joined was accelerating the momentum of the agency, creating an obsession with ideas, and an uncompromising attitude towards becoming a great client partner.
Today is the age of digital media. From my understanding, long standing relationships in the field of advertising have been far and few in this space as compared to mainstream advertising. What is your take on this? How has BBH India navigated through such dynamics?
We have forged and maintained long-standing relationships with many clients. Red Bull, CaratLane, Garnier and Beam Suntory amongst others, have been with us for a long time. We have successfully converted them into long-standing client relationships. I believe that if an agency adds value, challenges the status quo, and evolves with the times, then it becomes a true brand custodian for its clients.
Belonging to the Publicis Groupe gives us the essence of the unconventional thinker and the strength of a formidable entity. This affiliation also ensures that BBH now benefits from advanced resources in data technology, media, and PR.
Despite being relatively new to the group, I’ve found collaboration and access to comprehensive business insights remarkably seamless. This seamless integration enables us to provide significant added value to our clients. Our “Power of One” approach serves as a prominent differentiator and a key asset for our brand, and clients also see value in our proposition.
What are the factors that are crucial for maintaining long standing agency-client relationships?
Respect, trust, and excitement.
Could you touch upon BBH India’s clientele, and how they have grown since you took up the position?
We have been successfully winning pitches, and we have had an amazing strike rate over the last 12 months. We have won around a dozen pitches in the last year, including brands like HDFC Ergo, Upgrad, and IHCL, among others. Other than them, some of our esteemed clients include Garnier, CaratLane, Red Bull, and many exciting brands from Beam Suntory, among others. It is reflective of our strength as an agency to build strong brands in different categories.
How has the landscape of advertising evolved since you entered the industry? What are the positive changes you are witnessing today, and what are the privileges budding advertisers have today, which you did not have when you entered the industry?
The great thing about advertising today is that we don’t know where it begins and where it ends. All strands add to the brand. Every experience is advertising. Every exchange is possible media. India is on its way to becoming a creative superpower. We have more opportunities than anywhere else. We have the most cutting-edge technology now. We have unique problems.
We have incredible energy in the country now to solve those problems. We have never had all this come together at the same time before. So, those who are entering the industry now are an incredibly lucky bunch. They get to play with more things than we did when we started.
Tech industry has been rocked with layoffs, with one of the leading tech companies citing AI for such a move. Do you fear AI too will dominate the ad landscape and replace highly skilled manpower?
Technology, particularly AI, has revolutionised the way we operate, enhancing creativity, personalisation, and the creation of compelling brand content. It provides us with greater freedom and opportunity to innovate, experiment, and fortify the imaginative processes that drive brand transformation.
Globally, Publicis Groupe plans to invest 300 million euros over the next three years which is aimed at putting AI at its core to become the industry’s first Intelligent System. What this means is that we will be infusing a layer of AI across our organisation to connect our enterprise knowledge under one entity: Core AI. It will allow our people to be more efficient and more productive.
More importantly, we can do things tomorrow that no one can do today, under the guidance of the highest ethical standards. This year alone, the Groupe will be investing in upskilling, training and recruiting people in AI so that we are uniquely positioned and poised for greater growth.
How can AI be used to propel creativity? Could you provide examples?
Publicis’ CoreAI unifies all of our proprietary data including the leading consumer data across 2.3 billion profiles of people around the world, with trillions of data points about content, media, and business performance, assets and our experiences. Our employees can access this so that they are empowered across five key disciplines including creative + production where we will witness the scaling of personalised content, with efficiencies and highly relevant, desirable creative.
From a creative standpoint, AI gives us immense room to become more experimental and innovative in ways of telling a brand story. AI is helping create exciting experiences we couldn’t earlier. From creating alternate realities to recreating moments, everything is possible. AI will help us birth far greater innovation throughout our society. It can apply our creativity toward assembling old ideas in new ways. Eventually, creativity is about creating new relationships between two unrelated things.
What are the roles that are becoming redundant in advertising, and which are the new roles that are coming into fashion?
Roles need to constantly pivot as the world around us evolves. With the shift towards being AI-enabled, we are investing in not only technology but our people. We will be providing opportunities to our people to upskill and enhance their capabilities in this AI so that they are empowered to do their work better. Our people will be skilled at data analytics, data intelligence and technology, apart from being creative and being an intelligent partner to our clients.
How has the pitching process in advertising improved over the years? What are your pain points when it comes to pitching? What are the fixes for this?
Over the years, the pitching process in advertising has seen notable improvements, primarily driven by advancements in technology and changes in industry practices. One significant improvement is the ability to gather more detailed consumer insights, enabling agencies to tailor their pitches more effectively to client needs. Additionally, digital tools and platforms have streamlined the pitch creation process, allowing for more efficient collaboration and presentation.
However, despite these advancements, there are still pain points associated with pitching. The lack of compensation for agencies participating in pitches is an issue. To address it, it’s essential to recognize the value of agency work and compensate them appropriately for their efforts in pitching.
Read More: BBH India appoints Parikshit Bhattacharya as chief creative officer