The India operations for Ogilvy, the global advertising firm part of the WPP Group, could move to the top three slots in its network, said Devika Seth Bulchandani, India-born Global CEO of the company in an exclusive interview with businessline.
“In terms of revenues, it (Ogilvy India) would be in the top five globally; its reputational halo has made it one of the top ranked creatively,” Bulchandani explained. When asked if Ogilvy India will move into the top three, she emphasised, “I just challenged them to use this moment to scale up and become even bigger.”
Ogilvy India took top laurels at Cannes Lions 2022, especially with the “Shah Rukh Khan My Ad” for Mondelez India. In this iconic ad, the agency turned to artificial intelligence (AI). The team used machine learning (ML) to recreate Shah Rukh Khan’s voice and face to take the stores’ names in the ads for local retailers.
As agencies increasingly utilise frontier technologies such as ML, augmented reality or complex computing to create ads, Bulchandani said Ogilvy is securing additional partnerships with tech companies and hiring talent to construct their brand campaigns in this new framework. “We have always partnered with production houses to execute our ads even in older mediums,” she said.
“Our ideas and creativity are still going to remain at the core, but we will be doing both, forging more tech partnerships and hiring more technologists in house. We have already done so (hired tech talent) in India and will be doing so in our offices globally. Technology moves at a rapid pace and partnerships will be necessary, but we also need people in house who can implement our ideas through technology,” Bulchandani added.
Born and raised in Amritsar for the first 10 years of her life, Bulchandani broke the glass ceiling in the ad world and now occupies the coveted corner office in one of the largest ad agencies in the world. Dictating her mantra for success, Bulchandani noted that it is important to have “delusional optimism” and the desire to “chase success while doing it with goodness”. She is the creative mind behind some of the most progressive ad campaigns that resonated with people across the globe, including the ‘Fearless Girl’ campaign, where the diminutive statue of a little girl challenges the bull of Wall Street.
Truly, the fearless girl was born in Amritsar much before Wall Street saw her.