| What has been your role in the new business efforts of the agency? | |
|---|---|
| Sarah Ali Managing Director | I play a key role in getting new business leads for the agency. I generate leads from social contacts, business contacts, old business colleagues, public relations etc. I am quite involved in the planning part of the pitch process and I play a role in the quality control - to make sure that what we are presenting is upto the mark. |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | Core member of the Planning team; leading the Creative team; presenting the Creative Strategy & Execution during the pitch presentation. |
| What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience? | |
| Sarah Ali Managing Director | My background has always been Leo Burnett. I finished my Masters in Media Ecology from the School of Education at NYU and came back to Bangladesh to work. I did a short internship at Leo Burnett Chicago on the P&G account but I have always had the need to come to Bitopi and start working in Bangladesh since the working atmosphere here is quite different from the First World. I started working at Bitopi in 2002 and have worked on almost every single accounts, starting from brands to social communication. I have worked on Social Marketing Company, Singer, Heidelberg Cement Group, HSBC, Good Knight, Marlboro, Brac NGO, Save the Children, UNICEF, World Bank, Emirates, Bangladesh Edible Oil etc. |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | Started in servicing with a small agency in Calcutta. Moved to copy. Freelanced with some big ones like JWT, Rediff Y&R etc. Worked directly with clients. Wrote fiction and feature for dailies like The Statesman (Calcutta) and The Economic Times (Calcutta). Heading the Bitopi Leo Burnett Creative team for the last 10 years. Worked with big multinationals like ITC India (WILLS cigarettes), ANZ Grindlays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, New Zealand Milk, Nestle, Grameenphone (Telenor) and its youth brand djuice, Hiedelberg Zement, Singer, Nando's, Marlboro, etc. Big local corporate like BRAC Bank, BRAC the largest NGO in the world, Bangladesh Edible Oil (Soyabean, Vegetable and Palm Olien), Rahimafrooz (Energy, Retail and Battery) Gemcon (Organic Tea, Retail & Herbal Personal Care Beauty products), Renata Pharmaceuticals (Micronutrient Powder), SMC (Oral Saline, Condoms, other health products). Worked with NGOs, Donors, etc, in Social Behaviour Change Communication for Education, Health & Hygiene, Family Planning, etc. No client side experience. |
| As if you were writing to a prospective client, describe the agency in no more than 3 sentences: | |
| Sarah Ali Managing Director | At Bitopi we come from the consumers, we believe in |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | For forty years we have provided business solutions, changed the nation's behaviour, and created the most memorable and best selling brands in the country. We have been edgy, fresh and even controversial in communication that we have created, business ideas that we have reshaped which has changed the face of advertising and decided the fate of brands for better. We have been an institution that has produced the best advertising and marketing professionals who now head some of the best brands in the country is the biggest testimonial of our ever relevant method and madness. |
| Stuart Elliott, who writes about agencies for The New York Times, is doing a story about agencies around the world. After spending After spending a day at your offices, and then going back to write the piece.... what would the headline be? | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | An Agency Which Has a Permanent Place at the Clients' Board of Directors; Reinventing Businesses. |
| Now bring the agency to life. You have certainly been through this exercise, however applying it to your agency agency can be quite revealing in understanding more about your "DNA". If the agency were a car, what kind would it be? What color? Why? | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | The Fiat 500. Green, Black & Red. Fiat 500, because we constantly rediscover ourselves understand the changing people-scape and make ourselves relevant. |
| What agencies do you most admire? Why? | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | BBH Wieden & Kennedy & O&M. They are fresh and engaging. Relevant and Surprising. |
| List the top few agencies that you do/will compete against most often. | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | Grey, JWT & McCann. |
| In the eyes of clients, what do you provide of value, that none of your competitors do? | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | We bring in business ideas that reshapes the way client thinks about its business. We bring solutions for the brand beyond its communication needs. |
| Are there any negative perceptions that prospects might have about the agency that could hold you back in new business? | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | Expensive. Hard nosed. Snobbish. |
| What is one of the most innovative "pitch or RFP tactics" the agency has ever applied in a new business situation? This might include a distinctive questionnaire response or RFP, "presentation theater," dressing of the room, unique video content, innovative research, a special way of engaging/interacting with the client, etc., etc. | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | The most innovative has been writing a Brand Story Book and actually getting it published with limited edition copies. The book covered almost all possible aspects of the brand. This helped the client see the way we looked at their brand's core: belief, philosophy and purpose. We have heard that book continues to be at the table-side of the top management. |
| The following is a list of potential roadblocks that hold you back with your overall new business efforts. On a scale of 1- 10, rate each on how much it is a road block (1 being not a road block, 10 being a significant road block): | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | 9 |
| Specifically regarding pitches/RFPs, when you lose, what are typically the top 3 reasons? Consider both the client's expecations and how you compare to your competitive set. (check only 3) | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | |
| When you win a pitch, what do you think are typically the top 3 reasons? (check only 3) | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | |
| Bottom line, what do you think the agency most has to do to improve at new business? | |
| Awrup Sanyal | Executive Creative Director | Have a dedicated pitch team, especially planners. Engage with prospective clients more often. Not be media shy and we expect clients to know about us because we are one of the oldest and the best agencies in town; this is sometimes detrimental. |