JWT taps the problem at its root, Bobby Pawar to take over as chief creative officer

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: There's a joke doing the rounds on Facebook that the full form of JWT is Just Went to Taproot. The dig is not without provocation.

When Agnello 'Aggie' Dias quit JWT to start up Taproot India with Santosh Padhi three years ago, the agency took some while to step on the gas. But once the duo did step on it, they raced ahead in style.

Over the past 12 months Taproot pocketed two big-ticket assignments from PepsiCo and Airtel - accounts that are JWT services. The spend on Taproot's campaign for Airtel is estimated at roughly Rs 25 crore. For good measure, Taproot has also won Mountain Dew from PepsiCo's portfolio.

A nervous JWT needed to do something fast to steady the ship.

Come February, Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer of Mudra for the past four years, will take over as chief creative officer-a position that was lying vacant at JWT ever since Dias upped and left.

Grab your ringside seats for the face-off between two creative powerhouses. In one corner is a man who left JWT after winning a handful of accolades, including India's first Grand Prix award at Cannes in 2007. In the other corner is the man who has seen it all, done it all, and won it all, right from the time of his stints in Ogilvy's Mumbai and New York offices to his tenure at Mudra where he led from the front to end Ogilvy's run in winning creative awards.

"It will be a very interesting tug of war between the two (Dias and Pawar) as they both have done some great campaigns in the past," says Nirmal Pulickal, executive creative director, North & East.

Ad folk are rubbing their hands in glee at the tantalising prospect of sparks flying between the two creative honchos.

"If this is about Bobby and Aggie mud-wrestling outside the offices of PepsiCo and Airtel, you can certainly count me in as the photographer," says Josy Paul, chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO India, with tongue firmly in cheek.

The Indian ad world is no stranger to such rivalries. While creative fisticuffs are never spoken about in public, ad veterans will whisper in private about "creative disagreements" in the past between the likes of Piyush Pandey and R Balki as well as Dias versus Paul. If the industry is watching the Pawar and Dias show from up close, it's not just for vicarious pleasures.

"
Advertising thrives on this kind of rivalry. If this results in the overall quality of work in the industry going up, then no one will complain," says Raghu Bhat, cofounder of Scarecrow Communications.

Both creative heads refused to be drawn into the slug fest. While Aggie said 'no comment' when ET contacted him, Pawar muttered such "people talk" did not bother him.

"I think Aggie will be busy doing his work and I will be doing mine. Competition is always good-the higher the standards of work, the better it is for the industry as a whole," added Pawar. One of Pawar's top priorities will be to ensure that Dias doesn't poach on JWT territory again. The only way to do that is to restore confidence amongst clients, which will be another key mandate of the new CCO, reckon industry observers.

It's a tough ask.

"JWT is like the Mughal Empire-it's so big that someone always will be chipping away at any point of time. When the structure is big, they will be vulnerable," says Bhat.

As for Taproot, industry observers point out that it will be a challenge for Dias to maintain the same standards as the agency acquires scale.

JWT has a global network that spans across more than 200 offices in more than 90 countries and has nearly 10,000 marketing professionals. The three-year young Taproot has 33 people on board with plans of scaling up in the coming year.

Pawar's core challenge will to be harness the creative output of JWT's three national creative directors-Teesta Sen, Senthil Kumar and Swati Bhattacharya-to make sure the best ideas reach the client.

Dias may not enjoy such a feast of talent but, as ad film director Prahlad Kakkar sees it, the Taproot cofounder's edge may lie in that he is one of just two guys running the show.

"Bobby will always be working under the 'suits' who like to appease rather than confront," says Kakkar. "So whilst Bobby cannot walk away from a client, Aggie has the advantage of not compromising on something that he personally does not agree with," he adds.

For his part, JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris can't see what the fuss is about. "Both are professionals," he told ET, dismissing any notions of rivalry as "in very poor taste and absolutely uncalled for."

Piyush Pandey may be on his side on this one. The executive chairman and creative director for O&M South Asia says it's not a "war", but just pure business dynamics at work. "Normally when a top executive leaves from an agency, some accounts are bound to move. Bobby's goals will not be in terms of war. Neither do I think Aggie's decision to form his own agency was anti-JWT in any way," he says.

Still, every adman worth his pitch will be keeping a keen eye on Taproot's new campaigns in the New Year -and Pawar's ability to keep the JWT client roster intact.