Controlling the beast in a quiet agency

Every advertising agency has an alter ego, which creeps up like the proverbial Mr. Hyde to divert the primary goals and purpose of the agency, says Chrishantha Jayasinghe, Managing Director of Sarva Integrated.

“I have found that this Mr. Hyde invariably raises his head from the creative area. Creativity is certainly the principal tool for any Ad agency to project the communication of a client and sometimes that very creativity can go all wrong and lose focus of the primary objective. When Mr. Hyde takes over, and starts guiding the overall message, is when it gets diluted and out of focus,” says Sarva’s MD.

Jayasinghe (CJ as he is better known in the industry) says that the primary focus of his ad agency is to see that the messages to the target audiences are tuned to give a result; which is to increase bottom line in businesses and endeavour towards creating work that would win awards.

“We don’t create advertising simply to win awards (although we have our fair share of accolades for the work we’ve done). Our focus is more on winning business for our clients, any awards we win whilst meeting our primary goal is icing on the cake.”

So what makes a good advertising campaign? CJ says it’s something more than merely getting attention. “It is relevant attention that makes the difference, and this is the distinction that most seem not to understand today. I may be challenging some norms in the advertising industry by saying this, but that is what Sarva is all about.”

If you ask around about Sarva the agency, there is a possibility you might get a blank look because the name in itself is not amongst what are considered the biggies in the industry.

“But one has to only look at some of our campaigns to know what we are capable of both in terms of effectiveness and creativity. ‘Hutch Tic Tic’ for Hutchison Communications Lanka, ‘Hardashakshiya’ for Union Assurance and ‘Kuru Kuruless’ which became extremely popular some years back, for Lankabell signify some of our work.”

However, CJ says that these business winning campaigns do not just happen on a whim. There is a formula and a mechanism that operates at the back office of Sarva Integrated that creates the magic of ‘effective creativity’.

“Initially I must praise my own tail,” he says with a mischievous gleam in his eye. “But it is a fact that any organisation that is led from the top will have the formula for success.”

Looking at Jayasinghe’s track record in advertising, he admits to having been on both sides of the fence. His first years in the industry were spent in account management, sitting with clients and trying to figure out their communication needs. The second part was spent in the creative department actually working with the team in developing creative concepts. “That is where I realised I had a knack for extracting creative/effective commercials from the creative teams.”

What are the components of a good Ad, one that would achieve the purpose for which it was created? “First, it has to stand out of the clutter but it also has to be relevant within the framework of what the consumer is buying.”

Isn’t that what all advertising agencies say?!

With the now familiar gleam in his eye, CJ says: “Yes that’s what they say but that’s also what they don’t do, because although most of the time, they focus on standing out of the clutter, they do it omitting the relevance. Of course, this happens when the entire responsibility for a campaign rests largely on creative people who do not understand the business angle or a sales plan.

“A good example of how effective creativity can work is in the campaign we did for Osram bulbs. Osram was the most expensive CFL bulb in the market at a time when cheaper Chinese versions dominated. Our task was to educate the consumer that in order to get the true benefit of CFL which would eventually reduce their electricity bills, they had to use the real thing which was more expensive. How we did this was by using a basic plot which revolved around an electricity bill reader being punished. To make it stand out we involved the Korale Mhaththaya (village headman from a legendary radio drama which had almost a nation captive during its run) to mete out the punishment. As the commercial opens it is the electricity bill reader that is highlighted, therefore the viewer knows without a doubt that this is something to do with the electricity bill. Then we go straight into the problem and the solution. Each frame is hand in glove and there are no abstract images that would confuse the viewer.”

The secret of Sarva’s creative genius is the simplicity of the idea behind. They cut to the core of the issue. “For instance people were buying CFL bulbs but not getting the expected result of reducing the power cost. So rather than trying a way to sell the Osram bulb, the advertisement highlighted the problem of bills not reducing and why, and then gave the solution.

But how can one harness a creative team that comes out with effective creatives? “You cannot, because creative people are not hardwired that way. Therefore, one has to figure out a process to work around that problem and doing that well is our secret,” says Sarva’s MD.

“The whole idea is to control this beast, which is constantly trying to tell you that creativity is abstract and has no connection to reality; creativity is connected to the real world.”

CJ likes to call Sarva ‘the quiet agency’ or rather the antithesis of the conventional ad agency which is loud. But although Sarva likes to claim that it is an advertising agency which flies slightly below the radar, its advertising portfolio is anything but.

Many of the corporate heavy weights are its clients, amongst which are Hutch, Union Assurance, DIMO Mercedes Benz, TATA, Bosche, Osram and corporate, Caltex, Lankabell, Sinha Cement, Kotmale, CIMA, Pan Asia Bank and Browns.

So how does it work being the ‘quiet agency’? CJ says it has got him an interesting portfolio but beyond that the very idea of being low key has helped to attract and retain a good team of employees who like being a part of the ‘Sarva’ manthra – another big factor behind their success.