Sometimes people blame procurement and pricing, when they haven't won a pitch: Lindsay Pattison, CEO, Maxus Global

Pattison, who says it like it is, on why a media agency first needs to value its own services, and why she won’t be doing the same role two years from now

e4m by Priyanka Mehra
Published: Mar 29, 2017 9:36 AM  | 4 min read
Sometimes people blame procurement and pricing, when they haven't won a pitch: Lindsay Pattison, CEO, Maxus Global

“Pay peanuts and you get monkeys,” says Maxus Global CEO Lindsay Pattison on her approach to price driven pitches, the straightforward and plain speaking Pattison also speaks about why a media agency first needs to value its own services, and why she won’t be doing the same role two years from now and more ………



 

Edited excerpts:

A lot of the pitches in recent times have been pricing led, what is your take on it from a global standpoint?

Sometimes people blame procurement and pricing, when they haven’t won a pitch. Sometimes it is true and sometimes it isn’t. It is hard to accept that your strategy, your team, and your amazing chemistry wasn’t just that  great, and of course it is hard to articulate all this to the press, the easier thing is to blame the loss on pricing. 

To be really honest about it, the pricing led pitches can be very de-motivating for the team, but it can’t always be about the price, it is and should be, a combination of price, strategy, talent, chemistry and innovation and all of this, will make a client choose us.

As Global CEO if your biggest client is on pitch and the deciding factor is pricing, given the fact that you have WPP to back you how do you make a decision? 

I am going quote Sir Martin Sorrell on this: “We are not a bank, and we need to make profit and clients should expect us to make a profit and it has to be an acceptable level of profit.”

If a client wants to hire an agency which is running at a loss and somehow subsidising at a holding company level then that is an unacceptable business purchase. I agree that some people would seem to do that, but in our case if you as a client are expecting us to negotiate on your behalf, with tough media businesses and owners, we should be able to negotiate for ourselves in the first place.  If you can’t trust us to negotiate a deal on behalf of ourselves then we should not really be in business. Why would you trust your money to someone who’s giving their services away for free; who doesn’t value their services? Or place any kind of value on what they do? I would like to caution clients that you should get what you pay for. Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.

A number of clients for Maxus India currently happen to be on pitch, how do you approach this?

You need to work extra hard to motivate the team and re-instate their belief that they’re doing really well for the client. We would try and use other people within the agency as a shadow team to try and think differently, in order to help the team that has been working on the client’s business day in and day out, to try and look at things in a very objective way.

Where do you see Maxus India by the end of 2017?

I want to see Maxus India as no.1 in the India marketplace by the end of 2017. Why not? We are a great agency; we still have room to grow. Maxus India has, in our own network, been the most creative and most awarded agency. I want to see the quality and variety of that work increasing.  I’d like to see that continued spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship and it is always nice to be recognised by awards as a bonus.   If Maxus India can keep doing that, it makes me very happy.

How are your conversations with clients in India different from last year?

People were still talking about digital transformation. They were trying to figure out how AR is important to marketing. Artificial Intelligence is definitely something fresh on the radar. It can change the way businesses work.

Where do you see yourself two years from now?

This question got me into so much trouble last time. Our business is undergoing such transformational change, that the structure of our business would also change. So if you set up Maxus, GroupM and even WPP now, it would be quite different, there would be a significant amount of change in another year or two years, so I can’t really answer that.

What is it that you want to do two years from now?

I definitely know I won’t be doing the same job in two-three years of time, with things changing so dynamically around us and I don’t want to do the same job in a year’s time.

Read the complete interview in next week’s issue of IMPACT

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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur

The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more

e4m by e4m Staff
Published: Oct 27, 2023 6:15 PM  | 1 min read
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With quirky campaigns, memes and moment marketing, timed with the ongoing World Cup and particularly the India-Pakistan matches, Dabur India has got considerable consumer attention for its popular brands – Red Paste, Cool King Hair Oil, Chyawanprash, Dabur Vita and the recently launched Bae Fresh Gel toothpaste.

The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.

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Swapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out

The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'

e4m by e4m Staff
Published: Oct 27, 2023 6:07 PM  | 1 min read
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Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."

The book is a reflection of the author's "eclectic taste across categories: from boltholes to exotic hideaways."

COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.

Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.

He writes for publications such as The Economic Times, Hindustan Times and India Today. This is his second book and he has previously published THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.

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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK

Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board

e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 26, 2023 11:48 AM  | 1 min read
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e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.

Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.

According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.

As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.

A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.

Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from 30 August, 2023, to September 17, 2023.

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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall

The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall

e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 26, 2023 10:54 AM  | 1 min read
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Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.

“Sorted 360 is set to enhance Reliance Malls' market presence with their unparalleled creative prowess and strategic thinking,” read a press release.

“Sorted 360's commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative communication aligns perfectly with Reliance Malls' ethos. With a pan-India presence spanning across 19 cities and growing, Reliance Malls has consistently captivated customers by offering an array of Reliance brands and third-party fashion & lifestyle brands. The mall has established an unparalleled connection with its patrons through superior quality, a remarkable value proposition, and an unmatched shopping experience,” it read further.

"We are thrilled to welcome Sorted 360 as our trusted partner in advancing our brand presence across the nation," said the Head of Marketing at Relaice Malls. "Their proven expertise in retail, shopping center management, and innovative creative strategies make them the perfect fit for our vision."

"Partnering with Reliance Malls is a testament to our commitment to shaping extraordinary brand experiences," remarked Prerana Anatharam, Co-founder of Sorted 360. "We are excited to leverage our strategic and creative acumen to further elevate Reliance Malls as the epitome of convenience, choice, and excellence."

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e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 25, 2023 4:39 PM  | 1 min read

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e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 25, 2023 4:38 PM  | 1 min read

KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias

Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments

e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 24, 2023 3:35 PM  | 1 min read
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KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.

Mehta will play a pivotal role in driving KlugKlug's growth and expansion within the Indian market and be responsible for Sales & GTM Strategy

Prior to that, he has also represented organisations like Exponential (now VDX.tv), India Today Digital and Rediff.com. His expertise spans various domains including digital media sales, mobile marketing, media planning, and buying, social media marketing, and more.

Hemang Mehta expressed his enthusiasm about joining KlugKlug, saying, "I am thrilled to be a part of KlugKlug, a forward-thinking platform that is reshaping the influencer marketing landscape. As much as I look forward to collaborating with the exuberant team at KlugKlug, I am super excited to interact with the brands to deliver powerful data-backed Influencer solutions that will guarantee business outcomes."

Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."

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