Recently Quasar which is a digital agency which was acquired by the WPP group launched another agency by the name, Blazar. Now its not uncommon in the traditional agencies to launch new smaller agencies servicing a niche but its probably the first time such a move was made in the digital space. Hence we spoke to Manish Vij – Co-founder SITG on the need for Blazar and also the future of digital ad agencies in India.
1) Why Blazar?
We have launched Blazar for two reasons:
- To garner more market share
- To benefit from a smaller ecosystem
My belief is that smaller ecosystem benefits client servicing and creative innovation which is the need of digital today. Small ecosystems allows closer connection with clients as Larger ecosystems are more process driven. Innovation is digital is the key need of today.
2) What is the USP of Blazar vs Quasar?
Digital is still a peoples business and if you want to scale you would need great people across the board. Blazar will evolve with its own set of USP’s. Media buying for Quasar and Blazar will be consolidated at the group level but on the creative side smaller agencies will be as good as larger agencies and that’s what we want to leverage by launching a smaller ecosystem.
3) Who owns Blazar?
Blazar is owned by Quasar and is like a subsidiary of Quasar and the stake holding pattern is the same like it is for Quasar.
4) How big will Blazar be in the next 6 months?
Blazar to be a 20-25 people agency in the next 6 months.
5) What is the future of Digital advertising in India?
I certainly believe that Digital is not just about Display and it wont also not only be about Social Media. Now is the time is when we have to integrate all aspects of digital and give clients a consolidated approach to digital. The real problem is that all clients want to see how digital is affecting their business. They can see that with TV Print and Radio. That can only happen when all aspects of digital are served to clients in one platter.
6) Do you think an agency has the capability to deliver all aspects of digital?
The brand custodian on the digital end needs to be one agency. Now the brand agency may decide to outsource parts of the whole campaign to service providers.
7) Is there value for creative expertise and consulting in digital agencies?
Value to creative talent in digital is non existent Today but we do believe that it will exist tomorrow. We are investing in creative talent which is ofcourse expensive and hence thats where the small and big difference comes in. If digital needs to demand 10-15% of a clients budgets then there needs be a creative strategy and a single brand custodian executing the same.
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Thanks,
kavel – digital advertising