End-to-end capability, costing give us significant edge over consulting firms: Anita Kotwani

New Delhi: BX and consulting have emerged as key growth drivers with significant potential for expansion, said Anita Kotwani, CEO, Media - South Asia, dentsu, in an exclusive interview with BestMediaInfo.com. 

She was responding to the question about the performance of dentsu’s consulting arm floated in 2023. 

Talking about what makes brands choose dentsu’s consulting business over Big Four firms, Kotwani said, “By combining strategy and execution at a more attractive price point, we continue to secure more consulting projects.

"As media buying becomes more biddable, success will no longer hinge on trading power or pricing submissions," Kotwani said. 

With the impending Omnicom-IPG merger and GroupM already commanding a significant share of brands' ad spending in India, Kotwani believes dentsu’s competitive edge lies in data, analytics, and technology—key enablers that help clients stay ahead with strategies that go beyond just pricing.

She explained, “With pricing becoming more automated, the biddable ecosystem favours the highest bidder. But true competitiveness lies in having superior tech capabilities and the expertise to unlock value in this landscape—an area where we already excel.”

Trained as a lawyer, Kotwani found her true calling in the world of advertising and media. "My journey started with the fundamentals, learning manual formulas and the inner workings of media," she recalled during the interaction, tracing her beginnings back to mentorship under Sundeep Nagpal of Strategem Media.

Having built an extensive 25+ year career in media business, Kotwani worked at Dainik Bhaskar and IPG’s Initiative before spending over 16 years at Mindshare. She joined dentsu in 2020 to lead Carat India and was elevated to CEO, Media for South Asia in 2023. 

Today, she oversees all of dentsu’s media brands in the region, including Carat, iProspect, dentsu X, Posterscope, and Amplifi.

Calling herself a “Lifelong learner”, Kotwani firmly believes that strategy without execution is hallucination. 

Excerpts: 

dentsu Media added 80 brands and achieved a 10% increase in billing in 2024. What drove this growth?

The mantra that dentsu embraced at the start of 2024 was simple yet powerful: Growth, Growth, and Growth.

Resurrecting our media practice was no small task – the challenge ahead was steep, but the goal was audacious. Achieving this demanded a sharp strategic shift that focused on driving new logo growth while simultaneously strengthening and expanding client relationships to broaden our scope of services.

We established a dedicated ‘Growth Squad’ within the organisation to enable this. This core team comprised growth leads from each of our brands – Carat, dentsu X, Sokrati, iProspect, and Posterscope—all united by a singular focus: securing our seat at the table for the industry’s most critical opportunities.

Complementing this squad was a robust strategic team with expertise in Strategy & Planning, Insights & Effectiveness, and Product & Technology – all key to unlocking dentsu’s competitive advantage. Our calling card became clear: go beyond the brief and build our Media++ narrative—one that emphasised new developments and innovations to set us apart.

By integrating our Media, Creative, and CXM offerings, our pitch narratives became significantly more compelling. The Media++ narrative itself—anchored in branded content, influencer marketing, gaming, and sports (BIGS)—brought fresh, innovative ideas and solutions to life.

Beyond strategy, we recognised the importance of competitive pricing and stepped up our game. By designing diversified models to create value for clients, we successfully converted businesses. This approach allowed us to secure wins across major conglomerates and emerging players alike – creating a healthy, balanced client mix.

At the heart of it all was our people. Clients ultimately choose partners based on the teams behind their business. Our transformation was people-centered, with a strong focus on building an upskilled talent pool proficient in cross-selling and upselling. We introduced comprehensive learning programs to ensure our teams stayed ahead of the curve—a crucial factor in driving our 2024 success.

We anchored our organisational growth on a clear 5P framework:

• Profit: Driving sustainable growth.
• Product: Strategic thinking and new-age practices.
• Process: Establishing structured workflows for efficiency.
• People: Strengthening and upskilling our talent.
• Profiling: Showcasing our innovation and expertise.

As a leader, I firmly believe that strategy without execution is hallucination. While a strong blueprint and thoughtful planning are essential, they must be backed by effective execution. We put skin in the game, set ambitious targets, and committed to achieving them.

Our client servicing model followed a structured process, with senior leadership remaining actively involved to ensure clients received the attention they deserved. Today, clients prioritise direct engagement with leadership and access to top-tier talent. To reinforce this, our pitch presentations are delivered by the very teams that will manage the business, demonstrating our commitment to building strong client relationships and driving success.

Brands sometimes feel that the leadership team is less involved in the ongoing work than they were during the initial pitch. How do you ensure consistent involvement at all stages with the clients’ requirements?

Client relationship management is critical to any business. As a senior leader, you must be invested in your clients’ business and strive to become their trusted business partner.

Practising disciplined leadership is key to achieving this. By establishing clear systems, processes, and standards of servicing, you create an environment where clients feel valued and confident in the teams managing their business.

At dentsu, we have implemented structured practices to ensure consistent engagement. This includes monthly check-ins with clients and a defined cadence of reporting for each business, with committed timelines to ensure clarity and accountability. Such processes ensure that every client – regardless of size – receives the same level of attention and care.

I believe discipline is fundamental, and much of my approach is inspired by the book The 4 Disciplines of Execution. This structured method has helped me and my team stay focused on key priorities: driving profitability, strengthening our product narrative, hiring the right talent, fostering a culture of continuous learning, maintaining our organisational profile, and optimising processes to enhance efficiency for teams.

A strong leadership team working closely with me has further ensured seamless execution, enabling us to deliver on these priorities effectively.

Over time, our commitment to client engagement has fostered deep, meaningful relationships. Today, our conversations extend beyond formal meetings to informal interactions— over breakfast, coffee, or dinner—creating an environment where collaboration thrives effortlessly.

With the anticipated merger of IPG and Omnicom and GroupM already holding a significant share of brands’ adex in India, how does dentsu Media plan to stay competitive in the Indian market?

Our focus has never been on scale; it's always been about skill. Pricing may eventually become commoditised, but what sets us apart is having the right talent with the right expertise. This ensures we consistently deliver what our clients need, making us highly competitive and trusted by top-tier brands.

Looking ahead, technology will be the defining factor for agency networks. As media buying becomes increasingly biddable, trading power and pricing submissions will no longer drive success. Instead, real advantage will come from data, analytics, and technology – capabilities that enable clients to move ahead of the curve with strategies that go beyond pricing.

With pricing becoming more automated, the biddable ecosystem favours the highest bidder. But true competitiveness lies in having superior tech capabilities and the expertise to unlock value in this landscape—an area where we already excel.

dentsu’s media portfolio includes Carat, dentsu X, iProspect, Sokrati and Posterscope. If we talk about potential, which of these brands has the largest share of focus?

As a leader, my role is to ensure that all our brands maintain their market stature while striking the right balance between them. When dentsu X lost Maruti and Reckitt, we recognised the need for a strategic reset – rebuilding its positioning to regain momentum. Meanwhile, iProspect has been steadily growing, reinforcing its strength in performance-driven brand acceleration.

Each of our agencies brings a distinct edge: Carat excels in consumer understanding, dentsu X delivers experience-led solutions, iProspect drives acceleration, Sokrati is a powerhouse in performance marketing, and Posterscope pioneers creative, tech-driven innovations. This differentiation allows us to align the right agency with the right client brief, ensuring a seamless strategic fit.

Has dentsu’s consulting arm started yielding the desired results?

Our consulting practice is performing exceptionally well. We have established our Effectiveness Practice as a cornerstone of our consulting offerings, ensuring that our work consistently delivers measurable impact for clients. Additionally, our Business Transformation Practice is driving strategic change by helping brands address their core business challenges.

We are actively engaged in several high-impact projects across key brands and businesses, and the outlook remains promising. In 2024, we have led initiatives for marquee brands such as Lenovo, Motorola, Tata & Sons, and Meesho, while also participating in major pitch conversations. Our ability to demonstrate how we can support clients in their growth journey—through advanced Market/Media Mix Modelling – has been instrumental in securing new business.

Many of these projects leverage our consulting expertise, with specialists working closely alongside us to deliver meaningful outcomes – whether by winning new business or providing strategic solutions to client challenges. From go-to-market strategies to ROI-driven initiatives, our consulting approach has consistently delivered tangible results, strengthening client confidence.

BX and consulting have emerged as key growth drivers with significant potential for expansion. As business outcomes take centre stage, these capabilities become even more critical in helping clients navigate market pressures with confidence.

Do you think agencies getting into consultancy is a reaction to the big four consulting companies offering marketing services to brands?

It works both ways. While the Big Four have expanded into areas where we already operate, there are also domains where their expertise presents opportunities for us to add value. Notably, we’ve also won business from them.

Our key differentiator lies in our ability to go beyond strategy and challenge identification—we excel in execution. This end-to-end capability gives us a significant edge. While the Big Four possess strong brand equity, credibility, and the ability to command premium fees, our cost advantage is a crucial factor. Given today’s business pressures, our competitive pricing makes our offering even more compelling. By combining strategy and execution at a more attractive price point, we continue to secure more projects.

At an organisational level, our focus remains on ensuring that our specialised services and emerging domains drive greater revenue than the increasingly commoditised traditional media business.

All agencies, including our competitors, are seeking areas with real competitive advantages, where margins are stronger, and pricing power is greater. Talent in fields such as commerce, data and analytics, AdTech, MarTech, and cloud services does not come cheap. To justify these investments, we must continue to secure projects that align with the value we deliver.