'Would like to reclaim the agency role at the head of the table': Anil K Nair

 

Here's what Anil K Nair, CEO, VMLY&R India, had to say: 

 

One piece of work created by a competitor in the last decade that you wish you had created/worked on?

 

The work that I speak of is done by the VMLY&R US team. And in that sense, any inspiring creative done by anyone else makes you extremely competitive and wish that you had originated it. This idea ranks high because of its sheer audacity and insidiousness. This is an idea that harnesses creativity, technology and pop culture to create content that lives in the real world. Take a gangbuster online game, swoop on a competitive repositioning opportunity, react with speed and scale and then harvest public sentiment. This campaign literally had me rooting for the brand from the gaming side-lines.

 

Wendy's Fortnite case study - Cannes Grand Prix from Eamon Conway on Vimeo.

If hindsight is 20/20, what is the one thing that you could have done differently in the last decade?

 

I strongly would like to reclaim the agency role at the head of the table as primary brand trajectory custodians and curators of strategic brand building. In spite of being all-weather partners to brands, we have allowed many other players to crowd us at the high table.

 

One skill that you would want to pick up in 2020 and why?  

 

2020 is the year for me to delve into rolling out our global connections practice, a data and AI-driven approach to sentient brand building integrating media, messaging and real-time conversations.