Narayanan told Bizcommunity.com that his responsibilities are to develop the BBDO offering in the region, to mentor their people across Africa in line with BBDO values and to ensure they develop world class creativity out of Africa. He is responsible for the regional BBDO accounts such as Mars, Wrigley, Visa and Diageo, and will also support the management team in South Africa for new business and help spread best practice within the agency.
"I am excited about the challenges of this new opportunity. Realising Africa's massive growth potential has to be one of the biggest marketing opportunities available, and I want to be part of it. I was born in India and educated in the UK so this just feels like a natural progression in the global marketplace," said Narayanan, commenting on his new appointment.
BBDO Group CEO Keith Shipley said Narayanan was renowned for "shaking things up and revolutionising creative and strategic thinking".
Referring to himself as a 'BBDO-lifer', Narayanan started as an AMVBBDO graduate who was fast tracked to an account director in just three years. He was then promoted to the AMV board within seven years and founded Lunar BBDO, a creative and media start-up agency. He has also run AMVBBDO's most important accounts in local, regional and global roles, including British Telecom, Guinness, Snickers, Wrigley and Blackberry.
Q: What is at the top of your to do list?
A: Talent. We want a disproportionate share of talent at BBDO across the region. After all it's the people that help us get to the work that works for our clients.
Q: What is your main business challenge?
A: Focus. We have phenomenal people, an appetite to do great work and an entrepreneurial and creative culture handed down by our founders. Anything that gets in the way of great work is a distraction.
Q: How will you "shake things" up?
A: I'm on a relentless drive to up-skill our people - in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. Training and mentoring the hell out of them to ensure they are equipped with the skills to deliver the kind of marketing communications that will have a disproportionate impact on our clients' businesses. This involves the agency being on the cutting edge of neuroscience, behavioural economics and understanding how communications impact on consumer's decision making.
Q: Most important attribute needed to do your job?
A: Relentless optimism and energy. They go hand-in-hand.
Q: The biggest trend to note in your industry?
A: How marketing actually works. Although in its infancy, we're now starting to understand how people make decisions. Centuries of theory (from great minds such as Plato, Aristotle and Descartes) on how the brain works and decades of marketing theory (Kotler, Aaker et al) are being rewritten with advances in neuroscience, neurochemistry and also behavioural economics. When you couple this with the statistical data on buying behaviour from the Ehrenberg-Bass institute, we are starting to understand buying patterns, how we make decisions, what stimuli can elicit the right responses and the kind of work we need to be developing to make brands salient and drive sales.
Q: How will you make an impact?
A: In essence, it's about my utility. My impact should be measured by the number of people who seek my opinion - whether it's a creative who wants to bounce an idea off me; or a strategist who seeks my advice on a brief; or a client who is interested in how creativity can solve a business problem.
Q: What is it about BBDO that keeps you with the group?
A: Their values, their people, a belief that great work, works, and the chance to partner with the world's greatest brands. As a 'BBDO-lifer', I've been lucky enough to grow up at AMVBBDO, one of the best agencies in the world, and in my time there and at Net#work BBDO I've had the privilege of working on brands such as Blackberry, Guinness, Snickers, Wrigley, Pedigree, Visa, Mercedes Benz and Pepsico, in global, regional and local roles.
Q: What inspires you?
A: Creativity + technology. Category changing ideas like Netflix, Uber and Airbnb are impressive and yet so simple. Closer to home, the Kenyan-based team behind BRCK which is a self-powered, mobile Wi-Fi device is a great example of African solutions for African problems.
Q: What are you currently reading for work?
A: Having finished How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp, the next two on my list are Descartes' Error by Antonio Damasio and Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Q: Tell us something about yourself not generally known?
A: I have lived on three continents, (Mumbai, Monrovia, and London). And I embarked on a four-month honeymoon which took me around India, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands. It was an unforgettable start my most important journey.
Q: At the top of my 'bucket list' is...
A: Embarrassingly, I've never experienced a true Safari adventure... At least this is one I can tick off quite easily.
