Swati Bhattacharya: Creative Leaders Should Embrace In-House Agencies

One of the greatest moments in adland for 2024 was Swati Bhattacharya's switch from being the creative chair of the FCB Group to the appointment as head of the Godrej Creative Lab, the in-house ad agency of Godrej Consumer Products Limited.

With an illustrious portfolio of awards, including a Glass Lion, this latest move of hers brings the conversation around agencies as external partners against brands for certain jobs done in-house. In addition to GCPL, Zomato and Zepto have adopted a similar strategy.

The lab looks after all brands of GCPL including well-known brands like mosquito repellent brand Goodknight, soap giant Cinthol, and condom brand KamaSutra both for India as well as the world. Instead, she works on the brands from start to end.

Bhattacharya  remarks, "Agencies often come at the end of the tunnel right before the communication. Now, my workday can begin at R&D and end in the design lab. It is not just creating communication."

She listens to a portion of agency life where a creative was tended, and when they got too close to the client or decision makers, other teams would brew insecurity. Here, "You can knock on anyone's door."

The privilege of access

Although Bhattacharya is the global head of Godrej Creative Lab, she relishes her experiences that on most days resemble that of chief marketing officer since she is privy to information which, earlier to joining agencies, she had not enjoyed.

"Earlier, I didn't have the information. My job was to please my clients with my ideas about stuff that I half knew," she remarks. Now, with her access, her focus has expanded from "inch-wide to so much bigger."

For instance, she now understands how the Russia-Ukraine war affects GCPL's business or how seed oil influences palm oil. Such information, she believes, "empowers creatives otherwise our jobs become performative."

On a humorous note, she tells how she now has the answer to why a client is being chindi (miserly). "I have a lot more respect for budgets."

The right time to go in-house

As more and more in-house agencies come up, a question arises: when is the best time to join them? An important one because a young agency professional might think whether gaining experience from various brands would better prepare for focusing on one.

Bhattacharya disagrees and says one of the main traits the young members of her team are learning is efficiency. "In agency life, staying in the office three nights is seen as a very sexy thing to do. It's a very stupid thing to do."

Adding to this, she says they understand budgets, distillation, and media earlier than they'd have in an agency.

"It's not like a performative show that the agency is putting up in the boardroom," she remarks, pointing to an agency's penchant for speaking what it assumes the clients want.

Bhattacharya defines the company’s various brands: "GCPL is a big, massive place with big, massive brands not just in India, but all over the world."

Further, she told how she hired the people and she was clear that "I love people who are the forever students of advertising." There will be thousands of new elements emerging into culture, and for her these, the people who love advertising can be up to speed.

Bhattacharya is big on culture because "it is the secret sauce which makes things delicious" and at Godrej, there is a culture of sharing and "what it does is give you an ecosystem to be brave."