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Consumers are savvy, astute and brand conscious - Neela Marikkar

by Ravi Ladduwahetty

November 11, 1935. It was Armistice Day. The setting was a classroom in the Junior Form at St. Joseph's College, Colombo. There was pin drop silence in a class with the observation of two minutes silence. It was British rule in the then Ceylon.

The daughter and father duo - Neela Marikkar and Reggie Candappa

A 16-year old student was busy, impishly drawing a mock caricature of his English master, standing on a wastepaper basket and smoking a cigarette. The drawing depicted a long cigarette holder and cynically marked: "Made In Japan". The barb was in that Japanese products in the Ceylonese market, were then, believed to be of inferior quality. The drawing was passed round the class and there were ripples of laughter in the classroom.

The English master who took class right at that moment was J.P. De Fonseka, a famous writer and a personal friend and Secretary of no less than world renowned author G.K. Chesterton. De Fonseka, akin to Chesterton, was known for his rotundity.

Reacting to the caricature, the master paraded round the class and the student was shivering and expected to be spanked. He was aware of De Fonseka's hostile temperament. However much to the former's disbelief, he exhorted him to take to commercial art and other creative matters.

He was given the names of the famous cartoonist David Low, the Editor of the Punch Magazine Kenneth Bird who signed under the pseudonym Fougasse and famous satirist Stephen Leecock.

He was chosen to do all the artworks of the college magazine: "Blue and White." On leaving school after the London Matriculation and after a brief stint in architectural drawings until the war, he took to freelance artwork for company advertisements for frontline companies such as Walker and Greig, Cargills and Millers at Rs. 40 a piece. Subsequently hired by ANCL founder and Chairman D.R. Wijewardene to become the Head of the Art Department and later the Offset Printing Departments and the Foundry which he described as the turning point of his career.

These are the lifelines of Reginald Sebastian Rodrigo Candappa, (Reggie to friends and business associates), tagged as the father of Sri Lanka's advertising industry, now Chairman of the Sri Lanka's Grant McCann Erickson worldwide edifice.

It was after a brief stint on a journalistic scholarship at the North Western University , USA that Grants Advertising wrote to ANCL that they wanted a Manager to head the Colombo office. Reggie was the unanimous choice. The firm itself had seen dramatic transitions in its nomenclature due to the changes it had with the owning company in the United States. First it was known as Grant Advertising. Then Grant Advertising was bought over by a British network called Kenyon and Ekhart.

Then was Grant Kenyon Ekhart, which was later bought over by Bozell and Eckhart. The new name was to be Grant Bozell Jacob Kenyon Ekhart. Then, the Sri Lankan outfit was wanting to go into partnership with the Mc Cann Erickson network in 1993,the global advertising frontrunner which operates today in 205 cities in 132 countries.

The worldwide network has already dropped the Grant part of the name, but it has been retained in Sri Lanka due to most of the clients being familiar with the name. As far as the worldwide perspective was concerned, Grant is known only for premium Scotch whisky, Reggie told the Meeting Point in a joint interview with his daughter Neela Marikkar.

Frontline clients

There were a number of clients that Reggie handled during his freelance advertising days who came along to Grants with him. They were Bata, Shell, Singer (which has been handled in Colombo from Day One for the last forty-two years), Reckitt and Colman (also from Day One), Unilever for sixteen years, Browns to name a few which until then, were owned by the whites. Coca Cola was handled from 1980 to 1994 and the soft drinks giant left.

However, it returned. Grants handled the Shell Account till the petroleum multinational left the shores of Sri Lanka and regained it on their return.

However, it moved out when there was a change in the network. Some of the other accounts which were lost over the years were the People's Bank, which was another issue.

Some of the other accounts which are brand names are Mobitel, Sri- Lankan Airlines, and Singithi, the immunisation program of the UNICEF and a part of the Board of Investment. Some of the more recent accounts have been Sampath Bank, Royal Ceramics and Sierra Lee.

The firm has seen the smooth transition of power with Candappa's younger daughter Neela Marikkar taking over the reins as Managing Director/CEO, a designation the father had retained over the years. She is the inheritor of the business. Her only sister Sriyani Tidball lives in the United States and is a prominent social worker. She is not interested in the family advertising business, though equipped with a Master's Degree in Journalism and running her magazines in the United States. She is involved in a different manner.

Prior to entering the business, Neela was living in the United Kingdom in a Fashion Magazine where she was Art Director. She was also heavily involved in the marketing and promotion of travel and tourism and especially tours to the Far East. I never thought that I will be running Grants some day. She and her husband moved to Sri Lanka due to a desire of wanting to bring up children in a Sri Lankan environment.

Coming into the business was a great challenge to her, having to defend the reputation of her idol father. She concedes that the style of operation is different to that of her father, tough and firm in contrast to her father's charm and resilience.

He had a very congenial approach to issues over the years, but one has to be tough in today's fiercely competitive environment, she asserted.

A further factor for the tie up with Mc Cann Erickson chain was that most of the accounts which have been handled by the multinational group, were handled by Grants in Colombo. They include Coca Cola, Nestle, Uni Lever. Nestle is handled by Mc Cann Erickson worldwide and the idea of consolidation the business worldwide and it made sense as Nestle is one of the biggest accounts of Mc Cann worldwide. It was Nestle who pushed us to go in for the joint venture. Coca Cola left us and returned, Neela said.

Both Reggie and Neela echoed in unison that the business has seen dramatic changes over the years. In the days of yore, business was procured at a personal level. Reggie had negotiated the Coca Cola account while playing golf with the former Chairman of Pure Beverages Dhammika Fernando.

In sharp contrast, it is a very fierce competitive environment and one has to compete for every piece of business one gets. It is very rarely that one gives you business. One has to really pitch for it. It is much more stressful and demanding, Neela noted.

It is also that clients want more and more every day and the earnings are dwindling due to higher costs and lower margins, she said. The other aspect is that it is a people oriented business and not merely on machines like a production facility.

University of advertising

Neela prides in that Grants was a pioneer. Grants has been the university for advertising professionals. There have been at least seven eminent advertising professionals who learnt their craft and later moved out to head their own agencies.

One of the major stalwarts was the former Minister of State Anandatissa De Alwis who formed De Alwis Advertising.

There was Allan Wijesuriya who formed Thompson Associates (TAL), Ranjit Jayasuriya of Ranjit Jayasuriya Associates, Melville Assauw of Mel Ads, Gareth Jayawardena of Garads Advertising, Shantha Saparamadu of Grace Advertising, Mil Sansoni of the now defunct Intersel.

In addition, there have been Art Directors, Creative, Writers and Directors and other associated personnel, who have gone through this August body, the epitome of creativity.

It has been indeed fulfilling and exhilarating for both Reggie and Neela that the employees of the company who have learnt their craft has been well over the four figure mark. The company had organised a surprise birthday party for him.

The event was preceded by the company placing an invitation through an advertisement for all the people who have ever worked at Grants, from the company's list. We could not ask people as this was meant to be a secret. It was around 700 people from our records from the people who were in Sri Lanka and around 500 showed up. There were so many who had migrated whose records were not available, she reminisced.

Growth of advertising business

Neela noted that sustainable national peace was an essential prerequisite to business and consequentially for advertising. When business is down, the first thing that the business community does is the drastic slashing of advertising budgets.

Media prosperity

Advertising is an essential prerequisite for media prosperity, Reggie said. It will ensure the growth of both the print and the electronic media. There is a belief that the consumer will buy the products - those detrimental to them. They, on the contrary, will never buy products they are not in need of, Reggie said.

Awareness and stimulating demand

What advertising does is that it gives consumers a choice. It informs the consumer what is in the market place. Then, it is up to the consumers to select what products he desires to have and they are aware of what is available. It is an integral component of marketing, and it stimulates demand. Consumers are intelligent, savvy and brand conscious. They will buy only what is relevant, Neela said.

She said: "To hold the attention of the consumer's attention is extremely difficult. Sometimes, the consumers gloss over the ads and one has to find mechanisms where the advertising will grab the attention of the consumer and one has to be really professional. The placements of the advertisements are very critical to avoid the clutter, she said.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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