MediaFactory promising Entrepreneurship

In a market that has been dominated by global giants, one local agency defies the market structure and has grown to become a recognized powerhouse in advertising.

Today we interview two of Sri Lanka’s most promising entrepreneurs, Prashanth Supramaniam and Kapila Vidanagamage who are the owners and joint Managing Directors of the Mediafactory group of companies.

Prashanth Supramaniam and Kapila Vidanagamage joint Managing Directors

Mediafactory started eight years ago as a Media Only agency, but now is a group.

The journey was not easy as with our growth we became the target of our competitors.

You see Mediafactory was taken very lightly when it launched. But we launched Mediafactory knowing we had a product the market could not match. We started with a two million account which was Hienz Ketchup and our success on that opened us out to another account which was Five Million in annual billing.

Great work on that opened us to a Sixty Million account and slightly over an year of launching we were over a billion in media billing.

A feat never achieved by anyone. It was in-between this growth charge that Madison Media, India’s largest independent media agency aligned with us as a second media buying arm. In doing so, we created as I recall the first of Sri Lanka’s media buying cartels.

What makes this so special is that we had won not only the confidence of global giants who went against their global alignments to align with us, but also some of Sri Lanka’s largest.

Overnight we were bigger than most of the multinationals and it is then that they realized how big and powerful Mediafactory had become.

We now threatened the monopoly of Global agencies and had done what no one else ever had.

Thus began the fictitious attacks on us and our reputation.

Unperturbed by these distraction tactics we remained all about the work. We continued to focus on delivering superior consultancy and increasing the gap between us and our competitors.

Before too long our clients were encouraging us to diversify. It was a big decision as we were unprepared to diversify into any venture unless we recognized we had a clear USP or advantage. We had become accustomed to winning. Our first diversification was into digital as one of Sri Lanka’s first digital agencies.

Success here then saw us diversify into activations, public relations and our very own creative agency. But it is not that we have just opened corridor companies.

Each of these companies are performing exceptionally well and as a benchmark against our competitors out performing them. For example, Mobitels Face Book page has grown from being the sixth most liked page in the island to the number one page under our watch.

Similarly our digital agency is the only agency in the island that we know of that has pitched for regional accounts and won the right to service such accounts from Sri Lanka. Our Activation arm was responsible for organizing one of the largest ground activations spanning over hundred and twenty towns for the last concluded ICC Cricket World cup.

Ten feet wickets were paraded around the country covering hundred and twenty towns mustering support for the local team.

From a tiny four man operation down Sellamuttu avenue, to a 95+ communication group that is at the very heart of Sri Lanka’s ad industry, we owe everything to the media who supported us when we started, our clients who believed in us and a magical workforce that can only be called extended family.

What has been the secret to your success?

The ability to out think competition.

Be it activations, PR, media or whatever other discipline the only measure of true success as measured by our clients is our ability to out think our competition and in doing so add to their own competitiveness.

We firmly believe that tools and research that we develop should be done so only to assist our planners in making more informed recommendations and not for the sake of that it is a cool new idea.

It is not important how much you analyse, as much as having the right analysis.

That is because inside we are bound by a common goal and it works for us.

Finally it is the right people for the job. For example Udaya Tennakoon is one of Sri Lanka’s most awarded creative directors in the island.

He is seconded by Rohan Piyadasa and Nalaka Mallawarachi, both well known and experienced Executive Creative Directors.

Similarly Prasanga CEO of Mediafactory for his analytical skills, Monika CEO Madison for her leadership skills and similarly almost every member in the core team comes together to build a powerful resource of human intellect.

Shashi De Silva COO of Primus, a key SBU within Mediafactory is a MSc in Statistics. Together with Harshana, the two develop Mediafactory’s modeling tools and analysis methodologies which gives us our unique perspective and differentiation to other agencies.

Put all of this together and you get great customer satisfaction based on results and commitment to work that is taken as personal. That is what most of our clients say about us anyway. Don’t take our word for it. Just ask our clients and I highly doubt you would find one dissatisfied client of the group.

One last ingredient to the mix. Our ability to continuously stay ahead of other agencies and drive industry change.

Prashanth and I ensure we are always a few steps ahead of the market giving us and our clients an advantage over the rest.

Having spoken to the two of them I realize why Mediafactory is doing so well. We look forward to seeing their next initiatives & continued growth. We wish them the very best.