With an eye on expanding its consulting capabilities, R K Swamy has launched a division 'Brand and Marketing Consulting' that aims to bring together brand strategy, digital experience, communications, analytics, and insights under one roof.

The 52-year-old company has a goal: to deepen its strategic value to clients by introducing a full-fledged brand and marketing consulting group - one that can partner across the entire customer journey.

For the independent media and communications group, this move is more a calculated evolution, shaped in part by the momentum and accountability following its successful IPO last year.

On the sidelines of the launch, we caught up with Srinivasan K Swamy, executive chairperson, R K Swamy Hansa, to unpack the rationale behind this consulting foray, how the IPO has recalibrated the group’s vision, and why listening to client pain points continues to be their strongest engine for innovation.

Edited excerpts: 

The IPO saw phenomenal interest and was oversubscribed 25 times. As someone who’s steered the company for decades, what did this moment mean to you personally and professionally? What were the key reasons to make it public? 

This was a journey we set out to begin four years ago. We felt that if we wanted to stay motivated in this industry, there was no point operating in the shadows of international players. We needed to be independent. The first step toward that was buying back our shares (from BBDO). The second was recognising that to stand tall on the global stage, we needed real firepower and that firepower could come from being a public company.

That was the motivation behind getting it right. Once we became a listed company, it wasn’t just about the capital raised from the stock market, it was about the ability to acquire other companies using our stock. Even if we don’t exercise that option immediately, the fact that it's available gives us strategic confidence.

With the IPO funds, we have focused on building a solid marketing infrastructure for our clients. We have doubled the capacity of our customer experience centres, and we are now in the process of setting up a state-of-the-art digital studio for video solutions. Over the past two years, we've produced around 4,000 short films, sometimes as many as five or six in a single day. That’s a significant volume.

We're in the final stages of setting up the new studio. While we haven’t locked in the exact location yet, we’re moving quickly. We already operate studios in three locations - two in Mumbai and one in Delhi. The new, larger studio will be based in Mumbai.

What made this the apt time to launch this initiative?

We believe the time was right to launch this initiative. We've been part of the agency ecosystem for several years, and our legacy spans five decades. In our portfolio, we already have India’s largest homegrown research company, a major analytics player, and deep expertise in the digital space. Our AI platforms are performing well, and we also bring strong creative and market insights through our team of artists and strategists.

For too long, we've been offering high-value consulting support informally, almost for free. That’s why we decided to formalise it by putting together a multifunctional consulting team. While this team has dedicated resources, it also draws from shared talent across our events and digital verticals, working together to make this initiative possible.

Marketing investments can deliver exceptional returns. With an investment of USD 400, it's possible to generate USD 1,000 in value; there's no other investment category that gives that kind of return. Every client or advertiser has at least one brand in their portfolio that underperforms or is under stress. These brands need focused attention and unconventional thinking, and that’s exactly what we aim to offer: perspective, lateral thinking, and the ability to help brands bounce back stronger.

If it means taking things head-to-head and delivering impactful results to our clients, we’re ready. We believe in an outcome-based model where clients pay us more if we deliver more. It's a win-win. We have a base cost covered, and the bonus comes from our shared success because if the brand succeeds based on our inputs, that’s a true win.

Right now, we’re working with several clients within our existing ecosystem. Once that gains momentum, we’ll begin engaging with external clients as well.

Through this new consulting division, what sort of clients are you looking to reach out to?

We believe many doors will open up with this approach because we don’t intend to walk to a client and try to change everything. That’s not the intent. We also do not want to disrupt what’s working, we are here to identify one or two pressure points in the brand’s portfolio or a problem that is causing the client stress. We aspire to look at it without judgment and offer a perspective on what can be done. If we can make a real difference, then we can talk about business.

Every company has weak links in their portfolio, underperforming brands, dead brands, or even strong brands that have lost momentum. Some might be planning a new launch, maybe at a premium level or for the mass market. Whatever the scenario, we are equipped to offer the right solution. We’re not asking them to see us as just another consulting agency, we want them to view us as marketing partners. We'll provide strategic advice that enhances their brand performance, profitability, brand value, market share and even stock value.

For instance, UltraTech once benchmarked itself INR 30 below the category leader. We advised a custom repositioning strategy, narrowing the price gap and introducing a premium offering. That INR 40-per-bag uplift translated into better margins. Over the next four years, their share price climbed from around INR 50 to over INR 350. It’s this kind of tangible, business-impacting outcome we strive to deliver.

Another example: an edible oil company was struggling in the market. They had enough fixed deposits that the interest alone could cover their electric bills. They didn’t even want to touch their core marketing budget. So we recommended using just the interest income to create impact. That shift in mindset, understanding that marketing can give proportional and scalable returns, is what marketers are now beginning to value.

In an era where specialist agencies are rising, why do you believe integration across insight, media, creativity, and analytics is more relevant than ever? 

There’s some pressure in the industry right now. A lot of people who used to work with legacy agencies have branched out to start boutique shops. They’ve taken business from those clients, and the dynamic has shifted. Many younger folks now leading digital marketing efforts don't always have a long-term perspective. They treat campaigns transactionally - taking on quick projects for a fee through these boutique agencies, without considering brand architecture or long-term strategy.

They might deliver a flashy campaign, cash in, and move on. There’s little regard for how the brand should evolve or how it connects with the consumer over time. Advertising is being treated more like a generic product, a commodity, rather than a specialised discipline of brand building.

Time will tell whether this approach is right or wrong. But speaking from decades of experience in advertising, my instinct says it’s risky. If a marketer doesn't nurture their brand and embed it in the consumer's consciousness in a deliberate, relevant way and instead keep making it interesting just for the moment, they risk undermining the brand’s foundation.

One can experiment with their brand identity in a single campaign, sure. But if every campaign disrupts the brand’s message, over time, they lose consistency. And that could backfire in the long run. Whether or not this works for brands in the future, we’ll have to wait and see.

One year down the line, what impact is R K Swamy expecting out of this new division? 

I’m hopeful this will make a strong impact. To start with, we think it’ll allow us to engage with clients in a more meaningful and effective way. Internally, our relevance to advertisers will grow. It’ll also enhance our appeal to new prospects because now we have something new and valuable to offer.

When we approach them with this revived offering, we are not asking for brands currently being handled by their existing agencies. We are not looking to disrupt any ongoing relationships. Instead, we’d ask: is there a brand in their portfolio that isn’t performing well - something they would like us to think about and come back with ideas on?

It’s a softer way of opening up a conversation. Large companies almost always have something that could use a fresh perspective. We don’t need to confront them with a pitch to replace anyone. We just want to start with a small project - let us take a look at their problem areas and show them how we can improve them.

Lastly, with sectors like FMCG, automotive, and BFSI often being sensitive to market fluctuations, how is R K Swamy building resilience into its business model to offset any potential dips in ad spending and maintain steady revenue growth?

One of the key ways we’re building resilience is by shifting from reactive, campaign-based thinking to a more holistic, consultative approach for our clients. If a client is facing a challenge with a product or brand, we don’t just offer a quick-fix campaign. We take a step back and look at the bigger picture - because defending the problem isn’t the solution. Too often, marketing decisions are made through linear thinking, based on past patterns or short-term fixes. What we bring to the table is lateral thinking.

This means we help clients assess whether to revive a brand, sunset it, reposition it, or even launch something new. These aren’t surface-level solutions - they're long-term brand-building strategies that drive both relevance and profitability, regardless of market volatility.

Ultimately, most companies want two things: their brands to grow, and to become more valuable. Even legacy brands, at some point, need to evolve toward a more premium position to sustain profitability. Our consultancy arm is designed exactly for that - to help clients navigate fluctuations not by pulling back on marketing, but by making smarter, future-focused brand decisions. That’s how we build resilience by making ourselves indispensable to our client’s growth journeys, especially when markets get tough.