INTERVIEW: Agencies don’t close down, they evolve

Leading Cyprus ad agency celebrates 25 years

 

When it comes to business and the economy, Cyprus is often the exception to the rule. This law is just as true in the case of new industries or services starting up, as much as older enterprises that opt to shut down operations, rather than look to the longer-term and adapt to new market conditions.

“In other markets, advertising agencies don’t close down, they evolve,” said Stelios Anastassiades, Chairman and CEO of the island’s leading ad agency, Telia&Pavla / BBDO that recently celebrated its 25^th anniversary and continues to stay abreast of most of its competitors.

“In Cyprus, some people just don’t get the message and keep on with their everyday business as if nothing is wrong, while the whole market might have gone through a major overhaul,” he told the Financial Mirror in an interview.

In its two-and-a-half decades of life, the agency has gradually become the leading firm in the sector and has wisely avoided some risks, but also expanded into new fields, such as the joint venture below-the-line agency, The Worx, that has been a great success from a business point of view.

From a branding and communications point of view, Stelios is still skeptical: “Did we do the right thing?”

“It has turned out to be too successful with the existing clientele. But the question remains, does the business community know us? Can we appeal outside of our circle of clients?” he asks.

After two years The Worx is already profitable, with earnings rising from CYP 120,000 to 280,000 (EUR 205,000 to 478,000) in such a short period.

Anastassiades said that one of The Worx’ greatest successes was the promotion of Galaxy, as a result of which the client boosted sales in the first month of the campaign.

“All you had to do was to buy a chocolate bar and fulfill your dream. We took the idea of ‘indulging in greatness that life has to offer’ and organized a fashion show of young and upcoming local designers who used the colours of Galaxy and created new fashion.”

Galaxy also had special display stands and retailers welcomed the results that saw sales double, while the SMS competition attracted people to a daily draw of prizes that included CYP 500 in a cashcard from Societe Generale, as well as five package trips to the fashion capitals of the world – Athens, Milan, Paris, London and Barcelona.

Another success for The Worx was the Dulux Real Life washable paints campaign that saw sales multiply beyond local expectations.

“With a very limited budget we went to schools, created a game, put together a board, crayons, a sponge and bottles of washing liquid and told the children to take the kit home and tell their parents who also got a discount coupon.”

“Dulux UK liked our idea so much that they used the same concept elsewhere,” Anastassiades said.

Telia & Pavla has adopted the BBDO philosophy for “Totalworx”, a new form of communications beyond normal advertising.

The Worx employs a mere four staff and outsources services to other agencies. It works together with affiliates Telia & Pavla BBDO and its team of 40 as well as other offices such as 70:30 joint venture partner Ekkeshi Design. (The Worx also has the only pair of Segways in Cyprus).

“I am never satisfied that I’ve learned it all, and consider myself in an ongoing university in advertising,” Stelios said, recalling the bumpy, yet upward path that Telia & Pavla has enjoyed over the years.

“In our agency’s history, almost anybody with good name came to Telia & Pavla, learned a lot here and established a good name for themselves (Philip De Castan, Eleni Ekkeshi, Christos Karkapoulias, Mike Adamou, Galatia Havouzari, to name a few).

“But the problem of many businesses in Cyprus is that there are too many know-it-alls,” Anastassiades added.

 

Gulf wars, CSE boom-and-bust

 

As regards corporate success, Stelios said that despite the slowdown in the early 1990s after the Gulf War and the late 1990s with the CSE boom and the crash that followed, the market has seen growth every year, but not everybody has grown with the market.

“We have seen an actual increase of up to 15-20% each year, and the big boom for us came with the liberalisation of television in Cyprus, moving from the single-channel state environment to a multi-channel competitive field.”

For Stelios Anastassiades, another milestone was in October to November 2006 with Laiki Bank’s ad campaign “Tarazei Ta Nera” following the bitter takeover battle for the bank’s control, when the agency spent “as much in a month as we had for other campaigns in a whole year.”

The campaign gave out a strong message of change in management but that it was also business as usual, offering up to 50% discounts for all new Laiki products which bolstered the bank’s business by 23-25% in that period, mostly from new customers who moved to Laiki from other banks.

Telia & Pavla/BBDO remains the prime agency for Laiki, working jointly with BBDO in Greece (Team Athens) on many campaigns.

 

Client advice

 

“What should we spend?” is what each client asks Stelios Anastassiades and his team. “And then we ask ourselves: What should we achieve? Does the client want product awareness or a change in behaviour? Increase in sales? Where will this all come from?”

One prime example was the Spyros Papadopoulos ad for the Kimo Nestle ice cream, where the target was to get into an ice cream war situation.

On the other hand there is political advertising, “which for me is not too interesting. This could endanger our relationship with long-term clients.”

“You cannot create an image in 3-4 months,” it usually takes for a political campaign. “You just can’t take any political figure and try to make him what he isn’t,” Stelios added.

He said that the agency also avoids government contests because so much effort and money is invested into preparing for the pitches and the final results do not count.

 

The first years

 

Looking back, Anastassiades recalls how he started with MEMO Marketing. “Eleni Ekkeshi was there as well, both of us earning a minimum salary.”

“Telia & Pavla evolved from out of that relationship with Eleni and our business was growing.”

Eleni eventually left to go to Impact BBDO, but some 4-5 years later she rejoined the agency, only to start her own business a while later.

Since then, the company has evolved as well, with a steady turnaround of Art Directors, business managers, account executives and business managers.

Today, Stelios controls 64% of the agency, with the rest held by Deputy Managing Director Athos Kyriakou who joined after the merger with Adwork in 1997, as well as other investors.

Telia & Pavla became a BBDO partner agency in 1990 as part of “a never ending process of creating a better service according to the needs of our clients.”

“Basically we started as a ‘hot’ design shop, and in the past 25 years creativity has never left the agency.”

Looking abroad and to new ventures, Anastassiades prefers to stay focused on the agency’s familiar local territory, while some ventures such as the website development team, is something he’d rather leave to the past.

As regards the future, “When I decide to retire, I will do so, but until then I will continue doing what I do best.”