Coffee with Lowe's Regional Director, Rupen Desai

DC: Rupen, your agency has pledged to drop clients who don't want to take creative risks...some people might say that's getting a little ahead of yourselves as a new agency. Your thoughts?

R: I think this statement needs to be interpreted in its right context.
At the end of the day – the clients pay us for our expertise in communication solutions. At Lowe we know we can stretch their advertising dollar by high value creative ideas. Given we are being paid for our expertise – it would be unprofessional to sell a solution that we believe to do half the job – or at times none.
Whist in all cases we would try and sell the right communication solution – there are times when these efforts would fail. If this continues – rather then be paid for a solution badly delivered - we would seek another solution to the situation.

After all – isn’t this the integrity our business deserves?


DC: So you now have a completely new slate, give or take...what are you goanna do differently?

R: Three things to start with:
- Will not compromise on the creative product. After all good is the biggest enemy of great.
- Will not compromise on the talent pool at the agency. We are only as good as our team is.
- Start charging a portion of the client’s success.


DC: So where will Lowe be in 2 years then?

R: Leading the creative standards of the region along with a select few other agencies.
I say along with a select few – as without healthy competition from them, we will never be able to raise the bar in the region alone.


DC: Agency heads have articulated the difficulties in hiring talent from the region, you have a entire agency to hire, how do you plan on undertaking this task?

R: It is difficult – there is no doubt about it. We are a mediocre industry – not just in this region, but around the world.
But if you look at it – as tiny as the amount may be - there is a considerable amount of talent out there. It may take time, but those are the ones we are targeting, at first.
Secondly we have stopped the focus on the nephews, cousins & sons in our agency.
Thirdly we are focusing beyond the traditional advertising market – into areas like musicians, painters.
We are very happy to be understaffed with the right quality rather then compromise on the quality of our people or the work we create.

DC: Many thanks Rupen and good luck with Lowe!