Have hired more data scientists than any other ad agency: Wavemaker India CEO

livemint.com:

Mint on the sidelines of the recently-concluded advertising festival GoaFest 2024.“Unlike competitors, we began investing heavily in research and technology back in 2017 when we started; we are using a lot of AI (artificial intelligence) now. This is because there are a number of playbooks available for best practices for television advertising, but none for ads for digital mediums. In a way, we are now writing textbooks on how to use data for better digital advertising in our data greenrooms.

We buy legal data at every customer touchpoint and see a huge improvement in ad efficiency and click-through rates," he added.Wavemaker acquires primary data through QR (quick response) codes, contests etc. It then enhances it to be able to present personalized ads which can be targeted based on geography, language etc. It has about 15 clients for which it manages data strategies.Wavemaker India largely works on ad mandates of FMCG companies and has clients like Luminous, Reckitt Benckiser, Perfetti, and Pernod Ricard, among others.

It has had new business wins of about ₹1,600 crore, retained business worth ₹1,500 crore and grew at 21% in FY24.It is now the third-largest business of the company's British parent. Since 2019, it has managed to retain most clients (other than Acko and ITC) and has also won new businesses.At an industry level, he said, ad expenditure at an aggregate level is coming back when compared to FY23. “This is going to be a decent year for advertising.

Some categories are pegged to grow at 10-12%," Gupte added.In FY23, India’s adex, or advertising expenditure, amounted to ₹99,038 crore, growing just 10% from the year prior. In FY22, adex had risen by ₹15,500 crore, said the Pitch Madison Report 2023. It said