Anish Daryani established M&C Saatchi Indonesia in 2018 to Disrupt the communications industry in Indonesia. Born and raised in Kolkata, India, Anish went to St. James’ School. He later attended St. Xavier’s College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Initially, Anish was chosen by a modeling agency that had come to his college campus looking for fresh talent, and after joining the agency, Anish landed a few modeling assignments.
However, he soon recognized an opportunity to start a business in the same space and launched his modeling agency named ‘Creations’ at 19.
After establishing ‘Creations,’ Anish also had his first brush with advertising professionals, where he became fascinated by how they worked with consumer insights. In a heartbeat, Anish realized this was what he was born to do and exited the business to get an internship in an agency.
Since then, advertising became the only profession Anish has been in. He says, “I do it all day, every day. A career in building brands has taken me places, literally… as I got to work and live in Mumbai, Nairobi, Lagos, Bengaluru, Ho Chi Minh City, and now Jakarta, where I’ve anchored my ship.”
Establishing M&C Saatchi Indonesia
As a veteran advertising professional, Anish had the privilege of building his professional career with several big network agencies, including Ogilvy, Rediffusion Y&R, Leo Burnett, and Lowe. This eventually gave him the chance to get a closer look at the industry and understand that it was slowly crumbling. Advertising is all about people and their talent. However, many traditional advertising agencies had forgotten that, and finance professionals started running the show, and soon people became numbers on an excel sheet. Upon realizing this, Anish decided to build a new-age, future-proof agency focusing on people and talent, both within the agency and its clients.
On establishing M&C Saatchi Indonesia, Anish positioned the agency as an “Accelerator of Commerce”. Its advertising services translate Brand Purpose to Commerce. Its digital services convert Content to Commerce. Its Shopper and Experiential services elevate Brand Experience to Commerce, and its PR Services transform Brand Reputation to Commerce.
Anish says, “Our’ agility” is the main ingredient behind our success… our ability to lead, create and manage meaningful change, and deliver solutions and ideas with our principle of “Brutal Simplicity of Thought.” We brought in the freshness that the market required. We don’t just identify the problems; we solve them. As a team, we harness our collective energy to give the best solutions to our clients. And lastly, we deliver exceptional results to our clients, which has led to a 90% client retention rate. Our agency model is of the future, and every strategy we follow is always in line with tomorrow.”
Mission and Vision M&C
Saatchi was established to simplify brand building during the age of change by navigating, leading, and creating meaningful change. The organization creates ‘Simple Solutions that Spark’ using meaningful data, actionable strategies, and simple experiences powered by significant changes.
Altogether these have led to the creation of solid agency culture, which Anish is very proud of.
- People Power: M&C Saatchi is entirely talent-led, and the agency is all about its people, those who work in the agency, and those who work with the agency (clients and partners).
- Diverse Collaboration: From having an agile workplace to simplicity in process, everything Anish and his team does is aimed at harnessing the power of collaboration among internal teams, external specialists, partners, and clients.
- Playful Curiosity: As the agency’s founder, Anish encourages his teams to enjoy their work, seek innovation, and empower them to take risks without fearing failure. M&C Saatchi Indonesia ensures complete job security so that no members could be sacked due to a lack of performance.
- Performance Driven: As an organization, M&C Saatchi Indonesia ensures all of its services are aimed at generating results for its clients and itself.
The Asian Business Environment
Anish believes Asia is the heart of business and innovation. With the emergence of several significant economies like India, China, and Indonesia, Asian businesses now propel the world forward. Today, any global business will fail to succeed if they fail to perform in any of these markets. Also, several smaller economies like Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines have so much growth potential that they can’t be ignored. While many larger economies are slowly stagnating, Asia still enjoys a healthy growth rate. Even with strong headwinds, the solid fundamentals and self–consumption story make Asia far more insulated from the adverse effects compared to other severely impacted regions.
Preparing for the Future
Anish says, “Since I decided to start this company, I had envisioned a certain place in the world for it. I want to build M&C Saatchi Indonesia as one of the most effective agencies in the world. When operating a business in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, you can access the talent, clients, and resources to achieve that. Making your teams accountable to your clients is the key. This is why we have focused all our energies towards creating a real impact on our clients’ businesses.”
As a young company, M&C Saatchi has won more awards and accolades than many businesses might have earned in decades. As the agency’s founder, Anish aspires to build one of the most reputable agencies, not just in SouthEast Asia or Indonesia but the world. In 2022, the agency was recognized by Campaign UK Magazine as the global Social Media Agency of the Year 2021. It is also the Campaign Southeast Asia Social Media Agency of the Year, Indonesia Creative Agency of the Year (Gold), Southeast Asia Agency for Best Culture (Bronze), and Indonesia Digital Agency of the Year (Gold) for 2021.
Under Anish’s leadership, M&C Saatchi also won Indonesia’s only Cannes Lion in 2020/21, which was also Indonesia’s first-ever Cannes Lion in the Sustainable Development Goals category.