BBDO WORLDWIDE

&

WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

PRESENT THEIR COLLABORATED RESEARCH

ON

THE CREATIVE ORGANISATION OF THE FUTURE

BY

NEHAL VORA

POONAM GAWDE

PGDM-BUSINESS DESIGN 2008 – 10

PROJECT GUIDE: JOSY PAUL (CHAIRMAN – BBDO-WORLDWIDE)

PROJECT FACULTY GUIDE: PROF. KAUSTUBH DHARGALKAR (WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT)

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PROJECT COMPLETION CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that project titled “The Creative Organisation of the Future” is successfully

done by Ms. Nehal Suresh Vora and Ms.Poonam Gawde in partial fulfillment of her two years

full time course ‘Post Graduation Diploma in Management [Business-Design]’ recognized by

AICTE through the Prin.L.N.Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research,

Matunga, Mumbai.

This project in general is done under our guidance.

Mr. Josy Paul, Chairman, BBDO Worldwide

Prof. Kaustubh Dhargalkar, Faculty, Prin.L.N.Welingkar Institute of Management Development

& Research, Matunga, Mumbai.

Date: May 28th, 2010

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am extremely grateful to the following people without whom this research would not have been

possible. I am pleased to thank Mr. Josy Paul, Chairman of BBDO Worldwide for giving me an

opportunity to work with his company and do this research and Prof. Kaustubh Dhargalkar in

creating a platform for students like us to work on real time projects with companies. I would

also like to thank Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Madhukar Sabnavis, and Kaveri of Ogilvy & Mather

(Mumbai) for their contribution of thoughts on the topic of study. I am grateful to my colleagues,

Poonam Gawde and Prachi Srivastava who helped initiate this research. Finally, I would like to

thank my parents and friends for all their support.

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CONTENTS

S.No. Topic Page Number

1. Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………… 5

2. Objective of the Research………………………………………………………………... 6

3. Methodology Adopted………………………………………………………….. ………. 6

4. About BBDO Worldwide ……………………………………………………………….. 7

5. Studying Advertising Agencies……………………………….......................................... 7

5.1. Studying Crispin Porter Bogusky (CP+B)……………............................................. 8

5.2. Studying Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P)……………………………….. 11

5.3. Studying Ogilvy & Mather (O&M)………………………………………………...13

6. Studying Technology and Innovative Companies………………………………………16

6.1. Studying Google…………………………………………………………...................17

6.2. Studying Yahoo Inc.…………………………………………………………………18

6.3. Studying Facebook………………………………………………………...................22

6.4. Studying Twitter…………………………………………………………..................26

7. Studying Personalities…………………………………………........................................ 28

7.1. Studying Gandhi………………………………………….......................................... 29

7.2. Studying Obama…………………………………………...........................................34

8. The Awakening…………………………………………………………………………… 36

9. The Synthesis of Our Learning through Mind Mapping……......................................... 38

10. The Constitution of the Creative Organisation of the Future…......…......…......…....... 39

11. The Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………… 40

12. References………………………………………………………………………………… 41

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With the world today beginning to move out of the global crisis and adapting itself to the

organizations of tomorrow, there arises a need for change within the organisation to happen

gradually. The 21st century brings new challenges for both organizations and society. Rapidly

changing environment, innovation, and dynamically changing markets demand new ways of

working and more effective approaches to be developed and put into practice. Some companies

like the Tata Group or Marico just to name a few have successfully imbibed in them the cultural

change which has evolved gradually from the time of their inception. How did this change

happen? Was there any ignition point to this change? Who were the people responsible? Were

there any external factors involved? These are some of the questions that immediately come to

my mind. My research was based on how organisations have successfully evolved and brought

about a change and satisfied the stakeholders along with the business demands. For this research,

we were mentored by Mr. Josy Paul, the Chairman of BBDO Worldwide with his thoughts

integrated in the research. This research was conducted in the following three phases:

The first phase of our research involved a study of advertising agencies who worked differently

as compared to other companies in their sector. These agencies were namely Crispin Porter

Bogusky (CP+B), Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) and draw from

them insights on what was being done unconventionally.

The second phase of our research involved studying technology and innovative companies like

Google, Yahoo Inc., Facebook and Twitter through which we could draw an analogy to

mavericks.

In the third phase, we studied personalities like Mahatama Gandhi and Barack Obama and

learned from them the values, characteristics and ignition points (if any) in their lives.

The learnings from the above phases from studying companies and personalities were integrated

to form the creative organisation of the future with its culture, value, features and processes in

place.

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2. OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH

To create an organisation structure/model process in response to the “Changing nature of Idea

and Media”. The term media means the total communication media including news, television,

newspaper, out of home (OOH), activation, technology and people as mediums.

3. METHODOLOGY ADOPTED

We studied advertising agencies like Crispin Porter Bogusky (CP+B), Goodby Silverstein &

Partners and Ogilvy and Mather (O&M). We chose to study the advertising agencies as well

because the company that we were doing this research with i.e. BBDO Worldwide is an

advertising agency.

We diversified our study to research personalities like Mahatama Gandhi and Barack Obama as a

brand within themselves. Our next step was to study technology and innovation driven

companies like Google, Yahoo Inc., Facebook and Twitter. Our primary research was done in

two companies: Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) and Crispin Porter Bogusky (CP+B). Through our

secondary and primary research, we synthesized our research to come up with a constitution of

an advertising agency (a creative organisation) of the future.

4. ABOUT BBDO WORLDWIDE

BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York. Formed

through a merger of BBDO (Barton, Durstine & Osborn) and Batten Co. in 1928, BBDO

Worldwide has been named the "Most Awarded Agency Network in the World" by The Gunn

Report in 2007, for the second year running. BBDO has strength of 17,200 employees in 287

offices in 77 countries and is the largest of three global networks (BBDO, TBWA and DDB

Worldwide) of agencies in Omnicom's portfolio. With an extensive portfolio of creative

advertising, BBDO focuses on the philosophy of “Total Work”, citing “At BBDO, the Work

encompasses every kind of creative content that can touch the consumer and reinforce the

brand”. The company's extensive list of clients includes: The Economist, Pepsi, IKEA, FedEx,

BBC News, General Electric, Campbell’s, Gillette, Motorola, Chrysler, Pfizer, Wrigley and

UNICEF amongst many more.

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5. STUDYING ADVERTISING AGENCIES

Crispin Porter Bogusky (CP+B), Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Ogilvy and Mather (O&M)

were the advertising agencies that we studied due to their unconventional functioning. This was

elicited by the foundations of the organisations, their journey till date and the work done by them

over a period of time. We organised our study in to these advertising agencies to find out more

about the following:

1. What are their Activations or what was and has been responsible for their success?

2. What are the Tools used by them for their success today?

3. What are the Values on which these companies are built?

4. What is the Organisational Culture they follow?

5. What are the Sources of Media used by them?

5.1. STUDYING CRISPIN PORTER BOGUSKY (CP+B)

Crispin Porter Bogusky is based in Boulder and in Miami. They also have other offices in

Gothenburg, Sweden, London and Los Angeles, and have nearly 1000 employees.

Crispin Porter Bogusky is like a factory which makes advertising and branded creative content.

They are like a factory without an assembly line as the work done is custom made and designed

by hand. The product they would have build yesterday may not be the same as they build today

and as their individual customer requirements are different.

5.1.1. Activations

They help put across distinctly the underlying message every client wants to deliver to the target

audience.

They helped clients re-launch their campaigns by putting across messages in the way the

customer wanted to look at it. E.g. 30 minutes Dominos campaign where a customer needed 30

minutes of free time with every order in today’s time stacked culture. Other campaigns include

Burger King re launching their “Have it your way” burger and “Know HIV/ AIDS” campaign 7

where the campaign targeted on Knowing is Beauty rather than scaring people with getting tested

for HIV.

5.1.2. Tools Used

Focus on doing things. No talks, meetings or emails sent relating to work if the work will not get

done. PowerPoint presentations cannot substitute for work done.

5.1.3. Values

CP+B defines advertising as is anything that makes their clients famous.

CP+B has a strong and resilient work culture.

CP+B believe that they can be better than what they are today.

5.1.4. Organisational Structure

The following forms the bases on which CP+B is formed. There are eight partners viz.

1. Co-Chairman

2. Co-Chairman

3. Co-Executive Creative Director

4. Co-Executive Creative Director

5. Group Account Director

6. Director of Content Management

7. Chief Operating Officer

8. CEO/President

The interactive/integrated/creative department is comprised of over 250 employees including art

directors, copywriters, creative directors, producers, digital artists, etc.

The Product Innovation department is comprised of 10 employees.

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The Cultural and Business Insights department has over 30 employees.

The above departments work in close proximity of each other.

Content Management Department has more than 150 employees including: Account Directors –

Management Supervisors - Content Managers – Asst. Content Managers

There are also other departments viz.

Administration Department

HR

Accounting: Controllers – Accounts Payable – Accounts Receivable – Expense Report

Coordinators – Billing

IT: System Administrators – Service Desk Technician

Legal

Agency Communications Department

5.1.5. Organisational Culture

The offices have a central meeting space for agency-wide meetings, ample-sized eating areas,

multiple conference rooms and a central art department area.

CP+B defines a good meeting as the one from which you leave with a clear understanding of

what to do next. They believe that the actual doing doesn’t start until the meeting stops. Their

meetings are short and to the point.

If one’s in a meeting that’s dragging on and keeping one from the important business of doing

something, one can say the word “pineapple”. This is the official agency code word that means

“Let’s wrap this up”.

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Every employee who begins new work at CP+B is assigned a Sensei (Japanese word)

meaning a “teacher”. Sensei has to make sure that the employee is as successful as you can be

during his time at CP+B.

Sensei is selected based on his or her knowledge of the CP+B culture and will be in a different

department than the employees current department. This enables cross pollination to happen

between departments and know exactly what the other department does. They consider that ideas

are good when media people come up with creative ideas, and the creative team comes up with

planning solutions, and production people come up with media ideas, and so on and so forth.

An idea is judged solely by its merit. They believe that good ideas can come from anywhere,

from any person in any department at any level. And just because a person’s title is ‘Associate

Creative Director’ or ‘Management Supervisor’ doesn’t necessarily mean their ideas are

automatically weighted more toward the good end of the scale. This attitude creates a

wonderfully liberating environment where great ideas gush forth freely from each and every

person. Or at least an environment where you feel like you can contribute even though you’re not

running the place.

Treating Suppliers like fellow employees. They treat suppliers like fellow employees. The

advertising business is contained within a small, small circle and word gets around about how

one behaves within that circle. CP+B wants to be the kind of agency that suppliers want to work

with, regardless of budget, or timing, or scope of the job, just because they’ve heard CP+B is

great to work with.

Focusing on Deadlines. CP+B focuses on deadlines from the start and does whatever is

humanly possible to meet them. If the deadlines fail, everyone is to be alerted as far in advance

as possible that a looming deadline is in danger of being missed.

Goal Oriented. CP+B is a loose organization without a lot of rules. However, they prefer a

casual environment because it makes them work better.

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5.1.6. Sources of Media

CP+B uses any mode of media ranging from an online film, an event on the street, a book or

something unimaginable.

5.2. STUDYING GOODBY SILVERSTEIN & PARTNERS (GS&P)

Goodby Silverstein & Partners Inc. operates as a subsidiary of advertising services conglomerate

Omnicom Group, which consists of BBDO Worldwide, DDB Needham Worldwide, TBWA

International, and Diversified Agency Services. The metaphor GS&P uses to describe them is

“Art Serving Capitalism”. They firmly believe that business is at its best when it is done with

craft and surprise associating with Art. Art is a new way of seeing the world that takes things that

are basically the same and makes them suddenly seem different. Art takes things that don’t

belong together and welds them at high temperatures. Business is most successfully

accomplished through Art. Business combined with Art is bigger business.

They believe that this is a time of great disorder in the way brands are created, and are evolving

to look forward to and take best advantage of the new environment.

The old model, in which advertisers address captive audiences with unavoidable messages, is a

thing of the past.

To be successful in a faster, more voluntary world, it is important to engage audiences, creating

messages, often in unexpected places, that people welcome and even seek out.

This kind of communication will have elements of entertainment and avant-garde media thinking

not presently associated with advertising.

They no longer want to be an advertising agency but something that leads their clients to create

and embody popular culture in the world.

They “communicate” not advertise and do timeless storytelling to move people emotionally.

5.2.1. Activations

The media department was fused with the account planning team. GS&P obliterated its

media department by fusing it with its account planning team to create a strategy department

which could well model for the future of agency media services. It elevated the role of media

planners to brand strategists. They continue to test what a creative department does and what a

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creatively attuned strategic function can add. It was able to demonstrate the fruits of the strategy

which other companies would soon like to follow. It won the GS&P Media Department of the

Year in 2008.

5.2.2. Organisation Structure

GS&P has a lean, silo-free agency structure. In 1999, to confront its challenges, it surveyed its

employees to find out what they liked and disliked about the company. In 2000, it implemented a

streamlined approach to new business. Some of the new changes included creating, for the first

time, the position of group account director and the development of an in-house school,

GS&P University, which offered employees classes that covered topics such as design and

public speaking. In addition, a policy of flex time and formal mentoring for new employees was

started.

The early years of the new century were years of significant change at Goodby, Silverstein &

Partners. To grapple with the challenge of maintaining the agency's corporate culture and

retaining talented people, Goodby and Silverstein instituted a more horizontal structure. Wanting

to empower staffers and motivate them to do their best work, they handed over many day-to-

day creative responsibilities to their creative staff.

5.2.3. Tools

Team of Employees

5.2.4. Media

The following is the type of media used by GS&P to service its clients:

Television (Wait less Ads)

Print

Online Media

Billboards

5.3. STUDYING OGILVY & MATHER (O&M)12

We interviewed Sumanto Chattopadhyay, the Executive Creative Director, South Asia,

Ogilvy and Mather to get a closer look of the organisation. The following is what we observed

while interacting with him.

Loud music coming from the two sides of the room and people juggling from one place to

another and one floor to another was the environment at the office at Ogilvy & Mather in

Goregaon which gave us a back to college feeling. Not that we were out of college, just that we

did not feel like we were in a regular corporate office.

It was the afternoon on January 8, 2010 when we entered the reception area awaiting our turn to

meet Sumanto Chattopadhyay, the Executive Creative Director, South Asia, Ogilvy and Mather.

This was the first time we were meeting him. The objective of our meeting with him was to

know more about Ogilvy & Mather as an organization and the evolution of the work done by

them till date. We had with us a list of questions to shoot at him. The following were the

questions asked by us to Sumanto and his answers to the same are given below:

Q. Who are your Gods? What or who do you look up to? What are the inspirations that you

have?

Ans. One of his Gods is Neil French who is the former Creative Director of WPP Worldwide and

founder of the World Press Awards. He interacted with Neil French for the first time at one of

the workshops held at O&M where the employees had to showcase the work done by them.

What inspired Sumanto the most about Neil is his delivery style which was action oriented and

unforgettable to the attendants of the workshop. Neil judged the best of the work done by the

workshop attendants by criticising it in a most humiliating way but at the same time passed on

the right message. Sumanto was inspired by Neil and the entire workshop experience and began

to conduct workshops for the advertising fraternity. Sumanto has conducted and still conducts

workshop for the employees of O&M and for his clients. One of the workshops he shared with us

was called “Baby ki mundi kaato…It’s all about the executions" which focused on saying things

in a memorable way. This was targeted to the audience who were a novice in their ad film

making career. This workshop was a clear indicative of the action oriented approach that

Sumanto believes is the success of lasting advertisements.

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Another inspiration for Sumanto is Piyush Pandey whose career started as ‘Trainee Account

Executive’ to that of an ‘Executive Chairman’ (the position held today) at O&M. From him, he

has learnt to be to be open and observant to what’s happening in and around the environment

and learnt to understand what ticks people.

Q. What are the values on which O&M is built?

Ans. He believes that O&M is built on the back bone of “Creativity”. It is the drive for the

excellence in creativity that forces them to become better and better every day. There is

intensive research that is done before any campaign to gather consumer insights pertaining to the

client brief. O&M works in partnership with its clients and unlike a traditional advertising

agency. They work to adapt to clients needs and the culture. Exceptions to this are tackled on a

one to one basis. It’s the N=1 concept which is customised solutions for every client that works

for them (Reference book: The New Age of Innovation by C.K. Prahalad).

The work culture of O&M can be described as informal, flexible, and non hierarchical with a

front foot approach to employees along with a high level of empowerment.

Q. What makes you different from other companies?

Ans. Every employee in the organisation is empowered to perform various tasks keeping in

mind the requirements of the clients. Employees are allowed to make mistakes and learn from

them. However, not repeat the mistakes at the expense of the client’s requirements.

O&M is moving and has moved with the market and the sector. New media usages with respect

to the availability of new technology are being explored and experimented besides television,

print ads, etc.

Maintaining the creativity despite growing to become a large organisation is what distinguishes

O&M.

Q. How do you inculcate the O&M culture in the newly recruited employees?

Ans. The operating style of every head is a contributor to inculcate the culture of O&M in the

newly hired employees. As for Sumanto, his leadership style is result oriented. His

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communication methodology is direct with his entire team for the smallest of the matters

involved.

Q. Are there any models that O&M uses to adapt to changes required (if any)?

Ans. No models off hand are being used. However, certain norms are implemented by Asia

Pacific HR team to be used all across O&M.

Q. How did the concept of brand butterfly evolve?

Ans. Thoughts were organized in a structured way to present to clients by the planning team.

Q. How has the organisational structure of O&M evolved with the changing environment

(both external and internal)?

Ans. The structure of O&M has evolved with respect to requirements of clients and is built today

on the 360 degree integration of ideas. To ensure every client gets what he wants under one roof

was why PR, rural, direct marketing, digital, events, Ogilvy One have evolved.

Q. As an employee of O&M, what drives you to come to work every day?

Ans. O&M is a second home to Sumanto and spends a lot of time at the office. He loves the

flexibility and the variety offered to him at work. The environment at O&M he believes allows

idiosyncrasies. He has colleagues who are now friends and looks forward to seeing them every

day. He enjoys work, working as a team and believes in having fun while doing work which

prevents work from going stale. According to him, the major challenge today is not to stagnate.

He is writer and does theatre and encourages employees at O&M to do what they like besides the

regular work at O&M.

Q. What according to you are the major challenges that O&M faces today? What are the

measures taken to overcome these challenges?

Ans. Ogilvy & Mather have been the undisputed creative leaders of the advertising industry.

Maintaining the creative excellence is a major challenge for O&M and to remain no.1 at all

times.

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Q. Sumanto’s suggestions on the existing appraisal system at O&M.

Ans. Sumanto agrees that appraisals are essential for an employee’s increment and promotion.

However, he strongly believes that the appraisal system that for the creative team should be

framed differently. This is because the fundamental functioning of the members of creative team

is based on the campaigns each one has worked. He firmly believes that being creative is the

most important aspect of O&M and hence an employee’s performance should be measured in

terms of the creative work done by him/her. This could be done by describing each campaign in

detail would in turn determine the worth of the individual.

Induction should be made a part of the training module of new hires at O&M to induce the

culture of O&M in them. At the moment, only on the job training is what the employees are

directly exposed to.

6. STUDYING TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATIVE COMPANIES

Our next step was to study companies which have been doing work differently. The companies

that we narrowed down for our study were Google, Yahoo Inc., Facebook and Twitter.

Like our earlier study, we organised our study in to these advertising agencies to find out more

about the following:

1. What are their Activations or what was and has been responsible for their success?

2. What are the Tools used by them for their success today?

3. What are the Values on which these companies are built?

4. What is the Organisational Culture they follow?

5. What are the Sources of Media used by them?

6.1. STUDYING GOOGLE

Google as a company is internet search engine founded by two Stanford University graduate

students (Sergey Brin and Larry Page) to a company of 4,200 with revenue hitting almost $3.7

billion. Success of the Google story has been built on its ability to harness wild ideas for business

innovations. Business model of Google is user centric as their main objective is to provide users

with speedy search results with all favorite websites at the fingertips of the user. In order to

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enable this, Google offers a wide range of software so that the user can browse the web quickly

and easily. The underlying thought is to understand the pain points of user. Search is how Google

began, and it's at the heart of all activities they do today. At Google they devote more

engineering time to search than to any other product.

6.1.1. Google's Mission

To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

6.1.2. Google’s Values

Now over the years, Google has expanded rapidly but one thing has not changed and that is its

dedication to the users and the belief in the possibilities of the internet itself. At Google they

strive to develop the “perfect search engine”. Google’s commitment to innovation depends on

everyone being comfortable sharing ideas and opinions.

6.1.3. Work Culture

The culture of Google is transparent as every employee can talk directly with each other

irrespective of the hierarchy and including the founders. They believe that each Googler is an

equally important part and a contributor to the success of the organisation.

6.1.4. Organizational Structure

At Google they have divided their resources with respect to the activities they are associated

with. It is majorly divided in to three parts:

70% of resources are devoted to their core job which is advertising and search

20% of resources are devoted to the activities related to the core activities

10% of resources are devoted to the new projects which are different then the regular

once.

Google tries to keep the hierarchy of the organisation small so as maintain effective

communication and sharing of ideas becomes easier which is the core value of Google.

They have the compensation structure like the startup companies and reward employees

and teams at each stage.

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Currently all employees of Google are their equity holders. They are rewarded on quarterly

basis by the founders for their outstanding achievements.

They have program wherein the employees have opportunity to devote 20% of their work time

devoted to pursue personal interests or hobbies. Orkut and Adsense is a result of this effort of

Google.

6.2. STUDYING YAHOO INC.

Founded in 1994 by Stanford Ph.D. students David Filo and Jerry Yang, Yahoo Inc. began as a

hobby and has evolved into a leading global brand. The two founders of Yahoo Inc., David Filo

and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University started their

student hobby in a campus trailer in February 1994 as a way to keep track of their personal

interests on the Internet. Before long they were spending more time on their home-brewed lists

of favorite links than on their doctoral dissertations. Eventually, Jerry and David's lists became

too long and unwieldy, and they broke them out into categories, then subcategories…and thus

the core concept gave rise to Yahoo Inc. Yahoo Inc. has changed the way people communicate

with each other, conduct transactions and access, share, and create information.

6.2.1. The Underlying Idea of the Business of Yahoo Inc.

The core of Yahoo’s strategy and operations is to become the starting point for Internet users; to

provide must buy marketing solutions for the world’s largest advertisers; and to deliver industry-

leading open platforms that attract developers and publishers.

6.2.2. Yahoo’s Values

1. There’s an intense focus on delivering the best products and services for its users and

deepening their relationships with partners and advertisers.

2. Users and advertisers create a virtuous circle - the more satisfied they are the more

engagement and monetization will flow.

3. To improve functionality and usability.

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4. Yahoo Inc. is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers,

and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust.

6.2.3. Tools Used by Yahoo Inc.

It is committed to empowering its users and employees through programs, products, and

services that inspire people to make a positive impact on their communities and build

relationships.

6.2.4. Products or Activations of Yahoo Inc.

1. Search Assist, to give users suggestions as they search, as well as Search Monkey, to

give website owners control over how their sites appear in search results - beneficial to our

franchise to deeply understand what users are looking for when they are online.

2. The next generation of Yahoo Mail also took shape in 2008, bringing together email,

instant messaging and mobile text messaging.

3. Yahoo One Search product, which now features voice-enabled search.

4. APT from Yahoo is an integrated web-based solution designed to bring publishers,

advertisers, networks and agencies together, and ultimately allow advertisers to better target

audiences not just on Yahoo but across the Web and allow publishers to better monetize their

content.

5. Over 2007, the Company has begun the shift from historically decentralized product silos

to creating a global product infrastructure. They have invested to unify platforms, processes

and codes to be more streamlined, efficient and effective, and to innovate more rapidly.

6. In 2008, the Yahoo! Open Strategy (Y!OS) was launched, a set of complementary

developer platforms designed to better open Yahoo to third-party developers and publishers

which invited developers to take advantage of our huge scale by writing applications that

build on popular properties, tap into millions of loyal users, and make users’ Internet

experiences more relevant and useful.

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7. Yahoo Offerings also include Communities, Communications, Search, Connected Life,

Audience

6.2.5. Marketing Mediums

Online, television, print, radio, outdoor advertising, leverage global online network and their

distribution partnerships to market products and services to the right people at the right time.

With continued investment in global brand and product marketing, they continue to attract and

engage users, advertisers, publishers, and developers.

6.2.6. Yahoo as an Organisation

Yahoo Inc. re-aligned its organization to effectively focus on Key Customer Segments to

Capture Future Growth Opportunities.

The new structure is designed to drive this strategy by aligning the organization with four key

objectives:

1. Expand customer-centric culture and capabilities

Yahoo Inc. organized its services around audience segments and advertising customers, rather

than around products.

2. Create leading social media environments

Yahoo Inc. leveraged its strong positions in community, communications, search, as well as

media content across its global network to create leading social media environments, which

encouraged every user on the Yahoo network to participate in the consumption and publishing of

information, and knowledge through tagging, reviewing, sharing of images and audio, and other

social media activities.

3. Lead in next-generation advertising platforms

Yahoo Inc. extended its industry-leading breadth of offerings to give the most diverse array of

advertisers, from large brand marketers to local merchants, every opportunity to connect with

audiences on and off Yahoo.20

4. Drive organizational effectiveness and scale

Yahoo Inc. recruits and retains the best industry talent and focus its resources on high-impact,

network-wide platforms to help capture the most significant long-term growth opportunities.

Under the new structure, Yahoo Inc. has two customer-focused groups, each led by a

senior and experienced operating executive, and a strengthened technology function headed by

the chief technology officer. These groups are:

a) Audience Group

This group focuses on building the largest and most valuable audiences and relationships on and

off the Yahoo network, creating more unique, tailored and engaging experiences for Yahoo's

valuable users. The group will leverage the success the company has had to date, as the largest

global Internet destination, to further enhance its existing products in search, media,

communities and communications; build social media environment across Yahoo; open more

opportunities for users to take advantage of Yahoo tools and services off network and through

mobile and digital devices; and pursue growth opportunities in emerging international markets.

b) Advertiser & Publisher Group

This group leads the transformation of how advertisers connect with their target customers across

the Internet, with the goal of driving more value for more advertisers and publishers than any

other company. This group combines Yahoo's broad array of marketing solutions, its industry

leading sales teams, and its thousands of high quality distribution partners, to create a full-

fledged global advertising network on and off Yahoo. This is designed to benefit both advertisers

and publishers and significantly enhance the company's monetization capabilities, by leveraging

the size and scale of Yahoo!'s advertising network. Specifically, this group provides customer-

oriented solutions across all major segments, including large advertisers and agencies, small- and

medium-sized businesses, local advertisers, resellers and publishers, as well as develop

advertising platforms and marketplaces for the future.

21

c) Technology Group

In addition to closer engineering integration within product teams, Yahoo Inc. concentrates on

the key engineering talent and shift investment towards the development of high-impact,

scalable, global platforms and infrastructures to help capture the most significant long-term

growth opportunities. For example, this group leverages Yahoo's platform investments in

community to create the technology platforms for new social media environments. In addition, it

speeds the development of innovative, next generation advertising platforms.

In 2008, Yahoo Inc. as an organisation was simplified, priming to make big improvements in

product quality and operational efficiency while also better supporting our customers. This

started in February 2008 with streamlining the senior leadership team and creating new positions

focused on customer advocacy, marketing and international operations.

6.3. STUDYING FACEBOOK

Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg as a social utility that helps people

communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and co-workers. The company develops

technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital

mapping of people's real-world social connections.

6.3.1. Mission

Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and

connected.

6.3.2. Values

a) Freedom to Share and Connect

People should have the freedom to share whatever information they want, in any medium and

any format, and have the right to connect online with anyone - any person, organization or

service - as long as they both consent to the connection.

b) Ownership and Control of Information

People should own their information. They should have the freedom to share it with anyone they

want and take it with them anywhere they want, including removing it from the Facebook

22

Service. People should have the freedom to decide with whom they want to share their

information, and set privacy controls to protect those choices. Those controls, however, are not

capable of limiting how those who have received information may use it, particularly outside the

Facebook Service.

c) Free Flow of Information

People should have the freedom to access all of the information made available to them by

others. People should also have practical tools that make it easy, quick, and efficient to share and

access this information.

d) Fundamental Equality

Every person - whether individual, advertiser, developer, organization, or other entity - should

have representation and access to distribution and information within the Facebook Service,

regardless of the Person's primary activity. There should be a single set of principles, rights, and

responsibilities that should apply to all People using the Facebook Service.

e) Social Value

People should have the freedom to build trust and reputation through their identity and

connections, and should not have their presence on the Facebook Service removed for reasons

other than those described in Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

f) Open Platforms and Standards

People should have programmatic interfaces for sharing and accessing the information available

to them. The specifications for these interfaces should be published and made available and

accessible to everyone.

g) Fundamental Service

People should be able to use Facebook for free to establish a presence, connect with others, and

share information with them. Every Person should be able to use the Facebook Service

regardless of his or her level of participation or contribution.

23

h) Common Welfare

The rights and responsibilities of Facebook and the People that use it should be described in a

Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which should not be inconsistent with these Principles.

i) Transparent Process

Facebook should publicly make available information about its purpose, plans, policies, and

operations. Facebook should have a town hall process of notice and comment and a system of

voting to encourage input and discourse on amendments to these Principles or to the Rights and

Responsibilities.

j) One World

The Facebook Service should transcend geographic and national boundaries and be available to

everyone in the world.

6.3.3. Facebook as an Organisation

According to a Bloomberg, Facebook has 1,000 employees as part of its workforce. But Mark

Zuckerberg feels that “The company’s building feels much more like a very large garage.”

Following are some unique activities/facilities of Facebook:

a) Fun

Facebook pairs innovation and passion with cutting loose and having fun: racing around on

RipStiks; playing Bughouse chess, a hand of poker, or a game of Risk; rocking out in their music

room; and embarking on all-night coding binges for new features and ideas. Their language team

rewrites the site in Pirate English, just for kicks. There's also an Ultimate Frisbee team, Nacho

Thursday, and all kinds of new fun being invented every week.

b) Health

To make the employees life easier, Facebook pays 100% of employee benefit premiums and

50% of any dependent premiums in the United States. This includes medical, dental, vision, life

insurance and disability coverage, as well as the Employee Assistance Program. They also

24

provide 50% reimbursement of most monthly gym fees. They comply with local regulations in

all non-U.S. locations.

c) Food

Facebook provides micro kitchens and lots of great, free snacks at just about all its major

worldwide locations. At Palo Alto headquarters, they also offer free breakfast, lunch and dinner

at their Cafe. Whether the employees looking for healthy salads, hearty world cuisine from

countries such as Belize and India, or just a couple slices of pizza, Chef Josef and his team of

culinary geniuses make it happen every day.

d) Family & Parenting

Facebook offers all eligible full-time, U.S. employees up to 4 months of Paid Parental Leave to

attend to the birth or adoptive placement of your child. While an employee is on Paid Parental

Leave, Facebook will continue your health benefits, stock vesting, 401 (k), gym membership and

Purple Tie as if you had continued to work full-time. Facebook also will provide $4,000 baby

cash to all new custodial parents who are full-time U.S. employees at the time of birth or

placement.

e) Day Care

All full-time regular employees who have one or more children age 5 or under at any point

during the calendar year (incurred after your start date) are eligible to be reimbursed for up to

$3,000 toward day care/babysitting assistance per year.

f) Paid Time Off (PTO)

Facebook offers 21 days of paid vacation to make sure the employees take a break once in a

while.

g) Sick Time and Holidays

If the employee is sick, he can stay home and get better (unlimited sick days). There are also 11

paid holidays observed at Facebook.

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h) Saving & Retirement

Automatic payroll deduction lets U.S. employees contribute between 1% and 75% of your

eligible pay up to the annual IRS dollar limit. Facebook also provides Fidelity BrokerageLink

and a self-directed brokerage account to give you expanded investment choices.

i) Internal Speakers Series

Almost every week, Facebook brings in someone from outside Facebook to talk about their

experience and what they're passionate about. The company likes to bring in people who they

know will give them something to think about. Some of the guests were Gloria Steinem, Gavin

Newsom, and Ashton Kutcher.

j) Discounts

Facebook gives discounts from companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Apple and AT&T.

k) Transportation

Purple Tie provides laundry, dry cleaning, photo processing, and leather repair for Palo Alto

employees. They can drop their laundry off at work and Facebook will return it right to your

desk.

6.4. STUDYING TWITTER

Initially inspired by the concept of an ‘away-message’ merged with the freedom and mobility of

SMS, Twitter began as an experiment in 2006 by Jack Dorsey. When value as an instant

communication network during shared events like earthquakes, conferences, and festivals

emerged, Twitter began to grow and Twitter, Inc. was founded in 2007. Today, Twitter is a

privately funded company based in San Francisco; CA. Twitter lets you write and read messages

of up to 140 characters, or the very length of this sentence, including all punctuation and spaces.

The messages are public and you decide what sort of messages you want to receive, Twitter

being a recipient driven information network. In addition, you can send and receive Twitter

messages, or tweets, equally well from your desktop or your mobile phone.

26

6.4.1. Twitter Values

Twitter values talent, creativity, and a sense that anything is possible.

6.4.2. Tools Used

Twitter’s core technology is a device agnostic message routing system with rudimentary social

networking features. By accepting messages from sms, web, mobile web, instant message, or

from third party API projects, Twitter makes it easy for folks to stay connected.

6.4.3. Marketing Mediums

The following are the mediums used by Twitter:

a) Twitter as a Media Outlet

One can use Twitter to post news or updates about your company or products.

b) Promotional Palace

It's not uncommon for companies to post promotions, sales, or specials on Twitter. An example

would be Dell, they do it well.

c) Create Character in Your Brand

Twitter is a fantastic tool in giving your brand a voice and a personality. Being successful in

Twittering helps one to put forth their personality and a unique style. That's what makes the

difference and can increases one’s Twitter following and thus makes it a successful marketing

tool for all.

d) Customer Service and Chit Chat

This medium of communication is all about conversation and about talking to the prospects and

consumers; interacting with them.

6.4.4. Twitter as an Organisation

Twitter is a small company with a bright future. They believe they are changing the world. And

in so doing, they are building something hugely valuable and worthwhile. They are fewer than

30 people today. But as their business is developing, they are hiring very seriously. They value

talent, creativity, and a sense that anything is possible. They are well-funded and building a

company to last.

27

Twitter has created a beautiful office space in the heart of SOMA in San Francisco. It's very

open, has tons of windows (with views), collaborative workspaces, whiteboards-a-plenty, and

just the right amount of meeting space. They provide the best equipment money can buy and

offer free breakfast, snacks, and often lunch. Good burritos, great coffee, and Whole Foods are

just blocks away.

Though they are a small company, they provide very lucrative benefits pertaining to 401k, flex

spending, health, dental, vacation, stock options, and all that stuff. Plus, everyone gets a

meaningful stake in the company's long-term success.

At Twitter, the present employees are a unique group of folks who have built products and

services at companies such as Google, Blogger, Xanga, CNET, Danger, AOL, Samsung, Sony

Ericsson, Vodafone and lots more. And each has brought his or her experience and skills to

Twitter to build the best thing they've worked on yet.

7. STUDYING PERSONALITIES

In order to give a different direction to our research, we studied two personalities: Mahatama

Gandhi and Barack Obama who have made a difference in the lives of individuals they dealt

with. Studying Mahatama Gandhi took us back into the struggle for India’s freedom and

studying Obama takes us just a couple of years back to study his efforts in getting U.S.A. out of

the economic crisis. We have described these personalities just like we described companies

above taking into consideration the following:

1. What are their Activations or what was and has been responsible for their success?

2. What are the Tools used by them for their success today?

3. What are the Values on which these companies are built?

4. What is the Organisational Culture they follow?

5. What are the Sources of Media used by them?

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7.1. STUDYING GANDHI

Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of discovering truth or Satya. He tried to achieve

this by learning from his own mistakes and conducting experiments on himself. Gandhi stated

that the most important battle to fight was overcoming his own demons, fears, and insecurities.

Gandhi summarized his beliefs first when he said “God is Truth”. He would later change this

statement to “Truth is God”. Thus, Satya (Truth) in Gandhi's philosophy is “God”.

Although Mahatama Gandhi was in no way the originator of the principle of non-violence, he

was the first to apply it in the political field on a huge scale. In applying these principles, Gandhi

did not balk from taking them to their most logical extremes in envisioning a world where even

government, police and armies were nonviolent.

Gandhi spent much time advocating vegetarianism during and after his time in London. To

Gandhi, a vegetarian diet would not only satisfy the requirements of the body, it would also serve

an economic purpose as meat was, and still is, generally more expensive than grains, vegetables,

and fruits. Also, many Indians of the time struggled with low income, thus vegetarianism was

seen not only as a spiritual practice but also a practical one. He abstained from eating for long

periods, using fasting as a form of political protest. He refused to eat until his death or his

demands were met. It was noted in his autobiography that vegetarianism was the beginning of his

deep commitment to Brahmacharya, without total control of the palate, his success in

Bramacharya would likely falter.

Gandhi earnestly believed that a person involved in social service should lead a simple life

which he thought could lead to Brahmacharya. His simplicity began by renouncing the western

lifestyle he was leading in South Africa. He called it "reducing himself to zero," which entailed

giving up unnecessary expenditure, embracing a simple lifestyle and washing his own clothes.

On one occasion he returned the gifts bestowed to him from the natal are for his diligent service

to the community.

Gandhi was born a Hindu and practiced Hinduism all his life, deriving most of his principles

from Hinduism. As a common Hindu, he believed all religions to be equal, and rejected all

29

efforts to convert him to a different faith. He was an avid theologian and read extensively about

all major religions. He had the following to say about Hinduism.

It will be pertinent to point out as to what Mahatma Gandhi considered to be the role of

newspapers. He wrote: “In my humble opinion, it is wrong to use a newspaper as a means of

earning a living. There are certain spheres of work which are of such consequence and have such

bearing on public welfare that to undertake them for earning one’s livelihood will defeat the

primary aim behind them. When further a newspaper is treated as a means of making profits, the

result is likely to be serious malpractices. It is not necessary to prove to those who have some

experience of journalism that such malpractices do prevail on a large scale.” He was of the

opinion that newspapers were meant primarily to educate the people. They made the latter

familiar with contemporary history. This was a work of no mean responsibility. It was a fact,

however, that readers could not always trust newspapers. Often facts were found to be quite the

opposite of what has been reported. If newspapers realised that it was their duty to educate the

people, they could not but wait to check a report before publishing it. It is true that often they had

to work under difficult conditions. They have to shift the true from the false in a short time and

can only guess the truth. Even then, he was of the opinion that it was better not to publish a

report at all if it has not been found possible to verify it.

Gandhi envisioned Satyagraha as not only a tactic to be used in acute political struggle, but as a

universal solvent for injustice and harm. He felt that it was equally applicable to large-scale

political struggle and to one-on-one interpersonal conflicts and that it should be taught to

everyone.

Gandhi was undaunted by the task of implementing such a utopian vision in India. He believed

that by transforming enough individuals and communities society at large would change. He

said, “It may be taunted with the retort that this is all Utopian and, therefore not worth a single

thought... Let India live for the true picture, though never realizable in its completeness. We must

have a proper picture of what we want before we can have something approaching it.”

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The Salt Satyagraha was a campaign of nonviolent protest against the British salt tax in colonial

India which began with the Salt March to Dandi on March 12, 1930. It was the first act of

organized opposition to British rule. Mahatma Gandhi led the Dandi march from his Sabarmati

Ashram to Dandi, Gujarat to produce salt without paying the tax, with growing numbers of

Indians joining him along the way. When Gandhi broke the salt laws in Dandi at the conclusion

of the march on April 6, 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British

Raj salt laws by millions of Indians.

The charkha (etymologically related to Chakra) was both a tool and a symbol of the Indian

independence movement. The charkha, a small, portable, hand-cranked wheel, is ideal for

spinning cotton and other fine, short-staple fibers, though it can be used to spin other fibers as

well. The size varies, from that of a hardbound novel to the size of a briefcase, to a floor charkha.

Mahatma Gandhi brought the charkha into larger use with his teachings. He hoped the charkha

would assist the people of India achieve self-sufficiency and independence, and so used the

charkha as a symbol of the Indian independence movement and included it on earlier versions of

the Flag of India.

Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khadi for rural self-employment and self-

reliance in 1920s in India thus making khadi an integral part and icon of the Swadeshi

movement. The freedom struggle revolved around the use of khadi fabrics and the dumping of

foreign-made clothes. Thus it symbolized the political ideas and independence itself, and to this

day most politicians in India are seen only in khadi clothing. The flag of India was only allowed

to be made from this material, although in practice many flag manufacturers, especially those

outside of India, ignore this rule.

In South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination directed at Indians. He was thrown off a train at

Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first class to a third class coach while holding a

valid first class ticket. Traveling farther on by stagecoach he was beaten by a driver for refusing

to travel on the foot board to make room for a European passenger. He suffered other hardships

on the journey as well, including being barred from several hotels. In another incident, the

31

magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban - which he refused to do.

These events were a turning point in his life, awakening him to social injustice and influencing

his subsequent social activism. It was through witnessing the firsthand racism; prejudice and

injustice against Indians in South Africa that Gandhi started to question his people’s status within

the British Empire, and his own place in society.

Gandhi extended his original period of stay in South Africa to assist Indians in opposing a bill to

deny them the right to vote. Though unable to halt the bill’s passage, his campaign was

successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He helped find the

Natal Indian Congress in 1894, and through this organization, he moulded the Indian community

of South Africa into a homogeneous political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi landed in

Durban he was attacked by a mob of white settlers and escaped only through the efforts of the

wife of the police superintendent. He, however, refused to press charges against any member of

the mob, stating it was one of his principles not to seek redress for a personal wrong in a court of

law.

In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the

colony's Indian population. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September

that year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or

non-violent protest, for the first time, calling on his fellow Indians to defy the new law and suffer

the punishments for doing so, rather than resist through violent means. This plan was adopted,

leading to a seven-year struggle in which thousands of Indians were jailed (including Gandhi),

flogged, or even shot, for striking, refusing to register, burning their registration cards or

engaging in other forms of non-violent resistance. While the government was successful in

repressing the Indian protesters, the public outcry stemming from the harsh methods employed

by the South African government in the face of peaceful Indian protesters finally forced South

African General Jan Christian Smuts to negotiate a compromise with Gandhi. Gandhi's ideas

took shape and the concept of Satyagraha matured during this struggle.

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7.1.1. Symbolic Tool to represent Mahatama Gandhi

From the above values, characteristics, features and activations of Mahatama Gandhi, we came

up with a symbolic tool to link the same to our study:

33

Mahatma

Gandhi

Personal Characteristics Philosopher Listening and public

speaking skills Influencer Futurist Persistent Disciplined Respect for all religion

Values Truth Non-violence Vegetarianism Simplicity Faith

Media Newspapers Radio Word of mouth Letters Festivals

Ignition Point The oppression in South Africa

drove him to fight for the struggle.

Activation/Tools/Theme Swadeshi movement Swaraj Salt Satyagraha Quit India movement

Symbols Charkha Khadi

7.2. STUDYING OBAMA

Obama sold the idea of hope to Americans who were in trouble due to recession, war etc. He

gave them the hope that with change, their lives will improve. He mentioned that, “We will work

toward the global peace and stop the ongoing war with Iraq”. He energized America. The

emotional appeal was backed with solid and specific policy details.

His biography acted as means of promotional media. The negative criticism was countered by his

team well in advance.

He used the power of youth. He involved the youth of America in his entire campaign. He

involved them as donors or as a work as field organizers, neighborhood canvassers, or just

general office staff. It has often been noted that the young people of America are left out of

politics, but the Obama’s campaign discovered the power of the youth.

He realised the need of a web campaign as an American citizen made the extensive use of

technology. His web campaign resulted in attracting the tech savvy population of America. He

used all channels of web media be it blogs, social media such as Facebook, emails, user-

generated content, personal website and even video games.

The donors for fund raising campaign were registered and sent updates on campaign regularly

and expenses which lead to trust and system of transparency. Also, his campaign was never

insufficient of funds unlike other contenders.

His entire speech was subtle and well crafted. It was directed towards the central theme of hope

and change.

Obama's personal charisma, listening and public speaking skills, consistent positive and

unruffled demeanor and a compelling biography attracted the attention and empathy of voters.

The black community was involved emotionally as he was going to create a history on becoming

the first black president.

34

7.2.1. A Symbolic Tool to represent Barack Obama

From the above values, characteristics, features and activations of Barack Obama and his team,

we came up with a symbolic tool to link the same to our study:

8. THE AWAKENING35

Obama

Personal Characteristics Obama's personal charisma Listening and public speaking

skills Professional Speech Attention-getting without being

in-your-face Changed the myth by being the

first urban president and attracted majority of urban votes.Values

Transparency ( In terms of spending of fund raised through campaign)

Empathy Positive Attitude

Media Power of

youth Biography Websites Personal

website Mobile Blogs Television

Idea Hope of better future and need

for change Involving citizens by the way of

donors and helpers in campaigns resulted in religious supporters

Stress on Americanism Early voting

Activation/Tools/Theme Hope and change only

can improve the lives of Americans

End of war Beginning of peace First black president

Symbols Imaginative

campaign logo Obama crest Symbol of

recovery Government

From our study above with organisations and personalities, the following were our best

learnings:

1. Uniqueness in the work done.

2. Position distinctly the underlying message every client wants to deliver to the target

audience.

3. Focus on doing things. No talks, meetings or emails to be sent relating to work if the

work is not getting done.

4. Advertising defined is anything that would make clients famous.

5. Strong and resilient work culture.

6. Every employee who begins new work to be assigned a Sensei. Sensei to be selected

based on his or her knowledge of the culture of the organisation and belongs to a different

department than the employees of the current department. This would enable cross

pollination to happen between departments and know exactly what the other department

does.

7. An idea to be judged solely by its merit as good ideas can come from anywhere, from any

person in any department at any level.

8. Treating suppliers or any other stakeholder of the organisation like fellow employees.

9. Focusing on deadlines from the start and do whatever is humanly possible to meet them.

10. Using any mode of media to convey a message ranging from an online film, an event on

the street, a book or something unimaginable.

11. Engage audiences, creating messages, often in unexpected places, that people welcome

and even seek out.

12. Survey employees to find out what they liked and disliked about the company.

13. Empower staffers and motivate them to do their best work.

14. Action oriented delivery style.

15. Focus on saying things in a memorable way.

16. Open and observant to what’s happening in and around the environment and learnt to

understand what ticks people.

17. Adapt to clients needs and the culture.

18. Informal, flexible, and non hierarchical with a front foot approach to employees.

36

19. 360 degree integration of an idea.

20. Appraisal system should be customised as per teams.

21. Induction should be made a part of the training module.

22. Commitment to innovation to depend on everyone being comfortable sharing ideas and

opinions.

23. Transparent work culture.

24. The hierarchy of the organisation to be small in order to maintain effective

communication and sharing of ideas become easier which is the core value of Google.

25. The employees to have opportunity to devote 20% of their work time devoted to pursue

personal interests or hobbies.

26. Empowering users and employees through programs, products, and services that inspire

people to make a positive impact on their communities and build relationships.

27. Connect with anyone.

28. A platform to share whatever information one may want.

29. A healthy work environment to lead to productivity and happiness.

30. Empathy.

31. Positive Attitude.

32. Truth.

33. Non-violence.

34. Vegetarianism.

35. Simplicity.

36. Faith.

9. THE SYNTHESIS OF OUR LEARNING THROUGH MIND MAPPING

37Sensei or a

mentor from another team to

enable cross pollination E.g. GS&P

Treating all stakeholders as employeesE.g. CP+B treats all its suppliers as

employees

Advertise anything that makes client famous

E.g. CP+B

TransparentE.g. Google, All employees can

talk to one another

irrespective of the hierarchy

10. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CREATIVE ORGANISATION OF THE FUTURE

38

Creative organization of the future

Self ActualizationE.g. O&M encourages

employees to do what they like.Google allocates 20%of work time of employees to pursue

their hobbies

Leadership style of the department headE.g. Sumanto of O&M

uses the result oriented style

Empowering staffE.g. GS&P, handover of day to day activities to

their creative teamGoal OrientedE.g. CP+B focuses on the

deadlines to be met

MeritocracyE.g. CP+B, An idea to be solely judge by its merit,

irrespective of the place and hierarchy it comes from.

Definition of good meeting is meeting which ends with clear understanding of

actions to be taken E.g. CP+B

Informal, flexible and non

hierarchicalE.g. O & M

360 degree integration of an idea which suits the

customer requirementsE.g. In O & M, PR, rural

advertising, DM, digital, events are under one roof.

Non stagnating

environmentE.g. O&M

Customer centric

Eg. Yahoo which offers speedy search results, wide range of

software

Empowering employeesE.g. In Yahoo, they create

products which inspires communities to have positive

impact on communities

Small HierarchyE.g. Google uses small hierarchy for effective

communication

Reward employees at every stepE.g. Google

Creating products which brings all stakeholders on one platform

E.g. Yahoo

Finding out what employees like and

dislikeE.g. Surveys

conducted by GS&P in 1999 resulted in a

streamlined approach to new business

DynamicE.g. At Google commitment in innovation is being able to share ideas

Adopting to client needs & culture

E.g. CP+B

CreativityE.g. O & M’s drive for excellence in creativity

Strong and resilient work

cultureE.g. CP+B

DeterministicE.g. CP+B

InfluencerE.g. Mahatma Gandhi

Simplicity E.g. Mahatma Gandhi

Positive AttitudeE.g. Obama

PersistentE.g. Mahatma Gandhi

TruthE.g. Mahatma Gandhi

DisciplinedE.g. Mahatma Gandhi Empathy

E.g. Obama

Open work culture

E.g. Twitter

Change the way people

communicateE.g. Google

Focus on delivery

E.g. Yahoo

Improving the functionality and usability o the product

E.g. Yahoo

Environment ScanningE.g. O & M’s Piyush Pandey

Action oriented approachE.g. CP+B, PPTs cannot substitute for the

work to be done,O & M: “Baby ki Mundi Kaato” Workshop

Distinct delivery of underlying message

E.g. O & M, Focusing on the things to be said in a

memorable wayCB+B: Dominos campaign of

“Have It Your Way!!!”

N=1E.g. CP+B, Work done is custom

made

Involve more and more people

E.g. Obama

Resource allocation as per activities

E.g. Google’s allocation of resources as per the activity

Induction as a part of training module

E.g. ONM, New employees are inducted on organization culture

Appraisals should not be standardE.g. O & M, Measured only on creative work

done by employees

FlexitimeE.g. Google, Twitter

KEY

FeaturesProcesses ValuesCulture

A step towards innovation will help an organisation grow. Through our research in the most

creative organisations and people, our attempt was to embed the key findings to create an

organisation of the future in the form of a constitution. The constitution we frame will enable us

to include the features, processes, values and the culture of a creative organisation of the future.

The constitution proposed by us as given below is our recommendation on constructively

creating the “The Creative Organisation of the Future” and thus applies to the organisation as a

whole.

Our Proposed Constitution:

We resolve to creatively construct the organisation of the future and

To secure to all its employees the right to equality and empowerment;

Inculcating in the organisation, the values of:

Customer centricity in order to adapt to clients needs and culture;

Resilience to adapt to the changing environment;

Transparency to enable one platform of communication with each and every employee;

Persistency to reach the desired goal and optimism;

To inculcate discipline as a way of life;

Being simplistic in nature and

Induce integrity in the organisation.

The organisation should enable an open work culture;

And provide common platforms for all the stakeholders;

And treat all of them (stakeholders) as employees and ensure their satisfaction to the maximum

possible extent.

39

Meritocracy should be guaranteed when it comes to judging of an idea; irrespective of the place

and hierarchy it comes from.

Time should be utilized at its optimum capacity,

And thus good meetings should be defined with a clear understanding of the actions to be taken.

The organisation should envision creating products which inspire communities to have positive

impact on them.

11. THE CONCLUSION

This research helped me to look at an organisation from a perspective away from the theory

taught to us in books. It has helped us to learn the fact that the best practices may not necessarily

be present in the organisations which belong to the same sector. We can also conclude that

Productive organisations and personalities are universal.

Values of organisations and personalities are universal.

In our research, we picked up the best practices from organisation of the same and different

sectors as well as from personalities. This research makes us think of a different approach to

constructively creating an organisation of the people, by the people and for the people.

The limitation to our research was the primary research that we were able to conduct in only

two companies out of the seven companies we studied in detail.

12. REFERENCES

a) About Crispin Porter Bogusky (CP+B)

http://cpbgroup.com/#cpb40

b) About Goodby Silverstein & Partners

www. goodbysilverstein .com

c) About Google

news. google .com/intl/en/about_ google _news.html

google .about.com

d) About Yahoo Inc.

http://in.docs.yahoo.com/hr/

http://in.docs.yahoo.com/info/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo

e) About Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/principles.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

f) About Twitter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

http://twitter.com/about

g) About Obama

obama -zone.com

h) About Mahatama Gandhi

www.mk gandhi .org/

i) Book: The New Age of Innovation by C.K. Prahalad

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