Gurbaksh Singh, chief creative officer, and chief innovation officer, Dentsu Creative India, has spent his entire career at the network and is soon completing 20 years.

His recent campaign 'Garuda Rakshak' for DSP Mutual Fund helped Dentsu Creative India bag 'Agency of the Year' at Adfest.

The campaign leaned in heavily on technology, and that has been replicated in DAV School's 'Bullying Decoder' 

Talking with Manifest about the use of technology in these campaigns, Singh said, "The final piece is a result of an extremely long R&D process. At Dentsu Lab India, we keep on experimenting with technologies. We have built a lot of prototypes and then see which ones are actually working, and that’s wrapped around with an idea or a problem to solve."

He added, "Garuda Rakshak is not just built for one Mahakumbh. India is a country which is known for larger gatherings. This technology can help with large-scale problems. We are now in conversation with the ministry to execute this in Nashik for the next Kumbh. I had never been to any cultural gathering and suddenly landed in the biggest ever. It was overwhelming for us because when one plans a project on a PowerPoint, one doesn’t realise that things can be very different. The execution of this campaign was very different because for events like the Mahakumbh, one cannot do a recce. We went to the place six months before the event, and it was obviously completely empty. We made assumptions and then realised that it’s very different from the real thing."

Singh stated that the idea isn't to create 'heavy tech-driven work' but one needs to have 'outstanding solutions for challenging problems'.

"It’s not about doing heavy tech-driven work. One needs to have outstanding solutions for challenging problems. Outstanding solutions need outstanding technology. We are not reverse engineering. Regular technology can’t solve these problems. Clients are calling us for outstanding work. For a client, if Dentsu Lab is working on a project, by default, the bar is already high. My role is to work on the heavy technology-led work. I’m working on the innovations, and the other teams handle the other verticals. I enjoy working on the innovation."

AI

Singh linked AI to IoT (Internet of Things) and stated that the 'wow' factor will be out soon because it will be part of 'our surroundings'.

About how the industry is embracing it and making big investments in it, Singh said, "If one talks about our industry, AI is being used for automation and that makes sense. It’s saving in terms of efficiency, and one is also reducing human error. The second type of AI is about putting it into different use cases like we did for DAV. Dentsu Lab has heavily invested in AI, and it has already developed and continues to develop some proprietary tools. The AI usage we are seeing across agencies is usually on the media side for automation. The investment is in place, and the teams that are using those tools have been trained already. No agency can hide about building tools on AI or training their employees on it. It’s part of the process, and the team needs to be exposed to it."

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

Dentsu Webchutney bagged the 'Agency of the Year' at the Lions in 2022. 

Will we see a repeat from Dentsu or any other Indian agency this year, along with a prediction for the festival, we asked Singh.

"Having won the accolade once before, we want more Indian agencies to win it. We want India’s global share to go higher, and my best wishes to everyone. About this year’s predictions – it’s tricky. I don’t know whether I should answer this!"

For this year's festival, the organisers have announced new integrity standards and measures for its awards, after a controversy last year. 

And Singh believes this should make entrants mindful.

"After last year’s controversy, we are seeing a lot of the ideas being backed by data or more authentication. This year will be a special year because everyone will be mindful about their entries. There’s a new section in the entry form which focuses on validation from the client. I recall this happening many years ago at the Abbys. The organisers of the Abbys ask for a client letter. The Lions never asked for it, and for the first time, they are doing this. They seem to be going old school. This year is a sobering reality, and this is even if we keep the authenticity side of things apart. If we have truly breakthrough ideas that we can celebrate in authentic ways, we will be okay. This year will be more about celebrating truly great work in an authentic way," he said.

Read our full chat with Singh in the May issue which can be bought here.