Ashvant Shanmugam, chief commercial officer – India, EFL Global, first met the team at Centrick over a video call in 2022, after a reference from one international brand that Centrick was already working with.

“They had a great experience working with Roy, Malavika and the team at Centrick. After the introductions were made, it was easy to kick on because the chemistry was evident from the start,” said Ashvant, before stating what was perhaps the turning point in this partnership.

“We had several discussions online. They were extremely detail-oriented to understand and analyse what we did as an organisation.” He added that Centrick most importantly wanted to understand EFL and the company’s personality, which would later translate to the campaigns they worked on.

“I would recommend anyone working with them to meet them in person because that’s when you get a sense of the energy they bring in,” he said.

No Ask Too Big campaign: "We ran this campaign in India and we gave them a lot of challenges. They executed a great campaign which translated into us getting a few big customers. It allowed me to put the faith back in what we were doing internally."

We get it done campaign: "Today there's only one thing that matters to clients - getting the job done. And this campaign emphasises how EFL does just that when it comes to critical supply chain management. They brought bespoke, personalised and turnkey solutions to the forefront with this campaign."

Centrick’s differentiator

Ashvant stated that Centrick looked to dig deep to understand logistics and supply chain even though at the surface it could be seen as straightforward.

This business is extremely complex and has a lot of moving parts. They learnt every aspect of it. With this deep dive, they understood the complex shipments EFL has worked on and how EFL moved critical equipment across the globe in difficult situations. They saw how this formed the heart of the campaigns that were to come.

It is this deep diving, understanding and simplifying that makes Centrick stand out.

“It’s a very detail-oriented team. The amount of detail they went into and the efforts they took to understand the essence of our company and what we did, stood out. They figured what kind of diverse work we do and what set us apart from other organisations in the space of complex supply management, and that requires an extensive amount of brain cells,” he said.

The partnership has been growing since 2022 and Ashvant pointed out the importance of time helping this partnership.

“Anything can be strengthened over time, given you have the right ingredients. Long-term partnerships are the core of it. The intimate knowledge of what we do can’t come in a year. It comes over time and with deep understanding,” he said.

He explained how Centrick isn’t just EFL’s creative partner.

Centrick shares marketing insights with EFL on a regular basis. They study government regulations, investors, market happenings and its implications in India which has helped EFL stay on the ball and make changes to its marketing strategy in the country. Centrick is also responsible for building the brand’s sales funnel, and moving it from cold-calling to acquiring organic leads through digital channels.

“The conversations with Centrick go beyond creative. We discuss the business and our strategy with a lot of deep dives. They are a partner of the organisation in the sense that they are looking into what we do as a company and are part of the strategic thinking. They get into the details of operations and new business acquisitions, make pitch decks that are bespoke for categories and support us in ways traditional agencies cannot,” he concluded.

This article was first published in our January issue part of a special focus on Centrick. Click here to get your copy!