83% of agency heads in India expect return to normalcy before by year's end

The survey also reveals that during the ‘work from home' period, the workload on agencies increased. Total 55% of the respondents stated that there's an increase on their workload, 28% stated that the workload remains the same, while 17% suggested there's a decrease in the workload.  

When the lockdown was imposed, a couple of agency heads had spoken with Campaign India about a concern of clients not paying retainer fees. 

Agency heads state that 56% of the clients are paying ‘little less’, 33% state that they're paid their full amount. There's cause for concern though as 11% have not been paying their retainer fees. 

With agencies' revenue decreasing, albeit slightly, they’re looking to safeguard their employees. Only 5% of the agency heads state that they might have to downsize. Total 56% state that this is not a consideration while 39% state that temporary salary cuts have been given to the employees.

Campaign India also asked agency heads about changes in briefs they received from clients.

As expected, brands are engaging agencies to address the crisis and engage with the consumers meaningfully. One respondent stated, “Brands have become a lot more consumer-first, thinking about consumer problems and how we can solve them — something we had always pushed for, but is more relevant now than ever. Solve, not sell, is the new mantra. Speed and agility of response matter more and of course almost all communication is via digital.”

Digital agencies are being kept busy with clients turning to them instead of their mainline agencies to commission work to them. Budgets are also shifting from mainline to digital across clients, especially in the pharma space.

A respondent states, “Pharmaceutical companies are working, focusing more on digital media. Other brands are focusing on sprucing up their websites, their eBrochures, blogs and other collaterals. There's pretty much zero activity on social media from the hospitality and non-essential retail industry currently.”

Another added, “Nothing elaborate in terms of scripts so it’s possible to shoot remotely. More digitally led content than before.”

The lockdown and working from home is making brands more driven towards strategy, business models, objectives and adoption of newer tools and models. One agency head stated that a client is unsure when the consumers will start buying and hence they are sitting on projects. The agency head has had a tough time getting this client to respond too. 

(Source: Campaign India)