Six decades ago on April 1, one man believed that he could build a powerhouse in advertising, he imagined a business that was so much more than just another commercial venture.
And he let his imagination soar! The man? Deshabandu Reggie Candappa, a name synonymous with advertising in Sri Lanka.
He is fondly known as the Godfather of advertising, the teacher, the brand builder and his vision and colourful imagination has gifted Sri Lanka with Grant Advertising, known today as DentuGrant.
Over the six decades he and now his daughter Neela Marikkar, have championed the journey of many a household name. To say that DentsuGrant is just an ad agency is a colossal understatement.
His vision has today led to make DentusGrant a conglomerate of finely honed communication disciplines that include public relations, social media, outdoor communications, television and radio production and high-quality event management.
DentsuGrant prides themselves in maintaining mutually beneficial long-term relationships with landmark companies like Singer (58 years), Reckitt Benckiser (56 years), Unilever (35 years), Sampath Bank, Ceylon Biscuits, Fonterra, Dialog, Ceylinco and Royal Ceramics.
DentsuGrant are true partners to their clients with a depth of understanding of local brands and market behaviour through intense research and a high level of strategic planning.
Chairperson of the DentsuGrant Group, Neela Marikkar said, “Our founder, my father, was a man with great ideas.
He was very passionate on original concepts and imagined an advertising industry that connected with the people and their needs, not merely to push a product or service to them.
His grounding at Lake House and his passion for art, photography and writing, gave him a unique perspective about a brand, something very few in his day could fathom. We have fostered his spirit and pass it on to everyone who is at DentsuGrant today, and to everyone who has passed through our doors.”
On its journey to 60, the agency has firmly left its mark on the industry as a winning agency, with DentsuGrant holding the all-time record of winning gold for Print ad of the year, television commercial of the year, radio spot of the year, and gold and silver in campaign of the year.
Naturally, this led to the agency of the year award at the SLIM awards. To date, no agency has broken this record.
However, some of the agency’s best work, and perhaps, one of their greatest moments was a project for Sri Lanka First where the agency’s efforts saw people from the north to the south of the country hold hands, creating the longest human chain, to help promote unity and harmony. In addition, the agency has championed many other worthy causes over the years as well, including work for the Ex-Servicemen’s Association and Women In Need.
Other pioneering milestones include creating the green and white stripe for Elephant House, the distinguishable red check for KIST, the Nestomalt mug on the news readers table, the landmark UNICEF campaign that helped eradicate polio and momentous campaigns for Sri Lankan Airlines positioning it as a world class airline.
And most recently, the award of the global media campaign to take Ceylon Tea to the world, by far the single largest advertising account in the country today.
Popularly known as the university of advertising, DentsuGrant has seen scores of young talent learn, grow and blossom within their walls. Many of them have gone on to head other ad agencies.
A year ago, the company reinforced their innovative spirit by joining the global network of the Dentsu Aegis Network, the most respected and fastest growing agency brand in the world today.
“Our partnership with Dentsu could not have come at a better time and I am sure my father imagined this moment during his tenure, when Grant for a brief period was appointed an associate of Dentsu back in 1958 to handle the Lockheed account.
Today, brands need multiple communication solutions to connect with consumers and our job is to make those connections engaging, relevant and effective.
Our partnership with Dentsu brings in innovative solutions and a myriad of talent from across the world and helps us upscale our skills to enable our clients to be able to engage their consumers in even more meaningful ways,” added Neela.
Today, ably led by her and a multi-faceted management team, DentsuGrant’s greatest pride is their long standing and immensely talented staff.
They are 60 years young today and look to the future with great plans to continue their journey innovating the way brands are built.