Power player

A conversation with Avi Bhojani can be an intense affair - ideas, plans, ambitions, visions and admissions come flying like bullets. You name it, the chief executive of media giant Bates PanGulf (BPG) has a view on it - be it the strange world of outdoor advertising, the joys of power and money, or the advertising mafia in the Middle East.

"Some of these people that work in our industry, in front of others, they become very united - but I think they'd be happy to kill each other. I think the industry just keeps doing itself very much a disservice," says Bhojani.

He should know. The BPG boss, a company he is keen to describe as an "integrated" media and marketing operation is now boasting revenues of US$30m a year, with US$40m on the cards for 2008.

First established in 1980, BPG is now part of Sir Martin Sorrell's massive WPP Group, with offices in seven cities across the Middle East. Since Bhojani took the helm in 1988, the company has developed a strong presence in advertising, PR, media and design.

Now in its 27th year of operation, Bhojani is convinced the best is yet to come. "If you can define who you are and where you want to go, it is a damn sight easier to get there than to say what you want to do," he explains. "Look at the case studies, Motorola has been able to go through five generations of technology changes, because it didn't get into the business of defining what it did. It got in the business defining what it was and what it stood for, rather than defining the business of mobile radio. I mean it started as a car radio company? Most other companies in that bracket have all gone bust."

"I think we've been very fortunate and managed to redefine ourselves, that we're not an ad agency anymore and we did that early on, about six, seven years ago. We were able to redefine ourselves and we created an integrated model. Now everybody talks integrated and in a funny sort of way, it is almost like back to basics, the old ad agencies of the 60s and 70s."

A sign of Bhojani's success is that public relations now only accounts for 12% of Bates' total revenues - proof that his "integrated" vision is most definitely working, with clients happy to trust BPG for a range of services. Not bad, considering that just five years ago revenues were barely at the US$8m mark. Next year's growth should be at least 30% including likely acquisitions in both Dubai and Oman.

"Personally, I'm not a very strong believer in acquisitions as a way of making money, it helps you grow your top line, but it screws up your bottom line. Normally acquisitions get you the numbers, so your top line grows, but culture wise, we feel that adherence to values has to be one of the key determiners to our success. Given that factor I think there is a better growth story in expanding your disciplines."

Of course Bhojani is cashing in big time on the growth of the whole media industry in the region, particularly in the advertising market. One of the biggest growth sectors has been outdoor advertising, but it is a subject that he has controversial views on. BPG has even taken the unusual step of commissioning its own research on the effectiveness of outdoor advertising.

"It's gone out of control and we need to put some science into it, which is why we're trying to do some original research," he says, adding: "I think it's effective, but I think restrictions should be imposed. If you look back to 1995, Dubai had a virtual ban on outdoor. The only thing there was traffic signals."

Ironically, it was the Dubai Shopping Festival account which Bhojani worked on himself, with banners appearing on lampposts and rates topping the US$300,000 mark, that brought about change.

"Then Dubai realised that just as sand creates value, so does air, outdoor air creates value. So they started operating on that principle, it didn't matter where it was, as long as the landlord of that plot of land or that building did not object and municipality got their taxes, you could wrap up buildings, you could do whatever you wanted to. So this is what happened. It's an eyesore now though."

So what about outdoor advertising companies? He's not impressed. "How many are actually organised companies? You scratch the surface. Most of them will be operating out of a briefcase.

"But the thing is they're transacting serious money, there's a lot of client's money in there. Outdoors is a hypothesis, because it's not validated to quantitative research. We've recently launched a real estate brand that is heavy print and heavy outdoor. The feedback we're getting is that outdoor is far more effective than print advertising."

The region's outdoor companies are unlikely to be jumping for joy at Bhojani's comments, but then part of his charm - and possibly the reason BPG has no shortage of clients - is that he is not one to mince his words. He is not the type to hang out or socialise with his counterparts in the industry.

"There is something of a club culture, but in the club actually people would shaft each other much more than help each other," he says. Bhojani has certainly seen more than his fair share of "shafting", as he puts it. He started out in the industry back in 1980, working first in Mumbai and then Delhi for local media agencies. He then set up and sold Interface, before moving to Dubai in 1988 as head of strategy for local newspaper Gulf News. Three years later he ventured to Oman set up Ad Inc (which BPG has just acquired), before beginning his big BPG adventure.