When Sidharth Rao nearly gifted me a Cannes Lions NFT, Marketing & Advertising News, ET BrandEquity
On the final day of the Cannes Lions festival, post the annual bash, everyone who’s someone in advertising, gathered at The Gutter Bar for that one final drink before they promise to come back next year. One of those celebrating that evening was Sidharth Rao. In the course of a long conversation, Rao sprung up a surprise. ‘I will give you a Cannes Lions NFT,’ he said.
The year was 2019. Four years back, NFT was a term that was unfamiliar to many. But as one of India’s leading digital agency co-founders, Rao was a trailblazer of sorts.
Earlier that evening, Dentsu Webchutney had made a major mark on advertising’s biggest stage, Cannes Lions. Among the Indian contenders, the agency had bagged the largest number of Lions for India stealing the march from other Indian agencies. But Rao was not the kind to gloat about his agency’s success alone. That night, he was celebrating all of India’s wins.
As Ashish Bhasin, former chairman of Dentsu APAC recalls, “Sidharth Rao celebrated everybody’s wins even if they were from other networks. He was a unique guy. His race was with himself. And I must say that he actually won that race and how.” Bhasin is talking about the 2022 edition of Cannes Lions when Dentsu Webchutney won the ‘agency of the year’ title, the first by any Indian agency at the festival.
Bhasin recalls, “He was one of the gems of the industry. Besides all his creative talent and leadership abilities, he was a wonderful human being. And his style of leadership was full of love – love for his work, love for people.”
Rao was a gentleman who would often give credit to the team. He always wanted to remain in the background and let others take the credit. For instance, it was rare to see him on stage to receive the several accolades that came his agency’s way.
But his success story was a roller coaster ride. The college dropout had a brief stint with agencies till he was sacked by one of them, a development that led to starting his own agency.
Still success was hard to come by. Cash flow issues reared their head and occasionally friends stepped in to infuse funds. Post the sell out to Dentsu, there was a moment when Rao almost wanted to leave. Bhasin told him that there was a long way to go. “You make me famous, I will make you rich,” Bhasin recalls telling Rao.
Bhasin added, “He worked upon reviving the whole agency. And what a gift he gave us, which was not only the objective, but he put India on the global advertising map.”
He adds that, “Rao as a wonderful human being is the most that everybody will miss. When anybody passes, you say that person has left a vacuum that will be hard to fill. Rao just left love with everybody.”
Punctuality was not one of Rao’s strengths. So whenever the Dentsu exec team met, everybody who came in would leave the chair next to Bhasin vacant. Typically, Rao would be the last guy to have walked in. So he ended up sitting right next to Bhasin in every meeting. And the joke was that Rao was Bhasin’s favourite person, that’s why he’s always seated on his right.
In Rao’s passing, the Indian advertising industry will miss one of its most talented digital leaders who brought creativity into digital in India for the first time at a scale where it caught global attention. “We spoke just yesterday and we had agreed to meet on Monday or Tuesday. That meeting is now going to remain pending for a long, long time,” says Bhasin.
Rao passed away Friday evening.
