How WATConsult grew from a blog to a 300-strong digital agency

Rajiv Dingra was a 21-year-old and fresh out of college, when he started writing a blog in 2006. It was all about digital media industry and was called WatBlog. His earlier attempt to launch a start-up, jobsforfreshers.com, had not been very successful. But the blog gained some popularity and after getting several requests about social media consultation, he decided to start an agency.

"I was young when I started and had time to spend. I thought if this doesn't work, I will enter the corporate world, get a job," he recalls.

However, it never came to that. Dingra set up the digital and social media agency WATConsult in 2007 and had not looked back. A decade later, the company has become one of the best digital agencies in the country, has nearly 300 employees across its three offices, more than 100 clients and 150-plus awards in its kitty. Dentsu Aegis Network India, the India unit of the Japanese advertising agency Dentsu, acquired about 75 per cent stake in the company in 2015 at a reported valuation of Rs 200 crore.

"In 2007, there wasn't any Facebook in India. There was just Orkut and social media was a very nascent industry. We were two years ahead and this gave us time to build the business model. By 2009, we were fairly strong as an agency to start scaling up," says Dingra.

Although the company had initial hiccups as the brands, at the time, thought social media was a fad and were not keen to invest in it, Dingra and his team managed to survive. Another major challenge for the company was the Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008, which according to Dingra, was the toughest time for WATConsult and it had to lay off people to survive.

"We had a lot of money stuck with our clients and at that point in time, we would work with other agencies as well. We were one of the smaller agencies and nobody was doing social; so even the bigger agencies were outsourcing the work to us and our money was stuck for 4-5 months," he adds. But the team managed to keep afloat.

According to Dingra, the company already has Rs 100 crore-plus in billings committed for CY2017 and for the next 2-3 years, it will focus on creating a global mark. WATConsult does not disclose its financials, but according to a filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, WATConsult (WAT Media Pvt. Ltd) had an earning of Rs 38.92 crore in FY16, with profits of Rs 4.87 crore. However, it had incurred losses of Rs 1.32 crore in FY15.

"Over the past 3-4 years, we have become a full-service company in every way. Today, 51 per cent of our revenues come from creative technology and social and video, and the rest comes from media and allied services involving media planning. That shows we are a full-service hybrid," says Dingra.

"Unlike other agencies, which are more creatively focussed or media-focussed, we have been able to maintain the balance and provide holistic solutions to our clients," he adds.

The company now aims to grow 30-60 per cent annually and by 2020, hopes to be a 500-people agency, working with 20 of the top 50 brands in the country.

"We are focussed on revenue, recognition and also on responsibility," Dingra says outlining the company's future plans.