Lessons From India’s Fastest Growing Marketing Agency in the Digital Age

We are publishing an interview of Mr. Neeraj Sancheti, Co-Founder & CEO, Kreativ Street

About the founders 
—-Neeraj Sancheti is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kreativ Street, an integrated full-stack marketing agency for the digital world. He is responsible for business and offering guidance to his team. As a new age digital marketer and entrepreneur, he brings an experience of over 5 years in the digital and social media marketing domain. He is relentless when it comes to arriving to the ultimate goal or digital conversion that the brand demands.Prior to Kreativ Street, Neeraj was Brand strategy and social media manager at OYO Rooms. He had led the brand’s content and media strategy on social media resulting in becoming India’s most engaged hotel brand on social media. He has also led performance marketing campaigns on Facebook and Twitter driving conversions, app installs and app engagement of the brand to make it a success.

—-Kreativ Street is the brainchild of Neeraj Sancheti, Prashant Singhroha and Hemant Kumar & shared the common vision of providing solutions to the existing challenges in the industry. Mahesh Devrani, the Chief Strategy Officer, joined later as a part of the founding team.

Give us a brief background of what founders were doing before starting the venture. 
Neeraj Sancheti, the CEO (27) – Before the inception of Kreativ Street, Neeraj commanded the position of Brand Strategy and Social Media Manager at OYO Rooms. His vision was instrumental in elevating the brand’s content and media strategy on social, resulting in raising OYO’s stature to India’s most engaged and hotel brand. Prior to OYO, Neeraj had a brief stint in a Gurgaon-based digital marketing agency. A keen student of advertising and its potential, Neeraj completed his master’s degree from the esteemed University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.

– Prashant Singhroha, the COO (29) – Prashant stands amongst the elite group of India’s first social media influencers. In the three years before the inception of Kreativ Street, he successfully ran an influencer marketing agency called FTW Digital and attracted a client base of over 50. His clients have won several awards, credited to his relentless dedication and a unique set of skills. When he’s not busy being a genius, he likes to play golf and hit the gym.

– Hemant Kumar, the Creative Head (26) – Hemant started as a creative geek and has risen to become the creative head of Kreativ Street. His versatility reflects in the skills he possesses and his mastery in the fields of UI/UX Design, Graphic Design, photography, interior design, and whatnot. He is a graduate from NIFT Delhi with a prior experience of working for brands like Sesame Street, Ricoh, Monpri, Zolo and National Cottage Emporium.

– Mahesh Devrani, the CSO (27) – Mahesh is an IT Engineer by choice but an MBA In Mark-Ops by interest. He sparked brilliance like an old-habit, for Reliance Entertainment, FrogIdeas and Dun and Bradstreet Risk Solutions, before Kreativ Street became a reality. His distinguished knack for PowerPoint and strategy has seen him become the favourite for dozens of clients.

List all the names of the core team members, along with their skill-sets, specific domain expertise & designated roles. How do you see them evolving over time? 
– Neeraj Sancheti, the CEO (27) – Neeraj is an expert in Brand Strategy, Growth Hacking, and Content Marketing. He received his master’s degree in international marketing from the illustrious University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.

– Prashant Singhroha, the COO (29) – Prashant stands amongst the elite group of India’s first social media influencers. He boasts a unique skill set and when he’s not busy being a genius, he likes to play golf and hit the gym.

– Hemant Kumar, the Creative Head (26) – Hemant is the epitome of a creative geek. Born with a natural curiosity, he has extended his expertise in UI/UX Designs, Graphic Designing, photography, and interior designing.

– Mahesh Devrani, the CSO (27) – Mahesh started as an IT Engineer but discovered he was way better at devising strategies for brands. An MBA in Mark-Ops by interest, he has a distinguished knack for advertising.

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem? 
In the 18 months before the inception of Kreativ Street, Neeraj Sancheti was an integral part of the growth story that OYO carved for itself.

In his words, “At OYO, I interacted with numerous agencies and found that there was a dearth of full-service agencies who could understand the consumers in the digital world. There were digital agencies who couldn’t get the brand, creative agencies who couldn’t understand digital, and then some agencies who only focused on videos or performance marketing.”

“Before starting Kreativ Street, I spoke to multiple individuals from the brand side, agency side and other experts and each one of them agreed to the challenges identified. That is when we decided to start Kreativ Street.”

What challenges did you face when you were starting out? 
The agency space is not only overcrowded and competitive but significantly on the rise. Like any other service business, it is entirely dependent on its employees.
When Kreativ Street began, we faced two key challenges –
● Setting foot in the industry for new business
● Hiring world-class employees (We think of them as Street fighters)

How did you get the initial capital? What returns does it have? Tell us about the investors (if any) 
The company is bootstrapped with initial capital from the partners and is profitable from the day of its inception.

Please tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process. 
Kreativ Street’s success is inspired by a team of skilled fighters. Our team is divided into diverse departments including client servicing, copy, art, tech, UI/UX, media, search, performance marketing, strategy and planning. We assign a dedicated team for every client, who not only work on the defined scope of work but go beyond the box to deliver our promise.

At Kreativ Street, we believe in adding value beyond the contract. The add-ons we offer to our clients include:

• The Kreativ Advantage – We ensure that at least one of the four founding team members oversees every project.
• Pro-active Campaign Ideas – “Kreativ” is a German term which means “Creative”. Our street fighters are habitual of coming up with the most creative, ROI-driven, and engaging ideas for our clients.
• Thinking through consumer’s journey in the digital world – Because of our full-stack service offering, we can think through the entire consumer journey and find ways to achieve a brand objectives targeting different touchpoints during the journey.

What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? 
The country is going through a major shift right now where more and more people are moving to digital and consumers’ path to purchase has changed in this ‘new digital world’. Basis this change in behavior of the consumers, we found a gap in the industry for agencies who actually understand this ‘new digital world’ and can deliver on the marketing objectives for brands with an entire bouquet of integrated marketing services.

What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup. 
We are one of the few agencies who seek to serve our clients marketing efforts across their consumer’s path to purchase. With 12+ service lines to dominate the digital world, we are a one-stop-shop for all the marketing requirements of a brand.

What is the strength of the startup and the scale of operations? Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? 
Presently, we command a total team size of 45 people across 3 offices – 2 in Gurgaon and 1 in Mumbai.

What is the revenue model? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium etc. ? Explain your thought process. 
Currently, we operate on two kinds of revenue models –
● Retainer – For clients with whom the scope of work is defined month-on-month
● One-time – For video production, logo, and brand & identity design.

Who are the consumers that you are targeting? How is this going to affect them? 
As an organization, we work with all sort of clients Big Multinational Corporations, Mid-sized firms as well as Startups. So, we don’t really distinguish any of our customers basis their size. But where we put a filter is on their proposition for consumers and the business model. If we believe in what they do, there are a prospect for us.

How did you get your first customer? 
Our source of acquiring new customers is majorly via our existing clients who love us so much that they tend to recommend us to their peers in the marketing industry.

What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product leading to something bigger? If so, how? 
Our ultimate aim is to enable our clients with complete integrated marketing campaigns that are driven by new-age media and engaging content formats.

Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? What is the current turnover? (From Launching till date total no. of visitors on website/persons registered/enquiries and enrollment). Please explain in details: 
Kreativ Street has represented over 75 brands in the last two years and is growing at 5X of its revenue YOY.

Our clientele is a mix of brands from all possible sectors. From Technology, B2B, FMCG, F&B, Fashion and Lifestyle to Travel, BFSI, Education, and E-commerce – we’ve touched everything. Some of our major clients include HCL Technologies, Michelin, Panasonic, Future Group, Cremica, Nissan, Renault, RateGain, PayTM, Amazon, Wiley, Chqbook, etc.

What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? 
After the successful establishment of a robust functional bedrock based on creative skill and strategy, we have set our sights upon expanding our service scope and the things we want to do as creators. But we want to be an ideal market fit and help our clients grow across all parameters.

For instance, as a specialization, we are striving to produce bite-sized high-quality digital video content on a large scale, something that has recently emerged as a complete tool for advertising. Our in-house video production unit, Kreativ Studios, has produced some outstanding videos for HCL Technologies
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnJhayUDwPE), Renault (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVBWoL1U-F0), Nissan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libIKWWebBM), PayTM, etc.
Being the hungry motley crew that we are, we’re always breaking small steps to take atmospheric leaps. We consider ourselves fortunate to have a unique trajectory and the relentless support of our team. In the last two years, we’ve discovered the greatness that decorates the world of advertising. So, this is us, forging ahead with a cultivated breath of passion, an appetite for curiosity, and an unending supply of hope.

What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs? 
It is a fast moving word and your customers have hundreds of options to choose from. But if you are really able to understand and live your client’s problem and offer them a solution to them, that is where you make the cut. So in short, being able to solve a customer’s problem should be a the core of any business or entrepreneur!