Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Jagdish Acharya: I was the head of strategic planning at my previous agency before I switched to creative. The agency structure mandated that I had to choose between the two hats. I realized I am a combo deal that can be best served only if I owned the eatery.
Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Cut The Crap
Jagdish Acharya: Strategy, creative and design for brand building
Great Companies: What makes Cut The Crap different from hundreds of other Advertising firms?
Jagdish Acharya: For a client, an agency can only be as good as the team that works on their brands. In most agencies, the senior resources tend to be preoccupied with business goals.
Cut The Crap is a bootstrapped proprietary agency with no financial compulsions. Therefore, by working hands-on we are able to offer the equivalence of a team led by both the national creative head and the national strategy head, for the small and medium brands that would otherwise be handled by junior teams in other agencies.
To sustain this differentiator we have shied away from investment offers made by clients and private equity firms.
Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face?
Jagdish Acharya: Our differentiator best appeals to mid-scale and niche brands/clients who have moderate media spends. The agency work therefore does not get high exposure. A lot of good work happens locally - we have built a cement brand in the north-east and Agarbatti brands in Odisha and Karnataka, but this work has gone unnoticed in the rest of the country. Also, relying on credentials instead of pitching has its limitations when it comes to acquiring new business.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Cut The Crap?
Jagdish Acharya: We shall continue to be credential driven. Our goal is to be a coveted agency known for result oriented work and value-based pricing, a premium brand in a commodity market.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Jagdish Acharya: Chase goals in whose journey you can enjoy the everyday routine