ADGEEK
Building an Indian agency network around platforms and owned IP
Wondrlab co-founder Rakesh Hinduja explains the commercial logic behind a platform-led agency, including acquisitions, technology products and brand relationships.
The conversation
Wondrlab co-founder Rakesh Hinduja explains the company’s platform-first agency model and its ambition to help brands own more of their audience relationships. He discusses the role of acquisitions, international expansion, owned technology and intellectual property in building the network.
The conversation covers Wondrlab’s Hector platform, how its proposition changes a client brief, and Hinduja’s view of agency capabilities beyond individual campaigns.
Key Takeaways
- Hinduja describes a platform-first approach that aims to give brands more control over their audience relationships.
- He discusses the acquisition-led growth of Wondrlab and the role of owned technology and intellectual property in its network model.
- The conversation examines how the Hector platform fits into the company’s proposition to marketers.
- Hinduja considers how agency capabilities and client briefs may change as advertising moves beyond individual campaigns.
- Hinduja describes disclosing price early and explaining the value behind it to procurement, including the people and capabilities supporting delivery.
- Payment models vary by client: Hinduja describes performance-linked fees and D2C arrangements where overheads and margins can convert into equity.
Additional subjects
Editorial analysis
An editorial interpretation of the conversation, distinguishing the guest’s arguments from verified business outcomes.
A platform is a business system
Rakesh Hinduja describes Wondrlab as an attempt to build an Indian network around talent, technology and a broader view of marketing. Reflecting on his move from Leo Burnett, he says the ambition grew from confidence in Indian creative work and a question about why that capability had not produced an Indian network. His definition of platform-first has several layers: understanding how people behave on different channels, developing proprietary technology, and creating a durable organising idea for a brand.
Why technology guided acquisition
That last distinction matters because he does not reduce a brand platform to owned distribution or first-party data. Using Dove’s Real Beauty as an example, he describes a continuing brand idea that can be strengthened across touchpoints. Technology, meanwhile, shapes Wondrlab’s acquisition plans: a business may already have technology at its core or have a clear plan to develop it. He explains Poland’s role through digital talent, cost and leadership chemistry, while arguing that products can travel internationally if adapted to local languages and commerce platforms.
Creativity across the consumer journey
Hinduja argues that creativity improves technology’s performance rather than competing with it. Storytelling, insight and connection remain essential to building brands over time while generating returns from current activity. He describes Hector through commerce tasks including dayparting, auction decisions, product performance and automated actions. These capabilities sit within a flexible service model: Wondrlab can take on individual assignments as well as broader mandates, and the measures of success depend on the client’s objective. His preferred business development strategy is to create enough value in an existing relationship for the engagement to grow.
What value and remuneration require
The commercial discussion turns to selective pitching, fees that support solution development, early price disclosure and explaining value to procurement. Hinduja also describes performance-linked arrangements and D2C engagements where some overheads and margins can convert into equity. Looking ahead, he expects agency differentiation to depend increasingly on proprietary intelligence and evolving intellectual property. He sees human creativity as necessary to prevent automated work becoming undifferentiated, and predicts that full-funnel prototypes and live dashboards will reshape pitches. These are his expectations for the industry, alongside a wider criticism that advertising celebrates individual campaigns more readily than effective systems.
Questions & answers
What does a platform-first agency actually build?
Platform-first includes channel-specific behaviour, proprietary products and an enduring brand idea; Hinduja explicitly treats data as only one element.
Why did Wondrlab put technology at the centre of acquisitions?
Wondrlab’s acquisition thesis puts technology at the core, whether a business already has it or has a clear plan to develop it.
Can technology compensate for weak creative thinking?
Hinduja argues that creativity multiplies technology’s effectiveness and remains essential across the consumer journey.
How is organic client growth earned?
He links organic growth to proving value within a client relationship, with success measures chosen for the objective and mandate.
Do all clients need the same remuneration model?
Payment models vary by client: Hinduja describes performance-linked fees and D2C arrangements where overheads and margins can convert into equity.
Sources & attribution
Original publisher audio (archived enclosure): Original publisher audio (archived enclosure).
Podcast episode on Spotify: Podcast episode on Spotify.
Podcast video on YouTube: Podcast video on YouTube.
Original publication: The Indian AdGeek, Episode 20, featuring Rakesh Hinduja; original publisher date: 2026-03-01.
Method and attribution: This analysis and the five Q&As are editorial syntheses, not verbatim statements or substitutes for listening to the original conversation. Guest judgments, examples, forecasts and reported business metrics should not be confused with independently audited findings. Research timestamps do not represent podcast chapter timings.