Mumbai: The InterMentalist, a prominent influencer marketing network in South India, emerged in 2015 under the leadership of Shivashish Tarkas, who began this journey with just Rs. 3500 and a vision. Despite limited resources and no prior industry knowledge, Shivashish's unwavering belief in himself led to a remarkable 2700 per cent growth.

Starting at the age of 21, he defied the odds, and today, his agency collaborates with leading South Indian talent, crafting comprehensive influencer marketing campaigns that include strategy, talent identification, scriptwriting, pre and post-production, and thorough analytics. With a portfolio of over 200 actors and influencers, Intermentalist is a dynamic force in the industry.

Indiantelevision.com spoke to The InterMentalist founder and CEO Shivashish Tarkas on his journey, on the motivation behind starting the InterMentalist, and much more…

Edited Excerpts:

On pivotal moments from your entrepreneurial journey, particularly during the early days when resources were limited; the most significant obstacles you faced in building InterMentalist and overcoming them

My major challenge as an entrepreneur in this field was the lack of awareness among consumers and business owners. I spent a lot of my initial days explaining every concept to potential prospects, concepts which never existed few years ago. The power of online and digital media was undermined unlike today. I started my journey during the time when social media was not kooked up as now. Thus, my initial obstacles were more around spreading awareness and then converting them into a business.

My second challenge was roping in clients. I was caught up in a deadlock which I had to break to move further. I started doing door-to-door marketing in business hubs of Chennai to see If I can provide basic services if not otherwise concerning online presence and social media (back then it was called social media marketing which lately got reinvented as digital marketing).

Third challenge was to convince prospects that its branding first and ROI second. The very reason why influencer marketing or digital marketing hasn’t reached at all levels in India is due to expectations of immediate results, immediate ROI. It just doesn’t work that way. Handling logistics was also a challenge in the initial years. Prospects who got converted into clients did not have any materials or source for us to create content for social media. Therefore, it became an added responsibility and at zero monetary.

On the motivation behind starting the InterMentalist and its distinguishing features from other agencies

There are three main incidents in my life which made me start InterMentalist.

First – I had one year to go precisely towards my college completion, My parents were called to the college campus for discussing certain issues which was non-academic. I was upset with the way they were treated in person or on calls. A decision was made by me that day – Whatever I do in my life, I shall ensure its not because of my degree and if at all I succeed, my college shouldn’t be taking credits for it. They thought they could bury me but they didn’t know that I was a seed. ?

Second – As I was travelling in my college bus on a summer morning, sweating all-time high, folks around either listening to music or sleeping as journey to college was too long, my bus stops at the signal and I see a white bus with fully air-conditioned standing next to mine. People inside were IT employees who were doing the same thing as what we were doing in our bus – listening to music, gossiping, sleeping or just lost in thoughts. Both of the buses shared 90 per cent of the journey together. When I got off the bus, a teenage mind of mine came to a conclusion that – The only difference between two was AC. People in both the buses enjoyed more or less same privileges in terms of working hours, family time, travel time. A decision was taken – I can't live my life this way and something needs to be done about it.

Third – During exams, preferred travelling in bike and since the journey was long, used to hear a lot of motivational speeches. Mahatria who is the founder of Infinitheism during one of his speech citing his own personal life incident told a beautiful thing – “Do you want to become a typical 19-year-old or you want to become a 19-year-old who other 19 year old looks up to”. I believe that’s when my actual transformation began and there was no lookback.

Today the agency stands apart for its work done and the work talks for itself.

On the key strategies or decisions that you attribute  Intermentalist's remarkable growth over the past few years to and advice that you would give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses

At a personal level, I think what works for all entrepreneurs is having accountability of work, self-belief, and the perseverance to work towards one’s dream. As a company what works for us is that being a minimal setup, we offer timely solutions with a quicker turnaround time.

On your agency tailoring influencer marketing strategies to align with the preferences and sensibilities of the South Indian audience

Every state in the South is different from another and hence one cannot generalise under one umbrella. The culture and understanding varies from state to state and one influencer or actor known in one state will be completely unknown in other state. We take pivotal steps to pass on the right information to the brands and also ensure that clients are well-updated with the markets at ground levels. This certainly helps us in catering a curated campaign which can connect with people.

On some ethical considerations that influencers and agencies should be mindful of in the influencer marketing industry and InterMentalist’s approach to these concerns

Likewise, we have a zero-tolerance policy towards uncalled tantrums coming from influencers end during a campaign. Ease of working with an influencer is a basic measure which plays an important role in our strategy. Hence if any of the points in check list doesn’t comply – we strictly don’t work with them.

On exciting upcoming projects or initiatives that Intermentalist is currently working on, or any future plans for the agency that you'd like to highlight

There are many exciting projects and initiatives that we are working upon but I hope to discuss the same with you once it goes live.