According to Manoj Mathai, the company he founded 16 years ago is not a run-of-the-mill ‘advertising agency’ but a brand-building company. “I don’t like the term agency“, he says. “We’re a brand-building company.” The tagline of Breakthrough sums up the company’s philosophy: ‘God. Creativity. And Brand building.’

“Sixteen years ago, Breakthrough was a prayer, an idea and just a dream,” says Mathai, possibly the only branding expert in Kerala who habitually doesn’t watch television. “We don’t have a TV at home,” he says. “Neither do I read newspapers regularly.”

Today, Breakthrough is Kerala’s most-awarded full-service brand-building company with over 60 regional and national creative awards in its fold. In 2012, Breakthrough came home from the FUCA Awards with a full cornucopia of 17 awards – 12 gold and 5 silver – including Ad Agency of the Year. Most of Breakthrough’s clients, from travel to builders to automobile to education to retail to IT to healthcare to media, are market leaders in their respective industry.

Looking back now when the company has transcended international borders, Mathai says he owes it to many friends. “For many years in the beginning we worked out of parks, coffee houses, railway stations and bedrooms of friends in Bangalore, Kochi and Trivandrum.” It was on a shoe-string budget, Rs. 22,500 to be precise, that Mathai rolled out Breakthrough. And, he now has a team that has grown with the company.

Breakthrough handles over 70 brands from different industries and has launched many international brands in Indian markets. But, Mathai feels, brand-building is not an easy job in Kerala. “Not many in this market understand the importance of brand-building.” He says most business owners don’t understand the value of strategy which is key to brand-building. “We have to either educate clients on the importance of strategy or offer it as a free service. No one pays
for strategy here. That’s why you don’t see any Kerala product dominating markets beyond the Western Ghats.”

But Mathai is determined, banking on Breakthrough’s success in the past 15 years, to remain a local agency and conquer global markets. “We are a local company with global standards. We help local brands compete with global brands that enter the market. That’s why we follow Brand Reverse.”

To power brands into the leadership position in different markets, Breakthrough has pioneered a unique branding process called Brand Reverse. Tried, tested and practised for the last 15 years in Indian markets, this process is the reverse of the traditional branding approach followed by international companies. “Brand Reverse equips local brands to take on the international brands invading regional markets. For instance, 11 years ago after we launched The Travancore Heritage resort at Chowara near Kovalam in Kerala, most national and international hospitality brands stormed into the market. But the standalone property retained its position.” Mathai says Brand Reverse also helps brands conquer new markets. He points out Breakthrough’s work with SFS Homes and Le Pondy as examples. “Our brand strategies in rebranding SFS Homes in Kerala and powering Le Pondy in Pondicherry to be the leading resort on the western coast of India are case studies on this topic.”