GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has unveiled a roster of C-suite appointments in Asia Pacific (APAC) who will lead the regional transformation of GroupM Nexus, a global performance organisation that unites the network’s performance talent and technologies into one single outfit.
Arshan Saha
GroupM Nexus APAC leadership appointments comprise Arshan Saha, CEO of GroupM Nexus APAC (formerly CEO of Xaxis & Specialty Businesses APAC), Jon Thurlow, COO of GroupM Nexus APAC (this is an additional appointment to his corporate remit as COO of GroupM APAC), Deepika Nikhilender, CEO of Xaxis APAC (formerly Senior Vice President of Xaxis APAC) andBrett Poole, CEO of Finecast APAC & AUNZ (formerly Managing Director of Finecast Australia).
Said Saha: “GroupM Nexus is a cross-channel performance-led organisation that unites our expertise in service excellence, AI-technology and the most advanced solutions. This is the future of marketing, and we are poised to offer our clients and agencies the most powerful performance engine that will accelerate their growth. I’m honoured to be working alongside some of the world’s best specialists at GroupM Nexus to collectively cultivate a better media ecosystem.”
It is estimated that “the global digital industry consumes so much water, materials and energy that its footprint is three times that of France or the United Kingdom.”(https://www.archyde.com/the-carbon- footprint-of-the-media-media-column/ ) The growing digital media has been steadily contributing to the change in the global climate witnessed across the world. Decarbonisation of media with help of a carbon emission calculator has been adopted as a priority for media agencies in western countries, though the issue is yet to arouse interest among the media agencies in India.
Last week, on July 20, 2022, GroupM announced the establishment of a globally scalable approach to carbon measurement. This is a major step the media arm of the WPP group is taking to deliver on its commitment to decarbonise its media supply chain by 2030, as announced earlier by WPP in April 2021. GroupM’s tool will help to calculate the carbon emission of the different elements of the media plan and make adjustments accordingly for reducing the carbon emission. Work for developing tools for calculating carbon emission by media has been going on for some time. In 2021 many agencies in UK including Mindshare and MediaCom of GroupM signed IPA’s Media Climate Charter enabling them to use a common calculator designed to measure and reduce carbon impacts of media plans, particularly the digital media plans. The question which comes up next is to what extent decarbonisation of media will help in the process of reducing the per capita carbon emission of any country?
United Nations Paris Climate Agreement (2016) sets out a path for limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees centigrade. India signed the same agreement pledging to reduce the carbon emission intensity of Indian economy by 33-35% from 2005 level by 2030. India is the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs), after China and the US. In 2015 our per-capita emissions statistics (2.07 CO2e) was well below the global average, but collectively our population made our share high in the global statistics.
Our dependence on coal power plants, large scale cultivation of rice and raising of cattle across India continue to be three major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, all of which have been rising steeply even after India signed the Paris agreement on global climate change. The melting of Himalayan glaciers and change in monsoon pattern have added to our woes, making us more venerable to climate change.
Lately, the growth of internet and digital media riding on the penetration of smartphones in India has become another area of concern for climatologists. Compared to printing a newspaper, broadcasting over TV or Radio channels, audio and video streaming over smartphones have much higher carbon emission. Satellites also clutter up space and along with the non-recyclable parabolas create significant pollutions, yet compared to smartphones their contribution to carbon emission is insignificant. According to a recent Eutelsat study “Between fibre, satellite or TNT broadcasting and watching TV images via the 4G network, the ratio is 1 to 100 in terms of carbon impact. The higher the quality of the video, the stronger the mobile antenna array and the greater the CO2 weight.”
India has been going through a drive for digitisation based on smartphones which accelerated during the pandemic, introduction of 5G network is underway and all predictions about future of Media and Entertainment Industry are showing high growth for digital advertising. It is doubtful if decarbonisation of media can make any effective contribution towards the overall decarbonization goals of our country. A media hype over decarbonisation of media may divert our Central Government’s attention from taking corrective measures in other important areas for achieving our decarbonisation goals by 2030.
GroupM has introduced a global framework for media decarbonisation. The framework is a new set of measurement methodologies designed to break down the media value chain and define the necessary data inputs to measure carbon emissions across all five stages of the advertising lifecycle for all formats, channels and markets in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s standards.
Said Christian Juhl, GroupM’s Global CEO: “Our clients want to prioritise media investment with publishers and platforms that are actively decarbonizing their media supply. While we applaud the many steps taken to quantify ad-based carbon emissions in recent years, having different standards across companies, platforms, and markets is delaying meaningful action. By sharing this global framework, we hope to begin aligning our industry behind a consistent set of standards that will create clear goals and incentives for rapidly decarbonizing the media supply chain.”
Added Jérôme Amouyal, Media Performance Insights Director, AXA: “We have seen that our industry has an increasing number of calculators, but not an aligned reduction plan. It is important that we as a collective get behind a robust, actionable solution that accelerates decarbonization. We believe that market approaches such as GroupM’s will lead the way in educating, informing and enabling vital change in the industry. We’re looking forward to working with them to have the right framework to inform our future buying decisions.”
COMvergence an independent research and data consultancy, which analyses media spend investments and produces benchmark studies, on new business performances, and Billings and Market shares of media agencies, released its latest Billings and Market share report for FY 2021 for India.
The media agency groups were led by GroupM, IPG Mediabrands and Publicis Media in the latest Billings and Market Share report by COMvergence for the Indian market
In 2021, the total market studied by COMvergence was $12.5 billion, this total studied market includes 20 agency networks and one independent agency, which represents 87% of the market at $10.9B.
In 2021, the media agencies across saw $4.5B in digital spends and an average of 42 % in digital share across agencies. The average growth rate of agencies for 2021 vs 2020 was 24%
The Media Agency Groups were led by GroupM with $ 5.3B billings and 42.9% industry marketshare, IPG Mediabrands with $ 1.8B billings and 15.1% industry market share and Publicis Media with $ 1.3B billings and 10.6 % industry market share.
The ranking for the individual agencies was led by Mindshare with a considerable margin at $ 2.2B total billings with a industry market share of 17.9%, followed by Wavemaker $ 1.3B total billings with a industry market share of 10.7% , very closely followed by Lodestar at $ 1.0B with industry market share of 8.1%.
Essence, the data and measurement-driven media agency of GroupM, has announced that it has been selected as the integrated media agency of record by beauty brand Plum in India. Led out of its Mumbai office, Essence will manage strategy, media planning and media activation for Plum’s brand marketing activities.
Shivani Behl
Said Shivani Behl, Chief Marketing Officer at Plum: “Consumer behaviour is ever-evolving, and reaching out to the new-age digital consumer is a process that involves constant learning and feedback. With this context, it is imperative to keep a keen eye on data, and expand our reach to newer audiences and cater to the ever-changing demands of our existing ones. Hence, collaborating with Essence to leverage their expertise in technology, media and marketing was a logical next step. We are looking forward to this association and we hope it helps us in achieving the business vision we have chalked out for ourselves.”
Sonali Malaviya
Added Sonali Malaviya, Managing Director, India, at Essence: “Plum is an exciting, fast-growing and purpose-driven beauty brand, which shares Essence’s commitment to data-driven growth and marketing that adds value to people’s lives. Leveraging our cutting-edge use of analytics and technology, we are looking forward to collaborating with the team at Plum as its strategic partner, to help create new growth opportunities for the brand and the business,”
MSix&Partners, GroupM’s youngest outcome-based agency, bagged the integrated media and social duties for VKC Nuts, exporters and importers of nuts and dried fruits.
Said Subhamay Mukhopadhyay, Managing Partner, mSix&Partners India: “It is a pleasure to have VKC Nuts as a client. The dry fruits industry is seeing an upward trajectory with multiple innovations taking place. Our teams will work on integrated media duties for VKC by driving a combination of our expertise and our specialized outcome-based offerings to further enhance the brand and the experience it provides its customers. VKC nuts is focused on some major brand expansion plans, and we will help the brand grow with our start to end brand solutions.”
Added Gunjan Jain, Managing Director, VKC Nuts Pvt Ltd: “Equipped with the in-house expertise of data, analytics and audience insight, mSix&Partners will further strengthen VKC nuts’ offerings and bolster its position as the category leader.”
Mindshare India has announced the elevation of Ruchi Mathur to Chief Growth Officer. Mathur, who was previously Head – Client Leadership, Mindshare North & East, will now be responsible for expanding growth metrics for Mindshare through new business development and unlocking growth opportunities within existing businesses. Along with Mindshare, she will closely work with the GroupM leadership to scale in partnerships, and capability offering and drive Mindshare’s good growth agenda.
Said Amin Lakhani, CEO – Mindshare South Asia: “Ruchi is a passionate leader and has a proven record of driving excellent business results within the Mindshare group, in the North and East especially. She is instrumental in boosting operational efficiency for helping our clients achieve their objectives. With more than two decades of media expertise, Ruchi brings in a unique set of perspectives and skills that will help hone our strategic direction and grow our organization. I am looking forward to her continued contribution within the system and am confident that with her expertise, we will continue leading towards client delight.”
GroupM, the media investment group of WPP, has announced the launch of Finecast in India, a first-to-market addressable TV service that enables advertisers to target households with relevant TV ads across multiple TV channels, pay-TV platforms and set-top boxes, a range of video on demand (VOD) services, over-the-top (OTT) providers, and game consoles.
Said Prasanth Kumar, CEO, South Asia, GroupM: “As the largest media advertising company in the world, GroupM is able to create the scale of partnerships required to find relevant audiences in the fragmented TV landscape. With Finecast, we have partnered the top content providers, broadcasters, platforms and data providers in India to build this market that will inevitably add more value to GroupM’s clients in India.”
GroupM ESP, the entertainment, esports and sports division of GroupM India, has released the sports sponsorship report for India 2021. The size of the Indian sports industry spends is estimated to have surpassed INR 9500 Cr in 2021. The 9th edition of Sporting Nation in The Making, GroupM ESP’s sports report takes into consideration the sponsorship spends, player endorsements and media spends on sports properties.
With INR 6018 Cr, Sports Adex surpassed 2019 levels in both TV and digital. Cricket yet again, remains the most popular sport, accounting for 94% of the sports AdEx. The media spends on cricket in 2021 was higher (INR 5657 Cr) than the overall media spends of 2019 (INR 5232 Cr). The spending on sports celebrity endorsement grew by 11% year-on-year in 2021. A total of 444 brand endorsement deals have happened in 2021, with cricketers accounting for 318 endorsement deals and 87% of total brand endorsement value. The Olympic Year of 2021 increased Emerging Sports Athletes’ endorsements by 79%, accounting for 13% of the overall brand endorsement value.
Prasanth Kumar
Said Prasanth Kumar, CEO – GroupM South Asia: “2021 was a year of a major comeback for the sports industry. Not only in sports but we saw growth in sponsorships, endorsements, and media expenses in 2021. This year will also be a good re-start point for brands to invest in sports properties since sports will see a rise and will in-turn deliver ROI to brands. Apart from this, we even saw esports gaining significant traction and there was a major rise in the number of gamers in the country. Properties like PKL, ISL, etc. are also seeing a major rise in followers which goes to show that India is heavily invested in overall sports from an interest and inquisitiveness standpoint. As for cricket, we are seeing a growing interest by Foreign private equity giants investing in Indian cricket which is proving that Cricket will continue seeing a huge surge in India and with 2021 getting cricket back on track, we are seeing 2022 racing ahead, aiming to cross INR 10,000 Cr mark.”
Vinit Karnik
Added Vinit Karnik, Head – Sports, Entertainment and Esports, GroupM South Asia: “India as a Sporting Nation has finally arrived, overcoming all barriers brought in by the pandemic. Cricket being the hero of India, contributed 88% of the sports spends. IPL and T20 WC boosted the sports AdEx growth. We also saw emerging sports contributing 12% on the overall sports spends. The media spends in 2021 were the biggest contributors, who accounted for almost two-thirds of all sports industry spending. While sports celebrity endorsement was on the rise in 2021, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Neeraj Chopra and PV Sindhu are the top athletes in the sports celebrity brand endorsement space. 2022 will be an exciting year with the Asian Games, FIFA World Cup, Premier Badminton League, and many more properties coming up, and the fans are in for a treat. The sports arena is an exciting drive ahead from the fanbase lens and the business lens too and we have a host of opportunities in the Indian sports industry.”
Essence, GroupM’s data and measurement-driven media agency. today announced new leadership appointments to strengthen its services and presence in India. Based in Bengaluru, Bharati Joshi will lead the agency’s product offering as Vice President, Product, India. Kunal Danda will head the agency’s Mumbai office as Vice President, Client Services, India. Based in Delhi, Vinish Mathews will lead the agency’s partnership with key client Google as Vice President, Client Services, India and Southeast Asia. They will report to Sonali Malaviya, Managing Director, India, as part of Essence’s leadership team in the market.
Said Malaviya on the appointments: “Bharati, Kunal and Vinish’s appointments are key in strengthening Essence’s India leadership team. I am delighted that we are able to attract exceptional talent who share and are excited about our vision to reimagine what is possible for India. I am looking forward to partnering with Bharati, Kunal and Vinish in their new roles, and driving continued growth for our people, capabilities, clients and business across India.”
COMvergence, an independent research and data consultancy, which analyses media spend investments and produces benchmark studies on new business performances, released its latest New Business Barometer for the FY 2021 for India.
The Media Agency Groups were led by GroupM with a total new business value of +$1028M, followed by Publicis Media Group at +$188M new business value and dentsu International with a new business value of +$161M respectively.
Mindshare from the GroupM umbrella led the media agencies’ ranking by a large margin followed by Wavemaker at the second rank, followed by Starcom, Initiative and Madison Media.
In 2021, COMvergence assesed an overall of 332 account moves and retentions in India with media spends estimated to be around $2.3BN. This figure (of around $2.3BN) represents about 25% of the Indian media agency billings ($9.2B), whilst the retention rate for India is 43% for 2021.
Around $922M were from global and multi- country pitches and $1338M were local pitches in 2021.
Unilever, Coca-Cola, L’Oréal and Meta ( formerly Facebook), PhonePe, CRED, Viacom, Perfetti, Tata Consumer Products, Rohit Surfactants Private Limited (RSPL),Oppo Electric Corp, Ola (Electric) were among some of the account moves that dominated the Indian market in 2021.
GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has been ranked highly in the 2021 new business report issued by COMvergence, the independent and international research bureau measuring the performance of major global ad and media agencies. The study, which ranks GroupM first in net new business in both Asia Pacific and Latin America, reports $11.5 billion in total wins and retentions by GroupM agencies globally in 2021.
As per a press release issued by GroupM, its wins and retentions in 2021 were the highest in the industry overall and nearly double its total wins and retentions for 2020. Among agency networks, Mindshare, Wavemaker, and MediaCom dominate the top three rankings respectively in Asia Pacific.
Of GroupM’s top three markets, two were in APAC – China with $2.1 billion in growth and India with $1.2 billion – as the group finished first by a wide margin in one of the world’s fastest growing regions. Additionally, the U.S. saw $2.3 billion in growth last year, a 37% increase over 2020’s totals.
Said Christian Juhl, GroupM’s Global CEO: “COMvergence’s report speaks to the strength and momentum of our business,” “Our commitment to responsibility is resonating strongly in the global marketplace. We’re growing the fastest where it matters most, with the right partners, in the right markets, with clients that share our vision for making advertising a force for good in the world. I’m grateful to our teams for the hard work they put into making 2021 a record-breaking year for us and to our clients for the faith and trust they put in us to help them achieve their business goals.”
Added Elizabeth McCune, GroupM’s Global Chief Growth Officer: “Last year was the busiest ever for our industry on the new business front,” “In an especially demanding year, GroupM not only demonstrated that we are the most compelling new solution for global brands committed to responsibility and innovation in media and marketing, but we also retained more business from our existing clients than any other group.”
It is estimated that “the global digital industry consumes so much water, materials and energy that its footprint is three times that of France or the United Kingdom.”(https://www.archyde.com/the-carbon- footprint-of-the-media-media-column/ ) The growing digital media has been steadily contributing to the change in the global climate witnessed across the world. Decarbonisation of media with help of a carbon emission calculator has been adopted as a priority for media agencies in western countries, though the issue is yet to arouse interest among the media agencies in India.
