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Tag: Martin Sorrell

  • She will be part of the Power of One (Po1) team that the ad agency is putting together to work on the PepsiCo contract

    Anuja Chauhan of ‘Yeh dil maange more’ fame back at JWT to pep up Pepsi campaigns

    By Pritha Mitra Dasgupta

     

    Anuja Chauhan, who built a solid reputation in advertising (‘Yeh dil maange more’) before veering off into chick lit (‘The Zoya Factor’), is returning to J Walter Thompson India as creative consultant. She will be part of the Power of One (Po1) team that the ad agency is putting together to work on the PepsiCo contract, the first time that JWT will have a group of people solely dedicated to the promotion of one brand. Chauhan is returning to advertising at the behest of PepsiCo, having worked on several campaigns for the company, including ‘Mera number kab aayega’ and ‘Nothing official about it’, apart from the one cited above.

     

    The agency set up the team about two months ago to work on the 15 PepsiCo brands that it handles. JWT has had the account for the last 25 years and it’s the agency largest.

     

    Colvyn Harris

    Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT South Asia, said the agency has similar structure in other geographies which are formed “on the specific requests of clients, and depends on their scale and ambition.”

     

    The Po1 team is headed by Babita Baruah, senior vice president and executive business director, JWT Delhi. Baruah, who recently took over the account from executive business director Saurabh Saxena, will be assisted by senior VP Mythili Chandrasekhar on the planning side. On the creative side, the account has been divided into three–cola, foods and juices–and placed under various executive creative directors.

     

    Martin Sorrell

    Commenting on this new initiative, Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, of which JWT is a part, said: “In creating “Power of One”, JWT has brought together skills and capabilities from across our Group, for both foods and beverages, under one single unit to provide integrated solutions to PepsiCo’s brands and businesses.” Chauhan said she was “excited to be part of the team”, which she describes as nimble and flexible.

     

    PepsiCo is upbeat about Ms Chauhan’s return. “It’s great to have Anuja make a strong comeback on the PepsiCo portfolio,” said Deepika Warrier, vice president of marketing at PepsiCo India. “She conceptualised the #BackToSchool video that we recently released digitally. It became a big hit overnight!”

     

    Santosh Desai

    Santosh Desai, managing director and CEO of Futurebrands, said: PepsiCo needs to take risks and lead the youth rather than following them. Anuja Chauhan is associated with some of greatest ads and therefore the answer is clear. The company needs to go out on a limb and create some great advertising for others to follow.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The world's largest advertising company is set to buy Bengaluru-based creative agency with the deal valued at over Rs 200 crore

    WPP may buy Temple at over Rs 200 cr

    By Pritha Mitra Dasgupta

     

    WPP, the world’s largest advertising company, is set to buy Bengaluru-based creative agency Temple Advertising, according to people close to the development in the two agencies. They said the deal, which could be valued at over Rs 200 crore, could be signed as early as April 15.

     

    “WPP is currently engaged in 18 to 20 different acquisitions across the Asia-Pacific region and Temple Advertising is definitely one of them,” said a senior WPP executive. “Temple will be merged with Bates CHI & Partners in a bid to pull the agency out of the slump.”

     

    Martin Sorrell

    Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO at WPP, refused comment on the proposed acquisition, saying, “We don’t comment on conjectures.” Emails to Varagur Srikanth, Manmohan Anchan and Vidur Vohra, all directors at Temple Advertising, did not elicit any response till late on Sunday.

     

    Temple Advertising was launched by Srikanth, a former employee of Ogilvy & Mather, in 2003 with a single account, Scullers. The agency, which now has over Rs 10 crore of billings, works for some of the best-known brands in India and abroad including Wipro, Reliance Trends, TVS, Indigo Nation, Manchester United and Scullers.

     

    “If final talks go through on April 15 or 16, the entire process of merger and integration with Bates will be over by July,” said a person with the knowledge of the deal. Following the merger with Bates, the current directors of Temple will spearhead the merged entity.

     

    “The integration will be primarily at the creative department level,” said the person quoted above. This person also disclosed that Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, national creative director at Bates, is looking to move on. Mahabaleshwarkar refused to speak on the matter.

     

    A mail to David Mayo, CEO at Bates CHI & Partners Asia, also did not receive an reply. Several WPP India agency heads said that Mayo has been running Bates India from Singapore ever since Sanjay Thapar, group CEO at Bates CHI & Partners, quit the agency earlier this year.

     

    “Bates is in a rather laggard state right now. It doesn’t have a proper management, talent, clients and no significant work has come out of the agency in the recent past,” said one of the agency heads at WPP India. Following the merger, both agencies are expected to go through a name change to reflect the new ownership.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The WPP CEO will be a part of a new monthly show titled '30 Minutes with Martin Sorrell' on CNBC-TV18

    Martin Sorrell to a do a monthly show for CNBC-TV18

    By A Correspondent

     

    So what’s Sir Martin Sorrell doing these days? Betting big on China of course as he did in a signed article in London’s Daily Telegraph last Saturday. It’s interesting hence to note that the world’s most powerful name in advertising and marketing services is going to doing a show titled ’30 Minutes with Martin Sorrell’ for our own CNBC-TV18.

     

    This new monthly half-hour programme (subject, of course to his hectic schedule, a communiqué from the channel adds) will kick off from tomorrow, that’s Friday, November 29 at 7pm.

     

    The show will be hosted by Anant Rangaswami, Editor of Storyboard and Senior Editor of Firstpost. Each month, Mr Rangaswami will speak to the WPP CEO on recent and imminent developments from the world of media, advertising and marketing.

     

    Although CNBC-TV18 via its PR agency Good Relations India did not part with the transcript of what Sir Sorrell said, a communiqué says that among the key issues the show will cover on Friday will be Twitter’s revenue model and valuation, the rumour that WPP will buy IPG, why big retail should be bothered about Chinese ambitions and finally the WPP captain’s prognosis for calendar year 2014.

     

    Interestingly, this is what Sir Sorrell wrote about India in the Telegraph article: “India may remain in stasis after the election, as no party will have a clear majority and a coalition will continue to compromise.” And on China? “I’m very bullish on a China with strong new leadership following the Twelfth Five Year Plan and the Third Plenum of the Eighteenth Party Congress – when did a Western government set out such a detailed and comprehensive plan?”

     

    The 68-year-old media baron believes “next really big thing, or things, will be coming from China”. Perhaps it/they will. Meanwhile, let’s wait for what he says on his own show this week and then, month after month.

     

  • Reported revenue for WPP was up 11.4 per cent year-over-year to $16.05 billion while Interpublic Group of Cos reported that it nearly doubled its net income for 2011, up 96 per cent to $551.5 million

    How the WPP and Interpublic Group fared in 2011

    By A Correspondent

     

    WPP reported record profits of more than $1.45 billion for 2011, up a whopping 43 per cent from the year prior, and the holding company expects to see continued momentum in 2012 due to increased ad spending for the US presidential election and this summer’s Olympic games, according to Ad Age.

     

    Reported revenue for WPP, the biggest ad holding company in the world and home to creative agencies such as Ogilvy, JWT and media-buying behemoth Group M, was up 11.4 per cent year-over-year to $16.05 billion. However, WPP’s CEO-Executive Director Martin Sorrell is less optimistic about 2013, as there are no big events to bolster ad spend, and political ad dollars will drop off following the election.

     

    “We think 2012 looks similar to 2011, maybe at a slightly reduced level,” said Mr Sorrell. “But the one big cloud on the horizon we feel the need to address in 2013 is deficit reduction after the US election.”

     

    WPP said North America performed well, and in Europe the debt crisis is impacting growth, but overall the company said it still fared well in the region thanks to strong growth in the UK and acquisitions in Western Continental Europe.

     

    The company reported that Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey, all showed strong like-for-like growth for the year, but France and especially Greece, Portugal and Spain remained affected by the Eurozone debt crisis. In 2011, nearly 30 per cent of WPP’s revenue came from Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe.

     

    The company said that emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe represent the highest growth regions for WPP. The company plans to spend between $470 million and $630 million on acquisitions this year, Mr Sorrell said. The focus will remain on small and medium-sized agencies, particularly those in new markets or specialising in digital work, data analytics and technology.

     

    The past year saw a number digital agency acquisitions, including: F. biz and Gringo in Brazil; Rockfish and Lunchbox in the US; Who Digital in Vietnam; Promo in Russia and A4A in China. The company made a total of 38 acquisitions and 10 investments in 2011.

     

    The Interpublic Report-Card 2011

    US-based ad holding company Interpublic Group of Cos has reported that it nearly doubled its net income for 2011, up 96 per cent to $551.5 million, up from $281.2 in 2010, according to Ad Age. The company’s annual revenue was up 7.8 per cent, to about $7 billion.

     

    “Building on a very good 2010 result, we continue to show organic revenue growth that is at or near the top of our peer group,” said Interpublic CEO Michael Roth. “This performance keeps us on track to deliver on our goal of fully competitive profitability in 2014.” Mr Roth added all of the company’s regions grew in terms of organic growth in 2011, except for Europe, which is in the midst of a debt crisis.

     

    For the full year, continental Europe was down 0.1 per cent. The best region for organic growth last year was Latin America, which was up 17.8 per cent. For the fourth quarter, US organic growth was up 2.2 per cent, Latin American was up 30.4 per cent and Europe was down 3.2 per cent. Interpublic’s digital agencies, MRM, part of the McCann network, Huge and R/GA, significantly contributed to the company’s growth.

     

    In 2012, the company is targeting 3 per cent organic growth, noting “significant macro uncertainty on the global level.” Interpublic agency networks McCann Erickson and DraftFCB both saw major accounts defect in 2011. McCann Erickson lost Nescafe and other accounts, while DraftFCB lost SC Johnson and is now having to share Miller Lite with Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved