MediaCom India, a GroupM media agency, has announced that it has been awarded the media mandate of Bayer’s new Consumer Health division in India. The company envisions to make self-care for a better life a reality for billions of people around the world through everyday healthcare. The account was won following a multi-agency pitch and will be handled out of MediaCom’s Mumbai office. The media duties include full planning and buying all media platforms.
Bayer is a global life sciences company present in India for over 125 years and is committed to the principles of sustainable development and with a goal to create value for our customers, shareholders and employees. All this goes to make up the company’s vision, ‘Health for all, hunger for none’.
Sandeep Verma
Sandeep Verma, Country Head – Bayer Consumer Health Division, India said, “With Bayer’s Consumer Health division offering a portfolio of leading and trusted brands in India, we want people to adopt self-care and take charge of their everyday health. To make this possible, its essential to have the right partners on board who can add value to our efforts and contribute to our vision. We are hence happy to onboard MediaCom in our journey at Consumer Health.”
Navin Khemka
Commenting on the win, Navin Khemka, Chief Executive Officer, MediaCom South Asia said, “With the rising concerns of the global population, we believe it is important to have a company like Bayer in the market whose scientific successes are intended to help improve people’s lives. With our integrated teams and media-neutral solutions, we are looking forward to helping Bayer further scale its efforts and accelerate its business growth. Leveraging MediaCom’s expertise, we will be focusing a lot of new-age thinking and digital-first approach and are looking forward to creating an amazing experience for them.”
Following a competitive multi-agency pitch that lasted for well over three months, beverage major Parle Agro has awarded its media mandate to MediaCom India. The account has been serviced by OMD.
As the full form AOR for Parle Agro in India, MediaCom will be responsible for the media strategy, planning, buying and implementation for all media including its key brands – Frooti, Appy & Appy Fizz in India. The mandate is for the Indian subcontinent with a total media value of Rs 200 crores.
Said Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro: “We are happy to have MediaCom on board. As Parle Agro gears up for the next level of growth, our strategic partnership with MediaCom will help drive our aggressive targets through innovative and disruptive media strategies.“
Commenting on the win, Prasanth Kumar, CEO, Group M South Asia, added: “First, massive congratulations to MediaCom on the Parle Agro business win. It’s a very special moment for us. It is a fantastic opportunity to work on the portfolio of iconic brands across the Parle Agro group. And am confident Navin and his team will continue to bring in their collective experience and leverage our network’s strengths to deliver the best for Parle Agro’s portfolio of brands.”
Added Navin Khemka, CEO, MediaCom South Asia: “Parle Agro has a long and illustrious history – it has established leading household beverage brands by creating innovative and iconic products for over 34 years. We are completely in sync with their philosophy – and what makes this partnership even more exciting is that pursuing growth is our primary target, which calls for an extremely dynamic association. We are looking forward to creating an unmatched brand experience for our consumers. ”
The account will be managed and supervised from the MediaCom Mumbai office. MediaCom will begin working on the account from December 2019.
MediaCom India held its inaugural flagship Blink_live event in Mumbai earlier this week. The event is MediaCom’s thought leadership and innovation lab, designed to help its clients better understand and leverage the latest media and marketing trends, insights, innovations and opportunities.
The theme of the event was ‘Decoding Growth in A Slowdown’, given the current economic slowdown in India.
Byron Sharp
The event saw a detailed session on “Laws of Growth” by the keynote speaker Byron Sharp, Marketing Science Professor & Director of Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Australia. The other speakers included Josh Gallagher, Chief Product Officer, APAC at MediaCom who spoke on ‘Will the promise of E-commerce survive a slowdown’; Nihar Das, Overall Lead, Borderless WPP Team shared insights on how to ‘Tackle the slowdown through customised growth models’; Baldeep Singh, VP, Client Engagement & Data Partnership at [m] PLATFORM spoke on ‘Cutting slump with laser focused Consumer Behaviour’, whereas, Preeti Reddy, CEO South Asia at Kantar, Insights focused on ‘Identifying Real Growth’.
Bianca Best
Speaking of this launch Bianca Best, Global Managing Director of Blink and Strategic Partnerships, MediaCom, said: “In the volatile, exciting and ever evolving landscape brands are operating in today, Blink satisfies not just the potential that comes from trialling innovation (which we see as part of every client brief) but is an absolute necessity to ensure clients achieve sustainable, long term business success. Only once brands partner with technology specialists are the ambitions of true digital transformation realised. I’m incredibly invigorated to be enabling this for our clients and see Blink becoming an essential complementary pillar to MediaCom’s already world class offering.”
Navin Khemka
Commenting on the India launch of Blink_live, Navin Khemka, CEO, MediaCom South Asia, said: “The media landscape has changed drastically, and exchange of trends and ideas globally has become more relevant than ever. Blink_live is one such platform that helps bring global marketing trends to India and shares India’s insights with the world. I am happy to bring Blink_live to India for the first time. I am sure it will add great value to our existing clientele and to enhance the brands’ marketing efforts. We are also hopeful to glean more insightful observations from the Indian team through this platform.”
Added Jaydeep Chaudhuri, Regional Managing Partner, MediaCom: “It was wonderful to have Prof Byron Sharp as the keynote speaker at Blink_live addressing this topic, which is critical not only for India but also for all sizeable economies around the world. MediaCom’s partnership with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute allows us access to the best thought leaders in marketing academia and their research helps us create communications ecosystems for brands to unlock sustained growth”
MediaCom has announced few significant changes and additions to its leadership team in India. Niti Kumar moves from the Delhi office head role to a national role in which she will lead strategy and insights and new business for MediaCom India.
Sushanto Biswas will will replace her as the head of MediaCom Delhi. Biswas moves to MediaCom from Mindshare, where he used to lead the Ford business. He has over 19 years of experience across agencies and media houses. He will be based in Gurgaon and will oversee all the day to day operations and key client relationships based out of Delhi.
Said Debraj Tripathy, Managing Director, MediaCom on the developments: “Niti and Sushanto, both come with a vast amount of professional expertise. I am delighted to see Niti grow and take on a larger role within the company and am excited to have Sushanto join our leadership team. Their individual knowledge and experience will add to our team’s strength. I am confident that both of them will shine in their new roles.â€
MediaCom India won the prestigious Campaign of the Year title for ‘Ariel Dads Share the Load — Men for Laundry!’ as well as Agency of the Year. Specifically for India, Mediacom won four golds and one bronze, Mindshare won one gold, two silvers and one bronze, Lodestar won a gold and silver, PHD bagged two silvers, Zenith bagged a gold, Maxus a silver and Madison a brand.
Overall, MediaCom won seven golds and four bronzes, Mindshare four golds, five silvers and three bronzes, while UM (Lodestar UM in India) took home four golds, four silvers and one bronze. Mindshare retained its title of Agency Network of the Year for the APAC region.
In total there were entries from 20 countries, while the winners represented a wonderful mix of campaigns from across the region including golds from Australia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, India and the Philippines. India topped the country rankings with seven golds, while Australia and New Zealand were second and third with five and four golds respectively.
Key trends and insights that came out of the judging process included a significant increase in e-commerce, m-commerce, CSR, content, social, mobile and events as part of campaigns from around the region. Judges found the Best Experiential/Event, and Best Content Awards to be two of the toughest to decide on a winner as the competition and quality of work was so strong.All winning campaigns can be seen on http://www.creamglobal.com/.
In today’s world, you can be a partner and competitor to the same entity. That’s how MadisonWorld founder and chairman Sam Balsara sums up the new arrangement in the joint venture with GroupM on media agency MediaCom’s India operations.
As per the original agreement, WPP’s GroupM reportedly had the right to acquire a majority stake after a period of eight years, which they just did.
Earlier, Madison owned 51 per cent and GroupM 49 per cent. Now, GroupM has bought 25 per cent, making its total stake to 76 per cent. For Balsara and team, it’s matter of great pride that the jv was a success for the last eight years.
And does this mean anything at all on possible ownership of mother ship Madison? “There’s no connection whatsoever,†Balsara laughed it off underscoring that this was a completely independent transaction.
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At mid-morning on Tuesday, Balsara tweeted a clip from The Economic Times of last week where Madison Media had announced a tie-up with Bangladesh’s independent media agency Mediacom. Mediacom, the report noted, is part of Bangladesh’s industrial conglomerate Square Group and handles media planning and buying for Perfetti Van Melle, Asian Paints, Ispahani Group, Singer and some products categories of the parent company. As a part of the deal, Mediacom will have access to Madison Media’s tools and operating software.
Less than 10 hours after this tweet, came in this missive from the GroupM headquarters in north-west Mumbai: The media services network had announced that it will be acquiring a majority stake in MediaCom India.
While MediaCom India will continue operating as an independent brand, the agency will have the advantage of access to GroupM’s global infrastructure. This acquisition continues WPP’s strategy of investing in fast growth markets, new media and digital, notes a commuique. The news on the Bangladesh tie-up and what happened closer home had of course no connection. Except the timing of Balsara’s tweet.
Stephen Allan
“The majority acquisition of MediaCom in India represents a significant evolution in one of the world’s fastest growing economies. As India becomes a very attractive business hub for global clients, we are confident our talented team in India will deliver exemplary growth and results for all stakeholders.â€Â said, Stephen Allan, CEO, MediaCom Worldwide.
CVL Srinivas
Speaking on the acquisition, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “MediaCom India has won several prestigious clients, developed a strong digital presence and has delivered award-winning campaigns for clients. As a network, we have taken giant strides globally and in India towards a more Data and Tech-led core to our business. MediaCom India can harness our world-class media infrastructure to provide more value to its clients and people.â€Interestingly, the Mediacom Bangaladesh tieup allows that agency to dig into Madison’s tools and infra.
Flashback to April 2008 when Balsara announced with much fanfare that he had acquired 51 per cent stake in MediaCom India. And also the coveted P&G business. Over the last eight years, MediaCom India has established itself as one of the Top 5 media agencies in terms of market share (Source: RECMA ratings 2015). In 2016, WARC ranked MediaCom India’s Mumbai office as one of the top 10 media agencies in the world based on performance in effectiveness and strategy impact for its clients.Its client roster includes Proctor & Gamble, Tata DoCoMo, Future Group Retail, Shell, Dell, Makemytrip.com, SAB Miller, Subway, Bose,Vespa and Urban Ladder amongst others.
Industry observers meanwhile don’t read too much into the development. Although Mediacom may technically have been owned by a majority by GroupM, over the last few years, GroupM is said to be representing its interests very actively. A scenario which Balsara says was fine given that it was all for the good of MediaCom.
At mid-morning on Tuesday, Sam Balsara tweeted a clip from The Economic Times of last week where Madison Media had announced a tie-up with Bangladesh’s independent media agency Mediacom. Mediacom, the report noted, is part of Bangladesh’s industrial conglomerate Square Group and handles media planning and buying for Perfetti Van Melle, Asian Paints, Ispahani Group, Singer and some products categories of the parent company. As a part of the deal, Mediacom will have access to Madison Media’s tools and operating software.
Less than 10 hours after this tweet, came in this missive from the GroupM headquarters in north-west Mumbai: The media services network had announced that it will be acquiring a majority stake in MediaCom India, a joint venture between GroupM India and Sam Balsara, the principal shareholder of the Madison Media group. While MediaCom India will continue operating as an independent brand, the agency will have the advantage of access to GroupM’s global infrastructure. This acquisition continues WPP’s strategy of investing in fast growth markets, new media and digital. The news on the Bangladesh tie-up and what happened closer home had of course no connection. Except the timing of Balsara’s tweet.
“The majority acquisition of MediaCom in India represents a significant evolution in one of the world’s fastest growing economies. As India becomes a very attractive business hub for global clients, we are confident our talented team in India will deliver exemplary growth and results for all stakeholders.â€Â said, Stephen Allan, CEO, MediaCom Worldwide.
Speaking on the acquisition, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “MediaCom India has won several prestigious clients, developed a strong digital presence and has delivered award-winning campaigns for clients. As a network, we have taken giant strides globally and in India towards a more Data and Tech-led core to our business. MediaCom India can harness our world-class media infrastructure to provide more value to its clients and people.â€Interestingly, the Mediacom Bangaladeshtieup allows that agency to dig into Madison’s tools and infra.
Flashback to April 2008 when Balsara announced with much fanfare that he had acquired 51 per cent stake in MediaCom India. And also the coveted P&G business. Over the last eight years, MediaCom India has established itself as one of the Top 5 media agencies in terms of marketshare (Source: RECMA ratings 2015). In 2016, WARC ranked MediaCom India’s Mumbai office as one of the top 10 media agencies in the world based on performance in effectiveness and strategy impact for its clients.Its client roster includes Proctor & Gamble, Tata DoCoMo, Future Group Retail, Shell, Dell, Makemytrip.com, SAB Miller, Subway, Bose,Vespa and Urban Ladder amongst others.
Industry observers meanwhile don’t read too much into the development. Although Mediacom may technically have been owned by a majority by GroupM, over the last few years, GroupM is said to be representing its interests very actively. And while MediaCom India ought to be part of the Madison Media, the two agencies have fought pitches including recently for Coca-Cola India.
Media agency MediaCom has announced changes and additions to its leadership team in India. Priya Choudhury who used to lead buying nationally moves as the lead on the P&G business. K Srinivas Rao (Srini as he is known) joins MediaCom to take over the national buying role from Choudhury. Both will report to Rathi Gangappa, COO, MediaCom India
Rao moves to MediaCom from Maxus, where he used to lead trading for the north. He has over 18 years of experience across agencies and media owners. He will be based in Delhi. Said Debraj Tripathy, Managing Director, MediaCom on the moves “I am delighted to see Priya grow from her current role and have Srini on board. I am confident both of them will shine in their new rolesâ€
Commenting on her new role, Choudhury added “it’s a pleasure and privilege to be working with a prestigious portfolio such as P&G’s. My three-year stint as the buying lead at MediaCom has been very rewarding and I hope to continue the excitement as the P&G AOR leadâ€
Said Rao: “MediaCom is known for its people centric culture. I’m looking forward to being part of this wonderful team of people and clients and taking the buying products to the next level.â€
MediaCom India has picked up three Gold and one Bronze trophy at the 2016 Global Festival of Media Awards, hosted at the Rome Cavalieri in Italy. Globally, MediaCom took home 11 awards – four Golds, three Silvers and four Bronzes and was recognised for its work on P&G across five categories including Best Communications Strategy, Best Launch Campaign, Best Engagement Strategy and The Effectiveness Award. Said Debraj Tripathy, Managing Director of MediaCom India: “This is another wonderful recognition for the high quality work that we deliver for our clients. We have been consistently winning across international award forums. Congratulations to each and every member of the MediaCom India team.“
In its annual ranking of the world’s 100 best campaigns and companies, the WARC 100 has declared MediaCom, Mumbai as one of the top 10 media agencies in the world based on performance in effectiveness and strategy impact for their clients.
The agency has earned the 8th position in the ‘top media agency’ global list, up from from its 32nd position last year.
Debraj Tripathy
Commenting on the achievement, Debraj Tripathy, Managing Director, MediaCom India said, “2015 was a remarkable year for the agency with a lot of interesting campaigns, awards and client accolades. The recognition by WARC has further motivated us to raise the bar and set new benchmarks in the industry. We will continue to deliver the best for our clients and achieve more milestones.â€
This is yet another well deserved honor for the entire team at MediaCom which has won and celebrated its recent success with Cannes, M&M global, Festival Of Media, Ad Club Emvies and Goa Fest Media Abby & Dragons Of Asia awards to its name in 2015.
MediaCom has announced the appointment of Hariharan Vishwanathan (Vishi) as the Head – South. He will report to Rathi Gangappa, COO, MediaCom India. Vishwanathan takes over from Sriram Sharma who is moving to another role in Mindshare.
Vishwanathan started his career in JWT (then HTA) as a media planner in 1994. Since then he has worked across categories, agencies and roles in GroupM. Most recently he was part of the CTG team in GroupM.
Debraj Tripathy
Commenting on his appointment, Debraj Tripathy, MD MediaCom India, says “We are happy to have someone with Vishi’s experience and caliber on board. Our business in the South has seen fantastic growth in the last few years under Sriram’s leadership. I am confident Vishi will bring renewed energy and focus to our business. I wish Sriram all the best in his new role.â€
MediaCom India has won the media mandate for Roche Diagnostics India following a multi-agency pitch. MediaCom will handle all traditional and digital media for the company and their flagship brand Accu-Chek. Roche Diagnostics will be managed out of the west region. The pitch was led by Deepa Jatkar, General Manager, MediaCom Mumbai.
Head quartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and neuroscience. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management.
Sidhartha Roy (Business unit head – India & Neighboring markets) said, “We are happy to work with MediaCom. We are keen on partnering with MediaCom as we think their strengths in analytics and planning will add value to our business & in line with our brand requirement”
Debraj Tripathy, Managing Director, MediaCom India said, “We are delighted to partner with Roche Diagnostics in India and look forward to contributing to their growth. Our team is excited and is looking forward to working on building the brand.”
