MxMIndia

Tag: WPP India

  • Dr Bhaskar Das, Ajay Kakar and Pratap Bose pay tribute to RanjanKapur, the architect of modern-day advertising in India

    Ranjan Kapur: 1942-2018

     

    Ranjan Kapur, WPP India Chairman, former Ogilvy India CEO, a mentor to many young entrerpreneurs and one of the Indian advertising industry’s leading lights, passed away in Mumbai on Saturday, January 27. He died due to a heart attack. He was 75 and survived by his wife and daughter.

    Born in Lahore in pre-Partition India in 1942, Kapur had did an MA in English from St Stephen’s College, Delhi in 1964.He joined Citibank, but the lure of the creative business got him to Ogilvy in the ‘60s. He moved to head Ogilvy India in 1994, and he helped catapult the agency to the top. There have been many tributes paid to him on the social media, some of which we have compiled in this report.

     

    Bhaskar Das

    Dr Bhaskar Das: An Advertising Man who was also an officer and gentleman 

    I vividly recall that afternoon on January 14 at 1.30pm. When the door opened at 281 B Twin Towers at Prabhadevi, two sunny side up faces–Jimi and Ranjan embraced me and my wife at their annual new year brunch. At their artistically designed flat, every corner of the room was abuzz with animated conversations. Ranjan and Jimi always appeared to me as made for each other-attended to each and every guest with warmth and smile. At that moment, I couldn’t visualise that I would meet Ranjan for the last time.

    Though I never worked directly with Ranjan, I heard a lot of positive marketlore about his aggression, combativeness in the market and business per se,  for his agency and the confidence that he enjoyed of the WPP Group supremo. My first encounter with him happened way back in 1996 when he was occupying the corner office of O&M, Bombay. That one meeting revealed the Man –statesmanly demeanour, impeccably courteous, clarity of vision both for his agency business and the Industry , and the foresight about the forces that would impact advertising landscape including digital — a rare skill amongst his contemporary leaders.

    Ranjan straddled the Indian advertising and marketing like the Collosusof Rhodes for more than four decades. He motivated, mentored, coached many stalwarts of advertising world of today. Everyone agrees that his human qualities are multifaceted–aggression (when it comes to business), modesty, ability to pun, storytelling, social sector activism, a painter and sculptor (this latent talent found expression during later stage of his life).

    Ranjan has touched so many lives and left an indelible impression for ever. The invitees on January 14 could never imagine that destiny had arranged for sumptuous farewell party from him to the industry leaders. What a way to say goodbye, Sir!

    Individuals like RanjanKapurare a rare specimen of human beings. They are not made anymore. We shall miss you Sir. Rest well and peacefully.

    Dr Bhaskar Das is Executive President, DainikBhaskar Group

     

    Ajay Kakar

    Ajay Kakar: End of an era

    I believe that the fame and love that a person attracts should not be gauged by the attention he gets during his holding a high office. But thereafter. And what can be a better tribute, than the love a person attracts, when he is no more.

    Today, as I walked out of the cremation grounds where the life and journey of RanjanKapur came to an end, I marvelled at the multitude of people who came to bid him adieu. People from all walks of life, all ages and from the world of Advertising and beyond. All those whose life Ranjan touched and enriched.

    Ranjan had retired as the MD of Ogilvy, a decade and more, ago. And when a typical person’s corporate life comes to an end, Ranjan was invited and requested to continue to mentor the industry. As Country Head and then Chairman of WPP. And steward to ISMI WPP Institutes. And remained on the board of many companies. Client companies. Clients who loved, respected and valued his wisdom. So much. How many from today’s generation can boast such client respect!

    Since yesterday when the sad news of his demise spread, Facebook is flooded with love and rich adjectives that Ranjan so richly deserves.

    A boss. A mentor. A guide. A gentleman. The last of Mohicans. A rare all-rounder, unheard of in today’s days. He could speak on any brand, with knowledge and passion. His understanding of business and brands was unparalleled. His sensitivity to creative, too. No surprise then that at Ogilvy he created a “3 legged stool” with Piyush and Rane. They thought and worked like one. A key reason for the agency’s success – with brands and the agency’s flattering financials.

    With the passing away, the world of advertising and brands sees the end of an era.

    A man with interests and hobbies beyond brands and work. He used to pen portraits in seconds. Loved sculpting and naming his creations. Enjoyed making perfumes.

    He lived life king size. Yet remember envying the blood red Merc coupe he bought and drove, as he ended his corporate life.

    His birthday wishes coming, every year. Unfailingly. From the days when there was no mobile diary or Fb to remind you.

    I was blessed to work for and with him. He held my hand and supported me set up and grow a financial practice for Ogilvy. And then also entrusted me as country head of Ogilvy PR. Had me on the executive committee of the agency.

    So having seen him up close, I could go on and on. Each of us has such fond memories and stories that any one or two will do injustice to the man and legend.

    Ajay Kakar is CMOAditya Birla Capital

     

    Pratap Bose

    Pratap Bose: Ranjan was one of the finest brains on technology

    I heard the news on the Ogilvy group… it was a very sad day. Ranjan was my finest boss ever. I owe everything to him. He was my go-to man. And in a sense a godfather. I met him just a month ago. I still remember when I left Ogilvy, he said I was stupid to join another agency and that I should turn an entrepreneur. He even drew a business plan across the table!

     

    He was an Epic Man. A risk-taker, who would think forward in everything. Even at his age, he was one of the finest brains on technology.

     

    I joined Ogilvy in 1993 and got to know him when he came to India in 1994. The interaction was very regular until he retired, but even later, he was always around me.

     

    Sir Martin Sorrell trusted him immensely, and in fact I met the WPP chief through Ranjan a few times.  His passing is a great loss for the industry, and for me personally.

     

    Pratap Bose is Chairman and MD, The Social Street

    Goodbye #RanjanKapur .. Will never forget your spirit, warmth and constant sense of wonder .. the world will miss you ..

    — Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) 28 January 2018

     

    They say nothing grows under a mighty banyan tree. Ranjan was the rare exception. Many a giant oak flourished in the sunlight of his shadow. My heart breaks for Jimi and Tina. It breaks for all of us who were blessed to have him in our lives. #ranjankapur #legend #fatherfigure

    — Bobby Pawar (@FRIEDFOODBRAIN) 28 January 2018

     

    I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. #ranjankapur

    — Bobby Pawar (@FRIEDFOODBRAIN) 28 January 2018

     

    A professional par excellence & a gentleman. You will be missed my friend. #RanjanKapur https://t.co/7vFA7oatO2

    — Raj Nayak (@rajcheerfull) 27 January 2018

     

    A very very sad day for Indian advertising. RIP Ranjan Kapur. I am lucky to have worked with him – he was one of the biggest influences on many of us at that time. They don’t make them like him anymore. The biggest chapter of Indian advertising just got concluded.

    — Partha Sinha (@parthasinha) 28 January 2018

    RIP Ranjan Kapur ( Chairman, WPP INDIA ). How many of us have humility to give prompt feedback on a packaging created by our juniors? pic.twitter.com/i8S0ACVRZM

    — Manish Bhatt (@manishscarecrow) 28 January 2018

     

    Saddened to hear about Ranjan Kapur. An architect of the Advertising industry in India. Cherish the moments spent with him and Jimi

    — Prasoon Joshi (@prasoonjoshi_) 28 January 2018

     

    a true gent who radiated wisdom shaped WPP and who made me feel welcome from the first time I visited india for work 25 years ago. Indian ad legend Ranjan Kapur passes away | ET BrandEquity https://t.co/DTYdjeJGql

    — eric salama (@ericsalama) 28 January 2018

     

    RIP Ranjan Kapur. You were such an inspiration for so many of us in our younger days and I was proud to call you my friend in the later years. You will be sorely missed @WPP @WPPStream @martinsorrell @roshanabbas @Ogilvy pic.twitter.com/jCE0oVYKm6

    — Devraj Sanyal (@DevrajSanyal) 27 January 2018

     

    Deeply deeply saddened at the passing on of RANJAN KAPUR: a great advertising professional and an even greater human being. The world is much much poorer with his death.

    — SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) 27 January 2018

     

    Ranjan Kapur, RIP. Contributed more to building modern Indian advertising than anyone else.

    — Anant Rangaswami (@AnantRangaswami) 27 January 2018

     

     

  • While taking on the role of Country Manager for WPP in India, he will stay on as head of  GroupM South Asia

    CVL Srinivas to helm WPP India

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s a Diwali announcement that has caused much.

    WPP, the world’s largest communications services group and also the biggest in India, has announced the appointment of CVL Srinivas at Country Manager of WPP India. He takes over from Ranjan Kapur, in addition to his responsibilities as head of GroupM

    South Asia. Kapur will continue as Chairman of WPP India, helping Srini, as Srinivas is better known in the fraternity, and focusing on his schools (including the ISDI WPP School of Communication in India) and foundation initiatives.

    “Horizontality is WPP’s number one strategic objective and Srini’s additional role in India will be to ensure that WPP works together as effectively as possible to provide clients with effective and efficient solutions,” the communique notes. This quote has also been attributed to WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell in some media.

    Srini took charge of GroupM South Asia as CEO in January 2013, taking over from Vikram Sakhuja, now Group CEO, Madison Media and OOH. Sakhuja had taken on a global role of CEO, Maxus Worldwide (now merged with MEC to form Wavemaker).

    A media industry veteran of over 20 years having done his mechanical engineering from BITS Pilani and an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur, Srini spent most of his career with GroupM/WPP where he helped incubate India’s first media agency ‘HTA Fulcrum’ in 1995 when Hindustan Unilever awarded the media AOR to HTA (now JWT). Srini later led the setting up ‘Maxus’ in India and helped grow it in a very short span of time into one of the leading agency brands in the country. He was made the Asia-Pacific CEO of Maxus in 2006. Srini has also held leadership positions in Madison, Starcom and The Times of India group.

    So what’s got Srini the top job? For one, Srini championed a transformation program at GroupM South Asia to make it a future-ready organisation. Under his leadership GroupM has won a record number of new businesses, incubated several path breaking initiatives in digital, mobile, content, data analytics, talent management and won numerous prestigious awards making India one of the most successful GroupM operations globally.

    Well, that’s what the communique tells us. What insiders and industry biggies tell us that Srini has been quietly aggressive and led the Sorrell agenda of making his various media businesses future-ready. Which he did very efficiently at GroupM.

    Sorrell, like captains of other leading media services networks, has underscored the need for collaboration and integration across WPP’s various arms in India and across the world. “Srini achieved this with much success within GroupM too,” says a former GroupM senior employee, adding: “Remember, leading the various arms of GroupM is also a challenging ask, but Srini did that successfully.”

    A senior employee of a rival network said that one of the highlights of Srini’s success is that he has allowed his CEOs to flourish, but also kept ensuring that the GroupM brand gets more dominant. A CEO of a media company told MxMIndia that it was thanks to Srini’s backing that BARC could be up and running in super quick time. Remember, TAM is a jv with Nielsen and Sorrell would’ve obviously liked to protect his business interests by keeping TAM active on television viewership measurement.

    In fact that appeared to be the sentiment for a while, until Srini is said to have emphatically backed BARC. His role with with other industry bodies like the AAAI, RSCI, ABC and MRUC have also been praised by peers. He is also a founder member of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) in India, and is active in industry conferences and events.

    In India, WPP companies (including associates) generate revenues of US$600million with 15,000 people, and it will be Srini’s agenda to ensure that all elements of the business work in unison. WPP also owns large agencies/networks like Ogilvy, JWT, Kantar, Genesis Burson-Marsteller amongst others.

    A question that has been asked is that while Ranjan Kapur was exceedingly senior in the system when he took charge of WPP as Country Manager, will other senior CEOs in WPP India companies like Piyush Pandey, Tarun Rai, Preeti Reddy agree to work under Srini’s leadership? According to what some insiders and a former WPP/GroupM biggie told us, that Srini is perhaps the best person for the job. He has hands into various businesses already and will hence help achieve the horizontality, and by his very nature and temperament, he will not come in the way of various group companies at all.

    But the clincher was what one WPP hand who is now in a global position said: “Does anyone have a choice? The media business is going through interesting, yet tough times. Digital is going to dominate us, though we don’t really know how. It is critical that even a successful network like WPP ensures that its various companies do not work in silos.”

    Indeed.

  • Finance brands are highest risers in the BrandZ India Top 50 with HDFC Bank being the most valuable brand for second year

    HDFC, other finance brands dominate WPP’s BrandZ

    By A Correspondent

     

    Finance brands are highest risers in the BrandZ India Top 50 with HDFC Bank being the most valuable brand for second year. The total value of India’s strongest brands has risen by a third (33%) over the last year, according to the second annual BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands ranking announced on Wednesday by WPP and Millward Brown. This is the highest rate of growth achieved by any BrandZ ranking in the 10 years since valuations began, exceeding that of the Global Top 100 as well as the rankings forChina, Latin America and Indonesia.   India’s Top 50 brands are now worth $92.2bn (up from just under $70bn in 2014). The record-setting value increase has been driven by brands’ successful response to the rising sense of empowermentamong Indian consumers, and the government’s efforts to create a more conducive business environment.

     

    Brands in the financial sector (+49% growth) made the largest contribution to the overall increase in value, but significant lifts were also seen across most other sectors, indicating the broad strength of India’s economy and Indian brands. Home and personal care brands achieved a combined increase of 32%, followed by the auto aftermarket sector (28%), automobile brands(27%) and telecom providers (21%).

     

    Private companies, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and brands owned by multinational corporations that are publicly traded in Indiaall experienced growth, illustrating how receptive the market is to brands of all kinds. 52% of the brands in the Top 50 are privately-owned, evidence of India’s entrepreneurial energy. 30%of the brands are owned by multinationals, which have successfullyadapted to the needs of Indian consumers, becoming so embedded in their lives that they are perceived as ‘local’.

     

    The BrandZ™ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2015

    Rank 2015

    Brand

    Category

    Brand value 2015 ($m)

    Brand value change

    Rank 2014

    1

    		 HDFC Bank Banks

    12,577

    		 33% 1

    2

    		 Airtel Telecoms

    11,039

    		 34% 2

    3

    		 State Bank of India Banks

    9,374

    		 37% 3

    4

    		 ICICI Bank Banks

    5,122

    		 45% 4

    5

    		 Asian Paints Paints

    3,867

    		 38% 6

    6

    		 Bajaj Auto Automobiles

    3,345

    		 10% 5

    7

    		 Hero Automobiles

    2,907

    		 34% 7

    8

    		 Axis Bank Banks

    2,494

    		  New New

    9

    		 Kotak Mahindra Bank Banks

    2,394

    		 39% 9

    10

    		 Maruti Suzuki Automobiles

    2,318

    		 54% 11

    11

    		 Idea Telecoms

    1,981

    		 5% 8

    12

    		 Castrol Lubricants

    1,773

    		 40% 15

    13

    		 IndusInd Bank Banks

    1,542

    		 46% 19

    14

    		 McDowell’s Alcohol

    1,516

    		 9% 13

    15

    		 Nestlé Food/dairy

    1,498

    		 22% 16

    Key highlights of the 2015 BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands study include:

    • Financial brands continue to dominate.With 13 brands in the Top 50, accounting for 41% of its value ($38.1bn), the financial sector has built brand strength by making a consistent effort to serve consumers better. Biggest risers: Union Bank of India (no.46, +72%), Punjab National Bank (no.22, +61%) and IndusInd Bank (no.13, +46%).
    • Home and personal care brands grew 32%, driven byincreased disposable income and spending on premium products, and investment by marketers across traditional and new media. These 12 brandshold 15% ($13.4bn) of the ranking’s total brand value. Fastest risers: Lakme (no.44, +69%), Lifebuoy (no.31, +49%) and Colgate (no.26, +44%).
    • Purpose is power. Indian consumers expect brands to actively participate in building a better society, and those that do have a higher brand value. Lifebuoy (no.31) has a social mission to change consumers’ hygiene behaviour, while Asian Paints (no.5) aspires to rejuvenate people’s living spaces and bring joy to their lives.
    • Indian consumers trust brands.In stark contrast with other markets, trust in brands is growing steadily. Consumers in Indiaappreciate brands, and 33% say they trust them. Among the most trusted are jeweller Tanishq (no.21), part of the respected Tata conglomerate, and Colgate, which is part of Indian folklore, and has been instrumental in organising dental check-up camps to raise dental hygiene awareness.
    • All four new entrants are of Indian origin – Axis Bank, Canara Bank, MRF (tyres) and Royal Enfield. Three are privately owned, and one is an SOE.
    • Disruption is on the horizon – from e-commerce and mobile brands that are building scale and connecting with consumers at a frenetic pace. These are not yet eligible to be ranked in theTop 50because they are not publicly traded.

    David Roth, CEO of WPP’s The Store commented: “The 2015 study shows that India is a market of great opportunities where consumers are feelingempowered, and this is increasingly reflected in their brand choices. The new Modi government is committed to creating an environment in which brands can flourish. India is distinct in many ways from other fast-growing markets, however, so simply applying strategies that have proved successful elsewhere will not work in India. Any brand intending to compete in India must gain deep insights into its nuances – such as the need to modernise while respecting the past, and the desire to remain fundamentally Indian.”

     

    Added Prasun Basu, Millward Brown’s Managing Director, South Asia:“India’s top brands are strong, and getting stronger – but there is no room for complacence. The top four had to grow their value by 37% on average to hold on to the same positions as last year, and close to 10% of the brands that made the Top 50 in 2014 have dropped out. To benefit from the continuing rise in consumer confidence and optimism brands need to understand the changing consumer, respond with innovative products and breakthrough communication, and experiment and invest in new media that reflect the spirit of the country today.”

     

    Said Ranjan Kapur, Country Manager, WPP India: “Building a successful brand in India also means helping to build India itself. Consumers are trustful of brands, but trust can crumbleovernight. Brands must work hard to sustain trust by connecting with thecountry’s communal sense of responsibility. Brands need to find ways to support the national agenda, and help to develop a more modern, prosperous and equitable society.”

     

    The BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2015 report, charts and photography, can be downloaded from www.brandz.com.