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2 THE FINANCIAL EXPRE SS
TUESDAY , OCTOBER 26, 2010
THE FINANCIAL EXPRE SS
“My first task
was to set a new
agenda for the
future because we already had a
tremendous set of clients,”said Kamath.
A form er employee of Mudra who did
not want to be named says,“Mudra
always had big clients an d since 2003 ithad the vigour to become a topnotch
communication network.It did not
succeed because of lack of coordination
amongst the var ious businesses.”
Mudra first floated a healthcare unit
called Brand Ther apist as it already had
pharm a clients such as Cadila Healthca-
re,Core Pharmaceuticals,Paras Phar-
maceuticals,Sun Pharma and Torrent.In
2004,Mudr a,in association with Rapp
Collins Worldwide,formed a direct mark-
eting agency Rapp Collins India. DBS,
which was Mudra's digital solutions arm
became a part of Tribal DDB Worldwide.
The real growth oft he agency started
in 2005.T hat year it acqu ired Delhi-based
Kidstuff Promos and Events.It also
floated a new agency called Canvas Com-
munications to han dle the creative duties
of Johnson & Johnson's skincare brands.
In 2007,Mudra launched a new agency
called DDB Mudra that was mandated to
handle global DDB accounts coming int o
the country,including Unilever's Lipton
range an d also the conflicting businessesof the mother agency.Canvas was then
merged with DDB Mudra.
However,amidst all this, the creative
quotient of Mudra was being challenged.
And in 2007,Bobby Pawar moved back
from Chicago and was named the
national creative director of Mudra. He
says,“When I joined Mudra there were
two tasks at hand. When someone talked
about the top creative work done out of
India,no one mentioned Mudra. So,task
number one was to change that.”The
second task was to change the vision
about creative solutions and create more
media neutral or br oad ideas.
And it was finally in 2009,Kamath did
a reconnaissance and restructured the
group into four a gencies—Mudra India,
Mudra Max, DDB Mudra and Ignite
India.Today,Mudr a Group is one of the
largest home-grown communication
networks with over 26 offices in India and
is valued at m ore tha n Rs 2000 crore.
“The revamp or the relaunch was
required. This is simply to say we
understand consumers better.But the
real story is about the new structure of
Mudra, the four agencies,the
integration, and I believe this is our
strength.Also each business is anchored
by a board m ember.Therefore,besides
growing my business,I also need to
safeguard the shar eholder interest,”said
Jude Fernandes ,CEO of Mudra Ind ia ,
the creative agency that accounts for
nearly 40% of the group's revenues.
However,the largest grosser is th e
group’s media business – Mudra Max—
which contributes 42-45% of the annu al
tur nover.It was in 2008 that Mudra Max,
with two independent agencies under it,
Mudra Connext and Mudra Radar,was
created.“The first year was all aboutbuilding the teams and launching new
units,”says Pratap Bose,CEO,Mudr a
Max and COO,Mudra Group.
Bose also heads Ignite India,which
caters to the brand building needs of
entrepreneur s.“The agency was kicked
off about a year ago.When we looked at
our clients ' entrepreneur ial ventures,we
saw a huge n eed for u s to look at clients in
smaller centres,clients who were
untouched by bigger agencies in non
metros.”However,when it ventured into
small towns and cities,the agency
realized that the clients were more
worried about issues such as raising
capital,packaging,distribution, pricing,
and advertising was the last thin g on
their min ds.“We realized that if we help
them in th ese issues then advertising
would automatically fall on our laps.”
The fourth ,an d the one of the most
important businesses of the group,is
DDB India,which is headed by Sandip
Vij.It has four specialist units under it
including DDB India,Tribal DDB,Rapp,DDB Health & Lifestyle.“ We are maki ng
significant investments in all DDB
Mudra u nits ,”says Vij.
Akshay Mehrotra,h ead – marketing
and corporate communications,Bajaj
Allianz
Insurance says,“In
DDB India,we see
people and partner s who
have a deep understanding
and capability to provide integrat-
ed communication solutions that connect
with customers across the country.”
Although handling Indian clients has
been one of Mudra’s biggest strengths,
this year it h as proved that it is equallycompetent to launch international iconic
brands in India.In 2010,th e agency
helped German auto m ajor Volkswagen
launch its cars in India. Lutz Kothe,chief
general manager mar keting and PR,
Volkswagen India says,“The strength
lies in DDB Mudra's creative perform-
ance and the capability to understand th e
brand while tran sform ing it to the cus-
tomer’s needs.As India is certainly a
market of its own Volkswagen mixed the
DNA of the brand with the needs of the
market and its customers in a distinctive
strategy.DDB Mudra tran sform ed it into
a creative strategy which matched the
market n eeds.”
Clients have certainly appreciated the
new strategy at Mudra.Says Pranay
Dhabhai,m anaging director,Akai India,
“Partnerin g with Mudra is a vital and
integral part of our overall business
strategy and corr ectly fits with our goal
to reinstate our position in India.Their
strategic thinking with an overall media
perspective,an extremely passionate andenthusiastic team, made us choose them
as our media partners.”
However,not everyone is sur e whether
the latest restructurin g will work. “To my
estimation this entire process ofr estruc-
tu ring
followed by the
repositioning and new
logo is an effort to put
forward a united front.To some
extent I feel the r epositioning is really
shallow.Why w as it required is not clear.
The agency is known for some iconic
advertising which got lost somewhere.
Will this new initiative help Mudra
create new bran d stories? We will have to
wait and watch.”says the form er Mudra
employee,who did not want to be
identified.
To be sure,the gr oup is not sittin g easy.
“Going forward, the growth will come in
three ways,th rough partnerships,
collaborations and acquisitions,”says
Kamath, readying for new challenges.
For Mudra India,there are two
challenges,says CEO Fernandes. “One,todo better work,although th e quality of
print an d television work has im proved
over the years.”Second is to generate
ideas which are media neutral. “It is also
important to renew our relationship with
existing clients including Godrej,Dabur,
Paras,Fu ture Group and help them
improve their market share,”h e adds.
Despite its spectacular growth,Mu dra
Max lost its biggest account th is year,
when th e Rs 400-crore m edia busin ess of
Reliance Communications went t o rivals
Optimum Media Direction (OMD) and
MEC.But the agency sees a silver lining
in this.Pr atap Bose,CEO,Mudra Max,
says,“We reduced our dependency on one
big client and aggressively went out to
sign more.Also,I keep saying we have
nothing to lose and everything to win .”
Mudra is now looking to enter new
businesses like shopper m arketing,
sports marketing, public affair
communications.Last year it s igned a
joint venture with Clear Channel in th e
out-of-home segmen t and wit h UK-basedretail design specialist Portland. The
endeavour is clearly to make the Mudr a
Group a cutting-edge,sophisticated
four-agency network that can take on
global rivals.
You turned Mudra from a mainl ine ad age ncy to a gi -
a n t i n t e g r a t e d c o m m u n i ca t i o n n e t wo r k . H o w h a s
t h e j o u r n e y b e e n ?
How can I culminate 30 years in just two lines? All I can
say,the fir st year when I joined back, that is, 2003,was spent
in stream lining the organization an d setting the goals for
the agency.And th e journ ey has been exciting.Challenges
were there in terms of building the leadership,setting up
the teams , changing the mindse t .Mudra a lways had a
tremendous set of clients and we simply built on them.
Industry watchers say that Mudra never suffered
f r o m a n y d e a r t h o f c l i e n t s . Bu t t i l l a b o u t 4 - 5 y ea r s
a g o , i t wa s t h e g a p s i n t h e c r e a t i v e s i d e t h a t wa s h o l d -
i n g i t b a c k . Do y o u a g r e e ?
In the 1980s Mudra was the tr endsetter and it had creat-
ed many iconic communications like Vimal,Dhar a and
others. Even in the 1990s, quality work was happening.
Twice in the 90s,Mudr a became the agency oft he year.It
was in 2000 when we started growing,th at th ere were new
demands on the creative front. So we brought Bobby
Pawar on board.
M u d r a h a s a l s o f o s t e r e d m a n y t o p c r e a t iv e s o f t h e i n -
dustry today – start ing from R Balakrishn an (Balki) ,
Pr a t a p S u t h a n , An u p Ch i t n i s , Ra m k i ( D Ra m a k r i s h -
n a ) , S a j a n Ra j Ku r u p , S o n a l Da b ra l , Am e r J a l e e l ,
Ryan Menezes – would you agree that retaining tal -
ent has been a chal len ge for Mudra?
Every creative persongoes through this churn
and they try the ir luck
somewhere e lse. Yes , i t
has been a good challenge
for us.
The Rs 400-crore Re-
l iance Communica-
t i o n s m e d i a p l a n n i n g
b u s i n e s s h a s r e c e n t l y
m o v e d ou t . H o w h a s i t
affected Mudra Group,
especial ly Mudra Max?
Do y o u wa n t t o w i n i t
back?
It’s the loss oft he busi-
ness tha t has s treng th-
ened the goal to build a
strong business for Mu-
dra Max.Also,we are still
working with them (Anil
Ambani’s other business-
es under ADAG). Only the Reliance Communications
part went ou t . I th ink every bus iness has i ts ups and
downs.As the client has said,t hey wanted to review theoperations.Of course,we would like to win it back.And I
believe every business you lose is there to win back.
W i t h in t h e M u d r a G r o u p, wh i c h b u s i n e s s i s t h e
f a s t e s t g r o wi n g ?
We have just unleashed the growth potential of all the
four agencies,that is ,Mu dra India,Mudr a Max,DDB and
Ignite.Every single agency is growing at a rat e of 15-20%.
So far, Mudra Max h as been the largest as it h as 14-15
clients and my estim ation is that soon it will become 20.
And this is more in line with it s global partner Omnicom.
Despite your associat ion with DDB,do you think you
could not leverage i t?
That was one of the tasks when I joined back Mudra in
2003. And over the last five years, the DDB business has
grown tremen dously. We have most of the DDB global
units in India.Bobby Pawar is now on the creative council
ofDDB in the Asia Pacific region.I would say in the Mudr a
growth story,both DDB and Omnicom have been our m a-
jor allies.
What was the idea behind the Mudra makeover?
The overall growth of Mudra has been a journey and
there are certain steps that needed to be taken.There was a
need to create a distinct identity for Mudra. We refreshed
the brand when Mu dra completed 25 years.But th at was a
small initiative.And now we have an identity that reflects
the organization and sets th e agenda for future.
What wi l l be the strategy going forward?
Mudra has bu il t i ts e lf in to these four agencies .Each
one has c la ri ty in te rms ofd irec t ion .There a re severa l a r-
eas where we would like to offer or strengthen ou r capabil-
i t ie s, such as sports m arke ting, public a ffa irs , shopper
marke ting and o the rs .Going forward , th e g rowth wil l
come in th ree ways, th rough partne rsh ips , co llabora -
tions and acquisitions.
“We have just unleashed the growth potential of the four agencies”■Continued from page 1
B I T S
& B
Y T E S Anil Uniyal is CEO,
CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz
Anil Uniyal, chief operating officer,
Network18 Media, and business head,
TV18, media operations, has been
appointed CEO of Network18's
business news channels, CNBC-TV18
and CNBC Awaaz. In his new role,
Uniyal will be responsible for the
strategic, financial and operational
management of Ithe two channels and
will report to B Saikumar, group COO,
Network 18. B Saikumar, group COO,
Network18, said, “Anil has been one of
the key executives involved in the
growth of Network18's business news
channels since their respective
launches. He is now expected to steer
the channels into a whole new phase of
leadership and profitability.”
Madison wins ITC account;Mindshare gets Videocon d2h
Madison World has won the media
duties for ITC. The agency will now
handle the entire ITC portfolio, across
all verticals. The size of the business is
over Rs 400 crore. The incumbent onthe account is Lintas Media Group
(LMG). The media agencies that took
part in the pitch process include Group
M's MEC, Starcom MediaVest and
Mudra Max.
Meanwhile, media buying agency
Mindshare has won the Videocon d2h
business along with Philips and
Electrolux. “We are extremely happy to
set up Team Videocon and provide
communication
management
solutions that will
drive their
businesses,” said
Gowthaman
Ragothaman, leader,
Mindshare India.
OgilvyOne wins goldat DMA Echo
OgilvyOne Mumbai
has won a gold at
the DMA Echo
awards held in San
Francisco. Theaward is for the
‘Yacht Blueprint’
mailer done for DHL Express India.
OgilvyOne also picked up a Leader
Award for its entry ‘Number Game’ for
IBM. “What’s indeed a matter of pride
for us is that we are consistently
bettering ourselves,” said Vaishakhi
Bharucha, senior creative director.
The DMA Echo is considered to be
one of the highest honours in direct
marketing with a very rigorous three-
step judging process spanning a few
months. The award celebrates the
pinnacle of marketing excellence
combining visionary strategy,
compelling creative and breakthrough
results.
AR Rahman is brandambassador for Toyota Etios
Toyota Kirloskar Motor has roped in
AR Rahman as brand ambassador for
the Toyota Etios, which will be
launched in December this year.
Rahman will endorse the car throughvarious marketing campaigns of the
company.
On roping in the music maestro as
the face of the Etios campaign, Hiroshi
Nakagawa, managing director, TKM,
said, “There is a very strong connect
between the product and its brand
ambassador, with both being, ‘global’,
‘innovative’, ‘reliable’, and a ‘class-
above quality’.”
Kunal Mukherjee is marke-ting head, UTV Bindass
UTV Bindass has appointed Kunal
Mukherjee as its marketing head. This
announcement reinforces the
company’s decision to strengthen its
strategic team and highlight its
positioning as the first 360-degree
entertainment brand for Indian youth.
Confirming the development, Nikhil
Gandhi, business head, UTV Bindass,
said, “We are delighted to announce
that Kunal Mukherjee will take on the
role of marketing head for brand
Bindass, in addition to his current
portfolio of marketing head - UTV
World Movies, UTV Movies
and UTV Action.”
Sonam Kapoor is Electrolux brand ambassador
Home appliances maker Electrolux
has appointed Bollywood actress
Sonam Kapoor as its brand
ambassador in India.
Said Anil Khera, chief executiveofficer, PE Electronics Ltd, “This is
the first time that we have engaged
with a brand ambassador as we believe
that Sonam Kapoor encapsulates all
the qualities that Electrolux stands for
and will enable our customers to have
a better connect with our products.”
PE Electronics Ltd is a new
business unit that brings together two
premium brands Philips ( range of
television products ) and Electrolux
(range of Home
Appliances) that
complement each
other as a single
entity under a unique
brand licensee
agreement.
■Continued from page 1
MUDRA’S NEW MOVES
“While earlier itwasn't known
as a creativepowerhouse, it hasnow establisheditself as a creativeagency. They aregiving competitionto O&M for thetop slot.”Rahul GhoshGroup creative director,TBWA
“Earlier you had togo all out to make
something happenin Mudra. Now,it’s a consolidatedeffort. There is amachinery inplace to makethings happencreatively.”Anup ChitnisECD,Ogilvy & Mather
“I saw Mudra growfrom a place where
creativity wasdiscouraged into aplace where creati-vity was respected,and I’m proud thatI was instrumentalin initiating thatchange.”Ryan MenezesECD,McCann Erickson
“When I wasthere,there was
this underdogimage and itwanted to provesomething. Now, itis a more esta-blished agency.The environmenthas changed.”Santosh DesaiCEO and MD, FutureBrands
“It used to be a veryIndian agency with
Indian entrepre-neurial clients andhad just startedpolishing theprocesses. Today,the internalprocessesseem tohave gotten better.”Chandradeep Mit raFounder and CEO,PipalMajik
(Clockwise from top)
Ad campaigns created by
Mudra Group for Dabur Vatika,
McDonalds,Samsung, Reliance
Communications, Rasna ,
Big Bazaar and Godrej
FIVE FORMER EXECUTIVES VIEWS ON MUDRA
Photo montage:SURENDER SINGH