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Tag: GroupM

  • GroupM revises Ad Spend growth to 12.5% from earlier 11.6%

    GroupM revises Ad Spend growth to 12.5% from earlier 11.6%

    MUMBAI: GroupM revised their annual estimated advertising expenditure (AdEx) for 2014 from 11.6 per cent to 12.5 per cent released earlier this year. The AdEx revision is part of the global report called the ‘This Year, Next Year’ 2014.

     

    Speaking about the various sectors contributing to the revised growth, GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “After a cautious start to the year, the overall sentiment in the country is positive following the general elections and a new stable government. One of the sectors that is adding to the growth story in India is retail. Specifically e-Commerce players that are investing heavily in above the line advertising along with digital media. Industries like FMCG, Auto, telecom and BFSI are expected to increase spends given competitive pressures and clear policies.”

     

    While, digital media continues to show the maximum growth with 35 per cent, television spending is set to grow to 14.8 per cent as against the previously predicted 12 per cent. In print, as government spending and retail will continue to increase spending, regional publications and local advertisers are projected to lead the growth for dailies.

     

    ‘This Year, Next Year’, is part of GroupM’s media and marketing forecasting series drawn from data supplied by holding company WPP’s worldwide resources in advertising, public relations, market research, and specialist communications.

     

    GroupM globally also released their revised estimate India, Brazil and Russia remain among the faster-growing ad markets.

  • GroupM forecasts ad spends to reach $560 billion by 2015

    GroupM forecasts ad spends to reach $560 billion by 2015

    MUMBAI: WPP’s GrpupM is out with its biannual ‘This Year, Next Year’ report forecasting the global advertising investments.

    As per the report the ad spends will reach $534 billion in 2014, a 4.5 per cent increase over 2013. The company predicts investments in 2015 rising an additional 5 per cent to $560 billion.

    In further says that globally, ad recovery is localised, with 17 markets accounting for 93 per cent of expected ad growth in 2014. Even at its moderate 3.4 per cent rate of ad investment growth this year to $162 billion, the US contributes fully one-quarter of incremental ad dollars. China ranks second as it climbs a predicted 9.8 per cent to $76 billion. Other countries making the cut include Nigeria, Kenya and Vietnam.

    “Many companies are still operating with very strong balance sheets,” said GroupM Global president Dominic Proctor. “Coupled with a rising general confidence and a specific comfort around digital marketing, though notwithstanding some geo-political uncertainty, we are seeing an uplift in some of the ‘older economies’ as well as the new.”

    Of marketplace performance, ‘This Year, Next Year’ report editor Adam Smith stated, “Despite the slowdown in China’s general economy from 2012, its consumer economy continues to expand. This, plus intensive digitisation of advertising, keeps China ad investment rising at or near double-digits, with no large print legacy to correct.”

    It is a different story in Western Europe, where 73 per cent of the regional economy is in the Eurozone, where demand remains suppressed by debt, internal imbalances and deflationary politics. In real terms, the Eurozone remains 20 per cent below its 2007 advertising peak, and the hardest-hit ‘periphery’ of Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal, 47 per cent below the peak.1

    Smith added, “Western Europe, however, is the most-digitised ad region in the world; though this may finally be maturing to judge by digital ad investment growth slowing from double- to high-single digits in 2014 and 2015.”

    Western Europe also has the world’s most print-heavy advertising, though here too, the downward adjustments to annual advertising investment are moderating from double- to mid-single-digits in 2014 and 2015.    

    Elsewhere, GroupM notes that some members of its south-east Asia group (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam) face political and economic challenges, and this year will collectively slip from double- to mid-single digit ad growth.

    “This group will still contribute to the global ad recovery, but we are on alert for central banks ‘tightening into the downturn’ if inflation becomes a problem,” said Smith.

    India, Brazil and Russia remain among the faster-growing ad markets, though GroupM warns that its reduced Russia forecast – from an annual run-rate of 10 per cent to 6 per cent — depends on no worsening in domestic affairs. 

  • 9X Jalwa’s treat to media agencies

    9X Jalwa’s treat to media agencies

    MUMBAI: Media agencies usually help clients target consumers for their campaign and are usually never on the receiving end. Trying to bring such an interaction to media agency offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru is 9X Jalwa while promoting its new look.

    On 10 June, the channel had donned a new avatar with the tagline ‘Forever Young’, targeting viewers across all age groups who enjoy music that is enduring. The tagline also reflects the Bollywood playlist and music construct on the channel that is perpetual and never grows old.

    According to 9X Media VP marketing Kapil Sharma, consumers have been enjoying the new look on television and so it was high time to target the trade media to create the same amount of buzz. “It is the trade media that get their clients to spend high budgets on our channel. After attracting the consumer media the immediate next step we thought was to target the trade media and highlight this fact across the agencies.”

    Rather than treading the traditional route, it chose to go with fun creative activities in developed by Pure Media. It has created a unique game titled ‘Pic Charades’, which is a fun amalgamation of Pictionary and Dumb Charades using emoticons from instant messaging apps.

    The participating teams will compete with each other to guess the Bollywood songs using these emoticons. The songs featured in these games are from the 9X Jalwa playlist. The team with maximum points wins merchandises.

    Sharma says that through the activation the channel wanted to convey the message that songs remain forever young. “Primarily the songs that we play on Jalwa currently are from the 90s and 2000s. If you like a particular song, no matter how many times you listen to it, it still remains fresh.”

    As emoticons have become a part of everyone’s daily life, the channel thought it right to tap into it. “A lot of times you receive forwards on your personal messenger where you have to guess the name of a song or a movie by using emoticons. We thought this is something that people enjoy and have fun playing it. So why not draw an inspiration and create our campaign revolving around this entire thought,” he highlights.

    Apart from the activities, branding exercises will be done even in Chennai. Different cut outs, standees, posters and tent cards have been put across agencies. Mailers, ads and advertorials are being simultaneously released across trade websites and magazines.

    The engagement goes online as well. If a person misses the chance to participate when the contest is happening in the cafeteria, a tent card is left on the desk of the employee and he/she can email those answers.

    Moreover, the pictures of people participating and people winning prizes will be shared on the 9X Jalwa Facebook page. At present, 9X Jalwa has 126,259 likes on Facebook at the time of penning this article. However its Twitter page needs a push with just 1,280 followers.

    Sharma goes on to say that out of the total budget, 60-70 per cent is spent on the consumer related promotions and 30-40 per cent is spent for trade communications.

  • Media offices turn tricolour for Independence Day 2014

    Media offices turn tricolour for Independence Day 2014

    MUMBAI: The country is gearing up to celebrate India’s 68th Independence Day. The patriotic fervor is in the air. Everything from channels to radio stations, newspapers, magazines and even the digital space have donned the colours of the tricolor.

     

    With every individual busy with their hectic lives, Independence Day is the only day where people across the country come together to celebrate regardless of their caste, creed or religion. As the I-Day nears, Indiantelevision.com takes a look at how different media organisations are celebrating this day at their offices.

     

    Doordarshan Mumbai

     

    * The pubcaster Doordarshan’s Mumbai Kenra led by its head Mukesh Sharma  has decided to throw a special Independence Day  eve dinner for a select group of invitees from the cities glitterati and bring in Independence Day, reminding Indians of another generation of what happened when India attained independence on 15 August 1947. A flag hoisting ceremony will follow in the morning on 15 August followed by breakfast.

     

    Zee News

     

    * Coming up with an innovative exercise for the I-day, Zee News is launching a campaign ‘My Earth My Duty’, under which symbolic plantation will be done at its office and also at locations like Wagah Border, Lucknow, Udhampur and Delhi. The organisation will also have a ‘Best Tiranga Girl and Boy Contest’, awarding the best dressed employees. Meanwhile, the Zee TV office will be accessorised with Tri Colour balloons and all the employees will be treated with sweets for the occasion.

     

    SureWaves, Bengaluru

     

    * With patriotism in the air, employees at SureWaves, Bengaluru have decided to wear attire that in some ways reflects the Indian flag’s tri-colour on 14 August followed by a get-together in the office where quiz and some impromptu games are planned. The company is also toying with the idea of flag hoisting and is thinking of initiating a drive towards waste management at home. If it can, it plans to bring in an expert who will speak to the company team and their families about waste composting and waste conversion to manure depending on the expert’s availability. They are also trying to distribute small Bundi packets to remind the employees about childhood days in the school.

     

    Group M

     

    * While India’s leading media agency’s GroupM’s  office has already been decorated with balloons in tri-colour, chocolates will be distributed to the employees.

     

    NDTV Good Times

     

    * For a special Independence Day celebration, the whole of NDTV Good Times’ office will be seen in ethnic, wearing a mix of saffron, white and green.

     

    Tata Sky

     

    * The DTH operator has also decided to deck up its office with saffron, white and green balloons, suiting the occasion along with snacks and songs. Knowledge will be tested with a special Independence day quiz.

     

    While a number of media offices have something special planned for the day, a few of them like India TV, Times Now, NDTV, Sony, Atria, Star Network’s Kannada GEC – Suvarna have nothing special planned for Independence Day.

     

    As different offices celebrate Independence Day in their own special way, we at Indiantelevision.com wish you a Happy 68th Independence Day. We will be donning ethnic wear, sing patriotic songs, ending with the national anthem. Jai Hind!

  • Quasar hires Rasika Bamba as head of digital media, north and east

    Quasar hires Rasika Bamba as head of digital media, north and east

    MUMBAI: Part of WPP Group, Quasar, a full service digital agency, has appointed Rasika Bamba as the new regional head, north and east.

     

    She will be in charge of scaling up new business initiatives and to strengthen existing relationships in the region. She will additionally be responsible for the media practice at Quasar. Bamba will report into the agency’s business head Gaurav Nabh and will be based out of New Delhi.

     

    With over 10 years of digital experience, Bamba joins the Quasar team from Hungama Digital Services (HDS) where she was heading business development and servicing – defining the digital roadmap for several key clients at the agency. She spearheaded client relationships like Hindustan Unilever, Microsoft, Mahindra, ACC, SBI MF and was also in-charge of the media practice. Prior to Hungama, she has been associated with brands like Yahoo India and Affle.

     

    Nabh said, “Rasika is a thorough digital professional, with experience across various industries. Over the years she has handled some tough clients and mastered her skills in managing tough situations. With her deep understanding of the medium, she has been instrumental in convincing brands to venture into the digital medium. We look forward to Rasika’s invaluable inputs as she leads our client relationships and grows our specialised media practice.”

     

    Bamba said, “I am excited to come on board lead the business and build the media practice at Quasar. Given the growth path the company has chalked out for the next 18 to 24 months, this is a great opportunity for us to deliver true value to our existing clients and bring on new ones to our roster.”

     

    Bamba brings to the table vast domain knowledge, a keen understanding of integrated media requirements and enjoys working with various facets of digital media to ensure thorough execution of the core business strategy to deliver results.

  • Facebook signs first agency deal in India with GroupM

    Facebook signs first agency deal in India with GroupM

    MUMBAI: During her recent visit, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, signed the company’s first agency deal in India with WPP’s integrated media and marketing company, GroupM.

     

    “Our partnership with GroupM will benefit clients to reach over 100 million people in India, 84 million on mobile — both smartphone and feature phone —  and custom audiences within the 100 million in urban and rural India.” said Facebook India head Kirthiga Reddy. “We’re excited about this wide-ranging collaboration which combines the strength of the world’s best global advertising platform with GroupM’s market-leading position to deliver personalised marketing at scale.”

     

    GroupM has been creating cutting edge digital solutions for clients and given its access to data and research and has been integrating digital with traditional media for its clients. GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “We are delighted with the Facebook partnership that can help unlock even greater value for our clients. We work closely with Facebook globally, regionally and locally. India is projected to be the largest country for Facebook by people very soon and we see exciting possibilities for our clients. This partnership adds to the set of enablers we have created over the years that can help drive digital adoption in our market.”

     

    For Nokia Lumia, GroupM pioneered the deployment of Facebook’s outcome measurement and leveraged Facebook’s sophisticated targeting capabilities to deliver a 54x return on Facebook ad spend.

     

    Once again, leveraging Facebook’s sharp targeting capability, GroupM delivered outstanding results for Arrow, a premium apparel brand. Arrow was running an end of season sale and wanted to drive a special discount promotion to an audience between 18 to 35 years old residing in metro cities. Arrow was able to deliver a 30x return on Facebook ad spend and a significant redemption rate from this exclusive Facebook campaign.

     

    To add to its digital offerings, last year GroupM India launched Mash Up, a digital content unit which has been creating engaging digital content solutions for brands, the most recent being the digital video campaign with Kapil Sharma for Honda Mobilio. GroupM also manages a specialist mobile advertising company, Madhouse, bringing brands together with mobile media publishers to unleash the power of mobile. Its full service digital marketing agencies Quasar and Blazar include end to end digital solutions for advertising across the web, social media, search, analytics and creative services. As part of the renewed focus on digital, GroupM in the past year has evolved its practices in content, movie activation, experiential marketing and analytics.

  • GroupM’s market share increases to 41.2 per cent

    GroupM’s market share increases to 41.2 per cent

    MUMBAI: GroupM, WPP’s integrated media and marketing company, has topped the RECMA overall activity billings 2013 ranking of media agencies again. GroupM India increased its market share as per RECMA in the year 2013 to 41.2 per cent from 40.3 per cent in 2012. Globally, GroupM retained the number one position amongst media agency networks with a market share of 28 per cent. The RECMA report evaluates the overall activity – including buying billings and specialised services.

     

    Mindshare continues to lead in overall market share as the largest integrated media planning company in India, while the other GroupM agencies registered a healthy growth over the last year. GroupM agencies dominated RECMA’s qualitative evaluation with Maxus being the only media agency in India to be rated ‘dominant’, for the fourth year in a row. Mindshare and Mediacom were rated ‘high’ while MEC was rated ‘good’. Continuing its winning streak from 2013 where the network picked up over 80 new clients, GroupM agencies have so far won over 50 new clients in the first half of 2014.

     

    GroupM agencies continue to dominate all industry awards. Apart from that, GroupM is the only media agency network to have won the Porter Prize in 2013, ‘The Dream Company to work for’ in the media and entertainment sector and the ‘Best Employer’ at the World HRD Congress.

     

    Speaking on the year so far, GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “In recent years, GroupM has taken great measures to become future ready and give our clients an edge in a highly competitive media market. We no longer plan only media for them, but give them end to end integrated marketing solutions that bring digital marketing, content, data and analytics together with traditional media such as TV, radio and print. Our collaborations with global leaders in digital media, data, technology and research, coupled with years of collective experience gives our clients the advantage of working with a true thought leader and help them build highly successful brands. We were the first agency network with whom Facebook signed a partnership agreement in India and have a similar very unique partnership with Google that brings great value to our clients”.

     

    Over the last year, GroupM took a fresh approach to integrated marketing solutions with a program called New ME. This new approach resulted in several successful campaigns including the highly impactful launch of Honda Mobilio with Kapil Sharma led by digital content and the ‘Power of 49’ campaign for Tata Tea led by TV advertising, content, mobile marketing and social impact. In May 2014, Mindshare launched the Loop Room in Gurgaon and Mumbai to help media planners and marketers pick up insights in real time. Maxus recently launched Moribus, its behavioral lab.

     

    “GroupM agencies are at the cutting edge of media and we are preparing our teams and clients to not just move with the times but stay ahead,” added Srinivas. The New ME approach also helped expand business with new clients across industries ranging from e-commerce, banking & insurance, sports, retail, healthcare, etc.

  • GroupM announces its new YCO

    GroupM announces its new YCO

    MUMBAI: Over the last year, GroupM has made a paradigm shift in the way it operates in South Asia, keeping in mind the ever changing media landscape. With the digital medium at the heart of its processes and planning, it has resulted in the conglomerate winning several new businesses across its agencies and specialist units.

     

    GroupM has announced the new members of the YCO (youth committee) for 2014-15 to help it transform into a digitally centric marketing network. The names include Ashima Chetan, Chinmay Kelkar, Dany Coutinho, Divya Nair, Farah Siddiqui, Farzeen Udwadia, Manoj Kumar, Manvi Singh, Mohit Sharma, Nakul Agarwal, Parul Pandhoh, Ruth Alice Noranho, Sangeetha Mahadevan, Subhamoy Das and Vaibhav Choudhari.

     

    The group of the brightest stars under 30 across GroupM agencies and specialist units will work together with the GroupM senior leadership on key initiatives.

     

    The YCO initiative, started a year ago, has become a benchmark for GroupM’s worldwide offices and the industry alike.  GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “We launched several new initiatives in 2013 as part of our ‘New Me’ roadmap – which is helping us transform to a digitally centric marketing communications network from just a media agency. YCO was one such initiative in the talent space. We wanted to harness the knowledge, energy and enthusiasm that exist at the junior levels of the organisation and give them a platform where they could add value to our network. The YCO worked closely with the senior leadership team (EXCO) through the year in three areas – digital transformation, talent retention and internal & external communication programs. We got a lot of rich and valuable insights from YCO in all these areas and have made several changes to the way we used to operate”

     

    GroupM South Asia chief talent officer Gaurav Hirey added, “The YCO initiative has been tremendously successful at GroupM. This year we have integrated a reverse mentoring element into the program where YCO members will mentor an EXCO member helping them sharpen or develop new skills. We believe that this initiative just like many others in GroupM will help us to be future ready and deliver client delight.”

     

    GroupM India, the country’s largest media investment conglomerate, was honored with the ‘The Dream Company to Work’ award for in the media and entertainment sector. GroupM is also in the overall list of ‘Dream Employer of the Year’ in India. The awards have been conferred by the World HRD Congress 2014 in Mumbai.

  • MEC elevates Rahul Jadhav to national trading head

    MEC elevates Rahul Jadhav to national trading head

    MUMBAI: MEC has promoted Rahul Jadhav to national trading head.

     

    In his new role, he will be responsible for media investments across platforms and will report to MEC MD T Gangadhar, GroupM pricing & investments head Sidharth Parashar and MEC Asia Pacific trading head Michael Beecroft.

     

    Jadhav said, “I am deeply humbled – I thank MEC for recognising my work and providing me the opportunity to take on new responsibilities. I am very excited about working closely with our clients and making their investments work even harder”.

     

    In his previous role, Jadhav was head of media buying on Colgate Palmolive. He has been with MEC since 2010 and will continue to be based in Mumbai.

     

    Gangadhar said, “Trading is a massive differentiator for us and Rahul has the smarts to lead this critical function. He has an astute understanding of the media landscape and enjoys excellent relationships with our business partners. I wish him the very best in his new role”.

     

    Jadhav is a Bachelor in Engineering and holds an MBA degree from the University of Pune. Prior to joining MEC, he was product manager at Tata Motors. His career also includes a stint at Bajaj Tempo.

  • We are very choosy when we hire people: Gaurav Hirey

    We are very choosy when we hire people: Gaurav Hirey

    Founded a decade ago, WPP Group’s biggest media agencies came under one umbrella to form GroupM and since then there has been no looking back. In India the agency has been crowned as the ‘Dream company to work with’ as well as ‘Dream employer of the year’; with over 1300 people spread across 10 cities and have 20 offices and growing each day!

     

    With the appraisal season on, Indiantelevsion.com’s Meghna Sharma caught up with GroupM South Asia chief talent officer Gaurav Hirey to know more about the machinery that runs the agency.  He has the expertise of around 20 years in talent management and believes himself to be a game changer who brings innovative full impact talent initiatives to life and helps organisations leverage their most important resource – their people – to be the best that they can be.

     

    What makes GroupM the dream company to work for?

     

    Our people make GroupM a “Dream Company”. It is our talent vision to make people our unfair advantage in the marketplace by being not just the best place to work in but the place where the ‘best’ work.

     

    We do not have one single employee value proposition we have six. These are five agencies Mindshare, Maxus, Mediacom, MEC and Motivator and GroupM as the conglomerate. It has been our ability to define our Employee Value Proposition clearly and manage it well which recently earned us the title of “Dream Company to work for” in 2014.

     

    Whether it is having an opportunity of being a part of the Youth Executive Committee (YCO) and working with the best in the industry, or getting a paid holiday on your birthday or being able to have access to a bouquet of learning and capability options or selecting a career path and growing within the company, GroupM as an organisation is able to provide options to our employees at each and every stage. We are a place where we don’t just offer jobs we offer careers!

     

    GroupM was also named ‘Dream Employer of the Year’ in India. How do you choose the talent?

     

    Selectively! We are very choosy when we hire people. 

     

    GroupM is a group of five media agencies and each of these agencies have defined a set of behaviours that they believe in coupled with their client and employee proposition. We match the candidate to these behaviors arriving at a best fit for the candidate not just from a role perspective but also from an agency perspective thus giving the candidate the best possible opportunity to succeed.

     

    How different are your HR policies from the others?

     

    As any responsible corporate, we do have the typical, run of the mill HR policies. However The GroupM Talent function is always striving to ensure that we build policies keeping our employees at the centre of everything we do. Principally we customise all our initiatives to what the business needs rather than focusing on doing HR for the sake of HR.

     

    For example, we have an office policy that states clearly that office times are 9:30 am reporting to 6:00pm. However we allow complete flexibility to managers and teams should they decide they want to stick to these times or need flexibility. We do not in most cases behave typically like companies who deduct leaves and salary for those who report in late to work in spite of working late the previous day! 

     

    Any special benefits or incentives for the employees?

     

    We have several benefits which are a first within the media planning industry.  We offer outpatient support to our employees and they can claim medical expenses up to a certain amount.

     

    We also insure the lives of our employees for four times of their annual compensation so that it secures their families in case of any serious event. We offer hospitalization and medical insurance to all our employees and their immediate family members.

     

     In terms of absolute rewards we have made our employees our partners in growth and most of our employees are eligible for variable pay depending on their and the company performance in addition to the base salary that they take home. We also have an online system that allows all our employees to be recognised and rewarded! They are eligible to earn stars and then redeem them online for a host of benefits!

     

    Our endeavour at all times is to ensure the welfare of our employees and ensure that they feel they are appropriately compensated for their efforts at work.

     

    What are the various capability-building initiatives undertaken by the agency? What is the frequency of such initiatives?

     

    There is an enormous focus on capability building within GroupM. Within the media industry one of the most common feedback that you get about GroupM is that they build careers of their employees and training is one of their biggest tools. We have an in-house trainer pool of over 45 trainers. This group is called the Aspire team and on an average every employee in GroupM gets about four man days of training.

     

    Aspire does an annual training needs assessment post which the training calendar is prepared. We have a huge focus on training team managers and leaders and we make a considerable amount of effort ensuring that our people are best equipped to handle their roles. We also focus on customised training and personalised executive coaching to those who need them.

     

    Other than the above we offer various external, regional and global training programs conducted by our global and regional partners and by WPP our parent organisation.

     

     How well-functioned is the grievance cell?

     

    We believe in constant and two way communication with our employees. Open Houses and town halls are a norm and our senior managers make it a point to stand there with our employees and communicate to them very transparently what is happening within the company and how the business is performing on a regular basis. During these interactions employees are free to voice their concerns and we address each and every one of them. 

     

    We also have a “Post Box” which is present in every office that allows employees to write not just about their grievances but also share ideas and suggestions. The best ideas get implemented and the employee who has shared theta gets recognised and rewarded. 

     

    We maintain a continuous feedback system within GroupM, for all new joiners we have a breaking in feedback , a six monthly feedback and an annual feedback which is captured and actioned on. On an annual basis we have an employee satisfaction survey that is conducted not just in India but globally to hear what our employees are saying and post the results of the survey we implement action plans for those areas that employees have pointed out need addressing.

     

    Our leaders operate on an open door policy and team members know that they can walk in to anyone and speak about their concerns in addition to this at any point they have an open option to walk up to any HR team member and speak to them if their  issues are not addressed. We are firm believers of active engagement at all times.

     

    At GroupM we believe that we are in the business of people and it is they who will lead us to creating client delight and they can do so only once they are delighted. To achieve this we believe constant and continuous two-way communication is essential to delivering value to our clients through our people! Our people know that there opinion counts and what they say matter to us!

     

    In today’s world when there are too many opportunities available, how do you retain talent?

     

    It is our belief that gone are the days when you could hire someone and he/she would work all their life for you! Today we consider ourselves as borrowers of talent. People will stay with you only once they are clear about what is in it for them! It is our ability to be able to articulate this clearly that has helped us retain our talent. GroupM and the agencies have the lowest attrition in the media industry in India and this is all thanks to our leaders who have walked the talk and ensured a transparent and an open environment for our people.

     

    During economic slowdown, did the agency let go of any people? If yes, then how many and at which level?

     

    We generally have been a cost conscious company. We believe that if there is an investment that has to be made it needs to be rational and logical. I still remember the high level meeting of the executive committee that was called when we realised that the economic environment globally had taken a dive. There was a complete consensus across the room that we will make it work and that none of our employees will be let go. HR embarked on a project that helped us re-profile and reposition our client teams and structures allowing us to ensure that every employee was gainfully employed and contributed to the organisation. In fact that year, not only did we close with a growth number but we also managed to recognise and reward our employees. I am extremely proud of the fact that in spite of the tough times as an organisation, the leadership team was able to place our people right at the top of our priorities and we were able to ensure continuity for each and every employee of GroupM! We did not let go of anyone.

     

    How does the appraisal system work in GroupM?

     

    We have an online appraisal system at GroupM for all our business units. We follow the management by objectives system, there are two parts, the first part consists of setting SMART objectives and the second part accesses the team member with regard to the behaviours/values of the agency or the business unit the team member belongs to.

     

    We ensure that managers have a conversation and there is a sign off from both the team member and the appraiser thus ensuring alignment on the final rating that is received by the team member. We have recently started getting our team members to also rate their appraisal performance as we believe that managing performance is an ongoing and continuous process and we would like our managers to be better at it.

     

    For leaders and senior managers we also conduct a 360 degree evaluation where even the team members get an opportunity to give feedback to the managers.

     

    According to you, what is the biggest HR issue gripping the corporate in the country?

     

    The issue that really keeps me awake these days is on how we can engage the millennia’s and get them to stay with us to build a career. Given that today the motivations of youngsters are very different and they are looking for fast growth, it is a challenge to be able to manage their expectations. The organisation of tomorrow is going to be built on their shoulders and if we are not able to engage, retain and grow them then that would affect us and our business. Even though we enjoy the lowest attrition rates across the media industry, I yet get worked up when I see youngsters joining us and leaving us in a short time. 

     

    We have rolled out several initiatives to engage them and get them to participate in decision making. The most talked about initiative has been the Youth Committee of GroupM where we have displayed the will to take participative management to the next level and give the youngsters a voice in organisational decision making. I am optimistic that with such initiatives like the YCO we will be able to retain and grow young talent within our agencies!  

     

     What is your take on revision of HR policies to cater to employees’ needs? Have any of the policies changed to suit the employees? (Give examples)

     

    Any policy that does not address an employee’s need is there just to be filed and kept in a policy manual with no impact!  HR policies have to be treated as guidelines and they need to be reviewed periodically. As a practice we do this once in two years and make the changes necessary. Like I mentioned we changed the working hours policy and empowered our unit heads to decide how they need their teams to operate. Similarly we also changed the leave policy to ensure that employees take their annual leave compulsorily ensuring a healthy work life balance. Customizing policies to meet the employee and business need is critical to the very existence of the policy without it, it’s just a piece of paper that gets filed in!

     

    One HR policy you are really proud of and why?

     

    There are several but one that I am particularly proud of is the policy of Holidays on Birthdays!

     

    This is because it was suggested by our Youth Committee (YCO) last year and was implemented immediately. The policy clearly states that you can take paid leave on your birthday no questions asked. It is simple and completely empowering, just like many other initiatives/policies in GroupM which allow our employees to decide for themselves!