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Tag: Mindshare

  • WPP Q1 2013 revenues grow 6%; looks to maintain tempo

    WPP Q1 2013 revenues grow 6%; looks to maintain tempo

    MUMBAI: Sir Martin Sorrell‘s charge is doing very well, thank you. Take a dekko at the Q1 2013 financials that the global advertising and marketing leader WPP has posted. Revenue growth is at 5.85 per cent, which seems not much, but it is far better than some of its peers‘ performances (Omnicom at 2.8 per cent and IPG at 2.4 per cent). Revenues were at ?2.53 billion as against Q1 2012‘s ?2.39 billion.

    On a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of acquisitions and currency fluctuations, revenues were up 2.1 per cent with gross margin up 1.9 per cent compared with the same period last year.

    North America led the media communications conglomerate‘s growth by contributing 35 per cent of the total revenue pie followed by the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & Middle East and Central & Eastern Europe region at 29.1 per cent. Western Continental Europe accounted for 23.4 per cent of WPP‘s Q1 2013 revenues while United Kingdom pitched in the rest 12.5 per cent. The UK and the Asia Pacific Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & Middle East and Central & Eastern Europe region were the only two regions which showed a growth in share of the revenue pie.

    Business sector wise, advertising and media investment management continued to be the strongest sector accounting for 40.8 per cent of the total revenues, followed by branding and identity, healthcare and specialist communications with 27.3 per cent, while consumer insight and public relations and public affairs made up 23.2 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively.

    In line with the group‘s strategic focus on new markets, new media and consumer insight, WPP completed 13 transactions in the first quarter. Nine acquisitions and investments were classified in new markets (of which eight were in new media), two in consumer insight, including data analytics and the application of technology and two driven by individual client or agency needs.

    Specifically, in the first quarter of 2013, acquisitions and increased equity stakes have been completed in advertising and media investment management in Canada, Colombia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand; in consumer insight in the United States and Myanmar; in public relations and public affairs in China; in direct, digital and interactive in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and Australia, says the media group‘s release.

    WPP gained a total of ?940 million in net new business wins (including all losses) in the first quarter, compared to ?1.159 billion in the same period last year and in line with the quarterly average in 2012 of approximately ?940 million. Of this, JWT, Ogilvy & Mather, Y&R, Grey and United generated net new business billings of ?281 million.

    Also, out of the group total, GroupM, its media investment management company,which includes Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom, Maxus, GroupM Search and Xaxis, together with tenthavenue, generated net new business billings of ?465 million ($743 million).

    In its financial guidance for the rest of 2013, WPP says “our prime focus will remain on growing revenues and gross margin faster than the industry average, driven by our leading position in the new markets, in new media, in consumer insight, including data analytics and the application of technology, creativity and horizontality. At the same time, we will concentrate on meeting our operating margin objectives by managing absolute levels of costs and increasing our flexibility, in order to adapt our cost structure to significant market changes and ensuring that the benefits of the restructuring investments taken in 2012 are realised.” It has targeted like-for-like revenue and gross margin growth of 3 per cent and also improving its operating margins by half a point.

  • Mindshare enters Kochi

    MUMBAI: GroupM‘s flagship media agency Mindshare is expanding its South India presence and is setting up a branch office in Kochi, Kerala.

    The Kochi office of the agency will be headed by K.T Haridas.

    Mindshare leader – south Asia Ravi Rao said, “Mindshare has been committed to providing leading media and marketing services pan India. The opening of a Kochi office is a natural outgrowth of the strong customer and partner base that we already enjoy in Kerela. We are well positioned and look forward to growing this further.”

    The office in Kochi will add on to the agency‘s offices that span across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.

    The agency is working closely with clients like Jos Alukka & Sons and Dhathri Ayurveda.

  • MediaCom gets Soumit Deb as business director – Investments

    MUMBAI: Mediacom, the GroupM and Madison Media joint venture agency, has appointed Soumit Deb as head of Investments – South.

    In his new role, Deb will be reporting to Mediacom head of South Sriram Sharma.

    Deb has joined Mediacom from Starcom MediaVest Group where he was working as business director.

    Prior to joining SMG, Deb had also worked with Lintas Media Group, Mindshare, Mediacom Sri Lanka, MPG and Lodestar.

  • Rajit Desai joins Mindshare as partner – consulting

    Mumbai: Mindshare has strengthened its consulting and analytics discipline in the west with the appointment of Rajit Desai as partner – mindshare consulting.

    In his new role, Desai will actively contribute towards developing and restructuring Mindshare‘s business consulting offering for clients in west region.

    He will be reporting to the Mindshare consulting and analytics head of practice Sandeep Pandey.

    In his last stint, Desai served as the VP and head of Lab center (research and strategy hub) at Lodestar UM.

    Pandey said, “Our nature of work requires people from strong consulting and business strategy profile and Rajit has a combination of both. It is part of our larger talent restructuring within consulting discipline and you will hear soon about many senior profiles joining from different industries.”

    Desai said, “This exciting role is a logical next step for me. I see this as a big opportunity and I look forward to help address client‘s marketing and business problems and grow the practice along with the high quality team at Mindshare.”

    Having worked in the marketing vertical and as media consultant for various companies like HTA, Sony, Times Now, Loadstar, Media e2e and Turner Broadcasting, Desai comes with 16 years of work experience in the media function.

  • Siddharth Sethi to head Mindshare’s digital business

    Mumbai: Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM, has appointed Siddharth Sethi as leader- Digital for Mindshare India.

    Sethi’s last stint was as director India for Xaxis, GroupM‘s audience buying company.

    He is taking over the position which was vacant since Ashok Lalla quit in May 2012. Lalla is now with Infosys as global head- digital marketing.

    In his new role, Sethi will be responsible for boosting the agency’s full-service digital offerings geared towards actively pushing adaptive planning, performance and digital analytics to the fore.

    Based out of Mumbai, he will report into Mindshare South Asia leader Ravi Rao.

    Rao said, “We are very fortunate to have someone with such integrated expertise at the helm of our digital offerings. Siddharth‘s experience of having led Xaxis in India will be another factor in enhancing the overall digital offering as well his entrepreneurial culture will take Mindshare into a league of its own, well within the Original Thinking Framework for all brands. He is technologically savvy, understands the brand space and is performance driven.”

    On his move to Mindshare, Sethi said, “I am delighted to be joining an agency with such an impressive digital portfolio. Over recent years Mindshare has really built a strong digital team with some really impressive digital and social media campaigns under its belt. I am really looking forward to building on this reputation.”

    Sethi has over 12 years of experience in media management, marketing and product management. He has spent the last seven years focused on helping digital startups create products and revenue streams.

  • Mindshare gets maximum shortlists at Media Abbys 2013

    MUMBAI: GroupM‘s Mindshare leads the Media Abbys shortlist this year with 20 entries from India and one entry from Sri Lanka.

    IPG Mediabrands India‘s Lodestar UM follows with 16 entries, while GroupM‘s Maxus falls one short to be a close third. Madison Pinnacle has the fourth highest shortlisted entries with 14.

    The Media Abbys has a record 660 entries this year (beating last year‘s record of 628 entries) across 18 categories. The thrust is on digital with 260 entries coming from this medium. The rest 400 entries were from TV, Print, Radio, OOH and Branded Content.

    It was perhaps the result of Media Abby chairman Ashish Bhasin‘s foresight to further divide the digital category into Digital Search, Social Media, Display, Content, Medium and Mobile. The other categories for Media Abby Awards include Best Use of TV, Cinema, Newspapers, Outdoor, Special Events, Radio, Sponsorship, Branded Content, Mixed Media, Youth Marketing, Pro Bono, and South Asia Mixed Media.

    Speaking at the announcement of the Media Abbys shortlist, Bhasin said, “We realised that having one broad category for digital is not fair. The medium is fast catching on to traditional media and has a lot of variety within itself. Comparing a mobile campaign with a website design is like comparing apples to oranges. So we thought of creating the sub categories and giving the different aspects of digital a fair chance to compete.”

    Bhasin also stressed that this year nearly 50 agencies (big and small) participated in the Media Abbys, of which 27 agencies feature in the shortlist. “It is heartening to see that even independent and upcoming agencies are willing to participate. This year has seen a very encouraging participation from the entire industry,” Bhasin added.

    Apart from adding sub categories to the Media Abbys, this year was also the first time that the entire judging process was digital. Each jury member was given a laptop with headphones to see the case studies. The scores were entered online which were then collected on a common server and compiled. The entries for the awards were required on a USB drive rather than the usual hard copies.

    “We wanted to make the process as efficient as possible. By going digital, we have increased the transparency and are also doing our bit for the environment by saving paper,” explained Bhasin.

    The final judging process for the Media Abby Awards will be held on the 8 March 8 and the Media Awards will be held on 5 April 5 along with Digital, Design and Direct.

  • Women Power: Anita Kotwani

    As the International Women’s Day approaches, Indiantelevision.com catches up with some of the leading ladies in the media business to discuss the role of women in the current scenario. Mindshare’s Anita Kotwani shares her views on how it is to function in the media industry as a woman. With 16 years of experience in media planning, business development, marketing, media management, product promotions and team building, Kotwani is currently principal partner, client leadership at GroupM’s Mindshare.

    Q: How has the business of media changed in the last decade?

    A: It has been an enriching and rewarding experience through the years as the backroom media function of the erstwhile years has come to the forefront with the media agency getting an equal stake as compared to the creative agency in front of the clients.

    Q: How conducive is the environment for women to thrive in the media business today?

    A: This is one industry where we have seen women standing up at par with their male counterparts and in many cases are the ones leading the businesses. Recognition of the value that they bring to the business has been seen across the board and their efforts have been rewarded and recognised.

    Q: What are the major challenges women face today in the media business?

    A: The foremost challenge is to keep pace with the changing environment. Recognising the importance of new and emerging media, newer technologies will be critical going forward. Ensuring that we start the process of training on these mediums from the seniors would be important as otherwise you will have the younger lot being a lot savvier on the newer environments than yourselves.

    Another aspect that is challenging is respecting one as a senior. As a boss you need to ensure that you add value to your employees or the staff reporting to you. The respect that you gain from them when you are able to direct, guide, motivate or delegate as per the skill / will framework is an integral part for their development. In their success lies yours and you need to ensure that you carve out their growth trajectory in the organisation.

    Q: What changes would you like to see in the work environment to make it a better and more conducive place for women?

    A: The constant struggle that I do see for our industry is the work-life balance that is so hard to maintain. And for women with families and children to take care of, coping with both home and work is a challenge. I would really like to see flexible hours for women so that they can balance out their family and work life. As long as they are able to deliver on the work load, giving them the flexibility to work as per their convenience would help women to continue working rather than taking the necessary sabbatical that many do once they have kids to manage.

    Q: What advice would you give to the young girls entering the business of media today?

    A: For a person from a law background coming into this industry accidentally, I would really like to state that this industry grows on you. It is challenging and fun, yes stressful as well, but the satisfaction of making a difference and helping brands grow is another high. To add to that, the recognition and accolades that you draw for some path breaking work you have done on brands challenges you time and again to raise the bar on the businesses one handles.

  • Mindshare introduces content marketing, strategic partnerships practice

    MUMBAI: Mindshare, a WPP strategic planning and media investment agency, has announced the establishment of a newly formed Content Marketing and Strategic Partnerships practice.

    This is Mindshare‘s most recent response to increasing client demand for a unifying content strategy across all forms and formats – paid, owned and earned. In 2005, Mindshare launched Mindshare Entertainment (MSE).

    MindShare MD- communications planning Stacy Minero has been promoted to lead this initiative for Mindshare.

    Minero will be responsible for driving a more strategic and systematic approach to content marketing from advanced planning to development, discovery, and distribution.

    Drawing from a suite of proprietary tools designed to inform strategies and evaluate opportunities, she aims to infuse more insights and analytics into content marketing.

    Minero will report to Mindshare Communications Strategy practice head Tim Elton.

    Mindshare North America CEO Antony Young said, “Technology is driving consumers to access their entertainment and information across multiple emerging channels, devices and platforms. Our clients are recognising that marketing messaging has to go beyond traditional advertising formats such as, 30 second TV ads if they are to engage consumers and communicate more persuasively. We see a major opportunity to develop content marketing strategies early in the brand communications planning process that captures wider content formats and build these into a wider brand communications effort.”

    “Stacy‘s demonstrated expertise in creating this link between brands and the often unarticulated needs and desires of their audiences. She also has exceptional digital acumen that can turn content strategies into actionable ideas and partnerships,” Young added.

    As Practice Lead, Minero will leverage a team across Mindshare‘s entertainment, digital and broadcast groups. They will also look to actively partner with external and independent technology, entertainment and content companies seeking to work with brands.

    Minero said, “Everything starts with consumer insights and a deep understanding of mindset and motivation. To create human connections, we need to understand what compels people and link those insights to content ideas that transcend traditional advertising.”

  • Lionsgate consolidates media biz with Mindshare

    MUMBAI: Hollywood studio Lionsgate which acquired Summit Entertainment last year, has consolidated the media business for the combined entity with WPP’s Mindshare. The move has been made to generate significant cost savings.

    The spends by the combined entity are in the range of $275 to 300 million.

    The announcement came after Lionsgate held a multi-agency review for its media buy and planning business. Horizon, Mindshare and Initiative were the participating agencies.

    Initiative was the media agency on record for Lionsgate while Mindshare handled the media duties for Summit before it was taken over.

    Mindshare’s office in Santa Monica, California will handle media planning and buying activities for theatrical features as well as all home entertainment releases by Lionsgate, Summit, Roadside Attractions and Pantelion Films.

    Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger said, “By combining our media related services in one company, Lionsgate will immediately see significant savings which will impact the studio’s bottom line, achieve economies of scale that can be leveraged across our feature film entities and allow us additional resources to market and distribute our films in North America. In addition to significant cost savings, this move reflects a fresh strategic approach to media buying for our feature film and home entertainment slates. Mindshare has a great track record in its field and we look forward to ramping up our efforts with them in support of our 2013 slate and beyond. It was a tough decision as all of the candidates in the mix presented great opportunity for us, but in the end Mindshare met the needs of the studio in a manner that we believe will best serve our interests.”

    Mindshare North America CEO Anthony Young said, “We’re delighted to partner with Lionsgate and Summit on one of the most commercially exciting feature film slates in the world. Lionsgate has established a worldwide reputation as an innovator in the kinds of films it releases and the strategies it uses to market and distribute them, and we look forward to developing visionary and cost-effective media planning and buying strategies that reflect the Company’s entrepreneurial and game-changing spirit.”

  • Apollo Hospitals consolidates media biz with Mindshare

    MUMBAI: Apollo Hospitals has consolidated its media duties with Mindshare following a multi-agency pitch that took place in early December.

    The GroupM agency was pitted against Madison Media in the final round of the pitch. The account size is pegged at around Rs 200 million.

    Mindshare‘s Chennai office will service the account. Mudra Max was the incumbent agency handling Apollo Hospital Chennai account.

    The agency has already started working on the business. It will soon launch the brand‘s national campaign with focus being on television and digital medium.

    For the record, Lowe Lintas is the creative agency of record (AoR) for Apollo Hospital.