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Tag: Resultrix

  • From advertising to selling saris, Arvind Sharma turns entrepreneur

    From advertising to selling saris, Arvind Sharma turns entrepreneur

    MUMBAI: The e-commerce sector in India is going through a purple patch and the latest one to enter the bandwagon is none other than Arvind Sharma.

    After spending over three decades in the advertising industry, Sharma has been bitten by the entrepreneur bug. He along with one of the founding members of Yepme, Amit Gaur, has launched an online platform for the treasured Indian outfit – sari.

    The self-funded, Indiasarihouse.com, aims to enhance and simplify the sari shopping experience along with benefitting the weaver community.  

    “A sari is more than a piece of commerce.  It is the Indian women’s attire for every day and for special occasions. It represents the spinning, dyeing and weaving arts of India, nurtured by kings, queens, and princesses and perfected by India’s craftsmen over centuries. Each sari woven by a weaver’s family represents a piece of Indian history and culture. India Sari House aims to build a self-sustaining long-term channel directly between the weavers and sari consumers around the world. Amit’s wealth of experience in sourcing and e-commerce operations will help us hugely in our ambitions,” says Sharma.

    The platform has recruited textile and fashion graduates, who find and verify the weavers across 20 centers in the country.  From pure silk offerings like Kanjivarams, Dharmavarams, Banarasis to pure cottons ones like Ikkats, Mangalagiris, Tants and Kerala Cottons, the recently launched website has everything a woman would desire in her wardrobe.

    Apart from increasing the number of sari centers in the near future, the sari house plans to get some of India’s famous designers to each adopt a weaving center and help modernise the designs some of these centers produce.

    On funding the project, Sharma highlights that after three to four months he will start talking to the investors to raise funds for the platform and take it to the next level.

    Gaur says, “We are building a channel with quality and integrity. To deliver these to the consumers, we have deployed a team that visits and identifies weavers that India Sari House will deal with. They hand pick saris from these weavers. We have put together another team of qualified textile and fashion experts to examine each sari and rate it on 4F factors – Fabric authenticity, Fine workmanship, Fashion quotient and Fitness for occasions. Each sari we sell will come with a 4F certificate. Since, India Sari House buys and stocks all the saris it sells, consumers can be sure that all saris will be shipped to them within 24 hours.”

    Indiasarihouse.com is accessible to consumers around the world. However, initially it is being promoted in the US, Canada and the UK. Over time, it plans to cover 23 major countries of the world where there is a significant Indian diaspora presence.

    Currently, Resultrix is handling the digital promotions of the web store while Underdog is the creative agency for the account.

  • Srikant Sastri stepping down from his role as a country chair

    Srikant Sastri stepping down from his role as a country chair

    MUMBAI: In his more than two and a half decades of experience Vivaki country chair Srikant Sastri will be stepping down from his position on 1 July.

    Vivaki CEO Frank Voris said, “Sastri will continue to serve in a consulting capacity for Publicis Groupe in the near term, while also nurturing start-up companies in India and Asia-Pacific as an independent investor and operating partner as it is his desire to work with a new companies. But, he agreed to help the organisation on-board Neev, Resultrix and Convonix.”

    “Srikant has successfully orchestrated three acquisitions and integrations that have simultaneously fortified the founding Vivaki agencies, while also solidifying Publicis Groupe‘s position as the leading digital marketing operation in India,” added Voris

    For the foreseeable future, Sastri will continue to work closely with VivaKi and also with Razorfish & DigitasLBi in a consulting capacity. For the former, he will surface and evaluate emerging opportunities, exploring tech start-ups who can benefit the agencies of Publicis Groupe and their clients. For Razorfish and Digitas-LBi India.

    VivaKi Country Chair Srikant Sastri: “I‘ve successfully completed a big mandate as VCC in India and I am absolutely thrilled that we achieved the goal we set for ourselves 18 months ago—driving digital dominance in India through organic growth and three key acquisitions. We are now twice the size of our largest competitor. With this mission accomplished, I‘d like to focus more on three areas that I am passionate about. In addition to working with start-ups, I intend to foster the Indian start-up eco-system by actively leading key initiatives at professional and trade bodies, including The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) and Indian Angel Network. I will also help drive the growth of ventures that are focused on social enterprises and other Indian development issues.”

    Sastri has started his career from Ponds India as a regional sales manager than he has also worked with Tara Sinha Associates, TSME, McCann Erickson, Team4U, Solutions Integrated Marketing Services and Growth-For-All.

  • India emerges as important growth market for Publicis Groupe in 2012

    MUMBAI: India is emerging as an important growth market for Publicis Groupe. In a slowdown ad economy, the France-based global media communications network is banking on the emerging markets to accelerate its revenues.

    And India is ranking fifth among the BRIC+MISSAT (Brazil, Russia, India and China and Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa and Turkey) countries, which combined posted a robust growth of 26.3 per cent in the fiscal ended 31 December 2012.

    Publicis Groupe‘s India operations grew at eight per cent for the fiscal even as revenues from the BRIC+MISSAT region climbed to 892 million euro in the fiscal from 706 million euro a year ago. China topped the list with a growth of 14.7 per cent.

    Sr. No

    Country

    		 % growth (2012/2011)
    1 North America 15.6
    2 China 14.7
    3 Mexico 11.6
    4 South Africa 10.8
    5 Brazil

    10.3
    6

    India

    		 8
    7 Switzerland

    5.4

    *North America is a seperate region; Switzerland is part of Europe

    The agency‘s aggressive intent played out in 2012 as it made four acquisitions in India, three of which were digital entities – Indigo Consulting, Resultrix and iStrat. The other one marketing consultancy firm Marketgate.

    In 2012, Publicis‘ major account wins in India included Nestle, Airtel, Axis Bank, Bharti Walmart, Dabur and HP.

    Publicis does not disclose its revenue figures in India. According to RECMA report, the Groupe’s billings in 2011, through its media agencies in the country ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest, grew by 32.56 per cent to touch $570 million.

    On a global level, Publicis‘ growth from Europe has slowed to 5.6 per cent. North America has seen stronger growth at 15.6 per cent.

    The company saw its total revenue rise by 13.7 per cent to 6.61 billion euro from 5.82 billion euro in 2011. Net income grew 22.8 per cent to 737 million euro.

    Digital activities accounted for 32.9 per cent of total revenue, up from 30.6 per cent during the previous year. The high-growth economies generated 25.5 per cent of total revenue, up from 24.3 per cent in 2011.

    Strictly digital activities accounted for the largest portion of consolidated revenue (33 per cent, up from 31 per cent in 2011), followed by “analog” creative advertising (30 per cent, down from 31 per cent the previous year), the SAMS (unchanged at 19 per cent) and media 18 per cent (after 19 per cent in 2011).

    For the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2012, the Groupe’s revenue was 1.9 billion euro, up 11.9 per cent from Q4 FY 12’s 1.7 billion euro. Europe grew at 9.4 per cent, North America at 9.2 per cent, BRIC+MISSAT at 29.3 per cent and the Rest of the World at 9.6 per cent.

    Says Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Maurice Lévy, “2012 was to be the year of recovery, but turned out to be difficult, uncertain and disappointing as regards growth and employment, especially in Europe. Yet it was a record year for Publicis Groupe in terms of revenue, margin, income and the strength of its balance sheet. The global advertising market had been expected to grow by 4.7 per cent, but actual growth will fell below the 3 per cent mark with advertising income from Euro 2012 and the London Olympics well below expectations. We owe our good performance to the trust our clients have in us, but also to the talent, passion and outstanding professionalism of our people whose agility and speed of response enabled us to bring our clients original, innovative and creative solutions.”

    Levy believes the touch conditions would continue to prevail in 2013, with the American market, the high-growth economies and the digital services sector being the possible silver linings.

    “2013 is shaping up to be a difficult year, a year of uncertainty, with a number of bridges to be crossed. Even though the euro crisis now appears to be behind us, the situation in Europe is still highly contrasted and advertising investment forecasts are down on 2012. The latest market growth forecasts from ZenithOptimedia are quite high (4.1 per cent in December after 4.6 per cent in October) but also fragile. Growth is chiefly expected from the USA, the high-growth economies and the digital services sector… Publicis Groupe therefore intends to continue to pursue its strategy of expanding its digital business and its presence in high-growth economies, through priority investments targeting segments that will ensure its future growth while bolstering its profitability over time,” says Levy.

  • Publicis to also look at inorganic growth to double rev in India by 2015: Naouri

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe chief operating officer Jean-Yves Naouri has set himself a stiff target. The 53-year-old South African, tipped to take over as chief executive officer of the third largest communications group in the world after the retirement of Maurice Levy, is aiming at doubling the agency‘s growth in two of the fastest-growing ad economies of the world.

    Naouri, however, feels that he can grow faster in China than in India. “We plan to double our size in China by 2013. And we are well on our way to doing that. In India, we will be able to double our size by 2015,” he tells Indiantelevision.com.

    Faced with a slowdown in the matured ad economies of the world, Naouri needs to be aggressive in the other markets. “We are working towards two things. We are getting aggressive on digital. Our other focus is on the fast emerging markets. We have already trebled our size in Brazil,” he avers.

    Naouri feels that there is a lot of potential in India and the time is not far when the world will see what this country is capable of. “Publicis surely will be there when this happens.”

    Publicis has started shopping in India to strengthen its presence in a market that is led by WPP. The agency has made four acquisitions in India over the last one year, three of them being in the digital space. The first to be gobbled up was Indigo (April), followed three months later by Resultrix. The Paris-based media communications conglomerate has just announced two more acquisitions: digital marketing agency iStrat and marketing consultancy firm Marketgate.

    “We are looking at both inoganic and organic growth in India. We see opportunities in acquisitions,” says Naouri.

    But doesn’t he agree with WPP CEO Martin Sorrell’s recent comment about valuations in India being economically extravagant? “Maybe he is speaking for himself. We do not have exorbitant valuations. We are known for being very conservative. Despite not being the highest bidder on several occasions, we have been able to consummate deals just because they wanted to join us. So I do not concur with Sorrell’s assessment.”

    Naouri also refuses to concur with the WPP boss’ assessment that India lacks self confidence. “I am very positive about India. And I feel that when you look at the potential and look at the talent, one should be excited with all the opportunities that India is showing.”

    India’s sluggish GDP growth rate of 5.3 per cent does not dampen Naouri’s bullish view on India. “We do not hold a dismal sentiment. We are cautiously optimistic. When you look at the rest of the world, some countries would dream to have a five per cent growth. I am not saying that things are easy for everybody in India. But I would say it’s manageable,” he says.

    Apart from investing in India, Publicis is also focussed on the growth of digital within its operations. The vision is to become a ‘Human Digital Company’. “We have said that digital and the fast growing markets like India, China and Brazil are the co-pillars of our future. And today if those two pillars are contributing 50 per cent of our revenues, our ambition is to take this up to 75 per cent,” explains Naouri.

    Publicis’ strategy is to acquire local agencies and align them with its global agencies. This allows Publicis to service the clients of that geography efficiently.

    “What is interesting is that we are starting to see the potential to work not only with local Indian clients, but also with Indian companies that have a global ambition. We are extremely excited at this opportunity to work with such clients. We look forward to a time when Leo Burnett and Indigo or Publicis Worldwide and iStrat can partner with and deliver outstanding work for such Indian companies,” says Naouri.

    Publicis is also bullish on e-commerce. The company recently entered into a partnership with IBM’s Smarter Commerce Initiative through its consulting-centered interactive agency Rosetta. The partnership combines Publicis Groupe’s deep experience in consumer insights, technology and building a broad eCommerce ecosystem around transactions with IBM’s technology, expertise and business process innovation to serve the needs of today’s Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who want to align their organisations and purchase decisions around integrated content and commerce.

  • Publicis Groupe acquires a digital agency and a consulting firm in India

    MUMBAI: French global communications network, Publicis Groupe, has snapped up two Indian companies as part of its strategy to strengthen its digital offering and double the size of its India business by 2015.

    The first to be gobbled is iStrat, India‘s foremost integrated digital agency. The second purchase is MarketGate, a Mumbai-based strategic business and marketing consulting firm.

    “We look at talent and relevance while.making acquisitions and consulting is at the core of our business. So these two deals are in sync with our plans,” said Publicis Groupe COO and Publicis Worldwide Executive Chairman Jean-Yves Naouri.

    Naouri said that India‘s talent pool and market appetite make it a lucrative destination. “We agree that India is not where we would want it to be right now. But the country shows talent and appetite which makes it extremely positive,” he added.

    He also said that the acquisitions and consequent alignments of the acquired entites have been made keeping in mind the structure of the Publicis Groupe.

    While Indigo is aligned with Leo Burnett, Resultrix is with ZenithOptimedia. iStrat, on the other hand, will fall under Publicis Worldwide.

    iStrat will be rebranded Publicis iStrat and will operate as a unit within Publicis Modem, Publicis Worldwide‘s global digital network. Its founders, Navneet Singh Sahni (CEO) and Sonya Sahni (Head of Marketing), will continue to lead the agency.

    MarketGate will retain its name and will operate within Publicis Worldwide. It will also continue to be led by founders Shripad Nadkarni (CEO) and Sharda Agarwal (Executive Director). Both iStrat and MarketGate leadership will now report into Nakul Chopra, CEO South Asia for Publicis Worldwide.

    Publicis had earlier acquired full-service interactive and technology agency Indigo Consulting, which operates as a unit within the Leo Burnett Group, the creative arm of Publicis.

    iStrat was founded in 2003 and provides solutions across all forms of digital marketing. The agency services a broad range of prestigious clients, including Alpha G:Corp (real estate), the Confederation of Indian Industries, Dupont (luxury accessories), Hero Corp (motorcycles), Hindware (kitchen and sanitary appliances), Maruti Suzuki, the Nasscom software trade association, and Nestle.

    The agency, which is headquartered in Delhi and employs a team of 50, provides the full range of digital communications services including e-commerce store fronts, search engine optimization, social media, and rich media.

    MarketGate, which was founded in 2005, delivers services in business growth planning, marketing strategy, brand positioning, portfolio strategy, brand architecture development, and marketing skills development. The agency‘s seven consulting experts aim to rejuvenate brands and power their growth by deploying marketing processes throughout their clients‘ organisations.

    Its clientele includes Colgate, Dabur (foods/personal care), General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Godrej (personal care), HSBC, ICICI (financial services/banking), Madura Garments (fashion), Mahindra & Mahindra (automobile), MTR (foods), and Radio Mirchi.

    As a part of this acquisition, Publicis Groupe will also acquire MarketGate Dimensions, a subsidiary of MarketGate, providing research-based solutions to business, marketing and brand issues, with offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Its client list includes Glenmark (personal care), Kellogg‘s, Maruti Suzuki, The Walt Disney Company and Viacom 18.

    “Building digital capabilities is a fundamental part of the Publicis strategy, and today‘s acquisition of iStrat and the strengthening of our digital arm in this promising market is a key step towards realising our growth goals. In addition, MarketGate is a fast-moving strategic outfit with strong skill-sets, an impressive range of clients and thorough knowledge of the Indian market and its consumers.” he continued.

    “We are excited to become a part of the Publicis Worldwide network, and we look forward to tapping into its global best practices,” added iStrat co-founders Navneet Singh Sahni and Sonya Sahni.

    “Today‘s deal will offer richer, more diversified possibilities to both our clients and our teams. Our experience in India‘s digital space, together with Publicis‘ considerable know-how in brand building, will create an incredibly powerful offering for both current and future clients.”

    “This is a very exciting move for all of us at MarketGate,” added Shripad Nadkarni and Sharda Agarwal. “Twinning the world-class expertise of Publicis Groupe with our extensive experience of marketing and consultancy across all sectors in India will make for a very powerful combination. We‘re passionate about our clients, and we know that they will benefit from this move.”

    India is currently the world‘s 16th largest advertising market, and although the country‘s economic growth has slowed somewhat in 2012, it remains over 5 per cent. ZenithOptimedia forecasts (December 2012) advertising expenditure to increase by 7.7 per cent in India in 2013.

    Publicis Groupe had recently made VivaKi a separate business unit and will be available to all Publicis Groupe agencies and the market.

    VivaKi was launched in 2008 to accelerate the digital transformation of Publicis Groupe and its agencies. It was created through the combined scale and leadership of Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), ZenithOptimedia and later Razorfish.

    Fast-growing economies like Brazil, India, China and Russia are on the radar of all the global communications agencies. Publicis too is bullish about BRIC nations as these economies are called.

    The French communications group had also acquired Beijing-based digital marketing company, Longtuo, to gain clout in China‘s burgeoning e-Commerce market.

    It also bolstered Saatchi & Saatchi‘s digital offering in Asia Pacific by buying out local interactive agency Arachnid, which was later re-branded Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid.

  • Resultrix appoints Tanmay Mohanty as India COO

    Resultrix appoints Tanmay Mohanty as India COO

    MUMBAI: Resultrix – A Performics Company, owned by Publicis Groupe, has appointed Tanmay Mohanty as chief operating officer for its Indian operations.

    Mohanty moves in from Interactive Media And Communication Solutions Ltd. where he was COO id8 Labs. He will report to Resultrix Global COO Gulrez Alam.

    Founded in 2008, Resultrix was recently acquired by Publicis. The performance-based digital marketing agency, now functions as part of the Performics bouquet.

    Alam added, “It‘s great to have Tanmay on board with Resultrix. We are looking at strengthening our leadership team at Resultrix as we continue with our focus on being at the forefront of the ever evolving digital and interactive services industry. Our clients will benefit from Tanmay‘s vast professional expertise spanning across multiple industries. As Resultrix‘s success story continues, Tanmay‘s insights and leadership will give that extra fillip to take it to the next level.”

    Mohanty, with an experience of close to 14 years, has handled management portfolios in the past at companies like Jasubhai, Merchant Media, Dalal Street and Urja Communications. He has experience in the fields of marketing, advertising, brand management, direct sales, BTL, strategic account management, business development and administration.

    Mohanty said, “Resultrix has an excellent track record as a leading player in the search and interactive services industry. I look forward to working with the talented and dynamic team at Resultrix and being a part of the company‘s future.”

    Resultrix provides services like search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimisation (SEO), web design and development, web analytics, social media marketing and display advertising. Resultrix has offices in India (Mumbai and Delhi), Seattle, Singapore and Dubai.

  • Publicis acquires digital marketing agency Resultrix

    Publicis acquires digital marketing agency Resultrix

    Mumbai: The Publicis Groupe has acquired Resultrix, a digital marketing agency founded by two Indians.

    This is Publicis‘ second digital agency acquisition in India this year, after snapping up Mumbai-based digital agency Indigo Consulting in April.

    Resultrix has an international footprint with presence in India, Singapore, the UAE and the USA.

    Since early 2011, Performics, Publicis‘ digital agency, has expanded its presence and now operates in 18 countries. This new partnership with Resultrix will further enable clients to not only tap into new areas of digital expertise, but benefit from an even more integrated and consistent global offering.

    Post the acquisition, Resultrix will operate as a unit within Performics, under the name ‘Resultrix, a Performics Company‘. Its founders, Vidur Luthra and Gulrez Alam, will continue to be CEO and COO and will report into Global Performics CEO Daina Middleton and Performics Asia Pacific managing director Gareth Mulryan.

    Founded in 2008, Resultrix employs over 100 specialists across its global offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, Seattle and Dubai. The agency provides a full suite of services including search engine optimisation, search engine marketing, online media, web-design, analytics, media buying, social media strategy, and mobile marketing, with a differentiated set of performance-based business models.

    Resultrix‘s list of clients include international and local brands including Corbis Corporation, Max Bupa, Standard Chartered Bank, Airtel, Cleartrip, DBS Bank and Emirates National Bank.

    Daina Middleton said, “Clients are demanding best-in-class specialized skills and seamless digital integration at scale. Resultrix has an impressive track record as a leading search and interactive services agency. Their highly sophisticated suite of digital solutions perfectly complements our offering and will solidify our leadership position around the world.”

    Resultrix CEO Vidur Luthra said, “We were founded on the belief that digital advertising provides the opportunity to disrupt the traditional media business models and this is a great opportunity to join a network that is renowned for being at the forefront of the industry. It allows us to realise our ambitions and leverage our skills, strengths and experience across a larger group footprint which is of huge benefit to our clients and teams.”