Top leadership reiterates that quality and pace of growth, not size, drive OMD India. Three key areas of focus for the agency now are Brand Science & Analytics, Branded Entertainment and Mobile, reports Noor Fathima Warsia
It is not about being on top but being the fastest growing agency; momentum and quality of services are the key areas of focus for us... With that one statement, Jasmin Sohrabji, CEO, OMD India summarizes the agency’s approach that has arguably taken it to a position among the top five media agencies in India today, a target that was achieved within five years of its launch. When OMD commenced its India operations on February 7, 2007, the agency had a few things worked out. Its ‘To-Do’ list had a certain set of clients, the focus to strengthen the Mumbai office and the desire to enable some level of scale in its operations. But like most things in the Indian communication business, nothing for OMD went as per ‘plan’ - a good portion of what gave that extra zing to the OMD growth story was a series of happy coincidences.
The OMD growth story in India has been told and discussed many a time, not only in India, but also in the global OMD circles, where the agency’s worldwide CEO Mainardo de Nardis has described India as one of “OMD’s star operations”. He has very good reason to do this too. OMD India grew by over 120% in the first three years after its launch, and then as the agency added more scale; it grew by 60- 80% in the next two years. When most OMD and other international media agency offices were fighting the slowdown and implementing cost-cuts, OMD India was posting growth numbers and hiring staff. OMD’s India investment was reaping results a lot sooner than expected by the global office, divulges de Nardis.
As OMD gears up to celebrate its fifth birthday in India, IMPACT chats with OMD’s leadership team on what led to this growth, and how the agency will face some of the challenges that are bound to needle it in the next five years.
MAGIC COMBO OF LOCAL & GLOBAL ADVERTISERS
For all practical points of conversation, the first instance that challenged OMD India to make its mark not only on advertisers but also on its own parent company was the Johnson & Johnson pitch, that was taking place even before the agency had announced its launch in 2007. Not that OMD India did not have advertisers at the time -- Ambuja Cements and Parle Agro were already headed the agency’s way, but J&J opened an opportunity window that OMD India was quick to seize. Sohrabji recalls, “We were unknown to our own network, literally meeting people for the first time, as we entered pitch rooms. And India had to present first. Even before there could be any agreement on a global strategy, we were presenting, so we had to learn the entire process in that one pitch.” OMD India’s presentation set the ‘right mood’ for the agency. “India had presented first. If it was a weak pitch, it would have been a drawback for the agency at large and for India’s first impression too,” admits Sohrabji.
Launch year, in a sense, set the tone of local vs. global advertisers for OMD India. Of the company’s total revenue today, about 45% comes from local advertisers and 55% from OMD’s global advertisers. Even as the agency was seeing global relations shape in India, the first two years were primarily India wins. “We had to establish ourselves as an entity of reckoning locally first. No one was going to give us business just because OMD launched in India. We had to prove that this was a good operation and we are here to stay in a great way,” observes Harish Shriyan, COO, OMD India.
For Sohrabji, the number and speed of acquiring local wins translated into setting the credentials for the agency. Then 2009 turned out to be the year when global relations finally began to manifest, with significance, for OMD India. It also became the year when OMD India broke even – a year in advance of what OMD global had anticipated.
OF ADVERTISERS THAT GREW
Another very important contributor to OMD’s revenue numbers was that its advertisers were on an expansion spree. In the last five years, except for two brand shuffles (Multi Screen Media & Reliance Communication), OMD India has not lost a single piece of business. In short, the agency has seen huge advantages of organic growth as well. Many of its advertisers have been on aggressive growth paths in the last few years by branching into new categories and sectors and OMD India partnered them every step of the way.
Sohrabji is quick to point out here, “Marketers grow disproportionately, when they branch out into newer industries and sectors, and we, as media agencies, are generally not the reason for that growth. But when they are taking those decisions, it is our responsibility too, to see that their business objectives are met with the right communication and marketing exercises. We become marketing partners rather than agencies at the time. We become internal to their system because anyone and everyone who has understanding of that category and the competition in it, becomes valuable to them. They are already on the growth path, but our role is to ensure success for them on that path.”
A Multi Screen Media official tells IMPACT that OMD has played a crucial role even in aspects such as programme scheduling for client Sony Entertainment Television. OMD ensured itself a seat on the advertiser’s table when key decisions were taken and that is the one thing that Sohrabji is particularly pleased about. “We did have a certain advantage in the first two years, when many of our clients already knew us, having worked with us in the past. Advertisers who did not know us, got to hear of us. In the first few interactions, our expertise was visible to them and it took a short time to earn that seat on the table.”
Needless to say, OMD’s growth rate already was making an impression on advertisers. As media owners state, OMD set a new benchmark for newly launched agencies.
GROWTH FROM NATIONAL PRESENCE
Another ‘happy coincidence’ for the agency turned out to be the fact that some of its first clients were large advertisers from different markets, which in turn led OMD to set up a four-city operation in the second year of its launch itself. Comparatively, most of the younger agencies still continue to be one or two city operations. OMD was keen to grow and strengthen its Mumbai operations, but the Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Henkel wins led it to set up operations in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. And this contributed to OMD’s overall growth numbers. Shriyan explains, “It helped us immensely that we had national presence and equity with media owners and stakeholders in all the key cities. There are different strengths that come from different markets. Our presence in Delhi would be a benefit even for a Mumbai advertiser. Some of the key media is based in Delhi and in the South. True that they can come here and we can go there, but that is very ‘planned’, it is not a natural way of doing things.”
While presence in various cities was seen as a uniform and natural way of growing, OMD India did not have much to say about growing into different disciplines. The agency was amongst one of the first to bring digital at the core of its offerings, but OMD India still had to grow into offering other specialized services to advertisers – a point that the agency has spent some time deliberating. “Each unit should ride on its own credential. That is how digital did it. They came in, established their own credentials and got their own clients. You have to be a standalone of repute. You have to be the best in class in everything, because if you are not, then you are taking away from, instead of adding to, the core,” says Sohrabji, as she elaborates on the agency’s approach and way forward on specialized units.
Digital, by her own admission, was the first off the block, as it had begun to gain importance in global pitches when OMD was still setting up base in India. Digital was seen as an agency’s investment on being future-ready, and this was true for India too. Apart from digital, there are three other areas that have been on the OMD India agenda.
BRAND SCIENCE & ANALYTICS, BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT AND MOBILE
OMD’s focus to ensure excellence in service may have been the reason why some of OMD’s specialist units did not take off in the time-frame that the agency had targeted, despite being on the cards. However, 2012 is expected to see some visible action in each of these areas. Branded Entertainment, which is called FUSE in the OMD system, is on the cards in 2012. Sohrabji admits, “We had wanted to kick this off earlier, but we had not got the right talent and we did not want to just set it off. We wanted to be sure that it is a standalone good operation from Day 1. We have made some progress there, and you should see progress from us on this front.” Analytics is another unit that the agency does offer its existing clients, but has not yet unleashed full scale to bring in new business. OMD has a big project coming up this year on that front. Sohrabji points out that in 2012, one of the key initiatives would be Brand Science.
The third area where OMD is extending further services is Mobile, within the agency’s digital space. “We are putting together a Centre of Mobile Excellence team. We have made some very senior hires on that front. It is a fivemember team that Beerajaah (S Swain) will lead and we will make it into a bigger offer eventually,” informs Sohrabji. Beerajaah S Swain is the mobile expert on the global digital team of OMD. His role is about opportunities in digital, given the scale of opportunities in the domain in a market like India. Around 18% of the OMD India clientele are digital-only clients. Digital is already contributing to 20% of the agency’s overall revenues. This figure is expected to grow in 2012, and the focus on mobile is likely to play a key role in that.
Vision 2017
From no base at all, OMD India has become a 200-member operation in just five years. With presence in five cities now, Ahmedabad being the latest, OMD India has also worked its way to the top five media agencies list in India. But in this market, where the No.1 and No.2 positions have been unshakeable for years, what are OMD’s future plans?
“The focus has always been to further build on the fairly high benchmark that we set,” remarks Sohrabji. “We perhaps needed to worry about the rank when we were coming up from a No. 20 position. The reasons for reaching here and the reasons to grow from here will be different. But after a point, quantity is not relevant to success; it is all about quality and momentum. We want to be amongst the top agencies when it comes to pace of growth. It is not important for us to try and catch up. We are more interested in going forward and we should be recognized for the work we are doing. So, setting up and catching up is over, now it is about leading by example. We want to be the benchmark in everything we do.”
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