SAM SETS GROWTH AGENDA, LARA BALSARA IS CHIEF ARCHITECT OF FOUR-POINT STRATEGY TO HARNESS PEOPLE POWER, AUTOMATE, IDEATE AND DIGITISE AT MADISON.
Madison World has given the industry much to talk about in the last few years. Perhaps no one else could have forged such unlikely partnerships as Madison World Chairman Sam Balsara acquiring a 51% stake in MediaCom India (a GroupM company), or going into a joint venture with the globally celebrated creative director Trevor Beattie’s firm BMB to launch BMB Madison in India. Always measured in its approach, Madison has seen an interesting 2011 – not from a regular new wins perspective, but from changes visible in the very constitution of the company.
Earlier in the year, the agency lost some of its key people, but what became more interesting were the people Madison started bringing on board. According to Sam, the company embarked on a few ‘agendas’ a year ago, and now those efforts are seeing fruition Elaborating on that, Lara Balsara, who has been the chief architect of these changes, says, “We have been concentrating for sometime on the kind of processes and structures we need at Madison Media to comfortably absorb and manage the growth that we have been fortunate to achieve and prepare for more. It became clear that our current model needs to be modified to achieve and absorb the next phase of growth. We looked inwards critically rather than outwards to see what we need to do.”
The answer came in the form of a four-way strategy.
DIVERSITY IN PEOPLE, HENCE PRODUCT
“Our business is people-centric” – this has been the refrain of global leaders such as WPP CEO Martin Sorrell and Omnicom CEO John Wren, as well as Indian industry leaders. Likewise, Madison’s first area of focus is its human assets.
Lara brings in the context here, and says, “Madison is what it is today because of the hard and smart work that every Madison-ite puts in every day. Although Sam and other seniors are the face of the company, we would not have been able to achieve what we have if it weren’t for every Madison-ite. We want all Madison-ites to act as entrepreneurs because only if they are happy and committed, will they grow and in turn the company will grow.”
The key objective was to bring in diversity in the senior talent pool of the company. “In a very mature media agency, given the merging environment, where there is so much focus on integration and ideation, Madison was becoming too much of the same. We worked on getting more diversity in our talent pool. And now you can see the diverse backgrounds we have in our leadership team,” Sam observes.
The COOs at the Madison Media units bring varied experiences to the table. Lara informs, “We have got in many new senior people to bring in a fresh perspective that will contribute to our offerings to clients, and also help us improve and strengthen our internal systems. We have identified some other senior level vacancies as well in the system and are looking at closing those shortly.”
Earlier in the year, Sushma Y Jhaveri was appointed as the COO of Madison Media Infinity. She has worked in media and research agencies. Dnyanada Chaudhari, also a COO at Madison, brings experience from both the media and advertiser domains, having worked with companies such as Hindustan Unilever, Marico and ICICI Prulife. V S Mani, COO of Madison Media Infinity in Bangalore, is another such example, as he brings experience in advertising and media agencies. Amandeep Khurana, who the company appointed as COO of Madison Media Plus, too has experience over various facets of marketing including the client side, and in creative agencies like Rediffusion YR and Bates.
Sam observes, “Within the teams, we have had total media specialists but now we are trying to bring in diversity and break the mould in what we offer to our clients.”
Lara adds, “We are looking to bring in diversity at the junior level as well. Unless the operating teams understand our vision and put it into action, we would be paying only lip service to diversity.”
CREATE TIME, TO THINK...
The second major focus area for Madison, that saw renewed attention last year, was automation. Madison Media had worked on five million spots on TV alone in 2010. And despite the company being technologically progressive on various counts, the scale of work had become time consuming for planners. Until last year, while the processes were automated, it was in parts and done separately for either planning or operation or billing. This year, Madison embarked on an integrated end-to-end software to make the process “as painless as possible”. For instance, the agency has its own integrated software called Empower, which is customized for Madison in finance. Sam notes, “The sheer volume of work is daunting. This allows us to relieve our teams from their drudgery, so that they have more time to think and ideate.”
For Lara, an ideal media organization should be a ‘Brains Trust’, with a ‘Factory’ attached. A factory implies rigid processes, strict discipline and adherence to set protocols combined with on-time performance and delivery. The company’s focus, therefore, was to standardise and automate as many of the routine processes as possible and request its clients to accept standardised formats and processes so that planners’ time was freed up for strategisation.
On the ‘Brains Trust’ front, Madison’s focus is to encourage teams to meet internally as often as possible in interactive sessions to infuse diversity in teams. “Brainstorming sessions work well when participants come in from different backgrounds with varied experiences and expertise. The objective finally is that the client’s brand can make a bigger impact in the marketplace and grow,” adds Lara.
A good job in automation makes way for the third leg, ideation. And for Sam, the results have already begun to show. One measure for the agency has been its performance at the EMVIE Awards 2011. Madison Media agencies won 10 awards. Sam points out, “This is the highest that Madison has ever won. More importantly, we have been able to win awards across clients. There is a funny way of awards usually getting concentrated with one client, but we had advertisers like Marico, Airtel and Cadbury, where we won awards. And if you add MediaCom to it, we have 16 awards plus the Grand EMVIE. Our efforts are generating the desired outcome.”
DIGITISATION – FROM THE INSIDE OUT
The fourth and last focus point for the agency is digitisation. Madison Media does not believe in creating a dedicated unit for digital expertise. The agency would much rather add the expertise to its team, and bring digital thinking at the core of operations. In future, everything is expected to go digital, and Madison wants to be geared for that future.
“Our approach from Day 1 is that digitisation is not specialisation, and it should be core to the media agency. We don’t have one digital outpost. We have people within the teams who evangelise digital but not as a separate unit that works on digital,” informs Sam.
The reason for specialisation or fragmentation is when the mental faculty required to perform that task is different and unique. Then a separate, dedicated unit adds value. A case in point is the OOH domain, which required intense specialisation, hence Madison Media has three different agencies in OOH. “But the current, highly innovative planners are suited to handle digital, so there is no need to have a separate agency. I strongly feel, and though standalone digital agencies may disagree with me, the future of digital is in a media agency and not in a standalone agency,” states Sam.
He admits that this is easier said than done. Madison hence is investing significant time and energy in training its people more to understand digital. The agency has done three workshops for its entire staff.
As Madison silently pursues its course with these four cornerstones for future growth, the company has also begun to see action in some of its recently launched divisions.
NEW UNITS TAKE SHAPE, OLD ONES RENAMED
Some of Madison World’s recently launched units have already begun to deliver for the company. Madison World began Madison Business Analytics a few months ago. This was set up as an independent unit headquartered in Bangalore, headed by veteran Madison-ite Nagaraj Krishnamurthy. The unit reports directly to Sam Balsara. Madison Business Analytics services independent clients apart from those of Madison Media.
Under its outdoor arm Moms, Madison had launched IES – Integrated Experiences Solution, a few months ago. IES offers a combination of creative, activation, below-the-line solutions. Sam explains, “Their key proposition is being media neutral and the offering will combine creative solutions.”
Madison’s JV with OnMobile, called Kabooza, for mobile marketing, will begin soon too. Until recently, some Madison units were differentiated by virtue of being Infinity One and Infinity Two. As the company refreshes, the names of the units have also undergone a change. As is known, there are three clear differentiated media service brands in Madison World – Madison Media, Platinum Media and MediaCom India.
The Mumbai office under Madison Media includes Infinity, Stigma and a new dedicated unit for Kraft Foods called Pinnacle. Under Platinum Media, the company launched a specialised unit for ITC called Crest. The Delhi office has Madison Media Plus and Platinum. The Kolkata office has Madison Media and Crest, and the Bangalore office has Omega and Crest for ITC.
Madison World’s new structure offers a plethora of services to its clients. As Sam Balsara puts it, all these steps are in the direction of infusing new energy to prepare the company for the next level of growth, a journey that Lara Balsara and other Madison-ites are taking with him.
MADISON MEDIA TO LAUNCH NEW BRAND POSITION
At the heart of this new position is one word – iEngine, says Punitha Arumugam, Group CEO, Madison Media…
In the new age of communication and media agencies’ role as advisors for advertisers, Madison Media has designed a new brand position to articulate what it means to its clients. The new position is set to launch soon. At the heart of this new position is one word – iEngine. The ‘i’ has been empowered to signify what Madison Media services would be to its advertisers at that particular point, and the word Engine is to reflect the forward-thinking process of the agency.
Putting the thought in perspective, Punitha Arumugam, Group CEO, Madison Media, states, “Whatever our positioning is, it needs to represent systemisation, so it can become a part of our day to day work process. At the same time, it should be forward-looking. Hence the word Engine, to connote process and moving forward.” However it is the ‘i’, which has indeed become a new age mnemonic that would define the agency’s services to its clients. Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World, points out, “Today, a media agency offers expertise in various areas – investments, insights, innovation, invention, inspiration, internet, immersion, impact, implementation, intelligence... the list can go on. The letter‘i’ is fit to be at the core of our new brand position, because as a media agency and given the evolved market scenario we are in, these are some of the services that we offer to our clients.” Depending on what is appropriate, Madison would apply that particular ‘i’ to a unit, for a particular client, in a specific year.
Flexibility in Approach
While arriving at the new positioning, one key defining thought for Madison Media was that the agency’s role and service towards its clients had to be flexible to suit the client’s needs. Punitha observes, “We did not define the ‘i’ to stand for any one ‘i’ in the Madison Media positioning, as we wanted it to be able to adjust to the needs of each client, and enable us to adapt to their changing requirements, year-on-year.” There were two thoughts behind this point. First, all clients don’t need the same ‘i’. Hence, for Client X, Madison Media could position itself as the Innovation Engine but for Client Y, it could be the Investment Engine. “While all clients want all these services, depending on their need and life stage, they need one ‘i’ more than the others. Madison Media will offer all of these services, but we will define that one focus ‘i’ for our client, in conjunction with the client,” says Punitha.
And the agency would do this for each of its clients, across its units. The second guideline for the flexible ‘i’ was that, clients’ requirements change every year. As the client’s needs and life stage evolve, his need for a different ‘i’ comes into play. It is possible that a client may focus on Investment for one year. For instance, when the economy was on a downturn in 2008-09, most clients were looking for better investment efficiencies as the single most important ‘i’ from their media agency. But in the next year, depending on market and brand situation, the core need could have evolved to consumer insights in order to be able to distance his brand from competition. “In year one for this client, Madison Media would be the Investment Engine, but in year two, it would be the Insights Engine,” says Punitha.
She also clarifies that this does not mean Madison Media will stop being the other ‘i’s to the client. “We will continue to deliver all the ‘i’s, but we will focus on one ‘i’ more,” she says. An important aspect of this is that any chance of a disconnect between the media agency and the client would reduce when Madison Media and its clients together decide what theclient’s objective of that year would be, and hence what the focussed ‘i’ should be for that client.
Covering the Last Mile
Madison would go all the way to ensure that its teams embrace this new brand position. A unit’s score would also depend on the ‘i’. Madison is developing what the agency calls the ‘i’Score. Punitha says, “Every document and work that the team will send to the client would have an ‘i’Score on a scale of 1-5. For example, if we have decided on one client that Innovation Engine is what we will be in 2012, then every plan, every buy, all strategy work that goes to the client, from that client team, will carry the ‘I’nnovation Score, thereby ensuring that Innovation as a philosophy, permeates the bloodstream of that client team in everything they do from thinking to buying to implementation.”
Madison is already working on orienting its teams at monthly meets to explain the iEngine position better, which Madison Media believe would play a key role in driving the agency to its future.
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