If that seems confusingly similar to Omnicom’s biggest media network, it’s probably because they were deliberately chosen to be that way.
They are the media arms of Omnicom’s partners in India — Mudra (in which DDB holds a 10 per cent stake), TBWA and RK Swamy BBDO. And their existence could be considered a sign of the market’s frustration that the world’s largest holding company hasn’t managed to establish itself in one of the worlds fastest-growing advertising markets.
But Jasmin Sohrabji, the new managing director of OMD India, will have bigger things to worry about (for instance, WPP’s GroupM agencies, which together account for an estimated 60 per cent of the media market in India, the already well-established operations of Starcom, Initiative Media, MPG, Universal, Carat and local heavyweight Madison).
However, the three media shops do pose something of a thorny problem: some of their business comes from clients who are, as far as they’re concerned, already working with an Omnicom media agency.
The OMD launch comes after months of speculation regarding Omnicom’s plans for India — including, if some reports are to be believed, an attempt to recruit an entire new management and creative team, the appointment of Keki Dadiseth, a former Unilever board member as chairman of Omnicom India, and reported meetings between Dadiseth, DDB director on Unilever business Asit Mehra and numerous potential high-level recruits.
Sohrabji joins OMD after almost two decades at MediaCom — a period during which the shop moved from subsidiary of creative agency Trikaya Grey, to Grey’s media independent MediaCom to its final avatar as a WPP GroupM agency.
She sees parallels between the key tasks involved in setting up that network and the task ahead at OMD India — and also a synergy between the creatively-focused positioning of OMD and the route down which she led MediaCom India. Indeed, Sorabji describes the move as a natural progression.
“(OMD’s) whole positioning is based on creativity and insights rather than volume which is pretty similar to the kind of philosophy that MediaCom in India operated with.”
Sohrabji admits that building OMD from scratch into a significant player in India will be challenging, and believes that one of the keys to success lies in ensuring that OMD does not think of itself as a big media shop which will attract clientele simply because it has entered India.
Rather, she says, it is imperative for the organisation to have a start-up mentality and realise that’s it in a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. “The challenge is to gain some critical mass (of business), because we will not be able to attract good talent without it,” she explains.
Scaling up in terms of people will happen in parallel with the acquisition of clients, but at the moment, Harish Shriyan, former vice-president, MediaCom India, is also on board at OMD. If industry speculation is to be believed more defections from MediaCom to OMD are in the offing.
Mike Cooper, CEO, Asia-Pacific, Omnicom Media Group, says that the network knew within five minutes of meeting Sohrabji that she was the right person for the job: “She’s got the right blend of personality and creativity, is strong on research and has a great track record.”
He points out that OMD has just been named the number one media agency by the Gunn Report for the third time — and that creative approach will be its key differentiator. “It’s the same way we position ourselves in every other market — with an Indian flavour,” he says.
As far as new business goes, both Sohrabji and Cooper say it’s too early to talk about movements from OMD’s globally-aligned clients. But “lots of clients have contacted us, especially since Jasmin has joined us”, adds Cooper.
Sohrabji says that she would prefer to look at globally-aligned business as the icing on the cake. That’s a strategy she adopted with MediaCom, with the agency pursuing independent local business rather than depending on global alignments.
Some of OMD’s global clients present in India include Standard Chartered Bank, McDonald’s, Apple, Sony Electronics and Biersdorf, as well as Pepsi, Henkel and Wrigley’s, which the network handles in select markets.
“They have come to accept an unaligned agency in India,” she points out, and it’s not like the businesses are being badly serviced. OMD will also be looking at acquisitions — especially in the areas of allied services like branded content and interactive.
Jasmin Sohrabji's CV...
2004 President, MediaCom South Asia
1999 VP, MediaCom South Asia
1998 Media director, MediaCom New York
1997 Media director, MediaCom Indonesia
1990 Media planner, Trikaya Grey Media
1988 Media planner, Contract Advertising
