MediaCom expands footprint in South Asia

“India is the larger of the markets but countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are becoming important," said Debraj Tripathy, MediaCom India MD, who will be leading the charge in the new markets. "We’re not doing justice to our clients without a strong presence there. Besides, these economies are growing fast enough to make business sense for us."  

The firm has about 300 people across its offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. Tripathy said he would also like to enter Kolkata and “certain other markets” in South India.

MediaCom in India is a joint venture between Madison Communications and MediaCom, with Madison, run by chairman Sam Balsara, holding a majority stake (51 per cent). The deal was considered unusual when the pair teamed up to pitch for P&G's media planning and buying business in 2008. 

Tripathy claimed that since he took on his role in 2011, MediaCom India’s growth has more than doubled, driven in part by a string of new clients including Tata Docomo, FutureGroup, Carwale.com, SabMiller, Urban Ladder and Subway. Its RECMA ratings also climbed three spots to number six in 2014, he added.