Global ad majors put focus on India ops

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Mumbai: Recognising the growth potential in India, global advertising majors are now strengthening their presence here in a big way.

For starters, BBBO India, part of the Omnicom Group, is adding muscle to its existing team to strengthen its operations in India. On the other hand, Bartle Boyle Hegarty (BBH), yet another global advertisement major, is developing a new advertising model to woo Indian advertisers.

After setting shop in India in January this year, BBH India is scouting for fresh talent to build on its core team in India. Meanwhile, DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group, is also planning to set up its Indian operations in the next two months, informed key industry sources.

Currently, Mudra Communications has a strategic alliance with DDB Worldwide in India. "With the global economic downturn, ad majors are betting big on Indian markets. They expect the main growth to come from China and India," said an industry analyst based in Mumbai.

On the agency's core strategy, Josy Paul, chairman of BBDO India, said: "We follow a collaborative model with our Omnicom partners to offer total service covering everything from CRM, interactive and activation. We offer the best of BBDO International and local and regional resources."

According to Paul, BBDO India was currently handling major ad accounts in India which include PepsiCo, HP, P&G, Gillette and Bayer. "We have two full fledged offices in Mumbai and Delhi. There's interesting Indian talent knocking on our door," added Paul.

BBH's managing partner in India, Subhash Kamath, said the agency was building its core team to handle new ad accounts in India. "We began our operations in January 2009 with 22 professionals. And now we have a strong team of 45 people. We plan to have our main office only in Mumbai," he said.

Yet another global major, Aegis Plc, the UK-based marketing and communications group that holds the media specialist Carat brand, has just launched a second media specialist brand, Vizeum, in India. It was two years back that Aegis Plc set up its Indian operations.