Madison scouts for acquisitions in creative advertising, PR space

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Mumbai, June 25: After acquiring a 51% stake in MediaCom India, part of WPP Group Plc, home-grown advertising major Madison World is actively scouting for acquisitions in creative advertising and public relations sectors. Currently, the agency is in advanced talks with a slew of companies in domestic markets. The agency has just hiked its equity stake in Anugrah Madison, a joint venture between Madison Communications and Chennai-based Anugrah Marketing & Advertising Ltd to 88 %.

In 2001, Madison’s stake was 26% in Anugrah Madison, its rural communication venture. “We have been gradually increasing our stake in Madison Anugrah and now it has reached 88 %. We are actively looking for acquisitions in creative and public relations to strengthen our offerings and services,” said Sam Balsara, chairman & manging director of Madison World. FMCG major Procter & Gamble India has awarded its media duties to Madison MediaCom Combine effective from July this year.

To taken on multinationals in the Indian ad industry, Madison has recently restructured its specialised units across various disciplines.For starters, the agency has rebranded its ‘Madison Creative’ as MC 2 to highlight its doubled creative strength now. Also, the agency has consolidated its twenty units across 10 specailised functions which include, sports management, Madison Xurpas(mobile), Out-Sel, MC2, Madison Media, Mates, PR, Madison Anugrah, Out-door Platinum.

On the company’s strategy, Balsara said, “Our core focus is on strengthening our services in India though we have presence in Sri Lanka and Bangkok. We have launched an events wing ‘Penada’ in Bangkok thorough a joint venture with a local company there.”