O&M, Lowe India chart blueprint for growth

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Mumbai, Nov 19: To sustain its leading edge in the Indian ad industry, Ogilvy & Mather India (O&M), India’s largest advertising agency is chalking out an aggressive growth strategy, despite the economic slowdown. Initially, the agency will extend its operations to five new cities across the country in the next three months. After setting up a creative hub for its international client Lenovo in Bangalore, the agency is currently in talks with two global clients to outsource its creative work. Meanwhile, competitor, Lowe India is drawing up a fresh growth plan. This includes extension of its operations and foray into new sectors such as business content creation, shopper marketing, digital marketing and content creation for Bollywood movies.

Incidentally, Lowe India is currently implementing a fundamental shift in its business from being an advertising agency to a communication company. In essence, O&M and Lowe India are gearing up to gain a competitive edge in the Rs 19,000 crore Indian advertising industry.

On the agency’s strategy, Piyush Pandey, executive chairman & national creative director, South Asia, O&M said, “We are assessing the possibility of expanding our operations to smaller cities to meet the growing needs of clients. Currently, we are present in six major metros in India.”

Enthused by the response to its creative work for Lenovo in China and other countries, the agency is currently in talks with two major companies across the globe. “Out first global client was Perfetti. The merit of Indian creativity is now recognised in the international markets,” he added.

On the other hand, Lowe India is getting ready to change its name to ‘Lowe Lintas’ in the next three months. On the rationale behind the move, Charles Cadell, chief executive officer, Lowe India said, “All our clients know the agency as Lintas in India. To keep the familiarity factor intact, we opted for this move.”

As part of its growth strategy, Lowe India is planning to foray into new segments, including gaming content creation and branded entrainment. “We have just introduced a new concept ‘channel planning’ in India. We already have six channel planners who have come from overseas to evaluate and recommend the best media-mix to our clients,” explained Cadell.