Omnicom Group strengthens India presence in big way

The Omnicom Group, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, is strengthening its presence in India in a big way. After setting shop in India, Omnicom’s BBDO Worldwide is putting in place an aggressive growth plan. For starters, BBDO India is planning to expand its manpower and creative offerings as part of its growth strategy.

Meanwhile, Omnicom’s other brand, TBWA Worldwide, is planning to increase its stake in TBWA India from 51 to 100%. “The deal is nearly concluded. The agency may announce it sometime next month. The value of the deal is pegged at Rs 150 crore. Ominicom is planning to buy out three promoters stake in TBWA India,” informed key industry sources.

With this move, TBWA Worldwide will have total control over its Indian brand. Currently, Omnicom’s top 10 global advertising brands include, BBDO Worldwide, DDB Worldwide and TBWA Worldwide among others.

On BBDO India’s strategy, Josy Paul, chairman of the agency said, “We are in the midst of setting up Mumbai operations. In Delhi, we have 22 members in our team. We plan to scale it up to 42 across the country. We will be setting up a digital and interactive agency as part of offerings.” Currently, BBDO India handles the advertising accounts two blue chip companies namely PepsiCo’s 7 Up and Hewlett Packard (HP).

According to Paul, BBDO India is in the final stages of signing two blue chip multinational clients. “Our first task is to find the right talent. We have made a few key appointments in the last two months. A full team of creative, account management and planning are being put in place,” added Paul. At present, BBDO Worldwide has majority stake in RK SwamyBBDO in India.

Increasingly, international advertising networks are making Indian a hub for their creative and media offerings. “We will see more global networks entering the Indian ad industry in the next two months. As for existing global players, they are expanding their operations for bigger share of the advertising pie,” said the chief executive of a leading advertising agency in Mumbai.