Jarek Ziebinski, president, Apac (Asia-Pacific), Leo Burnett is a happy man. The India business has been doing extremely well, registering 38% growth last year. Together with Arvind Sharma, chairman, India sub-continent, Leo Burnett, Ziebinski is now looking at making Leo Burnett the most creative network in Apac. In an interview with FE?s Rohit Nautiyal, Ziebinski and Sharma talk about their plans and the increasing relevance of Delhi in the country?s advertising industry. Edited excerpts.

How has Leo Burnett India?s growth story been in 2010?

Jarek Ziebinski: As one of the fastest growing markets, India is a jewel in our crown in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region with 38% growth last year. Interestingly, Delhi accounted for a major part of our overall revenue in the country. Now, the main challenge is to keep the momentum going. Our ambition is to be the most creative network in APAC. We plan to focus on areas such as shopper marketing and retail where clients are looking for competency and support. Hiring senior talent is one of the steps we took recently towards attaining this goal. In terms of categories, telecom and financial services are where we see growth in India. In the next two years, we plan to double the size of our operations here.

How does the agency plan to approach the concept of modern marketing in India and world over?

Arvind Sharma: Today power is going to the consumers not only in terms of the products and services but how they wish to interact with these. There is a need to rethink the ?4P?s of marketing after putting ?people? in the centre. In the new era, consumer is the media owner. Channels of content like the internet and mobile are increasing with each passing day. Participation of consumers is vital for the popularisation of any brand.

Ziebinski: In order to understand consumer behaviour, we strive to be eternal students of people?s lives. Applying creativity to this behaviour and then creating communication is what we will focus on. Today, a brand can survive only if it has an answer to the question – What is my (brand?s) role in people?s life? As Arvind explained,people, purpose, participation and populism are the new 4Ps of marketing.

Is the Indian client actually focussing on mediums other than television?

Sharma: Around one-sixth of the client?s advertising budget in India is going into activations already and it?s growing at 35%. Digital is small but it?s expected to grow rapidly. The growth of mobile in India is not a story of evolution but an accelerated process. Those who are not leveraging these mediums now, will be forced to do so in the next two years.

There is also the rural market which, as some say, is different because you have to talk in a different language. I do not subscribe to this theory. The motivation for rural people to buy products and services is not very different from that of urban consumers. For instance, Thums Up has great demand in rural India even when we have not done much there in terms of communication. Though Leo Burnett has a rural activation division, we plan to acquire businesses with a deeper footprint in rural India.

What do you think about the talent pool at Leo Burnett India?

Ziebinski: We are really proud of our talent pool in Delhi and Mumbai. We have a fine creative team under the leadership of KV Sridhar (a.k.a. Pops) servicing clients like Coca-Cola India, Uninor, Heinz, Mc Donald?s and Perfetti, among others. There is a relentless focus on getting the best people in every market and investing in them by conducting various training programmes and seminars on a regular basis.

What is your estimate of Delhi as an advertising market? Is it set to overtake Mumbai in terms of the size of business?

Sharma: In the next five years, Delhi will overtake Mumbai in terms of advertising business. While Mumbai is facing congestion, Delhi has the added advantage of being spread out in NCRs like Gurgaon and Noida. Film production may still be happening mostly in Mumbai, but when it?s about quality of talent in planning and creative, Delhi is getting ahead of Mumbai. Also, we would like to take initiatives that improve networking between advertising professionals here. More than ad clubs, Delhi needs a good school of communication.

Ziebinski: This reminds me of a similar conversation I had with some advertising professionals on Melbourne versus Sydney as ad markets. Delhi is developing faster than I expected and the changes are there for all of us to see. Leo Burnett Delhi grew by 85% last year.