Campaign India Agency Report Card 2010: Lintas Media Group

Type of agency Media

Company ownership Interpublic Group

Key personnel Lynn De Souza, chairman and CEO, N P  Sathyamurthy, president and COO, Sudha Natarajan, president and COO, Premjeet Sodhi, president, The Collaborative 

Accounts won Union Bank, Aje Group (Big Cola), Voltas, Religare Group, Intex mobiles, Wynncom Mobiles, Luminous inverters, Envista Education, Yamaha Motors (digital AOR), Micromax mobiles (digital AOR), Hamdard, Johns Hopkins UHI, Expedia Travels, Via Travels, Oman Air, Manappuram Jewellery, Base Terminal, Matrix, Bengal Shriram; OOH- Citibank, MTS, Monte Carlo

Accounts lost  ITC, Mantri Developers

LMG lost one of its biggest businesses and one of its oldest clients- ITC and although the business officially moves in the new year; the loss is invariably going to have implications in terms of general agency health. Idea Cellular’s loss last year has not been replaced with any significant win in terms of spends. Among the key people who joined LMG this year include Hemanth Shah as president of OOH Initiatives; Patrick Gomes as vice president, LMG West; S Muthukumarasami as senior vice president, south;  Abhishek Jain as senior buying partner, LMG Maruti Suzuki and Radhika Sidhu as planning head, LMG Maruti Suzuki.Key talent that left in 2010 included:R. Venkatasubramaniam, vice president, LMG Delhi; Amit Ray, president, ITC (wef January 1, 2011); Sumit Kanungo, senior vice president – ITC Kolkata (wef January 1, 2011).The losses of two key accounts in two continuous years (Idea in late 2009 and ITC in 2010) will require an uphill climb to recover from.

How Campaign India rates the agency: 5

How LMG rated itself: 8

Tremendous results in new business with an unprecedented 19 new account wins in all sizes, all categories and all markets, across digital and out-of-home too, have added a new character to LMG. The loss of an old and growing relationship with ITC which will take effect in 2011 has thus not made any dent in the agency. Special attention continues to be paid to talent development using highly innovative employee engagement initiatives that emphasise collaboration, community service and growth by enabling others to grow.