Campaign India Agency Report Card 2011: RK Swamy BBDO

Ownership: RK Swamy (majority) and BBDO (minority)

Key Personnel: Srinivasan K Swamy, group chariman, Shekar Swamy, group CEO,  VS Chakrapani, director,  Surojoy Banerjee, president - HR, KL Venkatasubramanian,CFO

Account won: Acumen Capital Market , Andhra Bank , Builders Association of India, Dun & Bradstreet USA , ESIC, Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust, Illumina USA, Induslnd credit cards,  Kochi Business School, LANCO Infrastructure Limited, LIC Housing Finance, Manipal Hospitals, Mars Petcare, NoMarks, Parryware, Revised National TB Control Programme, Shriram City Union Finance, Tata Projects Limited, Aadhaar, Viveks Retail   

Account lost: Birla Tyres, Jindal Steel

They lost Birla Tyres and Jindal Steel. They have retained all the other accounts but again, where’s the work. Throughout the year, the only time RK Swamy BBDO was talked about, was post the release of the LIC Nomura advertisement, which was crafted skillfully, to say the least. Clearly, the agency has all the potential to replicate the same with other brands and come out with creative work on them as well. Simultaneously, they need to ensure that the work gets its visibility in the market. The jury felt some more focus on  creativity, and better the chances of them blazing forth with a significantly higher score in 2012.  
How Campaign India rates the agency: 5

How RK Swamy BBDOl rates itself:  8
A new client gained nearly every fortnight on the one hand, and two client losses in the entire year ... this sums up the performance on the client side. No major attrition on the people side. Careful addition of some key talent, and full retention of senior team members. Tremendous creative output for clients as varied as LIC Nomura, Moods, Raymond, IndusInd, Mercedes, Shriram Transport, Central Bank and many others.

Enhanced digital capability that has made the agency the preferred choice among leading multinationals and Indian companies. Rapid scaling of other capabilities including analytics and activation.  RK Swamy has won new business from leading international companies in the USA.

All of this and more have contributed to an exceptional 2011.  More importantly, RK Swamy has continued to strengthen its foundation for the future.