Campaign India Agency Report Card 2011: Draftfcb Ulka

Ownership: IPG

Key Personnel: Nagesh Alai, director, Arvind Wable, ED / CEO Delhi, M G Parameswaran, ED/CEO Mumbai, KS Chakravarty, NCD, Sanjay Tandon, COO Delhi, Nitin Karkare, COO Mumbai, Kinjal Medh, COO Cogito Consulting, Haresh Moorjani, group creative director, Sanjay Sharma, group creative director, Shiveshwar Raj Singh, group creative director, V Wabgaonkar, SVP strategic planning, Satish Ramachandran, SVP Interactive, Savita Mathai, SVP Group HR, Ritu Madhbavi, SVP Group IT Services, C Suresh, group finance director

Account won: ICICI Credit Cards, Hero Moto Scooters, SnapDeal.com, Nerolac Paints, Unza Enchanteur, Paragon Bags, Shiksha.com and Ambience Mall  

Account lost:  S C Johnson (Global realignment)

Draftfcb Ulka celebrated 50 years of existence in India in 2011. In other good tidings from the agency, it picked up the accounts of ICICI Credit Cards and Nerolac Paints. When it came to creativity, Tata Docomo’s Ranbir Kapoor ‘Keep it simple, silly’ campaign and the Tata Manza ‘Tanuka San’ earned the agency a considerable amount of conversation.  The agency also recreated the classic Amul Manthan ad in a more contemporary scenario, and handled the new communication for the new positioning of Zee TV.  In terms of people movement, Sanjeev Bhargava who headed the Delhi office moved out to fill the void at JWT Delhi, and Indira Das quit as creative head, Bengaluru. Both positions were filled from within the organisation, as Sanjay Tandon was elevated to COO, Delhi, and Dharmesh Shah made a move from Mumbai to Bengaluru. Additionally, Sushil Motwani joined as business head, healthcare, Mumbai, Mehul Patil as creative director in Mumbai, and Satish Pai as  consulting partner, Cogito Consulting. The jury felt there has been some good work on Tata Docomo and Tata Manza, consistently at that. The agency seems to be happy doing what it has been doing, and it has managed to retain its major clients.
How Campaign India rates the agency: 7

How Draftfcb Ulka rates itself: 9
Draftfcb Ulka focuses on creating advertising that works and has been a regular winner at Effie Awards. In 2010, the agency not only won several Effie awards it also won the coveted Grand Effie; and our client Tata Docomo won the Client of the Year Award.  The Tata Docomo ‘KISS’ campaign featuring Ranbir Kapoor (a 45 film series) series kept brand Tata Docomo at the top of the charts. With a strong offering cutting across mass media, digital, direct, healthcare, strategic planning/consulting, varied industry groups and specialist skills, Draftfcb Ulka has been rated as one of the top three agency groups in the country in media reports.  This year the agency has set up independent units to focus on Analytics (Asterii Analytics) and an Experience Marketing Cell (Aquila Experience - headed by Puneet Malhotra). As the agency group enters its 51st year, it is well-positioned with strong, stable leadership, deep client relationships and an ever increasing commitment to building BrandWealth for its clients.