Campaign India Agency Report Card 2010: Starcom MediaVest

Starcom MediaVest

Type of agency: Media

Company ownership: Publicis

Key personnel: Sandeep Lakhina, COO, South Asia, 
Tarun Nigam, executive director, India – North, 
Nikhil Rangnekar, executive director, India-West, 
Narendra Lambara, GM, Sriram Sharma, GM – Bangalore, 
Dinesh Rathore, GM – West, Kaushik Chakravorty, 
Country Head, Enhance India, Sandip Bansal, Country Head,
 Xpanse India, Sanjay Shah, CEO—India, Navia, 
Mahesh Ranka, GM, Relay Worldwide, Rajesh Iyer, business
 director, The Bridge, Yuzdi Badhniwalla, GM, Starcom IP

Accounts won: Amar Remedies, United Technologies, Zoditha, Radio One, Starwood, Lafarge, Raheja, Avon, Wiwo

Accounts lost: Ferrero

The story at Starcom that’s doing the rounds is more than a tad misplaced. Yes, Ravi Kiran has resigned and yes, they have lost some businesses. But their big spenders, SAB Miller, Himalaya, Blackberry (RIM), Jet Airways, Emirates, Western Union, etc., continue to do well.
Laura Desmond’s India visit was obviously an  exercise in understanding India. It’s been two months since Kiran’s resignation has been announced and, as in the case of so many agencies, the silence is only fuelling rumours. Kiran’s 12 year stint makes life difficult to whoever replaces him; every single  employee has been hand-picked by Kiran.
It’ll be an interesting year...

How Campaign India rates the agency: 5

How Starcom MediaVest rates itself: 6
We began 2010 on a note of high optimism after a very tough 2009. There were some very high profile new business pitches that we participated in – but ended up being the bridesmaid in many of them. The good thing was that none of our top ten clients went for a pitch. Out client retention record remains perhaps better than anyone else. Some new clients put their trust in us and we kept the momentum going. What really mattered to us was our strong relationships with our current clients – and to ensure that we nurture, build and grow them – and we focused on that well.
Some of the important milestones for us in 2010 were investing in our future by creating a world class summer internship program – SPARKLE; taking a gang of 30 youngsters under 30 to Goafest; launching our second out of home agency Vector; hosting our global CEO, Laura Desmond on her maiden India visit; hosting the Global Product Committee (GPC – our cross functional and cross geography internal product champion group) meeting for the first time in India; investing in Talent & Transformation by setting up a dedicated team; and creating SMileys – the in house awards to recognize the products we create for clients.
Navia successfully launched Uninor across 12 circles, before handing over the baton. We could not launch SSIMCAP – our IMC education programme
SMG has always learnt to be at the forefront of change and we love change. While Ravi’s going is a known fact, the organisation is excited with the possibility of change. The end makes possible the start of more interesting things to come. We are looking forward to 2011 with renewed zeal, enthusiasm and optimism. We are so ready for 2011.