Campaign India Agency Report Card 2011: Starcom MediaVest

Ownership: Publicis Groupe

Key Personnel: CVL Srinivas, chairman, CR Mallikarjundas, CE), Raghav Subramanian, national director - insights and research, Arnab Mitra, national director – digital, Starcom Worldwide: Tarun Nigam, executive director – North, Rajendra Dwivedi, Naresh Alambara, Sriram Sharma (VPs), Dinesh Rathore, VP (MediaVest Worldwide)  

Account won: Aircel (television and digital), SuperMax, Yahoo, Zee Learning, SAB TV, General Motors (Digital), Pearsons, Letsbuy.com, Sony Pix, BIBA, Via.com, cellon

Account lost: None reported 

Campaign India had written about how 2011 would be an interesting year for Starcom MediaVest with the exits in late 2010, and it turned out that the agency came out of it without any major setbacks. With CVL Srinivas and CR Mallikarjundas taking over the reins at the agency, the agency has managed to retain its businesses and has added a lot more. One of the keenly contested pitches of the year, Aircel decided to go with the agency for their television and digital media duties in November. Other than that, the agency managed to add businesses from SuperMax, Yahoo, Zee Learning, SAB TV, among others. Raghav Subramanian, Arnab Mitra and Rajendra Dwivedi also joined the agency this year.
Overall, it has been a good comeback from the agency this year, despite the leadership changes.
How Campaign India rates the agency: 6

How Starcom MediaVest Group rates itself: 7
This has been a fairly good year for Starcom MediaVest Group. We have grown by more than 25 percent and we see new opportunities beckoning us. This year SMG renewed the focus on the SMG product offering with the help of Insights & Research, Content and Digital. To build these three pillars, we infused a new leadership in the system, with a new chairman, CEO and freshly initiated, separate functions of Insights & Research and a core digital team. These initiatives have served us well on the new business front with a fair number of wins and helped build stronger relations with the existing client base. SMG has also benefitted from continued revenue generation from its outdoor and diversified services unit.