Campaign India Agency Report Card: Grey India

Type of agency: Advertising, Marketing Services, Public Relations, Digital
Company ownership: WPP
Key personnel: Nirvik Singh, chairman and CEO, Grey Group Asia Pacific, Jishnu Sen, COO, Grey India, Bindu Sethi, SVP and national planning director, Shalini Dam, VP and national creative director, Sameer Mutreja, MD, G2rams, Sachin Mutreja, CEO, G2rams, Sudhir Nair, VP and head, G2 Direct and Digital
Accounts won: JSW, ITC HoReCa, Zylog Systems, GSK (Sensodyne, Breath Right), Conde Nast Publications (Vogue and GQ), ITPO – Indian Trade Promotion Organisation, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Coal India, Bayer  HealthCare,  part of P&G Gillette
Accounts lost: CavinKare, BSNL, Ranbaxy, Jindal SAW, Haier, Living Media, Metal Junction, BlackBerry

The early part of the year saw Jishnu Sen begin promoted as CEO, Grey India with Nirvik Singh given an additional mandate for the Asia Pac region. Bindu Sethi was brought on board to head planning. The agency attracted talent - Parul Arora, George Koshy joined as creative directors, while Shweta Khosla was roped in as planning director. Vijay Jacob was roped in as head of Grey Bangalore, after C Harikrishnan quit from the post. Rohit Malkani joined as executive creative director.
Apart from the campaign for JSW Steel, there was no significant campaign to mark 2009 for Grey India. For the agency, raising its creative profile is a task that’s not exclusive to India alone. That’s been a major task for sometime now, globally. On a recent visit to the country, global creative chief Tim Mellors was candid about the need to significantly up Grey’s creative ante in the region and the world.

Campaign Score: 6
 
How GREY INDIA rates itself: 8

2009 was a year of significant change at Grey India. It started with a change in leadership as Nirvik Singh moved into his new role of chairman and CEO, Grey Group Asia Pacific.  This was followed by Jishnu Sen taking over the reins as COO, Grey India. Bindu Sethi was brought in to lead and build a strong planning function.  The year also saw the rebranding of Rams Relationships as G2rams. Wins include John Keells, Audi, ITC HoReCa, Suzlon to name a few. 2009 also saw Grey APAC unveil its syndicated study ‘Eye on Asia’ in India. Grey won three bronze at Goafest and a shortlist at Cannes. At the 2009 Promotion Marketing Awards of Asia, Grey was awarded the Order of Merit for Best Brand-Building Campaign and Best Activity Generating Brand Loyalty. Digital also won accolades at The One Show, New York and Webby Awards.