Campaign India Agency Report Card: MediaCom

Type of agency: Media
Company ownership: Madison (51%), WPP (48%)
Key personnel: Divya Gururaj, MD, Sanjay Sharma, GM – Mumbai, Anita Devraj Mookerjee, GM -Bangalore/Chennai, Vinish Joshi,GM – Delhi, Hemen Desai, GM, Team P&G
Accounts won: P&G, Edelweiss, Skoda, Porsche, Dell, RBS
Accounts lost: VIP Undergarments, Motilal Oswal

MediaCom’s 2008 story cannot have any other beginning than the one that tells about its alignment with Madison World. Early this year, Sam Balsara acquired a 51% stake in MediaCom India, the combine then bagging the coveted P&G media planning business. The move made history as India is possibly one of the very few markets where P&G is being handled by a WPP-aligned agency.

Divya Gururaj, hired by MediaCom in 2007, heads the Indian agency and has steered it in a positive direction on all fronts. Impressive new businesses were added, besides P&G, including Skoda, Porshe, Edelweiss, RBS, etc. That Dell fell into its lap after a global alignment was an added benefit.

After witnessing a high turnover last year, MediaCom managed an impressive retention this year. Its values of “People First” has been instrumental in keeping staff attrition down to single digits in 2008. An internal feed-back survey had 80% employees agree that MediaCom has better work-place environment than other agencies. After bagging Dell, Gururaj brought in Anita Mukherjee as Bangalore head from Lintas Media Group, with an eye on winning new businesses.

The agency launched global brands such as Aegon Religare, Volkswagon and Audi, while running an impressive campaign for its P&G brand, Gillette titled – India votes to shave or not.  

2008 has been a good business year for MediaCom and hints at the agency’s potential in the Indian media market.

Campaign Score: 8

How MEDIACOM rates itself: 10

2008 has truly been a spectacular year for MediaCom. An agency which was besieged by client and staff attrition in 2007, had a remarkable turnaround in 2008. New business gains in 2008 like P&G, Edelweiss, Skoda, Porsche, Dell, Deccan Express Cargo, RBS, etc., significantly increased our turnover. We had the privilege of launching major global brands in India, like Aegon Religare Life Insurance, Volkswagon Jetta and Passat, Audi A4, A6, R8. We also planned and executed the first ever brand campaigns for Dell and RBS in India. Some of our innovative ideas for Gillette – India Votes to Shave or Not, Dell – Take your own path, helped in improving business results significantly. In 2009, our focus will be on strengthening our digital/new media offering and customizing our insights based communication planning. We will continue to offer our people the best work environment and our clients, an agency that is passionate about its business.