TITLE OF THE REPORT:

THE STUDY OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES

PREFACE
It is a matter of great honour for me to present before my humble readers this
project based on the study of Advertising Agencies. The foregoing presentation is an
honest and painstaking effort on my part in black and white about the colourful world of
advertising agencies. The data collected by me is both primary as well as secondary. I
have taken assistance from knowledgeable and apt taskmasters shouldering work f great
responsibility in some of the reputed advertising agencies. However, with due respect to
the urge of these agencies for maintaining secrecy about their operations and financial
data ,I also had to resort to secondary sources for obtaining data like newspapers,
magazines and the websites of these agencies. Although the information obtained from
secondary sources may prima facie seem to be paralysed by window dressing, to be
absolutely frank with my understanding readers, it has been discovered that this data is as
reliable as the one I have obtained from the horses mouth for other agencies.
Due to paucity of time and reluctance of certain internationally acclaimed
advertising agencies in co-operating with me for this project due to some obvious reasons
on their part ,I have been able to cover in this project a study of 6 agencies. But the
foregoing pages will warrant my painstaking efforts and the extensive study undertaken
by me for each of them.
So, with due respect to my patient readers for the time they will spare for my
project and with confidence flowing through my nerves that both the time and patience of
my readers will not be tried and tested and but duly rewarded with the intensity of my
efforts , I carry you gracefully into my world of advertising agencies

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to sincerely thank the University of Mumbai for giving me this
opportunity of taking up such a challenging project which has enhanced my knowledge
about the Advertising Industry & the advertising agencies.
I am very grateful to Ms. Meghana Patil- Project Co-ordinator, under whose
guidance and assistance I was able to successfully complete my project. I am also
thankful to Mr. Vikram Shrotri, Project Guide whose advise and thoughts helped me gain
a better understanding of this huge advertising industry and the flambouyant,
magnanimous world of advertising agencies.
Last but not the least, I also thank the below-mentioned honourable dignitaries
and task-masters who have played a major role in leading their respective agencies to the
sky of glory. This is a special thanks to them for sparing their precious time, fitting my
out-of-the-way appoinent into their diary and giving almost all the information required
by me in an unbelievably amicable manner.
Without the priceless contribution and coveted guidance of all the abovementioned people, this project would have never got a shape of reality and emerged
before all of you in the manner and in the style as it now appears.
Warm thanks to :
1. Ms. Nandini Rajan, Account Executive of XEBEC COMMUNICATIONS PVT.
LTD.
2. Ms. Tanya Gulrajani of CARAT MEDIA SERVICES INDIA PVT. LTD.
3. Mr. Suresh Kannan, Media Manager of CANCO ADVERTISING PVT. LTD.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. OBJECTIVE :
To study the various advertising agencies; the ones having local operations as well as
the ones have international scale of operations, their modus operandi, styles and the
manner of functioning, their profiles, their upswing and their downfall and last but not
the least their position in the world of advertising on the basis of the contributions to
the ad world and society at large.
2. METHODOLOGY :
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective and finish the study to perfection, I
have made a judicious and a balanced use of primary sources as well as secondary
sources of data collection. Well, the primary sources comprise of personal visits to the
administrative offices of some known advertising agencies and a direct
communication with the persons who were knowledgeable and in-charge of the
operations.
To facilitate in my operations, I had first chalked out a detailed questionnaire covering
in length all questions that would serve the purpose in the most efficient and
productive way. The preparation and the formulation of the questionnaire was on the
basis of many considerations viz., the time that the answeree would require to give me
the required answers, the importance of that time and the cost involved. A copy of the
said questionnaire is included elsewhere in this project as an Annexure.
Although the efforts were directed basically towards obtaining information required
for the study from primary sources to the maximum possible extent, due to factors like
lack of co-operation anticipated from stalwarts and internationally acclaimed agencies,
considerations of these agencies over secrecy of data regarding their operations, lack
of time for answering the questionnaire and unavailability of the persons-in-charge, I
also had to resort to secondary sources like websites, magazines, newspapers etc.
Bibliography of these sources forms a part of this Project for ready reference of the
reader.
4

A sample of six agencies was chosen on the basis of their scale of operations,
reputation and quick accessibility.

3. CONCLUSIONS :
During the course of this study I have observed many a facet of the advertising
agencies ----- their strengths, their weaknesses, their opportunities and threats which
deserve a mention :

Most of the advertising agencies are basically interested in catering to just the
needs of the consumer irrespective of the nature of the product or service
proposed to be advertised.

The primary objective of the agencies is basically profit generation and profit
maximisation.
The agencies conduct a SWOT of the client but not of the product at the time of
accepting an assignment.
There is not much of a dynamism in this agencies as far as expansion plans are
concerned, diversification objectives are involved or specialisation motives are in
question.
Not much is done by these agencies for the social welfare and advertising of

social

values
The agencies are highly committed to their activities but sometimes they tend to be
over-professional in their attitudes, over-reserved in the choice of strategies, overconfidential in their operations and over-aggressive in

competition.

Not many agencies are laying too much emphasis on selection of proper

human

resources or managerial personnel. They appear over-burdened by objectives

of

cost control.
There is not proper training imparted to people working in the modestly
positioned advertising agencies. Due to this, there is lack of specialisation,
improvisation and dynamism.
5

4. RECOMMENDATIONS:
The following are recommended in view of the importance and the strategic position
occupied by these agencies :

The advertising agencies should function in a healthily competitive

environment rather than in an aggressive world of cut-throat competition.

The agencies should definitely give importance to profit maximisation but at

the same time function in public interest as far as charges and quality of
products is concerned.

The agencies should also conduct a SWOT analysis of the products to be

advertised at the time of accepting assignments alongwith the routine
SWOT

analysis of the clients.

There should also be a provision for staff training whereby the staff is properly
motivated and educated for the roles they perform in the organisation
leading

them to specialisation and perfection.

The advertising agencies should also have a perspective of tapping new

avenues, creating mew markets and pursue global expansion for the
benefit of

Sr.No
CH 1

themselves and for the country at large.

Table of Content
Topic
Research Methodology
6

Page No
11

CH 2
CH 3
3.1
3.2
3.3

Introduction
Profile
Introduction to Advertising Agencies
Functions of Advertising Agencies
Model Organization Structure

1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
1.10
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
3
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
5
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7

ADVERTISING AGENCIES
XEBEC
The Whereabouts
Modus Operandi
The Canvas on which Xebec paints its product
How can I know about Xebec?
SWOT Analysis
Case Studies
Awards and Achievements
Whos who in Xebec
Divisions of Xebec
List of Clients
CARAT
The Whereabouts
Modus Operandi
SWOT Analysis
List of clients
CANCO
The Whereabouts
Modus Operandi
SWOT Analysis
Canvas on which Canco paints its product
How can I know about Canco
Organization Structure
Facilities offered by Canco
Awards
MCCANN - ERICKSON
History
Whos Who
Modus Operandi
SWOT Analysis
MUDRA
History
Pioneers in Advertising Agencies
Divisions
Founder
List of Awards
Major Clients
Organization Structure

CH 4

14
18
18
22

23
23
24
24
25
27
30
31
31
33
34
34
35
37
38
38
38
41
41
41
42
42
43
43
45
57
60
61
62
62
63
64
66

CH 5

SWOT Analysis of Advertising Agencies-Comparative

67

Study
Statistics
Comparison between Gross Income of Top 25 Agencies
Growth of Advertising Agencies
Top 20 Advertising Agencies
Top 20 Advertising Spenders
Agencies Ranking
2001- Top Ten Multinational Advertisers
2001- Top Ten Advertising Agencies
Comparison of Agencies on the basis of Worldwide Gross

69
70
72
73
74
75
75
76

CH 7
CH 8
CH9

Income
Graph of Growth of Agencies
Suggestions and Recommendations
Conclusion
Annexure

77
78
80
82

CH10

Bibliography and Webliography

84

CH 6
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.9

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Topic

: STUDY OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES

1. OBJECTIVE :
The project deals with the study of advertising agencies encompassing a multidimensional discussion on the whereabouts of these agencies, their modus operandi,
their manner and coverage of operations, their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
available to them and the threats posing obstacles in their journey to the max. This
study shows the diversity underlining their operations and at the same time the unity
in aims, objectives and target. As during the preparation of this project, some
inevitable obstacles and natural hindrances restricted the scope of this study just as
these agencies are restricted by many environmental and socio-economic factors,
nonetheless, its a sincerest attempt to do the best possible justice to the said topic.

2. AGENCIES COVERED :
(1) Xebec
(2) Canco
(3) McCann-Erickson
(4) Carat
(5) Percept
(6) Mudra

3. FROM PLACES TO PAPER :

The data required for this study as per my vision was collected from the following
two types of sources :
9

(1) Primary Sources

(2) Secondary Sources
Primary Source of data collection was tapped in the following manner :

(1) Personal visits :

This was given the topmost priority. Well, any information from the horse's
mouth gives a touch of reality, practicability and conviction to every study and
this aspect made it an area of key importance. I visited three agencies viz.,
Xebec, Carat and Canco, though I approached many others including the
topnotch like Ogilvy & Mather, Mudra, Lowe. However to my utter
disappoinent and ill-fate, I never succeeded in getting appoinents from the
ones. In the agencies I visited, I contacted those taskmasters who were holding
positions of no less importance and who had a thorough knowledge of the
environment of their respective agencies, the operation, the style of working and
the clientele. At the same time, I found these people quite enterprising,
professional-to-the-core in their approaches, knowledgeable, speech-conscious
and very co-operative. I basically got answers to all the questions that were put
in the questionnaire in an unhesitating and amicable way.
(2) Sending questionnaires :
To those organisations that showed their firm unwillingness in attending to me
personally, I sent my questionnaires through internet to the key personnel in an
attempt to convince them into giving some information about the agencies for
whom they toil. Some replied back courteously; either disclosing their
helplessness in giving information or informing me to surf their websites and get
all possible information to my uost satisfaction (an advertisement for
advertisers).
Secondary sources of data collection :
On account of the cold shoulder given to me by the media-giants and their
contemporaries, I had to resort, as also advised by some of them, to secondary
sources of information like newspapers, websites and books for supplementing
10

the information obtained from primary sources and sometimes for the main
information. Honestly, the information obtained from the websites was detailed
and sufficient to an extent that would even surpass those of primary sources. In
the ocean of the information that the websites contained for each agency, I had to
fathom for the most precious gems which required crisp editing, preciseness and
good scissor-work. Also newspapers like The Economic Times and its
supplementary called Brand Equity did leave their imprints on the papers of the
project to follow and their contribution to this presentation cannot undermined
and unnoticed. Help was also taken from books based on advertising and
marketing to give a better appeal to this study and enrich it with more detailing
and liveliness.

4. RESULT
The cummulative result of primary sources of data collection and secondary
sources is obvious from the pages that follow. However, I have been able to
generate sufficient information and moreover, in detail from all the sources
employed in an endeavour to leave no stone unturned in justifying the selection of
this topic and advertising agencies, at large. Though marred by some obstacles, I
am convinced that my painstaking efforts and drops of sweat that have made the
papers intangibly wet and the ink of the pen go dry will convince my patrons
carrying good doses of expectation from this project.
5.

DIFFICULTIES FACED :
1. Stipulations and urge for strict adherence to the length of this project upto a
maximum of 80 pages forced me to run the merciless scissor on many points. The
pen was on but the papers were gone.
2. Lack of co-operation from the stalwarts and the internationally acclaimed adgiants has been the biggest obstacle in the way. Though, they are very much
justified and I give due consideration to their urge for maintaining confidentiality
about their operations and financials, I still believe that had this information,
11

however explanatory it is, been obtained from them directly, it would have
definitely made neighbours' envy and owner pride.
3. Unavailability of concrete sources of secondary data was another hindrance.
Though websites form an exception, barring them there was hardly a source that
carried some potential in meeting the requirements. Prestigious publications like A
& M have faced shut doors of printing presses and a replacement is still hiding in
some unknown corner of invisibility.
In a nutshell, all these ingredients which have gone into the making of this recipe
wait a verdict from the readers for their taste.

INTRODUCTION
The word that bridges the gap between no more to know more- Advertising.
and further between know more and grow more. Knowledge is power, they say and
today the biggest weapon of power in anyones hands is that of advertising. Just as water
is to a fish, advertising is to business; something without which the basic question of
survival is bound to rise.
In this jungle of name and fame, where every creature confidently defies William
Shakespeare when he says, Whats there in a name there is definitely everything
attached to name and its this name which gives you fameAnd what gives an identity
its name? Well, the only golden word Advertising Definitely roses will not smell less
sweet by any other name but businesses will undoubtedly go back to the coffers if the
world forgets their names and to keep them alive in the minds of billions, you go for
publicity.
Today everyone advertises from crches to crematorium ,from hotels to hospitals, from
clubs to pubs,from marriage bureaus to lawyers well name it and you have it.
Everyone needs recognition, from a 6 month baby in the cradle to a 60 year old preparing
for a graveyard, from a beggar to a billionaire everyone wants you to recognize in a
train or in a plane , irrespective of what you are. In the yesteryears , everything was
considered fair in love & war and advertising . It does not mind if you have to pull
someone down, important is that you should rise.
12

And who helps you to project yourself in the public, who brings you from the greenlight
to the limelight, who brings you from the darkness of ignorance to the light of
recognition? Obviously, the advertising gurus seated comfortably in their mind-blowing
offices
These Advertising Agencies may be raking in big moollahs but no one can question
their contribution in enabling the business to burn their choolahs .Today there are the
movie moghuls and cricketing badshahs dancing on their fingertips, models and
celebrities weaving their irresistible web of magic around people like us. Well, necessity
is the mother of invention and our necessities have opened the doors of prosperity for
these agencies.
Be it a product or be it a service, they have the magic formulae for everything and mind
you, these formulae really work on our minds as is clear from our very own experiences.
And sometimes their roles really makes a layman wonder as to what would have happen
to those hundreds of unsung brands appearing as faces in the crowd on some rack or
shelves of a huge supermarket or a not-so-popular stores if these agencies would have
never risen from the sands of time.
Today, the exposure of every individual to advertisements and advertising has increased
manifolds than what it was in the past. Kudos to these agencies ; at least they have turned
out to be major trend-setters and torch-bearers for people like us showing us the way to
the magnanimous world of sophisticated products & services. However unethical and
materialistic these agencies may be, at times in a bid to grab the lions share of the
buyers market, it is doubtlessly certain that without these agencies we would have never
come out from the age of transistors to reach the modern age of home theatres. Well,
every cloud has a silver lining to it.
Who can forget the extent and the manner in which Reliance Infocomm marketed its
Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) Technology on the onset of the launch of its mobile
13

service. Irrespective of the post-use catastrophes, the impact of solid marketing &
publicity on the minds of an ordinary laymen for whom having a mobile in hand was
nothing less than wearing a gold ring in the ring finger is reflected in the way such a
person is today using a cell phone. The hype was created by the agencies like Xebec
Communications who advertised the product of one of the Fortune 500 Companies of
India and the hysteria still continues.
Today, may products like chocolates and butter come to be identified by their brand
names like CADBURYS & AMUL. On the other hand, many others are identified by
their slogans, catchlines & punchlines devised by the advertising wizards like
BLACKMAGIC MOTION PICTURES for their clients products like Hamara
Bajaj (Bajaj Auto), Utterly Butterly delicious Amul (Amul), A gift for someone you
love(Cadburys), Yeh Dil Maange More (Pepsico) , Taste the Thunder (Thums-Up)
etc.
Before we go ahead with the discussions about the advertising agencies & the brains
behind them, its pertinent to bring to limelight the benefits which we, as a society, are
deriving from these agencies and the not-so acceptable traits.
PRESENTING...
The pros
(1)

Creating awareness :
Due to the increasing role of the advertising agencies and so-called dominion over
our minds, today the level of consumer awareness could be well adjudged from
the fact that even a toddler identifies in the spur of the moment an ad of
Cadburys chocolates or Amul Butter been run on the screen of the idiot-box
ornamenting our spacious drawing rooms.

(2)

Enabling wider choice and access to products :

So many products and so many ads for each of themleaves the poor customer
gasping for some free space. Well, with the bombardment of so many
commercials, universal hoardings, from advertisements stuck on the walls of the
building compounds to those stuck on the walls of the railway comparents, the
customer has multitude options and ample of choices to really get better than the
14

best. Well, people are after all paying handsomely for their requirements and
they deserve choices and options. But, it all owes to these agencies who have
spread out before us 10 different types of toothpastes for making out teeth the
whitest and the hardest, 100s of moisturizers for giving the best glow to our skin
an all sorts of luxuries which have become more necessary than the necessities.
(3)

Uplifent of standard of living :

Well, its said that Money makes a mare go. Today, this not be any more
emphasized as everyone knows that depending on the financial background,
people can get the best of everything. From a cycle to a car, or from a dhaba to a
restaurant, the customer knows where he is the most comfortable and is ablebodied to plan out his budget as he knows the price tags stuck on every product
and service. And all this, is possible because of the constant exposure to media
and publicity.

(4)

Necessary for the growth of the businesses :

From the Ambanis to the paanwalla, from the Bachchans to the street-actors,
every soul is convinced of the power of these agencies in giving them a larger
than life size image. Every business house, big or small, though cutting the cloth
according to the size of its coat, needs the services of these agencies to project its
brand image before the laymen and convert these laymen into prospective and
from prospective to loyal customers for their products and services. Revenue
generation is the prime objective behind every business and to rotate the wheel of
success, its important for them to use the services of these think-tanks and always
remain on the topmost rank.

The cons.....
(1)

A cold shoulder to social responsibilities :

The advertising agencies today are not performing to the non-material welfare of
the society. Their commitents and obligations to the society are mani-fold. Being
the torch-bearers of the world of publicity and media, they are on a huge platform
from where they can spread messages of public interest in every nook and corner
of the country. Alongwith their professional assignments for profit maximisation,
they can also design propagandas for conveying important social messages like
15

harmfulness of smoking and drinking liquor, abolishing evil practices and dogmas
deeply rooted in the blood of the rural illiterate, importance of a nuclear and small
family etc. Accepting these assignments for a social cause will not create a dent in
their pockets but will surely go a long way in revolutionising thoughts, attitudes
and mindset of every Indian.
(2)

No SWOT of products advertised conducted :

All the advertising agencies are conducting a SWOT analysis of the prospective
clients that approach them with a product or service meant to be advertised but no
one is bothered about a scrutiny of the products to be so advertised. It is not their
business, perhaps it is anti-business; that's the feel and the flavour.

PROFILE
ADVERTISING AGENCY
ADVERTISING
The American Marketing Association, defined advertising as any paid form of nonpersonal presentations of idea, goods or service by an identified sponsor.In other words
we can say that Advertising is brand building through effective communication

INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING AGENCY

The global market has expanded manifold in the last few decades. More and more
products are being launched practically everyday. The companies are engaged in
cutthroat competition to highlight their products to the forefront. Herein enters the
glamorous field of advertising. Advertising is actually brand building through effective
communication and is essentially a service industry. This requires the help of the media to
reach more and more people to communicate brand effectiveness and here advertising
agencies comes picture.
The role of advertising agency has been accepted because it provides specialist services
to the companies, which have inadequate services of experts for the promotion of their
goods and services. Many institutions have established the services of advertising
agencies to make their products and services known to the potential consumers.
16

FUNCTIONS OF ADVERTISING AGENCY:

The advertising agency performs all the managerial functions. Some of these are
planning, creation and execution, co-ordination, accounting, media, research and internal
control.
Planning: The advertising agency plans the advertising campaign. The
management delegates the responsibility of advertising planning and execution to
the agency. The agency must have a fair knowledge of the firms products, its
history, the present market conditions, distribution methods, price level and other
conditions. A successful advertising programme is built on the basis of these data.
Creation and Execution: Specific advertisements are created. The advertising
copy is written; the layout is prepared; illustrations are drawn; photographs are
finalized; and a correct mechanical form for running it in the selected media is
produced. The advertising agency prepares a suitable advertising copy for
insertion in all the media.
Co-Ordination: The advertising agency co-ordinates several activities. It often
works with the clients sales force and distribution network to ensure the long-run
success of the advertising programme. The combined efforts of sales persons,
distributors and retailers ensure maximum sales. Ideas, media, copy and decisions
are co-ordinated properly to project and implement the advertising programme.
Accounting: The advertising agency maintains proper accounts in co-operation
with the client. The account executives see to it that the agency keeps to the stated
plan. The accountant is in charge of the administration of the advertising
programme on the agency side. A misunderstanding arising between the agency
and the client is eliminated by the accountant. The amount of fees received from
the client and the payment of taxes, bills and other charges are accounted for by
the accountant.
Media: The advertising agency selects the media or a set of suitable media for the
client to reach the right type of audience which is an important factor in media
selection. The rates, circulation, population, audience, income and other important
information are collected for the purpose. It has to see to that the media plan is
17

carried out properly which is devised to implement the campaigns

communication objectives. The media experts know all about the media and their
coverage. They prepare the schedule of advertising, publication, data on printing
and the time available from television and radio.
Research: Research is a key function in an advertising campaign. The decisions
on creativity and media selection are taken on the findings uncovered for
research. Research makes every decision systematic and logical, based as it is on
facts and figures.
Internal Control: The advertising agency manages its employees, finances and
other resources effectively and economically. It conducts the business behind the
scenes and exercises proper control over activities and funds. Public relations,
sales promotion functions and client contacts are maintained by the management
for the effective operations of the advertising agency.

18

EXTERNAL

CLIENT BRIEF

ENTERS THE AD AGENCY

INTERNAL
CREATIVE BRIEF

CREATION
STAGE

MEDIA BRIEF

CREATIVE PROCESS

COPYWRITING

ILLUSTRATING

LAYOUTS

CLIENT APPROVAL

PRODUCTION
STAGE
TYPOGRAPHY

BROADCAST

PRINT
FILMING

ENGRAVING

EDITING

PRINT AD

COMMERCIAL

PRINT MEDIA

BROADCAST MEDIA

AD REACHES THE TARGET AUDIENCE

19

TYPICAL ADVERTISING AGENCY STRUCTURE

Chairman & Managing

Director
(Chief Executive Officer)

Finance

Management
Accounts

Client service
Director

Media Director

Administration

Creative Director

Media
Controllers

Associate Creative
Directors

Group Account
Manager
Media Supervisors

Creative Group Heads

Account Supervisor
Media
Planners

Media
Buyers

Copywriters

Account Executives
Media

Media

20

Art Directors

Studio Films
Print &
Production

ADVERTISING AGENCY # 1

X E B E C
THE WHEREABOUTS
HEAD OFFICE :
20, Santosh Heights,
1st Floor, 39/4, J.N. Marg,
Opp. Apsara Theatre,
Pune 411 037.

BRANCH OFFICE :
Jain Chambers, 1st Floor,
Next to Saga Shopping Centre,
S.V. Road, Bandra (West),
Mumbai 400 050.
Incorporated in the year 1991, this rapidly-growing FULL SERVICE Agency located at
the above-mentioned places has today achieved for itself a decent position in the
jampacked arena of the biggies and is continuing its progressive march.
It is solely indigenous with no foreign collaboration or foreign equity participation ;
something really very praiseworthy.

MODUS OPERANDI :
Being a truly professional & competitive in approach, Xebec Communications has a
well-defined and a well-organised method of operations. When the prospective client
approaches them for getting his purpose served, they conduct a SWOT analysis prior to
acceptance of any assignment. Although, this SWOT Analysis is not at all a cumbersome
and patience-testing exercise for the client, it is designed in such a way that the agency
gets a total assurance of the output.
The agency first understands the requirements of its customer and gets a complete profile
about the product or the service to be advertised from the horses mouth. Further, it
21

makes a complete assessment of such a product or service, based on the representations

and the explanations given by its client in terms of the life of the product, its
marketability and its commercial value. Continuing on these lines, the agency also makes
an assessment of the requirements of the client, their budget, cost constraints etc. Finally,
last but not the least, the agency makes an estimate of the benefits, both monetary as well
as non-monetary which it is subsequently in the long run, going to derive out of every
such assignment.
On the basis of such a study made about the product, its target audience and the psychoanalysis of the creator as well as its creation, the agency then selects the type of media
which is the most appropriate one in terms of the cost constraints laid down by the client
and accordingly intimate the client about the cost-benefit ratio of the entire exercise. So,
its a thorough professional approach wherein the client is rest assured about the benefits
he is going to reap from the seeds he is planning to sow in the field of advertisement.
Ultimately, its not a no-win no-lose situation for both of them but is entirely a winners
outcome.

THE CANVAS ON WHICH XEBEC PAINTS THE PRODUCT :

Xebec provides its customers with a wide-range of media to select from viz., in fine
print, or on celluloid like television, radio, theatres etc.

HOW CAN I KNOW ABOUT XEBEC :

Well, being professional and competitive in approach, it is Xebec who approaches its
prospective clients and not wait for the the clients to fathom for it. So, the client does not
have to run in sun and shower for finding a proper canvas for its product. Xebec provides
all the facilites for its client coupled with a very co-operative in-house, interactive
response and hospitality. As far as a payment term is concerned, Xebec also takes care of
the pocket-size of its customers. So on one hand, it gives you the option to pay the entire
fees in lumpsum, on the other hand it also extends credit to its continuous and
creditworthy customers.

22

STRENGTHS :
The agency first understands the requirements of its customer and gets a complete
profile about the product or the service to be advertised from the horses mouth.
Further, it makes a complete assessment of such a product or service, based on the
representations and the explanations given by its client in terms of the life of the
product, its marketability and its commercial value. Continuing on these lines, the
agency also makes an assessment of the requirements of the client, their budget, cost
constraints etc. Finally, last but not the least, the agency makes an estimate of the
benefits, both monetary as well as non-monetary which it is subsequently in the long
run, going to derive out of every such assignment.
On the basis of such a study made about the product, its target audience and the
psycho-analysis of the creator as well as its creation, the agency then selects the type
of media which is the most appropriate one in terms of the cost constraints laid down
by the client and accordingly intimate the client about the cost-benefit ratio of the
entire exercise. So, its a thorough professional approach wherein the client is rest
assured about the benefits he is going to reap from the seeds he is planning to sow in
the field of advertisement. Ultimately, its not a no-win no-lose situation for both of
them but is entirely a winners outcome.
WEAKNESSES :
Xebec is facing a major problem of Time Management i.e. it is over-dependent on its
staff. Hence, the quality and the efficiency of its human resources always causes some
sort of a problem in making and implementing fast decisions. Again, multiplicity of
brains, though an asset for any organization is also sometimes a hindrance in its
development when the agency is not able to reach to a definite conclusion about its
strategies and policies in the nick of the time due to conflicting ideas presented by its
too many decision-makers. As it is aptly quoted, Too many cooks spoil the broth

23

Secondly, as far as client servicing is concerned, Xebec does not make adequate
attempts to update its services. This is the main reason why this organization though
reputed, is not able to expand its paraphernalia. Lack of creativity is also a major
backdrop in its success story.
Next, Xebec has also failed to make any renowned celebrity from the fields of
cinema, sports, politics or business as its brand ambassador as other reputed agencies
in this world are in a practice of doing. Hence, the agency fails to create a long-lasting
and huge appeal for the products of its clients amongst the masses.
As far as the profiles of the team members of Xebec are concerned, the people in the
topmost levels of organizational hierarchy who are mainly shouldering the
responsibility of devising strategies, policies, media plans, client servicing, account
planning, market recognition and strategic decision-making are not from the fields of
management or advertising. Though, they may be well-groomed for excellence in the
environment in which they are functioning, there is always an undisputed difference
between those able-bodied people who are from the field of management and those
who are not. And finally, in this field of cut-throat competition where agencies rise
and fall like a pack of cards day in and out, you definitely need professionals and
professionalism in your approach at the time of decision-making and implementation
of ideas.
OPPORTUNITIES :
There is a tremendous scope for diversifying its paraphernalia as currently Xebec is
just specializing in one particular media.
Secondly, by recruiting and taking more benefits from services of professionals in this
field, Xebec can overcome its problems of Time Management and slow decisionmaking. Instead of having too many heads with different contents in them, it can
always go for quality staff.

24

Xebec can also concentrate on making some of the eminent personalities as its Brand
Ambassador, which it has already started as is evident from its forthcoming contract
with a cricket star named Salil Ankola. If it continues to do so on these lines it can
lead to more aggressive response for its clients products and services.
THREATS :
Xebec also does not make a SWOT analysis of its clients at the time of taking an
assignment. This also exposes it to a major threat of losing its own ground in its field
as not many of its clients are too reputed, well-organised and aware of their
requirements.
Another major threat to the growth and development of Xebec is its over-dependence
on Print Media. That is to say, Xebec has not taken too many efforts of diversification
and growth into other media. It is quite understandable that in todays world to remain
sellable in the market you have to keep on diversifying yourself into other fields
which this agency is not very much keen in today, there is a definite threat on its
future existence. Survival is first, growth afterwards and just trying to be a master in
one amidst a crowd of experts who are Jack of all trades is not at all a good sign for
any organization.

CASE STUDIES
1.

KIMBERLY CLARK

1.1 Brief
Associate Kimberly Clark with personal hygiene by a campaign encouraging people
to adopt health habits and educate offices and hotels about the importance of giving
their employees and guests access to hygiene products.
1.2 Execution
A Poster Campaign placed in and around washrooms (where Kimberly Clark's
products are most used)reminding people about the importance of personal
hygiene with a byline by Kimberly Clark.
25

1.3 Result
A direct association between Kimberly Clark and personal hygiene and increased
usage of Kimberly Clark products and supplies.
2. KINETIC
2.1 Brief
Relaunch Kinetic Honda Marvel and build on Kinetic's reputation as an all family
2 wheeler maker. Create a new buzz around the Marvel as an exciting bike.
2.2 Execution
A series of concurrent road-shows and test rides all over India handled by our
events division with live performances by India's most exciting and talented
performer - REMO - to stir up the excitement.
2.3 Result
Excitement about Marvel and renewed interest in the scooter and Kinetic.
3. THYSSENKRUPP
3.1 Brief
To occupy mindspace as a core infrastructure sector/industry player.
3.2 Execution
A creative campaign in Indian and foreign magazines and journals closely
targeted at industrial decision makers.
3.3 Result
Increased awareness of ThyssenKrupp activities and brand recall as a hi-tech
German company. ThyssenKrupp continues to be a valued client.
4. INDIACOM
4.1 Brief
Build the INDIACOM brand as a most easily accessible and widely disseminated
yellow pages directory.

26

4.2 Execution
Strategic press spots and hoardings timed with the beginning and end of the
bookings period designed to drive demand for ads and insertions and increase
awareness of the INDIACOM edge.
4.3 Result
More recall for the INDIACOM brand as the most easily accessible and widely
disseminated yellow pages directory resulting in more placements in their
directory.
5. LIPI DATA SYSTEMS
5.1 Brief
Position LIPI as a total data solutions company with a wide range of high quality
print solutions for small businesses and corporates
5.2 Execution
A creative campaign focusing on the flexibility of LIPI printing solutions.
5.3 Result
Increased awareness about the LIPI brand name as a provider of superior printing
solutions.
6. INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
6.1 Brief
Raise Intelligent Investor's profile through high powered personal finance
exhibitions in the metros.
6.2 Execution
A series of full page ads in outlook and Intelligent Investor designed to engage the
readers attention by trumpeting the sheer volume of financial services and free
advice on offer.
6.3 Result
A tremendous response to the personal finance exhibitions leading to increased
awareness about Intelligent Investor and an increase in its brand equity.
27

7. CENTURION BANK
7.1 Brief
Establish Centurion Bank as a one stop shop for all banking needs with superior
banking services for small customers.
7.2 Execution
The target audience was identified as the small customer who was perhaps not
getting the best service in big banks. The creatives were designed to inform him
about Centurion Bank's thrust towards them.
7.3 Result
More new accounts for Centurion Bank with its brand firmly established among
the smaller customers.
8. DISHNET DSL
8.1 Brief
Leverage Dishnet strengths as the only DSL high speed ISP provider in the
country. Target soho and heavy net users promoting the benefits of high speed
access.
8.2 Execution
A creative campaign bringing out the cost and speed advantages of broadband.
8.3 Result
Increased interest and awareness about broadband Internet access, establishing
Dishnet DSL as the pioneer in broadband technology and generating inquiries and
sales.
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS :
Best Radio Jingle
[A refreshing jingle for Electronica Leasing & Finance Ltds Fixed Deposit Schemes]
CEAD - Best Radio Jingle
[An innovative jingle for Kinetic Spark which was set in a folk tune]
Trade Fair/Exhibition Design
28

[First prize for Kinetic Honda stall at Auto Expo 98]

[First prize for Impressive Stall & Innovative Displays at TECHEX-6 at World
Trade Centre, Mumbai, November 98]

WHOS WHO IN XEBEC ?

People make all the difference, nurturing talent and allowing space for
independent thought and initiative are our hallmarks which explains the low
attrition rates.
Key people behind the success of Xebec are Kiran Bhat - Chief Executive

Anil Bhat - Executive Director

Vincent Sebastian - Branch Manager

Radhika Akolkar - Account Director

Samir Wagh - Manager (Media & Events) Sandeep Ghodke - Art Director
Anil Rane - Asst. Art Director

Abhay Bengeri - Branch Director

Praveen Meloth - Sr. Account Executive

Bhavana - Sr. Account Executive

DIVISIONS OF XEBEC
M.A.R.S.
Our in house Research division - an independent profit centre - allows clients to identify
customer preferences, trends, deliver a more focused message and track customer
response.
M.A.R.S. delivers professional research services within the Xebec umbrella.
M.A.R.S. Services:
Qualitative and Quantitative Research... Dipstick Studies... Focus Groups... Pre
and Post Launch Surveys / Studies... Feasibility Reports... Customer Satisfaction
Surveys... Dealer Audits...
STELLAR - P.R.
29

In today's fast paced media driven world with shrinking attention spans, PR is an
important vehicle to increase mindspace and mindshare.
Stellar is a Xebec group company run by experienced PR professionals with strong
contacts in press and TV for national coverage.
CUSTOMER CONNECT
C2 is Xebec CRM arm with specialized Direct Marketing and Customer Response skills.

LIST OF CLIENTS
1. Mahindra Consulting
2. BMC Software
3. Arden Systems
4. Datapro Infoworld Ltd.
IT SOFTWARE

5. Jog Software Solutions

6. Lucent Technologies
7. Selectica India
8. Parametric Technologies
9. Kpit Systems
10.Optimos India
11.Onward Technologies
12.Intigma
13.Intermedia

IT HARDWARE

1.

Jetking

School

of

Hardware

Networking Technology
2. General Engineering / Actis

30

and

3. C-Net Networking Products

4. Lipi Data Systems
1. Thyssenkrupp Industries Pvt. Ltd.
INDUSTRIAL

ADVERTISING AGENCY # 2

C A R A T
THE WHEREABOUTS
HEAD OFFICE :

CARAT MEDIA SERVICES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED

Barodawala Mansion,
81, Dr. Annie Besant Road,
Worli, Mumbai 400 018
India.
Email : pat@carat-india.com
Website : www.carat-india.com
CEO: Sulina Menon
Email : sulina@carat-india.com
Carat India - New Delhi
Address : E82A, Greater Kailash Part-1,
New Delhi, Pin-110048, India
Tel No : (91) 11 629 4112
Fax No : (91) 11 629 3680
Email : carat@ndb.vsnl.net.in
Website: www.carat-india.com
Website: www.carat-asiapacific.com
31

Carat is operated by AEGIS MEDIA which operates alongwith Carat 2 other reputed
worldwide organizations viz., Vizeum & Postersope Worldwide.

MODUS OPERANDI :
Being a truly professional & competitive in approach, CARAT has a well-defined and
a well-organised method of operations. When the prospective client approaches them for
getting his purpose served, they conduct a SWOT analysis prior to acceptance of any
assignment. Although, this SWOT Analysis is not at all a cumbersome and patiencetesting exercise for the client, it is designed in such a way that the agency gets a total
assurance of the output.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF CARAT :

STRENGTHS
1. Carat has a very educated and well-groomed set of clientele. They know that the
ability to understand and exploit the opportunities of the evolving media market is
key to their future success. Media communication, and assessing its short,
medium and long-term effect, is becoming central to every business.
2. Carats aim is to deliver business advantage for its clients through effective
communication programmes that maximize return on invesent. This means
partnering with its clients to produce sustainable improved sales by building
brand loyalty, value and awareness. They combine insights into brand, media and
consumer behavior to spark innovative media solutions that are unique to every
brand. The Carat approach to communication planning gets results.
3. The marketing strategy of Carat is defined as a 360 communication. This
means exploiting the whole range of media channels available to a brand which is
fundamental to building effective communication strategies. As messages reach
consumers in new and different ways, they can refresh and renew a relationship,
create excitement and loyalty, even advocacy for a product. The task is to build a
programme which engages consumers with the brand and reveals the inherent
values in a product or service that cause consumers to say "That's for me". In a
32

nutshell, this type of a strategy helps in building a brand loyalty and the customer
starts relating himself with it.
4. Carats clients are very much impressed with its ability to work as an international
team. The breadth of their service and their strong coherent network give Carat
the scope to truly partner international advertisers who are winning the race for
global media effectiveness.
5. Every brand, market and competitive situation requires a unique solution. Carat
has a rigorous and proven framework to develop innovative and creative media
solutions throughout its network. Its approach extends across all media - 360
communication. It works with a suite of sophisticated analysis tools and research,
helping it to understand consumers and to design media campaigns that deliver
measurable improvements in its clients' business.
5. Incisive management of media delivers business advantage to Carats clients.
Carat has invested over US$30 million on research and tools to manage and
measure media effectiveness, across traditional and online media channels.
6. Consumers' relationships with brands and product sectors need to be linked to
their relationships with media and attitudes to advertising. Analysis using tools
such as Charisma and Ad-itudes helps Carats clients reach their core targets more
effectively and develop strategies to attract new customers.
WEAKNESSES
1. The major weakness of Carat is diversification. Carat has grown, flourished and
made a tremendous progress in the field of electronic media only. However, for a
long-term and sustained growth and development it is the need of an hour for
every agency to stretch its arms and reach out for the world through all possible
avenues.
2. Carat does not have a broad clientele base which means that it does not enjoy a
very diversified brand loyalty.

OPPORTUNITIES
1. Carat has tremendous growth and diversification opportunities in the field of
advertising specially because of its skilled labour force and dynamic vision.
33

2. Carat has international tie-ups which means that there is ample of scope for it to
diversify its operations and tap the market worldwide.

THREATS
1. Carat is specializing only in electronic media. This overdependence on one media
only is definitely fatal for future growth and sustained development. Today, there
are many new entrants in the market and these agencies are making progress by
heaps and bounds in all types of media. Carat needs to tap other media also to
emerge as a genuine world leader.
2. Being a multinational agency, it is extremely difficult for small customers to
approach this agency for their requirement. Carat should also concentrate more on
Indian market which has a very large base of clientele. Firms worldwide have also
established themselves firmly in the Indian Market which if Carat cannot do or
does not do will hamper its growth and development process.

CLIENTS
Adidas

Diageo

EMI Group

Ferrero International

Fiat

Henkel

Kellogg

Kraft Jacobs

Suchard

LVMH

Mannesmann-

Vodafone

Merloni

Beiersdorf

Bertelsmann

BMW

Cable & Wireless

Carrefour

Coca-Cola

Club Med

Danone Group

Nissan

Pernod Ricard

Pfizer

Philips

Renault

Sara Lee

SCA

SmithKline

Beecham

Telefonica

Walt Disney

34

ADVERTISING AGENCY # 3

C A N C O
THE WHEREABOUTS
HEAD OFFICE :

518, Tulsiani Chambers,

Nariman Point,
Mumbai 400 021.
Incorporated in the year 1985-86, this rapidly-growing FULL SERVICE Agency
located at the above-mentioned place alongwith branches at Bangalore, Chennai & Delhi,
has today achieved for itself a decent position in the jampacked arena of the biggies and
is continuing its progressive march.
It is solely indigenous with no foreign collaboration or foreign equity participation ;
something really very praiseworthy.

MODUS OPERANDI :
Being a truly professional & competitive in approach, Canco Advertising Pvt. Ltd. has
a well-defined and a well-organised method of operations. When the prospective client
approaches them for getting his purpose served, they conduct a SWOT analysis prior to
acceptance of any assignment. Although, this SWOT Analysis is not at all a cumbersome
and patience-testing exercise for the client, it is designed in such a way that the agency
gets a total assurance of the output.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF CANCO :

STRENGTHS
1. Canco is a full-service agency providing all types of services related to the field of
advertising & marketing to its clients.
35

2. It conducts a SWOT Analysis of its clientele to assess their strengths and

weaknesses. It also first understands the requirements of the client, their
knowledge about the field of advertising, the characteristics of the products and
services to be advertised by its client, the type of target market and the cost
constraints under which its client is functioning. This overall study about the
client and its products helps Canco to devise and develop a proper marketing and
advertising plan for its client which can optimize clients returns in the restrictive
environment in which it functions.
3. As far as offering facilities to clients are concerned, amongst others, Canco also
provides its client the facility to make payments of its fees in installments which
goes a long way in helping the client overcome its financial hurdles, if at all posed
on him. This is a major breakthrough in client servicing and definitely is a major
weapon in anyones hands to have a stable and a loyal base of clientele.
4. The top level of organizational structure in Canco consists of people who are
professionals having the academic qualifications which are must in this field.
Understandably, on this account there is bound to be professionalism in the
approach, attitude and decisions made by the agency for its growth and
development.
5. Canco offers its customers a wide selection amongst the media for canvassing
their product or services. It advertises in newspapers, uses electronic media and
also provides the facility of online advertising. As the choices are more for the
customers, depending on their requirements, the characteristics of their products
and their cost constraints, it helps them in selecting the proper medium for
advertising their product or service.

WEAKNESSES
1. The biggest weakness of Canco is its organizational structure. The organizational
structure is such that people who are at the top most level in the hierarchy and
who are professionals in this field are few whereas the line staff is quite much.
This may lead to centralization of decision-making and an obvious influence of
one or two people in policy decisions. Centralization of decision-making and
36

authority being given to only few can prove to be disastrous for the growth of the
organization.
2. It does not have a very broad base clientele. The list includes just a few major
names like HDFC. This means that the agency does not enjoy the patronage of
many of the big names and is dependent on the patronage of privileged few.
3. CANCO has not hired any of the eminent celebrities for endorsing the products
and services of its clients. This is why the appeal created for the products and
services of its clients does not reach to a large group of masses.
4. In this world of cut-throat competition where it is important for every agency to
have some sort of transparency which will make popular its strategies,
achievements, client patronage, diversification in services offered, CANCO has
not made any effort to bring itself in the limelight. With no URL and no other
self-advertisement, it still lingers in some dark corner of isolation.
OPPORTUNITIES
1. With professionals at the decision-making level, CANCO has an opportunity to
expand its operations and diversify itself into new avenues if it makes a
concentrated effort on improvising the strength of professional staff.
2. Making use of the brand image of some celebrities for endorsing the products of
its clients can give it an upper hand and help in having more reputed customers
into its kitty.
3. It can project its achievements before the public and through the medium of
website can lend more transparency to its operations. On these lines, this agency
is working presently and a website is in the development stage.
THREATS
1. CANCO, though making use of print and electronic media for advertising
products of its clients is a Jack of all trades, master on none. Specialisation is
required in at least one sphere for expansion and further diversification.
2. The strength of the staff and the quality of human resource is also a major
hindrance it is growth and development. When decision-making is centralized and
37

that too based on few brains, there is bound to be lack of impulsiveness,

aggression, timeliness and dynamism.
3. CANCO is suffering a big threat from other agencies operating in the same set of
environmental conditions who are constantly offering more and more services to
their customers and diversifying themselves day in, day out.

THE CANVAS ON WHICH CANCO PAINTS THE PRODUCT :

CANCO provides its customers with a wide-range of media to select from viz., in
fine print, or online through the medium of internet,

external advertising like

hoardings, pamphlets etc.

HOW CAN I KNOW ABOUT CANCO?

Well, being professional and competitive in approach, it is CANCO who approaches
its prospective clients and not wait for the the clients to fathom for it. So, the client
does not have to run in sun and shower for finding a proper canvas for its product.
CANCO provides all the facilities for its client coupled with a very co-operative inhouse, interactive response and hospitality. As far as payment terms is concerned,
CANCO also takes care of the pocket-size of its customers. So on one hand, it gives
you the option to pay the entire fees in lumpsum, on the other hand it also extends
credit to its continuous and creditworthy customers.

ORGANISATION STRUCTURE OF CANCO

ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
Mr. Ramesh Narayan, (Managing Director)

Creative Director

Copywriters

(1) Mr. Dhananjay

Neelam

(2) Mr. Arun

38

Total Staff Strength

: 24

FACILITIES OFFERED BY CANCO TO ITS CUSTOMERS :

CANCO fixes the budget for its client depending on the requirements of the client,
the characteristics of the product to be advertised, the target customers, the marketing
strategy, the aggressiveness or otherwise of the advertising campaign, the type of
customers to be targeted, the cost constraints of the environment in which the client is
functioning etc. Based on this study, the budget is given by the agency to its client.

AWARDS WON BY CANCO

a.

Given by Alert India, Non-Government Organization (NGO) which

creates awareness for leprosy .

b. Given by Advertising Club, Mumbai

39

ADVERTISING AGENCY # 4

McC A N N - ERICKSON
HISTORY
McCann-Erickson WorldGroup was chartered in 1997 as a new model for integrated
marketing communications. The WorldGroup was created by uniting best-in-class
marketing communications firms in a range of disciplines behind a common mission and
vision.
In only a few years, McCann-Erickson WorldGroup has emerged as one of the world's
leading integrated brand communications organizations--in global size, in professional
quality, and in the number of clients we serve with multiple-communications services.
Each WorldGroup agency retains the best of its distinctive heritage. Most notably,
McCann-Erickson, is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary, representing a century
of innovation and excellence in advertising and communications The rich histories of the
member agencies of World Group provide the foundation for the WorldGroup's
unparalleled expertise and their unique shared culture. In its brief history, the
WorldGroup has cultivated a common culture across its global network, based on shared
strategic tools and a shared vision for effective marketing communications.

WHOS WHO :
John J. Dooner

CHAIRMAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER McCANNERICKSON WORLDGROUP

Arther DAngello

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

McCANN-ERICKSON WORLDGROUP

40

Eric Einhorn

Max Gosling

Peter Hamilton

EXE. VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

MCCANN-ERICKSON WORLDGROUP
President, CEO
Representative Director
McCann-Erickson Japan
REGIONAL DIRECTOR
MCCANN-ERICKSON ASIA PACIFIC

Robin Kent

CHAIRMAN AND CEO

UNIVERSAL MCCANN

Bill Kolb

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

MOMENTUM WORLDWIDE

Ben Langdon

REGIONAL DIRECTOR, McCANN-ERICKSON EUROPE,

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Pamela Maphis
Larrick

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

MRM PARTNERS WORLDWIDE

Marcio M.
Moreira

VICE CHAIRMAN, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER

WORLDWIDE DIRECTOR OF MULTINATIONAL ACCOUNTS
MCCANN-ERICKSON WORLDGROUP

Jens Olesen

REGIONAL DIRECTOR LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN

MCCANN-ERICKSON WORLDWIDE

Dr. Joseph
Plummer

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH & INSIGHT DEVELOPMENT
MCCANN-ERICKSON WORLDGROUP

Stan Rapp

CHAIRMAN EMERITUS
MRM PARTNERS WORLDWIDE

Joe Torre
Chris Weil

CHAIRMAN AND CEO

TORRE LAZUR MCCANN HEALTHCARE WORLDWIDE
CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
MOMENTUM WORLDWIDE

41

MODUS OPERANDI OF McCANN-ERICKSON

TOOLS
McCann-Erickson WorldGroup's unique and proprietary shared tools help unite different
marketing communications disciplines. They unite professionals in different offices
around the world. They provide a common "language" for diverse teams working
together for common clients.
Our tools also set us apart. They are disciplined yet flexible. They combine our best
practices with our cutting-edge thinking.
We have specialized tools in various disciplines, but the centerpiece is the holistic Brand
Optimization Map. Building off of the foundation of the Road Map to Effective
Communications, The Brand Optimization Map incorporates the thinking behind the
best strategy and planning processes of various disciplines into a unique, universal
strategic service.
By offering a holistic, integrated approach to strategy development, creative execution,
and campaign evaluation, the Brand Optimization Map service can generate brand ideas
that have the potential to solve clients' fundamental business problems and position their
brands for long-term growth.

CREATING THE DEMAND-CHAIN

By systemically linking supply activities from sourcing and manufacturing to distribution
and customer orders, corporations have successfully solved what is called the supply
chain. By enabling "just in time" delivery of products or services to meet demand, this
process benefits marketers through increased efficiency, productivity and lower costs.
But in today's competitive marketing climate, with a renewed focus on building customer
and top-line growth, demand creation is, arguably, the new success factor. To meet this
important business need among all types of manufacturing and service corporations,
McCann-Erickson WorldGroup has developed a service that links demand creation
activities to make them more synergistic and powerful, thus helping corporations to
create enduring marketplace growth.

42

This proprietary service offered by McCann-Erickson WorldGroup is known as Creating

the Demand Chain. This service, also known as the McCann Demand Chain, provides
marketers with all the critical steps in demand creation in a cohesive, effective, and
optimized manner.
The ultimate benefit of the McCann Demand Chain service in whole, or in part, is to
improve demand creation for companies and brands, increasing the sale of products and
services and optimizing top-line revenue.
Creating the Demand Chain encompasses a linked set of services involving six "links."
Importantly, marketers can leverage the McCann Demand Chain service as a whole, or
in part, since many of the service components can be adapted to the marketer's existing
company activities.
These six service elements encompass Demand Vision, Brand Idea, Resource
Optimization, Brand Contact, Relationship Management and Demand Performance
activities.
While this service and its component services are delivered through an array of marketing
communications operations across multiple channels, their unique linkage makes them
more than the sum of the parts. Each element leverages proprietary, market-tested
McCann-Erickson strategic, collaborative and measurement tools; and each is supported
and optimized by specialized expertise, resources, creativity, software and infrastructure.

Brand Optimization Map

The Brand Optimization Map (BOM) has been created by McCann-Erickson WorldGroup
to provide our corporate clients with a new, more inclusive approach to strategy
development, one that fully recognizes the evolving nature of brand communications.
This strategy development service recognizes that brand marketers around the world are
in a changing relationship to their customers. The Brand Optimization Map thus takes
a broader and deeper strategic perspective to account for the new realities facing
marketing-focused businesses today, including their required coordinated usage of a full
range of marketing communications disciplines.
In today's highly demanding business environment, the focus has shifted away from
improving profits through operating efficiencies to generating top-line revenue growth.
Demand creation is the new priority.
43

Demand creation in the new marketing communications environment has become

especially challenging. The technology revolution has surrounded customers and
consumers with a plethora of information and entertainment options, and, as a result they
have become more elusive. The consumer is firmly in control. They expect choice,
information, speed of service, and ease of acquisition. This new multi-channel
environment adds a whole new dimension to the challenge of marketing integration. And
with critical mass so hard to achieve, integration has become the new imperative.
Traditionally, the focus of integration has been the development of a common brand
platform or idea to unite the marketing message across multiple disciplines. This
integration of content is still a core priority.
But today, given the confusion of marketing channels, the increased sophistication and
scope of all our marketing communications disciplines and the emergence of new
internet-based business models, there is a demand for a new kind of integration - the
integration of resources.
The Brand Optimization Map is a unique service that brings together these two
fundamental needs in integration, content and resources, under a unified strategic
framework to optimize the marketing communications plan.
It leverages proprietary strategic principles, tools and software that identify marketing
priorities, optimize budget allocation and leverage the full spectrum of marketing
communications disciplines for what they do best, in the right "proportions." The Brand
Optimization Map also introduces a proprietary method of evaluating the ROI of the
fully integrated marketing program.
From a standpoint of "the user," The Brand Optimization Map is intuitive in concept,
but sophisticated in its ability to embrace the complexities of the new marketing
environment. It facilitates collaboration, idea generation, resource allocation and creative
execution. It is flexible in its ability to be used locally or regionally, for brands, subbrands or marketing initiatives, and for any specified marketing period.
McCann-Erickson World Group uses The Brand Optimization Map service to leverage
the specialized talent and creative energies of all our marketing communications
"corridor" centers of expertise while working collaboratively with our clients to create
powerful brand communications strategies.
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The following are the key steps of The Brand Optimization Map service:

BRAND OPPORTUNITY
Brand Health Check
In order to create big ideas, we must step back and look at the big picture. To this end,
BOM's Brand Health Check service offers a due-diligence process for assessing the
overall health of a brand.
The Brand Health Check service factors in evolving consumer perceptions, industry
trends and competitive pressures. By forcing answers to critical questions, it provides the
clarity to recognize major brand opportunities and solve brand problems.
Using the framework of McCann's Universal Marketing Drivers - a set of marketing
objectives that are common to all marketing communications disciplines regardless of
media and message specifics - the service captures the essence of the competitive
marketing situation and diagnoses priorities for both content and resource integration.

McCann Pulse
McCann Pulse serves as a leading-edge method of generating consumer insight that
informs marketing innovation and execution. McCann Pulse insights feed the
development of brand imagery, new products and services and channel strategy.
The McCann Pulse service output is based on consumer dialogue held at McCannErickson offices around the world and is reported on the company intranet. Regional
decisions can be made through the collection of key market data, and they in turn are
used to create a comprehensive global picture of evolving trends.
The focus of McCann Pulse is as much on the here and now, as where things are
heading. Through proprietary probes, it uncovers what is important in the lives of
consumers, how they view the world changing and what their evolving goals are. These
issues direct us to new product, service, and communications ideas.
This McCann Pulse service provides the consumer backdrop for the evaluation of the
Brand Opportunity as well as development of the McCann Brand Idea, via the Brand
Footprint and McCann Selling Strategy service components.

McCANN BRAND IDEA

45

The Brand Optimization Map platform for content in marketing communications is

determined by the Brand Footprint - a statement of the desired meanings, values and
personality of the brand - and the McCann Selling Strategy which determines a
powerful strategic idea for creative execution across all marketing communications
disciplines.
The Brand Footprint uses McCann's Brand Archeology techniques to uncover the full
depth of meanings and values associated with the brand through the eyes of its customers
and consumers. The McCann Selling Strategy draws on this "brand insight" to
determine where the brand needs to be in the future, thus creating a relevant and credible
strategic platform to "propel" the brand towards its destination.

MARKETING MIX
McCann Fusion 2.0 is a proprietary marketing mix software model that provides the
optimal allocation for each marketing discipline to attack the stated marketing challenge.
It looks at the marketing picture "top down," through software that captures relationships
between our marketing communications disciplines and the Universal Marketing Drivers
in the context of each category and country. The input to McCann Fusion 2.0 is the
Brand Health Check. The output is a benchmark budget allocation across marketing
disciplines for Brand Optimization.
As a complement to this "top down" evaluation, McCann's Marketing Task Cycle works
"bottom up" to determine the ideal role for each marketing communications discipline.
The Marketing Task Cycle identifies the barriers that need to be overcome, and assigns
the marketing that can best overcome them. This ensures we address critical brand needs
and leverage our marketing communications disciplines for what they do best, and to the
extent that they can make a difference.

BRAND PERFORMANCE:
The McCann Brand Clout Index
The Brand Clout Index measures a brand's competitive ability to attract and retain
customers in the marketplace - both currently and in the future. It can be used to help
quantify the Brand Health Check and to track the performance of an integrated program.
Thus it serves as the performance benchmark of The Brand Optimization Map.
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The McCann Brand Clout Index, managed by NFO WorldGroup research, is currently
being rolled out of test market.

Road Maps to Effectiveness :

The Road Map to Effective Advertising
The Road Map to Effective Communications
Why the McCann Road Map Service was Created:
Consumer behavior is harder to understand and predict. Media is proliferating.
Distribution channels are changing. And competition is increasingly fierce. In this fastmoving environment, it is no wonder many established brands lack a powerful strategy,
often lose direction and many new products fail to connect with customers.
To navigate the ever-changing landscape, McCann-Erickson WorldGroup has developed
The Road Map to Effective Advertising and, for total marketing communications
programs, the Road Map to Effective Communications. This comprehensive service of
proprietary tools is designed to create effective advertising and communications
strategies that make an impact in today's cluttered marketplace. The McCann Road Map
service results in communications strategies that create loyal customers when audiences
are moving targets and strengthen core brand values.
McCann Erickson WorldGroup recognizes the need for consistent, tested methods and
tools for creating communications that build brand value around the world and across
marketing communications disciplines. The McCann Road Map service is used globally
to ensure the consistency and high quality of communications programs around the
world. It is also used throughout the WorldGroup's range of marketing communications
companies to make certain that integrated marketing campaigns work in synergy.
The McCann Road Map's Key Components:
The Road Map to Effective Advertising, the prototype system on which The Road Map
to Effective Communications is based, is a full arsenal of services to guide the creation
of effective communications. It begins with the development of consumer and brand
insights and ends with the evaluation of the ideas that are used to create customers and
build brand values.
Components of The Road Map to Effective Advertising include:
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McCann Pulse -- the on-going exploratory service for gaining an in-depth

understanding of consumer trends in order to develop relevant consumer insights.
Brand Footprint -- for articulating the core brand essence that allows a brand to travel
successfully across marketing landscapes.
McCann Selling Strategy -- for converting consumer insights and brand essence into a
focused communications strategy that is unified by a single, driving selling idea.
And finally, McCann AdWorks -- a qualitative consumer validation and feedback
process to assess the effectiveness of marketing communication campaigns.

McCann Pulse
McCann Pulse is the regular monitoring of collective cultural undercurrents at work on
global consumer groups. Its goal is to better understand how these undercurrents affect
consumers and their consumption; whether observed crosscurrents are connected or
isolated; and whether they represent a momentary fashion, a sustainable trend, or a real
cultural shift within a market.
McCann Pulse is a proprietary service that provides complete immersion in the lives of
consumers through ongoing monitoring and personal dialogues. Following are the three
components of McCann Pulse:
The Pulse of Popular Culture
In-depth analysis of the content and symbolism of the various forms of media that both
reflect and influence consumers.
The Pulse of Observers of Change
Ongoing dialogues with leading-edge thinkers whose fields of interest relate to our target
consumer groups.
The Pulse of the Consumer
Unconventional dialogues with selected consumer constituencies that probe personal
insights and what is new in their lives.
Pulse can offer clients:
Insight into new values, ideas and trends
An ability to talk more accurately in the language of consumers
Consumer perspectives of major marketing issues or events
Context for new creative ideas
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Brand Footprint
The Brand Footprint service uses a tool that defines a brand's essence, so that
marketers can manage and build their brands most effectively. It provides a clear
understanding of which values need to be protected and leveraged in brand
communications. And it helps charter a brand's growth into new territories, from
expanding a brand in new geographic regions, to establishing it across multiple product
or service categories, to extending it to an electronic marketspace.
As brands expand, their value and meaning are often put at risk. These risks stem from
the need to reconcile a brand's heritage with product innovation, and from the need to reexpress the brand in the context of new competitive sets, new cultures, and new media.
The Brand Footprint service is designed to protect the equity of the brand by
conveying the brand essence clearly and succinctly, but with enough texture to inspire a
range of marketing activities, from product development to integrated communications.
The Brand Footprint articulates the three most central brand meanings and its three
most prominent personality characteristics.
McCann Selling Strategy
The McCann Selling Strategy is a service that is single-mindedly focused on
generating brand-building ideas. Ideas that attract customers. Ideas that build corporate
and brand franchises. And ideas that create marketplace dominance for clients.
While traditional strategy has often been highly analytic, the McCann Selling Strategy
offers imaginative conceptualization. It is guided by the McCann Selling Strategy
platform, a process of analysis and idea generation that helps move a brand from its
current position in consumers' minds to a desired perceptual space.
The McCann Selling Strategy uncovers the motivations of conceptual target audiences
and results in a strategic concept that pinpoints a Selling Idea.
Unlike many traditional strategy briefs that are formulaic, the McCann Selling Strategy
is a dynamic and living process. It's a way of thinking, working and creating as a team. It
is a discipline pursued with passion - - that ensures that we stay true to our role of
creating ideas that add perceptual value to clients' brands.
McCann AdWorks

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As the last stage of the Road Map to Effective Advertising service, McCann
AdWorks tool ensures more effective marketing communications by providing
feedback from consumers to a proposed campaign expression of the Selling Idea.
McCann AdWorks service is tailored to a specific product, a market situation, a
cultural environment. Unlike most leading ad testing firms that offer a simple go/no-go
decision on creative work, McCann AdWorks is designed to help us understand
whether we have communicated the Selling Idea we set out to communicate, whether the
Brand Footprint is understood and if the campaign is entertaining.
With McCann AdWorks, we can take the lead in facilitating a real-time discussion
about advertising effectiveness and help clients make the right decisions that lead to
advertising, direct marketing or other marketing communication work that produces great
marketplace results at the earliest stages of creative development.
The McCann Road Map service of proprietary tools has proven valuable to a range of
McCann-Erickson WorldGroup clients around the world. We believe that, as competition
escalates on a global scale, our Road Map service will become even more valuable in the
future.

MOMENTUM EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING PLATFORM

Today, consumers take functional features, benefits, quality, and a positive brand image
as a given. What they want are breakthrough service offerings, cutting-edge products, and
brands that they can relate to, connect with and incorporate into their lifestyles.
Increasingly, marketers understand that consumers are living human beings with
experiential needs: consumers want to be stimulated, entertained, educated and
challenged. They are looking for brands that provide meaningful experiences and thus
become part of their lives.
The degree to which a company is able to deliver a desirable consumer experience - and
use brands to do so - will largely determine its success in the global marketplace in the
future.
Trained to think of marketing and branding in terms of experiences, Momentum
Experiential Marketing Services create unique, nearly impenetrable emotional bonds
with consumers. These bonds are based on consumers' real experiences with the brand on
every interactive level. Momentum Experiential Marketing Services are designed to
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deliver the brand experience during both the pre-purchase period (brand in mind) and the
post-purchase period or consumption period (brand in hand). At Momentum, we know
that companies that spend money on acquiring customers (brand in mind) but fail to
deliver on the brand promise (brand in hand) will ultimately fail, causing high
dissatisfaction and high brand switching.
STRATEGIC APPROACH TO DEVELOPING THE BRAND EXPERIENCE
Our goal is to have the brand embody an experience that is valuable, optimal, and cannot
be duplicated by competitors.
MOMENTUM EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING SERVICES
The ultimate goal of Momentum Experiential Marketing is to create holistic brand
experiences for customers. Our strategic approach is guided by a simple formula:
Brand = Reputation (in the marketplace) + Promise (to the marketplace) + Experience (of
customers)
BRAND = REPUTATION (in the marketplace)
The first step is to develop a Brand Footprint. The Brand Footprint is Momentum's
unique tool for defining a brand's essence. The Brand Footprint is a coherent statement
of a brand's meaning and personality.
Specifically it embodies:

What the brand "means". What the brand "means" is what a brand gets credit for

in the eyes of consumers - its reputation across a number of key dimensions. For
example, Bayer means aspirin, doctor recommended, and prevention against heart
attacks.

What the brand "is". What the brand "is" is how we would describe the brand's

dominant personality traits - generally those that correspond to its principal meanings.
For example, Bayer is experienced, safe, and versatile.
BRAND = PROMISE (to the marketplace)
The Brand Footprint provides critical insight into how the brand is perceived in the
marketplace; this understanding allows us to build meaningful relationships with
consumers. The relationship is a promise that their experience with the brand will be
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personally relevant, consistent, meaningful and memorable - an experience that will be

sought after time and time again.
A Brand Promise is essentially a reason for being, a company's long-term ambition for
their brand. It encompasses how the company views its industry today and tomorrow and
the role they want their brand to play in it. It seeks to carve out a premium, nonduplicable point of differentiation in the marketplace.
A Brand Promise sets forth the foundation needed for organizations to focus in on how
they want the external world to view the brand, redesign operations and strategies in
order to deliver on the promise, and then develop marketing communications to fit with
the image they are trying to portray.
A Brand Promise incorporates every aspect of a brand's business model in order to create
a holistic brand experience for the consumer. At Momentum, we know that public
impressions of brands are based only in part on communication and public images. More
than anything, they are based upon the daily explicit and implicit interactions that people
have with a brand. In other words, the Experience.
BRAND = EXPERIENCE (of customers)
Experiences are personal events that occur in response to some stimulation (e.g. as
provided by marketing efforts before and after purchase). An experience involves the
entire living being and can be infused into a product, used to enhance a service, or created
as an entity into itself. Experiences provide consumers a way to engage physically,
mentally, emotionally, socially or spiritually in the consumption of the product or service
making the interaction meaningful and real.
A comprehensive set of Momentum Experiential Marketing Service Drivers creates the
optimal consumer brand experience for your product or company.
Momentum Experiential Marketing Service Drivers ,
Communications
Advertising
Promotions
Co-Branding
Events
Sponsorships
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Product Placement
Visual/Verbal Identity
Name
Logos and Signage
Product Presence
Product Design
Packaging
Brand Icons
Web Sites and Electronic Media
Site Dynamics
In summary, to effectively develop a brand experience that is meaningful and continually
sought after, we must:

Fully understand the meaning of the brand, its personality and what consumers

are willing to give the brand credit for in the marketplace - Brand Footprint.

Relate the brand to the consumer in unique, consistent, relevant and meaningful

ways, creating a non-duplicable point of differentiation - Brand Promise.

Realize the promise in every interaction the consumer has with the brand - The
Experience.

Developing a sound strategy will allow us to determine the best way to actualize the
promise as part of a full-scale consumer experience platform. Momentum Experiential
Marketing Services enable us to bring the experience platform to life.

Brand Citizenship
Why the Brand Citizenship Service was created:
Due to the revolution in global communications and commerce, McCann-Erickson
WorldGroup recognize that there has been a sea change in the perception of brands.
Brands, these global icons, have become the new symbols, the new coats of arms that
represent vast global constituents. They cross borders and national culture at will. They
are neither products nor companies; they are worldwide constituencies of millions around
the globe bound by common beliefs, values and point of view that transcend all

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traditional boundaries. They have become repositories and symbols of a global

community of individuals who share core values, lifestyles and beliefs.
Brand Citizenship is a service that facilitates the development of marketing and
communications strategies in this ever more global constituency led market environment.
It begins with the development of new mindset tools, and practices before moving on to
how brands and corporations should operate in a world where brands begin to supercede
states and other organizations.
Brand Citizenship utilizes the very latest thinking in considering the brand in its new
environment. The role of the brand steward in worldwide constituency management is
examined: in particular how he identifies his citizenship, and the means and methods to
enter a dialogue with the citizen. Analogies are drawn from the past in order to gain fresh
insight on the role and the responsibilities of the brand steward - someone we come to
consider more akin to a leader of a nation rather than a manager of a product. Attention is
also given to the role of the employee who plays a vital part in Brand Citizenship by
creating and perpetuating the brand.
The Brand Citizenship Service incorporates the use of other McCann-Erickson
proprietary tools such as The Brand Footprint and The Selling Strategy (as detailed
in The Roadmap to Effective Communications) in the process of managing global
Brand Citizenships. This process is broken down into three key areas - citizenship
definition tools, communications corridors and a pervasive worldwide system.
The Brand Citizenship Service has proven valuable to a range of McCann-Erickson
WorldGroup clients around the world. We believe that in the increasingly competitive
global village in which we operate, our Brand Citizenship Service will become even
more valuable in the future.

SWOT ANALYSIS:STRENGTHS:1) Planning is a major strength of this agency. This is because Mc Cann is the only
agency whose president is the planner.
2) Also, as far as overall account planning ability , Mc Cann Erickson stands 4 th
amongst all advertising agencies worldwide.
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3) On the creative ability front, Mc Cann Erickson bags third position in the list of
top ten advertising agencies.
4) Mc Cann Erickson is a worldwide organization with its roots firmly penetrated
into the soils of advertising and marketing with many subsidiaries and group
concerns , Mc Cann Erickson has aggressively tapped the world market and
consolidated its ground in all spheres.
5) Mc Cann Erickson is a highly professionally managed organization. Its executives
are its major assets as is clear from their contributions to Mc Cann and their
portfolios.
6) In India, an overall basis i.e. on the grounds of quality of client servicing, overall
creative quality, account planning, overall partnership, media, market recognition,
overall organization/people, billing procedures, management of financial dealings
with clients &logistics, Mc Cann stands 4th in the list of Top 20 agencies.
7) Mc Cann Ericksons biggest strength is the quality of human resources it
possesses. With people like Sorab Mistry who is the CEO South-Asia Mc CannErickson , Santosh Doshi, Prasoon Joshi and Chintamani Rao, Mc Cann not only
races ahead of agencies like Contract , Mudra and Leo Burnett but also has a huge
potential for the future. Prasoon Joshi, earlier creative director of O&Ms Mumbai
Office, now a national creative director of Mc Cann Erickson is the second
amongst Indias hottest creative directors. In a short period of time, he has
managed to upstage a number of heavyweights to sit pretty at number two on the
list of most admired creative directors.
WEAKNESSES:1) Client Servicing is a major weakness for Mc Cann Erickson. On grounds of client
servicing, Mc Cann is the 5th position in the list of 15 advertising agencies; way
behind agencies like JWT, O&M, Lowe &Mudra.
2) Also, though McCann bags the third position on grounds of creative ability, it is
mainly due to the strength of its Coke campaign and to a lesser extent the work on
chlormint.

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3) As far as media planning is concerned, universal McCann is not very strong. Its
on the 9th position and just followed by R K Swamy .In terms of market
recognition also, Mc Cann is not very commanding. McCann Erickson hasnt
bagged too many awards and its also not very strong at managing its P.R
4) Universal McCann also lags behind most of its competitors in media buying and
planning. That is to say, it does not incur much of an expenditure on advertising
i.e. buying media, research and development.
OPPORTUNITIES :1) McCann Erickson is a worldwide organization ; having its branches in many parts
of the world. With international tie-ups and subsidiaries in every nook and corner
of the world, McCann is in a very strong position to fruitfully tap the resources
unique to every country and also make an optimum exploitation of the conditions
and the environment prevailing in each of these nations.
2) McCann is empowered with professionals having diversified experience and skills
in the field of advertising and marketing. This can be utilized by the organization
in overcoming its above-mentioned weaknesses to a greater extent.
3) Empowered with a worldwide reputation, McCann is also capable of diversifying
into other sectors of advertising and marketing and also other forms of media.
Besides, being an organization of international repute, it is also capable of
recruiting some of the best people in the industry on whose individual strengths it
can continue to remain a world-leader and a trail-blazer in this field.
THREATS :1) If McCann does not improve its client-servicing, then it can prove to a major
threat in the growth of the organization. This is because of the fact that most of
the other organisations who are close competitors of McCann have already
improvised on their client-servicing abilities.
2) McCanns poularity is mainly due to some of its successful campaigns. It has still
to improve a lot on its creative abilities. Barring a few clients like Coke and

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Chlormint, the other ad campaigns of McCann have lacked creativity. So in order

to remain in the top frame, McCann has to concentrate on its creativity.
3) Lack of proper media planning is also a major threat for McCann. It has to
improve a lot on this aspect to survive the competition.

ADVERTISING AGENCY # 5

MUDRA
HISTORY
It was a rather humble beginning ;No thunder, no lightning, no guardian angels
showering of

blessings

In 1980, Mudra had one client - Vimal and a 500sq.ft. Office Its objective was very
simple To create the best contemporary advertising which Mudra did.
Mudra really is not sure if it made the advertising fraternity sit up and take notice But
others definitely did which explains how nine years hence, Mudra was the largest Indian
advertising agency And today, 23 years hence, Mudra have 125 clients nationwide
And 3 agencies, 8 offices and 6 divisions in India and an equity partnership with DDB
Worldwide

And a capitalised billing of Rs. 7.8 billion

And a portfolio of some of

Indias best brands And Agency of the Year awards six times
And if its words are not enough, here are a few from its clients
If youre looking for an agency that can be part of hits own team, that cannot be called
an agency, but is a part of its family. That treats its products as their product and whose
people will work as if theyre working in its organization, theres only one agency. That is
Mudra.
-Piruz Khambatta, CMD
Rasna Enterprises Ltd.
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Theyre completely involved in the brand. They take an active role and see them as a
partner.
-Amit Jatia, MD
McDonalds Hardcastle Restaurants.
Spirit
Every brand has a descriptor. Every brand has a baseline. And being in the business of
creating them makes Mudra eligible for four
Made in India
Mudra was created by a group of individuals whose only credentials were being Indian
and knowing India

Together they took India to the Indian and went on to become the

largest Indian advertising

agency Mudra (starting with the name) is made in India, for India, by Indians
Success is Mudras Oxygen It is constant discontent and craving that has taken Mudra
where they are It has forced them to continually raise their own benchmarks thereby
helping them stay ahead of the competition. Success is what keeps them going, success
is what they keep going for

PIONEERS IN ADVERTISING INDUSTRY

In an industry that sets trends, to be a trendsetter is no mean achievement. Yet, in the 23
years of its existence, Mudra has set trend after trend. To the extent that if it is something
new, Mudra is somewhere in the picture. Here are some of the examples :

It was Mudra that first gave India double spread colour ads

It was Mudra that first sponsored commercial telecast of a major sporting event
with the India-West Indies series of 1983

It was Mudra that first branded a public issue, `Reliance Khazana'

It was Mudra that made India's first telefilm, `Janam'

It was Mudra that gave Doordarshan `Rajani", the serial that heralded a new
consumer awareness in India

It was Mudra that gave India its first academy for advertising
Institute of Communications, MICA
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The Mudra

It was Mudra that gave India its first transnational agency, Mudra International

It is Mudra that gave India her first advertising archives, the MAGIndia

DIVISIONS OF MUDRA
DIVISION PROFILE
Public Relations:
Horizons
Horizons is Mudras PR division. Currently, it has three full service offices in Delhi,
Mumbai and Bangalore with access to human resources and infrastructure in Ahmedabad,
Calcutta, Chennai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur and Pune
Horizons is an affiliate of Porter Novelli International the world's third largest PR
network spread across 40 countries worldwide.
Over the past ten years, Horizons has been instrumental in helping clients from various
industries enter the Indian market. And having worked with a range of clients gives
Horizons the experience to handle projects of any kind and magnitude.
Horizons handle the Public Relations activity not only for some of Mudra's clients but for
a large number of other corporates as well.
Activities include
communications strategy,
Media relations, corporate communications, brand communications, event management,
sponsorships,
Employee communication and
Crisis management.

Founder
A.G. Krishnamurthy :We are not really sure whether the local astrologer saw what the boy born on the 28th of
April, 1942 at Vinukonda in Andhra Pradesh would go on to achieve nor whether
Shri A. G Krishnamurthys teachers saw that their student would go on
To make advertising history

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In 68, he joined Calico Mills in Ahmedabad and in 72, moved to their advertising
agency, Shilpi Advertising

In 76 he moved to Reliance Industries as their advertising

manager Four years later, on 25th March, 1980, he founded Mudra Communications.
This is where the story begins:
Once he said that as a result of all the years he spent in Ahmedabad, a little bit of the
Gujaratis entrepreneurial spirit has rubbed off on him May be such things do happen
Shri Krishnamurthy started with
1 brand, Vimal The chain he set up today has a 125 links, a 125 clients
In 91, he created the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), the only
advertising school of its kind in Asia
A couple of years later came Mudra International, again the first time an Indian agency
had opened shop abroad
In 95 Shri Krishnamurthy was nominated Advertising Person of the Year by A&M,
Indias leading marketing journal
In 97, he was inducted into the Calcutta Ad Clubs Hall of Fame
In 98, the British magazine
Media International nominated Shri Krishnamurthy as one of the 25 key figures in the
international advertising industry
In 99 he was awarded the AAAI-Premnarayen Award in recognition of his pioneering
spirit and entrepreneurial vision
After an eventful stint spanning 23 years as Chairman and Managing Director of Mudra,
Shri A G Krishnamurthy retired on 31st March 2003

LIST OF AWARDS
Mudra has collected many accolades over the years including the "Agency of the Year"
award for 6 years besides the induction of Shri A.G.Krishnamurthy (CMD) into the
Calcutta Ad Club Hall of Fame; his being chosen as the Ad Person of the Year by A&M;
his nomination as "one of the 25 key figures of the international Ad Industry" in 1998 by
British Magazine - Media International; and the AAAI-Premnarayen Award in
recognition of his pioneering spirit and entrepreneurial vision
1993 | Total awards 55

Agency of the Year - A&M

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1994 | Total awards 52

Agency of the Year - Bangalore Ad Club

1995 | Total awards 84

1) Agency of the Year - A&M

2) Advertising Person of the Year
(A.G.Krishnamurthy) - A&M

1996 | Total awards 90

Agency of the Year - Calcutta Ad Club

1997 | Total awards 67

Agency of the Year - The Pioneer

Hall of Fame (A.G.Krishnamurthy) - Calcutta Ad Club

1998 | Total awards 87

The British magazine "Media International" nominated

A.G.Krishnamurthy as one of the 25 key figures of the
international advertising industry

1999 | Total awards 60

Agency of the Year - Delhi Ad Club

AAAI - Premnarayen Award

A.G. Krishnamurthy in recognition of his pioneering

spirit and entrepreneurial vision

2000 | Total awards 72

(36 Awards of MAG)

2001 | Total awards 50

(16 Awards of MAG)

Creativity 31, USA

(7 Gold Awards)

2002 | Total awards 27

(2 Awards of MAG)

MAJOR CLIENTS
Product/Service

Brand Name

Client Name

Category
Adhesives
Air Coolers
Airline
Anti-Infective Prickly

Jubilant
Symphony
Air India
ItchGuard DermiCool

Vam Organics
Symphony Ltd.
Air India
Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Heat
Antiseptic Creams - Heel

Krack SR

Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Care
Antiseptic Lotion

BoroSoft

Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Automobile Dealers

Popular

Popular Vehicles & Services Ltd.

DIVISIONS
D.D.B PROFILE:
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In 1988, Mudra decided to collaborate with an international agency an agency with the
vision, experience and determination to set standards for the profession .That agency was
DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group.
This affiliation gives them access to the best creative product, latest information
technology, media modelling, direct marketing and other international advertising and
marketing inputs
But the theme that binds them together is their definition of advertising. The concept of
the Third Dimension as they put it, and Return on Invesent (ROI) as their colleagues at
DDB see it.
Over the years, the interactions have led to a better creative product and a better
understanding of product categories It is this spirit of trying to be the best at everything
one does that today binds Mudra and DDB together
INTERACT VISION:
Interact Vision Advertising and Marketing (P) Ltd. was the combination in 1992 of two
Mudra Group companies, Interact and Vision.
If there is anyone today who can claim to be as close to India and Indian values as Mudra
is, it is Interact Vision This tradition has helped shape its characterThe agency does not
just take on an account It adopts the business sharing the burdens, responsibilities,
rewards and disappoinents.
Today, the Interact Vision portfolio includes several multinationals as well.
At Interact-Vision, the stress has always been on effectiveness .This they did by never
losing sight of the three factors that have contributed to our effectiveness - relevance,
impact and focus.
In 1980, Mudra started with a modest turnover of Rs.30 lakh in the first year of
operation The first few years indicated a placid growth rate of 25% From 1985 onwards,
turnover accelerated at a furious pace

62

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Madhukar Kamath

Executive Director & Chief Creative Officer

Mr. Alan DSouza

Executive Director & Head

Leadership, Learning &

Change

New Initiative

Total Branding (South)

Mr. R. Lakshminarayanan

Mr. Dilip Upadhyaya

Mr. Prabir Purkayashta

Branches

Kolkata

Mumbai

CFO Hemant
Mishra

President
Jude
Fernandes

Bangalore &
Chennai
Vice President
S.
Radhakrishnan
Branch Director

Ashok
Vidyasagar

Director
Amritendu Roy

Hyderabad /
Kochi
Vice
President
Mr. Bal
Deshpande
Manager
Mr. G.
Serenity

AhmedaBad
Exe. Vice
President
Mr.
Chandan
Nath

SWOT ANALYSIS OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES - A COMPARATIVE

63

STUDY
S.
No.

Basis

Xebec
1

4
5
6

Does the agency

conduct a SWOT
Analysis
of
its
clients i.e. whether
it assesses the
strengths,
weaknesses of its
clients and whether
it
makes
an
assessment of the
level of knowledge
possessed by its
client pertaining to
the
field
of
advertising
Does the agency
have
any
international tie-ups

Does the agency

enjoy
patronage
from
any
multinational clients
?
Scope
of
operations
Does the agency
specialise in any
one type of media ?
Media in which the
agencies specialise

Quality of human
resource

Yes

Name of the agency

National Agencies
Mudra
Canco

Yes

International Agencies
Carat
McCann
Ercikson

Yes

Yes

Yes

This is an
international
agency with
subsidiaries all
over the world

No

No

No

This is an
international
agency with
subsidiaries
all over the
world

Yes

Yes

No

Mostly the
clients are
multinational

Mostly the
clients are
multinational

Medium

Large

Medium

Large

Large

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Print

Print

Electronic

The top level

of
management
does
not
comprise of
people who
are from the
field
of
adveritising
or who are
having some
sort of an
experience.

As far as the
top level of
management
is concerned,
it consists of
professional
people as is
reflected
in
the approach
and
the
decisionmaking
activities of
64

There is no
such
one
media in which
this
agency
specialises
As far as the
top level of
management is
concerned, the
office-bearers
are
professional
people having
an academic
background in
the field of
management
or
marketing

There is no such
one media in
which
this
agency
specialises
As far as the top
level
of
management is
concerned,
it
consists
of
professional
people as is
reflected in the
approach
and
the
decisionmaking activities
of the agency.
The founders of

As far as the
top level of
management
is concerned,
it consists of
professional
people as is
reflected
in
the approach
and
the
decisionmaking
activities
of

Decision-making

Area of operation

10

Clientele base

11

Transparency
operations

12

Types of customers
catered to

13

Whether
the
agency
has
engaged
the
services of any
celebrities
for
endorsement of its
clients'
products
and services ?

of

Though they
may be wellgroomed in
their
decisionmaking
abilities and
framing
of
policies, they
don't
have
that proper
academic
background

the agency

and having an
experience in
this
field.
However, the
number
of
people in the
top level who
have
the
decisionmaking
authority
are
too few and the
line staff is
relatively much

the agency

Largely
centralised
Local as well
as
international
Broad based

Decentralised

Largely
centralised
Local

Decentralised

this agency were

themselves men
of
dignified
stature,
personified
background and
dynamic
entrepreneurs. It
is
basically
because of the
foot-work
of
these founders
on which the
successors have
tread and led the
agency to great
heights of name
and fame.
Decentralised

Mostly
international

Mostly
international

Not broad
based

Broad based

The agency
believes in
making
its
operations
transparent
as is quite
evident form
the fact that
a
lot
of
information
can
be
obtained by
any one from
various
sources like
websites,
personal
visits etc.
Mostly
corporates

The agency
believes
in
making
its
operations
transparent
as is quite
evident form
the fact that a
lot
of
information
can
be
obtained by
any one from
various
sources like
websites,
personal
visits etc.
Mostly
corporates

Although
the
agency has not
created
any
website
(which
is
presently
under
development)
being a local
and a smallsized agency it
is possible for
local
and
medium-sized
prospective
customers to
avail of its
services.
Every type of
customer from
individuals to
corporates.

Though, the
agency has
given plenty
of information
about
its
operations on
websites etc.
it
is
practically
difficult for a
small
prospective
customer to
hunch out for
them

Broad based ;
throughout the
world
Though,
the
agency
has
given plenty of
information
about
its
operations
on
websites etc. it is
practically
difficult for a
small
prospective
customer
to
hunch out for
them

Yes

Yes

No

Local as well
as
international
Broad based

65

Mostly
corporates

Mostly
corporates

No
information
available

No information
available

S.No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25

COMPARISON BETWEEN GROSS INCOME OF TOP 25 AGENCIES

GROSS INCOME (Rs. In lakhs)
(2001)
JWT
20743
O&M
12587.4
Mudra
10696
FCB-Ulka
8648.4
Rediffusion DY & R
7520.4
McCann-Erickson India Ltd.
6183.6
R K Swamy / BBDO Advertising
4415.9
Grey Worldwide (I) Pvt. Ltd.
4250
Leo Burnett India Pvt. Ltd.
3759.1
Contract
3209.8
Euro - RSCG
3060
Pressman Advertising
2928.4
MAA
2676
IB&W Communications
2665.7
Triton Communications Pvt. Ltd.
2186.2
Ambience D'Arcy
2180
Bates India
2107.2
Percept Advertising Ltd.
2076.6
Saatchi & Saatchi
1599.8
TBWA Anthem
1438.9
Everest
1329.6
Madison Communications P.Ltd.
1148
SSC & B Lintas
1120
Publicis
1108.1
Quadrant
985.8
AGENCY

66

Growth of Advertising Agencies :

The XIIth Agency Report of A&M magazine makes the remarkable disclosure that the ad
industry remained steady in 2000-01, with a growth figure of 23.51 per cent, only slightly
less than the XIth Agency Report's figure of 24.83 per cent for 1999-00. No surprise
there, given that the ad industry growth rate is typically four times the economic growth,
in any country (though India had a higher ration during the mid-1990's boom).
The magazine has made a shift in the reporting emphasis following change in accounting
policies of many agencies, from capitalised billings earlier to gross income. "This makes
no difference to the agency ranking, since it was always done by gross income - which is
67

the audit-certified figure that agencies submit to A&M. But it does influence the way we
speak of the industry's size," the survey said.

In rupee terms, the Gross Income of the Top 100 agencies stands at Rs 12,753.60
million for 2000-01, as compared to their total of Rs 10,325.81 million in 19992000.

In terms of Capitalised Billings (Gross Income multiplied by 6.67), the industry

figure for 2000-01 stands at Rs 85,066.51 million.

Together, the Top 5 participating agencies this year, HTA, O&M, Mudra, FCBUlka and Rediffusion DY&R (Lowe Lintas opted not to participate), account for
47.2 per cent of the Top 100's total Gross Income.

WPP Group has penetrated India so well (with HTA, O&M, Contract, Fortune,
Equus and Rediffusion DY&R) that it has a 34.7 per cent share of the Indian ad
pie in 2000-01 with five participating agencies in this year's report.

More than half the Top 100 agencies (62) have grown between 0 and 40 per cent.
Eight agencies have growth rates above 100 per cent - Bates, Capital, Rashtriya,
MX, Brand.comm, Quiksel, Triple ESS and RMG.

Of the Top 100, 13 agencies have reported negative growth - Impulse, Interact
Vision, National, Crescent, Thumbprint, Elegant, Shells, Avishkar, TV ADS,
Siddhartha, Batha, Wide Reach and TAS Vision.

The big surprise comes from Moulis Euro RSCG, which jumps from No 44 to No
17. The Havas umbrella seems to have worked some wonders.
In the globalisation era, big agencies have found it impossible to survive without

any foreign partnership. That's the power of globally-networked advertising agencies still the biggest force of change in Indian advertising, a decade after the market was
thrown open to foreign invesent.
Though Indian agencies have no real cause to rejoice as growth may not be anything
compared to the advertising exuberance of the mid-1990s when growth peaked at 49.5
per cent in 1994-95, but it is good by global standards, the magazine noted while
releasing the survey report

68

Top 20 Advertising Agencies

RANK

AGENCY

1999-00

2000-01

Hindustan Thompson Associates Ltd

Ogilvy & Mather Pvt Ltd

Mudra Communications

FCB-Ulka Advertising Ltd

Rediffusion-DY&R

McCann Erickson (India) Ltd

R K Swamy/BBDO Advertising Pvt Ltd

Grey Worldwide (I) Pvt Ltd

Leo Burnett India Pvt Ltd

11

10

Contract Advertising (India) Ltd

15

11

Euro RSCG Advertising Pvt Ltd*

10

12

Pressman Advertising & Marketing Ltd

12

13

MAA

13

14

iB&W Communications Pvt Ltd

16

15

Triton Communications Pvt Ltd

18

16

Ambience D'Arcy Advertising Pvt Ltd

44

17

Moulis Euro RSCG Advertising Service Pvt Ltd

--

18

Bates India

17

19

Percept Advertising Ltd

19

20

Saatchi & Saatchi Ltd

Top 20 Advertising Spenders

RANK

COMPANY

YR. ENDING AD SPEND

CHANGE OVER
PRVS YEAR (%)

1999-00

2000-01

Hindustan Lever

Dec 2000

696.58

-5.60

Colgate-Palmolive India

Mar 2001

213.96

10.30

69

ITC

Mar 2001

183.32

-0.96

Dabur India

Mar 2001

146.08

21.71

--

LG Electronics India

Dec 2000

131.4

70.16

Nestle India

Dec 2000

128.46

13.59

McDowell & Co

Mar 2000

118.94

26.60

Bajaj Auto

Mar 2001

102.53

13.62

--

Maruti Udyog

Mar 2000

88.20

34.39

--

10

Herbertsons

Mar 2000

85.93

13.16

11

Britannia Industries

Mar 2001

85.29

10.75

12

Godfrey Phillips India

Mar 2000

85.15

30.94

12

13

Marico Industries

Mar 2001

79.82

36.03

--

14

Godrej Industries

Mar 2001

77.54

106.55

14

15

Telco

Mar 2001

71.89

47.56

25

16

SKB Consumer Healthcare

Dec 2000

69.36

61.98

10

17

Tata Tea

Mar 2001

64.63

-5.22

--

18

Hyundai Motor India

Mar 2000

63.73

222.52

17

19

Hero Honda Motors

Mar 2001

61.12

30.57

--

20

Reckitt Benckiser India

Dec 2000

61.01

8.48

Source : www.mind-advertising.com/us/om_us.h

Agency

O&M
Lowe
McCann-Erickson
Contract
JWT
Mudra
Leo Burnett
Publicis Ambience
Enterprise Nexus

Agencies Ranking
( on the basis of services offered)
Ranks (On the basis of)
Creativity
Client
Ability
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Servicing
2
3
5
6
1
4
9
15
14
70

Account

Planning Ability
2
3
4
6
1
7
8
15
11

Rediffusion DY & R
FCB-Ulka
Grey Worldwide
R K Swamy BBDO
Bates
Euro RSCG

10
11
12
13
14
15

8
7
10
11
12
13

10
5
13
12
9
14

On the basis of topography

O&M
Lowe
JWT / HTA
Contract
McCann
Leo Burnett
FCB - Ulka
Mudra
Publicis Ambience
Grey Worldwide
Rediffusion DY & R
Bates India
Saatchi & Saatchi
* NA = Not Available

West
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
NA*
NA*
NA*

North
1
3
2
6
4
8
7
5
NA*
10
9
NA*
NA*

East
1
3
2
5
9
NA*
NA*
6
NA*
NA*
7
4
10

2001 Top 10 Multinational Advertisers (Ad Age International Nov 11, 2002)
1. Procter & Gamble Co. Worldwide advertising expenditure US$3,820.1 million
2. General Motors Corp. Worldwide advertising expenditure US$ 3,028.9 million
3. Unilever. Worldwide advertising expenditure US$3,005.5 million
4. Ford Motor Co. Worldwide advertising expenditure US$2,309 million
5. Toyota Motor Corp. Worldwide advertising expenditure US$2,213 million
6. AOL Time Warner. Worldwide advertising expenditure US$2099.8 million
7. Philip Morris. Worldwide advertising expenditure US$1,934.6 million
8. Daimler Chrysler Worldwide advertising expenditure US$1,835.3 million
9. Nestle SA. Worldwide advertising expenditure US$1,798.5 million
10. Volkswagen Worldwide advertising expenditure US$1794.1 million

71

Major Advertisers by Region

2001 Top 10 Multinational Advertising Agencies (Ad Age Intnl., April 2002)
1. Dentsu. Worldwide gross income: US$2,078.1 million
2. McCann-Erickson. Worldwide gross income: US$1,857.9 million
3. BBDO Worldwide. Worldwide gross income: US$1611.7 million
4. J. Walter Thompson. Worldwide gross income: US$1,536.1 million
5. Euro RSCG: Worldwide gross income: US$1,441.2 million
6. Grey. Worldwide gross income: US$1,321 million
7. DDB Needham. Worldwide gross income: US$1,214.6 million
8. Ogilvy & Mather. Worldwide gross income: US$1,135.4 million
9. Leo Burnett. Worldwide gross income: US$1,072.3 million
10. Publicis Worldwide. Worldwide gross income: US$1,066 million
COMPARISON OF AGENCIES ON THE BASIS OF WORLDWIDE GROSS
INCOME
S.No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Name of the Agency

Dentsu
McCann-Erickson
BBDO
J. Walter Thompson
Euro RSCG
Grey
DDB Needham
Ogilvy & Mather
Leo Burnett
Publicis

Worldwide Gross Income (Rs. In millions)

2078.1
1857.9
1611.7
1536.1
1441.2
1321
1214.6
1135.4
1072.3
1066

72

GROWTH OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES

Year
1939-40
1949-50
1959-60
1969-70
1979-80
1983-84
1987-88
1990-91
1991-92

No.of Agencies
14
61
74
108
168
310
460
568
588

Year
1992-93
1993-94
1994-95
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98
1998-99
1999-2000

73

No.of Agencies
591
620
651
702
718
741
750
757

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The world of advertising and advertising agencies has experienced a revolution. Its a
jungle out here, the one who slays survives. In an attempt to be fiercer and outsmart the
competitors, today the agencies dont spare a second thought in going to any heights.
Quality is compromised, games are played and the poor customer is made the scapegoat.
Code of conduct is restricted to paper, the reality is different and darker than it appears.
We may find agencies doing some honest business but the names are few and heard once
in a blue moon. In a bid to conquer the world, we have seen many a agency becoming
Alexander. In view of the current scenario and with a vision of the future, the following
recommendations can be cited:1) Agencies should accept more social responsibilities and endeavor towards their
maximum fulfillment. They can win the game by winning the customers. Feelings should
not be encashed and emotions should not be auctioned. There have been recent cases of
74

agencies making misuse of situations of immense tension and riots in propoganding their
product in a bid to rake in a big fortune.
2) Agencies must be made to contribute a fixed percentage of their gross incomes for
advocating social cause. This will also help agency earn a very good patronage and
maximize customer loyalty.
3) There should be certain standardization of fees and benchmarks should be laid down
for the advertisements that are put on display on our minds, in aspects of quality,
vieworship.
4) They should improve their accessibility and transparency. Though big agencies cater to
the needs of the elite, they should also be available to the less deprived ones too.
Education and knowledge should be spread through these agencies in the form of
advertisements.
5) Products and services should be made to pass through several tests before they are put
to display. Also a SWOT analysis of the product or the service to be advertised should be
made.
6) After sales-service should be improved

and customers should be spontaneously

attended to in times of dissatisfaction and appeal.

7) Services provided should be diversified and new avenues should be tapped for own
growth and for providing better service to everyone.
8) Outsmarting competitors in a bid to capture the market at the cost of quality and
customer well-being should be replaced by healthy competition and a humane touch.
9) Co-operation should be provided at all levels and accessibility even to the master
minds should be improved for better management and better relationships.

75

CONCLUSION
From the study presented hereinabove, we come to know many faces of the multifaceted world of advertising agencies, some dark horses and some aggressive lions. Each
and every agency is a world in its own ----- with uniqueness in its modus operandi,
variance in their aggressiveness and intensities and relativity in their positions. From
agencies catering to the needs of localised with a modest level of infrastructure and
human resources, we have seen king-size ones who make it to the Cannes every year. The
aim is the same, the game is different. The goal is the same, the ball is different. The
mission is the same, the vision is different and the objective is the same, the perspective
is different. They are all preparing the same dish to satisfy guests like us but their recipe
is unique. Their manouverability, vulnerability to threats, opportunities, strengths and
their intrinsic weaknesses posing obstacles in their journey to the sky all vary drastically
and understandably. though the blood running in their veins is the same, their brains are
unique thinktanks. Whatever may be the unity in diversity, the world of advertising is
76

very much flambouyant, enthusiastic, glamourous and appealing and so is the fantasyland
created on our minds by the advertising agencies. It's only because of these advertising
agencies that we are subject to mind-boggling bombardment of commercials and
advertisements. This bombardment has not only increased the level of awareness amongst
us but also the stupendous technological, industrial and commercial development but has
also given a new makeover to our static lifestyles.
If knowledge is power, then we are so empowered due to the powerful impact of
the medias on our minds, bodies and souls. Although for these professional-to-the-core
agencies, its nothing but a mint, for us its a revolution. Revolution resulting into
evolution --- of products, services and people. Just like food without salt is indelible, a
day in one's life without an exposure to some new advertisement is unbelievable. Just as
every coin has two sides and every person has two faces, a fair and a dark one, so do
these agencies. All that glitters is not gold and all that is unrequired is also sold.
These advertising agencies have doubtlessly opened many new paraphernalias
and made the wind of revolution blow on our continent. They have enlightened the entire
country, made the life of an ordinary laymen extraordinary, raised the standard of living,
helped in the economic and commercial development, unfolded a red carpet for new
ideas, imagination, innovations and qualitative sophistication but then they sometimes
appear in front of our eyes as skeletons dressed in bridal vein. Why is it so?
Some call it over-professionalism, others call it over-materialism but then we all
know that today everything is fair in love, war and advertising. Every agency wants to
pull down the other to make it to the top. Well, in this cat-race and times of cut-throat
competition, the common layman always gets the maximum benefit since he is
responsible for the bread and butter of these agencies. however, it is also pertinent to note
over here the fact that many a time the audience is subject to foul-play. Unfortunately, in
an attempt to scale the highest peak, the consumer is made a dumping ground where even
garbage is covered by garland for easy dumping. The agencies make use of super-humans
in the field of cricket, movies, T.V. sops to endorse the products and services of the
companies which may also be of a sub-standard quality for they know that imitation and
emulation is in the nerves of every Indian and that glamour always has a mesmerising,
hypnotising impact on nerve cells. It is a very sorry state of this industry that following
77

ethics is itself unethical today, and ethical is considered as impractical. The books
propose, the crooks dispose. And every damage to health and peace is backed by the
sincerest of the justifications and the most convincing demonstrations churned out from
the advertising gurus' brain factories.
Take the incident-of-the-day case of soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi. Brands of
multinational giants and advertised so appealingly that they have created an appalling
effect. Too late to realise the fact (or is it ?) and too late to affect the producers' and
marketers' images. Well, it is certain that many injurious products are also publicised as
items of harmless consumption and the buyer is an easy prey to the bombardment of
sophisticated publicity.What is required of these agencies is to unearth the deeply buried
ethics and codes of conduct under the burden of over-professionalism, over-materialism
and selfish profiteering. Though profits are the key benchmarks for every company, no
profit can last on dissatisfaction and denudation of consumer and his welfare.
"A stitch in timesaves nine" and "it is never too late to mend". It will announce a
bright future for producers and advertising agencies that advertise their products and
services if they stitch one button before the shirt becomes buttonless. And ...... buttonless
shirts are immediately discarded.

ANNEXURE
Questionnaire sent to the advertising agencies
GENERAL INFORMATION
Name of the agency.
Date of incorporation.
Location.
Foreign collaboration, if any?
Number of branches and the location of their subsidiaries
What type of advertising agency (Full service, creative boutique, specialist
agency, agency network, subsidiary of large agencies, in house agency)?

INFORMATION ABOUT CLIENTS

78

 Name your top clients

Cost-Benefit Analysis for the agency as well as for its clients.
Do you make an assessment of strengths & weaknesses of the clients
If a client uses an ad agency to place its ads in different media, how is the
bifurcation of the budget done
What alternatives are available to a client for placing an advertisement ?
How does a client approach you for placing an advertisement?
Regarding settlements of your charges, is it done on a lumpsum basis or in
instalments basis or it finally depends on your clients convenience.
How many clients you have who go for a continuous advertisement package and
how many just put it for once ?

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The top team (name of the directors such as media art production so on)
Give a brief profile of the each of the director , such as their experience in the
ad agency
Its total staff (organisation chart can be presented)

MEDIAS FOR CAMPAIGNING

The medias through which you place the ads for the clients
Which is the most widely used media and cost-benefit analysis for placing an ad
through that media for the agency as well as for its clients
How do you approach celebrities for endorsing the products/services of your
clients
Names of the celebrities who have worked for your agency

SERVICES RENDERED
Its various services
Duties and function of ad department
79

INFORMATION ABOUT ACHIEVEMENTS / AWARDS

Awards won if any, best campaign, or any other relevant data

PROBLEMS FACED
What are the types of problems you generally face in this industry ?

BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES :

1.

Marketing Management ---- Philip Kotler

2.

Advertising Management Amita Shankar

3.

Adverting, Marketing and Sales Management- Takur D

4.

The Economic Times

5.

Brand Equity

6.

INA Handbook 2000-2001

WEBLIOGRAPHY
1.

www. Indiantelevision.com

2.

www.adage.com

3.

www.mind-advertising .com
80

4.

www.xebecindia.com

5.

www.mudra.com

6.

www.eurorscg.com

7.

www.mccann.com

8.

www.perceptindia.com

9.

www.carat.com

10.

www.thehoot.org

11.

www.mind-advertising.com/us/om_us.htm

81

82