The Hindu Business Line : Saatchi & Saatchi eyes branding, ideas consultancy

From one-to-one marketing and customer relationship management (CRM), the agency intends branching out to branding and ideas consultancy for its clients.

Mr V. Shantakumar, Managing Director and CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi India, told Business Line, "We are looking at new areas: from one end of the spectrum, such as CRM and one-to-one marketing, to the other end of the spectrum, such as branding and ideas consultancy."

For instance, the agency is eyeing retail consultancy whereby it might look at building relationships with consumers the moment they walk into the store. Considering Saatchi & Saatchi has already floated an outfit for retail consultancy (Saatchi & Saatchi X) in the US, the agency in India is also thinking of entering the area of specialised ideas consultancy.

Added Mr Shantakumar, "We will be examining the area of retail in the next few years. Since worldwide our agency already has this specialised ideas consultancy entity, we might get into designing such products for our clients."

Apart from mainline advertising, currently Saatchi & Saatchi India also has a B2B division (Saatchi & Saatchi Direct) based in Bangalore.

The agency recently launched a worldwide tool, Lovemarks, in the form of a book which looks at the future beyond brands. "Through this book we are launching a worldwide tool which advises about how to look at advertising and communication," said Mr Shantakumar.

Taking branding to its next level through the book, Saatchi & Saatchi wants to take a new look at the traditional way of doing business.

With big-ticket accounts such as Hyundai, P&G (Ariel) and TVS, Saatchi & Saatchi India is hoping to build on organic growth and make India its second-largest market, after China, within the next few years.

Without disclosing the agency's turnover billings, Mr Shantakumar said, "More than going after new business, we are looking at getting some organic growth through the existing clients. We are expecting growth rates between 20 per cent and 25 per cent this year.''

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