• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Mumbai , Sept. 15

OGILVY and Mather (O&M) has topped the ACNielsen ORG-MARG AgencyTrack Agency Equity Index TM, which grades the brand equity of the country's ad agencies. Following O&M in the list were Lowe, JWT and McCann Erickson.

"It is fascinating to observe the growing strength of these world famous brands, which are among the biggest in marketing today. Our study shows how much these brand-builders have invested in their own brands," said Mr Sarang Panchal, Executive Director, Customised Research, ACNielsen South Asia.

In its sixth and most recent round, the survey covered more than 300 advertising buyers across key decision-making levels and industries.

The ranking is derived from three key measures: respondents' favourite agency; whether they would recommend the agency to others; and their willingness to pay a premium for the agency's services.

The rankings saw a shuffle geographically. While O&M leads in all the key metros surveyed, except Kolkata, advertising agency franchises appear to have varying equity in different locations. For instance, Bates jumped to second position in Kolkata, while RKSwamy BBDO made the top five in Chennai.

"Capitalising on the geographical advantage and balancing clients' perception can be key to an agency's client acquisition strategy. It is not enough to be a large national player if clients headquartered in any location suspect that an agency's capabilities in that geography are not up to expectations," observed Mr Panchal.

"The other effective strategy for an agency to improve its equity could be industry specialisation," he added.

AgencyTrack shows that there are changes in an agency's equity based on past work in a given sector.

The change in rankings for McCann Erickson, FCB-Ulka and Rediffusion DY&R in the FMCG sector is testimony to this.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Sales beyond Gujarat shore up Amul's fortunes

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line