The Hindu Business Line : Ogilvy India spearheads Pak, Bangla foray

Even as John Goodman, CEO of one of the country's top ad agencies, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) India, packs his bags to head to Japan and take over as O&M group president there, he's hoping to complete his script to give the agency a big push in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Ogilvy, which for years had a local representation through Interflow, one of Pakistan's largest integrated ad agencies, has established an Ogilvy beachhead there through a joint venture with Interflow. "While the investment in that unit is through the WPP group, the collaboration and expertise will be from Ogilvy India," Mr Goodman told Business Line in an interview. This joint venture, formed in June 2005, will have the Ogilvy brand up front while using the local knowledge of its Pakistani partner. For starters, Ogilvy-Interflow has kickstarted Ogilvy Activation, its outdoor business, to service its clients there like Unilever and Nestle, apart from a telecom company and a bank. Mr Goodman expects modest revenues of Rs 15 crore in the first full year of operations.

The Bangladeshi story is a little different. In that country, Ogilvy India will fully own and manage the agency and somebody will be posted from India to manage the business. The Bangla venture is expected to earn Rs 8 crore-10 crore in revenues by the next year. The push into these countries, he said, is with an eye on the future growth that is expected to come from this region.

Elaborating on O&M's buoyant growth over the past year, Mr Goodman said that the agency saw an 18 per cent year-on-year growth at the end of 2005. "It's been the most successful year in the last seven years as we surpassed the targets we set for ourselves," he said. Also, significantly, as a larger proportion of O&M's revenues come from fee-based assignments, the ad agency's growth has not been linked to growth in ad spends by its clients.

Today, he said, the core ad business would contribute 65 per cent to agency revenues, non-traditional sources like interactive, out-of-home and PR account for the rest; a big change from the 80:20 ratio a few years ago.

There has also been, he said, a significant change in the portfolio of clients from the earlier focus on FMCG and automotive.

Today's top clients for agencies come from sectors such as telecom and IT. "Our largest client in India is Hutch," he added.

Mr Goodman, however, feels a pang of regret that he has to leave India at a time when it's one of the hottest growth markets. "I would have liked another couple of years here," he said. However, "the Japan assignment came along and I had to take a call; it may not be there two years hence." Asked what he's looking forward to in Japan, he's quick to answer: "Sushi!"

However, he was quick to add that Japan presents its own challenges for O&M. In India, O&M is among the top agencies, but in Japan it's not even in the top ten, dominated as it is by Dentsu and a host of Japanese ad agencies. But then, you can't keep a good man down.