The Hindu Business Line : `Branding industry in India immature'

We want to be a major branding company in the world," says Simon Bolton, Worldwide Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise IG, the global brand agency of the WPP group. With 24 offices across 21 countries, Enterprise IG sure has it network widely spread. And now with India in its kitty, thanks to its association with Bangalore-based brand design company Ray & Keshavan (in which the WPP Group recently picked up a 51 per cent stake), the company may well be on track to achieving its target.

Sujata Keshavan, Managing Director, Ray & Keshavan, believes the association with Enterprise IG will give Ray & Keshavan the opportunity to work with global brands. She says it will also help the company present an unmatched offering to its clients as it will have "access to Enterprise IG's domain expertise and knowledge." In all, this suggests a symbiotic relationship. A perception Bolton shares as well.

Bolton was in Bangalore recently on business and Brandline caught up with him for a quick tête-à-tête.

So, what is the rationale behind choosing India?

Globally, we are present in places such as the US, London, Dublin, Paris, Madrid, Dubai, South Africa, Singapore, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. But we identified India as an important part. With India being a critical economic power for the future, it was a critical market for us. And some of our multinational clients were also asking us to be in India.

Currently, Enterprise IG is working with clients such as HP, HSBC and the Dubai-based Emaar Properties, which have asked us to look into India or have specific assignments related to India. So we looked at Ray & Keshavan, the best in the branding and design industry in the country. Also, this industry in India is still immature. We saw an opportunity here to develop this industry.

What does this synergy with Ray & Keshavan mean to you?

Our association with brand design firm Ray and Keshavan will be a rich marriage of business and creative agendas. We specialise in high-end brand and marketing strategies and have worked with several global clients. We hope to bring to India our expertise in brand strategy and retail approach. We will also learn from Ray and Keshavan about the Indian market and benefit from its insight and experience here. It also has some great clients such as Infosys and HLL.

What are the specific functions / processes that you hope to bring in?

We hope to bring in our expertise in brand architecture and help clients in interpreting and presenting their businesses and communicating to different people such as shareholders and customers and also internally.

Brand experience is another area. It is all about bringing the intangible aspects to life and making them a reality. For instance, Ray & Keshavan had created the logo and identity for the telecom company Airtel. We helped Airtel in its retail approach and concept and in getting the brand touch point.

We can also bring to India our expertise in brand engagement. India has massive conglomerates and we can help in communicating to employees the values of the brand and the behaviour expected from them. We also have certain process and proprietary tools that we can bring to Ray & Keshavan.

We can also provide training in digital manifestation, strategic and presentation skills to Ray & Keshavan's executives. We hope a lot of internal transfer of human resources will take place across the network.

With retail gaining steady ground in the country, how does Enterprise IG hope to tackle a possible revolution in this space?

In India, organised retail today is a 20 million sq. ft. industry and is set to grow to 60 million sq. ft. in three years. But it needs a lot of organising in which we have experience; we can also help present brands to consumer groups.