Interpublic Group Chairman and CEO Michael Roth was a happy man when he met up with BrandLine - this was, he said, the last of his many interviews on the sidelines of AdAsia 2011. And like at any good integrated agency network, the PR machinery was put to good use for the global chief's visit. A predictable newswire report quoting Roth, on potential acquisitions in India without any specifics whatsoever, got picked up by some segments of the press. Most delegates who met the man did vouch for one thing - of the man being a ‘must meet' whether or not you had an agency to sell.

Roth spoke to us on the significance of the Indian market for the $ 6.5-billion group, how IPG is gearing up for the emerging digital landscape, the need for getting more global clients in, the media business, creative shops, acquisitions, and the biggest issue of them all - people.Excerpts:

Following your announcement in June, of a joint venture in the digital space with Interactive Avenues, you announced you were on the look out for acquisitions, but did not specify their nature or markets they will be made in. How long-term a vision is this, for India?

Obviously, there are certain growth markets where we want to expand our presence and build on our strengths. Given the Indian market and the growth we are seeing here, it is a critical market for us. The Interactive Avenues association was just one example of that. We have some of the strongest global networks here in terms of McCann, DraftFCB and Lowe. Any acquisition that we will be doing is going to be additive to those networks. We don't have to go out and acquire another agency.

The announcement that you saw this week from one of our competitors (Omnicom, to pick up majority stake in Mudra) is because they don't have as strong a network presence as we do. We don't need to do anything like that.

Which effectively means that the add-ons will be in allied spaces, such as digital, social media?

Or, in the traditional space, where we will look to get in clients and talent.

Some large clients view agencies as either ‘magic' agencies or ‘logic' (led) agencies. What do Interpublic agencies stand for?

We do magic and logic. Lowe, for instance, has had a relationship with Unilever for 50 years. We have to be doing both in order to sustain that kind of relationship.

What's magical about the Lowe work is its presence in a lot of the local markets that Unilever is expanding in, and its strengths in those markets. The logic is that it's a global footprint, and we have access to all the global resources of Lowe and IPG. That's the benefit of having a global network that is part of a holding company.

In India, besides Unilever brands with Lowe and Coke with McCann, not many are global clients?

Around 80 to 85 per cent of our clients here would be local clients. We can use more clients. I don't care whether they are local or global as long as they‘re both growing! But yes, I do think we can use some more global clients coming on board here.

In China, there are more global clients than local clients. Growth in China will be in the local markets, with local clients, but it started with global clients. In India, the local clients are very vibrant and growing, and our businesses are consistent with that.

North America contributes 60 per cent of your business, and Western Europe 20 per cent. What constitutes the rest, and how much of it comes from India and China?

India and China would account for a key component of the remaining 20 per cent. Asia Pacific would account for half of that, with the other half coming from Latin America, West Asia and Africa. Asia Pacific and Latin America are our two fastest growing regions.

You mentioned double-digit growth for agencies in India last year - is that true for agencies across Apac?

I wouldn't say we've had double digit growth for all agencies across Asia Pacific, but in India, yes.

How do you grow from here on, specifically in India? You have mentioned acquisitions…

First of all, the way we grow will primarily be through our existing clients. Growth for IPG globally as well as in India is coming from existing clients. As client businesses grow, you grow with them. Then the rest of the growth comes in with the allied disciplines - digital, media, public relations…

What is the approach to digital at IPG?

We have digital as part of all the networks at IPG. We don't have one single, large digital set-up that handles everything. We also have specialist digital agencies such as RGA and MRM. They have their own markets; they also have their own client base while sharing clients with other IPG networks.

What role does India play as a hub for sourcing digital work?

We have some facilities for digital production in India. We have also offshored quite a bit of digital production to Romania, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Some of your offices here do work on other markets. Is that a focus area?

Yes. There is no question about it. Part of our efficiencies is to utilise our capacity in any region. Given the globalisation of our economies, there's no reason to keep everything local. Even with creative - we have very strong creative capabilities in India. We use that creativity on a global basis.

By far, WPP is the leader in the media business. How do you view the business; isn't media a function of scale?

We already have scale. Both Lodestar UM and Initiative have, independently, enough scale to buy effectively. We don't have to be the biggest. We just have to be the best. If you are the best, you grow on the back of that and gain size.

Is it not a priority because the media margins are getting squeezed?

I wouldn't say it's not a priority! It is a priority because we want to give our clients the best possible service we can. But we don't need to go out and buy a media company just to say we're as big as WPP. Media is just one part of our integrated offering.

A lot of creative shops have come up, and they are being approached by the larger networks. Are you meeting potential sellers too?

If it fits into our culture and adds value, we will look at acquisitions. Sometimes, when we look at an agency, we are doing it just for the talent, not even for the clients.

How big an issue is talent, globally and in India?

Yes. Talent is an issue. Actually, the creative work out of India is among our best work. We use India as a creative hub across the globe. That's what we are seeing across our industry right now - we have creative hubs in Spain, Brazil, the US. When we have a creative challenge, we tap into resources from all the regions. The global sourcing used to be largely production work, but now it's also creative work.

Some of your agencies are termed as ‘suit-led'. Is that a fair statement?

No. What you may be saying is that some of our agencies are viewed as ‘bureaucratic', ‘large' agencies, and are not as nimble as some of the smaller creative shops. I think even that's not true. If you look at the creative awards, globally and particularly in India, that we have received, and the kind of hub India has become for creative for us, you will agree.

We've seen a lot of work from Lowe (India) led by corporate responsibility and socially conscious businesses. How far are we from all such claims becoming unbelievable?

How you beat that is by actually doing it - it's not enough to just say that you're doing all this. One of the successes of Lowe and Unilever is in proving that what they're doing works. This doesn't happen overnight; it happens over a period of time.

Forget about our clients, the fact is that we have to do it as IPG. Our global footprint, sourcing materials and resources, energy, recycling - we're doing our bit. There is more video conferencing than flying around since this started two years ago ...

In India at least, the top business schools' preferred employers aren't advertising agencies. What's the trend abroad?

We have to do a better job of training and getting talent for advertising from the universities, across the globe. We've done a fair amount of work with universities across the world, where we can tap them to get individuals interested in our business. Otherwise, we end up moving people from one agency to the other.

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