Campaign India Agency Report Card: Euro RSCG

Campaign India Team , 18 December, 2008

Mumbai

Type of agency: Advertising
Company ownership: Havas
Key personnel: Suman Srivastava, CEO, Satbir Singh, national creative director
Accounts won: NewsX, MDLR Airlines, Incredible India!
Accounts lost: Emirates Airlines, BPCL, RPG Cellucom

Euro RSCG’s creative profile has been considerably raised in 2008. Work for clients like Dainik Bhaskar especially the Zidd Karo campaign was distinctive. The agency’s work has been defined more by its portfolio of local clients than global aligned businesses this year.
 Their performance at award shows was not much to write home about. The agency has probably lagged behind in acquisitions in the marketing services space as well as digital, although they have spoken about the need to acquire capabilities in both. It launched a production outsourcing unit  called 24X7, which the agency has said may produce outsourced work for global clients as well. The agency is also reportedly shopping for a specialised design shop, or may start one from scratch.
It’s in the last quarter that the agency shone with the new campaign for Max New York Life. If that’s a sign of things to come, it’s a great sign.
Campaign Score: 8

How EURO RSCG rates itself: 8
We have learnt to talk again - simple words like Daddy and Mama. Now we have to say “Czechoslovakia” to really make a mark! 2008 has been a great year for us. We are really proud of the work that we have done this year - MAX New York Life, Dainik Bhaskar, HDFC Bank, MAK lubricants, Reckitt Benckiser, Voltas. Our performance at the awards show was good but not great - but then that was for last year’s work.
In numbers we had 40% growth - which is great considering that it came on top of a similar performance in the previous year. We won 7 medium and large businesses. On top of that, we diversified our offering and won clients in marketing services too. Our third largest client is now a loyalty & events client.
We have a great new business pipeline and look forward to 2009 with quiet confidence.