Campaign India Agency Report Card: Mudra

Campaign India Team, 18 December, 2008

Mumbai

Type of agency Advertising
Company ownership Independent
Key personnel  Madhukar Kamath, MD and CEO, Pratap Bose, COO, Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer
Accounts won BIG TV, Union Bank of India, UNICEF, Gujarat Tourism, Incredible India, Amrutanjan, UEI Global, Renovau Telecom, HPCL, Greenpeace, Akruti City
Accounts lost Nutrine Confectionary, Godrej Renew

Talent has been the key focus at Mudra in 2008, with the agency hiring no fewer than seventeen top to middle management this year. That should hold them in good stead in the coming year as far as the top management is concerned. 
Significant hires among these include Pratap Bose, Rajeev Raja, Arijit Ray and Anurag Gupta among key others. There was a concerted push towards grouping and aligning the various arms of the company and bringing them under the Mudra umbrella. Bobby Pawar was elevated to the role of chief creative officer for the Mudra Group, to build a consistent creative voice across the creative, marketing services and the media departments. The Ahmedabad and Bangalore offices helped keep the home fires burning, with business like Renovau Telecom, Gujarat Tourism and Amrutanjan.
The group launched four key specialized units including Water(branding), Terra (rural marketing), 10 Integrated (sports marketing) and Celcius (event management) and added on new business. The value/revenue  that these units can bring to the table is a question that is likely to be raised. 
They retained the HPCL business after a pitch was called. BIG TV was undoubtedly one of their biggest launches of the year so the fact that Leo Burnett got a finger into the BIG TV business after the launch was probably a cause for concern. Creative recognition included a bronze at Cannes in the Radio category and a Grand Prix at Goafest, besides other industry awards for its various specialized arms. 
Campaign Score: 8

How MUDRA rates itself: 8
Mudra is more vibrant than ever today. We are delivering on our promise of offering total branding solutions to our clients. This year we launched four new specialised communication disciplines in addition to re-launching our media operations. . Our focus on creativity, irrespective of discipline, helped bring creative accolades in the radio, direct and promotional marketing categories. And we have won significant business from existing and new clients.
But the growth in our numbers (employees, clients, etc) capture only half the story. Our passion, motivation and hunger has grown manifold this year. As India’s only home grown marketing communications group, our spirits have surged with the surging optimism in the country (economic sentiment notwithstanding). Our focus on people, product, profit continues. We are poised to be the leading marketing communications group in the country.