Campaign India Agency Report Card: ZenithOptimedia

Campaign India Team, 18 December, 2008

Mumbai

Type of agency: Media
Company ownership: Publicis
Key personnel: Ambika Srivastava,CEO, Pavan Chandra, MD-West & South, CSO, Satyajit Sen, MD- North 
& East, Mona Jain, head-strategic investments, IMX
Accounts won: Cargill, Times Internet, Vivitek (multimedia), HPCL, Finesse, Iffco Tokio, Incredible India,
Micromax Mobile, Bharat Hotels, Cargill Foods, UTV Movies, Korea Tourism, LVMH, Mitlite Electric, Mcnroe Chemicals, Discovery Channel, HDFC Mutual Fund, HPCL Petrochemicals, HDFC Asset Management, Pioneer Urban, Delta Electronics, Desitara.com, Lornamead Cosmetics, Rosebys Furnishings, Vetee Foods, Fine Jewellery, Hachette Publishings
Accounts lost: INX Media

ZenithOptimedia has had a steady year, growing new business  and expanding its digital and planning capabilities across the country. The new accounts, added to an already impressive portfolio comprising brands like Allied Domecq, Aviva, British Airways, Emaar MGF, Fidelity, Haier, Hewlett-Packard, Hyundai, India Today, INXMedia, LVMH, Ministry of Tourism, Nestlй, Oberoi, Patronas,  Puma, etc.
Pavan Chandra  replaced Rabe Iyer, who moved on to  Reliance. Chandra relocated to Mumbai as managing director, west and south, while still wearing the hat of a chief strategic officer overseeing strategic resources and Zed Digital.

The agency rolled out a second agency, `Equinox’, to provide personalised attention to medium-sized clients in Delhi and Mumbai.

Zenith unveiled ‘Touchpoints ROI Tracker’, one of its most extensive consumer studies to identify consumer contact points as support to its key clients. Other initiatives including the Advocacy research; Gamers research and Digizen further entrenched its position as a strong player in the media hemisphere.
 Publicis Groupe launched VivaKi – a growth engine for new media and digital environment. VivaKi will take advantage of the combined scale of the operations of Digitas, Starcom  MediaVest, Denuo and ZenithOptimedia to develop new services, new tools, and new partnerships.

India Media Exchange the consolidated media buying unit of Starcom MediaVest Group and Zenith Optimedia saw  Shyam Shankar, president, moving on, and Mona Jain, being promoted to India Head – strategic investments.

Campaign Score: 8

How ZENITHOPTIMEDIA rates itself: 9

Zenith deserves the high score this year on back of  double digit growth achieved. Besides the various accounts that Zenith won this year, the agency’s relationship with its existing clients grew manifold. Among the various research initiatives undertaken by ZenithOptimedia, the Advocacy Research and its 2nd annual ROI seminar were very well received by the clients. It successfully rolled out its digital operations and held on to its entire portfolio of clients, except INX Media. Zenith won third prize in global ZenithOptimedia ROI Awards for the work done for Hewlett Packard.