Campaign India Agency Report Card 2010: Cheil

Type of agency: Advertising

Company ownership: Independent

Key personnel: Jae Hong Kim, managing director, Alok Agarwal, chief operating officer, Naresh Gupta, national planning director

Accounts won: None reported

Accounts lost: None reported

A year of ups and downs for Cheil Worldwide. Samsung still continued to be the key client with campaigns released for the models Guru and Metro. Jae Hong Kim took over from S Ryu as managing director of the agency. Other key people who joined were Naresh Gupta, national planning director, Lubna Khan, senior planning director, Manoj Kukreja, associate vice president (Retail), Chintan Chopra, client servicing director (Retail), Rajiv Malhotra, associate vice president (Interactive and digital),  and Chandramouli Prasad, associate vice president (Client Service). However, the departure of national creative director Prathap Suthan can be viewed as a big loss to the agency, as he was really the face of Cheil India (the agency says he would continue to be associated with it and a new NCD will be appointed soon). The agency picked up five metals at Goafest and three metals at the Mirchi Kaan Awards in September. Alok Agarwal said he would like to see Cheil in the top ten of agency rankings, in an interview with Campaign India in December. Suthan’s replacement will be a big factor in the agency making its way up the ladder.

How Campaign India rates the agency: 5

How Cheil rates itself: 8

The year 2010 was a year of expansion for the agency. Cheil India has significantly ramped up its staff strength across disciplines to offer a truly integrated agency under one roof. Agency moved into a new, much larger HQ at Gurgaon, set up satellite offices in Metros and expanded coverage to SAARC countries. The agency also rolled out its new Brand Philosophy – Energising Brands and has been making significant investments in building a Brand Energy Model, relevant to India. Our key client Samsung continues to show rapid market share growths across all segments and gained 9 positions among India’s most trusted brands in the Brand Equity survey of 2010.