Campaign India Agency Report Card 2010: Aegis Media + Carat

Type of agency Media

Company ownership Aegis Group

Key personnel Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, Kartik Iyer, MD (Carat), Anand Bhadkamkar, CFO, Haresh Nayak, head, Posterscope; Shamsuddin Jasani, head, Isobar, S Yesudas, MD, (Vizeum), Debashis Das, (Carat Fresh Integrated)

Accounts won 
Carat: Nikon, Deutsche Bank, Goverdhan,AMB Talent, Scandic Food, ILD, Millennium, Mother Dairy, DD Motors
Vizeum: TI Cycles,  Mohan Clothing Co, Dynamix,Dalmiya Cement, Sanyukta Developers,Maya Appliances, Aegis Global Academy, Credila, AMW, Amrutanjan, UNI Television, d.light, Blackberrys Carat Fresh: Idea Cellular, Global Green,ALM Infotech, Credila, Budweiser
Posterscope: Birla Cellulose, Met Life, P&G,Goverdhan, Voltas, Dollar Ind, Marks & Spencer, Nestle, Bharti AXA Insurance, Youtube
Isobar: Tribhuvan Das Zaveri, VMWare, Matrix,Bose, Abmeribaari (Preet Bedi’s venture), Tata AIG, Perfetti, UTI Mutual Fund, Borges, AMW,
Iprospect: P&G, BMW

Accounts lost None reported

Aegis Media has a lot going for it. It’s got some of the most experienced talent in the media industry at the helm. It has a breadth of specialist agencies in its portfolio that can offer a wide range of communication services and admittedly has notched a significant amount of smaller account wins. What it doesn’t have, at the moment, is a large sizeable account that can define their India portfolio. In 2010, Carat retained AirAsia, and went on to win accounts like Scandic Food, Nikon, Deutsche Bank and mother Dairy among others. Vizeum recently won TI Cycles, besides Blackberrys, Dalmiya Cement and d.light. Isobar has not done justice to the expectations that preceded its entry in India. It won the mandate to relaunch Perfetti’s corporate website.  Iprospect was launched in the country sometime back, which is basically Aegis’ search marketing agency. In addition, Aegis launched Brandscope, its second OOH agency. With so many different specialist units under its wings, it is critical for Aegis to build critical mass in the country to add heft.

How Campaign India rates the agency: 6

How Aegis Media rates itself: 8

2010 was a record year for Aegis Media achieving a record 164% growth over the previous year. Posterscope continued growing rapidly with a slew of new businesses which included P&G, Nestle, Grasim, UB Group, ABD Distilleries and Marks & Spencers .This rapid growth in the OOH operations led to Aegis Media launching its second OOH agency Brandscope. Hyperspace, the retail management division of Posterscope was launched and handles L&T, Reebok, Mattel Toys etc. Isobar now handles over 35 clients out of which 12 were won within this year itself. IProspect,has already won businesses of P&G and BMW. Vizeum, the 2009 launch has grown from strength to strength and in this year has won a slew of premium accounts including Blackberrys Apparel, TI Cycles, Dalmia Cement, and Asia Motorworks.