Campaign India Agency Report Card 2011: Lodestar UM

Ownership: IPG

Key Personnel: Shashi Sinha, CEO, Nandini Dias, COO, Anamika Mehta, COO,  Anjali Hegde,  CEO Reprise, Habeeb Nizamudin, chief growth officer, Aditi Mishra,  VP - consumer insight, Hema Malik, VP – Delhi, Deepak Netram, VP – Mumbai, Sujata Pawar, VP - Mumbai, Vanita Shetty, VP – finance, Dhruv Jha – head brand experiences

Account won: Vedanta Group, VIP Luggage, Jaypee F1, LoyaltyOne, Tata Interactive Systems, Ministry of Women & Child Welfare, Muthoot Finance, Sulekha.com, Chateaux ‘Dax, Amar Remedies, DSP Blackrock, Pidilite(digital), LG(digital), South African Tourism, BASF, Canada Tourism, Amante, Jaypee Hotels, Exxon Mobil, Ministry of Health (Tuberculosis prevention)  

Account lost: None reported

It’s been a good year in terms of account wins. The agency also continued its work in the branded content space with Thums Up Khatron Ke Khiladi, Coke Studio and Amul Masterchef. It was a good year at the awards as well, with the first runner up position at the Media Abbys and Emvies and a Gold at Cannes. Perhaps the best part of being Lodestar though is, there were no changes in the top management. All of these factors staying the same, and with some upping of the digital ante, 2012 should be just as good for the agency.
How Campaign India rates the agency: 8

How Lodestar UM rates itself: 8
2011 was a momentous year for Lodestar UM.

The only agency to win at two major international awards – at Cannes the Media Gold (Garnier), Festival of Media Awards (Coke Studio), 21 new business wins, launch of sports initiatives (ICC World Cup for Amul, Tata Motors in the IPL and the partnership with the Sauber BMW team in F1), content growth – Coke Studio, Thums Up Khatron Ke Khiladi, Mahindra Samriddhi Awards, Amul MasterChef - powered by a stable senior management team.

The digital future – Lodestar UM partnered with Flytxt for next generation solutions in mobile. Reprise (Lodestar UM’s Digital arm) in its very first year became the number three digital agency in the country, winning awards and businesses.

Our work across clients such as – Microsoft, Tata Motors, Piramal Healthcare, Mahindra, Tata Docomo, Coca-Cola, Nerolac, Wipro, Club Mahindra, ConAgra Foods, Mastercard, LIC, Indian Oil, Zodiac, Star Health Insurance, Style Spa, Exide, TTK and others reflects our commitment and passion as also seen in the awards - runners up at Goafest (nine metals), Emvies (16 metals), Digital Awards (three metals), Outdoor Awards (2 metals), Radio Awards (one metal).

Our culture of “Curious minds for surprising results”  drives newer tools – “Mastermind 360” – multi-channel planning, “Radioscope” – forecast on radio performance, “Digital Navigator” – digital television planning, “Smartphones Live” –smartphones as a marketing channel, setting the agenda for the coming years.