Campaign India Agency Report Card 2011: DDB Mudra Group

Ownership: Omnicom

Key Personnel: Madhukar Kamath, group CEO and MD, Pratap Bose, COO and CEO – Ignite Mudra, Arijit Ray, president, Mudra India – West, Ranji Cherian, president, Mudra India – South, Sandeep Vij, CEO - DDB Mudra, Rajiv Sabnis, president – DDB India, Saugata Bagchi, VP – Tribal DDB, Venkat Mallik, president – Rapp India, Soumitra Sen, president – DDB Healthcare and Lifestyle, Sudarshan Banerjee, head – Ignite Mudra

Account won: Mudra India: Policy Bazaar.com, Nestle 100 Years Celebration, Dabur (Massage Oil), Fem Body Lotion, Sunday Guardian newspaper, SAB Miller, Jyothy Laboratories-Maxo brand,GoodFood Magazine,BBC Top Gear,Emirates; DDB India: VFS (Dubai Visa Processing Centres),Emirates; Tribal DDB: Star TV,  Adidas; Ignite Mudra: NK Proteins, Vasu Pharma, Century Ply, You Broadband, Elitecore, Phoenix Market City, Arvind Retail, Rotomac ; Water: Novartis, Reliance Infrastructure; DDB Healthcare and Lifestyle: Philips Healthcare, UNICEF, Volini – Ranbaxy; Rapp: Johnson & Johnson, ICICI Mutual Funds

Account lost: Mudra India: Huawei Telecommunications; Ignite Mudra: Paras Pharmaceuticals

While last year was about reinventing the brand, this year the agency transformed to be a part of the Omnicom network with the latter taking over the majority stake in the group. This was ‘the year’ for DDB Mudra Group with several new business wins and creative recognitions from around the world. The agency won several key businesses and its work was quite visible across mediums. While the agency’s Silent National Anthem for Big Cinemas swept awards at almost all events, other campaigns were also duly recognised. The jury feels that Bobby Pawar has been an engine for change at the agency over the past couple of years, and the results were evident by its performance this year. The key people movements of Pawar and Max Hegerman (from Tribal DDB) to JWT India at the end of the year grabbed headlines. The jury feels that the impact of their exits will only be visible next year. 
How Campaign India rates the agency: 9

How DDB Mudra Group rates itself: 9
Under the leadership of Madhukar Kamath, DDB Mudra Group has transformed itself from an advertising agency into India’s leading integrated marketing and communications service group with  capitalised billings in the region of Rs 3,000 crores (US$ 600 million).  During FY 2010-11,  it achieved a topline growth of 20 percent and a bottomline growth of 25percent over the preceding year.

The agency was the most awarded agency at Goafest with a total tally of 37 metals, most awarded Indian agency at Cannes Lions 2011 with eight lions and was also ranked the third creative agency at Spikes Asia. On 30 October 2011, Omnicom announced that it had acquired a majority stake in Mudra Communications. This represents a natural culmination of a partnership process that began in an informal way in 1988 with DDB, followed by Omnicom acquiring a 10 percent stake in Mudra in 1993.