Campaign India Agency Report Card: M&C Saatchi

Type of agency: Advertising
Company ownership: Independent
Key personnel: Kamal Oberoi, chairman and managing director,
Rupin Jayal, strategic planning director
Accounts won: Apollo Tyres, Royal Bank of Scotland, Franklin Templeton, Turner, Stargaze Entertainment, Godfrey Philips, Worldwide Media, Tiger Beer
Accounts lost: Jet Airways

2008 has seen M&C Saatchi’s Asian offices in Bangkok and Singapore teetering. The morale at the M&C Saatchi India office though belies this gloom. The agency brought in people like Parveez Shaikh, Hemant Sapre, Rajiv Sabnis and Sumantra Sengupta, this year to fill in key positions. The intention behind bringing in Shaikh was obviously to raise the agency’s creative profile and the agency looks like it is getting its act together. They were recently empanelled by Bajaj Allianz for a considerable chunk of the business, which was earlier solely held by TBWA India and this is a good sign. It launched a new arm called Direct & Digital Communication, to offer direct and digital solutions for clients. The loss of the Jet Airways’ business to IPG’s new agency Altitude was a big blow, no doubt. New business signed on this year included Apollo Tyres, Franklin Templeton, Royal Bank of Scotland and Turner. 
Campaign Score: 5

How M&C SAATCH rates itself: 6
We have made a powerful impact in Delhi and Mumbai in a very short span of time. We have had partnerships with clients who are disproportionately larger than us. We work with some blue chip clients (RBS, Apollo Tyres, Godfrey Philips, Radico Khaitan, FT, Turner, Godrej Securities). The talent we have brought into the agency in 2008 gives it a strong foundation for exponential growth in the coming year. The agency philosophy of “Brutally Simple Thinking” has connected with all our clients and many of our prospects. It is one of the fastest growing young networks in India and can be proud of its achievements over the last three years. There is a fearlessness that is in our DNA and a sense of purpose that is unflinching. Being young, we don’t have the baggage of the past and yet have experience and expertise that is rich, diverse (due to extensive cross-category experience), idea centric and media neutral.