Campaign India Agency Report Card: MPG

Type of agency: Media

Company ownership: Havas

Key personnel: Anita Nayyar, CEO, Mohit Joshi, ED, North, Manoj Malkani, VP, West, Mahima Bhanukumar, head, South

Accounts won: Hyundai Kia, Maxx Mobile, Nirlep, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, R R Kabels, Dr Morepen Labs, Jockey, Reckitt Benckiser

Accounts lost: Swarovski

There was enough for MPG to be happy about, with addition of new businesses such as Maxx Mobile, Nirlep, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, R R Kabels, Dr Morepen Labs and Jockey.

In terms of talent, the agency has invested in bringing two senior level people: Abhishek Jain joined as director investments in Delhi, while Mahima Bhanukumar joined MPG as head of South. MPG also hired former Dentsu Media’s VP, Manoj Malkani to take over the duties of its Mumbai office.

Jeffery Crasto’s departure from the role of president and chief buying officer was a blip in the otherwise satisfactory performance of MPG in a “slow-down” year.

The global pitch called by MPG’s biggest client, Reckitt Benckiser, ended in the agency’s favour, with it retaining the account for South Asia. One thing that MPG needs is scale and muscle that a deep-pocketed global client can bring and thus, the Reckitt win is surely good news for this Havas subsidiary.

MPG, with heavyweights like  Anita Nayyar and (till recently) Jeffrey Crasto,  has been unable to leverage their solid foundation by winning any large account during the year. That must be a worry.

Campaign Score: 7

How MPG rates itself: 7

MPG as part of Havas Media India has grown steadily over the last few years of its existence. From a strong base set by the Reckitt Benckiser business a lot of new clients in have been added in the last two years in various categories spanning from liquor, to beauty and wellness, banking, telecom, etc. The winning formula has been its 360-degree offering to the client from traditional media to sports, entertainment, digital, outdoor and activation. The clients have been offered an integrated solution without pushing only an obvious TV plan to them. The strongest offer being the Havas Media tools that are used at various points in the decision making process for advertising on media. So much so, that some clients have based their projections on media budgeting using the Havas Media tools and yes, they work in all markets so they are not mere logos on slides. Consciously, Havas Media has invested in its strategic offerings and has MPG gaining tremendously from this effort. MPG will continue to put its best foot forward by doing absolute justice to the advertising budgets.