Finally, the Agency Report Card

Campaign India is about 15 months old as this issue reaches you.

We launched in a market that was already served by a number of print publications and a number of dotcoms. In this cluttered scenario, we had ambitions of standing out in the crowd in as short a time as possible.

The editorial team had a number of weapons in our armory, the most obvious one being the lineage. As part of the Haymarket Media Group, the publishers of Campaign in the UK and Media in Hong Kong, we  had access to all the experience that various publications have gained in over half a century.

We had access to all that was written and filed across titles, we had access to the rationale behind various supplements, events and special issues. We could study them, understand them, and, if we felt any of these was relevant and required in India, we could explore replicating the success in India.

The Agency Report Card is an example of our having identified a need gap.

In a number of conversations with adland professionals regarding the Report Card, I have had to make clear that it is NOT a ranking; it is an assessment of how an agency has performed vis-à-vis itself.
Which is why we ask the CEO of each agency to do a self assessment. Who can be better placed to understand the performance of an agency than the person who runs the agency?

For the reader, he or she gets an opportunity to read both our assessment and the agency’s self assessment in a single column.

In the magazine’s assessment of an agency’s performance, the reliance is on facts rather than on speculation and perception. We have spent time on understanding where the agency stood at the beginning of the year and where it stands today. Has the agency gained ground during the year, or has it yielded territory? Is the human resource better now than it was? Have any systemic changes that impact the agency negatively or positively been made during the year? Considering the state of health of the agency, could it have done better? Alternatively, considering the state of health of the agency, have they done extraordinarily well?

All these factors are considered – without comparing the agency to another.

Which is why you will see, in the pages ahead, a number of agencies with similar numbers appearing on the Report Card. This does not make them ‘equal’ – because there is no comparison between agencies.
In the first edition of the Report Card, we have included fewer agencies than we would liked. We are confident that the next year will be more inclusive and relevant. Additionally, we have excluded revenue data from the Report Card, as
a) there is no third party source for reliable revenue figures
b) a number of agencies, whether privately owned or listed, do not release data in a manner that can be used in a fair and transparent comparison

We are gratified, however, with the co-operation of all the agencies that you find listed here.
We do hope that you find the Report Card stimulating and informative – and we do hope that you find our evaluation well-informed and unbiased. Enjoy the read.

Here they are. The assessments of the agencies, from the perspective of Campaign India and the agencies themselves.

List of agencies, all hyperlinked:

CREATIVE AGENCIES

1) Bates 141

2) BBDO India

3) Cheil Worldwide

4) Contract Advertising

5) Creativeland Asia

6) Draftfcb+Ulka

7) Euro RSCG

8) Fortune

9) Grey Group India

10) Interface

11) iris

12) JWT

13) Law & Kenneth

14) Leo Burnett

15) Lowe

16) M&C Saatchi

17) Madison Creative (MC2)

18) McCann Erickson

19) Mudra

20) O&M

21) Orchard Advertising

22) Percept/H

23) Pressman

24) Publicis Ambience

25) Publicis India

26) Rediffusion Y&R

27) RK Swamy BBDO

28) Saatchi & Saatchi

29) Saints & Warriors

30) TBWA

31) Triton

32) W+K

MEDIA AGENCIES

1) Carat

2) LMG

3) Lodestar Universal

4) Madison Media

5) Maxus

6) MediaCom

7) Media Direction

8) MEC

9) Mindshare

10) MPG

11) Mudra Max

12) OMD

13) Starcom MediaVest Group

14) TME (The Media Edge)

15) ZenithOptimedia