Q&A: Chris Thomas, Chairman & CEO of BBDO

'This part of the world is a net exporter of ideas'

Chris Thomas is the chairman & CEO of Omnicom-group-network BBDO in Asia, West Asia and Africa. He is also the chairman of Proximity, the direct and CRM (short for customer relationship management) arm of Omnicom. Thomas spoke to Viveat Susan Pinto on his plans for both BBDO and Proximity in India. Edited Excerpts:

What is the contribution of the Asian, West Asian and African markets in the Omnicom universe?
North America and Europe are still very large advertising markets. But the growth rates, as you know, are coming from this part of the world. So you cannot ignore them. I see this part of the world as a net exporter of ideas.

What is your strategy for India given that BBDO was launched only three years ago here?
To do big campaigns for big brands. But you have to understand that there are some inherent differences in the retail structure here. While there is an aggregation happening on the retail side with the emergence of modern-trade in India, traditional trade is still strong here. This throws up numerous possibilities. For instance, the work we did for PepsiCo’s 7Up brand called 7-Up Lemon Pattalam in Andhra Pradesh, where we set up a group of local cricket teams having seven players a team who play seven balls an over.

Are you looking to expand the number of offices you have? BBDO is present only in Mumbai and Delhi at the moment.
We tend to work with good local partnerships. Our existing partner in India, R K Swamy/BBDO has a lot of offices and a strong geographic footprint in the country.

What are your plans for Proximity which you launched some 18 months ago in India?
Proximity’s strength lies in the incredible network it has. Worldwide, Proximity was launched 11 years ago. There are good network planning tools and resources it has. This helps teams at Proximity to identify opportunities once they engage with the consumer.