'We plan to double India operations in three years'

Q&A: Richard Pinder

On his first major international visit after being named the sole global leader of Publicis Worldwide, Richard Pinder emphasises the importance of India as one of the few growth markets. In an interview with SAPNA AGARWAL, he talks of his plans to position the agency as one of the top five advertising agencies in India in three years and double revenues from operations. Excerpts:

What are your plans for India now?
Last year, India was one of the fastest growing markets for Publicis worldwide. This year, it is one of the very few places in the world that is seeing any growth. For us, it is incredible that India is a growth engine. We are among the top 10 advertising agencies in India — at number seven in terms of revenues and number three in terms of creativity. As the gap between the top five and the rest is huge, our goal is to double the size of business and be among the top five advertising agencies in the country.

How will you go about achieving this?
We are looking at three things. The focus for us is creativity, digital, and gaining scale through organic and inorganic growth. The strategy includes getting the guerrilla clients (big ones like Hindustan Lever), as that will give us scale. Guerrilla clients move occasionally, but when they do we want to make sure that we are in their camp of choice.

Which areas are you looking at for growth?
We are a young organisation in India — just 10 years old. In these 10 years, we have already made four acquisitions — Zen Communications, Ambience, Capital Advertising and Madhyam Communications. Besides, we have launched two start-ups — Red Lion for design and Publicis Modem for digital media. The way forward is to build on this momentum. We will look at new markets/cities for growth. We will also look for acquisitions in the digital space in areas like customer relationship management (CRM) and also in a few other areas that we would not like to disclose right now.

But isn’t the digital medium still a nascent market in India?
The medium is interesting for marketers of high value goods, like BMW, who are interested in targeting a focused market. If we look at advertising globally, it is predicted to dip at 7 per cent, whereas internet advertising is still growing. In the first quarter of this calendar year, it grew 20 per cent. Digital contributes 15 per cent of our global revenues. In India, the contribution stands at 5 per cent. By 2012, the contribution from digital will be up to 30 per cent to overall revenues globally and, in India, it will account for 20 per cent of total revenues.

How does a creative agency increase focus on creativity?
Last evening, we launched a powerful idea — contagious ideas that change the conversation. Whether clients like it or not, there is a conversation that takes place around their brands. These conversations are not what the client wants, but what the consumers experience with the brand.