GroupM changes India leadership, merges Maxus & MEC

This would see emergence of 5 key brands-Mindshare, MediaCom, Essence, Motivator and Maxus-MEC

The country’s largest media agency network, GroupM, will bring together two agencies, Maxus and MEC, as part of a global restructuring drive. The new agency, which has not been named yet and will come into existence in January 2018, would be led by Kartik Sharma, currently managing director (MD) of Maxus, South Asia, GroupM said on Monday.

The merger would see the emergence of five key agency brands under GroupM in India: Mindshare, MediaCom, Essence, a digital-first agency, Motivator, and the Maxus-MEC combine.

Essence, which was acquired by GroupM globally in 2015, was launched in India last year as part of the latter’s mandate to focus on the digital landscape in the country. GroupM said on Monday that it was appointing Anand Chakravarthy, currently managing partner at Maxus, India, as MD of Essence India.

T Gangadhar, currently MD of MEC South Asia, would transition to the role of chairman, India and MD, North Asia at Essence, GroupM said. Both appointments are effective from January 2018.

While Sharma will report to GroupM South Asia chief executive officer (CEO) C V L Srinivas and Tim Castree, CEO of the new Maxus-MEC merged entity, Gangadharan will report to Kyoko Matsushita, CEO of Essence APAC. Chakravarthy will report to Gangadhar and Matsushita.
 

The changes at GroupM come as the media agency network gets future-ready and builds capabilities to address both offline and online advertising needs of clients.

In a statement, Christian Juhl, global CEO of Essence, said, “India is an important market for our clients and we are excited to expand our geographic footprint and apply our unique approach to clients here.”