R-Dyr Rechristened, Adopts New Identity

Rediffusion-Dentsu Young & Rubicam (R-DYR) has decided to go in for a face change to grab the emerging opportunities in Asia and India which contributes about 15 per cent of DYRs total business in Asia. The company will be known as R-DYR Brand Communications, and has adopted a new corporate identity, the tiger.

It has also been decided that R-DYR will be bringing in the highly innovative world products and systems called Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), a proprietary brand building technique of Young & Rubicam.

The revolutionary BAV report ,which will be introduced in India in June-July ,will assess 580 global brands like Pepsi and Coke, 457 Indian brands like Manikchand Gutka, and 390 regional brands to help them become power brands. BAV is a tool based on a unique database of consumer interaction.

 

To make the agency a one-stop shop for clients, R-DYR will also introduce a direct marketing arm, Wunderman Cato Johnson, soon. DYR has also decided to invest about $ 3 million in Asia over the next three years in technology over and above its investment of $ 1.24 million till now.

Since we consider India as a key market for us, we have decided to refocus here, and have a new vision which concentrates on building powerful brand equities for clients and investing in technology, says DYR Brand Communications president and chief executive Matthew Asinari.

Its our way of globalising the Indian company which can compete with the best in the world, he added.

Speaking about BAV, Asinari said, Its our experience that BAV has had direct relationship to a brand-owning companys stock in the market, and added, Our clients can take help of this scientific tool. .

R-DYR, which had reported earnings of $3.5 billion last year, has been on a training spree to hire brand scientists/ analysts.

Though Japan is the biggest market for DYR in Asia, India contributes as much as 15% of the business in the region. DYRs Asian business turned in a revenue of about $50 million last year.

The reasons behind R-DYR going in for a new corporate identity is because of the changing trends in the Indian advertising industry viz agencies working as marketing counsellors in brand building; clients demanding one-stop shop; budgets getting tighter, and the growth rate of the advertising industry witnessing a more rational growth rather than the high growth rates prevalent when the economy was opening up in the early 1990s.

We have to get leaner, fitter and faster to compete in the changed scenario, and thankfully, we were always very lean, said R-DYR chairman and managing director Arun Nanda, who, along with Asinari, spoke about the companys ambitious plans to be the agency of the future by benchmarking itself against international norms.

In the Rs250 crore R-DYR, Young and Rubicam and Dentsu holds a stake of 20 per cent stake while the rest is held by Nanda and his associates. The importance of R-DYR can be gauged from the fact that Arun Nanda will soon be joining the board of DYR.