Although the Indian advertising industry is facing the effects of the economic slowdown, many global players see India as a market of growth in the near future, and hence an important area to focus on.
Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) recently restructured its operations to be able to pay more attention to the emerging markets. In particular, SMG identified four key markets – India, China, Russia and the Middle East – as growth markets.
In the new structure, Andrew Swinand, President, Global Operations, SMG is working with five CEOs to align SMG’s resources in the growth areas. The CEOs include Ravi Kiran, who is CEO, South Asia but specifically focussing on India. Kiran is also responsible for the growth of diversified services offering in various markets.
Swinand stated that the aim was to be the number one or the number two brand in all the emerging markets. He explained, “We are investing in resources in India that would help us move from the number three position to the number two and number one position here. Ravi is focussing his efforts on building these resources and on aligning energies to build on the growth areas of tomorrow. Very soon, we would also launch the MediaVest brand in India.”
Swinand said, “The similarities between Russia, India and Middle East are more relevant than the similarities between India and Singapore. Our present structure recognises this. Separately, we are also looking at how we change as a company to being a better marketing partner to our clients in the current economic backdrop. We are looking closely at things we can do in terms of expanding our abilities to deliver experiential marketing across platforms like in store or in rural.”
According to Swinand, the Indian scenario is very different from the ones seen in other parts of the world, “People are talking about a 5 per cent or a 9 per cent growth here. We are going to see clients also accelerating their investments in the emerging markets. In the past, where you had a really strong, developed market economy, you were not as forced to accelerate how you reallocated your investments. The opportunity and benefit of the slowdown is that companies are investing more dollars in BTL and experiential marketing.”
For some time now, the India operations of SMG have been active in areas like digital, below the line and rural. Swinand commented, “We are doing these things in India already, but we have to see how we accelerate it.”
Swinand stated that 2009 would see a lot more involvement from SMG in India, including more frequent visits from himself. This is no doubt due to the fact that India as a market is more attractive than ever and also offers the promise of growth.