Digital, data and talent drive Omnicom India Summit

The group's first summit of its India agency heads, held in Udaipur, had over 35 CEOs, MDs, clients and market experts in attendance

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | October 13, 2014

Omnicom Group concluded the first summit of its India agency heads in Udaipur, Rajasthan, last week, with a full spectrum of creative industries represented by a group of over 35 CEOs and Managing Directors, clients and India market experts. The summit brought together Omnicom operating companies including DDB Mudra, BBDO, TBWA\, CPM, FleishmanHillard, OMG, Interbrand, Flamingo, Ketchum Sampark and others in the creative space, to discuss the tectonic changes affecting their industries and clients' businesses.

Attendees heard from speakers representing organisations such as KPMG, Deutsche Bank, Google, PepsiCo, HUL, Micromax and Tata Group; regional Omnicom and agency representatives from digital and e-commerce industry experts such as Amiya Pathak of ZipDial and eTailing India's Ashish Jhalani. They discussed the potential of the next wave of digital growth, the e-commerce opportunity and the application of data and creative industries; industry experts focussed on the changing nature of the Indian media landscape, the reshaping of the demographic dividend and how the political environment is likely to reboot India's creative industries.

Omnicom participants included DDB Mudra's Madhukar Kamath, BBDO's Josy Paul, Jasmin Sohrabji of OMG, TBWA\'s Vineet Bajpai and Mandeep Singh of CPM India. Dara Akbarian, Omnicom's regional CFO for APIMA, explained that the summit was designed to bring Omnicom India business leaders together, to strategise how the next wave of growth in India will take shape, and how each business can position itself to support Indian and multinational clients capitalising on this growth.

“We heard some fascinating points of view and the collective voice was resounding. Omnicom agency heads firmly believe that our industry has only scratched the surface of the digital opportunity and there is much more to come from India,” Akbarian said. He added that the idea of holding an in-India, for-India meeting was to gather the spectrum of operational companies' experiences, to build a collective strategy for Omnicom business growth in India. “There are organic and inorganic opportunities that will help all of us to grow in this dynamic market, and our agency heads recognise the potential we need to target to accelerate our position in India,” he stated.

Some of the decisions made at the event include, a greater investment in talent programs to find and keep the next generation of creative industry talent, to develop a deeper entrepreneurial culture in keeping with India's changing demographics, and investments to tap the so-called DRIP effect (data rich, insight poor) that India currently faces with big data and creative sector work.

Shivakumar, Chairman & CEO of PepsiCo India, said, "It was a pleasure to take part in the first Omnicom India event, especially since Omnicom is a key PepsiCo partner. The focus on digital, creative and integrated campaigns was enlightening. The future of marketing in India will be based on these pillars, and Omnicom agencies understand and demonstrate the need to come together to deliver work that our business needs. This market is ready and hungry for creativity that challenges and campaigns that go beyond the traditional media reach."

Rajan Anandan

Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Google India, added, "It was interesting to meet Omnicom's full mix of creative agencies at a single event. And, thankfully, we were able to move beyond 'the potential is big' discussions I hear all too often in India. What these agency heads understand is the future of Indian creative industries is moving beyond the shock and awe of how big digital is or what it can offer, and into the areas of how can Indian companies make the most of this potential."

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