Leo Burnett leads the ad agency comeback

MUMBAI: It has to be a case of the six-year-itch. Leo Burnett, one of India’s leading advertising agencies, has returned to the IIM campuses after it was last there in 2001. Last week, the agency picked up six management graduates from IIM Bangalore for management trainee positions in its Mumbai and New Delhi offices. This is in stark contrast to the last couple of years, when advertising agencies did not get invited to IIM campuses for placements. Leo Burnett has made offers of Rs 8.5 lakh to six candidates from IIM-B. While this figure isn’t in the league of what consultancies or investment banks are offering, it is well within the ballpark of what most marketing companies would offer management trainees from IIM campuses.

According to Arvind Sharma, chairman and CEO, Leo Burnett, and an IIM-A alumnus, “For an industry that is now growing at 20% and more, we require highly talented individuals to sustain and manage that growth. With this high growth rate and limited high-calibre talent, we need to look at these options both at entry level and more senior levels.”

According to Mr Sharma, Leo Burnett had received a total of 79 applications for the six positions that were on offer. The agency has carved up its client servicing function into four different verticals — brand strategy, consumer insight, brand services and project managers. The IIM graduates will occupy a very specific role in brand strategy. To attract these management graduates, the agency will let them work on a variety of brands rather than a single brand that a strict marketing job would have. This year, sources say that HLL and Pepsi made offers in the Rs 9.2 to Rs 9.4 lakh range at the Indian School of Business.

So even though Leo Burnett’s offer is a shade lower, they make up by way of faster growth. Adds Mr Sharma, “These individuals would also have the opportunity to become brand directors within just two-three years, when they’re 25-26 years old, if they show the potential.” The agency has also expressed interest to two other IIMs, at Lucknow and Kozhikode for hiring management graduates.

Till now, Leo Burnett is the only advertising agency that has hired from an IIM campus this year. Other agencies have expressed interest in coming to the campus for hiring, but according to campus sources, they haven’t made salary offers that might evince interest from marketing students. And there’s another twist to that. Says MG ‘Ambi’ Parameswaran, executive director, FCB-Ulka and IIM-C alumnus, “When we do get slots at the IIMs we don’t get the best crop.”

Mr Parameswaran believes hiring students from the second-tier institutes and training them is more effective than paying big bucks at the IIMs. Pranesh Misra, COO, Lowe India, and an IIM-A graduate, says, “We have stopped recruiting from the IIMs and instead use graduates from Northpoint Centre that we have set up for advertising and communications professionals.” It’s highly unlikely that in an economy with a lot of booming sectors, advertising agencies will get back their place of glory at the IIMs, but it could be the start of another tango between India’s top B-schools and the industry.