Mediabrands brings reprise to Indian mkt

Mediabrands, the media holding company of Interpublic Group (IPG), has set up a majority-owned joint venture with Indian digital marketing company Interactive Avenues to enter the country’s nascent digital marketing space, IPG announced here on Thursday. The new entity, Reprise Media, marks Mediabrands’ entry into India where it plans to appoint a country head in due time, according to Michael Roth, chairman & CEO of IPG.

IPG’s Lodestar Universal has been working with Interactive Avenues, which has offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, for mare than a year now. Reprise Media will mostly focus on search market and social media, Mr Roth told ET at the sidelines of the Cannes Lions as he explained IPG’s digital roadmap for India.

It took around 18 months to formalise the relationship. Why did it take so long?

We realised that digital space is important and we know India is a market we wanted to be in. So we were looking for a right partner. We were partnering in Interactive Avenues for a number of mutual clients. We have worked with them for sometime and it’s always good to know someone well, before you formalise a relationship.

What are the specific offerings are you looking at for India?

The search market and social media are important component. That’s where Reprise Media can bring in a lot of expertise to Interactive Avenues. Beside that, the entire universe of digital marketing, there’s no question that it’s a growth area. So Interactive Avenues expertise coupled with Reprise Media and Mediabrands is a powerful offering.

But how do you use digital to reach out to millions of consumer untouched by digital?

Digital is just one part of integrated offering and we have to reach out to client with all resources. You are right; digital is rapidly growing but not significant. Traditional media is still an important piece. But the ability to bring integrated offering with traditional expertise to our clients is the strategy for a market like India.

Can you cite an example of marrying traditional offering with digital?

You start with a big idea and that idea flows to the communication aspect. Then one puts together a media plan that involves traditional, social and other medium. And it’s up to us to work with clients and make sure they spend the dollars on the space that makes the most impact. So it will be combination of traditional, media space and digital.

How do you assess IPG’s performance vis-a-vis competition in India?

If one puts all the IPG assets together, we are the second largest global network holding company in India. We added to our ownership couple of years with Lintas and formalised our partnership with FCB Ulka and McCann is of course a powerful force in India. We have three global networks in India and they are very powerful. And we will continue to consolidate the presence.