Express Adda

As an ad-man,Joshi has created advertisements such as Saffola (Abhi to main jawan hoon) and Coca-Cola (thanda matlab Coca-Cola),which are considered by experts as one of India’s most relevant advertisements till date.

A prolific writer-poet with contemporary views,Joshi was chosen as ‘Young Global Leader,2006’ by the Forum of Young Global Leaders. For him,Sorrell’s address at the Adda shed light on the fact that economies around the world have a consumerist point of view.

“India has a lot of potential as a consumerist country,while the West has already reached a saturation point and that is why everyone is here,” says Joshi.

“Rebranding India” Sir Martin Sorrell

Circa 1985. Martin Sorrell,born in the UK to a Jewish family,embarked on his dream in a small way. He acquired a stake in Wire and Plastic Products Plc,a British manufacturer of wire baskets,following his search for a public entity to build a worldwide marketing services company.

Come 2011,Sir Sorrell now runs the world’s largest marketing communications network — WPP Plc — with businesses and companies in 107 countries,including India,and a revenue of 9.3 billion pounds.

Sir Sorrell expanded rapidly through some big-ticket acquisitions and great thinking. His marketing communications network grew rapidly with leading advertising agencies,such as JWT,Ogilvy and Mather,Young & Rubicam and Grey Worldwide,coming under his fold. He is known as the man who led the process of consolidation in the advertising world globally and initiated the process of ad networks or the holding company structure under which several ad agencies — even competitors — worked.

His first big move was the acquisition of J Walter Thompson Group for $566 million in a hostile bid in 1987. This was followed by the dramatic takeover of the Ogilvy Group for $864 million in 1989. There was no looking back since. Besides ad agencies,he also owns media buying agencies such as Mindshare,Maxus,Mediaedge and MediaCom,and several PR agencies,digital promotions companies and branding agencies.

In India,WPP accounts for more than 40 per cent of the total revenue generated by the ad industry. O&M and JWT are the top-most creative agencies and GroupM,the umbrella company under which his media agencies work,is the market leader with close to 50 per cent market share. Sorrell was one of the first foreign investors in India and he is still bullish on the market. “In the UK,we speak of 1 per cent or one-and-a-half per cent economic growth. In India,the debate is whether the economy will grow 7 per cent or 8 per cent and this explains my interest in the country,” he said at Express Adda. Besides the economic growth,he said,he is very optimistic about the potential of 1.2 billion Indians. “There is no way you can dismiss the potential of these people,” he said.

“Influential Listeners” Uday Shankar

His appointment in 2007 as CEO of the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star India,India’s largest broadcast network,had raised many eyebrows. A journalist by training,Uday Shankar was then seen as an outsider in the entertainment TV business. Today,he is regarded as one of the most successful CEOs of Star India. Shankar took over Star’s reins when the network was going through a challenging phase in India. After ruling the Hindi entertainment genre for eight years,Star Plus had lost the number one spot to the newcomer Colors.

Star Plus regained its numero uno position last year and has been going strong ever since. Shankar was adjudged ‘Impact Person of The Year’ in 2010 by the industry and has led several initiatives,such as reviving the Broadcast Audience Research Council,a body for television audience measurement mechanism. He was also chosen as the President of Indian Broadcasting Foundation. This year,he signed a deal with staunch rival Zee Network to jointly distribute Star,Zee and other channels of their affiliates and partners.

One of the two interjectors at Express Adda,Shankar seemed focussed on business questions on India-China,their similarities,distinctions and potential. Talking about the event,he said,“Express Adda unleashed the power of informal conversations. It’s a great idea to bring together people who have something important to say. Also,there’s an influential group of listeners who have a stake in what is being said. There is no set speech,unlike in structured formal discussions,so the conversation becomes very vibrant.”

Martin Sorrell Speaks

Democracy: India is the world’s fastest growing democracy. It is a claim that is justifiable.

Brand India: We have an internal system to track the brand equity of countries. And I can tell you that Brand India,as judged by Indians and outsiders,has improved significantly over the years and is constantly improving,that’s our assessment internally and that’s the feedback we get externally.

Domestic Consumption: India is different from China in many ways. India’s growth story is mainly about domestic consumption. China is about trade and exports… You do not choose between the two (on being asked to choose between India and China). If I have a billion dollars,I will put 500 million in China and 500 million in India.

The Middle Class:

The changes in India have been profound (in the past few years). The country’s middle class has changed,consumption habits have changed… While the UK with a population of 60 million and the US with a population of 300 million are homogeneous markets,India is completely different. Its population of 1.2 billion is extremely diverse… The country has improved by leaps and bounds… There is no multinational company that can stay away from India if it wants to engage with this population and wants growth.

Growth: It is incredible that people here discuss whether the economy will grow 7 per cent,8 per cent or 9 per cent,whereas the countries in the developed world are hoping for 1 per cent or one-and-a-half

per cent growth.

Corruption: Corruption exists in all countries… in China,Russia,Brazil… It even exists in the UK and US,France,Spain and Italy. The fundamental thing is,as long as India continues to grow at a greater pace compared to other economies,multinational companies will continue to invest significantly in the country.