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Mar. 7--MUMBAI, India -- After a long innings at an agency that was once Trikaya Grey's media department, Grey Worldwide's arm Media and finally Mediacom, Jasmin Sohrabji moves to what she calls a start-up operation: Omnicom's media shop OMD. In a tete-a-tete with ET, she talks about the unique challenges facing this late entrant to a market dominated by global rival WPP.
What are the immediate challenges that OMD faces in India?
Firstly, in terms of getting infrastructure in place, the work is already on. We need to start immediately, and we'll be up and running within a month or so. OMD is effectively launched. The challenge is to gain some critical mass. People are talking about it because it's new. But, it's not going to remain news if you haven't started delivering. We will not be able to attract good talent without critical mass of business.
What is the structure of OMD in India?
It will operate as a 100 percent Omnicom company. In most other markets, the Omnicom agencies have some equity, over time, we'll see how it goes in India. Omnicom globally has a media holding company called OMG (Optimum Media Group) with two brands: OMD and PHD. PHD is a much younger brand, in most of Asia we don't see PHD coming so soon, but it will eventually come.
Will growth come mainly from globally aligned business, or will local clients also play a key role?
The mandate for me is to set the operation up, not to worry about where the business is coming from. There's no agenda that it has to be creatively or business-wise aligned with Omnicom or OMD. I'm free to set the place up, and aligned business is available to pitch for - - but all of them may not be open to looking out.
It's relatively easy to assume that now that it's come to India, clients will give us the business, but I don't want to think of it that way. I'd like to treat it in India as a start-up, not as a global company that's making an entrance. Some of Omnicom's clients in India have come to accept an unaligned agency in India, and it's not like all the businesses are being badly serviced, they've all established themselves. I'm assuming that if OMD has decided to open shop, it has some idea of long-term and medium-term aligning some of this business. But given my heritage, I don't think that aligned business will be predominant.
How big do you see the operations scaling up, in terms of staff?
Harish Shriyan is on board as managing partner, and we're first looking for people in finance and admin. If all goes as per expected in the first year, we'll have a 20-plus team in terms of media -- but that's dependent on the type of business we get. While I've got a list of people I would like to talk to, given that its a start-up its a bit of a chicken and egg situation. The plan is not to wait, but to have a few key people in all functions.
How will OMD India position itself vis-a-vis the already established competition?
OMD's positioning globally has been creativity and insightful thinking. That's a strong positioning and opportunity even for us in this market. Most media shops are positioned on volume, very few go other routes. I'll be carrying forward the OMD Worldwide culture here, which is very much creativity in media thinking. They believe in investing in proprietary research, not just tools.
In a way its very familiar, because when I was at Mediacom, we positioned ourselves on planning and research. We always pitched that way -- our credentials talked about the number of awards won, for instance. At OMD, there's a similar focus on creative thinking, so I feel like I fit in very well. I see it as a progression, so it should be a very easy transition for me. We will be looking for acquisitions -- for allied services and stuff like sponsorships, interactive, we'll be either starting up or looking at acquiring.
The OMD brand name is still relatively unknown. Do you think this will be a disadvantage for a start-up?
I agree it's not as familiar a brand. But in some ways we're better off than if we were aligned to an agency and then moved out to be independent -- for instance, years after Mediacom was established, people used to call us Grey Media. The unfamiliarity is only a temporary thing, if we win businesses, it won't be a problem.
What are the targets for the India operations?
The present agenda is not to say, we have to be ranked in the top two or three in the next year or so. I'm looking at it more as, in the next two-year span, we should be in a comfortable situation. Which means that we'll be seen not as an investment market, but a performing, delivery market.
OMD internationally may have a longer horizon, but that's the target I've set for myself. Of course, the agenda is long-term for OMD. The long-term motivation is not missing out on a major market when going global.
