"My brief to Praveen is to take Zenith into the Top 5 league in India"

Zenith Media India, part of the ZenithOptimedia group, jointly owned by Publicis Groupe and Cordiant Communications Group (CCG) plc, has been in the news recently with the management reshuffle that took place only two days ago. Tapan Pal, president and CEO, has put in his papers, and will be replaced by Praveen Tripathi who is currently with Starcom, China.

According to Roland Crouch, acting CEO, ZenithOptimedia, Asia, Tripathi is likely to take charge by end September/early October, though, the actual date hasn't been confirmed. "The period that the agency will be headless is very short," he says. "I will be personally involved with the Indian operations."

Despite Tripathi's late arrival, Crouch's brief to him is clear - "take Zenith into the Top 5 league in India". "We are currently at No 7 or 8 in India with clients such as Hyundai Motors, Nokia, LML and Hatsun. Besides, we do a lot of consulting projects for ITC, Sahara TV and Parle. The ultimate objective for us is aggressive growth and Praveen will be leading the agency in that direction. In the next 12-18 months we should be looking to expand rapidly."

Despite his claims about the agency's standing in India, the consensus in the industry is that Zenith Media has failed to take off in India. Crouch disagrees. He says the agency is "strong in the rest of Asia being in the Top 5 in all markets". He disputes industry perception that Zenith Media's performance has been lacklustre in the country. "We started with a very low base; we did not have significant mass when we commenced operations. We have had to work our way up and at this point, we have good clients. Our agenda, no doubt, is aggressive growth, but we are looking at sustainable business with long-term relationships with clients."

Regarding the agency's planning prowess for which it is known worldwide, not-to-mention, the tag of being a "return-on-investment agency", Crouch claims that the Indian arm has exhibited its planning skills with various clients. "Our work for regular clients as well as our consulting projects gives us room to showcase our planning prowess. I think the agency has justified its existence in as much as it is making money."

On the global front though, all has not been rosy for one of the joint owners of ZenithOptimedia, namely, Cordiant Communications Group. The shareholders of the loss-making group recently approved WPP's bid to acquire it, adding it to WPP's earlier acquisition of Bates Worldwide, another Cordiant group brand.

What is in store for India post the WPP acquisition is anybody's guess. However, one thing is clear: Praveen Tripathi will have his hands full when he finally joins Zenith Media India. © 2003 agencyfaqs!