Mudra & Madhukar Kamath on a high

Last year was not such a good year for Mudra's Mumbai branch. It lost a big piece of business – the Rs 80 crore Reliance IndiaMobile (RIM). Many wondered about the well-being of the branch. Did that worry Mudra's top boss? Barring one occasion, where Madhukar Kamath, managing director & CEO Mudra, issued a public rebuttal to Triton's Ali Merchant's remarks, he and his team worked quietly.

Until now.

Kamath, today, has many reasons to talk. And, for all the good ones. The last six months have been very good for the agency. The Mumbai branch, in particular, has picked up quite a few lucrative businesses. Philips being the prime one among them. While it could be argued that Philips came to Mudra through global alignment via DDB, but that does not discount the hard work that goes into nurturing the business.

Philips is just half the reason Mudra is smiling. It successfully reclaimed its place in HPCL's roster of agencies. Then, it won the creative business for SBI. And just recently, it picked up Donear Suitings (the agency will be launching the apparel company's new brands) and Zenith Computers.

Philips, which alone is pegged at Rs 50 crore, and the other four accounts – SBI, HPCL, Donear Suitings and Zenith – contribute a cumulative billing of Rs 100 crore to the branch's kitty.

“Thus, not only has the Mumbai branch recovered from the loss of Reliance IndiaMobile, we have also grown by 50 per cent in the last six months,” says a senior Mudra source. . While a small part of the growth is from acquisitions, the majority is from existing businesses.

Among the major brands that have been part of the branch's organic growth are Air India, LIC, Godrej, Big Bazaar and Reliance (Energy, Pipes, Capital, Recron)

Kamath ascribes the turn-around to the agency's sharp focus and putting together a good creative team. “One year of hard work is now paying off. It was last year that Ryan Menezes joined us and right through the crests and the troughs, he has guided the creative team. And, he continues to that. In fact, it is the partnership of Jude Fernandes and Ryan that has produced fantastic results, which is amply evident from the scores of businesses that the branch has won.”

Menezes, national creative director, attributes the success to “fresh thinking”. “We have all toiled together and today, if we have nine nominations at the New York Festival, it is because this team of young people is resonating with great ideas and energy.”

It was not just creative thinking alone that has won the clients' confidence. Jude Fernandes, president, Mudra, Mumbai, says, “It’s a result of some extraordinarily good team work among the core teams that worked on the businesses across account management, strategic planning and creative.” © 2005 agencyfaqs!