afaqs! news bureau
Advertising

Publicis India and Capital Advertising give way to Publicis Capital

Sunil Sachdeva and Prasad Subramaniam - founders of Capital Advertising - will take joint chairmanship of Publicis Capital and Hemant Misra (earlier chief executive officer, Publicis India) will be the CEO of the new entity

Putting rumours to rest, communications group Publicis has merged two of its agencies - Publicis India and Capital Advertising.

Named Publicis Capital, the new entity will bring together all personnel and clients of both the agencies. Sunil Sachdeva and Prasad Subramaniam - founders of Capital Advertising - will take joint chairmanship of Publicis Capital and Hemant Misra (earlier chief executive officer, Publicis India) will be the CEO of the new entity. Emmanuel Upputuru of Publicis India and Parshu Narayanan of Capital Advertising will jointly spearhead the creative team.

Publicis India and Capital Advertising give way to Publicis Capital
Publicis India and Capital Advertising give way to Publicis Capital
With a team of more than 150 people and offices in Delhi and Mumbai, Publicis Capital will be headquartered in Delhi.

Discussing the development, Kevin Ramsey, chief executive officer, Publicis Asia Pacific, says, "This is a move to leverage all our talent and resources in order to add potent strength to our operations in India. Publicis Worldwide has the privilege to partner some of the leading companies of the world - for most of whom India has already become a key market. We are a network that has been built from the ground up - we are thus equally committed to our local clients, especially in an increasingly important market like India, for which our ambitions are very high."

According to Nakul Chopra, chief executive officer, Publicis South Asia, Delhi is already a critical market that grows in importance by the day. "This consolidation will add immense strength to our operations and equip us to not only offer much more to our clients but also to realise our own fierce ambitions for the country. Hemant has done a sterling job with Publicis India over the past three years and is the right person to head this new endeavour," he says

Talking about the merger, Misra says, "Even if from a distance - I have admired Sunil and Prasad. I am excited to take forward the legacies of both Capital and Publicis India to realise our ambition of a strong and vibrant Publicis Capital."

According to sources, Publicis India was mainly established to handle the group's globally aligned businesses such as Garnier, Nestle and HP, among others. In fact, the agency was not very lucky in picking up major businesses apart from IFFCO Tokyo. On the other hand, Capital Advertising was known to be good with pitches and has been successful in getting clients such as Maruti Suzuki (its biggest client), Citi Financials, LG and Voltas (pitching against Publicis India).

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com