M&C Saatchi launches digital communications company in India
11 May 2009
M&C Saatchi has launched its direct and digital communications company in India. The new digital arm will be called M&C Saatchi-i, and will be headquartered in Mumbai, with additional offices in New Delhi.
Sumantra Sengupta heads the agency as chief executive officer. The core team will include Rakshin Patel and Sumanto Ganguly.
M&C Saatchi was formed in January 1995 by Maurice Saatchi (now Lord Saatchi) and his brothers Charles Saatchi after they were ousted from their own advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.
The Indian unit has been operational for sometime now after a soft launch. The agency already has brands like Asia Pacific Breweries, Worldwide Media, Kotak, Turner and Castrol on board as clients.
The formal launch of the Indian unit runs parallel to the unit's launch in China as well. M&C Saatchi-i currently has offices in Mumbai and Delhi.
Sumantra Sengupta, CEO, M&C Saatchi-i, is of the opinion that direct communication is the way to increase consumer engagement and brands today need that one-on-one relationships with consumers with the digital medium.
M&C Saatchi's CEO Asia, Chris Jaques said that the most important, fastest-growing geographies in the world are obviously China and India and the fastest-growing sector in the industry is digital.
In China, M&C Saatchi-i's managing director will be He Chang, who was previously chief designer at Baidu.com and director of user experience at Qunar.com. He was also chief creative at Google China. M&C Saatchi-i China has already confirmed three clients, UniPresident, Baidu and Mercedes-Benz.
