AgTalk | Indian consumer is and has been one of the fastest adopters of new technology: Maxus Worldwide's Kelly Clark

The last few weeks have been full of activities for the advertising and media fraternity. The recently held Adasia 2011 in New Delhi was one gala event where a cross section of industry experts from worldwide shared their thoughts and ideas on the ever changing adverting fraternity and global trends.

At this occasion, Adgully exclusively caught up with Kelly Cark, CEO, Maxus Worldwide to know how events like these would help them as an agency, plans at Maxus India and much more.

Kelly Clark holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kelly started his career with JWT New York where he held a number of media management positions. Later he was Head of TV Programming & Syndication, JWT China, CEO, MindShare Asia Pacific, CEO, MindShare UK, CEO, GroupM EMEA and currently holds the position of CEO, Maxus Worldwide.

Throughout his career he has worked closely with leading blue-chip clients including Unilever, Pepsico, Nike, IBM, Nestlé, Kellogg, Ford Motor Company, Fiat Group, UPS and HSBC, among many others.

Adgully (AG): At Adasia 2011, we have been talking about "uncertainty is the new certainty'. What are your thoughts on it?

Kelly Clark (KC): I think while uncertainty could be sometimes create difficulty in the way we work, perhaps, it may be frightening to someone that the media landscape is changing so much. It is creating enormous opportunities for the companies and media agencies that work with them to find new solutions to reach to consumers, to building relationships over time and to proving business results. It's a much more challenging world that what we used to live in, but it's a lot more fun and certainly interesting as well. W e looking at building an agency that embraces change, try and build and deliver teams that can take the ownership of the clients business problems.

AG: What shall be the current key focus areas for Maxus India and Maxus Worldwide?

KC: The key focus area for Maxus India in a lot of ways is to try and continue what we have always been doing. Maxus India is in the top five for us in the world, our revenues let's put a third between Asia - Pacific, North America and Europe, and that reflects the importance of not only the Asian region, but India specifically. We are to increasingly ask our Indian team to lead projects on a global basis, whether it is investments in software or tools that could be used, in the way we work with our clients in the development of creative solutions, in the way we work with media owners and also the way we uncover consumer insights for our clients. So the Indian wing is going to play a really important role in the intellectual growth of Maxus global.

AG: What shall be the key focus geographies for Maxus Worldwide?

KC: For Maxus Worldwide, the key focus would be the growth of the agency in North America since it a relatively small company in comparison to the North American business. While our UK company is doing well, there is huge scope for growth in other parts of Europe. While our offices in Japan, Germany and Russia are doing really well, our focus is certainly the Asia - Pacific region, with huge focus on India. The reason for this would be both because the markets are growing, as compared to other slower western markets like Europe and North America, and secondly, we think we can build more market share and bring in more business and be more competitive. Therefore, India, China, Indonesia, Thailand are huge focuses for us in the investment for the next five years.

AG: So, if one may say, are you looking at any sort of acquisitions in the market?

KC: We are not looking at any acquisitions. The WPP leads all the acquisitions in the group and there are always looking at the market for excellent opportunities. At this point in time, we have a great team of people, a great client list and we are passionate about our future here in the Indian market and we think we can continue to grow at least at the rate that we are growing in the last five years.

AG: In the recent times, a lot of media agencies have started to get involved in giving their views in terms of creative outfits. How do you see Maxus moving in that direction?

KC: Our ambition is not to become a creative agency. We think that clients want agencies that are specialist in certain areas, but also have a broader view and opinion and insight in to the business. Lines are of course going to blur; we are going to be asked our opinion and advice on creative issues, particularly as we move in to a world where we build media plans for one individual at a time because of addressability and targetability. The creative challenge for all of us is finding ways to deliver increased number of creative messages to smaller groups of people, indeed individual, based on what is most effective to them rather than developing one communication or ad campaign to reach hundreds or millions of people. So that naturally will require agencies to collaborate more effectively for clients. But we don't see that there is a "one agency' solution, at least in the perceivable future that would be right for clients.

AG: How do you see the future of social media and the digital medium in India?

KC: Digital is an overused word, in the sense that all media are increasingly "digital'. It is not a specialist area any longer. Understanding how consumers move between channels and distribution platform for content is what is important. I think that said, the growth in digital channel is going to continue at a phenomenal rate and it is only going to become more and more important in Indian market. I think the Indian consumer is and has been one of the fastest adopters of new technology. The penetration of mobile in the market is thriving and as tablet and functionality of mobile communication increases, I think India will lead the way in many regards. And this is another reason that we are putting significant investment in the Indian market.

AG: What are your thoughts of events like Adasia 2011?

KC: I think Adasia is a fantastic opportunity. Having lived in this region and visited India numerous times, personally I find it very rewarding to come back to this place and see how the markets are innovating, re-connecting with old colleagues and client. I leave from here with a sense of optimism, passion and excitement for the future of our business.

AG: The markets are predicting a slowdown. What are your thoughts on it? How is Maxus trying to grow in this situation?

KC: It's difficult to say since we are getting mixed messages from the clients. Some clients remain very optimistic and bullish about their investments, marketing and new communications, while some are being cautious and conservative. I just hope that we continue doing what we have doing all this while which is investing in our highest growth opportunity markets, we have been very aggressive in new business over the past two years and been successful and that is not going to change.

AG: What would be your expectations from Maxus India?

KC: My expectation from Maxus India is enormous profit growth and incredibly delighted clients who are satisfied with our services. We have had phenomenal growth in the last three years and hope that we continue the same not only in the natural market growth but also market share for our agency. I expect that Maxus India takes an increasingly important role in the global development of our company; in terms of how we use technology, how we understand consumers, how we deliver solutions to our clients and most importantly how we foster culture, innovation and creativity.

AG: 2011 is almost nearing its end. What are your plans and strategies for 2012?

KC: In 2012 we are significantly investing in technology within our agency. We are now established in all major markets in the world. There is rapid growth, especially in the last two years. We have doubled the size of the company not only in terms of number of clients we are working with, but also the kind of investments they are making in media campaigns around the world. We have also grown in terms of the size of our team from 750 to about 1500 employees world over. So we are really focused on finding new clients with whom we can build long term relationships, bringing in new talent, making investments in technology and looking strategically at a few geographies that Maxus is not present. | By Ankita Tanna [ankita(at)adgully.com]

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