With Ford’s exit from India, WPP realigns GTB India ops; global role for Babita Baruah

Reverberations of US carmaker Ford’s exit from India are being felt at its ad agency GTB in the country. As is known, GTB became the first agency of record for Ford In 1943. Following Ford’s decision to shut down its local manufacturing operations in India and only sell high-end models such as Mustang and Mach-E via the import route, WPP is now realigning the operations of GTB India.

With this development, the role of Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, GTB India, is also being expanded. It is learnt that Baruah will now have a global role at the group agency. She had joined WPP group agency HTA (now Wunderman Thompson) in 1996. According to media reports, Baruah’s new role will be that of Regional Client Lead at International Markets Group.

Meanwhile, the employees of GTB India are being absorbed into WPP group agencies such as Wunderman Thompson and Ogilvy, the media reports stated.

In 2007, GTB joined forces with five other WPP agencies and became Team Detroit, working across all channels, geographies and communications. 2015 saw another growth spurt and the agency expanded to a global footprint and rebranded under the name, GTB.

In India, Ford’s advertising duties are handled by both GTB and BBDO, which came on board as agency of record in 2018.