 "I don't want India office to be satellite of global HQ: Carter Murray")
Since taking over as global chief executive officer (CEO) of the Interpublic Group-owned FCB in September 2013, Carter Murray has made at least four trips to India, as the country's importance grows for the advertising giant. IPG, the world's fourth-ranked advertising holding company after WPP, Omnicom and Publicis, has a strong presence in the country with agencies such as McCann, Mullen Lowe and FCB. In a conversation with Viveat Susan Pinto, Carter Murray, 40, highlights his priorities for India and what he expects from the newly appointed chairman & CEO, Rohit Ohri. Edited excerpts:
What is the brief you've given Rohit Ohri, who took over in January this year?
This will be my longest trip so far to India. I am here for a week, where I will meet clients, spend time with the team, and generally look at the operations a bit more closely than I would normally do. Rohit will make a presentation to me on what should be the way forward for
FCB Ulka in the country. I believe in empowering my CEOs at the local level. I don't want the Indian office to be a satellite of the global headquarters. So, the Indian management will decide what is the way forward. Rohit has just come on board; I am sure he knows what to do.
What are the gaps you hope to fill with Rohit on board? While FCB Ulka is an established agency, with solid clients such as Amul, it is not regarded as a creative powerhouse. Your views?
I would like the current team to accelerate its game in creative. The creative product should be what we stand for. That will make us an exciting agency for both clients and employees and while being leaders in the industry wasn't part of the brief, I would love that to happen to us. Rohit has been taking steps in this direction. He brought Swati Bhattacharya on board as chief creative officer; Nitin Karkare, an old Ulka hand, has been promoted to CEO, FCB Ulka. Shashi Sinha, another old Ulka hand, is a media giant here and so are Ambi (MG Parameswaran) and Arvind (Wable) on the advertising side.
Will acquisitions be a part of the new plan for FCB Ulka? Rohit was able to successfully do that in his previous role (at Dentsu).
We have an organic growth model rather than an inorganic one. We do acquisitions more as a strategic add-on than to build scale. If we do acquisitions, it is either to be in a discipline we are not; basically raise our discipline expertise or buy into talent. Right now, I am not looking to do 100 per cent acquisitions. Instead, I am looking at strategic investments and partnerships. Because, I worry, when I do 100 per cent acquisitions, as soon as the earn-out period is over, the talent which was part of that acquisition is lost. I believe that if you want people, they should be for the long term, not the short term.
Within six months of taking over, you undertook a global rebranding exercise, dropping Draft from DraftFCB (erstwhile agency name) to become only FCB. In India, the Ulka name was retained despite IPG having complete ownership of the agency. Why was this done?
I want to celebrate local brands. Which is why when undertaking the worldwide rebranding exercise of FCB in 2014, we chose to keep the Ulka brand name here because it has strong equity in the marketplace. We are a bottom-up agency. We have Horizon as a name in West Asia. We call ourselves Horizon FCB there. Similarly, in Latin America, we are called FCB Mayo. Celebrating the local is important, it gives a sense of empowerment and makes people want to come back and work. That is key.
Will you get any of your specialist units into India, as the market is a critical one for you?
We are open to it. For instance, our data specialist called Hacker, which is based in Seattle in the US, just opened an office in New Zealand because there was need for it there. If there are brands and assets that can add value to clients here, Rohit, as he gets exposed to them, can bring them to India. That will be his decision, not mine.
What is the brief you've given Rohit Ohri, who took over in January this year?
This will be my longest trip so far to India. I am here for a week, where I will meet clients, spend time with the team, and generally look at the operations a bit more closely than I would normally do. Rohit will make a presentation to me on what should be the way forward for
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What are the gaps you hope to fill with Rohit on board? While FCB Ulka is an established agency, with solid clients such as Amul, it is not regarded as a creative powerhouse. Your views?
I would like the current team to accelerate its game in creative. The creative product should be what we stand for. That will make us an exciting agency for both clients and employees and while being leaders in the industry wasn't part of the brief, I would love that to happen to us. Rohit has been taking steps in this direction. He brought Swati Bhattacharya on board as chief creative officer; Nitin Karkare, an old Ulka hand, has been promoted to CEO, FCB Ulka. Shashi Sinha, another old Ulka hand, is a media giant here and so are Ambi (MG Parameswaran) and Arvind (Wable) on the advertising side.
Will acquisitions be a part of the new plan for FCB Ulka? Rohit was able to successfully do that in his previous role (at Dentsu).
We have an organic growth model rather than an inorganic one. We do acquisitions more as a strategic add-on than to build scale. If we do acquisitions, it is either to be in a discipline we are not; basically raise our discipline expertise or buy into talent. Right now, I am not looking to do 100 per cent acquisitions. Instead, I am looking at strategic investments and partnerships. Because, I worry, when I do 100 per cent acquisitions, as soon as the earn-out period is over, the talent which was part of that acquisition is lost. I believe that if you want people, they should be for the long term, not the short term.
Within six months of taking over, you undertook a global rebranding exercise, dropping Draft from DraftFCB (erstwhile agency name) to become only FCB. In India, the Ulka name was retained despite IPG having complete ownership of the agency. Why was this done?
I want to celebrate local brands. Which is why when undertaking the worldwide rebranding exercise of FCB in 2014, we chose to keep the Ulka brand name here because it has strong equity in the marketplace. We are a bottom-up agency. We have Horizon as a name in West Asia. We call ourselves Horizon FCB there. Similarly, in Latin America, we are called FCB Mayo. Celebrating the local is important, it gives a sense of empowerment and makes people want to come back and work. That is key.
Will you get any of your specialist units into India, as the market is a critical one for you?
We are open to it. For instance, our data specialist called Hacker, which is based in Seattle in the US, just opened an office in New Zealand because there was need for it there. If there are brands and assets that can add value to clients here, Rohit, as he gets exposed to them, can bring them to India. That will be his decision, not mine.