O&M consolidates 4 non-core divisions

Advertising powerhouse Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) India has consolidated its four non-traditional divisions under a common umbrella.

The advertising agency has announced the launch of its new 'out of home' business unit under the Ogilvy Activation banner, which will see four O&M group divisions "" Ogilvy Landscapes, Ogilvy Outreach, Ogilvy Live and Ogilvy Signscapes coming together.

The merged unit has an estimated billing of Rs 225 crore and employs around 140 people.

Pratap Bose, country manger of Ogilvy Live and Ogilvy landscapes will take over as the president of Ogilvy Activation and JC Giri will be the country head.

"O&M has specialised in these separate areas of business and now we think that this specialisation must lead to integration. We see a phenomenal opportunity arising from putting together our learnings in these individual areas," said Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director at O&M India.

Pandey also added that the company saw very strong synergies between the four businesses and hoped that the consolidation would help them approach the customer with a more complete basket of offerings.

Of the four merged divisions Ogilvy Landscapes set up in 1993 is the oldest and specialises in outdoor media, Ogilvy Outreach works in the rural areas targeting low income consumers.

Ogilvy Live and Ogilvy Signscapes are relatively newer lines of business and specialises in ground level brand communications and retail brand identity, respectively.

With the consolidation, O&M is hoping to convert more existing customer from each of the businesses into utilising all Ogilvy Activation offerings.

Currently its boasts of a number of large clients under the Activation umbrella like Hindustan Lever (HLL), ICICI, UNICEF, WHO etc.