O&M Indian affiliate is an offshore hotspot

Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) India, the advertising agency, is fast emerging as the offshoring hotspot for O&Ms across the globe.

O&M, one of India's top ad shops, has been offering O&M outfits worldwide both creative and non-creative services and is expecting to get a larger slice of the creative giant's global ad pie.

Last year O&M India's television commercial for Perfetti's Centre Shock chewing gum went places when Perfertti decided to use the ad for its European audience. Since then, O&M India has worked on some of the creatives for Coca Cola's brands, Fanta and Sprite, for the international market.

Speaking about the new Centre Shock 'Mirchi' advertisement that hit television screens a few months ago John Goodman, CEO of O&M India and South Asia, said " We shot in Mumbai with Nepalese models and it looks like it was done in Japan. There are some creative ideas that can traverse borders and will work anywhere, like the Fevicol TV spot."

This trend is quite the reverse of what has been happening so far. Many fast moving consumer goods multinationals like Unilever (Head and Shoulders) and Proctor & Gamble (Pantene) and cellular handset companies like Nokia and BenQ etc have brought in international advertisements to reach out to Indian consumers.

O&M is also bringing non-creative database mangement and other back office operations to Indian shores. It has already been doing some database management at its Bangalore centre which currently employs only five people. But plans are on to ramp up the operations and move more non-creative work from other South Asian O&Ms to India.

Goodman added that some of the brass from O&M's other Asian destinations would be flying into India soon to study the scope of work that can be moved here.

India has been a favourite shooting and production locale with many international ad makers, mainly because of the exotic locales and low cost of shooting and production here.

O&M India is O&M International's fifth largest operation in terms of profits, with the US ranking first and European nations bagging the other three positions. It services clients like some Hindustan Lever, Perfetti, Cadbury and Pidilite.