But a the common refrain among envious peers was that despite its size, Madison was a one-man-show with Sam Balsara at its helm. Five years ago, his daughter Lara teamed up with him and now the duo have a new plan. By Aditi Prasad
It’s a fantastic tale, with all the ingredients for a provocative Bollywood pot-boiler. In the late 1980s, Sam Balsara quit Mudra because Mudra aspired to be the biggest and the best in the business. Sam believed that a good agency is one that is small with a few large clients, and so parted ways with Mudra to start his own agency, Madison, with just two clients – a status quo that he retained for the next five years because he feared that acquiring size would impede his service to existing clients. Many in the industry had then scoffed at his rationale. That was 22 years ago.
Today, at his unpretentious 5ft 3inches, 57 years old Sam is regarded among the tallest men in India’s star-studded media and advertising jamboree and his once ‘small’ media agency crossed annual billings totalling Rs.2,500 crore in 2009. Madison’s skeletal client list today boasts of the who’s who of premium multinat advertisers including P&G, Cadbury, Coca Cola and McDonald’s – an astonishing feat given that Madison is the proverbial David in the mêlée of global advertising Goliaths that crowd the Indian media business. Unlike other agencies, Sam has fought hard to preserve Madison’s ‘Indianness’ and has consistently fended off stake sales to global advertising sharks like Publicis and WPP. Instead, in a case of reverse osmosis, Sam went ahead and acquired 51% stake in MediaCom (a WPP group company) last year, in the process retaining the P&G account with Madison.
Ask Sam what happened to his small agency is better belief and he laughingly avers, “I’m allowed to change my mind. Consistency is the virtue of fools toy know...” (See page 76 for Sam’s most revealing interview yet). On a serious note, Sam says that he never did believe in growth for growth’s sake. In his initial years, he says, he stuck with a select client list primarily because he did not want to let down his existing clients. “Today, I view things differently because I am better resourced than I was in 1988,” he argues.
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
T
he Sunday Indian :- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here
Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN
IIPM Related Links
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
B-schools expect higher rate of campus placements this year
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri
It’s a fantastic tale, with all the ingredients for a provocative Bollywood pot-boiler. In the late 1980s, Sam Balsara quit Mudra because Mudra aspired to be the biggest and the best in the business. Sam believed that a good agency is one that is small with a few large clients, and so parted ways with Mudra to start his own agency, Madison, with just two clients – a status quo that he retained for the next five years because he feared that acquiring size would impede his service to existing clients. Many in the industry had then scoffed at his rationale. That was 22 years ago.
Today, at his unpretentious 5ft 3inches, 57 years old Sam is regarded among the tallest men in India’s star-studded media and advertising jamboree and his once ‘small’ media agency crossed annual billings totalling Rs.2,500 crore in 2009. Madison’s skeletal client list today boasts of the who’s who of premium multinat advertisers including P&G, Cadbury, Coca Cola and McDonald’s – an astonishing feat given that Madison is the proverbial David in the mêlée of global advertising Goliaths that crowd the Indian media business. Unlike other agencies, Sam has fought hard to preserve Madison’s ‘Indianness’ and has consistently fended off stake sales to global advertising sharks like Publicis and WPP. Instead, in a case of reverse osmosis, Sam went ahead and acquired 51% stake in MediaCom (a WPP group company) last year, in the process retaining the P&G account with Madison.
Ask Sam what happened to his small agency is better belief and he laughingly avers, “I’m allowed to change my mind. Consistency is the virtue of fools toy know...” (See page 76 for Sam’s most revealing interview yet). On a serious note, Sam says that he never did believe in growth for growth’s sake. In his initial years, he says, he stuck with a select client list primarily because he did not want to let down his existing clients. “Today, I view things differently because I am better resourced than I was in 1988,” he argues.
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
T
he Sunday Indian :- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here
Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN
IIPM Related Links
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
B-schools expect higher rate of campus placements this year
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri
