INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - APRIL 1st - APRIL 15th - 2008
JWT TIES UP WITH ADK TO WOO JAPANESE CLIENTS
J WALTER Thompson (JWT) India, the largest Indian WPP advertising agency, has partnered with ADK, the third largest advertising agency in Japan to form a 50:50 JV company in India.
The new entity will be called ADK Fortune. It will be headquartered in Delhi and will focus on exploiting Japanese business opportunities in India, subject to regulatory approvals.
JWT-ADK partnership, as the name suggest, — ADK Fortune — will be aligned with Fortune Communications, which is a whollyowned subsidiary of JWT in India, specialising in financial services.
The new venture will focus on cultivating Japanese clients who are either looking to enter India or already have a presence here. The new agency has already signed up Nikon and Bridgestone as its clients in India. Both companies are ADK clients in Japan.
ADK global head Naganuma San said: “Japanese clients are the only untapped segment in the country, and with a surge of Japanese companies entering India, the business opportunities that present themselves are immense. Japanese clients usually follow a decentralised process in terms of its communication strategy and hence local expertise is key.”
After Dentsu Communications and Hakuhodo Percept (50:50 JV between of Hakuhodo Inc & Percept), ADK Fortune will be the third advertising agency catering to the advertising needs of the Japanese clients in India.
The agency will be headed by H Jay Araki, who will take charge as chief executive. It is in the process of recruiting a creative head for the agency.
Mr San added that Japanese clients will look at India and China, with the US market going through a slowdown. The plan going forward will also look at the agency being a gateway for Indian companies entering Japan.
JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris said: “The partnership, apart from ensuring a high potential business opportunity for us, will also give an impetus to Fortune Communications. However, the new agency will specialise in Japanese clientele and will be a separate agency. Japan has diverse and varied interests in India and the partnership is a part of JWT’s forward looking strategy to build the competencies required to address the particular communication needs of Japanese brands.”
WPP’s relationship with ADK dates back to 1998, when the two parties entered into a joint venture agreement and took cross shareholdings in each other. WPP now holds 22.9% in ADK and holds 2.7% in WPP.
|
