GroupM launches in Sri Lanka

WPP’s consolidated media investment and management operation GroupM formally launched in Sri Lanka yesterday. Mindshare, hitherto a division of JWT will now be part of GroupM. Maxus, another GroupM agency was also formally launched at the same occasion.

From left: Maxus South Asia Managing Director Ajit Varghese, GroupM South Asia Managing Partner Prasanth Kumar, GroupM South Asia CEO Vikram Sakhuja, GroupM South Asia CFO Sridhar Ramasubramanium, Mindshare South Asia Leader Ravichander Sethu Rao and Mindshare Sri Lanka Leader Sabry Haniz

GroupM is the world’s largest advertising media company in terms of billing, handling over 32% of the world’s media billings. It has over 17,000 employees and 400 global offices in 81 countries. GroupM was formed in 2003 by WPP Group to serve as the parent company for all its media agencies including Mindshare, Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, Xaxis and Outrider.

The scale advantages that GroupM expects to bring into Sri Lanka extend from trading consolidation benefits including improved accountability and inventory trading models, to improved measurement, improved systems and processes and seamless integrated planning capability across digital, activation, content and regular media.

Speaking at the press conference announcing the launch, GroupM South Asia CEO Vikram Sakhuja said, “What GroupM brings is a new format to trading and the umbrella we provide over these four media companies will help them perform better.”

He added that Sri Lanka is poised for growth and that GroupM, through Mindshare and Maxus today, and MEC and MediaCom in the future, can help grow brands by enabling these companies to be best in class in talent, technology, trading and full value chain services.

Sakhuja added that Mindshare remains the “strongest” of the four players and that all GroupM’s agencies are independent global operations in their own right. GroupM will act as the central buying point for WPP media agencies as well as a parent and collaborator in uplifting the performance of activities taken by its local offices in all its business critical capabilities.

GroupM Country Head for Sri Lanka Sabry Haniz said, “There is no doubt that the introduction of GroupM will greatly strengthen our position in the industry and equip us to effectively drive integration of all media channels especially with the growing interest of digital as a future trend.”