Indian ad industry a different world, growing tremendously: Havas CEO

Time of India

2 days ago

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The advertising industry in India is "growing tremendously" and "is a different world" compared to Europe, said Yannick Bollore , global chief executive and chairman of French advertising group Havas, which represents Reckitt Benckiser, Swiggy Tata Motors and Hindustan Unilever in India, across creative, media buying and outdoor advertising."When you look at Europe or the US compared to what's happening in India, it's a completely different world. We are happy with 2-3% organic growth in Europe; in India you have 10% plus growth year-on-year," he told ET at Havas Village, the Gurugram-based India office of the ₹2.7 billion listed French advertising and communications group. "India and China are two regions of the world where we see tremendous growth - they're two very large economies with very large populations." Large multinationals such as Coca-Cola, Reckitt Benckiser, Levi's and Unilever have identified India as a core growth bastion amid global headwinds, despite an ongoing urban stress.Bollore, chief of the world's fifth largest ad group, said he's advising global advertisers "to continue investing in India" despite recent geopolitical disturbances and US-imposed tariffs, which have disrupted business and investor sentiment."These (events) do create uncertainty.. investors and businesses don't like uncertainty. When clients make investments, they want to make sure they know the landscape or the rules for the coming three, four, five years. We're telling them to continue looking at the long term... that if you invest for the long term, you'll find growth," he said.Havas India operates 25 agencies under creative, media and health verticals. Last December, the French network announced its listing on Euronext, Amsterdam, but retained a minority family ownership."I know in today's world, it's hard because we have so many moving pieces from a geopolitical or macroeconomic environment. But in terms of investment in advertising, we don't see any real impact.. people are continuing to deploy their plans," Bollore said.Noting optimism about the Indian ad market, which estimates peg at '1.6 lakh crore, Bollore said, "Millions of people here are accessing the middle class with buying power. That's driving growth for cars, consumer products and spirits. Manufacturing and infrastructure are driving growth too.. so is talent and the level of education - this is a strong consumer facing country."However, the sector has been seeing intensified competition. The past months have seen mega global consolidation, such as New York's Omnicom Group's announcing a merger with Interpublic Group to create a global behemoth, with agencies such as McCann, Lowe Lintas, FCB and DDB Mudra in their fold. Publicis Groupe, too, has been in consolidation mode, with agencies under its network including Publicis, Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi and Digitas.Addressing a query on how Havas would compete against the global giants, Bollore said, "To operate, I believe you need to have some scale.. If you want to operate globally, you need to have a network of agencies all over the world in multiple areas of expertise, creativity, media buying, e-commerce, social media, everything... At the same time, it's better not to be the biggest. Because when you're the biggest, you don't really have advantages, you are less agile. I think for Havas being the best challenger at scale is giving us a different type of edge."Bollore declined to comment on a potential acquisition of stake in Sam Balsara-owned Madison World, but said inorganic growth and strategic acquisitions were very much part of the group's growth plans.