Keeping up with the changing media landscape: Anisha Iyer on OMD's India journey

Media agency OMD completed 25 years in the A&M industry with their 16th year in India. As they celebrate this journey, Anisha Iyer, CEO reflects on the path forged by highlighting what sets them apart, how they plan to move ahead with the ever-changing media landscape and more.

When Omnicom Media Group’s media agency, OMD was launched in India 16 years ago, they aspired to be the foremost authority in the media business. Being a late entrant into the market, however, meant going steady and keeping up with the pace. Twenty-five years later, OMD Worldwide has made a mark in over 100 countries worldwide and continues to grow with a passion for media and tech. 

Describing the agency’s journey in India as ‘nothing short of inspirational’, Anisha Iyer, CEO of OMD India credits it to the strong leadership and the team of doers and dreamers putting in the work. 

“As a late entrant, we had the benefit of watching what worked for other agencies and what didn’t, which helped us make more informed decisions and keep our brand promise of ‘Better Decisions, Faster’.”

Aim to grow globally

In the last 1.5 years, the agency has undergone a transformation of people, products, and processes, while prioritizing digital leadership and leveraging the vast possibilities of OMNI and OMD Design to lead the industry in innovative ways. 

As per Iyer, India has immense growth potential and is a major market for OMD globally. Their focus is growing the business in the APAC region, especially in India, which happens to be their top 11 focus markets in terms of the growth agenda. 

Iyer believes, with consistent efforts and innovative strategies, OMD India has the capability to establish themselves as a dominant player in the market and become, in stature, comparable to OMD globally.

What sets the agency apart, as per Iyer, is the need for growth in everybody who works within the organization, which keeps them on their toes and makes them agile and flexible.

“A great thing about being a challenger brand in the country is that we’re not weighed down by massive processes or other things that could slow us down,” says Iyer and continues, “At any point, we can choose to change our processes to what will best suit our needs, and the rollout can happen very quickly and efficiently.”

Harnessing the power of a network

At OMD India, they don’t believe in having different departments dedicated to new businesses. For them, any new business is everybody’s business. This collaboration by each person in Omnicom helps everyone have an understanding of all businesses and find unique ways of contributing towards the growth. 

Iyer describes OMD India as an agile agency and says, “We don’t simply accept things at face value and are not afraid to challenge the status quo to get the desired results, which is something that brands appreciate.”

This attitude towards clients is further harnessed by the synergy of their network. OMD India, which has worked with brands like McDonald’s India, Mercedes, Nivea India, Renault India and more, tends to leverage their network, especially when working with such global brands. 

“We don't operate as a siloed market, but belong to the larger network of OMD. Even when delivering local solutions, we ensure that our clients are a part of the larger network,” says Iyer.

She mentions that the agency’s product suite and tools give an added edge when it comes to client roster and that their ideas, strategies, and innovations are dedicated towards business growth and are not just a part of PR.

Changes in media planning and dealing with inflation

Iyer has observed three major changes when it comes to media advertising in India in the last five to six years, especially in the last three years of COVID-19. The first two being - integrated media and a larger focus on digital. 

Iyer mentions, “There is no online–offline divide anymore, and brands are taking an integrated approach to media. Second, digital is now at the centre of change and not just an afterthought. Today, digital forms the basis of the advertising journey of a brand since all roads eventually lead to engagement across the digital platform.”

She continues that this has resulted in a significant shift in the advertising mix. Today, the ad expense of digital and TV are almost close to each other, it is not just in favour of digital. 

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However, as agencies of all sizes have been dealing with inflationary pressures and accurately strategizing on media planning and buying can be tricky. Iyer reckons that agencies need two things to effectively deal with such pressures - a fairly good sense of the year’s projection and an ability to play media smartly.

Talking about OMD’s experience, she mentions that they perform data mining and collaboration with clients to ensure that they are able to forecast and consistently re-forecast as close to reality as possible. 

Highlighting the need to be smart about playing the media, she continues, “There are various strategies to do this: consolidation is one way, recommendation of the media mix is another. Being able to understand the media partners’ plans and channel plans will help you pick your winning strategy.”

As OMD works on their efforts to be transparent and forecasting strategies, it helps bring the pressure down on their inflationary problems to a large extent.

Growing focus on IPL and AI

These past few months have been buzzing with topics of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). With brands heavily investing in the tournament, especially with the tug-of-war between digital vs TV investments, this period has been important for media agencies. 

For Iyer, regardless of whether we are talking about IPL marketing or any other marketing, all brand investments need to result in eventual business results. “These results can be varied, in terms of sales, market growth, or anything else that the brand prioritizes. If it doesn't lead to business results, then it doesn't need a place in the media plan.”

The agency also places immense importance on AI-led learning. Their tools suite has many modules that are powered by AI and helps discipline a lot of the data mining and give some incredible direction. 

The larger focus is on creative effectiveness, understanding what level of investment businesses should make, and knowing what kind of media mix will deliver results. However, OMD strongly believes that AI will only get you 70% of the way. 

“Ultimately, you need a wise and competent set of people to leverage that AI in order to deliver solutions.”  

Future goals

Iyer gives us a glimpse into the future and mentions that the goal for OMD India is very simple - growth. In the next three years, the agency hopes to become, at least in stature, comparable to OMD globally. However, they won’t be striving for growth in media planning and buying alone. 

OMD India aims to grow across areas of content, commerce, and data, as well as across different services for their clients. 

“We want to get to a point where we become an inseparable component of the marketing department. It is not necessarily about being the biggest in the country, but about having tremendous partnerships with select clients across a wide range of services,” she signs off.