RECMA ranks Mindshare as India's top media agency and Vizeum as world's fastest growing media network

Mindshare scored high on client profile, momentum, competitive pitches and resources to emerge as the leading agency in India, while Vizeum increased activity billings year-on-year by +29.1 per cent.

Mindshare, an integrated media agency, has bagged the title of being the number one media agency in India as per RECMA's latest qualitative assessment for all media agencies in India. Mindshare has scored high on parameters such as client profile, momentum, competitive pitches and resources, to emerge as the winner.

The RECMA report gives a qualitative assessment for all leading media agencies in India, basis two parameters - Vitality and Structure. This is the highest level of ratings awarded by RECMA, for the agency that demonstrates a balance between the two parameters.

Besides its expertise in core traditional media, Mindshare also is a full-fledged media solutions agency with expertise across digital, mobile media, data and analytics, branded content and programming.

Commenting on the win, Ashutosh Srivastava, chairman, emerging markets, Mindshare, says. "I'm pleased to see this endorsement from RECMA for the agency's position in India. Mindshare continues to be at the leading edge there - in harnessing data to power more creativity and innovative use of media platforms for marketers, and bringing to life its proposition of adaptive marketing."

Gowthaman Ragothaman, chief operating officer, Mindshare Asia Pacific, adds, "I am particularly satisfied with the recognition on structure and vitality. We continuously re-engineer our teams in line with the changing demands from our clients as well as the media and marketing landscape. Our suite of services now reflects a full-fledged marketing communications company."

Prasanth Kumar, CEO, Mindshare South Asia, shares, "This is a win for each and every member of the Mindshare team. Mindshare has always been the leader in innovation, and we believe it is extremely vital for us to prepare ourselves and our clients for a relevant tomorrow. With our adaptive marketing philosophy, we have ensured our clients have the competitive advantage and their communication is superlative. We are grateful for their belief in us, to deliver on our common goals of brand building. We are proud of the fact that our clients continue to work with us on initiatives that are continuously pushing the boundaries of media investment and communication, as we successfully redefine the media industry in India."

RECMA has also named Vizeum as the world's fastest growing media network in its overall activity billings 2014 report, published this week. Across the sixteen global agencies assessed by RECMA, Vizeum increased activity billings year-on-year by +29.1 per cent. The major wins for Vizeum during 2014-15 include BMW, Jet Airways, Allied Blenders and Distillers, HDFC, Hindware, Saint Gobain and Viacom18 Media.

Commenting on the recognition, Thomas Le Thierry, global president, Vizeum, says, "We have achieved this impressive growth through our single-minded focus on making innovation in media create value for clients. We have built a consistent network which now has real momentum. This growth helps us to keep the agility required in the fast moving environment. It's the only way we can credibly remain on the edge of the industry doing best-in-class work for our clients."

S Yesudas, managing director, Indian Subcontinent, Vizeum, shares, "It is indeed a matter pride for all of us that Vizeum has achieved this great recognition in such a short span of time. This belongs to our passionate and committed team and the ever-supportive clients. Vizeum was launched in India towards the end of 2009. We have already been able to carve out an interesting niche for ourselves within five years. We are on the path to achieving excellence in everything we do."

The list of the agencies studied in RECMA reports on India media agency market are-

GroupM Networks > Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, Mindshare, Motivator, M/six (new)

Dentsu Aegis Networks > Carat, Dentsu Media, Vizeum

Mediabrands > IM BPN, Lodestar UM

Omnicom Media Group > DDB Mudramax, OMD, PHD (new)

Publicis > Starcom + MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia

Havas Media Group > Havas Media

Independent agencies > Percept Media and RK Swamy Media Group

The networks and the independent agencies are ranked as per Qualitative Evaluation India (including local assessments on Compitches, Vitality, Resources and Billings) and Global Overall Activity Billings Report

The Networks only (no independents) are ranked according to The Network Diagnostics Report,The Specialized Resources Report and The (Global) Compitches Report.

Core Client and Pitch Cycle include information on global networks in India (no independents) but there is no ranking per say of Indian networks in those 2 reports.

Also, Havas Media Group India has jumped to the RECMA Top 5 and scored a Very Good profile (a new one and the only agency to get it) besides Carat Media having shown the maximum growth on the Qualitative Ranking of RECMA moving from the No. 11 spot in August 2013 to No. 4 in the latest report, making it the fastest growing media agency in India. In fact on Vitality scores of the research, Carat has jumped to the No. 1 position with a perfect score of 10.

Founded in June 1991, in Paris, RECMA is the only independent company to publish a wide range of media agency notation reports on a global scale.

Mindshare is part of GroupM, which oversees the media investment management sector for WPP, a communication services group. Vizeum was launched by Thomas Le Thierry in 2003 with the ambition of being clients' most innovative partner in the digital age.