Out-back of Beyond

Madison Communications – March 2, 2003

R V Rajan, chairman and managing director of Anugrah Madison is quick to attribute his agency’s current success and perhaps even survival to its tie-up with Madison. With billings of R7crore, the agency is among the top three rural players.

The tie-up occurred when Sam Balsara was scouting for a partner down South. Anugrah was just 12 years old and what Rajan calls, “just another Chennai-based regional agency.” Considering its predominantly rural clientele, Balsara suggested Anugrah be repositioned as a rural communications specialist agency. Says Rajan, “Chennai is a lousy market for traditional advertising in which the medium and small agencies and even the branch offices of large national agencies are folding up. Positioning ourselves as rural specialists helped us a lot.”

Interestingly enough, Madison was not the first agency that approached Anugrah, which received an informal offer from McCann-Erickson and O&M. Rajan claims he went with Madison since, “Sam struck me as a transparent and straightforward person who took quick decisions. I got frustrated waiting for a response from the others.” And while the early years were tumultuous, Rajan states, “His confidence has helped us survive and grow.”

Anugrah Madison’s focus in the last year has been further sharpened to being a rural communication consultant. It has moved to a fee based structure and does not make speculative presentations anymore. Rajan states a three-step system has been put in place: the first is a qualitative study of the market; the second a presentation of strategy and the final stage is implementation. There’s a separate fee structure for each of these. Says Rajan, “we are able to separate the serious clients from the rest. While our clients initially approach us for the first two stages, they often agree to implementation as well.”

The tie-up with Madison has also given Anugrah a national presence – Rajan claims that awareness of especially Madison media is high across the country and helped the agency move beyond just South- based clients. In the initial days of the tie-up Anugrah was also given the chance to approach all of Madison’s clients. To further extend its reach, Anugrah Madison is a part of The Rural Network a coalition that includes the Delhi based Mart, the Pune-based Rural Relations and the Mumbai-based Sampark.

Rajan remains the majority stakeholder with a controlling stake of 74 per cent in Anugrah Madison and declares himself completely pleased with the tie-up. If he has any grouses, it’s that most clients do not have a long term commitment to rural markets or a strategy for these in place. Anugrah Madison’s current clientele include ACC Cements, MRF and Shriram Finance.