IIPM: April 2010

Thursday, April 01, 2010

The Madison Plot Thickens

Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

Having long outgrown his previous beliefs relating to size and scale, Sam is now depending on Lara Balsara, his 28-year-old protégé and daughter to deliver the next frontier for Madison. On her part, despite being born with the proverbial silver spoon, the petite and pretty Lara has not found it easy to live up to her Balsara surname. Five years ago, when Sam inducted the then 23-year-old Lara into the business, she was armed with just a Masters degree in Marketing from UK and had little credentials as an advertising person. In fact, by her own admission, Lara spent her first year at Madison, simply sitting in on meetings, taking meticulous notes and learning the ropes. As Madison World’s business development and diversification manager today, Lara is keeping a full schedule, negotiating multi-crore mergers and joint ventures, both within and outside the country. From merely five units in its kitty when Lara first walked into the office (Media, Creative, PR, Rural marketing and Outdoor), Madison World today spans 20 units across ten specialisations (see Madison’s organisational chart on page 70). The team of 350 in 2004-05 has inflated to accommodate nearly 800 people within its folds today.

“We have grown 300% since I joined Madison and my own contribution has been in setting up new units organically or via acquisitions and getting the right talent,” says Lara, who’s first acid test was to launch MATES as Madison’s entertainment solutions arm a few years ago. Crucial partnerships with both clients and production houses are already under MATES belt today, and even a few EMVIES have dropped into its lap. Next came Platinum – a parallel brand for Media, Outdoor and PR units respectively, to accommodate client conflicts – followed by units in Sri Lanka and Bangkok. And these days when Lara is not jetsetting across the country to identify new business areas, she concentrates her energies on Madison’s Retail unit, which has most recently designed Croma’s new small store format.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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