Top ad agencies like McCann Erickson, JWT & DDB Mudra buck trend, go hiring

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Big-scale hiring is back in advertising with McCann Erickson, JWT and DDB Mudra recruiting talent across levels on account of either new businesses or restructuring drive, despite a slowdown in overall industry.
If DDB Mudra Group has taken on board close to 100 people over the last five months in what it calls a talent refreshing exercise, McCann Erickson will bring in the same number of people in the next couple of months for its new joint venture Commonwealth.JWT too has 60 new people on board mostly to meet increased demand from its clients.
"We will be hiring more than 100 people in the coming few months," Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman of McCann Worldgroup, says. "Going forward, Commonwealth Mumbai will also serve Asia, West Asia and North Africa. We are setting up a new office in Mumbai to handle the extra work," he says.
Commonwealth is a global JV between McCann Erickson Worldwide and Goodby Silverstein & Partners to handle General Motors' Chevrolet brand.
While these agencies are on a hiring spree, the overall industry is cautious about its growth prospects. The industry had grown 8% in 2011, less than half of its projected growth rate of 17%, due to slowdown in the second half of the year. This year, the industry is expected to grow 8%-9% as per projections by the Pitch Madison Media Ad Outlook.
DDB Mudra Group's around 100 recruitments were across its agencies and offices. "It is a natural churn for us and many times we also encourage people to leave," its CEO and MD Madhukar Kamath says.
He says the agency refreshes 20% of its talent every year, but adds that it does not reflect a talent crunch. "Refreshing of the brand requires new talent," Kamath says.
Of the new recruits, 60% came from other agencies, 20% from marketing companies and the rest from across different disciplines, he says.
Recently, DDB Mudra Delhi appointed Xavi Bech de Careda and Radhika Das as vice-presidents.
Some of the new businesses at DDB Mudra include Henkel, Huawei, Nestle, Hitachi and Nirmal Lifestyle.