Lintas Group launches third media service brand – Karishma Initiative
With the intention to establish an entity to house all its globally aligned businesses, Lintas Media Group has launched a third media service brand – Karishma Initiative. KI is a wholly owned IPG company in India, and has begun operations with seven clients including a large international telecom company. The near future would see N P Sathyamurthy head the agency as its CEO.
The Lintas Group has taken a key step to expand its media operations in India. Besides LMG and Aaren Initiative, Lintas has launched a new media services entity – Karishma Initiative (KI) – to house all the globally aligned businesses of the company. KI has begun with seven clients and has been operational since September 1, 2009. LMG’s COO N P Sathyamurthy would be heading KI as the CEO of the agency.
Some of the businesses that are already under KI include Samsonite, Revlon, Austrian Airways, Qatar Airways, Computer Associates, Sharp Electronics, Four Seasons and Geodesic. Bombay Dyeing too has been moved to KI. It is understood that the agency has also bagged a Rs 400crore-pegged international telecom operator. Even though there were no official comments forthcoming on this, market sources suggest that Etisalaat has chosen KI as it media agency.
With these clients, KI would begin with a size upwards of Rs 500 crore.
Lintas Group has moved key officials like Himanka Das to focus on KI’s growth and would be hiring more people. It is understood that key senior appointments, including a branch head for Delhi, have already been recruited, and would be announced by October 2009.
KI becomes the third clear entity of IPG’s media assets under Lintas Group ---Lintas Media Group and Aaren Initiative being the earlier two.
Speaking on the agency, Lintas Media Group’s Chairman & CEO, Lynn de Souza, who would also be overall in charge of KI, said, “The thought process behind launching another media service agency brand, in addition to Lintas Media Group, was very clear to us. We have a large and strong base of home grown blue chip businesses. We now need to expand our offering to clients who work with a global template. Though not key to the character of KI, this does help avoid conflict that global businesses may have with our legacy accounts”.
