Mumbai : Leo Burnett has launched a rural marketing unit in India called Leo Burnett Experience, a team of 40 will help clients including Dabur, Vodafone, Uninor and McDonald’s reach Indian consumers in the country’s vast rural areas.
The new unit is geared to address a “black hole” in ROI in experiential marketing in India.
Leo Burnett Experience will be run by Vandana Verma as EVP who will be reporting to Saurabh Varma, CEO, The Leo Burnett Group India. Vandana Verma was formerly vice president of Leo Burnett, running the P&G business.
Leo Burnett Experience offers a unique solution for brands. The company hopes to surpass the industry average growth rate of 25 per cent.
Saurabh Varma, CEO, The Leo Burnett Group India, says, “One of our key HumanKind pillars is participation. It is my belief that the future is in creating experiential platforms. Our unique methodology of PLAY, BUY, SHARE gives Leo Burnett Experience a truly differentiated offering. Already it is the fastest growing part our business. And our ambition is to add technology to create immersive experiences for consumers.”
Vandana Verma, Head of Leo Burnett Experience throws some light on the division’s unique offering, “ROI is the biggest black hole in India’s experiential industry. None of the existing agencies seem to effectively manage crisis and identify likely risks that affect ROI. At Leo Burnett Experience we give foremost importance to foreseeing risks and managing real time crisis to maximize the output for clients. Our revenue growth has been significant in the last 18 months. Going forward we will build on this momentum and surpass the industry average growth of 25%. We define our objectives clearly and develop strategies based on HumanKind’s philosophy of building brands and changing human behavior using creativity. As for the most exciting opportunity – it is the rural markets, where brands are increasingly demanding strategy based experiential services – a big gap in the industry which we will address. These are surely exciting times at Leo Burnett Experience.”
