MullenLowe Lintas Group
MullenLowe Lintas Group, formerly Lintas, is an Indian advertising marketing communications company. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Interpublic Group (IPG), and is part of the multinational MullenLowe group. The group is currently headed by Amer Jaleel, Group Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, and Virat Tandon, Group Chief Executive Officer.[1]
Industry | Marketing communications |
---|---|
Founded | 1969 |
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | Mumbai, Gurgaon/New Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad |
Area served | South Asia, Asia, Asia-Pacific, Global |
Key people | Ameer Jaleel, Group CCO & Chairman Virat Tandon, Group CEO |
Services | Advertising and Marketing Communications, Digital Solutions, Identity and Graphic Design, Public Relations, Full-service, Media |
Number of employees | 700+ |
Parent | MullenLowe Group |
Divisions | Lowe Lintas, Mullen Lintas,
[dCell], [LinEngage], [LinConsult], [LinProductions], [Lintas Mediahub] |
Website | MullenLowe Lintas Group |
As of May 2018, MullenLowe Lintas Group employs approximately 700 people in 14 offices located in eight Indian cities.[2]
History
Lintas (India) company began operating in Mumbai, India in 1969 as the Indian division of the advertising wing of Lever brothers (Lintas being an acronym for Lever International Advertising Services). It worked as a subsidiary of Lintas international which was established in 1899 and was later made a part of Unilever.[3]
During this period, the agency made many popular advertising campaigns under its director Alyque Padamsee.
The agency was training grounds for a number of subsequently successful personalities in the Indian advertising scene.[1]
Up to the 1980s, Lintas, daCunha, HTA (Hindustan Thomson associates), Purnima advertising, Mudra communications, Trikaya Grey and O&M (Ogilvy and Mather) were among the largest advertising companies in India.[4]
Take over by the Lowe group
In 2000, the company changed its name to Lowe Lintas following the global merger of IPG networks,
Ammirati Puris Lintas and the Lowe Group in November 1999. MullenLowe Lintas Group was then helmed by Prem Mehta, with Executive Creative Directors R. Balakrishnan (Balki) and K. M. Sridhar leading the creative function. At the time, with billings of over $11 billion, MullenLowe Group was ranked as the fourth-largest global agency group worldwide, with offices in 80 countries, while MullenLowe Lintas Group is one of the top three advertising agencies in India by revenue.[5][6] In 2007, Lintas India sold the 51% stake it owned in MullenLowe Lintas Group to its international partner, the Interpublic Group (IPG). Since then, the agency has been a part of MullenLowe Group, which in turn is held by the Interpublic Group.[7] MullenLowe Lintas Group has produced India's first television commercial, and also introduced the discipline of Channel Planning to India. It has introduced Shyam Benegal, Gerson da Cunha, Rama Bijapurkar, Gautam Rajadhyaksha and Alyque Padamsee. R. Balki, former Group Chairman, quit advertising and retired from the group in the month of August 2016. In addition to Lowe Lintas, the group started two new agencies - Mullen Lintas - a challenger agency, in August 2015, and PointNine Lintas - beta version of a full service omni-channel agency, in August 2017.[8]
In May 2015 the multinational company Lowe Worldwide merged with Mullen, a US based agency to form the MullenLowe Group, which in turn became part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. Headquartered out of London, Lowe Worldwide has over 100 offices in 82 countries. As per its website, MullenLowe Lintas Group offers advertising, digital, public relations, strategic design, rural marketing, and video content. Geoff Cottrill is currently the president of American operations.
Leadership
- Amer Jaleel - Group CCO & Chairman, MullenLowe Lintas Group
- Virat Tandon - Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group
- Subramanyeswar S. - Group Chief Strategy Officer
- Vivek Kamath - Group COO & CFO, MullenLowe Lintas Group
- Heather Gupta - Group HR Director, MullenLowe Lintas Group
References
- "Amer Jaleel and Virat Tandon to lead MullenLowe Lintas Group as Arun Iyer takes consulting role". Campaign India. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
- "About us". Mullenlowe Lintas India official website. Mullenlowe Lintas. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
- O'Barr, William. "Advertising in India". Advertising and society review (volume 3). Project muse. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
- "70 years of Indian advertising". Live Mint. 21 August 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
- Elliott, Stuart (1 November 1999). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; This time it's Interpublic doing an internal merger to add another giant to Madison Avenue". New York Times.
- "Lowe Lintas restructures". Indian Express. 19 July 2000.
- "Lintas India to offload 51% to Interpublic". The Economic Times. 9 May 2007.
- Amin, Ruhail. "MullenLowe Lintas Appoints Vikas Mehta As CEO Of Its New Agency PointNine Lintas". BW Businessworld. Retrieved 4 December 2019.