MUMBAI: WPP Media India has added another feather to its cap by gaining recognition in the Asia Pacific region.

WPP Media India, comprising of operating units MindShare, Maximize and MindShare Fulcrum, pocketed the Best Agency Office of the Year Award at The Media Magazine's annual Asia Pacific agency awards ceremony on 12 December 2002 in Hong Kong.

According to an official release, the award was given for the strength of the firm's remarkable business performance, media innovation and new business record.

And to top it all, WPP Media India beat back competition from the the ponytail types, the creative hotshots. Four of the five finalists were actually creative agencies like DD Needham HongKong and Leo Burnett - with WPP Media being the only media specialist agency. It adds credence to the firm's claim of being the largest and the best specialist media agency in the country.

The release also stated that the award is a great recognition of the way in which the agency has capitalised on its inherited strengths to put even a greater distance between itself and its competitors.

Since its launch in India 11 months ago, WPP Media's different operating and specialist units have won 43 of 53 business pitched, 40 per cent of all EMVIES awards and also won the Unilever Worldwide Communication Channel Planning Gold, as per the official release.

The agency's ability to leverage its huge volume and resources across its network of six locations seems to have persuaded clients to award business its way.

But more crucially, its philosophy of driving quality and not just pricing, is beginning to find many takers amongst the advertisers - in a market fixated just by rates and deals, says a corporate press release
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Its parent company WPP's backing from day one enabled the company to get its business model right, and its investment in large scale research for consumer insights, tracking results and econometric modelling to determine RoI on advertisers' media investments has begun to change market practices.

WPP Media is India's largest media investment management group with billings in excess of Rs 15 billion, stated the official release. It has three operating units MindShare India, MindShare Fulcrum and Maximize that provide media planning, buying & research services. The specialist services are provided through its Advanced Techniques Group, M Digital, Media Consumer Insights Group, BroadMind & WPP Outdoor.

Part of the WPP Group, one of the world's largest communications services companies WPP Media has 70 offices in 51 countries throughout the USA, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific.