MAM
Percept launches CRM division
MUMBAI: Percept Advertising has launched a new division – Percept Customer Lifecycle Management (PCLM).
Harsh Vardhan will be heading PCLM, which will have customer relationship management (CRM), direct marketing, database storage mining and database storage analysis under its ambit.
PCLM is one of the initiatives that Percept Advertising CEO Rajesh Pant has undertaken in the continuing makeover of the business he has been instituting since taking charge eight months ago.
According to the former Sony Entertainment Number 2: “Today nobody is looking for ad agencies, they are looking for complete solution providers.”
To further his stated aim of taking Percept into the Top Ten in the next five years, Pant has just hired Elvis Sequiera from Lowe India as his new national creative director. In the recent past, among Sequiera’s noted campaigns are the ones he did for Bajaj and ICICI, Pant says.
Pant says that both in the south as well as in the north, Percept has been adding to its business. NEC Micron in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Power Corporation and the Ambition motorcycle account in Delhi among them he says.
On the company structure side as well, there have been significant developments. Percept concluded a deal two weeks ago wherein its JV with Hakuhodo, Japan’s second largest agency and the ninth largest in the world, was expanded. It is now a 50 per cent equity partner in all of Percept’s agency business under the Hakuhodo-Percept name. These include Percept Advertising, Image Ads, AMO Communications and Percept Gulf, Pant said.
Hakuhodo-Percept was in the news in September when it clinched the estimated Rs 120-150 million advertising accounts of Maruti’s flagship brand Maruti 800 and Zen from Rediffusion DY&R, Delhi. The “Japanese connection” has helped in getting the Epsom and Sharp accounts as well.
See related headline:
Rajesh Pant takes charge as Percept CEO
MAM
WPP explores sale of flagship PR agency Burson
Advertising giant considers exit from public relations amid restructuring drive.
MUMBAI: WPP is reportedly preparing to spin a new chapter by potentially spinning off one of its oldest storytellers. The British advertising and marketing services group is exploring a possible sale of its public relations arm Burson, with advisers at Goldman Sachs reviewing strategic options, according to a report by The Times. The move, if completed, would mark a near-complete exit from the PR sector for WPP and represent the first significant disposal under chief executive Cindy Rose, who is leading a broader effort to simplify the company’s structure and restore growth.
Burson was formed in 2024 through the merger of BCW and Hill & Knowlton. It employs around 6,000 people globally and forms the core of WPP’s remaining PR operations. A sale would follow the earlier divestment of a majority stake in FGS Global to KKR, a deal that valued that business at £1.3 billion.
The review comes as WPP continues to face pressure on its financial performance. In 2025, the company’s PR segment generated £667 million in revenue less pass-through costs, reflecting a 6.0 per cent like-for-like decline, and delivered £102 million in headline operating profit. The division has shrunk considerably after the FGS Global disposal in late 2024.
WPP reported full-year revenue of £13.55 billion in 2025, down 8.1 per cent on a reported basis, while headline operating profit fell 22.6 per cent and margins dropped to 13.0 per cent.
Rose’s Elevate28 strategy aims to move the company away from a traditional holding company model towards a more integrated organisation built around four divisions: media, creative, production, and enterprise solutions. The plan also targets £500 million in cost savings by 2028.
Both WPP and Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the report.
The advertising industry has seen growing speculation about the future of large publicly traded PR firms, with similar rumours swirling around Weber Shandwick and potential private equity interest in management buyouts. However, finding a suitable buyer for a large global legacy PR business remains a key challenge.
In the fast-changing world of marketing and communications, WPP appears keen to streamline its narrative and selling Burson could be the next dramatic plot twist in its transformation story.
