MAM
Famous Innovations appoints Ferzad Variyava as group creative director
Mumbai: Famous Innovations has appointed two of senior level talents, Manish Ajgaonkar as senior creative director and Ferzad Variyava as group creative director, to head its creative team.
With close to 18 years of experience in his kitty, Manish Ajgaonkar brings onboard his finely honed creative acumen after working with India’s top creative agencies like HTA, Publicis Ambience, Saatchi and Saatchi, Contract and Interface FCB to name a few. His work has been recognized in local and international award festivals and he has also been on the jury of Goafest for Design and Out-of-home categories.
On his appointment Manish says, “With the changing needs of advertisers nowadays, I feel there are very few agencies that are actually changing their creative product and thinking to match. Famous has been one such agency that has rapidly grown over the years and has developed a strong creative culture.”
Ferzad Variyava brings his 15 years of experience with prestigious agencies like the DDB Mudra Group, Publicis Ambience, Alok Nanda & Company and JWT. He has had the good fortune of helming teams on marquee brands like Volkswagen, Renault, Twitter, Thomas Cook, Tata Housing and Lodha Builders to name a few. His list of accolades spans both local and international award festivals over the years.
Variyava candidly shares, “I have had the privilege of working with some of the most talented minds in my past agencies and I am now looking forward to working with Raj who I have always considered one of the most progressive people in the industry. I equally look forward to partnering Manish whose craft I have always admired. To me, an electric place like Famous is fertile ground to develop more inventive solutions for a newer, bolder breed of clients.”
AD Agencies
Omnicom Q4: Posts big revenue gains amid restructuring
Company trims underperforming units and launches $5B share buyback to reward investors.
MUMBAI: Omnicom has decided that in the world of global advertising, it is better to be a big fish in an even bigger pond. The marketing powerhouse, which recently swallowed its rival IPG, has kicked off 2026 by showing the market that it is not just buying growth – it is engineering it. In a series of bold strategic manoeuvres, the group has doubled its projected cost-savings target to a whopping $1.5 billion over the next three years.
The fourth-quarter results for 2025, released on 18 February 2026, paint a picture of a company in the midst of a massive structural makeover. Reported revenue for the quarter shot up 27.9 per cent to $5,528.8 million, a figure heavily bolstered by the first full month of IPG’s operations under the Omnicom umbrella. For the full year, revenue reached $17,271.9 million, marking a 10.1 per cent increase as the company integrated heavyweights like Acxiom Real iD and Flywheel Commerce Cloud into its next generation Omni platform.
However, bigger does not always mean tidier. The group reported a Gaap net loss of $941.1 million for the final quarter, or $4.02 per diluted share. This was primarily due to a massive $1.1 billion bill for severance and real estate repositioning, alongside a $543.4 million loss on the sale of non-strategic businesses. When these one-off integration headaches are stripped away, the underlying performance looks far more robust, with adjusted net income reaching $607.7 million and earnings per share of $2.59, comfortably ahead of the prior year’s $2.41.
The group is also trimming the fat elsewhere. Management has identified underperforming and non-strategic units representing approximately $2.5 billion in revenue for exit or sale. Meanwhile, smaller majority-owned markets bringing in $700 million are being moved to minority positions. This portfolio pruning is designed to focus the New Omnicom on higher-growth areas like media, creative content, and data-driven consulting.
Investors, it seems, are being kept sweet with a significant return of capital. The board has approved a fresh $5 billion share repurchase program, initiating an immediate $2.5 billion accelerated buyback. This comes on top of $549.6 million paid out in common dividends during the year.
Performance across the sectors was a mixed bag but generally positive in the heavy-hitting divisions. Media and advertising revenue surged 34.4 per cent in the fourth quarter to $3,322.6 million, while public relations grew 12.4 per cent to $500.8 million. On the flip side, branding and retail commerce saw a 7.0 per cent dip. Regionally, the US remains the engine room, with revenue jumping 51.9 per cent to $2,869.1 million in the quarter, while the UK saw a respectable 18.8 per cent rise to $533.2 million.
With a total debt of $9.1 billion following the IPG acquisition, the group is leaning on its cash-generative nature to keep its investment-grade credit rating intact. Free cash flow for the year stood at $2,226.1 million, up from $1,964.7 million in 2024. As the company moves into 2026, the focus is firmly on the Connected Capability model, essentially ensuring that its global army of talent is pulling in the same direction, and more importantly, within a much leaner budget.
