MAM
“I hope to convince BJP to connect with electorate throughout the year”: Sam Balsara
MUMBAI: The Madison Report on 2015 is all set to be unveiled on 20 February by Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal and the industry awaits what India’s first home-grown media agency has to predict for the year ahead.
Last year was a remarkable one for Madison Media as it grabbed the mother of all accounts, Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) Lok Sabha election mandate. Followed by mandate for assembly polls of Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi, the agency has been making news for all the right reasons.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Madison World chairman and managing director Sam Balsara says, “2014 was a great year for Madison World and most of our units Madison Media, Madison Outdoor, Madison PR, Mates, PMG and our JV with WPP’s Mediacom have done extremely well specially on new business front and we have acquired almost a 100 new clients across the group.”
In terms of awards too, it has been a very satisfying year for Balsara, who is upbeat and optimistic about 2015. “Given that the mood is extremely upbeat in India Inc, thanks to the new BJP government, 2015 again is going to be an exciting year and we hope to get more than our fair share of the growth,” Balsara adds.
The year 2015 too has begun on a positive note as the agency won an array of new accounts in the last two months, which amount to approximately Rs 200 crore. The accounts include JG Hosiery, Metro Cash & Carry, Zivame, Ashirwad Pipes, out of the agency’s Bangalore office. As well as, Viber (to be handled from Delhi Office) and DHFL (to be handled from Mumbai office); all won on the back of multi-agency pitches.
Talking about what gives Madison an edge over others during a pitch, Balsara says, “We focus on client delight, and want to be our client’s trusted communication partner and help them use media and advertising to achieve their growth and business objectives. We also want our people to act as entrepreneurs and give them the freedom to operate without fear or favour as long as they do so with integrity and professionalism.”
The agency doesn’t believe in prioritising any office as well as it has a marquee clientele in each and every office. But of course Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata are key markets.
However, the Delhi office, with Lok Sabha election and the recently concluded Delhi elections, has been buzzing with work and excitement. So, how does the agency differentiate election mandate from the rest? Balsara highlights, “Political campaigns are more short term, the results have to be achieved in a month’s time and therefore the strategies that we adopt have to be very different. I hope to convince my friends at BJP that they should not try to connect with the electorate only at the time of elections but throughout the year.”
MAM
Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
