Old Order Changeth

… with DDB Mudra’s Madhukar Kamath handing over the reigns to two men under 40.

- Ryan Maxim Rodrigues

After 41 years in the business and at age 63, advertising and marketing services firm DDB Mudra’s group CEO & MD Madhukar Kamath is calling it a day. And the baton is passed on to two professionals picked from within the firm, where most employees are under 40.

Kamath has spent a total 25 years at the firm. He has seen the firm grow into be among the top five in the industry, since the early days in 1980 when it was a reliance company founded by A.G. Krishnamurthy, an advertising manager with reliance industries, which was its only client. But, in 2011, when Mudra was acquired by Omnicom and its subsidiary DDB, reliance ADAG accounted for just 2 per cent of billings!

Today, reliance isn’t even a customer. The firm has 950 employees, and counts itself among the top five advertising and marketing services and solutions firms in India. So, in a year that Kamath says has been the best in terms of topline, profits, performance within all segments of the group, client satisfaction, and employee engagement levels – he is passing on the baton to wear a pair of boots, to travel starting January 2018 across India and its 29 states.