News: McCann’s CMG brand to be launched in India

(BL 29/08/2006) Mumbai - Moving beyond brand communication in the area of healthcare, McCann Healthcare is now looking to develop the category itself.

McCann Healthcare is planning to launch an international brand - Complete Medical Group (CMG) in the country. The UK-based stand-alone medical communications outfit has been recently acquired by McCann Erickson worldwide and will be soon offering its services in the country under the CMG brand name.

Speaking to Business Line, Rana Bawa, VP & GM, McCann HealthCare, said, "Through CMG we would be looking beyond mere brand communication. The purpose would be to have category and market development in the area of medical communication. CMG would get treated a separate brand offering within the division." In India CMG would be focusing in areas such as cardiology and childhood nutrition. With intentions of growing categories rather than building medical brands, CMG's scope in the Indian market would encompass a `neutral zone' within the medical communications industry with the intention of growing categories beyond their limited orbit.

Explains Bawa, "By getting into the neutral zone in medical communications, we would be helping MNCs brands who are wanting to come into India and are looking beyond brand led communications." For instance, McCann Healthcare, which already handles the nutritional brands of Nestle such as Cerelac and Lactogen, would be working on its India-specific nutritional brands such as Ceremeal and Cerevita in the country in the future.

Besides McCann Healthcare is also expanding its operations to new cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad, especially where its affiliated advertising agency has already set up branches. "We would be offering our services in the southern cities and leverage the infrastructure of the existing offices of our agency in these cities," says Bawa.

McCann Healthcare's operations have been limited to the metros of Mumbai and Delhi. Working with a host of doctors and medical practitioners, McCann Healthcare would also be expanding its team of professionals in its division.