Indian Advertising to have an international face! Ma Foi announces MOU with MOT Models To optimise opportunities in Media, Entertainment and Fashion industry

Ma Foi has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MOT Models (Models Out of Town), one of the UK’s top model coordination agencies. The new venture is a result of Ma Foi’s intention to usher in professional placement services in the modeling industry and to increase the depth of its offering in the Media and Entertainment segment, given the global reach of Indian advertising today. Industry sources estimate that advertising in India is a mature Rs. 100 billion industry (around US $ 2.2 billion), with a large number of multinational advertising agencies alongside large, medium and small Indian agencies. Modeling is also a specialized field rapidly growing,

Announcing the developments to the Press yesterday, following the signing of the MoU, K Pandia Rajan, Managing Director of Ma Foi said, “India is witnessing a strong upswing in the Media & Entertainment industry. In the last couple of years alone, we have seen an explosion in the areas of Radio and Satellite TV, apart from the full-fledged emergence of region-wise, organised film industries. Another promising area is the Fashion Industry. We have been involved in recruitment across various levels for these sectors from the management & operational front. This will be a new addition to our basket of services and will compliment our current offerings.”

“By pooling the local knowledge, connections, and business expertise of Ma Foi and the ‘product’ of MOT models, it is proposed that Ma Foi market MOT models entire portfolio to Indian clients, and the profits will be shared equally by the two companies”, he added.

As an industry, model coordination is limited by size, geography and diversified database. This will be the first organised service to bridge the gap of sourcing appropriate talent across borders. It is expected that this will open up professionally coordinated services and also protect the legal and contractual obligations of the Model and the Advertiser.

Also speaking on the occasion, Mike Illes, Director, MOT Models, UK, said, “India is a rapidly developing economy and a world player today in any business that matters. As it goes global, the Indian advertising industry will look at international models to internally and externally advertise its products. MOT Models has a broad model, actor and dancer portfolio of commercial, advertising and acting work in the UK – where it dominates this market, and counts among its USPs its marketing skills, local knowledge and quality of service. Through this MOU, we hope to leverage the tremendous reach provided by Ma Foi to expand into the Indian markets.”
He added that MOT Models and Ma Foi were both part of the world’s largest specialist staffing major, the Euro 6.85 billion Vedior Group of companies, and this was a strong reason for the collaboration fructifying in the first place, and would also see both players giving it their very best efforts.

Note to Editors:

About MOT
MOT Models, a Model Agency mainly focusing on television and commercial advertising which was started 21 years ago in Berkhamstead, on the outskirts of London, and today generates revenue of US $ 15 million. The UK has several niche model agencies including one for Commercial & TV Advertising, Fashion & Editorial, Cinema & Theatre – MOT is fundamentally associated with the first type. Vedior took over MOT in April 2006.With over 1000 to 1200 bookings a month; MOT has a commissioned gross profit of US $3.5 million. For more details log onto www.motmodel.com.

Started essentially as an abbreviation for Models Out of Town (MOT), the agency with a small branch office in London’s busy Regent Street, now finds almost 90 per cent of its work comes from London itself. They have about 220 models on their regular rolls, although several of them work on a freelance basis, with no legal obligations to come back. They have about 1600 clients a year, and do see a 25 per cent turnover of returning clients. MOT accounts for approximately 10 per cent of the total model business in the UK market alone.


About Ma Foi

Ma Foi is a 14-year-old public limited company. Having started in 1992 at Chennai with a focus on recruitment services, Ma Foi has grown to become the largest HR services provider in India. Ma Foi is committed to offer people and people related services, enhancing the net worth of human capital. Currently Ma Foi has a presence in 8 countries through 74 offices – India, the UAE, the UK, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Oman and the US, and over 1334 clients including 164 Fortune 500 Companies. Ma Foi had posted revenue of Rs.213 Crores for the year ending December 2005.

For further details on Ma Foi visit www.mafoi.com