McCann Worldgroup bags creative duties of Indian Badminton League

Reckitt Benckiser (RB), one of the leading advertisers, has initiated a media pitch estimated to be around Rs 400-450 crore. The pitch process reportedly kicked off a couple of weeks ago and leading agencies including incumbent IPG Mediabrands and Publicis are believed to be contesting it fiercely.

One of the leading global FMCG companies, RB had appointed Initiative from the IPG Mediabrands umbrella as its media partner in December 2013 on the back of a global media review.  Since then IPG has successfully retained the account despite annual pitches. Prior to IPG, the media duties were handled by Zenith Optimedia.

Meanwhile, the FMCG major that has a presence across 60 markets globally, in a recent development, gave part of its digital duties to Zenith Optimedia. As per industry sources, RB has divided its digital portfolio into two parts—Health, and Home & Hygiene. While Initiative will continue to manage Home & Hygiene, the first portfolio will be handled by Zenith Optimedia from January 2019. The move was an outcome of a global decision without any pitch being called. 

exchange4media reached out to all the stakeholders but did not get a response from any of them at the time of filing this story.

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Following a competitive multi-agency pitch, GroupM’s media agency MediaCom has been awarded the media mandate for Vivo. The size of the account is estimated to be Rs 350-400 crore

As the agency on record for Vivo in India, MediaCom will be responsible for the media strategy, planning, buying and implementation for all mass media. This big win follows MediaCom’s stellar showing at the Cannes Lions 2018.

Commenting on the partnership, Jerome Chen, CMO, Vivo India, said, “We understand that being creative is as important for a brand as its product innovation. MediaCom’s creative ideas and approach resonate with Vivo’s ethos as an innovation-driven brand. As we continue to grow stronger in India, we believe this partnership will enable us to step up our engagement with the consumers even more. We look forward to a long and mutually successful partnership with MediaCom.”

Commenting on the win, Navin Khemka, CEO, MediaCom South Asia, added, “The growth of the telecom industry in India is unprecedented and the smartphone adoption brings exciting opportunities. Vivo is one of the leading and innovative players in this space. We are delighted to partner with Vivo and looking forward to creating unmatched brand value and innovative solutions for our consumers."

The account will be managed and supervised from the MediaCom Gurgaon office.

Initiative, the global full service media agency of IPG Mediabrands, has won the media mandate of Anchor by Panasonic, one of India’s largest domestic manufacturers of electrical construction materials. The size of the account is Rs 100 core. It was earlier held by OMD India.

Initiative will be responsible for the media strategy, planning, buying and implementation for all brands under Anchor Electricals for both mass media and out-of-home. The account will be managed by the agency’s Mumbai office.

Vivek Sharma, Managing Director, Anchor Electricals Private Limited (AEPL), the Electricals arm of Panasonic Corporation, said, "Anchor by Panasonic is a leading electrical brand in the Indian market with sales of Rs 3550 Cr in the current financial year, through a diverse product portfolio spanning seven product verticals. As a company, we are strategically aligning ourselves to substantially improve consumer connect. AEPL would aggressively use mass media in building saliency and creating awareness for its businesses in the months to come. We, at AEPL, are happy to partner with Initiative in this exciting phase of growth".

"We are confident of Initiative's domain knowledge and media buying clout. Their considerable experience in the South Asian markets will help us deliver enhanced brand communication and drive media efficiencies for AEPL", he further added.

Vaishali Verma, CEO, Initiative, said, “This is one more prestigious addition to our esteemed portfolio of clients. We look forward to working with Anchor and create cutting-edge, strategic media solutions. Working with an ambitious company like Anchor is a great challenge and we look forward to creating impactful business solutions through our proprietary global tools.”

J Walter Thompson India has bagged the creative mandate for global food and beverages giant PepsiCo India's brand Quaker Oats, according to industry sources. The business was awarded after a highly contested multi-agency pitch. 

The account will be handled out of the agency’s Delhi office. The agency lead the creative campaigns for Quaker Oats in India.

The brand's creative mandate was earlier with BBDO India ever since the agency announced its launch in 2007. Varun Channa, Sr. VP and Managing Partner for JWT's business unit PO1 confirmed this development with exchange4media. "Quaker saw our work being presented and considering our experience in building nutrition brands, it was an easy decision. Since the Quaker Dairy account was already with us, this was like consolidation of the Quaker portfolio," shared Channa. 

Mars Inc. has appointed GroupM's MediaCom as its global media agency, according to media reports. Mediacom will now handle the media planning and buying for Mars’ brands which includes M&Ms, Snickers, Whiskas, Smackos, Masterfoods and Wrigley.

The selection was reportedly made following a competitive pitch launched after the brand reviewed its media account in January. Earlier, Mars had reportedly said that MediaCom, Starcom and OMD were invited to participate in the review.

Media reports quoted the Chief Marketing and Customer Officer of the company Andrew Clarke as saying in an email statement that “the partnership will be a crucial accelerator in our ambition to be quicker, bolder and even more innovative when it comes to meeting our consumer needs."
Rob Rakowitz, Global Media Director at Mars, was quoted as saying that all three agencies showed fresh, challenging approaches.

“GroupM created a custom operating model for us which enables us to put data at the heart of our decision making, drive speed at a global, local and campaign level, and use our resources efficiently," he reportedly said.

Media reports mention that the US confectionery and food giant previously separated planning and buying, and split those duties in different regions. WPP’s MediaCom held the global planning account, while Publicis Groupe’s Starcom and Omnicom’s OMD shared buying duties with MediaCom.

The new media assignment will go into effect in the beginning of 2019.

Eureka Forbes has roped in Taproot Dentsu to handle its creative duties. The agency, from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network, won the account following a multi-agency pitch.

Under this new partnership, Taproot Dentsu will be responsible for Eureka Forbes’ brands across the categories of water purifiers, air purifiers, vacuum cleaners and security and surveillance solutions.

Commenting on the association, Marzin R Shroff, MD and CEO at Eureka Forbes, said, “Taproot Dentsu’s creative ideas and holistic approach resonates with our ideology and strategy. We are confident that the agency’s understanding of our business and categories will help us in making our brands more engaging, intriguing and relevant to all our stakeholders. We wish the team success and look forward to an exciting journey together.”

“I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Triton Communications that has helped us create and build our iconic brands over the last three decades,” Shroff added.

Talking about the new partnership, Umesh Shrikhande, CEO of Taproot Dentsu, said, “Aquaguard from Eureka Forbes is a brand that has been a leader and pioneer in the water purification space. For most Indian consumers, the name is synonymous with the category. The work they have done spanning visionary R&D, specialist selling and social initiatives is staggering. It is our privilege to get this opportunity to help the brand strengthen its leadership position. Equally, we are excited to work on their other important brands like Euroclean Vacuum Cleaners, Aeroguard Air Purifiers and EuroVigil Security Solutions, which are leaders in their own right."

Santosh Padhi, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at Taproot Dentsu, said, “It is always challenging to create sharp and memorable communication for a rational/scientific category. More so when you are dealing with a respected leader brand like Aquaguard. We will pull out all stops to make sure that we create winning communication that’s differentiated.”

Logicserve Digital, the Indian media agency arm of Logicserve Group, has been assigned the digital mandate for Mankind Pharma’s Unwanted-21 Days. The agency won this account following a multi-agency pitch.

The agency will be responsible for managing the social media channels, SEO, paid media services and creative strategy to help the brand grow their digital presence & build better engagement with the audiences.

Commenting on the account win, Prasad Shejale, CEO & Co-Founder, Logicserve Digital, said, “We are extremely happy to have this opportunity to work with a brand like Mankind Pharma who are one of the leading pharma brands in India. We look forward to work closely with their marketing team and help them amplify their vision and achievements by designing robust strategies for connecting with the right audiences via the right channels. Logicserve Digital aspires to further uplift the brand’s presence in the dynamic digital universe and help them achieve the desired results.”

Speaking about the announcement, Joy Chatterjee, Assistant General Manager-Marketing, Mankind Pharma, said, “We are glad to appoint Logicserve Digital as our AOR (Agency On Record) for our brand Unwanted-21 Days. The agency will help us in ideating and managing the brand’s digital marketing plan in line with the predefined objectives and goals. We were looking for an agency who will support us in our journey with their insightful solutions and help us differentiate our brands in this domain. In Logicserve Digital, we found the perfect partner to carry forward the digital duties and we strongly believe that they will be able to deliver and live up to the brand’s expectations.”