Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
MediaCom bags Wrigley's Joyco business
The business was in the custody of Initiative prior to the switch
In a two-way pitch involving MediaCom and Group M's MediaEdge:CIA, the former has bagged the media planning and buying business of Joyco, the company that was acquired by US-based confectionary group Wrigley earlier this year.
MediaCom, incidentally, is the agency-on-record (AOR) for Wrigley in India and with the Joyco gain it has Wrigley's entire portfolio - existing as well as newly-acquired - under its belt.
The consolidated business is estimated to be in the region of Rs 20 crore. The Joyco brands that MediaCom will handle include Pim Pom (lollipop), Boomer (bubble gum) and Solano (candy). The Joyco account, for the record, was in the custody of Initiative earlier.
The Joyco win, which happened in Delhi, comes close on the heels of another gain, Ruchi Soya Industries Limited, that happened in Mumbai last week.
Ruchi Soya, which has brands such as Nutrela, Ruchi Gold Palmolein Oil, and Soyumm, has a number of new initiatives in the pipeline, says Jasmin Sohrabji, president, MediaCom.
The business is estimated to be in the region of Rs 10-crore.
Interestingly, MediaCom has bagged two accounts in the south as well, which Sohrabji refuses to spell out. "We are yet to sign on the dotted line, so I cannot reveal their names," she says.
The two wins in the south, which industry sources indicate are in Bangalore and Chennai, add up to about Rs 30-crore.
The south, says Sohrabji, has a lot of potential, and the key market for the agency is Chennai. "Chennai is really hotting up," says Sohrabji, "and the categories we are looking at are retail and FMCG."
MediaCom is known to be strong on FMCG and TV brands, and its portfolio comprises accounts such as Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Johnson & Johnson, BSNL, Arvind Mills and Medimix among others.
The ratio of independent media businesses to that of accounts aligned to Grey Global (MediaCom is the media arm of Grey Global Group) is 60: 40, implying that the agency is not heavily dependent on the parent network for its sustenance.
The turnaround, says Sohrabji, happened about two-three years ago when the agency went the whole hog in scouring for new business outside the network.
MediaCom's annualized billings are Rs 540 crore; the agency is hopeful of doing well this fiscal on the back of its new business gains.
© 2004 agencyfaqs!