Publicis picks up Aviva Life Insurance

The Delhi office of Publicis has picked up the advertising duties for Aviva Life Insurance in a multi-agency pitch. Aviva Life Insurance is a joint venture between Dabur and Aviva Plc, UK's largest insurance group.

Grey Worldwide, the incumbent on Aviva continues to be on board, retaining some part of the Aviva business. The major part has gone to Publicis.

Aviva is not the only reason as to why Publicis is smiling. The Delhi office has also won lingerie brand and Ao's, casual wear brand, both from the Oswal group.

In Mumbai, Publicis has bagged a substantial account - Fidelity, the biggest US-based mutual fund company. Fidelity, one of the world's leading financial services providers, received an in-principle approval from SEBI this July for starting its mutual fund business in the country. The company has appointed Ashu Suyash as the business head and Arun Mehra as the equity fund manager.

In fact, the second half of 2004 has been quite good for Publicis. Just a couple of months ago, it had won the ABN AMRO account. The ABN AMRO business came under the scanner when Contract got HSBC following a global realignment. Contract, therefore, had to let go of ABN AMRO. That is when the bank decided to call for a pitch.

When urged to share the billings of the accounts, Publicis COO Param Saikia did not give a break up, but offered some clues to the cumulative figure. "The total size of the business won including ABN AMRO is in the region of Rs 50 crore."

As Aviva, Fidelity, Censa and Ao's are recent wins, Saikia could not reveal much of the communication plan. "While Censa and Ao's are new products that need a launch strategy, with Fidelity, which is a big project, we have to launch the product and establish its brand credentials in India," he explained.

© 2004 agencyfaqs!