Frank Simoes ties up with Shivjeet Kullar's K Factor

From the time Naveen Saraswat, the former vice-president of Rediffusion DY&R, Delhi, took over Frank Simoes as CEO, the servicing agency has been in the throes of major structuring.

Prime among them is a strategic alliance with Shivjeet Kullar's creative outfit, K factor. The objective of the tie-up is to bring in a 'strong' creative direction to Frank Simoes.

As per the arrangement, Frank Simoes would be leveraging the creative expertise of K factor as and when required.

However, this is just one of the many developments. Another is Vivek Shinde's appointment as the creative director. Shinde comes from Everest Integrated Communications.

Expanding on Shinde's brief, Saraswat says, “His mandate is to produce absolutely top class creative work.” Prior to his four-year stint at Everest, Shinde has worked at Cheil Communications, Triton, Lintas, Bates, Overture and Lowe. Some of the clients that Shinde has worked on include Bajaj Auto, UB Group, Apollo Tyres, Panasonic Mobiles, Godfrey Phillips India. ITC, Shaw Wallace and GTC Cigarettes.

Besides this, the agency has pocketed two accounts. One is a project from the Ministry of Tourism and the other is AEZ residential project. Both the accounts were won in a multi-agency pitch.

The task at hand for the tourism project, which is called `Atithi Devo Bhavah’ (Guest is God), is to conceptualise and implement an integrated campaign to bring out attitudinal and behavioral towards foreign tourists. In other words, Saraswat states, “To create social awareness of the benefits of tourism among the general public.” To this end, the agency would be working on a multimedia communication plan.

With regard to AEZ group, which has undertaken projects such as AEZ Naraina, AEZ Vikas Puri, and Gold Souk, Country Club, AEZ Vaishali and IMAX, the agency is managing the launch of an up-market and premium residential complex in Gurgaon(Haryana).

“The communication task at hand is to bring out the superior benefits of the residential complex and the facilities it provides to its residents, when compared to other residential projects in the same area,” explains Saraswat. This will be a multimedia campaign and shall involve print, outdoors and radio.

In addition to AEZ and Ministry of Tourism, the other accounts in the agency's kitty include Digjam, OCM, Indian Oil and DDA.

Saraswat is, indeed, upbeat about the agency and hopes to build brands through 360 degree communications and 'cutting edge creative work'. Frank Simoes has clocked a billing of Rs 25-30 crore in the current fiscal, and is quite confident that the FY 2005 would be more exciting.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!