Carat grabs Zicom, Home Solutions, Paras Milk Products, worth Rs 25 crore

Carat Media Services has added three new businesses to its kitty. These include Zicom Electronic Services System, the Delhi-based Paras Milk Products and Home Solutions, Pantaloon’s retail division. The size of the three businesses adds up to Rs 25 crore.

Shantanu Choudhury, CEO, consumer service group, Zicom Electronic Services System, says, “Although Zicom has been around for the last 11 years, providing security solutions to government buildings, corporate houses and big religious places, this is the first time that we will be directly targeting the end consumers. As part of this strategy, we were on the look out for a media agency that would go beyond the conventional agency-client relationship and work as partners with us. We found that Carat fit best into our scheme of things.”

The company is ready to launch quite a few products for the end consumers. According to Choudhury, the media plan will include mass media – television, print and radio. However, he asserts that equal emphasis will be placed on below the line activities as consumers need to be educated about the products. The size of the Zicom business is estimated to be around Rs 10 crore.

Carat won the Paras Milk business over Starcom. Shailesh Arora, vice-president, marketing, Ved Ram & Sons, says, “The main reason why we awarded the business to Carat was its efficacy in scheduling.”

It has been two years now since the last TVC for Paras was launched. As Arora says, “We are currently in the process of reorganising our company’s advertising and marketing strategies.”

This year, Paras will continue with its current basket of consumer products, which includes milk (tetrapack and pouch), curd, cheese, etc., but the company plans to diversify into more products by next year.

In 2006, the company’s sole strategy will be to promote the Paras brand as a complete dairy brand, but later, it also plans to have a separate communication strategy for individual brands and products. The creative is currently being handled by Anwar Abbas (ex-Confluence), and Charu Bakshi (INCommunications). The two professionals have been hired as brand consultants on a retainership basis and they will work together as a team. The size of the business is estimated to be around Rs 3-4 crore.

The Home Solutions business fell into Carat’s kitty as part of the group alignment. Carat was already handling the media duties for Pantaloon’s other divisions, Pantaloon Retail Store and Big Bazaar. The size of the Home Solutions business alone is estimated to be in the range of Rs 10-12 crore. The creative duties for Home Solutions are being handled by Mudra South.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!