Carat bags four new businesses worth Rs 41 crore

Carat seems to be on a winning spree. The agency has just added four new businesses, collectively worth Rs 41 crore, to its kitty.

The businesses include Ira Diamonds (moving from Starcom and worth Rs 6-8 crore), Sahara Computers (Rs 12-15 crore), the Manipal Education and Medical Group’s (MEMG’s) international education and healthcare business (Rs 18 crore) and 555 Detergent (Rs 2-3 crore).

Ira Diamonds, which has moved from Starcom, is believed to have stepped up its advertising budget this year. While, earlier, it incurred an ad spend of around Rs 2 crore in one financial year, it will now spend Rs 6-8 crore. 555 Detergent is being re-launched after a couple of years; Carat’s job will be to create a media plan that will revive the brand. This product is targeted at North Indians in the Delhi-UP-Punjab belt.

Sahara Computers will target mini metros and small towns, where it will be positioned as a ‘value for money’ product.

MEMG Group senior V-P S Madhusudhan says, “We were in the process of consolidating our media buying agency globally. We are present in 19 countries and we were clear that we wanted a media agency which would mirror this global presence. Before zeroing in on Carat, we actually gave them a test project to do, which met our expectations.”

The other agencies in the fray for the MEMG business were Maxus and MediaCom.

In fact, 2006 has been very successful for Carat. Early on in the year, the media agency bagged Luxottica, Tulip, Escorts Tractors and technology brand 3, collectively worth Rs 27 crore, and later on, brands such as Zicom, Pantaloons Home Solutions and Paras Milk Products, collectively worth Rs 25 crore.

Including the four new wins, Carat’s total new business wins in 2006 up till now are worth more than Rs 100 crore. Charles Jenarius, group CEO, Carat, attributes it all to ‘outstanding team effort’.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!