Voltas ACs' media business all set to move to MPG

The account moves from Starcom. According to sources within Voltas, ad spends will be in the range of Rs 6-10 crore over the next year

The media mandate for Voltas air-conditioners is soon to move to MPG. For the past two years, Starcom was in charge of the brand's media buying and planning. However, there will be no change on the creative front; Euro RSCG will continue its association with Voltas as its creative agency.

According to sources within Voltas, who wish to remain unnamed, the ad spends are pegged in the region of Rs 6-10 crore.

Speculation is rife on the reasons for this account shift. According to Voltas sources, this development has taken place because the Starcom servicing team on the brand moved out of the agency. The most crucial loss was that of Anita Nayyar, managing director, Starcom, North India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who moved on to MPG as its CEO. "In a sense, the account has moved with her," a Voltas source says.

Voltas ACs

However, there is another side to the story. According to sources in the know at Starcom, it's the agency which resigned from the business, and not the other way around. "After having bagged big ticket businesses such as the Rs 200-crore Future Group, such small losses make negligible difference to Starcom," said a source on condition of anonymity.

One of the last visible campaigns for Voltas was last year's 'Jaisa India ka dil, waisa India ka AC', which showed a little girl accompanying her mother to a house where the mother works as a domestic helper. Once they are in the house, the mother busies herself with her work and the child is left to her own devices. She goes into a room, towards the AC, and opens a jar she has been holding. She fills the jar with the AC's cool air and dashes out of the house. She runs to a field where her father is working in the hot sun and urges him to relax. She then opens the jar so that her father can refresh himself with the cool air filled in it. Mission accomplished, satisfaction and happiness are writ large on her face. The voiceover comes on at this point: "Voltas, jaisa India ka dil, waisa India ka AC."

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