Publicis Ambience bags new scooter brand from Kinetic-SYM stable

The size of the business is around Rs 10-12 crore in the first six months. Other agencies in the fray were Grey Worldwide, Everest Brand Solutions and Rediffusion DY&R

Publicis Ambience has won the creative duties for the yet-to-be-launched scooter brand falling under the Kinetic-SYM joint venture. According to Ajinkya Firodia, vice-president, sales and marketing, Kinetic, this scooter brand (the name for which will soon be finalised) will be targeted at college girls, competing with others in the category such as Hero Honda Pleasure and Scooty Pep.

The size of the business is around Rs 10-12 crore in the first six months after its launch, while the campaign is expected to break in July 2007. The other agencies in the fray, according to informed sources, were Grey Worldwide, Everest Brand Solutions and Rediffusion DY&R. The media duties have been aligned with Madison Media, the AOR for all Kinetic brands.

Aniruddha Banerjee

This is Publicis Ambience’s first business win ever since its rebranding (till a few months ago, the agency was known as Ambience Publicis). Confirming the win, Aniruddha Banerjee, president and COO, Publicis Ambience, says, “I believe Publicis Ambience had a genuinely big idea for the scooter, which won us the business.” He reveals that the campaign will make heavy use of television.

This Kinetic SYM scooter brand is the flagship Kinetic-SYM joint venture. In early 2006, Kinetic had decided to bring aboard Taiwan-based auto giant Sanyang Industry (SYM) as a minority partner for technical collaboration. Management control was to be retained by the Kinetic Group. SYM has acquired 11.1 per cent stake in Kinetic and also signed comprehensive technical collaboration and trademark licence agreements. The Kinetic-SYM association hopes to bring two-wheelers with advanced technologies and next generation engines to India.

Kinetic now has three agencies on its roster – Everest Brand Solutions (in charge of the Kine), Publicis Ambience (which will handle the new scooter brand), and Grey Worldwide, which handles all other Kinetic brands.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com