Alokananda Chakraborty
News

Equus relinquishes Lifespring to WCJ

Total Care India moves the advertising account of its specialty retail chain brand Lifespring to WCJ, Delhi


agencyfaqs!

NEW DELHI

Total Care India (P) Ltd has moved the advertising account of its specialty retail chain, branded Lifespring, to Wunderman Cato Johnson (WCJ), Delhi. The account shifted from the incumbent agency on February 8, a senior marketing executive at Lifespring told agencyfaqs!. The account used to be handled by Equus, Delhi.

Speaking about the decision to move the account, the Lifespring executive said, "We haven't really penned down the details. Moreover, I would like to point out that WCJ has been assigned the account on a trial basis for the next three months. After this period, we will decide whether or not to call for a pitch and scout for a new agency."

Total Care India is an equal-equity JV between the Sydney-based, Australian $70-million retail chain Bodiam International and the Jatia Group of India. The company launched the first store of its planned specialty retail chain in Delhi on August 18, 2000. The Lifespring brand is positioned as India's first complete, multi-brand health and beauty store for the entire family.

Suhel Seth, CEO, Equus Advertising, however, said that the account hasn't "moved formally". He pointed out, "We have decided to resign the business. In my view, it's in the interest of both the client and the agency. As for Equus, you would have noticed that we are realigning our portfolio - moving away from low impact businesses to high impact ones. So we have added clients like Hero (corporate advertising), IDBI (retail branding), Max Healthcare to our portfolio. As for Lifespring, I believe, the client needs a lot of hand-holding in the promotional / outdoor level, not at the advertising level. In fact, right now I am advising the client on how to go about this and on the kind of agencies he should look at."

Talking about its association with Equus, the Lifespring executive said, "We got introduced to Equus while we were working with Quadra Advisory. Over the last few months, we have done some print (Delhi Times, HT City) and outdoor work and now we are looking at more of below-the-line communication. That's the reason we decided to take on WCJ." To put things into perspective, WCJ, an affiliate of Rediffusion DY&R in India, operates in the direct marketing and customer relationship management arena.

Seth doesn't think the loss of Lifespring would affect his agency in any way. "It was a very small account anyway - barely Rs 68 lakh or maybe even Rs 55 lakh…"

Point taken.

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