LIC empanels three agencies for creative duties

The selected agencies include RK Swamy/BBDO, FCB Ulka (soon to be officially Draft FCB) and Mudra. The size of the business is estimated to be Rs 100 crore

Following a pitch process, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has empanelled three agencies to handle its creative duties, RK Swamy/BBDO, Mudra and FCB Ulka (soon to be officially Draft FCB). LIC’s media duties will be handled by the media arms of these three agencies, Media Direction, OMS, and Lodestar Universal, respectively. Clearly, what LIC wishes to have is a full-service agency model. There were around six-seven agencies in the fray for the business.

According to sources in the know, the ad spend is pegged at Rs 100 crore. This pitch was a periodical one – LIC reviews its ad agencies every two years.

LIC empanels three agencies for creative duties

The incumbent agencies were JWT, Everest Brand Solutions, Mudra and FCB Ulka (the latter two have managed to retain the business). RK Swamy/BBDO, too, isn’t on unfamiliar territory with LIC – it has handled the brand for 19 years, till 2005, which is when the mandatory pitch was called for, and it lost the account.

The three agencies that have now been empanelled will be expected to work both on the corporate branding for LIC and on individual products. However, the exact allocation of these assignments to the agencies is yet to be worked out.

The media mix for the new campaign will largely include television and press (a majority of the ad funds will be pumped into these two media), but there will also be some amount of Internet activity and online advertising.

For the record, LIC’s products include insurance plans, pension plans, unit plans, special plans and group schemes. Ever since its inception more than 50 years ago, LIC has been using ‘trust’ as its brand premise.

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