JWT, Triton to share Hamdard business

Better late than never, they say. Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories, established in 1906, woke up a few months ago to the fact that it was now essential for it to rejuvenate its classic brands and infuse a modern outlook in its communication strategy.

Hamdard has been acting on the communication it wants to create since July. And it has decided on its agencies. The Hamdard portfolio will be shared by JWT Kolkata and Triton Delhi. Thus, the company has once again chosen to settle for a small and big agency combination. Arshad Siddiqui, head of sales and marketing, Hamdard, has confirmed the development to agencyfaqs!.

Triton Communications and Mudra used to handle the Hamdard account earlier. Triton has been retained and will now handle some new brands as well. Its brands include Sharbat Rooh-Afza, Cinkara, Pachnol and some multivitamin products. JWT will handle brands such as Safi, Rogan Badam Shirin, Joshina and Sualin; it will also handle the launch of other new products.

Triton and JWT have been given a near equal number of brands to handle. Ranjan Mazumdar, branch director, Delhi, Triton Communications, says, “It was a fairly competitive pitch process. All the agencies made a substantially strategic and creative presentation. Hamdard made the decision based on the agency’s performance on these lines.”

Mazumdar adds, “A new communication strategy will be used for all Hamdard brands that Triton handles. All the brands will get a new brand positioning.”

The collective size of the business is around Rs 20 crore. Media Direction, the media arm of RK Swamy/BBDO, will continue to handle the media duties for Hamdard. Hamdard, which has a revenue of Rs 300 crore currently, has set a revenue target of Rs 500 crore in the next three years.