Bharti AXA Investment Managers brings on media agency

Madison Media handles Bharti AXA Life Insurance. It will now also handle the mutual fund business

Bharti AXA Investment Managers is building itself up one step at a time. In February, it appointed Law & Kenneth to handle its creative duties. It has now appointed Madison Media as its media partner.

Three media agencies participated in the media pitch. An informed source says, “Mutual funds generally have a thin budget. The search was for an agency that would look at mutual funds in a new light.” Madison handles the media duties for Bharti AXA Life Insurance.

Bharti AXA Investment Managers brings on media agency

When afaqs! carried the story of a creative pitch in October, the size of the business was reported to be Rs 10 crore. Since then, there have been major changes in the regulations imposed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), including caps on mutual fund companies’ spending levels. As a result, a specific ad budget could not be ascertained.

The mutual fund company hopes to conduct a 360 degree communication campaign. Television will probably play an important part. The product is expected to hit the market in the third quarter of 2008, subject to SEBI approval.

Bharti AXA Investment Managers is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises, AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA APH), which was announced in September 2007. Bharti’s life insurance joint venture with AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd (AXA) is called Bharti AXA Life Insurance Co.

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