Bates141 Kolkata bags creative duties for aerotropolis project

Bates141 Kolkata has bagged the creative duties for the aerotropolis project by Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL), which will have an airport city at its core, surrounded by aviation related companies.

The multi agency pitch took place a month ago, with agencies such as JWT, Ogilvy and Rediffusion Y&R also participating in it.

BAPL, along with the West Bengal Government and Singapore's Changi airport, is developing the Rs 10,000 crore green field airport city at Durgapur, West Bengal. The seven year long project will comprise an airport city that will have residential complexes, aviation related infrastructure including aviation academy, industrial park complete with factories, office parks, IT park, hospital, market, school, theme park and a community centre.

BAPL will set up a domestic regional airport with a planned city around it near Durgapur (180 km from Kolkata) to cater to the local industrial region and aid in the development of logistics, supply chain management and IT hubs subsequently.

Without revealing the size of the win, Abeer Chakravarty, executive vice-president, Bates 141 Kolkata, says, "The project is in the planning stages so we will decide the due course of action over some time. We are also zeroing down on the media agency for the same project."

He adds that since BAPL is not into commercial development and is developing the infrastructure which will include a host of things, the communication strategy will be different from the other real estate clients. Most of the communication is going to be business to business, with a focus on the print media and a lot of one-on-one interaction, business events and other direct marketing efforts.

As the creative agency of the aerotropolis, Bates141 will develop strategies on how it should sell the property to the customers. The TG (target group) for the self contained project comprises the affluent class, IT companies and other industries.

The concept of an aerotropolis has been developed by John Kasarda, which has an airport, township, companies and a national highway next to the set up.

"Our challenge is to sell this business proposition nationally and there is a huge task of convincing the customers on why it is going to be an invincible business opportunity. So our communication efforts will be in this direction," says Chakravarty.

Since the company will target a niche audience, there will be a lot of dialogue and the usage of mass media will be extended to include print, digital and events, amongst other media.

In an official communiqué, Subrata Paul, chief executive officer, BAPL, says, "We are delighted to be associated with Bates141 and look forward to an enduring and long term relationship with them to take the aerotropolis project to the next level. The international experience of Bates141, together with its pan-India presence, will help position the Durgapur Aerotropolis as the largest innovative urban infrastructure development in eastern India."