Starcom Worldwide wins the media mandates for Eko India, Walt Disney India

In multi agency pitches, Starcom Worldwide has been appointed the media partner for Eko India and Walt Disney India

Starcom Worldwide has bagged the media mandates for Eko India Financial Services and Walt Disney India in multi agency pitches.

The Eko and the Walt Disney accounts will be handled by the agency's Delhi and Mumbai offices respectively.

Starcom Worldwide wins the media mandates for Eko India, Walt Disney India

Eko works on the fundamental premise of giving everyone a bank account. It enables branchless banking using mobiles – playing on the very Indian habit of missed calls as the medium of transaction, while leveraging the existing distribution infrastructure to extend the service.

The company is a service provider to India's largest bank, State Bank of India. The service has already been test launched in West Delhi and three districts in Bihar, where close to 4,000 customers have enrolled and are being serviced.

Tarun Nigam, executive director, North India, Starcom Worldwide, tells afaqs!, "Our integrated marketing communication approach won us the account. We are very excited about the brand and I am sure that all our arms will put in their best work on the account."

Starcom's key role will be to communicate Eko's message to its audience through strategic, targeted and creative media planning and execution. In the process, its media negotiation entity, India Media Exchange, will strive to add value through contextual buying.

Saatchi & Saatchi, Mumbai was recently awarded the creative mandate for the company.

In a press statement, Anand Raman, chief marketing officer, Eko India Financial Services, says, "It is our belief that the need of our business is the creative use of a multitude of contact points, rather than classical media alone and this is where we look forward to benefiting from Starcom's depth of knowledge and width of services. Its approach towards engaging consumer attention from an audience that is media and investment neutral was one of the key motivators for us to make the decision in its favour."

On the Walt Disney account, Nikhil Rangnekar, executive director, West India, Starcom Worldwide, says, "We understood the complexities of its (Walt Disney) businesses and its varied needs better. We hope to leverage all the proprietary applications and competencies at our disposal to provide the company with superior understanding of its consumers and strategic business building solutions."

Starcom will manage Walt Disney's media strategy and investment across all lines of business, prominent amongst which are broadcasting, studio entertainment and home entertainment, across all media forms. It will also provide strategic advice as well as business solutions to the relevant businesses.

Rangnekar says that the agency's planning tools, TARDIIS (Target Audience Reach Delivery Inventory Investment System) and IntenTrack, will be of key significance while working on the account.

TARDIIS allows granular understanding of television viewing behaviour of audiences, while IntenTrack tracks consumer intent and behaviour.

Girish Upadhyay, business director, Starcom Worldwide, Mumbai will lead the account, reporting to Rangnekar.

Maxus is the incumbent media agency of Walt Disney.

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