Mudra wins new businesses worth Rs 10 crore

Mudra Communications' Mumbai office has had a very gratifying April. The office has picked up quite a few accounts, the most significant among them being that of air-freshener brand Odonil and mosquito-repellant brand Odomos, both home care brands from Balsara. The other accounts won by Mudra are Jetking (computer hardware training), Go Khatac (non-professional camera) and MTNL Dolphin (Mumbai circle). All these business gains put together are expected to net the agency an annual billing in excess of Rs 10 crore.

Vis-à-vis the Odonil and Odomos gains, while both the brands were previously serviced by Triton Communications, their move to Mudra was not preceded by a formal pitch. In fact, Mudra claims that it won the account "on credentials". agencyfaqs! has subsequently gathered that Triton had apparently resigned the Balsara account a month-and-a-half ago, for reasons best known to it and the client. So much so, that Triton does not currently service any of the Balsara accounts. Which explains why Mudra, without being specific, also indicated that it might be handling other Balsara businesses (apart from Odonil and Odomos), "once we start work". For the record, the other agency on Balsara's roster is Leo Burnett, which handles the advertising for toothpaste brands Promise, Babool and Meswak.

In the case of Jetking and Go Khatac (which is a newly introduced camera brand) too, there weren't any pitches. agencyfaqs! has learnt that Mudra will be responsible for both creative and AOR for both these brands. And the agency has managed picking up "substantial business from MTNL", as it is one of MTNL's empanelled agencies for the launch of Dolphin's cellular service in Mumbai. The other empanelled agencies for the Mumbai circle are RK Swamy/BBDO, Saubhagya, Canco, Mode and Adfactors. Incidentally, the Dolphin account in Delhi has been entrusted with just one agency - Lowe Lintas & Partners.

Kaushik Roy, executive director, Mudra Communications, is undoubtedly delighted with the wins. "What helped Mudra was its market reputation of commitment towards brand-building," he says. "This strength can be attributed to the fact that Mudra is, perhaps, the only agency that has consistently built and managed ‘knowledge'. This has been done through continued initiatives in the areas of fundamental research, and through category-related research. These are initiatives that are self-financed, and therefore, may have served as a brand differentiator for the client."

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