Zenith Computers hands Optimum Rs 10 crore media duties

Optimum Media Solutions (OMS), the recently constituted specialized media arm of Mudra Communication, has won the entire media AOR of hardware manufacturer Zenith Computers. The account was handed to OMS, Mumbai, a fortnight ago, following a two-tiered pitch that was initiated by the client towards the end of last month. According to unconfirmed reports, the pitch was strongly contested, with Zenith Media, Carat Media Services and Millennium Media also in the fray. (Of course, Millennium promptly mailed us to inform that it did not pitch for this account - although the mail said, "We did meet the client.")

Speaking to agencyfaqs!, Amit Ray, vice-president and media head, OMS, said, "OMS was invited to pitch for the business in the last week of April, and subsequently, one more round of presentations happened in the first week of May. Now onwards, we shall handle the entire media buying activity of Zenith Computers."

With this development, Zenith's media buying has, for the first time, been allocated to a media specialist. agencyfaqs! has learnt that previously, close to 90 per cent of the buying for Zenith was being handled by RK Swamy/BBDO, while the rest was with Zeal Communication, which is an in-house agency of Zenith. Incidentally, Zenith's creative account is with Vyas Giannetti Creative (with whom RK Swamy has a strategic alliance). It is believed that Zenith might have been prompted to shop for a media specialist as Vyas Giannetti is more a creative unit - and RK Swamy's media buying talents are broadly seen as a bit short on professional finesse.

On the other hand, Ray is of the opinion that OMS won the business purely because of its professionalism. "Our commitment to deliver more audience at lesser cost, our ability to demonstrate that we are as concerned about our client's business as our clients themselves are, and, above all, our belief that media can be as creative as creative itself helped us clinch the account," he says.

While Ray is not willing to divulge the size of the business citing confidentiality, agencyfaqs! has gathered that the account should be worth Rs 10 crore. Ray is also tightlipped about the strategy OMS will employ for Zenith. "We do have some strategies, but I wouldn't want to talk about them publicly," is as verbal as he gets to this line of questioning. "Zenith is a very large player in the home computer segment, and it makes us proud to work for a client who is doing path-breaking work," he says cheerfully.

© 2001 agencyfaqs!