IT department brings on a dozen agencies to handle creative duties

The Income Tax (IT) department of India has empanelled about a dozen agencies for the current year, which will handle the creative duties on various projects of the IT Department. The collective size of the account is estimated to be Rs 50 crore.

The list comprises Lowe Lintas, Garuda, Centum, Ashok Creatives, Mode, Perfect 10, Span Communications, Invicta, Falcon, Arun Sign, Pamm and Disha.

The IT department will look to these agencies for conceptualisation and design of its projects from time to time. Whenever the IT Department has to execute a project, the 12 agencies will make presentations. The Department will then choose the one that works best for its needs.

The IT Department's media duties lie with DAVP (The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity), the primary multimedia advertising agency of the Central Government. DAVP caters to the communication needs of almost all Central ministries, departments and autonomous bodies, providing them with a single-window, cost-effective service. Incidentally, Lowe Lintas is among the A-list agencies in the DAVP panel.

Charles Cadell, chief executive officer, Lowe Lintas, says, "The empanelment is good news for us and we hope that we continue to do great work for the Income Tax department. This opportunity comes on the heels of our empanelment for DAVP. We look forward to more such opportunities with prestigious government organisations."

Prem Raj, additional general manager of Centum Advertising and Marketing confirms the news, adding that Centum would handle most of the production of the projects.