Ogilvy Mumbai bags ICC account

International Cricket Council (ICC), which called for a pitch in mid March this year, has appointed Ogilvy Mumbai to handle its creative duties. The account size is estimated to be more than Rs 250 crore.

The pitch result was expected in the last week of April but got delayed due to the Lalit Modi-BCCI episode.

Ratnakar Shetty, chief administrative officer, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the news to afaqs!. "There were about 18 agencies in the fray, of which six were shortlisted. Ogilvy (Mumbai) was eventually selected," he says. Shetty is also the tournament director of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Ogilvy Mumbai competed with agencies such as JWT, McCann Erickson, Havas, Grey Worldwide and Publicis to bag the business. Elaborating on the strategy which helped Ogilvy clinch the account, Abhijit Avasthi, national creative director, Ogilvy India, says, "I think it's the Ogilvy credentials that worked for us. Also, as an organisation, we have a lot of experience in cricket. For example, we launched the 360 degree campaign for the recently concluded Indian Premier League Season 3."

The immediate assignment for the agency is to focus on the pre-launch campaign that has to be built around the ICC World Cup happening in India, along with other venues including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.