Scarecrow Communications appointed creative agency for Religare Arts Initiative

Religare Enterprises, a diversified financial services company, has appointed Scarecrow Communications as the creative agency for Religare Arts Initiative. The news is confirmed by Subhrangshu Neogi, director, brand and corporate communications, Religare Enterprises.

There wasn't been any pitch involved. While Ogilvy India continues to be the group creative agency for the other accounts of the Religare Group, which has presence in equity and commodity broking, gold, investment banking and asset management, the company decided to award the art initiative to Scarecrow Communications.

Neogi says, "It's a wonderful opportunity for us to work with Scarecrow Communications. With their knowledge of the art realm and also their passion for the field of advertising, we are sure that Raghu, Manish, Arunava and their entire team will help us in taking Religare Arts Initiative to greater heights."

Raghu Bhat and Manish Bhatt, founder directors of Scarecrow Communications, have prior experience in handling the Religare brand. During their stint at Contract Advertising, they handled the account for Aegon Religare Life Insurance and came up with the famous KILB campaign. They also won the pitch for handling the Religare Macquarie account during the end of 2009 and have been handling it since.

Talking about the brief given to the agency, Bhatt says, "We will start with re-formatting the entire brand. The brand has been there for the past two years and we will revamp it. There will be separate communication for the art fraternity, art buyers, investors, art collectors and connoisseurs of art. It will be total business solutions including print, direct to consumer initiative and tactical BTL (below-the-line) initiatives."

For the record, Religare Arts Initiative, a subsidiary of Religare Enterprises, is India's first corporate supported arts organisation. It was established on the founding vision of creating a 360 degree platform for arts, to provide contemporary art a larger integrated voice and make art a more transparent, relevant and effective force in the society.