OMD wins media duties for Renault-Nissan

Media agency OMD (Optimum Media Direction) India, part of the Omnicom Media Group (a unit of Omnicom Group Inc.), has been brought on board as the media agency for both Renault and Nissan brands in India. The appointment comes into effect immediately.

Harish Shriyan, joint managing director, OMD confirms the development and tells afaqs! that OMD has been handling the media duties for Nissan for about a year and that it has now not only retained its media mandate for the account but will also handle the duties for Renault.

This win comes on the back of a long and multi-stage media pitch. Since the pitch was called for by the Renault-Nissan alliance, the combined media business of both the companies was up for grabs. "Media agencies that participated in the pitch included ZenithOptimedia, Starcom and Dentsu," confirms Shriyan.

The creative agency on the Renault account is Law & Kenneth, while that on the Nissan account is TBWA India. In May 2010, afaqs! reported that Renault India was on the lookout for media and creative partners and in July 2010, it was reported that post a competitive pitch, Law & Kenneth had won the account.

While Nissan has recently launched the Micra in India, Renault will be launching its cars in the Indian market starting mid 2011.

It may be noted that in India, OMD has offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai and has multiple blue chip brands on its client roster, including Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Reliance Communications, HP, Ferrero, Henkel, Visa and Parle Agro.