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Bhaskar Group moves to Meridian
After an association of more than five years with Euro RSCG, the creative mandate of Dainik Bhaskar and Divya Bhaskar shifts to Meridian.
Ending its association with Euro RSCG that lasted for more than five years, the Dainik Bhaskar Group has awarded its creative mandate to Meridian. Coming on board on November 15, Meridian will handle the creative duties for Dainik Bhaskar and Divya Bhaskar.
Earlier, on November 8, afaqs! reported about the parting of ways between Euro RSCG and the Bhaskar Group. Post that an official announcement on the business moving to Meridian followed.
"We respect Euro RSCG for the work it has done on our brands. The Dhoni campaign - Zidd Karo Duniya Badlo - was a landmark in itself. At the same time, we believe that in this relationship, we have got into some blinkered working and there is a need for a different perspective and approach," he adds.
There was no pitch called for the business and the company awarded the mandate to Meridian after evaluating a few other agencies. Euro RSCG was not invited to re-pitch.
"We have been looking at the work of a few of the agencies and found a team that will really want to do exciting innovative work on the brand. Our discussion with the team at Meridian has been most fruitful and hence, we have signed with them. We do believe that Meridian has the capability and conceptual clarity on the brand. There is also a definite advantage of their having a team that can really overlap between a thought encapsulated in Hindi for the reader and an English communication in a B2B environment," says Kotnala.
Rensil D'Silva, executive creative director, Meridian, says, "We are delighted to be assigned the business. Dainik Bhaskar is both an exciting brand and a great product. We look forward to doing some great work."
Talking to afaqs! on the way forward, D'Silva says that the agency and the client will now have to put their heads together and zero in on possible strategies for what works best for the brands.
While most of its earlier communication has been mainly led by the print medium, with selective television campaigns such as Zidd Karo and during DB Corp's initial public offering in 2009, the strategies ahead will witness much innovation, promises Kotnala.