Ashwini Gangal
Media

Talwalkars awards media duties to Carat Media

The agency has also appointed boutique agency, Guava Creative Solutions (founded by Junaid Memon) as its creative partner. The overall marketing spends are pegged at around Rs 4-5 crore.

Health club chain Talwalkars Better Value Fitness (TBVFL) has brought on board Carat Media (part of the Aegis Group) as its media agency. It has also appointed boutique agency, Guava Creative Solutions (founded by Junaid Memon) as its creative partner.

Both agencies will handle the business out of their respective Mumbai offices. The brand's overall marketing spends for the upcoming year would be around Rs 4-5 crore.

Talwalkars awards media duties to Carat Media
Talwalkars awards media duties to Carat Media
Talwalkars awards media duties to Carat Media
The pitch process, for both the creative as well as media partner, was initiated in November last year, and the results were declared a few days ago. The pitch comprised two rounds.

It is learnt that many top creative and media agencies had pitched for the business.

Nitin Shakdher, vice-president, marketing, TBVFL, describes the selection criteria. "For creative agencies, the choice was based on the level of innovation and understanding of consumer insights. For media agencies, we picked Carat Media for its crisp and clear execution of the planning and buying media strategy," he explains.

He adds that the upcoming ad campaign will comprise a well-balanced media mix of TV, digital (social media such as Facebook and Twitter), mobile marketing and brand activations/events.

In the past, Talwalkars has worked with small-sized agencies on a project basis. This development marks the first time the brand has brought a large media agency on board.

Vikisha Mehta, creative director at Guava Creative Solutions, tells afaqs! that the pitch process was largely creative-based -- strategic inputs accounted for only about 30 per cent of the process. "It was more of a creative test," she says, adding, "The upcoming communication will be fun and will introduce a fresh perspective in this seemingly boring category."

Henceforth, the objective for the brand is to bring about a change in the lives of people through fitness, diet, weight loss, nutrition, spa and aerobics. "The plan is to do so, based on our learnings and consumer insights, specifically the issue of what motivates a person to take time out and stay fit," Shakdher says.

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