Leo Burnett wins advertising business worth Rs 9 crore

Leo Burnett, Delhi, has bagged three new accounts - 3 Lions, the recently launched beer brand of South African Breweries, India Post, from the Department of Post and Schneider Electric - adding Rs 9 crore to its billing. While the 3 Lions and India Post advertising businesses are estimated at Rs 3 crore and Rs 2 crore respectively, the Schneider Electric account is worth Rs 4 crore.

All the three accounts were the result of multi-agency pitches. Sources at Leo Burnett told agencyfaqs! there were eight to nine agencies in the first round of the presentation for 3 Lions. While the names of the agencies in the fray are not known, the final round included presentations from Leo Burnett, Contract and Saatchi & Saatchi. The agencies were asked to make a strategy-cum-creative presentation with a detailed package on below-the-line activities.

But what really worked for Leo Burnett was its ‘right attitude'. "South African Breweries was looking for a young and dynamic agency that can go "wolf-packing" with it while it launches its brands in India. In LB they found the right attitude," says Manish Sinha, associate account director, strategic planning, Leo Burnett, Delhi.

The Rs 22,000-crore South African Breweries produces beer brands such as Castle Lager, Carling Black Label, Hansa Pilsner and Lion Lager. The company will shortly launch its other popular brand Castle Lager in India. For now, the emphasis is on 3 Lions. The brand, priced at Rs 40, was recently launched in Lucknow. The idea is to make 3 Lions a national brand in a few months' time. In a matter of three weeks, the company plans to cover all the major towns in Uttar Pradesh and then move on to Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

The India Post business was certainly the most sought after. In total, 60 agencies pitched for India Post and 20 agencies were shortlisted. Of these12 presented their case in the final round. "We pitched for the Greeting Post, Business Post and Speedpost part of the business - all of which come under India Post," says Sinha of Leo Burnett, Delhi, which is now among the five agencies empanelled for the account. The other four agencies are Ushak Kaal, Mode, Rashtriya and Graphic Ads. The media is primarily skewed towards press. The print campaign on Greeting Post would break around Diwali in all the major dailies and magazines.

The Schneider account saw most of the big agencies vying for it. Apart from Leo Burnett, Delhi, there was Rediffusion, O&M, Grey Worldwide, Mudra and RK Swamy/BBDO in the fray. Sinha says, "The pitch was a strategy, creative and media presentation based on a case study on Mini Circuit Breakers of Merlin Gerin and Protec25 (the two major brands of Schneider)."

Winning an account like Schneider requires a completely different approach from a consumer product. So how did LB, which is strong on FMCG products, make it? Explains Atika Malik, vice-president, strategic planning, Leo Burnett, Delhi, "The client was looking for an agency that had some expertise in industrial marketing. Though we do not have major industrial engineering clients, yet LB has a very sound Strategic Planning Cell with its own battery of proprietary Burnett Precision Tools. These are projective techniques that we have used with remarkable success to create brand success stories out of Thums Up, Bajaj Caliber, Complan etc. And we have consistently produced the most relevant consumer insights for all categories - be it FMCGs or consumer durables. It was this strength of ours which clinched the account in our favour."

Leo Burnett, Delhi will be handling the entire Schneider product range. Internationally, Schneider Electric SA has four brands: Merlin Gerin, Modicon, Square D and Telemecanique. With its recent acquisition of the Crompton & Greaves business in India it has added Protec25 to its portfolio.

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