Ashwini Gangal
Advertising

Audi and Creativeland Asia part ways

The agency has handled the account in India since 2010.

Audi and Creativeland Asia part ways
Sources from the agency confirm the news to afaqs! and tell us this is partly because the agency is not keen on doing 'adaptation work' for the brand.

"We have decided to split with Audi. A lot of the communication one creates for a luxury car brand that is based overseas, is merely adapted work. Which means, Indian agencies are often left with the mandate of adapting global campaigns because of which, sometimes, creative folk tend to feel the scope for original work is limited," says a source, on grounds of anonymity.

Audi's association with Creativeland Asia began in 2010. The agency has since created some memorable work for the brand in India, an example of which is the award-winning integrated 3D campaign for Audi's luxury sedan, the Audi A8 L, in 2011. The campaign carried the tagline 'The Advanced State of Mind' and applied psychologist Abraham Maslow's 'hierarchy of needs' theory to reinterpret the luxury car segment.

Around the end of 2012 Audi initiated a dialogue with agencies in the creative, digital, CRM (customer relationship management) and events space, in an effort to map the regional landscape for the brand's communication and marketing plans in emerging markets. The brand's focus, afaqs! learned at the time, was on India as well as other Asian and West Asian markets.

However, after several leading agencies got in touch with the brand team and pitched for the account, the business remained with Creativeland Asia. Until now, that is.

Our sources go on to tell us that Creativeland Asia will soon replace the Audi-shaped hole in its client list with another leading luxury car brand, if it hasn't already.

Few days back afaqs! reported that BMW India had initiated a creative review. The process is still underway.

Which brings us to the third leading name in the Indian luxury car space - Mercedes-Benz. The brand has been working with R K Swamy BBDO for its creative and digital work in this market.

For the record, Audi set up its own sales company in India in 2007, as a division of Volkswagen Group Sales India.

Currently, Audi leads the luxury car race in the Indian market. Over the past year, the company sold over 10,000 units, a feat that took it to the No. 1 position in its category, followed by Mercedes and BMW. In fact, Audi's 2013 sales figures show a growth of 11 per cent, when compared to the previous year's sales figures.

Creativeland Asia is headed by its founder and creative chairperson, Sajan Raj Kurup.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com