Onida awards Rs 5-crore washing machine business to Lemon

Mirc Electronics, the Rs 750-crore manufacturer of the Onida brand of consumer durables, has awarded Lemon with the advertising account of Onida's washing machine range. The decision to go with Lemon is the result of the pitch that was called for by the company earlier in February. It may be recalled that back then, Onida had invited six agencies (Contract Advertising, Bates India, Lemon, McCann-Erickson India, St Luke's and chlorophyll) to pitch for its washing machine and air-conditioner accounts, apart from its Igo range of ‘economy' CTVs and VCDs. In the end of February, this website had reported that Onida had awarded the air-conditioner and washing machine accounts to McCann.

As it turns out, while Onida had indeed awarded air-conditioners to McCann, a concrete decision on washing machines had not been arrived at. "Initially, we wanted to consolidate all the businesses with one agency," V Chandramouli, vice-president, sales & marketing, Mirc Electronics, informed agencyfaqs! this morning. "However, as we had liked the presentation of both McCann and Lemon, we finally decided to award washing machines to Lemon." Ascribing reasons for backing Lemon, Chandramouli adds, "There were two things about Lemon that impressed us. One was the passion and commitment that the agency displayed, starting from the senior level of management. The other was the manner in which Lemon integrated the process of strategy and creative in their presentation."

Following this decision, here's what Onida's agency roster looks like. While Lemon has washing machines, McCann is in charge of air-conditioners and the Igo range. O&M continues to handles the Onida range of CTVs, while MindShare has the AOR. Chandramouli reveals that the washing machine business will have an annualized billing of Rs 4-5 crore, while air-conditioners and the Igo range, put together, will see billing to the tune of Rs 15 crore.

Needless to say, Ravi Deshpande, head of Lemon, is ecstatic. "It is absolutely fantastic adding a large and respected durables brand to the agency portfolio," he says. "I think it stands as a reinforcement of our capabilities." He adds that the agency had worked hard during the pitch, "and it's good to see all that effort is paying off". Speaking about the communication for washing machines, Deshpande says, "Going by the washing machine advertising you see in the media, the challenge will be to create excitement in a category where lots and lots of energy needs to be added." He, however, chooses not to be drawn into details. All he offers is that the advertising for Onida should be visible "very soon". © 2003 agencyfaqs!