Carat wins Honda Siel Cars AOR

The resignation of Meenakshi Madhvani was followed by a spurt bad news for Carat. Two of the agency's biggest accounts - Asian Paints and Cadbury - were put under review. While a decision on the new agency for these two accounts is pending, for Carat, the lean patch seems to be coming to an end after all.

The Delhi branch of Carat has won the estimated Rs 6-8 crore AOR for Honda Siel Cars, a joint venture between Honda Motor Co Ltd, Japan, and Siel Ltd, India. This development was confirmed by official sources at Honda Siel Cars. Interestingly, the move is not the result of a multi-agency pitch.

Speaking on behalf of the company, a senior official said, "I have been in this industry for long and had two/three people in my mind. Carat was one of them. I have known people at Carat and the agency has been doing good work. So we decided to go with Carat. Carat too wanted to work with the Honda brand."

The AOR of Honda Siel Cars moves from Dhar & Hoon. While the agency was handling both the creative and media duties for Honda Siel, very little of the advertising was visible in the mass media in the last one year. In any case, even after the move of the AOR, the creative business of the automobile company will remain with Dhar & Hoon.

As things stand now, Honda Seil Cars wants to be in news this year. The company recently marked its entry in the SUV (sports utility vehicle) segment with the Honda CRV. The company has lined up two more launches this financial year. One can expect some action in the mass media from the company after all.

Sulina Menon, CEO, Carat, also informs that the agency has won two more accounts in the recent past - the Sri Lanka-based Dilmah Tea (which would be launched in India soon) and the media business of German cosmetics group Beiersdorf AG (best known internationally for its Nivea and Elastoplast brands) - which would add another Rs 6 crore to the agency's billing this year. © 2003 agencyfaqs!