Shamni Pande
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Contract, Bangalore, wins Planet Fashion and Trouser Town accounts

The two Madura Garments brands move from JWT and are expected to add Rs 3 crore to Contract’s billing

Contract, Bangalore, seems to have got it right as far as Madura Garments is concerned. Close on the heels of winning the Louis Philippe account, the agency has bagged two other brands from the company - Planet Fashion and Trouser Town - in a two-way pitch. Planet Fashion and Trouser Town are retail store brands from Madura Garments, the advertising for which was handled by JWT, Bangalore, earlier. Confirming the news, Dipak Marwah, senior vice-president, Contract, told agencyfaqs!, "We have bagged the account and we have started working on them."

The company reportedly had called only two agencies - Contract and Mudra - for the pitch, which happened two months ago. The reason, it is learnt, was to go with an agency it is working with already.

The two Madura Garments brands are expected to add Rs 3 crore to Contract's billing. agencyfaqs! has also learnt that the brief for the agencies was "to show the way forward" for the company's two-year old retail store brands. "These brands were launched by the company keeping in mind the preference of consumers for large-format stores, and since it has a host of brands, a retail venture to present all its brands under one roof made sense," Marwah said.

Incidentally, Planet Fashion has over 30 stores across the country, and is the classic large format store stocking all the company's brands. On its part, Trouser Town has over 10 stores across the country and here, the accent is more on the trouser brands from the company.

Clearly, the company's plan is to "consolidate the brands' presence and increase the number of stores across the country". It seems Contract had presented "a 360-degree communication solution" for the brands including direct marketing, merchandising and media. "Most of the mass media work is likely to be in print," says Marwah.

Post this realignment, the agency combination for Madura Garments stands as follows. While JWT will continue to handle the Van Heusen account, O&M will service Allen Solly, Mudra will work for Peter England and Byford, Fisheye will be the custodian of San Frisco, and Contract will shape the destiny of Louis Philippe, apart from the two retail store brands it has just picked up. © 2003 agencyfaqs!

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