Starcom is now AOR for Honda City and Accord

Last month, agencyfaqs! ran an article Carat wins Honda Siel Cars AOR (May 13). There have been some important developments since then.

Officials at Honda Siel indicate the AOR for Honda City and Accord "would be" shifted to Starcom, Delhi. While there is a definite element of futurity to that statement, informal conversations with company official suggest Starcom will be the media agency for Honda Siel Cars sooner than later. For the record, Dhar & Hoon continues to service the creative part of the Honda Siel business.

While the size of the media business is not known, one can safely infer - since the size of the Honda Siel AOR with Carat is currently pegged at Rs 6-8 crore - the business would not be worth anything less.

But then what happens to Carat, the agency the company hired recently? According to the company source, the media independent would retain the AOR for the corporate account of Honda Siel. But one is not sure till when. When urged to reveal why this sudden change of mind, the company executive said, "Starcom has a tie up with the Dentsu Young & Rubicam group. Internationally, in some countries, Starcom handles the Honda Siel Cars AOR." But he was not able to specify which markets.

To explain the connection, Dentsu took an equity stake in the Bcom3 Group in March 2000. Bcom3, the world's seventh largest marketing communications group, and includes the Chicago-based Leo Burnett, the New York-based D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles network and the Starcom MediaVest Group. That may explain the Dentsu connection with Starcom.

While the Honda official made it clear "the official appointment of Starcom by Honda Siel is yet to come by", one thing is for sure: The automotive company is scaling up its operations in India. Honda Siel recently marked its entry in the SUV (sports utility vehicle) segment with the Honda CRV and two more launches are lined up for this financial year. © 2003 agencyfaqs!