FCB-Ulka wins Rs 7-8-crore HCL Beanstalk account

Following a multi-agency pitch, FCB-Ulka has won the estimated Rs 7-8 crore advertising account of Beanstalk, the premium home PC from HCL. According to information available with agencyfaqs!, as many as six agencies were asked to make presentations before the company brass. These included Ideas, Grey Worldwide, RK Swamy/BBDO, Triton Communications, rmg david and, of course, FCB-Ulka. RKSwamy/BBDO and FCB-Ulka made it to the final round. Lodestar will handle the media duties of Beanstalk, which was with Zenith Media earlier.

Spelling out the role of the agency, Sachin Thapar, marketing manager, HCL Infosystems, says, "The brief to the agency is to come up with a brand turnaround strategy for Beanstalk." A turnaround is clearly the need of the hour for Beanstalk, India's first home computer, launched way back in 1995. While Beanstalk was an instant success, over the years, the landscape of the home PC segment saw a total makeover. Multinational brands came and began ruling the market as homegrown brands were quietly pushed to the margins.

Currently, 23 lakh computers are sold in the country every year. The home PC segment, selling a little more than 8 lakh units, constitutes about 36 per cent of this. While the bulk of the home PC segment (80 per cent) is in the control of the grey market, the remaining 20 per cent is owned by branded PCs. Compaq Presario leads this segment and is followed by Beanstalk, Zenith etc.

Against this background, HCL's decision to appoint an agency and rethink its marketing strategy is clearly aimed at strengthening its brand proposition. Thapar points out, "The market has become mature and consumers are realising the value of a branded home PC." Thapar indicates that Beanstalk's communication will not remain limited to print as before; it will soon roll out a full-fledged multi-media campaign.

To know more about how FCB-Ulka swung the business, watch this space. © 2003 agencyfaqs!