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Four agencies in the shortlist for Hyundai AOR
In the shortlist for the Rs 60-crore business are Madison Media, Mediacom, defending agency Zenith Media and new entrant Optimum Media Solutions
When Hyundai Motors India (HMI) put its Rs 60-crore media business under review, four agencies - Media Planning Group, Madison Media, Mediacom and Optimedia - were invited to make presentations (as reported by agencyfaqs! on November 6, 2003). After some 30 days of evaluation, four agencies have been shortlisted, of which one is a new entrant. These include Madison Media, Mediacom, defending agency Zenith Media and new entrant Optimum Media Solutions.
The creative duties of HMI's various brands, however, continue to be serviced by the designated agencies under the following arrangement. Sports utility vehicle Terracan is with Grey Worldwide, which also services Accent. Luxury sedan Sonata is with Ambience Publicis. Santro, the flagship brand of HMI, continues to be with Saatchi & Saatchi. The entire portfolio is handled by the respective agency branches in Delhi.
The company is very particular about not branding this review as a pitch. That is because the whole purpose of the review is to identify interesting insights on the business that was being serviced by Zenith Media for the past six-odd years. And unless the presentations are "substantially superior", the account "may not be shifted from Zenith after all".
This move follows a series of developments at HMI this year. The company launched Terracan in August 2003, following it up with the relaunch of Santro in a new avatar - Santro Xing - and moving Sonata to Ambience Publicis.
Alongside these developments, HMI logged dramatically improves sales for Santro and Accent over the previous calendar year. Between January and October 2003, HMI recorded sales of 81,459 units of Santro. The number of units sold in the same period last year was 69,918. Accent sold 3,541 more units over calendar year 2002 (16,687 units). Sales of Sonata, however, have dipped this calendar year. Between January and October this year, the company sold 1,148 units as against 1,953 sold between January and October 2002. Terracan has sold 128 units since its launch in August. © 2003 agencyfaqs!