Bates picks up Rs 10-crore Arokya milk account

Following a multi-agency pitch held in Chennai last week, Bates India has won the creative account of Arokya, the flagship pasteurised milk brand of the Rs 400-crore public limited company, Hatsun Agro Product Limited. agencyfaqs! has learnt that Bates pipped contenders Lowe, O&M India and McCann-Erickson India to take possession of the estimated Rs 10-crore account. A senior executive with Bates confirmed the news of the pitch and the win to agencyfaqs!.

"Bates is pleased to work with one of the strong and upcoming brands in the country," he said. "Arokya is already a big brand in south India, especially so in Tamil Nadu. Now that the company is planning to take the brand to other parts of the country in a big way, it is clear the brand is on a growth path, and plans to become the category leader." The fact that Hatsun Agro is launching the Arokya brand in Kolkata in the next three months bears out the Bates executive's statement. For the record, Arokya is the largest-selling standardised milk in south India, and sells roughly 7 lakh litres a day. According to the company, by end-2004, the brand is expected to sell 10 lakh litres a day. Hatsun, which is billed as India's largest private sector dairy, is best known for ice cream brand Arun, the fourth-biggest ice cream brand in the country, by market share.

Interestingly for Bates - which does not have an office in Chennai - the news of the Arokya pitch came from sibling Zenith Media, which handles the brand's media account. "We heard that the client was exploring options of working with national agencies, and that some agencies had been identified," the Bates executive says. "We approached the client and asked him to give us an opportunity to present our thinking. We presented our work, and the client just loved the concept." The agency is particularly "thrilled" with the fact that it beat strong agencies with offices in the city. "This is exciting stuff and a great way to end the year." © 2003 agencyfaqs!