Dentsu Marcom pockets Sony Ericsson

Following a multi-agency pitch, Dentsu Marcom has been awarded the Rs 8-10-crore advertising account (both creative and media) of mobile phone manufacturer, Sony Ericsson. The names of the participating agencies, however, could not be ascertained. Confirming the development, Sudhin Mathur, general manager, Sony Ericsson, says, "We enjoyed a good relationship with Lowe; however, as the mobile phone industry is growing, so are the challenges. And among the three agencies that were called to make presentations, Dentsu Marcom's strategy fitted in well with our expansion plans." Dentsu Marcom won the advertising business on the back of a strategy-cum-creative presentation.

agencyfaqs! readers would recall our article in February where we had reported that the estimated Rs 8-crore creative duties of Sony Ericsson, which was with Lowe, has been put under review. In the same report, we had also mentioned that Biswajit Pandey, then senior brand executive at Lowe, had put in his papers at the agency, and was headed for the new Japanese force in town, Dentsu Marcom. With Sony Ericsson, Dentsu, which opened its office in December 2003 with the Honda Motor business, has clearly got off to a flying start. Vis-à-vis Sony Ericsson, the task at hand for Dentsu Marcom, says Rajesh Aggarwal, COO, Dentsu Marcom, "…is to bring the brand to the forefront, and accelerate the growth of Sony Ericsson in India."

With the competition producing India-specific brand communication and pushing individual models aggressively, a fresh communication strategy is definitely the need of the hour at Sony Ericsson. For close to two years now, the mobile phone manufacturer has been keeping a low profile in the country, although at the time of awarding the business to Lowe, it had announced some ambitious plans in India. The T68i, the first Sony-Ericsson branded mobile phone, was touted as the brand image driver for the company in India, and in that context, the communication task for Lowe, then, was to drive home Sony Ericsson's association with innovative technology. While association of the brand with innovative technology would remain an important element in the brand communication, the entire story will only unfold in the coming weeks. © 2004 agencyfaqs!