ICICI Prudential Life appoints MindShare as media agency

Private life insurance player ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has moved its media planning and buying account to MindShare. The account is estimated to be worth roughly Rs 20 crore. As agencyfaqs! readers would recall, this website had earlier reported that ICICI Prudential Life was evaluating its media AOR, which was being handled by Initiative. While there were some nine agencies that were initially in the fray, five agencies - MindShare, Starcom, MPG, Lodestar and incumbent Initiative - were called to make final presentations.

Speaking about MindShare's appointment, Abhishek Bhatia, head of marketing, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, says, "We decided on MindShare on the creativity of their approach, and their demonstration of application tools, research tools, planning skills and buying capabilities. We also found their team to be dedicated and sincere. Although ICICI Prudential Life Insurance won't be their biggest client, we found a fair amount of hunger in them to work on this account, and we would be one of their key clients." Bhatia added that MindShare seemed to be the most aligned with the company's specific needs.

While Bhatia clarified that the budget for different media platforms has not yet been finalized, he did mention that the budget for television would be increased. "Keeping aside the outdoor media, the ratio between television and print would be 60:40." He also said that the company was exploring options in the area of in-programme brand placement, but clarified that placements would be availed only where the placements fit in naturally, rather than forcefully. Citing an example, he said, "ICICI Bank was rightly fitted into the story of Baghban, where the lead character (played by Amitabh Bachchan) was a banker. We are looking forward to similar opportunities for brand placement."

Commenting on the win, Andre Nair, CEO, GroupM, South Asia, said, "We're very pleased that India's No 1 private life insurer has appointed us as their media partner - it's an achievement that speaks for itself. Through our interactions with the team, we've seen that ICICI Prudential places a premium on innovation and rigour, which is in conjunction with our approach to media investment." © 2004 agencyfaqs!