Law & Kenneth bags Bharti AXA Investment Managers

Savia Jane Pinto | agencyfaqs! | Mumbai, February 05, 2008
Bharti AXA

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Investment Managers has made its choice – Law & Kenneth is to handle its creative duties. agencyfaqs! had reported in October that Bharti AXA was looking for a creative agency. Four agencies participated in the pitch process, which took nearly three months.

Nanda Kishore Sethuraman, head, marketing, Bharti AXA Investment Managers, declined to say which other agencies had participated in the pitch, but confirmed that the freshness that Law & Kenneth had brought to the table was what helped them make the decision.

Nanda Kishore Sethuraman

“We did not present a regular launch campaign to Bharti AXA, but an entire brand strategy,” says Anil Nair, president, Law & Kenneth. Having handled a financial player earlier would have been a plus for the creative agency, but though Law & Kenneth has never handled a mutual fund company before, it does handle the communication for ICICI Bank’s personal loans and business loans.

Sethuraman says, “The young team and the enthusiasm that bubbled through showed us tremendous promise in how we wanted Bharti AXA to go ahead.” It was Law & Kenneth’s holistic approach that earned it the business.

When agencyfaqs! reported the story in October, the size of the business was in the vicinity of Rs 10 crore. Since then, there have been major changes in the regulations imposed by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India), including caps on the mutual fund companies’ spending levels. As a result, Sethuraman could not confirm Bharti AXA’s proposed ad spends.

Nair says, “Apart from the traditional media, we will look at digital communication. This will lay emphasis on both the Internet and mobile.” Television and print will also be used. The out of home media will extend beyond just billboards.

Bharti AXA Investment Managers is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and AXA Investment managers (AXA IM) and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA APH), which was announced in September 2007. Bharti’s life insurance joint venture with AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd (AXA) is Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company. Contract Advertising is in charge of its creative duties.

© 2008 afaqs!

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