Tata Infotech on the prowl; 10 agencies invited for the pitch

Tata Infotech has invited 10 agencies to pitch for the Rs 8-10 crore advertising account of its education services division. The first round of presentations begin soon

Tata Infotech, part of the $ 9-billion Tata Group, has invited 10 agencies to pitch for the estimated Rs 8-10 crore advertising account of its education services division. The first round of presentations begins in the first week of July. The 10 agencies invited are HTA, Lintas, Mudra, O&M, Grey, FCB Ulka, McCann, MAA Bozell, Ushak Kaal, and, of course, the incumbent agency Joint & Arms. Of these, seven agencies - including Lintas, Mudra, Grey, McCann, MAA Bozell, Ushak Kaal and Joint & Arms - have confirmed their participation so far.

On June 1, invitation letters were sent to these agencies with a brief on what they are expected to focus on during the presentation. To give an idea of the brief, here's an excerpt from the letter: "In order to promote our product - G Tech in the market place…" the need is to present the course "…in a forceful and effective manner to our target consumer, which is the student… We are looking forward to an agency to put forth the communication to the target audience in a unique and different manner vis-à-vis the conventional way of the industry." With this in mind, the agencies have to present an "…. innovative campaign relevant to today's environment of uncertainty in the IT industry."

Elaborating on the brief, Mahesh Chadha, head, worldwide sales & marketing, Tata Infotech education services division, said, "The company is looking for a fresh way of talking about Tata Infotech. There are two issues here. First, a serious and effective communication is needed for Tata Infotech to give it top-of-mind recall among students trying to make a career decision. Second, today a lesser number of students are opting for IT-related careers because of the uncertainty in this industry. Factors like the dotcom bust, the Nasdaq crash, job cuts in IT companies have made students very apprehensive. Hopefully, the new strategy we are working on will address this mindset problem successfully."

Tata Infotech is all charged up to take on the challenge ahead. The ad spend has been hiked to Rs 8-10 crore from Rs 5 crore last year. Priya Hora, senior executive, advertising, Tata Infotech education services division,explains, "So far, the focus of our communication has been on the print meduim. However, to make the brand Tata Infotech synonymous with IT, print is not an adequate medium. Television and radio too can be used cost effectively to drum up the message."

Talking about her expectations from the new agency, she says, "We would certainly prefer a large agency with a national presence because we have centres across the country. The advantage is that there will be consistency in communication since co-ordinating with our centres outside Delhi will be easier. Briefly, an agency which is geared up to meet our growing needs strategically is what we are looking at."

Tata Infotech, is one of the bigger information technology companies in the Tata Group, in which Tata Sons has a 76 per cent stake (the balance 24 per cent is held by the Indian public). The education services division started operations in 1992 and is headquartered in Delhi. In total, there are around 200 centres across the country with a student strength of 15,000. The company plans to increase the number of centres to 400 by 2002.

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