Zenith Media gets Pass Pass and Catch spices

Zenith Media, the media specialist agency owned by Publicis and the Cordiant Communication Group, has bagged the media account of Catch spices and the Pass Pass mouth freshener brand of DS Foods, a subsidiary of the Rs 600-crore-plus DS Group. By virtue of this win, Zenith will be in-charge of both media planning and buying for these two brands. The media spend for the two brands is likely to run up to Rs 10 crore in the current financial year, according to agency sources.

When contacted, Vinit Khanna, head, marketing, DS Foods, said, "There were six agencies in the fray to begin with. We had the first round of presentations in December last. Then we took about four-and-a-half months to make our shortlist of two. Following that we asked them to make another set of presentations on their understanding of the consumer. Based on the presentations made during the two rounds, we have decided to go with Zenith."

Khanna, however, refused to name the six agencies that were in the running for the business. All he would say is, "We wanted to consolidate our media account with a specialist media house and we have been meeting all the leading media agencies in the last few months." For the record, Leo Burnett, Delhi, handles the creative account of DS Foods' Catch brand and Contract Advertising handles that of Pass Pass.

The AOR account moves from a small Delhi-based shop Alliance. Talking about the reason to go with Zenith, Khanna said, "First, we decided to move because we have stepped up our plans vis-à-vis the last fiscal. Second, we were looking for innovative inputs for handling media because both are FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) products and so the money has to be well spend. But rather than media optimisation models, we were looking at an agency with a good understanding of consumer behaviour. Our decision to give the business to Zenith Media is mainly based on the strategy they presented and tools they have used to bring in accountability to our media investment."

To put things in perspective, the 15-year-old Catch brand was extended to spices April last. Before that it was available in the table sprinkler avatar of popular condiments besides salt and pepper. The first set of commercials for Catch spices went on air on December 31, during the premiere of Hindi blockbuster Kaho Na Pyar Hai on Sony TV. Pass Pass, on its part, was launched in 1999. "The two accounts went straight to Alliance because it was handling our tobacco brands … in a sense it was a natural fit. Now that we are planning big, we thought it was time to take a relook," says Khanna.

This is a prize catch for Zenith too. In just about two years of its operations in India, the Delhi branch of Zenith Media has started working on some big-ticket accounts like Hyundai Motors, Nokia, LML Motorcycle, Ozone Ayurvedics, Dr Morepen etc. With this win, Zenith Media's Delhi branch will cross more than Rs 100-crore worth of billing this year. © 2002 agencyfaqs!