ONGC calls for pitch; first round over

State-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of India is looking for an advertising agency to hand over its Rs 1.5-2 crore advertising account. The account was earlier split between five agencies - Interads Advertising, Airads, Akshara Advertising, Sikha and Sulekha Advertising.

While ONGC officials were not available for comment, information available with agencyfaqs! indicates the public sector oil major had put up a notice in leading national newspapers in April this year soliciting ‘applications' for an invitation to pitch for the business. While the number of agencies that applied for the business is not known, what is certain is that 18 agencies were shotlisted to present their case in the first round.

The brief for the shortlisted agencies, it seems, was to make a credentials presentation accompanied with three case studies. This particular round got over about 10 days ago. Among those that pitched in this round were some Top 10 agencies including numero uno JWT India, Mudra Communications besides TBWAAnthem. The whole selection process is being conducted with the help of Shunu Sen's brand consultancy outfit Quadra Advisory. Agency officials seem to believe there would be another round in September-October before a new set of agencies is empanelled by ONGC.

While not much is known about the plans of ONGC on the advertising front, senior industry sources say this move is part of a bigger plan to keep pace with competition. As an industry observer puts it, "Given the profile of the agencies that were invited for the presentation, one would assume ONGC is trying to go beyond the tender-notice type of advertising they have been doing so long. In fact, if industry sources are anything to go by, ONGC is planning to launch a branded initiative for the end consumer, something like the current initiative of Bharat Petroleum (BP)."

To put things in perspective, BP has recently entered the value-added branded fuels market with Speed. Positioned as "new generation, high performance petrol", Speed is a blend of petrol and multi-functional additives, sourced from Chevron Oronite Company LLC, a ChevronTexaco company. With this initiative, BP has successfully introduced the concept of branding in a trade that was, until now, largely a commodity business.

It is against this backdrop that the latest efforts of ONGC assume significance. To elaborate, competition in the oil industry is getting furious with most players launching high profile brand building initiatives. Take BPCL's Speed, which is not just about bringing another new product into the market. The sequence of events, in the last year, reveals a well-conceived and thought through marketing strategy adopted by the company to address some specific consumer needs. While the entire oil industry was struggling with the malaise of adulteration, BP took the first step to address the issue with its Pure for Sure programme. According to the company, before getting into the business of providing value add-ons, the customer deserved the right quality and quantity of the product.

Today, the Pure for Sure promise has been executed in more than 1,000 Bharat Petroleum retail outlets. As a step forward, Bharat Petroleum has taken the decision to market Speed only from its Pure for Sure certified retail outlets. Not to be left behind, rival Hindustan Petroleum (HP) has unveiled its Club HP programme with great fanfare, propped up by a high profile advertising campaign by JWT India.

Thus, with competition getting increasingly marketing savvy, a serious rethink by ONGC towards brand building appears not just necessary, but imperative. © 2002 agencyfaqs!