Aditya Chatterjee
Advertising

TCL India scouting for agency with Rs 50 cr ad-budget

The company is targeting a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore in 2005

Chinese food and Chinese goods have long been a part of our lives. Especially the latter, with cheap Made-in-China electronic goods flooding every gully stall. And while the grey market has long thrived on goodies from The Great Wall, it’s time for the real thing.

After Haier’s high-profile entry, comes TCL Corporation, the Rs 216 billion Chinese electronic goods company. Just three months into their Indian sojourn, TCL India Holdings PVT Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of TCL Corporation, is all set to launch its exhaustive line of electronics and white goods this year.

The company has already launched its CTVs, which, it claims has garnered a 3 per cent market share. With a Rs 100-crore manufacturing unit coming up near Hyderabad, the company will produce, besides a range of CTVs, DVD players, home theatre equipment, home appliances, refrigerators, airconditioners, washing machines, computers, lap tops, digital cameras and mobile phones. Among its recent international acquisitions are Thomson, RCA, GO Video, Schneider and ROWA.

“We are the largest manufacturers of CTVs in the world, producing 22 millon sets annually. We have a strong team of 40 R&D engineers already working in India to develop products suited to the local market and have a 3,000-strong dealer network in India already,” says Ramon Wang Chunquan, senior manager, marketing, TCL India. The company has a reasonably strong presence in Karnataka already.

And to create the right splash, the company is scouting for agencies that will come up with the perfect brand communication. Confluence Communication has been handling the TCL account and while the company seems pleased with the agency’s work, the hunt is on for fresh ideas in the new product categories.

“We have already spent around Rs 4.5 crore in brand communication over the past three months and are happy with Confluence Communication’s output. But in keeping with the new launches and our growth strategy, we intend to spend Rs 50 crore in this calendar year (which is January-December 2005) and are on the lookout for new perspectives,” says Wang.

The lion’s share of the ad budget has been earmarked for CTVs as the company believes that this is the category that defines growth for any electronic goods company in India.

“We are looking for agencies with considerable experience in handling the categories, creativity, responsiveness and media-buying skills. And needless to say, coming up with the perfect brand communication is a must,” says Wang. The company is also on the lookout for a corporate communication agency in keeping with its aggressive expansion mode. TCL is targeting a turnover of Rs 800-crore in 2005.

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