Lowe retains Unilever’s ‘top clean’ business for Asia

Lowe has managed to retain its share of business in Asia after Unilever called for a global pitch for detergent brands grouped under the positioning, ‘Dirt is Good’.

The four-month review, handled by the London-based Haystack Group, is said to be the biggest ever conducted by Unilever for a portfolio of brands with total sales of more than $2.5 billion, ranking just after Dove and Knorr in size.

While this category is branded as Surf Excel in some parts of Asia, including India, it is known as Breeze or Omo in some other Asian countries.

A leading international advertising portal had reported that Lowe had previously handled about two-thirds of the business of the ‘Dirt is Good’ detergent category, while JWT had handled the remainder.

The media report also said that though it was not clear how much Lowe’s portion of the newly divided account would be worth, it was believed to be small. Losing all its Unilever detergent business would have been a devastating blow for the beleaguered agency.

Clarifying on the media report, R Balkrishnan, national creative director, Lowe, India, says, “The global pitch has had no impact on Lowe Asia. The account continues to be the size it was before the pitch.”

Explaining the factors that helped Lowe retain the business in Asia, Balkrishnan says, “The communication for this brand has clicked well with people here. Our campaign on the ‘Dirt is Good’ slogan with the puddle war featuring two schoolchildren has received a favourable response from the viewers.”

Balkrishnan continues, “Asia is a growing market for the brand and retaining the business in this part of the continent is indicative of the good work of the agency.”

However, Lowe has lost the business in some parts of Europe to Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH). Besides Asia, Lowe continues to hold the business in parts of Latin America, including Brazil.

China is also in Lowe’s kitty. The brand is growing rapidly here.

JWT, who was handling the business in parts of Latin America and Europe, has lost the business to BBH, who will handle the global planning and strategic development of the brand.

With the restructuring of the business, Balkrishnan feels that Lowe will continue to come up with creative ideas and localise the idea to connect with the masses as it has been doing till now. Though they expect that with this change, Unilever will roll out a central idea or central strategy, the creative reins will rest secure in Lowe’s hands.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!