Law & Kenneth bags Rs 15-crore Cox & Kings business

Following a multi-agency pitch, Law & Kenneth has bagged the creative duties for Cox & Kings. This includes the mother brand as well as a new venture that the company plans to launch soon. The media duties are being handled by Group M’s Mediaedge:cia

Confirming this development to agencyfaqs!, Peter Kerkar, group CEO, Cox & Kings, says, “Last year, we spent around Rs 15 crore, but this year, the advertising spends may increase as some new ventures are in the offing.”

When asked why they were changing agencies, Kerkar says, “Every two or three years, we review our creative duties as we believe that it provides a fresh perspective to our communication strategy. However, I would also like to add that our previous agency, David, has done an excellent job.”

Kerkar clarifies that it was the personal chemistry between the agency and the company that won Law & Kenneth the business.

“Besides, Law & Kenneth has provided a fresh perspective to the creatives. We found the team to be very aggressive in their approach,” explains Kerkar.

The other agencies in the fray were Contract, Rediffusion DY&R and the incumbent agency, David.

Cox and Kings has different tour properties such as ‘Duniya Dekho’ (world tours), Bharat Dekho (India tours) and Luxury Escape. According to Anil K Nair, vice-president, strategic planning, Law & Kenneth, the strategy is to create a separate identity for each of these properties, besides promoting Cox & Kings as the umbrella brand.

When asked whether there would be a change in creative strategy with the change in brand custody, Nair says, “We will do some out of the box creatives to promote Cox and Kings as a huge travel brand, which will portray a certain set of values in a price-driven competitive market. But we will also stick to the basic principles of tourism advertising.”

Nair further comments, “Generally, tourism ads are perceived to follow a catalogue format, but it is also a need of the category.”

“During the travel season, consumers are keen to know in detail about the various packages that a travel company offers. So, we have decided that while we will stick primarily to the conventional form during the two travel seasons in India – Diwali and the summer holidays – we will also try to further strengthen the mother brand, Cox and Kings, which has just completed 250 years,” he says.

Nair adds, “We want to create multiple touch points to remind consumers about the Cox & Kings brand.”

For the record, Cox & Kings is one of the world’s longest established travel companies; it organises high-quality group tours, private journeys and tailor-made itineraries to many of the world’s most fascinating regions. It has several packages for both inbound and outbound tourists.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!