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It’s deemed quite normal when a client decides to shift his business to another agency. But how about a client who’s changed five agencies in just a year? To know more, read on
Euro RSCG, which bagged the Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinic business in February 2006, is no longer working on the account. The creative duties for Dr Batra’s will now be handled in-house by the client, with media releases and occasional creative inputs coming in from Dattaram Advertising. That’s all very well, but this is the fifth time that Dr Batra’s has changed agencies in just a year.
For those of you who are new to Dr Batra’s ‘agency list’, here goes. JWT took charge of the brand from January 2005 for a brief period of two months. The business then landed in the lap of Dattaram Advertising, which handled the business till June 2005.
Then Dr Batra’s decided to ‘go in for a bigger agency’ and called for a creative pitch. Dentsu Marcom, Euro RSCG, O&M, Lowe, Concept, Percept H, Rediffusion DY&R and Mudra reportedly took part in the pitch process. Dentsu clinched the account after a close fight with Euro. It went on to become the agency of record (AOR) from July 1, 2005, till January 31, 2006 – seven months in all.
It was then that the business was passed on to Euro RSCG because Dr Batra’s was ‘dissatisfied with the way Dentsu performed on the brand’. Dentsu, however, had a different story to tell. According to its officials, issues of outstanding payments despite repeated reminders left them with no choice but to walk out of the business. Euro RSCG stepped in at that point.
And now, here comes the grand finale. After just two months of working on the business, Euro RSCG, too, has walked out of Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinic business. Sources there cite ‘lack of chemistry’ as the reason.
A source from Euro RSCG, who does not wish to be named, says, “The client is like a bird, flitting from one agency to the next. The problem is that he is dissatisfied with whatever work an agency produces. Since the chemistry wasn’t working between us and Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinic, we thought it was time to call it a day.”
The miffed source adds that Euro RSCG was asked to produce typical ‘Classifieds’ kind of work, which the agency didn’t feel would propel the brand forward. And that’s when the dispute arose.
Officials at Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinic are tight-lipped about the whole issue and refused to comment when agencyfaqs! contacted them.
Tarun Rai, senior vice-president and general manager, JWT, Mumbai, talks about JWT’s experience with the brand. He says diplomatically, “We didn’t have any payment issues or any dissatisfaction problems. The client and JWT mutually decided to part ways. That’s all I can say.”
Well, it seems that Dattaram Advertising is what Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinic is finally settling down with. After flirting with the other agencies, it has now gone back to pavilion for a second stint with Dattaram. The question is, for how long?
© 2006 agencyfaqs!