Tuhina Anand
Advertising

Haier Telecom decides on its creative and media agency

While IB&W will handle the creative, the media duties for this Rs 25 crore business will be handled by Inter Network Kommunications

Haier Telecom, which was in the process of reviewing its Rs 25 crore advertising duties, has finally decided on the creative and media agencies.

IB&W has been selected to handle the creative duties and the AOR (agency on record) on this account is Inter Network Kommunications. Quite a few agencies presented their credentials, but only Dentsu, IB&W and K Factor participated in the creative pitch. For the media pitch, Dentsu, Grey Worldwide and Triton Communications were also in the fray.

On future plans and strategies, Arun Khanna, vice-chairman and managing director, Haier Telecom India, says, “We aim to be among the top brands in the Indian mobile handsets segment by the end of our first year of operations.”

The company has set a target to sell around 50 lakh handsets (both entry level as well as high end phones) in the first phase of its launch.

Namrata Suri, director, marketing and communications, Haier Telecom, says, “Our communication will focus upon the tagline, ‘Experience a New High’, to reach our TG and make Haier Mobiles a name to reckon within in the GSM category as we have already done in CDMA mobile phones.”

The communication will be largely print and television driven, but Suri reveals that 40 per cent of the estimated advertising budget will be earmarked for below-the-line (BTL) activities.

Avijit Dutt, COO and creative director, IB&W, says, “We moved a step ahead when, instead of just presenting our credentials, we provided three different creative routes for a mobile company.”

The agency also went and spoke to the target group for the brand. Dutt says, “This probably clicked and I can safely say that it is a coming together of like-minded people.”

Haier Telecom India is a 51:49 joint venture between the Haier Group and its Indian partner, Arun Khanna. The GSM and CDMA range of phones include a complete range from entry level to high end multimedia phones. The Haier mobile model D1000 has already been launched by Tata Teleservices with the ‘Don’t Stop Mobile’ scheme. It is currently in talks with one of the largest GSM operators in India to develop customised packages with Haier’s GSM handset range.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!

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