Contract bags creative duties for Saregama India

Last year, the music and home entertainment company’s media mandate lay with Initiative. The size of the business is estimated to be Rs 10-12 crore

Following a multi-agency pitch, Contract has bagged the creative duties for Saregama India, the music and home entertainment company. Saregama’s media mandate has been with Initiative since mid-2006. It is learnt that some six agencies, including Contract, made a pitch for the account.

The size of the business is estimated to be Rs 10-12 crore. A source close to the development says, “Contract was given the business on the basis of its strategy and understanding of the target group.” Contract is also believed to have displayed in-depth knowledge of the changing music consumption trends in India, chief of which is that music has become mobile as a result of emerging innovations such as iPods and MP3 players.

Contract bags creative duties for Saregama India

The source says that in this category, almost 40 per cent of the business is eaten up by piracy, which is one of the issues Contract will need to address. “Saregama is a pedigree brand, having been around for so long. However, it hasn’t capitalised fully on its strengths, which is where Contract will step in,” the source tells agencyfaqs! Some of Saregama’s strengths include its long-standing relationships with production houses and its huge music and home video archives.

The pitch process was supervised by Spatial Access Solutions, which is run by Meenakshi Madhvani.

The media mix is likely to include mass media (television, press, radio and outdoor) as well as BTL (Internet advertising, sponsorship of music events and PoP material). For the record, Saregama India has been around for more than a hundred years and provides home videos in addition to film music, devotional music, ‘ghazals’, classical music, IndiPop, world music, remixes and Bhangra.

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