Bates Chennai wins CavinKare’s hair brands

Bates David Chennai has been roped in as creative partner for CavinKare’s shampoo brands, Chik and Meera. The FMCG company has planned an ad spend of Rs 25 crore for the two brands, and 80 per cent of the budget is taken up by television, which is the main media across the personal care category for the company. The rest is divided among print, outdoor and radio. This time around, the agency will also be required to consider Internet advertising as an option.

Bates won the business following a multi-agency pitch involving five agencies. Ramesh Viswanathan, executive director, CavinKare, says, “We had decided to look for a fresh perspective and a new look and feel for the two brands. With this association, we are sure that we will be able to take CavinKare forward in its quest to be an even larger player in the personal care category.”

Chik Shampoo is targeted at girls and women in rural and semi-urban India, and has variants such as Chik Black, Chik Jasmine, Chik Egg and Chik Cool. Meera, a herbal shampoo, is targeted at the same segment. Both brands were previously handled by O&M. This is the first time that Bates is handling these brands. G3 continues to handle Nyle Shampoo and Winter Care, Indica and Tex; Orchard will look after Fairever, Rubecon has Spinz, and O&M has been put in charge of CavinKare’s foods business. Mediaedge:cia was appointed as its AoR in the first quarter of this year.

The last TVC that was seen for Chik shampoo was in January 2007, and it was followed by a communication for Chik Anti-Dandruff shampoo. The last communication for Meera took place in the second half of 2006. The company is not looking for a change in the communication for Meera, as it has worked well for the brand, reveals Viswanathan. The new communication for the two brands will be seen in the first and second quarters of next year, respectively.

CavinKare has three distinct SBUs, personal care, foods and international business. The divisions operate on a diversified product portfolio like shampoo, fairness cream, deodorant and talc, masalas and ready mixes, hair dye and toilet cleaner, etc. CavinKare touched a turnover of more than Rs5,000 million in 2006-07.