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Pickle Lintas, Taproot India win DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund
Ad spends for the brand are estimated at Rs 12-15 crore annually. JWT was the incumbent
Following a multi agency pitch, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund, a rather new entrant in the mutual fund services space, has brought on board two agencies to handle its creative mandate - Pickle Lintas India and Taproot India. JWT was the incumbent on the business.
According to sources, the pitch involved six agencies, namely, Pickle Lintas, Taproot India, JWT, Triton, Rediffusion Y&R and McCann Erickson. Ad spends for the brand are estimated at Rs 12-15 crore annually. The pitch was called for in June, and was solely a creative one; the media mandate is with Motivator.
According to a DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund spokesperson, "The customer preferences in this segment are evolving and are vastly different from what they were 10 years ago. We briefed the agencies to present their thinking on the challenges we face as a brand, an understanding of the market and category, and what can be done to expand it."
After all, mutual funds constitute about 4 per cent of the overall financial services gamut, and people don't fully understand what a mutual fund can do for their savings. "It is a nascent industry and it is only now that people are getting aware of it," adds the spokesperson.
A good mix of ATL (above the line) and BTL (below-the-line) shall be employed in the media plan, although outdoor and print are likely to continue to be the main drivers for the brand, sources add.
The exact split of the creative duties between Pickle and Taproot is yet to be defined. Santosh Padhi, co-founder and chief creative officer, Taproot India, tells afaqs!, "Before we presented, we conducted market research to understand the category and what sort of communication is needed at this point."
Padhi and his team at Taproot have, earlier in their careers, worked on several financial brands including Reliance Capital.
For the record, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund has products such as equity schemes, hybrid schemes, fixed income schemes, funds of funds schemes and fixed maturity plans.