Contract high on Seagram; wins Rs 10-crore worth of new business

Contract is on a high. It has lapped up three major accounts - two new brands from Seagram's, besides the Dabur Glucose and General Electric (GE) corporate recruitment business. The three businesses together is likely to up the agency's billings by about Rs 10 crore.

The two brands from Seagram's liquor portfolio came the agency's way following a strategy-cum-creative pitch. Contract has been awarded the creative part of the business; Maximize, which currently handles the AOR account of other Seagram brands, will handle the AOR accounts of the two new brands as well.

The GE corporate recruitment business was won after a full-fledged pitch. The agencies in the contention included Lowe, Publicis, McCann-Erickson and The Hive. Contract won Dabur's Glucose business after a strategy-cum-creative presentation.

Both Contract and Seagram's are quite excited about the two brands in the pipeline. "After researching the category we had shared our learnings and thought processes with Contract and then asked them to make a presentation," says Sumeet Lamba, vice-president marketing, Seagram Manufacturing. "Contract's presentation was outstanding. The agency had worked in tandem with our marketing department and its thought process was very much in line with ours', " Lamba adds.

The company refused to be drawn into any discussion on the impending launches. In the same vein, Mohit Hira, senior vice-president, Contract Advertising, Delhi, says, "We cannot name the brands or the category as this is confidential." Nonetheless, he said, the agency has worked on the brand names and the label design through DesignSutra, its design cell. "Incidentally, the two brands will be completely developed by Seagram in India from the concept to surface graphics. It is a matter of immense pride for Contract to be part of this historic process," remarks Mohit Hira.

With Contract on board, Seagram now has two agencies on its panel. As things stand now, O&M has the chunk of Seagram's business, which is in the range of Rs 12-15 crore. It has all the brands except those in the Rum and Brandy category, including Seagram's Royal Stag, 100 Pipers, Blender's Pride, Chivas Regal, Imperial Blue and Glenlivet.

With alcohol advertising banned in mass media, the company has no option but to resort to surrogate advertising. Royal Stag, for example, is promoted through the sponsorship of movie-related activities and Indian pop music under the banners Royal Stag Mega Movies and Royal Stag Mega Music. The brand 100 Pipers is supported by a series of performance by fusion music artists (like Aman Ali Bangash and Shivraman) under the 100 Pipers Pure Music banner, and Blenders' Pride by a series of performances from troop dancers and artists under Blenders' Pride Magical Nites. While it is not clear how the two new brands would be promoted, it is evident there will be a lot of emphasis on ground-level-activities.

Talking about the GE corporate recruitment business, Contract's Hira says, "The best part of the recruitment business is that the response is instant. And it has a huge impact on the image of the company. Our objective thus is to make GE the employer of choice." The agency would be leveraging the expertise of JWT's Specialised Communication Division to understand the recruitment business better. The advertising will be print driven and the company hopes to lay a lot of emphasis on below-the-line activities.

Finally, Dabur's Glucose is the fifth Dabur brand on Contract's roster. The others are Lal Tail, Real Active, Baby Olive Oil, and Janma Ghunti. The task for Contract is to establish Dabur's Glucose as the ‘new age' glucose. "We have associated a lot of zing and energy with the brand. And that's what the new ads say, ‘Non-stop Energy Phut Se'," explains Hira. Two such commercials are already on air. © 2002 agencyfaqs!