Mediacom bags Arvind Brands, Medimix AOR; set to cross Rs 500 crore in billing

Mediacom, the specialist media unit of Grey Worldwide, has bagged the media duties of two high-profile businesses - Arvind Brands Ltd, the Rs 260-crore subsidiary of Arvind Mills, and Medimix, from the Chennai-based ayurvedic products company Cholayil Pharmaceuticals. While the former is estimated at Rs 25 crore, with Medimix, the media agency hopes to run up billings of Rs 15-Rs 20 crore.

Information available with agencyfaqs! indicates that the two accounts were hotly contested for. While four agencies - Initiative Media, Lodestar, Madison Media and, of course, Mediacom - were vying for Arvind Brands, at least two - Initiative Media and Mudra - had pitched for Medimix.

The Arvind Brands account consolidates all the top brands under Mediacom - including Arrow, Excalibur, Lee, Wrangler, Ruf & Tuf, Newport, Ruggers, Bay Island and Flying Machine, besides the company-owned brand shops Mega Mart. These brands were earlier split between three agencies. While Lodestar was the custodian of Wrangler, Initiative Media was in-charge of Newport, Ruf & Tuf, Ruggers and Flying Machine. Mediacom, on its turn, handled the media duties of Arrow, Excalibur and Lee.

The Medimix portfolio now with Mediacom includes four products - Medimix soap and Medimix cough syrup, Viha sandal soap, Tejaswini skincare capsules and talcum powder brand Cuticura (which the company acquired from Muller & Phipps last year). Talking about the arrangement for the agency's new businesses, Harish Shriyan, senior vice-president, Mediacom, says, "While the Arvind Brands portfolio would be handled out of Bangalore, we have split the duties for Medimix between Chennai and Mumbai, with Mumbai looking at the planning part of the business."

The latest bout of account gains comes close on the heels of Mediacom bagging the entire range of babycare products from Johnson & Johnson. The J&J media account had moved from Initiative Media. With all this new products in its kitty, the agency estimates that its billings would jump from Rs 350 crore last year to upwards of Rs 500 crore this year, making it the fourth largest media-buying house in India.

Says Shriyan, "Our growth is a reflection of the trust our clients have reposed in our ability to use our proprietary tools in the Indian context to deliver consistent results. Our clients today can get tremendous cost savings and better targeting as result of smarter planning, buying & overall AOR management."

Globally, Mediacom is the sixth largest media house with billings of over $12 billion and a presence in over 75 countries. Its global AORs include Glaxo SmithKline, Warner Brothers, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Wrigleys, Hasbro, BAT, Reebok, Groupe Danone, Shell and 3M. In India, Mediacom's roster includes Marico Industries, Sony Entertainment Television, Johnson & Johnson, besides the media needs of Grey Worldwide clients including the Kotak Mahindra Group, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Hindalco, Wrigley, SBI Cards, Oracle, to name a few. Mediacom also has alliances with a couple of small agencies for their media planning and buying requirements. © 2002 agencyfaqs!