Hero Group venture Easy Bill appoints JWT

Easy Bill, a mass-scale retailer-based bill collection network that was launched just three days ago by the Hero Group, has appointed JWT as its creative agency. (Easy Bill is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hero Group.) While the company did not share the size of the business, it is expected to be "a potentially large account".

Though many agencies showed interest in the venture, Rahul Munjal, CEO, Easy Bill, was clear about the agency he would like to partner with. "Besides the fact that JWT is our empanelled agency, there are two reasons why we decided to partner with JWT for this venture. First, we work on the same wavelength. Second, since the agency is working on our motorcycle and bicycle brands, it understands the mindset of our consumers very well. And it is exactly these customers that we would like to reach with Easy Bill," he explains.

So what is this concept of Easy Bill? As the name suggests it is a service that makes bill payment easy. Easy Bill has tied up with mobile and electricity companies and a large number of retailers to provide a unique bill collection service, capable of handling cash transactions, not provided by any third party service providers like banks. Easy Bill's backend network makes it possible to connect a large number of retailers to a central transaction system, and issue receipts to the people depositing bills on behalf of the respective bill issuers on a real time basis. This enables neighbourhood retailers like grocery store, chemist shops and local PCOs to accept utility bills, thereby making the payment procedure convenient for consumers.

JWT is indeed excited about the win. Mukul Kansal, vice-president and client services director, JWT, says, "It is a great opportunity to work on a whole new concept. Needless to say Easy Bill has the potential to be a large and successful brand."

JWT's task is to turn this potential into reality. "The idea is to build a strong brand and communicate the convenience of bill payments in an economical, better and faster way," adds Munjal.

For the moment, the media plan for Easy Bill comprises print and radio. Munjal, however, mentioned that in the second phase - that is the next quarter - TV would also be included.

Easy bill is ready to roll out in 1,200 to 1,500 stores in Delhi, NCR (National Capital Region), Punjab and Maharashtra by the end of 2003. The idea is to have one Easy Bill outlet in the radius of one kilometre in the targeted cities. While Munjal did not share the amount being invested in retail expansion, he says, "On an average, our investment per outlet is about Rs 50,000. A considerable amount is being invested at the backend too."

Some of the utility service providers who have already tied up with Easy Bill are NDPL (Tata Power and Delhi Government JV), Hutch, Airtel and Touchtel in Delhi, and Punjab State Electricity Board and Haryana State Electricity Board in the states of Punjab and Haryana respectively. © 2003 agencyfaqs!