rmg adds four accounts; wins include Salton-Eagle, Vartha and Inox

Over the past month so, WPP Group-agency rmg david has picked up four new advertising businesses - these include the accounts of Salton-Eagle, Telugu daily Vartha, multiplex chain Inox and a project for the Government of Gujarat. Josy Paul, country head & national creative director, rmg david, confirmed the news of all four wins to agencyfaqs!. He added that while the new wins would total roughly Rs 8-10 crore in annualized capitalized billing, the agency is working on all four accounts on a fee-basis.

Paul informs that the Salton-Eagle account was won following a three-way pitch that also involved McCann-Erickson India and Euro RSCG India. The agency's job is essentially to advertise the internationally renowned Salton hamburger and barbeque grill, which is being launched in India shortly. For the record, Eagle Flask Industries (best known for its near-generic range of thermos flasks) is in an exclusive tie-up with Salton to market Salton grills in the country.

"Eagle's strength is not only in its thermos flasks, but also in a disciplined distribution and sales network," says R Narayanan, COO, rmg david. "Salton has a patented technology which eliminates the fat while retaining the taste. While testing the product in the local market it became evident that although the grills are originally used for hamburgers, in India, they can be used as tandoors." He adds that the brand (rmg is also conceiving the brand name under which the product will be retailed in the country) is scheduled for launch in mid-Jan, 2004. Incidentally, the business that rmg has won presently covers only the Salton grill account. No formal decision has been taken on Eagle's flask business, which has not had the support of mainline advertising for quite a while now.

The advertising account of Telugu daily Vartha has been won out of Hyderabad. "Vartha is a challenger publication (to Eenadu) in Andhra Pradesh, and enjoys high levels of awareness and patronage locally," Narayanan points out. "The daily has grown phenomenally over the past six years, and its strength is its objective reporting and its true representation of the people's voice." He says that the agency's role will be to get marketers and advertisers outside Andhra Pradesh to look at Vartha more seriously. Interestingly, Paul reveals that Vartha is a first-time advertiser that was initiating the process of speaking to agencies when rmg stepped in. "We were maybe the first agency to talk to them, and we capitalized on being the first to shut the others out," he smiles.

The Inox business that rmg has picked up pertains to the multiplex chain's upcoming project in Mumbai. While the agency revealed that it was not in a position to go into the details of the project, it is clear that the advertising for Inox's existing projects stays with Lemon. The Government of Gujarat project that the agency has netted is the promotion of the International Kite Festival, held annually on January 14 at Ahmedabad, to coincide with Makar Sankranti (Uttarayan). "The government of Gujarat is working on a series of publicity initiatives, one among them being a government-sponsored international kite fair," says Paul. "The annual festival is the kite flyer's Woodstock, and this year, the government wants to attract the attention of the non-resident Gujarati. We will be working on the project in association with Essar, one of the primary sponsors of the event."

The agency is quite happy with the wins, naturally. "I think clients sense something different in rmg's voice and spirit, and the manner in which we come through," Paul explains the recent successes. "And what is nice and heartening for a small agency such as ours is the fact that it is the work, the ideas and the thinking that clients are appreciating. They are displaying high comfort levels working with us, and that, I think, is a very positive sign." © 2003 agencyfaqs!