N. Shatrujeet
Advertising

JWT wins Rs 85 crore business including UTI Mutual Funds, HP Power

JWT, Mumbai, has claimed the creative duties of UTI Mutual Funds, HP Power, Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinic and the security division of Godrej

While the month of June bore the eagerly anticipated monsoons to the city of Mumbai, it also appears to have brought a flood of new businesses to the Mumbai office of JWT India. These include the Rs 35-crore creative duties of UTI Mutual Funds, as well as the creative accounts of HP Power, Dr Batra's Positive Health Clinic and the security division of Godrej. The news of all four wins has been confirmed by Tarun Rai, senior vice-president & general manager, JWT India. "Yes, June has been a good month for us, and with four new accounts, it has virtually been pouring here," he told agencyfaqs!.

The agency has claimed the UTI Mutual Funds account following a multi-agency creative pitch that was held roughly a month ago. Speaking to agencyfaqs!, Ashutosh Bishnoi, executive director & chief marketing officer, UTI Mutual Funds, revealed that the company had invited six to seven top-level agencies to pitch for the business. The purpose of the pitch - which fielded presentations from Grey Worldwide, FCB-Ulka, Leo Burnett India, Lowe and JWT - was to identify one agency that could cater to the creative branding requirements of the company. (For the record, UTI previously had more than half-a-dozen creative agencies in its roster, including FCB, RKSwamy/BBDO, Adfactors, Apex, Concept, Fortune and Goldmine.)

"While the agencies we used to work with used to deliver communication solutions on specific products, the consistency of a single brand idea was found lacking," says Bishnoi. "We were not focusing on building a corporate brand, while in the mutual funds category, it is important to build a brand as people essentially buy the corporate brand and not the products. So we felt we needed to develop a distinct corporate brand personality, and as product advertising has to be in sync with the corporate brand, we decided to park the entire account with one agency." Bishnoi adds that JWT was selected because the company found the agency's thinking on the strategic direction to be in line with its own. "JWT appears to have grasped what we want for the brand's future," he says.

The HP Power account has moved to JWT in a pitch-free scenario, Rai informs. It may be recalled that the account was being handled by Rediffusion | DYR, but with Rediff winning a significant part of the Indian Oil business, Hindustan Petroleum shifted the HP Power account (and the Club HP account) out of Rediff. While the Club HP account has not been assigned to any agency so far, JWT has been entrusted with the HP Power account. Following this win, JWT now handles the advertising for HP Power (value-added petrol), HP Turbo Jet (value-added diesel) and HP Gas (LPG), while it shares Hindustan Petroleum's lubes portfolio with Mudra Communications.

While the account of Godrej's security division (which manufactures safes and other security devices) came to JWT on the on the back of a two-way pitch against Lowe, the Dr Batra's Positive Health Clinic business is the result of another multi-agency pitch, the details of which are not available. What is known is that the account is estimated to be worth Rs 15 crore (all Rai says is that it is a "biggish account").

Put together, the four new acquisitions give JWT, Mumbai, incremental billing in the vicinity of Rs 85-90 crore, says Rai. "UTI, HP Power, Godrej and Dr Batra's are all prestigious accounts, and the four businesses present a very interesting mix of product categories." He adds that the first six months of 2004 have been particularly good for the Mumbai office as far as new business is concerned. "Godrej air-conditioners, Philips mobile phones, SBI Mutual, Lake City Corporation, Hungama TV… and now these four accounts. The office has added roughly Rs 125-130 crore business so far in 2004, and the wins comprise a good spread across categories. It has indeed been good going." © 2004 agencyfaqs!

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