Everest nets business worth Rs 25 crore

Lady Luck seems to be smiling on Everest Integrated Communications these days. The agency has just acquired new businesses in both Mumbai and Delhi, totalling an estimated Rs 25 crore in billing terms.

"This proves the old adage that advertising is a people's business. The joining of several new people on the rolls of Everest in recent times is intrinsically linked to the subsequent acquisition of these new clients," says an elated Mahesh Chauhan, president, Everest Integrated Communications.

The wins include Bharat Hotels, Aaj Tak, Zandu Pancharishta, Siemens Home Appliances, Intex Technologies, HFCL (Connect) and Valley View Estate (Ansal Properties) in Delhi.

Everest, Mumbai has also been given the mandate to do the creative work for the Bombay Natural History Society.

Barring Aaj Tak and Bombay Natural History Society wins, the rest were won in a normal multi-agency pitch scenario. The first two accounts came to Everest under special circumstances.

In the case of Aaj Tak, the Delhi office made a very late entry, that is, when the final shortlisting of agencies had been done. "We were adamant about presenting. We were given a chance and we clinched the business," says Rajeev Rakshit, vice-president and head of Delhi office.

With Bombay Natural History Society, it was a case of personal drive and self motivation. Two creative professionals from Everest, on their own accord met up with the executives at Bombay Natural History Society and showed their work. And, this happened when Bombay Natural History Society was in the process of shortlisting agencies.

"They liked our work so much that they decided to award us the account. This initiative, on the part of the two creative guys, is simply commendable. It is the environment created at our offices, which I believe, fosters this kind of motivation and creative freedom...", says Chauhan, with a glint of pride and a sense of achievement.

"Bombay Natural History Society may not be very lucrative business from the billings point of view, but certainly very creatively satisfying. If there's a need, we will pump in money to create a TV commercial," Chauhan adds.

According to Everest's national creative director, Milind Dhaimade, "These wins are even more satisfying as we were up against some of the biggest and the best agencies on some of these pitches. What worked for us in all our pitches was a sound strategic mapping of the client's business backed by solid creative work."

"Very clearly, we have the momentum with us and our objective now is to keep up the creative tempo and ensure that we support our clients with the best quality work."

Chauhan reiterates that the collective aim at Everest is to create a new-age advertising powerhouse. "The business wins of recent weeks are the direct result of us being able to put together a talented team which can demonstrably partner leading companies and brands in an extremely competitive marketplace. We have been fortunate in being able to tie up with clients representing a good mix of businesses - from hospitality to home appliances and from television to pharmaceuticals. As more of our work on these new businesses, as well as on our existing clients, becomes visible over the next few days, we are confident of exciting several more prospectives."

The communication task for Zandu Pancharishta, as Chauhan puts it in a few words, is to build a strong brand, and with regard to Siemens Home Appliances, which moves from Grey Worldwide, the brief is to evolve it into a premium brand.

Moving on to the accounts won by the Delhi office, while the Intex Technologies account had agencies such as Capital Advertising, Triton Communications, TBWA India, Montage and, of course, Everest in the fray. The immediate task for the agency is to launch a new brand of personal computers. What the agency has to decide now is whether the new brand of PC will be launched under the same name of Intex or another while establishing the Intex pedigree.

As for Aaj Tak, besides Everest, Contract, Leo Burnett and RK Swamy/BBDO were also in the running.

The project from Ansal Properties was given to Everest on the basis of a creative-cum-strategy presentation. While Valley View Estate project, being done in partnership with the Border Security Forces (BSF), is a modest, yet prestigious, piece of business. "And of course, with this win, we get a foothold into the the vast Ansal group," says Rakshit.

With Bharat Hotels, the job at hand is to dispel the confusion around its name. The Bharat Hotels, comprise the InterContinental The Grand New Delhi; InterContinental The Grand Palace Srinagar; InterContinental The Grand Mumbai; InterContinental The Grand Resort Goa; The Grand Ashok Bangalore; The Grand Laxmi Vilas Palace Udaipur; and The Grand Temple View Khajuraho.

"With many five-star and seven-star hotels prefixing Grand or using InterContinental as names, the brand identity of the Bharat Hotels gets hazy, so one has to address that problem," says Rakshit.

There, indeed, is a lot going at Everest. And, Chauhan assures there's more to come. © 2004 agencyfaqs!