Havas Group India bags the creative and media mandate for JBL and Harman Kardon

HARMAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, has awarded its integrated creative, and media communication mandate to Havas Creative India for its iconic consumer brands - JBL and Harman Kardon. As part of the overall relationship, the agency will be responsible for the integrated creative, digital strategy, and overall media buying and planning for both offline and online mediums.

Last year Havas Creative was awarded the mandate for Infinity, the youngest consumer audio brand by HARMAN, tuned specifically for India. With this win, Havas Creative India becomes the creative agency partner for all of HARMAN’s consumer brands, JBL, Harman Kardon, and Infinity, that enjoy hugely popular among youth and Indians with discerning choices. The mandate won in a multi-agency pitch, will be focussed on driving visibility and value-driven engagement with their growing audience and fans in the country.

Speaking on the win, Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India said “It is indeed a delight for us to strengthen our relationship and partner with HARMAN in India, and add the media and creative mandate for JBL and Harmon Kardon, in addition to working on Infinity. We have been doing some very exciting work on Infinity and with these two brands the challenge and expectations go up as these are very key players in the audio industry and have very clear objectives and plans. What is sweeter is that we won it with our integrated village model which further emphasises the #BetterTogether philosophy of Havas.”

Yogesh Nambiar, head- marketing, HARMAN India, said “India is an important market for us and our brands enjoy leadership across various segments in consumer audio. We now want to take it a step further and enhance our customer experience by offering a wider landscape of unique products and experiences. While finding an agency, we were looking for a talented and enthusiastic team that has a passion for music and understands the Indian market, and which could add a meaningful difference to our brands with their power of innovative thinking. I am looking forward to the exciting spaces that Havas will explore to engage with the existing and new consumers of our most popular audio brands.”