Lowe Lintas wins Somany Tiles and Sanitaryware

Lowe Lintas has recently bagged the creative duties for Somany Tiles and Sanitaryware. The business was won following a multi-agency pitch which had many large agencies in the fray - Grey, O&M, Percept, McCann Erickson, TBWA Anthem and Euro RSCG. The pitch process began in February, and the business was awarded this month.

This is for the first time that Somany Ceramic has scouted for a large advertising agency. Till date, the business was handled by a Delhi-based agency, Noshe Oceanic.

In fact, with the increasing number of organised players in the tiles and ceramic sector, many home-grown brands are now looking for large agencies, instead of the local ones. In the recent years, India's tile market has got aggressive as well as price-competitive. In such a scenario, all brands are looking at product variation, and at creative solutions to communicate it.

On Lowe's selection, he says, "Besides its proven credentials and understanding of the category, the agency's creative as well as strategic inputs were also phenomenal."

The company plans to spend around 2-3 per cent of its annual turnover on advertising. In the fiscal year 2008-09, the company had a turnover of Rs 462 crore, which implies that the spends would be between Rs 10-13 crore.

The other big players in this segment include Kajaria, Cera, Nitco, HSIL, Euro Ceramics and Orient Ceramics.