Alokananda Chakraborty
News

Ushak Kaal on top gear; grabs Sanat Products advertising account

Delhi-based Ushak Kaal Advertising has added a billing of Rs 4 crore following the gains of Rejuva, Spirulina, Bioslim, Nopane and Memovita accounts


agencyfaqs!

MUMBAI

Delhi-based Ushak Kaal Advertising has added five new brands to its portfolio - Rejuva, Spirulina, Bioslim, Nopane and Memovita. All these products are from the Dabur subsidiary Sanat Products stable. "The new account was assigned to us on Friday (September 21), and the work on the products will begin this week itself," Abhijit Basu, the new chief operating officer at Ushak Kaal, told agencyfaqs!.

In line with the Dabur group policy, both the company and the agency refused to comment on the size of the account. But market estimates peg the account at Rs 4 crore. But given that half the (financial) year is already over, the spends for the rest of 2001-2002 can only be in the vicinity of Rs 1.5-Rs 2 crore.

Till recently, Sanat Products, which was incorporated in 1994, concentrated its advertising efforts on (food supplement capsule) Spirulina alone. The account was with Mudra Communications, Delhi, since 1996, when the product first hit the market. Besides the five brands mentioned here, Sanat has one more product in its portfolio, Healplus, which was launched in October 2000. But it appears the company hasn't firmed up the advertising plans for this particular product.

Informal conversations with professionals working closely with the company reveals Sanat Products was itching to move the account from Mudra for quite some time now. It was in talks with RK Swamy/BBDO for over a month trying to come to some sort of a consensus on the advertising plans and the money to be spent on these brands. But, as it turns out, things didn't quite work out at that end. So now Ushak Kaal will work on the account in the capacity of "a creative agency and brand strategy partner." The media responsibilities will remain with Dabur's in-house media agency Adbur.

For Ushak Kaal the Sanat Products advertising account comes at a crucial time. As Basu rightly points out, "The move comes at a time when both the agency and the company are moving into top gear." After going through a protracted restructuring process, Sanat is getting ready to relaunch Rejuva in November and a brand new product in January 2002. Though the agency and the company are tight-lipped about the new product or the plans for Rejuva, Basu says, "The company will now take a very aggressive approach in its marketing. We would be looking at television and print in a big way."

On its part, Ushak Kaal is getting ready to step out of Delhi and open at least two new offices in the next one month - in Mumbai and in Calcutta. It has been aggressively pitching for new clients for some months now and has got itself empanelled by BSNL and the Department of Post recently. Besides these, it took a plunge into the world of entertainment with the launch of a new company called India Unlimited (IU) earlier this year. The idea is to produce music videos and low budget feature films. IU is also shooting the pilots of three TV programmes, for which the company is negotiating with Sony, Star, Zee, CNN and BBC.

© 2001 agencyfaqs!

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