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Anil Wanvari
Ambience Advertising, the Ashok Kurien-Elsie Nanji-promoted creative boutique, has handed over majority stake to D`Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, part of the MacManus group and once partner of Madison Advertising. Kurien had for long dismissed the concept of a foreign tie-up and insisted that his agency would take on just a couple of new clients every year. However, all that has changed and today his view is he has to put Ambience in a growth phase. Hence, the focus on acquisition of new business and also a foreign tie-up.
The agency is to be called Ambience D'arcy, as even DMB&B has re-christened itself worldwide. D'arcy has had several alliances in the past right from Clarion to Enterprise to Madison, though for all purposes industry believed that it had already taken a 20 per cent stake in the Sam Balsara-promoted agency. The stake was slated to go up to 40 per cent and later to a majority. "But we did not have a meeting of minds with Sam on certain issues," says DMB&B Asia-Pacific president GaryTitterton. "He did not share our vision. Whereas we had been pursuing Ambience for quite some time and Ashok had been putting us off. Finally, he agreed late last year and we proceeded with the deal." Balsara said that his relationship with DMB&B was good while it lasted and did not venture beyond that in a press communique.
Ambience D'arcy has its work cut out for itself. While it's possible that a multinational client like Procter & Gamble (Whisper and Vicks) may shift the creative for its brands to Ambience D'arcy, it's inconceivable that it will also hand over the media part to the agency as it has very little known media expertise. That's where the proprietary media tools of D'arcy worldwide will come into play. But the task of imbibing the media expertise in terms of people and media negotiations, however, will not be easy for the agency. It's more than likely that P&G will retain the media business with Madison as it is reputed for its media buying and planning skills. Then other internationalclients of D'arcy Worldwide like Coke, General Motors, and Fiat are also not going to just hand over the custodianship of their brands to Ambience on a platter. They already have ad agency relationships in India and are unlikely to snap them easily. So Ambience will have to chase them, and hard.
Netting D'arcy Worldwide clients such as M&M/Mars and TWA may be relatively easier as they don't have any strong relationships with other India ad agencies. Ambience also doesn't have the benefit of a wide-spread infrastructure, apart from lacking skills in dealing with new media like the internet. Though the first is not an essential in advertising, it's preferable to be quickly available for clients. Ambience will, however, have to shape up quickly on the internet. In the eWorld of tomorrow, only advertising agencies, which have the skills of communications and marketing on the Web, will be able to reap the fruits of the internet economy. Rediffusion DY&R has India's numero uno site Rediff.com, and it is workingclosely with some of its advertising clients on the Web. So this is a problem area Ambience will have to find a solution to fast.
Pepsi: The right initiative
Are Indians health conscious? Studies have shown that fitness is becoming the rage amongst urban Indians. Pepsi is banking on the fact that they indeed are figure and health watchers. Hence its launch of Diet Pepsi last month, which, according to reports, is doing very well, thank you. Pepsi claims that Diet has captured over 60 per cent of the canned beverages market. The introductory price of Rs 15 for a 330 ml can as against Rs 18-19 for the regular Pepsi is probably one of the major sales drivers. Other advantages are that Diet Pepsi is sugar free and has just one claimed calorie. So even diabetics can gulp it down. As well, as those who want to maintain their waistlines. Pepsi will, however, have to take care not to overprice it when the promotional period is over. The drink has generated initial success due to heavy trials induced by theburst of television commercials on television channels. That success may well turn into a middling performance once the price appears too dear to customers. Pepsi India has taken the right initiative in making Diet Pepsi available at major fitness centres apart from regular vending outlets such as chemist shops, gas stations, and grocery stores. But it has to become aggressive on another front too that is, unattended vending machines, which are few and far between in India now.
(The writer is the editor of The Indian Cab&Sat Reporter. Feel free to email with your comments to television@vsnl.com or television@hotmail.com)
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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