Platinum wins OOH duties for Idea Cellular in West Bengal

Anurag Basu - Televisionpoint.com | Kolkata
Platinum Outdoor, the out-of-home (OOH) specialist unit of Madison World, has won the OOH duties for Idea Cellular in Kolkata and West Bengal circles, where the telecom company will rollout its much awaited GSM network this September.

The agency won the account following an multi agency pitch, which included agencies such as Bates and Aaren Initiative, too. The account has been won by Platinum's Kolkata office, which services clients such as ITC, PepsiCo and Samsung, as well as other projects in this region.

Arminio Ribeiro, chief executive officer, Madison Outdoor Group, says, "We believed that in this region, there will be increasing business demands in the near future. Hence, we began the process of setting up a full-service integrated OOH business offering in mid 2008, with local talent across a wider platform."

Ribeiro adds, "Idea's plans to go cellular in Kolkata and West Bengal come after it was allotted 4.4 MHz startup spectrum in the 1800 MHz band by DoT in both circles. We are confident to say that Platinum Outdoor has some of the best minds in the eastern region to service the account."

Besides Kolkata and West Bengal circles, Idea has also received its quota of 4.4 MHz startup spectrum for the Assam and Northeast service areas. The company is expected to pump in well over Rs 5 crore for its entire marketing activities across the West Bengal state (including Kolkata).

The win comes close on the heels of Platinum Outdoor winning two other Idea Cellular circle pitches - Karnataka and Tamil Nadu - in the first quarter of 2009-10. Currently, the agency services nine other Idea circles.

Pradeep Srivastava, chief marketing officer, Idea Cellular, says, "Idea has a large number of circles coming up and we will continue working with our long-term partners in outdoor that include 141 Wall Street and Platinum Outdoor."

For the east market, Idea is expected to make a big bang entry, but is it not an late entrant. Srivastava claims, "We are keen on catching the Puja's this year, both in Kolkata and West Bengal circles. True, Vodafone Essar and Airtel have the first-mover advantage with 900 Mhz spectrum that is a lot better than the 1800 Mhz."

For the record, 141 Wall Street also handles 10 Idea Cellular circles, including Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Orissa, Kerala, Delhi, UP-east and Andhra Pradesh.