Whirlpool India calls for creative pitch

Sumedha Srivastav - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
Home appliances giant Whirlpool India has called for a pitch for its products. This pitch is a creative one; the media duties for all the product lines will stay with Whirlpool's existing media agency, Lodestar Universal.

Shantanu Das Gupta, vice-president, corporate affairs and strategy, Whirlpool India, has informed Televisionpoint.com that the company has decided to alter its business strategy for the fiscal year and has confirmed about the pitch, which will be called next week.

Das Gupta says that the Indian subsidiary of the world's leading home appliances maker, the $ 19 billion Whirlpool of US, plans to increase its investment on marketing, sales and product development.

"For the past couple of quarters, we focused on freezing our advertising spends and maximising margins for cost-control. Till now, we have lowered our marketing investment and there was a total freeze on media spends." says Das Gupta.

He continues to explains, "The strategy very well worked for us as we generated above Rs 100 crore cash surplus in the first quarter of this year, improved our profit and cleared some of our debts. Now, the time has come to change our strategy to drive both revenue and profit."

DraftFCB Ulka is the main agency with whom Whirlpool last worked with. Of all the agencies in the fray for the current pitch, DraftFCB Ulka, by virtue of being a sound, long-standing incumbent, naturally finds a priority place at the presentation table.

In 2007, Contract Advertising has been also brought on board to handle the creative duties for Whirlpool's foray into new categories as well as the new products that the company planned to launch in existing categories during that time.

Advertising and promotional spend for Whirlpool was Rs 70 crore for the last 'advertising year', out of which 40 per cent was earmarked for above-the-line activities. According to Das Gupta, they are looking for an agency that has a strong strategic inclination, with strong account planning and account management functions.

Whirlpool India is present in categories like washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, microwaves, built-in appliances and water purifiers. The endorsement by Bollywood's star couple, Kajol and Ajay Devgan, is also being reviewed.

The Rs 2,100 crore company in India has also revised upward its revenue growth from 15 per cent to more than 20 per cent for this fiscal year. Towards the infrastructure, product development and marketing, the company plans to invest around Rs 300 crore in India over the next three years.