Campaign India Agency Report Card: Contract Advertising

Campaign India Team, 15 December, 2009

Mumbai

Type of agency: Advertising
Company ownership: WPP
Key personnel: Ravi Deshpande, chairman and chief creative officer, Umesh Shrikhande, chief executive officer, Rohit Shrivastava, executive vice president
Accounts won: Shell, Samsonite and American Tourister, Spice Group
Accounts lost: Good Morning Tea, Dabur Vatika (root strengthening and henna cream)

Contract has been busy this year, turning out memorable work. Their  work for Tata Indicom has been varied, ranging from the ‘Hansi’ and ‘Saans’ campaign, to the ‘Hello hello’ campaign to the ‘Ghadi’ campaign.  Other notable work includes work done for Aegon Religare, Tata Photon+, Asian Paints,  Halls and American Tourister.
As far as talent is concerned, the latter half of the year hasn’t proved too positive. Both Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat, have quit the agency, although Raghu has said he may continue to work with Contract on a project basis. How this will impact the agency’s second rung remains to be seen. Associate creative directors Anshumani Khanna and Timsy Gupta headed off to DDB Mudra. Anand Damani has joined the agency as planning head for Mumbai. While Contract Delhi has emerged as a strong contender, with accounts like Dominos Pizza, Spicejet and Jaypee Cements, it’s the south that the agency has traditionally been weak in, an area that probably needs looking into.  Wins include Samsonite and American Tourister, Set Wet and Shell Foundation. The agency has lost the Good Morning Tea and Tea Bags mandate and a part of the Dabur Vatika business.

Campaign Score: 8
 
How CONTRACT ADVERTISING rates itself: 8

Every branch of Contract delivered visible, effective and creative work across categories on our biggest brands in tune with our Grow Young philosophy of keeping brands fresh and rejuvenated. Contract Delhi won several large accounts, helping it perform well in terms of revenues. Work for Tata Indicom, the American Tourister film, the Hall’s Polar bear film, the Asian Paints ‘Teflon’ film and the ‘Superkids’ of Aegon were some examples of good work. iContract took the lead on offering non-conventional solutions to our clients. Being integrated closely with Contract, this gives us an edge when it comes to offering our clients integrated solutions.
DesignSutra handled large projects for Cadbury, Tata Indicom, Deepak Diamonds, Mishti Jewellery and Lexi Pens.  Core Consulting ran up-stream projects for Tata Indicom, Godrej locks and Infomedia 18. Everyone pulled together to offer our collective best response to a very challenging year. We’re looking forward to 2010.