Mumbai : Motivator, one of GroupM’s media agencies, has bagged the Honda Cars India’s media account. The size of the account is estimated to be over Rs 100 crore including digital media, according to top executives familiar with the matter.
The GroupM agency has replaced ZenithOptimedia, which won the account in 2011.
“As part of our corporate governance rules, we call for a pitch every three years. And this time we had invited six agencies and had two rounds of pitch presentations. We asked agencies to present two case studies for Honda City and Amaze,” said Anita Sharma, assistant vice-president, marketing, Honda Cars India.
The carmaker had shortlisted three agencies including Zenith-Optimedia and Madison, besides Motivator, said Sharma. “Their (Motivator’s) strategic inputs and understanding of the category is better,” she said.
Sharma added that there has been a strategic shift at Honda over the past three years in terms of its media plans. “Since we are now concentrating more on the mass segment and have expanded into several regions and cities, we have moved away from Hindi and English ads to regional ads and we convert our ads in at least nine to 10 regional languages. Even in the premium segment we have noticed that consumers like to read the ads in the language of their choice, especially in South India,” she said.
Rabe Iyer, MD of Motivator, said, “The brief that was given tested our media strategy, analysis and innovation skills apart from media implementation processes and buying.” Honda’s creative duties are handled by Soho Square and Dentsu. The digital business is with Blazer, another GroupM agency. But Honda will shortly call for a digital media pitch, said an executive, who did not wish to be named.
