Japanese consumer electronics brand Sony India has appointed Hakuhodo Percept as its new creative agency. Hakuhodo Percept has bagged the Rs 100 crore business, replacing JWT.
The pitch, which began last year, had in all eight creative agencies vying for the deal. These include Lowe Lintas, Contract, Dentsu, JWT, Law & Kenneth, BBDO and Hakuhodo Percept among the others.
Sony India Deputy General Manager (marketing communication), Mr Ryusuke Fukushima, told
He said Hakuhodo Percept's mandate will be to revitalise the brand and reposition it for the domestic market. “For the first time, we have unified all electronics products under one umbrella. The aim is to propel the brand both in terms of sales volume and also brand equity.” Japanese brands have been facing stiff competition from Korean chaebols in the domestic market. Though Sony's LCD television has been leading the pack in the booming LCD market, others categories like digital camera and music devices have been lagging.
Asked if Sony had chosen Hakuhodo Percept's due to its Japanese lineage, Mr Fukushima said the agency was chosen due to its understanding of the industry and also its ability to translate consumer insights into unique media touch points.
Marketing budget
Sony said it has earmarked Rs 320 crore towards its marketing budgets and the Rs 100 crore mandate will be apart of it.
Hakuhodo Percept's Mr Elvis Sequeira, who spearheaded the pitch process for the agency, expressed his happiness that Sony had chosen to go with the vision that the agency had for it. “We are elated that our point of view found such strong resonance with the Sony team. It's the start of the new direction the agency has begun to put in place.” More details on what the vision is, he said, would be shared later.