Mudra West and Tribal DDB India win Emirates account

The win follows a multi agency pitch which was called a month ago.

Mudra West has won the creative duties for Emirates Airlines, while Tribal DDB India, a strategic business unit of DDB Mudra, has been awarded the digital mandate. The business was won after the airlines called a creative pitch in October.

The account will be handled out of the Mumbai offices of both Tribal DDB India and Mudra West.

Ogilvy India is the incumbent agency on the business.

The account size and the other agencies vying for the business could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.

Mudra will be responsible for building the brand further in India. With Emirates being the official partner of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the agency will also work closely with the brand team to develop a communication package around the event. The sponsorship entitles Emirates to tickets and hospitality during the matches, along with branding opportunities at the venue.

After afaqs! broke the news on Thursday afternoon, an official comment came in from Arijit Ray, president, Mudra West. "We look forward to working closely with the brand team to build and consolidate the position that the brand has owned over the past few years. What is also significant is that it was an integrated pitch effort and Tribal DDB will work closely with the brand team on the digital strategy and creative," he said.

"This effort was about as seamless as it gets. It was really about developing an idea thoroughly and from Tribal DDB India's perspective, bringing it alive in the digital space. We enjoyed partnering with Mudra and are incredibly excited to be working with it on an account as prestigious as Emirates, especially since digital appears to be a very important part of its marketing mix," said Max Hegerman, president, Tribal DDB India.

For the record, Emirates, with one of the youngest fleets in the skies (with an average age of less than 70 months), flies to more than 100 destinations in 65 countries across six continents and has been fundamental in establishing Dubai as West Asia's commercial centre and aviation hub.

The airline is one of the two key corporations in the Emirates Group. The other is Dnata, one of the largest travel organisations in West Asia handling passenger, cargo, ramp and technical services for numerous airlines at Dubai International Airport.