K&L Arms Communications says cheese, wins Nikon business

The win is the result of a recently initiated multi-agency pitch; ADK Fortune is the incumbent on the account.

Reliable sources close to the development at Nikon have confirmed to afaqs! that K&L Arms Communications has bagged the Nikon account.

K&L Arms Communications is a JV (Joint Venture) between the K&L Inc. and the Delhi-based Arms Communications. Though the two entered into a 50:50 JV in 2007, K&L had been associated with Arms Communications for two years prior to that.

Reet Ahluwalia, chairman, Arms Communications, was contacted at the time of filing this report, but remained unavailable for comment on the matter.

The development was a result of a multi-agency pitch that was initiated not too long ago. The incumbent agency, ADK Fortune, did not participate in the pitch process.

ADK Fortune is a JV between Fortune Communications, JWT's second agency, and ADK, a Japanese advertising agency. The agency had won the business back in 2007. The move to ADK Fortune marked Nikon's strategy to localise its communication at the time it was making its official entry into India.

Prior to ADK Fortune, the creative duties for the camera giant were being handled by K&L Singapore. Arms Communications was looking after the communication for the brand in India, on behalf of the Singapore-based agency back then. Besides Singapore, K&L has branches in Hong Kong, China and Amsterdam.

Founded in 1917 as Nippon Kōgaku, the company was renamed in 1988 as Nikon Corporation. It has, ever since, grown as a creative institution of repute.

Nikon India was established on May 1, 2007. A 100 per cent subsidiary of Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, Nikon has, over the years, established a strong base in India through a local distributor. Nikon India plans to further strengthen Nikon's brand image and reinforce its brand promise through various activities and programmes.

Nikon India distributes, markets, services and repairs the complete range of Nikon imaging products, which include all available cameras, lenses, microscopes and technical measuring instruments.

Will the winning agency be successful in incorporating Nikon's corporate mantra of trustworthiness and creativity in its communication programme? Let's wait and watch.