Mitsubishi Motors looks for creative partner; pitch underway

Contract Advertising is the incumbent agency on the account.

Mitsubishi Motors has called for a creative pitch for its entire product portfolio in India. Mitsubishi's car brands include Lancer, Montero, Outlander, Pajero and Cedia.

Highly placed sources in the automobile industry have confirmed the development to afaqs!.

Currently, two rounds of the pitch process have been completed. The first round was held in Chennai and the second round was held in Delhi. The second round was initiated early this week and has been concluded now. The participation of agencies is pan-India. The names of the participating agencies could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.

As of now, the creative duties for Mitsubishi's brands lie with Contract Advertising.

So far, four advertising agencies have made presentations in both the rounds. The agencies are being judged, based on both their creative, as well as strategic planning talent. Interestingly, though the pitch is a creative one, it is also learnt that the agencies in the fray for the account have also been asked to come up with media planning and buying inputs, besides purely advertising-related ideas.

Sources further inform that more rounds are in the pipeline, and the final decision is around three weeks to a month away. The agencies are yet to present their commercials to the Mitsubishi team; they will do so shortly.

It may be noted that Mitsubishi cars are manufactured in India on a contract basis by Hindustan Motors Limited (HML). HML is India's pioneering automobile manufacturing company and the flagship company of the C K Birla Group.