McCann Erickson sweeps away Aircel

The telecom company had called for a pitch in May. The pitch saw participation from agencies such as Dentsu Communications, BBH, BBDO and DDB Mudra. The size of the account is said to be more than Rs 200 crore.

After a long wait, finally it is McCann Erickson that has won the creative duties of telecom company Aircel. The company had called for a pitch in May, which saw participation from agencies such as Dentsu Communications, BBH, BBDO and DDB Mudra. The size of the account is said to be more than Rs 200 crore.

Sources close to the development confirmed the news to afaqs!, and on the condition of anonymity, say that the agency will now work towards transforming Aircel from a national brand to an iconic brand.

This is the second big win for the agency after it bagged the General Motors account this year.

Dentsu was the incumbent agency for Aircel. The agency bagged the account in 2008 following a pitch, when the company decided to have a pan-India presence. Earlier, the business was handled by Publicis India.

Aircel made news with some of its popular campaigns such as 'Save Our Tigers' -- a corporate social responsibility campaign, and an outdoor campaign called 'Aircel Boat', wherein Primesite, Mudra Max's out of home (OOH) agency, installed a lifeboat on a hoarding in Mumbai to help people cope with flooded roads during the rainy season.

Dentsu Media, the media agency of the group, handles Aircel's media duties, along with Starcom Worldwide. The company had appointed US Adcom as its OOH media partner.

For the record, the Aircel Group was formed in 1994. It is an alliance between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia with 74 per cent equity, and Sindya Securities & Investments, whose shareholders are the Reddy family of Chennai, with the remaining 26 per cent.