Future Group appoints M&C Saatchi as creative partner for T24 mobile

Allied Media, which manages the media mandate for the Future Group, will also manage media planning and buying for the brand.

M&C Saatchi has bagged the creative mandate for Future Group's T24 mobile. The business will be managed by the agency's Mumbai branch.

Allied Media, which manages the media mandate for the Future Group, will also manage media planning and buying for the brand. The spends on media for this financial year are estimated to be over Rs 25 crore.

Dhar & Hoon, which the Future Group acquired in 2009, worked on the creatives for brand T24 until now. The creative duties for the agency included in-store advertising and radio advertising. But now, the company has plans to take the communication strategy to the next level, with advertising on print, as well as TV.

afaqs! had reported around a month back on T24 mobile's hunt for a creative partner for its mobile business. The company was in talks with two-three Mumbai-based advertising agencies for this brand.

On selecting M&C Saatchi, Sandip Tarkas, chief executive officer, Future Media and CEO, Future Telecom, tells afaqs! that in M&C Saatchi, they found a marketing partner, rather than a mere creative partner. "It is a unique product. It is a telecom offering-cum-loyalty programme. We wanted a creative agency that understands the complexity of this unique offering and delivers the right solutions to us."

Tarkas also mentions that they liked the kind of work M&C Saatchi had done for the Ezone brand.

T24 is the GSM mobile service that was launched jointly by the Future Group and Tata Docomo in 2010. The alliance is a unique marketing concept of a retailer-telecom partnership, which offers innovative value propositions to both Future Group customers and telecom customers in India with its 'Shop More, Talk More' and 'Talk More, Shop More' offering. With this service, customers can recharge their T24 mobiles at Future Group outlets, or at any Tata Docomo recharge point.

The service also has additional benefits linked to shopping at Future Group stores, such as free talk time. A subscriber is entitled to a free slip at the bill counter, while shopping at Future Group stores. Depending on the value of the purchase, the value of free airtime will be printed on the promo slip. The customer needs to handover the promo slip to the T24 mobile executive at the 'recharge desk' placed just after the bill counter to load the free airtime on the respective SIM card.

Recall, around a month back afaqs! had reported on T24 mobile's hunt for a creative partner. The company was in talks with 2-3 Mumbai based advertising agencies for this brand. The company was looking for a creative partner for its mobile business.