LMG, Lowe Lintas bag Kerala-based Jayalakshmi Silks

The Kochi-based textile retailer plans to spend Rs 20-25 crore annually on its advertising, primarily led by television, on Kerala-based TV channels.

The Kochi-based readymade textile retailer Jayalakshmi Silks, has assigned its media mandate to Lintas Media Group, while the creative duties have moved to Lowe Lintas India. Prior to this development, the account was handled by Kerala-based local agencies. While Media Expressions was the incumbent on the media duties, the creative was handled by Team One.

Jayalakshmi Silks confirmed the ad spends to be in the range of Rs 20-25 crore.

Currently present, mainly in Kerala, the retailer has stores for wedding saris and outfits in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kozhikode as well. It plans to open a 1 lakh square feet store in Trichur in April, its largest outlet so far. With expansion plans on the cards, including plans to launch in Coimbatore, Bengaluru, and Chennai by 2013, the 1947-founded company felt the need for a larger creative and media set up, that can handle the scale of operations, as opposed to local boutiques handling the account, as was the case earlier.

Govind Kamath, managing partner, Jayalakshmi Silks, says, "The retail market in Kerala is extremely vibrant, especially in the textile and jewellery categories. We have been growing and expanding at a healthy pace. In order to help us in the expansion process we need large, credible, partners with an international pedigree. Lintas Media Group and Lowe Lintas fit the profile perfectly."

Kamath further adds that LMG is familiar with the retail industry, and with a pan-India presence, the creative and media agencies will help chart out the company's growth curve.

The media mix will be led by television primarily, with commercials on Kerala-based TV channels. This will be followed by aggressive outdoor and press, particularly in the outdoor-heavy Kochi market.

Suresh Balakrishna, who heads the LMG agency overseeing this, says, "Vidya Nandakumar has just taken over as the head of the Kochi office, and we have won Jayalakshmi Silks. Along with Manappuram, which is an existing account in Kochi for us, we are now aggressive players in the Kerala market."