Company bags Pantaloon Retail's FBB

K B Vinod and Bhupal Ramnathkar's new advertising venture, Company, has bagged the creative mandate for FBB. The media spend for this year is estimated at Rs 30 crore.

Pantaloon Retail's FBB (Fashion@BigBazaar) has appointed Company as its creative agency. The incumbent on the business was DDB Mudra. As per industry sources, the approximate spend on the media is estimated at Rs 30 crore. The win comes after a multi-agency pitch that afaqs! had reported about. A few agencies from Mumbai, along with the incumbent, DDB Mudra, were invited make presentations.

Pawan Sarda, chief marketing officer, Future Group has confirmed the news to afaqs!. He says, "Through FBB, we realised that a lot is changing when it comes to clothes and styling. We needed to add the style quotient and perception of youth to the brand. When I met with K B Vinod and Bhupal Ramnathkar, I saw that their ideas were in sync with what we wanted for FBB."

Prior to the restructuring of the DDB Mudra Group, Mudra West managed the creative mandate for the brand, along with the creative duties for Big Bazaar.

This is one of the first few big wins for Vinod and Ramnathkar's new agency, Company, which was started early this year.

For the record, FBB falls in the value space of Pantaloon Retail Ltd, along with brands such as Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and KB's Fair Price. The company added nine FBB stores in H1, FY '12.

Sarda says that the FBB stores will be present in two formats. "There will be both standalone stores and stores of FBB inside Big Bazaar outlets. Overall, we intend to launch about 200 stores of Big Bazaar, by the end of this year."

FBB is a part of Future Value Retail Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd that has been created keeping in mind the growth and current size of the company's value retail business.

Sarda adds, "FBB will very much be a part of Big Bazaar. The way we have made Big Bazaar, an affordable store for everyday needs, we wish to make FBB known as an affordable fashion store."

In the lifestyle segment, the company has retail chains such as Pantaloons, Central and Brand Factory. In the home category, the company has eZone, Home Town stores and Home Town Express stores.