JWT to handle Daimler's BharatBenz for now

The agency has been appointed to work on a project for the brand.

German auto giant Daimler has appointed JWT for an upcoming project for its India-specific brand, BharatBenz.

The company is poised to infiltrate the Indian market for commercial vehicles. The light, medium-duty and heavy-duty range of BharatBenz commercial vehicles will be manufactured at the new plant in Oragadam near Chennai.

In January, at the Auto Expo in Delhi, Daimler revealed its first truck that was positioned as a 'Made in India' truck.

It may be recalled that afaqs! had carried an exclusive report in December 2011, announcing that this account was up for grabs. Two rounds have already been completed - one technical bid and one commercial bid. It is learnt that while the final decision is still pending, the authorities have decided to award JWT with the duties for an unrelated project on the same brand. The agency's Bengaluru branch will handle these duties.

Interestingly, JWT is also in the fray for the creative duties of the overall account. Besides JWT, Lowe Lintas and McCann Erickson made it to the final shortlist. R K Swamy BBDO was in the fray during the nascent stages of the pitch but is not part of the final shortlist.

The decision on the final selection of a creative agency for BharatBenz was originally slated to be announced on March 10 this year. However, the authorities have not yet done so. Instead, recently, a separate mini-pitch of sorts was conducted for the aforementioned project. For this pitch, afaqs! learns, three agencies were invited. Apparently, all three agencies were also part of the main creative pitch. After a quick round, the duties were awarded to JWT.

It is learnt that JWT has already started working on this newly acquired project. The creatives are scheduled to be rolled out shortly.

However, this development does not ensure that JWT will walk away with the entire BharatBenz creative pie.

Currently, R K Swamy BBDO handles the mainline creative mandate for Mercedes-Benz India. While MEC looks after the mainstream media planning and buying duties for the account, R K Swamy Interactive was recently brought on board to handle the digital media buying duties for Mercedes-Benz India.

Elephant Strategy + Design has worked on the brand identity for BharatBenz.