Black Swan Life bags Loop Mobile business

A 'brand refresh' exercise is on the cards. Further, the brand plans to increase its advertising spends by up to 25 per cent this year.

Mumbai-based creative agency Black Swan Life has won the creative duties for mobile phone service provider Loop Mobile. The agency will be responsible for all brand communication across media, with the exception of digital.

Most recently, TBWA has worked on this account, before which the duties were with McCann Erickson.

The account moved to Black Swan Life without a formal pitch process.

The media planning and buying mandate currently lies with Maxus, a GroupM agency.

Sukumar Menon, founder, Black Swan Life, tells afaqs! a "brand refresh" exercise is on the cards for Loop Mobile. He says, "We will work on the overall brand approach and tonality of Loop Mobile, such that all aspects of the communication will be tied together and a new tone of voice will be introduced." In fact, the agency's presentation that preceded the win was centred on Loop's brand tonality and a new lens through which the brand can be looked at.

The upcoming brand communication will be a phased effort. For starters, the campaign will mobilise area-specific media channels including radio, on-ground and outdoor. "Loop has a loyal clientele in Mumbai; we plan to leverage that. We will delve deeper into 'the Mumbai psyche' and utilise a lot of local-level as well as 'experiential' media," Menon adds.

Revealing more about the brand's plans in the days ahead, Shalini Gupta, head, brand and corporate communication, Loop Mobile Mumbai, says, "We are looking at increasing our overall annual advertising spends by up to 25 per cent over last year. Going ahead, we are looking at a 'brand refresh' and are looking to create a distinctive brand tone and communication. Black Swan Life will handle our creative duties across B2C and B2B areas and will look at new ways of communication across BTL (below the line) and ATL (above the line). A new way of positioning ourselves with an innovative offering is in the pipeline."

Gupta shares that a lot of "BTL brand buzz" is on the cards. Being a Mumbai operator, cinema and digital will play a critical role in the media plan, as will other 'direct customer contact' plans, online, social media, cinema, radio and out of home efforts. The look, imagery and tone, she adds, will be "futuristic and long-term."

It may be noted that currently, the colour purple forms a major part of the brand identity of Loop.

For the record, Black Swan Life was founded in January, 2009. The agency has worked on names like Dunkin' Donuts, Domino's and Crusoe, among many more.

Loop Mobile began operations in 1995 as BPL Mobile and was rebranded to Loop Mobile in 2009. In Mumbai, Loop currently has more than three million subscribers.