Creativeland Asia bags creative duties of MTS

The account will be handled by the agency's recently opened Gurgaon office.

MTS, the mobile network owned by Sistema Shyam Teleservices, has appointed Creativeland Asia as its creative partner. The agency won the account after a multi-agency pitch process. Rediffusion-Y&R is the incumbent agency.

It may be recalled that afaqs! had reported in March about MTS reviewing its creative agency.

This is the second account win for the agency's Gurgaon office, which began operations in April. The other account handled by the branch is HomeShop18.

According to MTS, Creativeland's mandate is to develop strategy and communications for brand MTS and all its offerings in every circle. Creativeland Asia will handle the brand's mainline, below-the-line, and digital media requirements for the Indian market.

Leonid Musatov, chief marketing and sales officer, MTS India, says, "MTS is in the process of charting a fresh creative thought to complement the extensive growth plans underway. Our requirement included a characteristic perspective that will redefine the brand and amplify our future business growth. And, Creativeland Asia came in with a contemporary and creatively cultivated approach to youthful brands."

Amitesh Rao, director, brand and media, MTS India, adds that both MTS and Creativeland are brands that are poised for exponential growth in the near future. "This was reflected in the energy, enthusiasm and the Creativeland distinctiveness during the pitch process, which in turn made them the unanimous choice internally," he informs.

On the development, Sajan Raj Kurup, founder and creative chairman, Creativeland Asia, says, "This is a massive win for us. We have been waiting to reel the Creativeland touch in the telecom sector for some time now. In MTS, we discovered a like-minded brand that is hungry for creativity and roaring to make a mark in one of the most dynamic categories in the country. Our successes with some insightful work on large brands have given us distinctive edge into building future ready brands."

He adds that the partnership further gives Creativeland a great platform in the capital and he hopes to imbibe the 'Good Creative Upbringing' culture into the quality talent in this market.

MTS entered the Indian market in March 2009, and is headquartered at Gurgaon. The holding company, Sistema Shyam TeleSerivces, is a collaboration between Sistema Joint Stock Financial Corporation of Russia and Shyam Group of India.

When it initially entered India, MTS obtained access to provide services pan-India, spread across 22 telecom circles. The company was forced to shut services in 10 circles last month and another three (Mumbai, Maharashtra and UP-East) on March 11 following an order passed by the Supreme Court.

However, in the recent spectrum auction, MTS has won eight circles, namely Delhi, Kolkata, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh (West) and West Bengal. Its presence in the Rajasthan circle remained unaffected by the court order.