Ignitee Digital looks at mainline agencies for business

The idea is to offer digital marketing solutions to their clients. The digital agency has recently tied up with E18.

Digital agency Ignitee Digital Solutions plans to have a strategic tie up with the mainline agencies - especially those which are not armed with a digital outfit. The idea is to offer digital marketing solutions to the clients of these agencies.

In fact, it already has tie ups with three agencies - TBWA India, Crayons and Chennai-based Challenge Advertising.

When probed on such future tie-ups, Shankar B, chief operating officer, Ignitee Digital, while declining to reveal the names, said that talks are on with two other mainline agencies.

The agency has recently entered into a multi-year strategic partnership with an activation agency, E18.

Shankar elucidates, "It will be a symbiotic relationship in which both agencies will work together on various clients of each other. E18 will utilise the digital media capabilities of Ignitee Digital and offer digital media solutions to its existing or future clients, while Ignitee Digital will leverage the partnership to offer below-the-line (BTL) activation related solutions to our clients."

This is the first time that Ignitee Digital has entered into a partnership with any BTL agency in India.

Shankar believes that the E18-Ignitee Digital partnership will help both agencies to scale up their base of clients quickly. He adds, "Both agencies will work and may pitch various new clients together in the future to offer digital and BTL solutions." As usual, the final call on whether to use both digital and BTL services offered by the joint team will lie with the advertiser.

Farhad Wadia, chief executive officer, E18, says, "It will be a revenue sharing deal." Though Wadia has not revealed the exact details of revenue sharing, he indicates that in many cases, revenue earned from BTL services will be kept by E18, while Ignitee Digital will keep revenue earned from digital solutions offered to advertisers. However, the exact revenue sharing will be decided on a client to client basis.

Some of the clients managed by Ignitee Digital include Whirlpool, Kaya Skin Care, Old Spice and BSNL, Chennai. E18 has worked with advertisers such as Volkswagen, Hyundai, Samsung Mobile and United Breweries.

For the record, Shankar B has earlier worked with E18 as national head, sales.