Sirez wins digital mandate of Chicco in India

Sirez will take care of all digital marketing activities for Chicco in India including display, search and social media.

Chicco, the baby care brand from Italian health and wellness products major Artsana Spa Baby, has named Sirez Infosystems, a digital marketing agency from the Sirez Group, as its digital media agency. Earlier, the account was with ZenithOptimedia.

Sirez has won the mandate for Chicco following a multi-agency pitch. It will take care of all digital marketing activities for Chicco in India including display, search and social media. Sirez will also help Chicco in launching its owned media channels on digital in the country.

In 2010, Chicco had appointed ZenithOptimedia to handle the digital media duties of the brand, while McCann Erickson Delhi had bagged the creative duties. However, it couldn't be confirmed whether McCann still retains the account.

Chicco is a Euro 800 million brand, together with its sister companies, Prénatal, a chain of stores specialising in the sale of products for mothers and children, and Boppy Co, a manufacturer of infant support pillows. Chicco's portfolio ranges from baby nursing products to fashion clothing, shoes, beauty care products, toys and travel systems. Chicco began its India operations in January 2010, setting up its first outlet at the Select City Walk mall in Delhi.

Chicco was established in 1958 and is the most important brand of Artsana. It is currently present in more than 170 different countries through its offices or licensed distributors; the brand has more than 400 Chicco shops in the world.

Speaking to afaqs! about the kind of engagement being planned for Chicco on digital, R P Singh, CEO, Sirez Group, says, "Chicco being a premium baby care brand, the category itself is a very involved one. All brands including Chicco, in this category, require deeper consumer engagement. But that has become just a hygiene factor. We plan to take Chicco to new heights by doing some trendsetting work in this space, which globally Chicco is known for. Regular paid media just doesn't work because of a different kind of TG in question."

Although there is no stand alone campaign as of now, the Sirez team has already started working on the brand and it expects to launch the first paid media campaign sometime between February and March, 2014.

The market for baby care products in India mostly caters to a few needs of a baby; Chicco claims to be a 360-degree baby care brand that caters to all possible needs of a baby in the age group of 0-3 years.

Explaining the kind of challenge a brand like Chicco faces in India, Singh states, "Globally, Chicco is one of the top baby care brands but in India brand awareness is a major challenge for Chicco. The category itself is at a nascent stage when it comes to digital because the TG (mothers) is not an immediate fit for digital media. Chicco competes with brands like Johnson & Johnson, Fisher Price, Mee Mee, Mattel, Mac Laren and Graco in India in various product categories. Other brands enjoy a better recall as compared to Chicco currently and that's the biggest challenge in front of Sirez."

In March 2013, R P Singh, who was head, digital, APAC and West Asia at McCann Erickson Commonwealth, had joined Sirez Group as CEO. Sirez Group consists of six companies, namely Sirez Infosystems, which is a digital marketing agency, Apptology, a mobile app development company, SampleAndTry.com, an online product sampling portal and MRP Digital, a digital marketing consultancy firm, KontentCafe, a content marketing firm and SquareCoins, a mobile loyalty programme.