HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LOOKS FOR ADVERTISERS

 HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LOOKS FOR ADVERTISERS

After a very long partnership with GroupM's Mindshare Fulcrum, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) is looking at others to handle its media business. HUL has called for a pitch for its media planning and buying account as part of the company's review process.

The development is a part of the global review being undertaken by its Anglo-Dutch parent company, Unilever. The company has undergone operational changes in the past five years, which include its growing strategic focus on growth in developing markets and the introduction of the One Unilever Programme.

While confirming the development, an HUL official spokesperson said to Televisionpoint.com, "As a company policy, we don't want to communicate a deadline, as these processes (media pitch) occasionally take longer than originally planned, and this can lend itself to speculation."

Vikram Sakhuja, chief executive officer, GroupM - South Asia, says, "At the conclusion of every contract period there is a capability review that is done with Hindustan Unilever. It is no different this time and we aim to retain the business."

Sources said leading media agencies of WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic have been invited for a new pitch. "We don't discard the possibility of inviting one other agency to pitch, but that hasn't been confirmed," a HUL source said.

Incumbent Mindshare Fulcrum has the upper edge, with experience on its side as well as the fact that the agency already has its systems in place. It will be not an easy job for HUL to change its media agency as it's a mammoth task.

HUL is one of GroupM's biggest accounts, with nearly 45 per cent of the latter's revenues coming in through this business. The FMCG player spent 10 per cent of its turnover, at Rs 16,476 crore for the 12 months ended March 31, 2008 towards advertising and promotional (A&P) expenses, at Rs 1,647 crore.

In 1995, GroupM, a WPP group company in India, formed a separate unit called Fulcrum to handle buying needs of HUL. When Mindshare was set up in India in 2001, Mindshare Fulcrum won the pitch in 2001 for HUL. This was when HUL consolidated its buying and planning needs into one agency.

The year 2001 was the only time HUL went in for a pitch. If Mindshare Fulcrum does not manage to renew the contract, the impact on the agency will be huge. In India, unlike other markets in the world, HUL is the biggest advertising spender as opposed to P&G in other parts of the world.