Leo Burnett to launch BTL arm in India

Leo Burnett will launch its below-the-line (BTL) integrated specialist unit, Arc, in India this week. Arc is Leo Burnett's global BTL integrated specialist unit that was formed two years ago. In India, Romit Mitra will be in charge of Arc and will head a core team of 12 professionals.

The unit will have four major arms: Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM) & Interactive, Events, and Shopper Marketing & Promotions with offices in Mumbai and New Delhi.

Arvind Sharma, chairman, Leo Burnett, said: "We will be the first advertising agency with full-fledged BTL integrated unit. The last five years have seen explosive growth in the segment, but it comes with many inefficiencies that turn a customer off." The BTL segment in India is growing segment at 30 per cent a year.

Sharma pointed out that Arc will deliver value in terms of integration of all services that encompass the BTL business. Arc will be in a position to mine huge amounts of data as well as provide data management support. A dedicated call centre with about 20 people will also be set up in New Delhi for the purpose.

Sharma added the unit will be in a position to have 10,000 marketing people on the street at any given point in time.

Leo Burnett has made an investment of around Rs 7 crore for the unit. Sharma added, "The target is to rope in about seven major clients by December 2006, as our focus is to cater to turnkey BTL projects."

With the launch of Arc, Leo Burnett will now have two specialist units, the other being Leo Entertainment which is in the space of branded content. Arc has already managed to rope in Centurion Bank of Punjab as its first client.