In a surprising turn of events the Rs 27-crore Philips consumer electronics advertising business in India has gone to Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA) instead of Mudra Communications, as was expected.
Nearly six months back when Euro RSCG lost the Philips business to DDB Needham globally, the account was tipped to align with Mudra in India, the agency where Needham has a small 10 per cent stake.
In fact Mudra set up a second agency, Infinity, to handle Philips so that it did not clash with its existing consumer electronics client Samsung India.
An old Mudra hand, Vijaya Nagrare, had moved from Ahmedabad to Mumbai to head the new agency. Advertising industry sources suggest that it may have been difficult for Mudra to convince Samsung, which is a whopping Rs 70 crore business for the agency, to let it work on Philips without fear of loss of commitment. Mudra has been working with Samsung ever since its launch in 1995.
Though the Philips officials did not confirm the movement, sources in HTA confirmed the shift: "We've been told that the Philips business is shifting to our agency. But the company hasn't made any formal announcement as yet."
When contacted, a senior Philips official said: "Yes, it's true that we have finalised our agency but we cannot officially announce it right now as some legal formalities have yet to be fulfilled."
But what happens to Infinity which is left without business? Sources at Mudra say that "Philips is not end of the world for Mudra. Infinity will go out in the market and scout for more clients."
Interestingly, just last month senior Philips and Euro RSCG officials had made an official statement declaring that Philips in India is bound by global re-alignment decisions and that preparations were on to move the Philips business to Mudra soon.
It is learnt that besides HTA at least three other agencies, namely, Lowe Lintas & Partners, Rediffusion DY&R and Ogilvy & Mather, were also in the running for Philips' communications business.
