ITC's Lifestyle Division is Looking for a Full Service Digital Agency

ITC's lifestyle retailing sub-brands, Wills Lifestyle and John Players -- are looking for a full service digital agency. The selected agency will be required to handle the complete digital marketing and social media portfolios of both brands. The agency will also need to manage the launch of the company's e-commerce platforms for both brands.

The pitch is happening in Manesar, the company's headquarters and the digital budget is yet to be frozen. The first round was held during the last week of December, 2013; the second round will begin in the coming week. By now, four agencies have been shortlisted for the second round.

Until now, the brands followed a project model and has been working with a couple of digital agencies. Both the brands have been advertising mostly through newspapers, magazines and outdoor; this is the first time the brand is thinking of using the digital medium extensively.

Speaking to afaqs! about the need to appoint a digital agency of record (AOR) for the division, Karan Kumar, general manager, Lifestyle Retailing Business Division, ITC, said,

"The business has reached a certain structure and now we need a concrete and dedicated digital marketing calendar. We decided on an AOR model, so that we can work closely (with the digital partner) to ascertain that the essence of both our brands remains the same in the medium."

According to Kumar, having an e-commerce presence is very important for a lifestyle brand. Though the brand is present on all leading e-commerce portals, Kumar strongly feels that having its own e-commerce presence will boost the brand popularity further.

Source: Afaqs