Venus Water Heaters, a subsidiary of Venus Home Appliances Private Ltd has appointed OMG (Omnicom Media Group) as its media agency. The creative duties were passed on to Rubecon. The account was passed on to these agencies without any formal pitching process.

Prior to this, the media and creative rights were taken care by Mindshare and JWT.

Confirming the news, Ram Kumar, Director – Marketing, Venus Water Heaters, said, “We looked at various factors, including the ability to deliver the kind of time and attention that we required from our creative and media agency. After looking at different agencies, we felt that these two suited our requirements as they had the necessary expertise and the capability to bring in value addition for us.”

Kumar added, “Most of our advertising happens during the peak selling season, which is the third quarter, and we will be very active during that time during this year as well.”

The new agencies on board will also handle other brands under the Home Appliances range. The campaigns will be 360 degree campaigns utilizing traditional and digital forms of media.

Venus, a 40 year old company that has been a market leader and a pioneer in the water heater industry and is synonymous with water heaters across India.

Whyte and Mackay Ltd, the world’s leading supplier of own label and branded Scotchwhisky recently called for a pitch from advertising agencies. The account will include working on brands like Whyte & Mackay scotch, Isle of Jura (single malt) and Dalmore. After a rigorous pitching the process the account was won by JWT, Bengaluru. The exact estimate of the account has not been disclosed.

JWT will be responsible for building an integrated strategy for the brands under W&M. The agency confirmed that the positioning will be built on the existing positioning of ‘A little extra that works wonders.’ Anant Iyer, business head, luxury, United Spirits added more on the deal, “Their superior understanding of the brand DNA and their activation ideas that we feel will resonate with the consumers.”

Prior to this the account was handled by Equus Red Cell. Mindshare handles the media duties for W&M.

Spikes Asia announced the TOI Group as the winner for its initiative to bring a new breed of political leaders into the political arena by creating a highly-visible platform where new candidates could showcase their vision, ideas and skills to lead the country. Times Group was given the ‘‘Advertiser of the Year’’ award at the film festival which took place in Singapore.

The Times Group also walked away with seven more awards, including the Grand Prix in the Integrated and Direct Marketing categories for ‘‘Teach India’’; three silvers for the ‘‘Chennai Naka Muka’’ film (one in the Media and Publications category, two for craft, that is, best film and art direction); and two in the digital category for the Chennai website ‘‘Jallikattu’’.

Most of these Times campaigns had been designed by JWT, which won the ‘Agency Network of the Year.’