Nov 26, 2008

Mktg - Lowe now Lowe Lintas;to rename & rebrand other verticals

Savia Jane Pinto

Lowe India has quite a few plans up its sleeve. For one, the agency will now go back to being known as Lowe Lintas. Lintas merged with Lowe in October 1999 and in 2002, a decision was made to call the creative agency Lowe. Now, after six years, the creative agency will go back to being called Lowe Lintas.

R Balakrishnan (Balki), national creative director, Lowe (now Lowe Lintas), dismisses this change, saying, “It has always been Lowe Lintas as Lowe is a registered company under Lintas.” The logo will now contain Lowe Lintas as the name of the agency.


The agency is also strongly concentrating on other solutions and tools which will help the communications process. “Channel planning is a tool with which we aim to create a better communications plan,” Balki tells afaqs!. Channel planning analyses a consumer’s path to purchase and learns which media actually affect the consumer’s life, and hence, what strategy would work out in order to reach that consumer.

Raj Gupta, executive vice-president and head, Insight Media, is spearheading the channel planning initiative. The tool is operational in Mumbai on certain Unilever brands. Soon, it will be utilised for all of Lowe’s clients.

Digital is another field that Lowe is looking at very closely. “We are in talks with some companies internationally and internally, too, we are focusing on digital,” says Balki.

“The way we treat the rural markets will also change,” warns Balki. Instead of just separating it as a different vertical, the brand team will be heavily involved in the completion of the communication for these markets. Lowe already has an arm, called Linterland, which deals with rural marketing. This will soon be re-branded along with the other verticals within Lowe Lintas.

“In a way, this is a re-integration of the agency. We had gone into a division mode, which is good as it brings in expertise, but with more flow among the divisions – it makes things easier,” sums up Balki.

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