The Hindu Business Line : JWT scripts a shop for film stories

TO beat the dearth of original film scripts in the Hindi film industry, the country's top advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson (JWT), is all set to establish Script Shop, a unit exclusively dedicated to developing film scripts.

"The Script Shop project was in discussion for a year now, and will take off in the next couple of months," said Mr Tarun Rai, Senior Vice-President & General Manager, JWT India.

Mr D. Ramakrishna, the Creative Head of JWT Mumbai, has been interacting with scriptwriters and discussing scripts for this unit, and if things go as per schedule, the agency will also launch its first film by the year-end, Mr Rai added.

JWT, known for its strong planning background, has also made strides on the creativity front in recent years with a recent spree of appointments in its creative department, which also included hiring Mr Ramakrishna from Lowe last April. "JWT has lately shifted its focus to delivering good creatives on top of our already established platform of competent planning strategies," Mr Rai said. This method of merging creativity with planning strategies has resulted in a renewed thrust on acquiring new business accounts. The Mumbai branch acquired 21 clients since January last year, which includes four `big' accounts won last month. June has been a windfall for JWT, when it managed to bag four accounts, comprising UTI Mutual Funds' creative account, HP Power from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Godrej's security division and Dr Batra's Positive Health Clinic business.

JWT Mumbai also won the accounts for Godrej air-conditioners, Philips mobile phones, SBI Mutual Funds, Lake City Corporation and UTV's Hungama TV over the last six months.