The Hindu Business Line : Pantaloon to leverage Net, mobile space

Pantaloon Retail is planning to step up its marketing and communication spends on the mobile and Internet space. Speaking to Business Line, Mr Sanjeev Agrawal, Head, Marketing, Pantaloon Retail, said, "We plan to strengthen our presence in this space since this is an area which is growing rapidly. The plan is to innovate and experiment in Internet and mobile marketing initiatives."

In the recent past the company has already been engaging itself in some amount of Web-based advertising and has been doing projects through entities such as Hungama.com. "In the past, we have had vendors such as Hungama doing work for us but now we are looking for a long-term partner for our mobile and Internet marketing initiatives."

In fact, the company may also be considering the services of its empanelled agencies such as Mudra and Percept (H) for enhancing its Web-based advertising.

From its ad budget of Rs 100 crore, Pantaloon Retail now intends setting aside a substantial amount for its operations on the Web.

Adds Mr Agrawal, "Today, the majority of our ad spends continue to be on the print media but we are looking at allocating reasonable spends behind mobile and Internet-based communication since it is still not a cluttered medium." Besides, the retail chain is also using mediums such as outdoors, television and may be radio in the future.

Meanwhile, Pantaloon Retail has extended its `Fresh Fashions' baseline to the Miss Ponds India beauty pageant whereby the three `Ms India's will be featuring in its campaigns. Explains Mr Agrawal, "We have decided to use these ladies in our campaigns since they are fresh faces which go with our fresh fashions statement."

The retail company has also decided to consider using a new celebrity for its Central brand of stores. Considering it has been rapidly expanding its Central brand and has also attached the baseline of `Shop, Eat, Celebrate' for the brand, there is a likelihood of associating a celebrity with it. "We may look at a celebrity for Central in the future," says Mr Agrawal. However, celebrities are not going to be the focus for its Big Bazaar retail brand of stores.

"We intend using direct communication for the Big Bazaar brand and there will be no third party used to communicate about the advantages of shopping with the brand," adds Mr Agrawal.

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