Parle Agro ends nine-year alliance with Creativeland Asia

KOLKATA: Parle Agro, maker of Frooti mango juice, has decided to end its nine-year alliance with advertising agency Creativeland Asia (CLA). CLA owner Raj Kurup and Parle Agro chief marketing officer Nadia Chauhan, who are husband and wife, said the move was part of their decision to separate personal and professional lives. “We have planned this mutually over the last one year.

Both of us have had a fantastic journey working together over the last 10 years,” Chauhan told ETon Tuesday. The departure of Parle Agro business — which includes brands such as Frooti, Appy, Appy Fizz, Hippo, Bailey and Café Cuba — would result in at least 18-19% loss of revenues for CLA. “Sometimes you have to make tough decisions and put personal life above business. We’ll come back stronger,” Kurup told ET.

Chauhan said Parle Agro has now decided to work with a few international and domestic agencies on a project basis. “As of now we are doing a project with Pentagram ( London) and another with Sagmeister & Walsh ( New York) — both for Frooti,” she said, adding the company has earmarked nearly Rs 100 crore as its advertising budget.

The Frooti account is currently up for grabs. “A lot of our major initiatives are going live (in 2015) including a very large IT integration into our S&D (sales and distribution) system, making for a complete new way of working for Parle Agro,” she said. This has been done in partnership with consultancy firm Booz & Co. Kurup said CLA will focus on overseas expansion, including a strategic acquisition. Currently, it has clients like Cinthol, Aer, Godrej Expert, MTS Telecom, Mercedes, Emami, Kalpataru, Café Coffee Day, Durex and a few government projects in its roster.