Indiantelevision.com Team

(18 July 2007 10:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Media Contacts, the interactive arm of Havas Media has won the KLM account worldwide, after a competitive pitch.

Media Contacts won the pitch against 14 other agencies. All the agencies were evaluated on capabilities such as: strategy, international coverage, travel and e-retail experience, response media and optimisation, brand building skills, buying power, fee structure, organisation and people, account support.

KLM e-promotion manager Manuel van Lijf says, "We were looking for the best interactive partner and we found it in Media Contacts, the agency has given KLM the confidence to be its strategic partner for the coming years. Media Contacts deep local knowledge and expertise combined with the offer of a global network, technology, methodology, great service offering, knowledge, great team of people, and Artemis were key to our final decision."

The global interactive agency will manage the cross media planning and buying, execution of online advertising, affiliate marketing and meta-search. Furthermore Media Contacts will have a strategic role in the cross-media effects of these channels towards search engine marketing and e-mail Marketing Communication strategy, display buying and co-ordination will be managed centrally from France.

Media Contacts chief strategy officer Anthony Rhind says, "We are thrilled to be working with such a market leading brand as KLM. The pitch process was challenging and competitive and we are very excited about the opportunity to be KLM’s agency of record going forward."

Media Contacts India business director Ravi Kabra says, "We are very excited about the KLM win. Last few months have seen Media Contacts grow significantly in India. We have attracted talent from all over, won new businesses and expanded our presence to 4 cities in the country. KLM indeed is a great brand and the fact that Media Contacts is also the online agency for Air France will benefit both Air France and KLM."

KLM together with Media Contacts have started a project of implementing one ad serving system across countries. Using one ad serving system worldwide together with Artemis, will allow better cross-optimization as well as better media buying.

Artemis is Media Contacts’ proprietary global technology platform that enables the centralization and analysis of data coming from all online and offline interactive media, and helps clients effectively reach customers maximising the return on communication investment.