INDIA: Pantaloon appoints Mudra, Percept H

The 'value retailing' brands Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar have been assigned to Mudra; the 'lifestyle retailing' division, which includes flagship apparel brand Pantaloon and the recently-acquired Arcus chain of home building and improvement goods, will be handled by Percept H, a Hakuhodo group affiliate.

Millennium Media (a Lowe group company) will continue to handle the media account.

Kishore Biyani, MD, Pantaloon Retail India, said: "We are growing quickly and we want to create a certain imagery for our retail brands in both the value retailing and lifestyle retailing segments."

He said each agency was chosen for strengths brought to the unique requirements of the respective businesses. So, Mudra was roped in for its creative edge in building the distinctive local flavour for its more 'Indian' brands, Big Bazaar (hypermarket discount format) and Food Bazaar (food and grocery).

On the other hand, Percept H, according to CEO Rajesh Pant, will leverage its international angle: "Hakuhodo has worldwide experience in lifestyle retailing; we can learn a lot and apply it here."

It also has a past association with Pantaloon, said Biyani: "We had a seven-year relationship, and have seen an ability in terms of creating brands and building high visibility in a shorter time frame."

Biyani has big plans for the lifestyle retailing division, and the first in line is Central, a unique chain of 'seamless' large-format malls starting with Bangalore in March, followed by Hyderabad in August and Gurgaon (Delhi) by 2005.