VIP is not only the second largest luggage manufacturer in the world, but the brand has no organised competition to speak of in India.
Without conflict issues that would have prevented agencies from throwing their hats into the ring, the pitch saw a number of agency heavyweights line up for the shootout.
Among the contenders in the two-month long pitch were Ogilvy & Mather, Lowe, Redifussion DY&R, Leo Burnett and J. Walter Thompson's Contract
Incumbent agency J. Walter Thompson declined to participate, after handling the brand for more than a decade, and producing some of its most iconic advertising.
R. Balakrishnan, national creative director at Lowe, said that the task ahead of the agency team would be a challenging one. For a start, Lowe has a tough act to follow with the incumbent agency having created some iconic executions for the brand in the past.
The quality of its previous advertising has earned VIP a place in marketing case studies of Indian advertising.
" But once you get the idea, you don't worry," Balakrishnan said.
For VIP, he feels that though the brand has not done any breakthrough advertising for a couple of years, it has not lost ground in terms of consumer esteem.
"What it needs is good advertising, a bit of whitewash, nothing else. There's no great problem to be solved, it's a very powerful brand. It has to become - using today's images, in today's context - as powerful as it was a few years ago," Balakrishnan added.