Lodestar Universal, FCB’s media arm, was the incumbent agency.
“KFC asked both agencies to make a stats presentation,” said MK Machaiah, MindShare India senior business director.
“The client had been impressed with MindShare’s previous work for Pizza Hut and with the presentation. Therefore, it chose to consolidate its media business with the agency.”
KFC has also moved its creative account from FCB Ulka to Ogilvy & Mather, although neither client nor agency was prepared to comment at Media’s press time.
It is understood, however, that Ogilvy will begin work on the brand this month.
According to MindShare, KFC’s initial thrust would be conducted through mass media, while a below-the-line initiative will be undertaken in the last quarter of this year. Machaiah said the agency had just rolled out KFC’s first commercial in India — created by FCB Ulka — late last month.
Previously, the brand had been promoted in India through print and on-ground activities.
Since its entry into India in 1995, KFC was handled first by WPP’s Ogilvy and then JWT. In 2005, FCB Ulka bagged the account.
