Theme Ventures bags the AOR for Kolkata based Priya biscuit!

Theme Ventures , a diversified brand management firm , has been appointed this month as the agency on record (AOR) by Kolkata based Priya foods , makers of Priya biscuit , wafers , crunchies and chips. Priya , a 150 crore brand , has signed up Theme Ventures to launch an extensive Rural Media PR activity . Its for the first ever , that a FMCG brand has signed up an agency with the objective of Rural PR as a mandate.

Says Rajan Guha, Chief executive , Theme Ventures , " Media PR has entered an interesting phase of evolution . Firms like Priya Buiscuit which in increasingly relying on non-metro sales for growth , is moving towards more specialized Media PR activity aimed at smaller towns and villages where conventional large ciruculated newspapers maynot be dominant."

The BTL marketing arm of Theme Ventures , Future BTL , had in the year 2010 partnered with Priya buiscuit expand its retail base in smaller towns and cities by appointing more retailers and undertaking large scale shop level visual merchandising activity . Priya's move to appoint the Media PR wing of Theme Ventures , PR Speak , is an extension of the earlier initiative .

Priya buiscuit , plans to launch a series of low ticket packs for semi urban market including a Rs 1 busicuit pack positioned as a tiffin pack for rural masses . The new rural PR initiative is to communicate the new price range and specific market products.

Besides leading publications , Theme Ventures , is seeking out smaller city based and neighbourhood newspapers which have substantial readership in smaller geography . Says Rajan Guha , CEO , Theme Ventures " Rural PR is difficult and challenging . But this stream is the next best thing that is waiting to happen to Indian PR industry which has been largely confined to urban centres . The multiplicity of media choices in rural India , absence of structured editorial policy of smaller publications , poor infrastructure of local media and a bias against city based PR agency makes rural PR extremely difficult and expensive ."

Theme Ventures , a diversified brand management firm , is divided into five key sub-brands . Future BTL handles various BTL marketing functions on an outsourced basis for various FMCG , consumer durable clients. These activities include channel sales , distribution , visual merchandising , retailer appointment , distributor search , corporate employee sales .