Increasing competition in the passenger car market has prompted Maruti Udyog to appoint a third agency which will handle its brand building, industry experts opined. Says Gopal S Krishnan, accounts director, Capital Advertising:``We are happy to bag this account. We will be launching an aggressive print campaign for Maruti some time next week.'' Maruti's two other agencies are Lintas which handles advertising for Baleno, Esteem and Zen brands and Rediffusion which has Maruti 800, Omni, Gypsy and Wagon R under its fold. Company sources said the move follows the subsequent increase in the company's scope of business and its focus areas in the last couple of years. The advertising agency will also be involved in the company's brand building exercise through a slew of promotions and marketing initiatives. Traditionally, brand equity and distribution networks have been identified as the key success factors for any consumer product company.With capitalised billings of Rs 25 crore, Capital today handles accounts of white goods majors such as LG (microwave) and Electrolux.

According to Krishnan, Capital Advertising had designed an effective campaign for the Vir Jawan Fund which was promoted by Maruti recently. ``After seeing the success of the programme, Maruti has appointed us to handle its corporate account,''says Krishnan.

As for its communication strategy, Krishnan explains that Capital has repositioned the brand - Maruti - in its advertisements.

``Our print campaign includes a series of press advertisements. And we have positioned the brand as young and peppy. Also we will be highlighting its extensive network in our communications,'' he adds.

Maruti Udyog's product line-up has increased substantially with the latest additions - Wagon R and Baleno which were launched last year. MUL crossed the four lakh plus mark for annual production and sales in March 2000. The country's largest car manufacturer sold 4,06,290 units in 1999-2000. It sold a total of 44,167 units in March.