Media buying for about 80 group companies is likely to be carried out in a consolidated fashion in the coming days, and the group is in the process of evaluating agencies for this purpose, according to reliable industry sources. The consolidation would make the group a veritable powerhouse in terms of combined mediaspend, estimated at a hefty Rs 400 crore or thereabouts.

The Rs 400 crore per year figure is understandable if one were to consider the fact that an the average spend of a group company like Indian Hotels and its associated companies is about Rs 40 crore.

According to sources, the agencies which have been invited to pitch for the account include Madison, Carat, The Media Edge (the media buying division of Rediffusion DY&R) and Zenith (the media buying division of Bates).

The media buying for the group, indicate sources, will start in a phased manner. "It will start with the larger companies like Tata Engineering and Indian Hotels before moving on to the smaller companies." This is the first time that the Tatas have decided to centralise their media buying operations. When contacted, the Tata Group official spokesperson said, "We are examining all possibilities of optimising our advertising spend."

Currently, the Tata group has split its advertising business across agencies. The Tata Indica account is handled by FCB Ulka while Tata Safari, Tata Sierra, Tata Sumo and the group's corporate account are with Ogilvy & Mather. The advertising for light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs) is with Rediffusion DY&R. Lowe Lintas and Partners and Ogilvy & Mather are the agencies that handle the Titan account.

Other agencies which are a part of the Tata fold include Triton and Publicis. It is expected that large amounts of advertising money will be spent by the Tata group on its newer ventures. Among these are Tata Telecom, Tata Teleservices, Tata Cellular and Tata Internet Services. With media buying becoming more complex and specialised, many Indian corporates have been centralising this operation with one agency. According to an independent media analyst, every client is continuously trying to maximise value out of each media rupee spent. "It is only the specialised media buying houses which can offer bulk discounts across mediums to the client" says the analyst.

HLL recently decided to centralise all its media activity - planning and buying - with the Global media buying agency, Mindshare, a WPP Group company. Madison is the buying agency for Procter & Gamble while all media buying for Cadbury is done by Carat.

The total revenues for the 80 companies in the Tata group of companies stands at around Rs 36,000 crore today. The group has businesses spread across seven business sectors which include engineering, materials, power, energy, chemicals, consumer products, communications and IT and services.