By ANINDITA SARKAR
Indiantelevision.com Team

(3 October 2009 7:00 pm)

MUMBAI: The Congress is spending Rs 40 million towards print and television for the forthcoming assembly elections and has roped in K&V Media, an IMC agency, to handle its media account.

For radio, the political party has parceled out various small agencies for capturing the local market.

While the Congress is investing Rs 26.4 million on television to build brand awareness, for print it is spending Rs 13.6 million.

Says K&V Media director Dheeraj Vashisht, "While 66 per cent of the media account is skewed towards television, the balance 34 per cent will rest for print."

While the television campaign will be on English, Hindi and Marathi news channels along with Marathi GECs, for print, it will be only on Lokmat, promoted by Congress MP Vijay Darda.

On television, out of the allocated 66 per cent, 15 per cent will be towards Hindi news channels, 11 per cent towards English news channels, 34 per cent will be for the Marathi news channels and the remaining 40 per cent will be for Marathi GECs (general entertainment channels).

"For the campaign, we will focus on the primetime strategy to capture attention of the entire family. While the campaign buzz will remain low in the beginning, there will be a major spike in the last 4-5 days of the 11-day campaign," she adds.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has appointed Crayons Advertising to handle creative duties for the political party.

The state assembly elections are scheduled for 13 October.