MUMBAI: In a move to ensure rigour in understanding business issues and hurdles to growth, Lowe India has revamped its planning services with the launch of a strategy division.

This division will be manned by eight brand strategists, most of whom have over 10 years experience in advertising, market research and marketing. The brand strategists will be assisted by a team of 20 other planners across the agency.

 
 
The roles of the brand strategists too have been redefined. A strategist at Lowe will go beyond formulation of brand communication game plan. Also, planners would guide the teams through line executions, where needed, rather than just mass media campaigns.

 
 
The newly-formed division will embark upon a number of knowledge projects on an ongoing basis. These projects would focus on observing changing consumer and market trends in the overall area of marketing and communication.

For example, Lowe's just-released 'Lowe Faces of Asia report'. This is part of an Asia Pacific regional study covering countries like China, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines, in addition to India. The study focuses on `Mrs. Urban India,' housewives in urban areas, and builds a comprehensive picture of their values, lifestyles, media habits and product consumption behaviour.

"Our strategists will complete at least five more knowledge projects like 'Faces' during the current year and share the knowledge with our clients", Lowe president and COO Pranesh Misra was quoted as saying in an official statement.

According to him, "We have always believed in creative products and will continue to do so. The strategy division will add another significant dimension to our service offering and, hopefully, build another point of differential for the agency."