BENGALURU: “We are probably the first and only brick manufacturers in the country that uses mass and social media for advertising our products,” says Wienerberger India  Private Limited (WIPL) managing director Appaiah Monnanda.

To announce the launch of ‘Smart Brick Solutions’ in India, WIPL has used mainline newsprint and radio in Bengaluru and Chennai. Besides, the company has a presence on social media, including blogs and Facebook. Though the current marketing budgets are small, about Rs 1 crore, the company will spend more in the future once it moves to a pan-India presence from a mainly South India supply say company sources. The company also spends a portion of its marketing budget for BTL activities such as taking part in exhibitions and its own events that it holds to familiarise its products to the construction industry.

 iMagic handles the mass media creative and  Disha Communications the event creative for the company. “The concept is given to the agency and it creates the ad for us,” says WIPL marketing manager Anasu Mitra. So far WIPL has been buying media space directly. Its radio jingles – on 104 Fever and 93.5 Red FM in Bengaluru and Hello 106.4 FM were created by the radio stations. “Imagine the Radio Stations surprise when we went to them –‘ You want to advertise bricks!’ is what they asked,” says Mitra.

WIPL, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Austria headquartered Wienerberger AG, clocked revenue of Rs 100 crore last fiscal. The company has a number of brands in India, including Porotherm.  Wienerberger AG had revenue of € 266.29 crore (€ 2.66 billion) in 2013.