MUMBAI: Columbia Asia Hospitals has roped in Carat India, the flagship media agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, as its media agency.

Carat won the mandate following a multi-agency pitch and will now handle the account from its Bangalore office. This comes on the back of Carat’s record breaking new business wins, including Mondelez, making Carat the leading new business agency in India two years in a row.

Commenting on the partnership, Columbia Asia Hospitals VP sales and marketing Vinay Kaul said, “To us, Carat came across as an agency that focuses on finding communication solutions keeping the business challenges at the centre. We wish Carat all the best as we embark on an exciting journey together.”

Carat India MD Kartik Iyer added, “As we move forward, our goal is to create unique industry benchmarks for our clients. We are very happy to be associated with Columbia Asia Hospitals and look forward to a long-lasting and fruitful partnership with them. We also look forward to bring in our past experience in Healthcare communications to bear on this premium relationship we are getting into.

Carat South executive VP Joydeep Raha said, “The brief that the client has given us is very challenging. This is because while there are huge opportunities within the healthcare industry, a set of very unique challenges also stand to plague this unique category. Here, our task at hand therefore, is to fight those challenges and position Columbia Asia as a leading healthcare destination with the mission to deliver the best clinical outcomes in the most effective, efficient and caring environment.”

Columbia Asia is one of the first healthcare companies to enter India through 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) route. The chain is currently present in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mysore, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Patiala and Pune.