MUMBAI: Fossil India has appointed Mullen Lintas as its advertising agency partner after a competitive multi-agency pitch.

The mandate will be handled from the agency’s Bengaluru office which will be responsible for strategising, planning and execution of the campaigns.

In India, Fossil India is set-up as a 100 per cent subsidiary of Fossil Group to sell the products in its portfolio. Fossil started its India operation in 2008 retailing all its products through leadingmulti brand outlets (MBOs) such as Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop etc. Fossil was among the earliest global brands that received clearances by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to set up single-brand retail stores after the government raised the FDI limit to 100 per cent.

Mullen Lintas executive director Kishore Subramanian says, “We are very excited with this win. Fossil is a legendary American lifestyle brand that seamlessly fuses smart functionality with its vintage/classic fashion sensibilities, thus creating a niche in India. Mullen Lintas team will further add fuel to their marketing initiatives and help launch their Gen 3 Smart watches in the country, and take the brand to the next level of growth.”

Early 2014, the brand opened its first exclusive brand outlet (EBO) in Mumbai, marking its India entry. Fossil’s EBO footprint now extends to over 15 stores that include Mumbai, New Delhi NCR, Gurgaon, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

Fossil India VP managing director Johnson Verghese said, “We are happy to bring on board Mullen Lintas to drive the creative mandate for Fossil. It is the first time we have embarked on a marketing campaign of this magnitude. We were happy to associate with the passionate team at Mullen Lintas. They demonstrated in-depth knowledge of the brand and were quick to understand and align with the brand philosophy. The aim is to co-create content to drive brand awareness around Fossil and its latest range of connected timepieces. We look forward to an interesting and insightful journey ahead”.