Shahenshah or the baby: Who has the Firstcry?

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will be the brand ambassador of Firstcry.com, children focused e-Commerce company.

The company has mandated Lowe Lintas for the advertising campaign, which will include six films featuring Bachchan, chief executive and founder Supan Maheshwari told ET.

The advertisements will be released by the end of this week.

Maheshwari added that the company might raise funds next year, but did not disclose how much it intends to raise in the fifth round of funding.

With the help of venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates and San Francisco based Valiant Capital, the baby and childcare products retailer has so far got $36 million in Series D funding. It has received $10 million in the last round earlier this year.

The CEO, however, did not say how much FirstCry has earmarked as annual advertising budget, but industry executives ET spoke to pegged it at close to Rs 100 crore.

"An internal research showed that FirstCry was low on awareness despite the fact that repeat purchase on the website is 50% higher than our closest competitor," said Anuj Jain, the company's senior vice-president.

"We needed to create maximum impact with the campaign. Amitabh Bachchan brings huge credibility to the brand. He has pan-India appeal and is a doting grandfather,” he said.

Jain said the company has made six TV commercials around the theme "Bachchon ki shopping, Bachchon ka khel nahi" (kids shopping is not child's play), which will run for the next three months.

The campaign will also have radio, out-of-home and tactical print legs. The new ad campaign will be handled by Lowe Lintas's Johnson & Johnson team, Maheshwari said.

FirstCry was launched in 2010 by Maheshwari and Amitava Saha. It is owned by Brainbees Solution, a products supplier for pregnant women and kids. The brand has over 120 brick and mortar stores across the country.

(Image: Indiatimes)