MxMIndia

Author: mxmadmin

  • The new TVC for Tiger Balm shows how the product is a household name worldwide

    Quadrant creates Tiger Balm’s new TVC

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA4LTXqDMos[/youtube]

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    The latest Tiger Balm campaign created by Quadrant Communications portrays that Tiger Balm is so popular that most people across the world recall the balm brand and not the animal. The setting of a language class has been used to accentuate this. It’s a 30-second commercial in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi.

     

    The Indian balm market is dominated by heritage brands like Zandu and Amrutanjan. Tiger Balm too enjoys good brand recall in minds of the consumers, however it is more back of mind memory than top of mind memory. The brand has been away from media hence the motive of the campaign is to let the consumers recall the brand.

     

    On the TVC, Rajan Narayan, President, Quadrant Communications said, “During the researches conducted, following things clearly came across, Strong awareness of Tiger Balm as an international brand association of Tiger Balm as a strong balm, its unique packaging and logo. Recent communication by competitors within the category had not communicated anything new to grow the category. The fallout are new formats like gels and creams eating into the balm market share. Hence we devised this campaign which can be regarded as clutter breaking due to its approach”.

     

    The strategy was to leverage the fact that Tiger Balm is the trusted pain relieving balm in most countries across the world.

     

  • Birla Tyres has awarded its creative mandates to Grey Singapore; the account size is pegged to be Rs10 crore.

    Birla Tyres to roll with Grey Singapore

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    After assigning its creative duties to Dentsu in May 2011, Birla Tyres has now awarded the creative mandate to Grey Singapore. Industry sources close to the development have confirmed the news to MxMIndia.

     

    The account size of the business is estimated to be 10 crore.

     

    The incumbent on the account, DentsuIndia, was the first agency to work on the creative business of the account.

     

    Ever since its inception in 1991, Birla Tyres, a division of the BK Birla flagship Kesoram Industries Ltd, has seen a jump in its turnover from Rs1,947.22 crore in 2008-09 to Rs2,849.61 crore in 2009-10. The company is now looking to reach a target of Rs5,500 crore.

     

  • Times Internet Limited has announced that Satyan Gajwani will be its CEO with immediate effect. Rishi Khiani, currently CEO, has stepped down to pursue opportunities outside of the company.

    Satyan Gajwani is Times Internet CEO as Rishi Khiani moves on

    From the MxM Infodesk

     

     Moving Out: Rishi Khiani Moving In: Satyan Gajwani

    Times Internet Limited has announced that Satyan Gajwani will be its CEO with immediate effect. Rishi Khiani, currently CEO, has stepped down to pursue opportunities outside of the company.

     

    In an internal circular, managing director Vineet Jain said: Under Rishi’s leadership, TIL has grown its userbase by 150% to 28M visitors, has seen significant growth in revenues and launched strategic properties such as Gaana.com and the new indiatimes.com.

     

    We thank Rishi for his contributions to the growth and  success of TIL and wish him all success in his entrepreneurial endeavors.” Said Mr Gajwani, “We’re sad to see Rishi move on, but excited for his future ahead. Indiatimes has made great progress under his leadership, and I’m excited to take it forward to new and bigger heights. These are big shoes to fill but with such a strong team in place, I’m sure we’ll succeed.”

     

    Mr Gajwani will report to Mr Vineet Jain. Mr Khiani will stay on till August 17 to help in the transition.

     

  • The three media giants have come together to leverage their specific content strengths and collectively provide rich and relevant world class content to the readers

    Dainik Bhaskar group ties up with Time & HBR

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dainik Bhaskar Group has become the first newspaper to provide exclusive content from Time, the current affairs magazine and Harvard Business Review to its readers on a regular basis. The exclusive content will feature in the Sunday edition of the newspaper.

     

    The three media giants have come together to leverage their specific content strengths and collectively provide rich and relevant world class content to the readers. Dainik Bhaskar Group isIndia’s largest newspaper group with 1.9 million readers in 13 states. Time is the world’s largest circulation weekly news magazine with a readership of 25 million, of which 20 million are in theUS. It is widely regarded as one of the most popular magazines. Harvard Business Review delivers the latest techniques, best practices and the most thoughtful advice from the world’s leading management experts.

     

    Elaborating on the collaboration, Kalpesh Yagnik, National editor, Dainik Bhaskar Group said: “We at Dainik Bhaskar focus at generating the best and most relevant content for our readers. Time and HBR are relied upon by the policymakers, the world over. We will thus, bring to our readers, the latest trends in international politics, strategy, diplomacy, environment, entertainment, science or economy.”

     

    The content for the Sunday edition has been completely revamped. The edition will focus on management lessons to be applied in day to day life along with wide spectrum of topics like Health, Fitness, Career, Self Help, Money management, Politics, education, Music, Lifestyle, Environment, Good reads through columns by eminent experts of the respective fields.

     

    Dainik Bhaskar, in reflection to the changing times and women empowerment, will also provide a separate segment devoted to women. Fashion, Food, Travel, Health, Life, Career and money management besides this, there will be a Sunday Jacket, above the regular front page of the newspaper. This will carry exclusive news analysis, ground reports and so on.

     

    Speaking of the change, Sanjeev Kotnala, VP Dainik Bhaskar group said: “Content is always the king for any media brand. And we are loved by our readers as we focus on them. Our strategy revolves around being ahead of the curve.”

     

  • She is the first female to win the Title in wedding photography

    Sanika Jahagirdar is Wedding Photog of the Year

    By A Correspondent

     

    After a record breaking 20,954 entries from all overIndia, Sanika Jahagirdar from Mumbai won the third edition of Kodak Better Photography Wedding Photographer Of the Year. A professional photographer, Ms Jahagirdar is the first female to win this title since the awards were first started in 2009.

     

    Better Photography, a photography magazine, declared the winners at a grand awards ceremony hosted at The Westin Mumbai. Ms Jahagirdar, who was also the category winner for Photo Series on a Single Wedding, was judged the title winner by the final judge, the renowned wedding photojournalist and documentary photographer Sephi Bergerson.

     

    A freelance professional photographer, Ms Jahagirdar was extremely excited after the win: “I am highly thankful to Better Photography for providing such a platform and opportunity to the wedding photographers. Achieving a title as the ‘wedding photographer of the year’ is completely priceless. It is difficult to explain in words how excited and honoured I am feeling.”

     

    Apart from earning the title of Kodak-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011, she has won a cash prize of Rs1 lakh, including a D-LITE IT One standard kit from Associate Partner Photoquip and two photobooks from Associate Partner Canvera.com which were also given to each of the other category winners.

     

    As a special surprise, Ms Jahagirdar also won a photography workshop by Sephi Bergerson that costs Rs60 thousand.

     

    According to Sephi Bergerson, “I see the Wedding Photographer of the Year awards as a way of rewarding outstanding achievements, as well as a tool for supporting and promoting emerging new talents. There will always a call to be made. Two of the six finalists had a close fight and I eventually chose Sanika as the winner.”

     

    Every year Better Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year invites entries fromIndiaunder six different categories. These entries are judged by eminent photographers to select the six category winners who compete at the final face-off which decides the title winner for the year. This year a special leg on album making was included as part of the evaluation criteria and the six finalists were given six hours each to design their albums on the designing stations provided to them at theKodakDesigningCenter.

     

    Better Photography editor, K Madhavan Pillai said: “The Kodak-Better Photography Wedding photographer of the Year Awards are the only national level awards inIndiato recognize and laud the artistry and vision of the country’s finest talent in wedding photography.”

     

    The competition was organized by Better Photography, in sponsorship with title partner Kodak along with Associate Partner Photoquip and Canvera.com, Television Partner CNBC TV18, online Partner Wedding Sutra.com and blogging Partner Miss Malini.

     

    According to Mr. Srinivasu Saraswatula, Country Business Manager-Consumer Digital Group, KodakIndia: “Into its third year, this event has grown in stature, scale and above all has become an industry benchmark. It’s served all stake holders well beyond their imagination when this was set up couple of years back.”

     

  • Marriott International's signature lifestyle brand inspires guests to "live life to discover"

    Renaissance Hotels launches first global advertising campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Renaissance Hotels has announced its first global advertising campaign – Live Life to Discover. The new multi-faceted campaign, which comes to life through print, digital and on property experiences, provokes today’s lifestyle-oriented business traveller to explore a hotel or destination’s hidden gems through recommendations from on-site Renaissance Hotels ‘Navigators’ (the brand’s hospitality lifestyle concierge service).

     

    The campaign was created in partnership with Anomaly, a global marketing and communications agency with an extensive list of impressive clients including Nike, Budweiser, Diageo and Converse. The campaign aspires to ask today’s modern business traveler the question, “If you are traveling to a destination for business, why not make the most of your free time and discover something exceptional and unique?”

     

    The visually stunning print advertisements depict off-the-beaten path recommendations from various hotel navigators who curate unforgettable moments for guests around the world.

     

    The global print campaign will run in 32 countries and be featured in lifestyle, business and travel print media, as well as key out-of-home sites in the US and China. The wide-ranging lifestyle campaign was photographed by award-winning photographer David Black across four countries and three continents.

     

    In addition to the print flight, Renaissance Hotels will bring the campaign to life through a full scale digital re-invention of the brand, including a re-launch of the website, enhancements to the brand’s social media channels, and a powerful digital advertising campaign; all inspired by unique discoveries from around the world.

     

    “There is a discoverer in all of us, and we challenged ourselves to create a powerful campaign that speaks to our guests in a meaningful way and reflects the brand today,” said Tina Edmundson, senior vice president of lifestyle brands for Marriott International, Inc.  “Live Life to Discover embodies the global spirit of Renaissance Hotels and today’s lifestyle-business traveller and their eagerness to explore the world beyond their everyday routine.”

     

  • To gain the maximum out of the pointers, a proper road map needs to be charted out that will help build the talent's brand persona, says Indranil Das Blah

    The Anchor: Indranil Das Blah on 5 essentials in talent mgmt

    Indranil Das Blah

    By Indranil Das Blah

     

    Create a Brand

    It’s crucial to create and maintain distinguishing individual brand images while managing talent. On that basis, we plan and execute a plan that will help project that brand and communicate a certain persona/image. There may be times when certain attributes maybe similar but the job of an effective brand custodian is to find that one USP that helps create that distinction and makes the individual stand tall in a crowd.

     

    Identify the Appeal

    Appeal is another very important factor to be kept in mind while managing talent. The idea is to find out not just what TG he or she appeals to but also to find out what makes them so appealing. You can work to create brand that works on the marketable appeal.

     

    Word of mouth

    Even if a talent is considered to be a good brand and has a desirable appeal, the word of mouth around him/her is what makes or breaks a talent. It’s important to protect the talent’s image from negative perception – be it via the media or via industry whispers. And as a brand custodian, our role also includes an advisory aspect where we share our inputs with our talent to ensure that they help us protect them from the negative backlash and make them a formidable entity in the business.

     

    Image building road map

    To gain the maximum out of the aforementioned pointers, a proper road map needs to be charted out that will help build the talent’s brand persona. The core thought needs to filter down through various audience touch points – be it endorsements, public appearances, media interactions, films and so on to create the desired consumer and audience mindset and thereby attain the goals you set out to achieve with your talent.

     

    Visibility

    Visibility is a very key aspect of managing talent and building their brand. We need to ensure that we expose talent to the various touch points and create a strong, positive buzz around them. More the visibility, better the quality, more is top of mind recall. Recall is what changes the game for talent as it helps them consistently build and enhance their positioning in a competitive environment.

     

    Indranil Das Blah is the COO at KWAN Entertainment and Marketing Solutions

     

     

  • Award constituted by MedscapeIndia, India’s largest community of doctors and healthcare professionals.

    Complete Wellbeing bags Medscape award

    By A Correspondent

     

    Complete Wellbeing emerged as India’s first ever magazine to win the Medscape India Award 2012 for its commitment and contribution to the field of holistic wellness. Medscape is India’s largest community of doctors and healthcare professionals. The award was presented at a gala ceremony presided over by the honourable Health Minister, Suresh Shetty and was attended by India’s leading doctors and healthcare professionals.

     

    The awards were hosted by Founder President of Medscape India, Dr Sunita Dube. Also present at the event were Dr Kishore Taori, President – Maharashtra Medical Council; Dr Lekha Pathak Hon. physician and cardiologist to the president of India and Governor of Maharashtra; eminent orthopaedic surgeon Dr HR Jhunjhunwala, renowned ophthalmologist Dr Hemanshu Mehta, and Padma Bhushan Dr Sancheti.

     

    The award was one of the 21 awards won by distinguished individuals from the medical, pharmaceutical and paramedical fraternity. Accepting the award, Manoj Khatri, editor-publisher of the magazine said: “We launched Complete Wellbeing with a vision to go beyond the narrow confines of physical health to create a collective mind, body and soul experience that would help our readers live richer, fuller and more gratifying lives. This award is a testament to the commitment and support of our team and our readers.”

     

    Commenting on the award, Founder President of Medscape India, Dr Dube said: “Complete Wellbeing effectively encapsulates our vision of catering to the holistic welfare of all individuals. We at Medscape are delighted to take this opportunity to honour this contribution.”

     

    The fraternity including the team of Complete Wellbeing also took a pledge to spread awareness about gender neutrality through the “save the girl child campaign.”

     

    The awards celebrate excellence and integrity in wellbeing and were voted by a high-profile judging panel of doctors and healthcare professionals, including Dr Niranjan Agarwal President, Association of Medical Consultants, Mumbai.

  • Lintas Initiative Media CEO Sudha Natrajan and COO Raghav Subramanian join hands to launch TMC

    Sudha Natrajan & Raghav Subramanian to launch ‘The Media Cafe’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sudha Natrajan

    Soon after the announcement came in of Lintas Initiative CEO Sudha Natrajan moving on, she announced joining hands with COO Raghav Subramanian to launch TMC Corporation Pvt. Ltd. The venture will have a gamut of offerings under its banner. Having a combined experience of more than 40 years, the two founding directors of the company believe that the media industry has a strong sense of community without a sense of belonging.  With this thought, The Media Cafe is born which will seat the belonging of the community. It is a place where the media world will see every sunset and where walls among agencies and among media owners are rubbled. Gurgaon will host the first ‘edition’ of the Cafe which is under work and will see an opening middle of August.

     

    The Media Cafe holds the right side of TMC while on the left side are all key areas of expertise covered. The Media Consultants – A strategic consultancy offering, The Media Consumer – Research offering on both media and consumer, The Media Calibrators – Applying brand/business analytics, The Media Content – Merging brand messaging and content.

     

    Raghav Subramanian

    On the new venture, Mr Subramanian said, “It has been a long wait after various stints. This just feels right. TMC is here and will bind the industry in more than a couple of ways. Sudha is someone I have known for a while now and what can be a better combination. We complement each other well; this is a new start not just for us, but also for a lot of people around us.”

     

    “After 20 years of working in a tight system, it’s a great feeling to break free, and evolve afresh. We’re so excited to launch our own company, which involves both work and play. We’re both extremely grounded, simple people, who form tight bonds with everyone we interact with. We want to deliver a realism that forms a halo over all our offerings,” added Ms Natrajan.

     

    Ms Natrajan has spent the last 20 years in a career spanning Product Management, at Parle Products, Account Planning and Client Servicing at Lintas, and then the last 11years in Media, and leave Lintas Initiative Media, as its CEO.

     

    Mr Subramanian’s career spans across all facets of the industry – Research, Media, Analytics and Business. Has spent 10 years in GroupM New York which makes him complete by adding the global facet. He has the uniqueness of having worked at all the top conglomerates – WPP, Publicis and IPG. He leaves Lintas Initiative Media as its COO.

     

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    Ranjona Banerji: Media double faults in Paes-Bhupathi match

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    After years of working with city reporters, I accepted the fact that many grappled to understand the concept of “presumption of innocence”: If the police made an accusation against someone, why then it had to be true. But, of course, every accused has the right to defence. And while reporting a story, journalists are supposed to be objective. If they cannot provide both sides of a dispute, they must explain to the reader why they have failed.

     

    But in the initial rounds of this rather unfortunate fight in Indian tennis, where Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna have refused to partner India’s top tennis player Leander Paes in the 2012 London Olympics, the media started out batting for Bhupathi alone. In what appears to be a well-thought-out campaign, the doubles pair of Bhupathi and Bopanna sent out a series of letters and emails signalling their refusal to play with Paes even before the All Indian Tennis Association decided on the Olympic team. Several newspapers and news channels did not even make a willy-nilly attempt to contact Paes.

     

    The exceptions are possibly DNA and Headlines Today, who got in touch with Paes’s father. But for the most part, it was about the terrible wrong that was about to be done to Bhupathi and Bopanna – being forced to play with Paes for the Olympics. Mail Today and The Times of India seemed like they had stakes in Bhupathi’s career.

     

    These pressure tactics appeared to have failed and the AITA decided to pair Bhupathi with Paes. This is where objectivity completely failed India’s sports journalists. Bhupathi came on air and was quoted in print making all kinds of allegations against Paes. The Times of India at last informed us that they could not contact Paes. Therefore, the story remained one-sided.

     

    Bhupathi and Bopanna meanwhile, perhaps emboldened by this out-and-out media support stated firmly that if either had to partner Paes, they were willing to forgo the Olympics. Despite the media’s usual pattern of extreme jingoism, even this display of lack of country love, did not deter the pro-Bhupathi-Bopanna journalists. One cannot state that sports journalists are less jingoistic than the rest – we see what they do to cricketers regularly. In fact I can guarantee that any top cricketer who refused to play for India because he did not like his team members would be hung, drawn and quartered by the media. By the way, cricket is not even an Olympic sport and technically, when Indian cricketers play, they represent the board. Not so for tennis, where professional players put aside career considerations to play Davis Cup and the Olympics.

     

    However, as the week of allegations by Bhupathi and Bopanna came to a close, the media slowly started to turn. Paes may have contributed to that by issuing a statement that he was willing to go by the AITA’s decision. The Indian Express and Mid-Day started to look at being fair to all concerned. The Hindustan Times later also presented a larger picture. The Times of India came to the party last – but more on its edit pages than its sports pages.

     

    Where a reader should have been given perspective on this battle and information to negotiate through this unseemly fight, he or she got a minefield of accusations from only one side. Now the villain of the piece is apparently the AITA as Bhupathi has approached the sports ministry to step in. Bhupathi has accused the selection committee of being a bunch of bureaucrats who know nothing about tennis. To me they appear to be former players – perhaps not of the stature of Bhupathi but tennis players nonetheless, a fact which needs to be pointed out in the media.

     

    Monday night saw Times Now’s Arnab Goswami ask Mahesh Bhupathi some tough questions – some of which he struggled to answer. This is the first time that Bhupathi’s accusations were questioned. Later, the fathers of Paes and Bhupathi were on Times Now, where Paes Senior pointed out that Bhupathi was not blameless in this battle, while Bhupathi Senior tried to shrug that off and say the Olympic riddle had to be solved not the mistakes made by the boys.

     

    Appalling as this ego battle between India’s top tennis players may be, the media’s partisan stand has been as appalling.

     

  • The awards will honour creativity which has shown a measurable and proven impact on a client’s business – creativity that affects consumer behaviour, brand equity, sales, and so on

    India@Cannes: Creativeland looks to repeat 2011 story in effectiveness

     
    By A Correspondent

     

    Having bagged the inaugural Creative Effectiveness Lions last year, India may find the going tough this year as it has received just a single shortlist nomination. This is good considering that India has sent only two entries this year. Last year the number was 7.

     

    At a total of 92, the total number of entries too have seen a sharp decline this year by 35 per cent. Last year, the number was 142. Leading the tally is USA that has sent 27 entries, Australia has sent 9 while Germany has sent 7 entries.

     

    With just a single shortlist, Creativeland Asia looks to recreate the magic it created last year with its entry Plan-T for Parle Agro.

     

    Just to recap, the awards will honour creativity which has shown a measurable and proven impact on a client’s business – creativity that affects consumer behaviour, brand equity, sales, and so on. Only entries that were either shortlisted or Lion winners, across all categories at Cannes Lions 2011 are eligible to enter into this category as these will have already been judged and established as being creatively world-class. PricewaterhouseCoopers have reviewed each entry for the Cannes Creative Effectiveness Lions and checked that claims made therein are supported by appropriate data and that entries are internally consistent and mathematically accurate. Entries will be rewarded for strategy (25 per cent), Idea (25per cent) and Results and Effectiveness (50per cent).

     

    The entries will be judged as one with no categories. Representing India at the jury will be Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & Chief Marketing Officer, Parle Agro. The awards will be held on Tuesday evening in the Grand Auditorium, Palais des Festivals.

     

  • Over the years, India's winning tally from 2007-2011 in Press Lions read thus: 4, 7, 2, 6, and 4

    India@Cannes: DDB Mudra with 10 & Leo Burnett with 8 shortlists raise India’s hopes for Press Lions

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Largely the same as the number of entries sent last year,India’s tally in Press Lions stands at 266 – compared to 267 last year. Overall the category has seen a rise of 12 per cent, recording 6,056 entries from 72 countries. Leading from the front once again is Brazil that has sent a record 948 entries. It is followed by UK & USA that have sent 399 and 390 entries respectively,Germany that has sent 385 entries and France that has sent 325 entries.

     

    The number of shortlists from India stands at a commendable 30. This is led by DDB Mudra that has 10 of its entries being shortlisted, Leo Burnett which has 8, Ogilvy & Mather that has 6, BBD0 that has 4 and Publicis that has 2.

     

    In the category Art Direction, DDB Mudra has three of its entries – Great Fire of London, New York Blackout and Armenian Internet Shutdown that have been shortlisted for its client Geebees Beverages. Three other shortlists of DDB Mudra include Elvis, JFK and Roswel lfor its client Stedfast in the Business Equipment & Services category. Leo Burnett once again finds four mentions for its Cigarette, Socks, Fish and Egg entries for its client Bajaj Electricals in the Photography category while Ogilvy bags three shortlists for its client Mattel Toys in the entertainment & Leisure category. Publicis has two shortlists for its client Bookstalk Audiobooks in the Retail Stores category.

     

    Representing the jury from India is Raj Kamble Former Chief Creative Officer, BBH.  Over the years,India’s winning tally from 2007-2011 in Press Lions read thus: 4, 7, 2, 6, and 4.

     

    The awards will be distributed at a glittering ceremony at Palais des Festivals on Wednesday evening.