MxMIndia

Author: mxmadmin

  • This report provides advertisers, agencies and major players of the digital industry detailed Profile Cards and various rankings of the Top 112 largest US digital agencies

    AKQA buy takes WPP to the top in digital: RECMA

    By A Correspondent

     

    Following the AKQA (a creative agency specializing in interactive marketing) acquisition by WPP, RECMA is pleased to announce the update of its latest USA report: the Top 112 digital agencies (published in July 2012).

     

    This report provides advertisers, agencies and major players of the digital industry detailed Profile Cards and various rankings of the Top 112 largest US digital agencies (based on staff figures 2012). These detailed Profile Cards and hierarchies are increasingly required by international advertisers seeking to consolidate their digital account regionally or globally. RECMA is read and used by 85 global advertisers, which appreciate our objective, homogenous and accurate information

     

    By investing $540 million, WPP bought one of the last independent digital jewel and has taken the lead in the industry. The RECMA report reveals the AKQA profile and the reasons why WPP offered such a package to Ajaz Ahmed and Tom Bedecarre.

     

    Now the question is which are now the last independent digital leaders in the USA left on the shelves to be acquired and which group holds an overly limited share of the industry and needs to reach the necessary competitive size?

     

    The table below shows the new WPP leadership in the USdue to the addition of the 600 US AKQA staffers. Previously WPP share was of 20.2, slightly behind Publicis 20.5.

     

    USA- Digital market shares July 2012
    Rank
    2012    		 DIGITAL
    STAFF    		 7 Group  owners and 61 agencies Digital shares
    1 8 328 WPP USA (8 agencies) 21.7%
    2 7 864 Publicis Groupe USA (7 agencies) 20.5%
    3 6 672 Interpublic  USA (12 agencies) 17.4%
    4 4 698 Omnicom Group USA (7 agencies) 12.3%
    5 1 370 Aegis Media USA (3 agencies) 3.6%
    6 1 099 Havas USA (1 agency) 2.9%
    7 825 DentsuAmerica (1 agency) 2.2%
    7 436 Independents USA  (23 agencies) 19.4%
    – 38 292 Top 112USAdigital agencies 100%

     

     

  • To be taken seriously in India, I need to work for a foreign publication. That's the irony of our existence

    Anil Thakraney: Oye, ‘Time’ mein job milega?

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    TIME mag has termed our Prime Minister an ‘Underachiever’. I completely disagree with this description, it is much too kind. The truth is, and every sane Indian would agree, MMS has been a total flop show since he became PM once again in 2009. His government failed the country on every single parameter, and in particular, his team has damaged India’s growth story. Anyway, enough has been said on Manmohan Singh’s stellar performance, so I won’t delve on that.

     

    What got me interested is the impact of TIME’s cover story in India. Both, the politicians and the media got their knickers in a twist discussing this article threadbare. Almost as if the final report card had arrived from the Big Boss. As if what the goras, located thousands of miles away from the action, think of our PM is the gospel truth.

     

    All sorts of insinuations are being flung around. Some people suggest it’s a marketing gimmick from TIME mag to boost its circulation in India. One Left leader claimed it’s a conspiracy hatched by America to put MMS under pressure so that they can launch new businesses in India! And of course, the netas are busy hurling dirt at each other. As the BJP leaders gloat over the article, the Congresswallahs are firing back with: ‘Hello, but they were harsher on Atal Bihari Vajpayee!’

     

    However, what hurt me the most in this tamasha is that various Indian columnists and speakers have been dissing Manmohan Singh’s policies for a long time, but no one takes them seriously. It’s as if what India thinks about India does not matter. Quite obviously, after over six decades of independence, our colonial hangover hasn’t gone. No wonder then that some top industrialists from India happily meet the foreign press, while desi journos don’t even get a response to interview requests.

     

    My conclusion: To be taken seriously in India, I need to work for a foreign publication. That’s the irony of our existence. Therefore I am busy preparing my CV afresh, and will soon be knocking on the doors of gora editors. Jai Hind!

     

    * * *

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfSGt6rHos[/youtube]

    PS: Glad this utterly charming ad from Chipotle won the Grand Prix at Cannes. My most favourite commercial of last year. Superb idea backed by terrific animation. It’s all soul, and it makes you think where we are headed. The film is particularly relevant in India, where we have lost our way in the mad ambition to be an industrialized nation. And yes, Coldplay’s haunting track, ‘The Scientist’, works wonderfully out here.

     

  • As for all you analysts in the Indian media, why do you bother? Clearly, no one pays attention to all your criticisms and opinions

    Ranjona Banerji: Don’t bother, Indian analysts… let Time do it

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The Indian media has taken a round beating here. Day after day, print and TV criticise the government and politicians. Columns, analysis, debates and discussions focus on the weakness, incompetence, “policy paralysis” of the current government. Does anyone care or pay attention? Of course not – unless the criticism comes in cartoon form about a person or issue long dead.

     

    But an article in the Asia edition of an American newsmagazine criticises the prime minister and the whole political community goes into a frenzy? Let us not be unfair to Time magazine, but the fact is that no one considers it to be a respected analyst of Indian politics. Nor indeed is the magazine the powerhouse it once was. Now if the Economist were to get so seriously critical, since it is known for its carefully considered views, then you might want to sit up and take notice.

     

    Time’s “crime” is to call Manmohan Singh an “underachiever” and ask whether it is time for him to move over and let someone else become prime minister. This made the Congress jump to his rescue and the BJP to behave as if they’d won Uttar Pradesh.

     

    The Congress then looked back at an old Time article which had said Atal Behari Vajpayee was “asleep at the wheel” as prime minister. This was supposed to shut up the BJP as the same newsmagazine had also criticised them. Sigh.

     

    The BJP however could point out that Time’s tally is still higher since last year the magazine appeared to favour Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Then the Congress can point out that Modi did not make it to Time’s poll of the greatest people in the world or whatever because of negative voting.

     

    And so we can go on and on about the various articles and activities of a barely read newsmagazine and the political classes can carry on doing even less than they do normally.

     

    As for all you analysts in the Indian media, why do you bother? Clearly, no one pays attention to all your criticisms and opinions. Congratulations are due to Time for having successfully upstaged the entire Indian media. Henry Booth Luce would be happy.

     

  • What excites kiranawallahs is the huge margin they get

    Kiranas dump big brands for high margin Bharti Walmart wares

    By Sagar Malviya

     

    A few months ago, Dhananjay Jain, a grocery owner at Vidisha Road in Bhopal, decided to stock two alien brands – Right Buy and Members Mark – because they offered much higher margins than national brands and had lower price tags. Today, these floor cleaners, tea and cornflakes brands contribute nearly 20 per cent to his monthly sales.

     

    Many of his consumers may still have no idea where these brands priced 10-30 per cent less than those of Hindustan Unilever, Dabur and PepsiCo are sourced from. Well, they come from the world’s largest retailer, Walmart.

     

    Mr Jain gets these brands from a Best Price Modern Wholesale outlet – run by Walmart’s joint venture with Bharti Enterprises – just two kilometres from his store.

     

    Walmart is not allowed to sell directly to Indian consumers yet, but its brands across some three dozen categories have started sliding into Indian homes, as its cash-and-carry venture becomes a hit among grocery shop owners.

     

    “The idea is that the reseller should make more profits by selling our brands than he does by selling national brands,” said Arvind Mediratta, chief operating officer of Bharti Walmart. He said the firm’s private labels adhere to all the quality norms despite their lower price tags.

     

    Bharti Walmart operates 17 cashand-carry format Best Price Wholesale outlets, selling products to licensed neighbourhood stores, schools, offices and large enterprises. It has more than 3 lakh members, who own grocery stores.

     

    The firm launched Right Buy and Members Mark after phasing out its earlier brand Great Value, which is now restricted to Bharti’s Easy Day supermarket chain.

     

    So far, Walmart has developed a network of 100 suppliers to make private label products ranging from groceries, home care and personal care products to apparel and stationery. And it may soon get into categories such as soaps, shampoos and detergent. “We are planning to add several more categories in coming months and open over 10 outlets by next year,” Mr Mediratta said.

     

    Company officials say its brands already control 20-22 per cent share in most categories at its members’ outlets. Some shop owners even say they have stopped stocking national brands. “In categories such as floor cleaners and dish washing, we have stopped stocking national brands as consumers just want the lowest priced products in these segments,” said Mohammed Fayaz, a storeowner at Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, where Walmart has opened two wholesale outlets.

     

    What excites kiranawallahs is the huge margin they get. For instance, a 500ml bottle of Walmart’s toilet cleaner brand sports a price tag of Rs55 but is available to a kirana owner at Rs37. That makes the retailer’s margin a whopping 48 per cent. National rivals such as Reckitt Benckiser’s Harpic and HUL’s Domex are sold at Rs58, with the grocer earning 12-15 per cent margin on an average. Bharti Walmart also provides 10-30 per cent higher margins than national brands on tea, colas and juices that allow shopkeepers earn 10-30 per cent higher margins than national brands. Consumer products companies have been increasingly fighting private labels of modern retailers.

     

    In fact, private labels outsell several national brands in home care and packaged food categories at the outlets of retailers such as Future Group, Reliance Retail and Aditya Birla Group.

     

    FMCG companies didn’t feel too threatened because modern trade accounts for just 7-10 per cent of their total sales. But now, with Walmart’s private labels finding place in consumer companies’ largest sales channel – the country’s ubiquitous neighbourhood stores – this trend could become a headache for them.

     

    “As Walmart and other similar players scale up their cash-and-carry operations, given the price consciousness of the Indian consumer and the fact that kirana stores are here to stay, it is likely that this trend will start to worry large consumer goods companies,” said Siddharth Bafna, partner at advisory firm Lodha & Co.

     

    Not everybody agrees. The chief executive of a leading consumer products firm, however, said such private labels would not challenge big brands in evolved categories such as personal care. “There are always some categories, especially commodities, that are more prone to losing out to private labels because of pricing. However, several brands in the personal care segment that keep innovating aren’t threatened by private labels even in markets where modern trade is evolved,” the person said, requesting anonymity because Walmart is one of its partners.

     

    Some shopkeepers say it’s not easy to make people try new brands. “We are able to convince some consumers to opt for lower priced Walmart brands. But there are still many consumers who want to buy popular brands from national companies even if the price is higher,” said Jas Karan Singh, a store owner in Amritsar, where Walmart opened its first cash-and-carry outlet four years ago. Private labels accounted for around 7 per cent of Bharti Walmart’s annual sales of Rs 1,876 crore last calendar at over Rs 130 crore.

     

    Worldwide, the US retail giant is performing well despite the slowdown. For the fiscal year ended January 2012, it increased net sales by 5.9 per cent to $443.9 billion and ranked first on the 2011 Fortune 500 list of the world’s largest companies by revenues.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • This has not only opened up the market but also pushed up rates

    Jaya TV stirs up rights market for Tamil films

    By Sangeetha Kandavel

     

    Jaya TV and a few other rivals of Tamil television leader Sun TV are making a hitherto-unseen charge toward bagging the TV rights for big-ticket Tamil movies, for long the preserve of the Kalanithi Maran-owned Sun TV. This has not only opened up the market but also pushed up rates.

     

    Jaya TV, the mouthpiece of the ruling AIADMK party and a distant rival to Sun TV, has virtually stirred up the market in the past few days by bagging two top titles. Last week, it acquired the rights for the upcoming Rajnikanth-starrer ‘Kochadaiyaan.’ On Monday, it bought another big-ticket  movie – the upcoming Suriya-starrer ‘Maatraan.’

     

    The previous Rajnikanth movie, ‘Endhiran,’ was produced by Sun TV, which had then called it the costliest Indian movie ever made. Jaya TV was never known to indulge in the buying of TV rights, something that’s a key part of Sun TV’s content strategy. But KP Sunil, vice president of Jaya TV, said that after a lull of six years the channel has started looking at Tamil movies aggressively. “We are looking are acquiring more such movies and it will be a mixture of big and small ones,” he added.

     

    The onslaught by Jaya TV and others comes after what has been a challenging year for Sun TV. Once she came to power last May, chief minister J Jayalalithaa floated a government-run cable service called Arasu to counter the ground distribution support that Sun TV enjoyed through another Maran-owned company. Cases were also filed against the then Sun TV COO Hansraj Saxena on charges of defrauding producers while purchasing movies for television.

     

    Maran and his brother, former Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, have been under the lens of the Central Bureau of Investigation on allegations that Aircel’s former owner C Sivasankaran was arm-twisted to sell his company to Maxis founder T Anandakrishnan, who in turn invested in Kalanithi Maran’s Sun DTH.

     

    For those reasons, a challenge in the market for TV rights of movies has been expected for more than a year now. It’s only now that Jaya TV is in “full swing,” as a top official of a rival Tamil channel, wishing anonymity, put it. Executives at Sun TV and Star Vijay could not be reached for comment.

     

    The challenge isn’t confined to Jaya TV. Star Vijay has since last year has picked and chosen key titles it wants to buy. It has ended up with movies such as ‘Avan Ivan’ (directed by National Award winner Bala) and even ‘Nanban’ (the remake of ‘3 Idiots’), for which it is said to have paid record sums.

     

    Even Zee Tamil, a relatively late entrant in the Tamil entertainment market, has got onto the movie buying bandwagon. It has acquired the rights for the Simbu-starrer ‘Vettai Mannan.’ A Ficci-Deloitte report pegged the South Indian media and entertainment market in 2011 at Rs18,740 crore, 70 per cent of it coming from the Tamil and Telugu markets. TV accounted for Rs10,630 crore and films Rs2,110 crore.

     

    Political commentator Gnani Sankaran puts the trend down to clout. “Whichever party has political clout, they tend to bag satellite rights. When the DMK were in power, Sun Pictures was doing it,” he said. It isn’t as if Sun TV is struggling to buy anything. Being the TV network with the deepest pockets, it is still lapping up movies, being by far the biggest acquirer of movie rights. It recently got the rights for ‘Naan Ee’ as also the much-awaited Ajith-starrer ‘Billa 2.’ Sun TV has announced it will spend Rs200 crore on its movie library this year (this includes all languages in which it has a presence). This is a steep in crease from Rs80 crore last year. One reason for the significantly higher allocation, two industry executives said, could be because it anticipated competition to push up prices.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

     

  • Daimler Commercial Vehicle has awarded its India Mandate to Lowe Lintas

    Lowe wins Daimler commercial vehicle mandate

    By A Correspondent

     

    Chennai-based Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has concluded its prolonged pitch process with the appointment of Lowe Lintas and Partners, Chennai, as its marketing communications partner.

     

    According to GV Krishnan, Executive Director, Lowe Lintas and Partners: “This must have been one of the most awaited pitch results of recent times. We are thrilled to have been given the mandate.”

     

    DICV went through two rounds of presentations before shortlisting agencies. Top 5 agencies were shortlisted and were in fray for the business.

     

    Mr Krishnan said: “The Indian trucking segment is in rapid evolution mode, and BharatBenz (as DICV’s trucks will be known in India) is uniquely poised to lead this revolution. As the pioneer of truck manufacturing, DICV will seek to assert its leadership through customer-oriented products and services. It feels great to be able to partner DICV from virtually their roll-out stage.”

     

    Joseph George, Chief Executive Officer Lowe Lintas and Partners added: “This is a significant win for our Chennai office. It will be an interesting challenge to the agency’s ability to strategize and persuasively communicate the rich, inspiring story of DICV. And with recent wins out of our Kochi and Bengaluru offices too, am particularly pleased with the way our South operations are performing.”

     

  • Taking your brand to the emotional level involves cutting through the clutter to link the 'soul' of your brand with the 'soul' of the people, says Veetika Deoras

    The Anchor: Veetika Deoras on 5 highs of being a marketer

    By Veetika Deoras

     

    1. It’s a ‘soul-to-soul’ job

    To build deeper and richer connections with customers, brands must arise above the rational benefits and build emotional bridges. Taking your brand to the emotional level involves cutting through the clutter to link the ‘soul’ of your brand with the ‘soul’ of the people. This necessitates reaching out to your right brain, as much, if not more, than the left brain. And more often than not, this ends up being a very fulfilling and heartwarming experience.

     

    2. Thinking out-of-the-box

    Overload of communication, multiple media vehicles and an ever-evolving customer, necessitate out-of-the-box thinking and innovation, in both the planning and execution of marketing campaigns. This makes a marketer’s job challenging and ensures that there’s never a dull moment.

     

    3. Proximity to customers

    With customers, brands and the environment changing constantly, there is a critical need for marketers to be in constant touch with their customers. To reach out to customers, and observe and understand their behaviour, with a view to garner deep insights is a highly fruitful and enjoyable experience.

     

    4. The debates

    In some interesting way, marketers have always had the dual challenge of selling their ideas, first to internal stakeholders and then to external stakeholders. The debates make the job most invigorating, the output superior and the victories, sweet.

     

    5. Satisfaction of creating an ‘intangible’, which yields results better than most tangibles.

    How often does one get the chance to say – I have created a ‘perception’, a ‘bond’, a ‘genuine promise’ and this perceptual bond, based on a genuine promise is worth a billion bucks! This probably is the biggest high for me as a marketer.

     

    Veetika Deoras is Head – Brand Marketing & Corporate Communication, Tata Capital Limited

     

  • Although mobile internet promises a bright future for Indian languages, the growth is slow and requires much evangelizing

    Slow and not-yet-steady…

     

    By Robin Thomas

     

    India is a country where majority of the people don’t speak English and its media – print, television and radio, specifically – have a larger share of local language content. But the same cannot be said about the internet, at least now. The internet in India is still, by and large, dominated by the English language content. According to the ‘Internet World Stats’ 2010 report, after English, Chinese is the second widely used language on the internet followed by Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese and German. These results, perhaps, assure India that there is immense scope for Indian language content to not only flourish, but also increase user interactivity.

     

    Take for instance, i-Cube report 2011 by IAMAI-IMRB which states by December 2011, there were 121 million claimed Internet users. There are 90 million (70 mn in urban cities and 20 mn in rural villages) users that use Internet at least once a month (active Internet users). Of the active Internet users in urban cities, 26.3 million access Internet through their mobile phones. This has been the most recent change in the access behaviour and it is expected that this trend will continue to grow in the immediate future.

     

    BG Mahesh

    Mr BG Mahesh, Founder and MD, Oneindia.in observed: “Whatever is happening in print and TV will happen on the Internet. The language pie is far bigger than English in print and TV. English will also grow, but the language pie will be very large.”

     

    Even as the internet consumption rapidly grows, the Indian language content has also been evolving over the years. According to industry estimates, the search volume in Indian languages is less than 2 per cent of the total search that takes place online. The online growth of Indian language consumption is mainly said to be because of video consumptions.

     

    Hemant Jain

    Mr Hemant Jain, Senior Vice President, Hungama Mobile pointed out the need for relevant language content and the need for increasing access of language content to the consumers. “I believe that not only there is a need of content in local languages, but more importantly the content should have local context for it to be more relevant for the consumer. The challenge in increasing access to content in Indian language includes the standardization of fonts and internationalized domain names, an issue the Indian government is already working on. The two biggest challenges I foresee are bandwidth infrastructure to deliver ease of access and local language to drive mass adoption.”

     

    With online video touted as the next big thing for content consumption in Indian languages, there has been an increase in the Indian language video content found online, which may be due to the fact that video has more takers than written content.

     

    Some steps are said to be taken to increase local language content for instance, Raftaar, a Hindi language search engine developed by Delhi-based research firm Indicus Analytics, debuted earlier this year. Local language newspapers have gone online: webduniya.com offers content in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Malayala Manorama is another local language paper offering news online in Malayalam language.

     

    “There was a time when we saw 85 per cent of our traffic was from NRIs. Post 2007, we saw the page views increasing from India, now we get over 60 per cent of our traffic from India. The broadband penetration, mainly due to BSNL, has helped the growth of internet in non-urban India. Also, most schools have internet in their curriculum. So children lead the usage of internet at homes and other members have felt they might as well use the internet” added Mr Mahesh of Oneindia.

     

    As far as search in Indian languages is concerned, there have been efforts to localize the content. Google, for instance, in search has ‘transliteration’ which allows users to type Indian languages using Latin text. Google also has search options in the Indian languages and is said to be working proactively with the government as well as content companies in India to come out with a solution that would increase Indian language consumption on larger scale.

     

    Lalitesh Katragadda

    Mr Lalitesh Katragadda, Head of Products, India-Google, pointed out the need to solve the language consumption problem in order to increase the number of internet users. “We are going to rapidly run out of users if we don’t solve the language problem, which is making the internet work for Indic users. The challenge is that the Internet for the next 3 billion users will not be built by websites alone, or by monetary interests, which has driven the Internet for the first billion and a half. The Internet for the next 3 billion users will, by force, have to be built by the users themselves. For example, AdSense allowed a way for people to monetize their content, which got the content ecosystem to flourish and so on.”

     

    Mr Arpan Chatterjee, experienced online media professional and consultant with webdunia.com stated: “Lotof work is happening on this front, with Indian language search engines and Google having Search in major Indian languages. Major social networking sites are also now getting into Indian languages. But the availability of quality Indian language online content is still limited, except for some news portal of large Hindi or regional newspapers.”

     

    Arpan Chatterjee

    Also monetization of language content is a challenge today as there is not enough language content, and as a result, there is little or no language consumption online. There is a need to drive up language content in the online space. According to Mr Mahesh, not only is the government support crucial for this development, but the publishers too must take steps to help increase language consumption. “One needs a lot of patience and sustaining power to do well in the Indian language space. There are many opportunities in this space – ecommerce will be a reality in the language space in the coming years. With mobile internet becoming big one can think of providing various language services for the massive mobile user base in India,” he added.

     

    Nevertheless the growth of consumption of Indian language content may take some time as the broadband penetration in India is still very low. Another avenue, as pointed out by Mr Mahesh is, to look at is the mobile, as it is believed that the next phase of the internet explosion will come from mobile. Mobile, which is one of the highest penetrated devices in the country today, is expected to not only expand the internet usage, but also bring in more user participation which may result in the development of more Indian language content.

     

    Mr Chatterjee is of the view: “With more than 70 per cent penetration in mobile phone connections in India , and internet on mobile touching close to 100 million users, with more than 40 per cent being only mobile web users – only accessing the web through mobile. Mobile is the medium which can drive Indian language usage to a new level. Even in countries like Bangladesh, mobile payment solutions have helped get into interiors of the country.”

     

    With multiple devices now opening up opportunities – smart phones, tablets, and so on which are likely to spur language consumption online and mobile, government support is again is equally crucial, believe industry players. Access to mobile internet must be made at affordable rates especially with the arrival of 3G. “Mobile internet browsing is pathetically slow in India. 3G has arrived, but it is not affordable for majority of the users. Affordable, fast mobile internet plans and font support will change the mobile internet scene in India” said Mr Jain.

     

    Although the Indian language content in the online space has evolved over the years, it is said to be witnessing a slow adoption of its content especially from publishers mainly because of monetizing challenges. Digital players believe that like print, television and radio, Indian language consumption in the online space will also grow faster and soon have bigger share than the English language. One of the main reasons for this to happen is estimated to be because of the expansion of literacy rates and the increasing broadband and mobile penetration. ” India, with a much larger youth population, needs to put more focus on language online content and use mass channels like education portals, government services websites into multi lingual formats to drive language usage,” concluded Mr Chatterjee.

     

  • Group M survey findsSingaporeconsumers have a clear preference for accessing the Internet from a mobile device over a PC or other stationary computer

    Singaporeans prefer accessing Net from mobiles over stationary PCs: Mindshare

    From the MxM Infodesk

     

    Consumers in Singapore have a clear preference for accessing the Internet from a mobile device over a PC or other stationary computer. This is the prominent finding from a study that Mindshare has released of the latest round of the GroupM 3D Survey, which surveyed almost 2,200 consumers. 3D is the only scale agency survey that looks at brands, media touch points and consumer attitudes in a single study.

     

    3D is GroupM’s proprietary research study. It is the most comprehensive single source study in Singapore, covering brand relationships, social dynamics (based on attitude statements) and media consumption in the context of total brand communications. These three dimensions are the essence of 3D.

     

    The survey in Singapore covers 2,189 respondents aged 15 to 54 years, and also includes an additional 300 affluent respondents (with personal income above 6,000 Singapore dollars).

     

  • Kapil Batra, Subrato Mehta and Abhishek Dey join as Senior Creative Directors

    Creative talent moves to Eleven Brandworks

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a growing trend within the Indian advertising industry, creative talent and clients are making a focused move towards smaller agency set-ups. The latest to make the move are Kapil Batra, Subrato Mehta and Abhishek Dey who have joined Eleven Brandworks as senior creative directors.

     

    Prateek Bhardwaj, Founder Director, Eleven Brandworks, said: “Adding depth to the talent pool has been a priority for us. These additions are another step towards building a robust creative organization.”

     

    For Kapil Batra, who has been Creative Director (copy) McCann Delhi for close to 5 years, “the move to Eleven Brandworks is an exciting challenge. With the freedom the small set-up offers, comes the responsibility of winning and managing substantially-sized businesses while producing outstanding creative products.”

     

    In his decade long experience Mr Batra has handled the Perfetti portfolio (Chlor-mint, Big Babol, Happydent & Alpenliebe) and worked on General Motors, Greenlam Laminates, yatra.com, Usha Fans, among others. His work has been applauded by the jury of Clio, Cannes, The One Show, Adfest, Fab Awards, Spikes, The Work, Goafest and MirchiKaan.

     

    While clients appreciate the direct interface and attention from leading creative/planning resources, the creative think tanks enjoy the flexibility these outfits offer. Commenting on his recent move, Subrato Mehta said: “Smaller set-ups are bringing like-minded people together and offering greater freedom of thought as well as a relief from mundane systems.”

     

    Mr Mehta moved to Eleven Brandworks after a 4 year stint with Dentsu. In his 22 years in the industry, he has worked with agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, Lintas, JWT and Triton. Winner of many prestigious international awards, he has worked on brands like Canon, Honda, J&J, ICICI, Reid and Taylor, SAB TV, Kinetic, HDFC and  Manchester United Cafe, to name a few.

     

    Abhishek Dey moved from Lowe Lintas, Mumbai to Eleven Brandworks. Mr Dey has been in advertising for the last 11 years.  Having worked in Rediffusion DY&R, McCann Eriksson and Publicis before his stint at Lintas, he has worked on brands like Tata Tea, ICICI Prudential, Bajaj Motors and Lifebuoy. On the way he picked up a few awards at Indian shows like ABBY, Goa fest and some international shows like Clio and Adfest (Pattaya).

     

    Welcoming the new team aboard, Sampada Chaudhari, COO, Eleven Brandworks said: “Increasingly clients’ businesses are moving faster and getting more demanding. There is a shift in preference to independent agencies, as they are fleet footed and create fresh work. Our new creative talent will help create a dynamic creative pool to manage and acquire exciting businesses.”

     

    Seconding her view, Vivek Suchanti, Partner, Eleven Brandworks added: “The independents have been able to attract some very good talent, with open structures, great work environment and partnership/ownership models (more like the consulting firms), they have become true brand custodians taking on the onus of performance of their work.”

     

    Also Sambit Mishra, currently Senior Creative Director (copy) at Eleven Brandworks, Delhi moved to Mumbai to partner Abhishek Dey and Aneesh Jaisinghani, currently Senior Creative Director (art) Eleven Brandworks, Delhi will team up with Kapil Batra.

     

    Eleven Brandworks is a full-service creative agency based out of Mumbai and Gurgaon. Some of the clients the agency handles are Tata Mutual Fund, Big FM, Star Plus, Times Group, Nokia Maps(Navteq), NDTV Goodtimes, Modi Ilva (Artic Vodka), Archies, Hallmark, and Homex India.

     

  • The channel will attempt to engage and connect consumers with experts from advertising, marketing and media planning sector through the show

    Viewers can name upcoming A&M show on Awaaz

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hindi business channel, CNBC Awaaz, plans to launch first-ever show on advertising and marketing. This is the first time a channel will be looking at the world of marketing and advertisement from the consumer’s perspective. The channel will attempt to engage and connect consumers with experts from advertising, marketing and media planning sector through the show.

     

    Aimed at decoding the world of advertising for the consumers, each episode will consist of various segments. The first segment will focus on the campaign of the week and the various teams behind its success – creative, marketing and media planning.

     

    The second session will be a ‘Marketing Classroom’, where some of the best case studies will be analysed to guide SMEs in building their brand. This would be followed by the news of the week with the latest reports from the M&A world and issues related to the ASCI and consumer courts.

     

    Keeping in mind the focal point of the show and its primary stakeholders, the channel has launched a unique contest Kya Hoga Iss Show Ka Naam. From July 9, consumers as well as experts from the A&M sector can suggest a suitable name for this upcoming show.

     

  • As the official FM Radio Partner for the ICC World Twenty 20, 92.7 BIG FM will get to display the trophy in Mumbai as well, which is scheduled to happen next week

    BIG FM hosts Twenty20 World Cup trophy display

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd’s radio vertical 92.7 BIG FM announced its set up as the official FM Radio Partner for the fourth edition of the ICC World Twenty 20, Sri Lanka 2012 in Delhi. The announcement was made as they hosted an exclusive display of the prestigious trophy at an exclusive closed door preview at Maples Emerald, New Delhi.

     

    The elegant, glittering, 7.5 kg trophy was unveiled for key partners from advertising agencies and top clients across FMCG, retail, banking, pharma, manufacturing and other sectors.

     

    As the official FM Radio Partner for the ICC World Twenty 20, 92.7 BIG FM will get to display the trophy in Mumbai as well, which is scheduled to happen next week. It will also mean exclusive access for the station to players from India and abroad during the course of the tournament.

     

    Exclusive interviews and bytes from players and other match officials will be aired first only on 92.7 BIG FM. In order to promote the tournament on-ground, 92.7 BIG FM will conduct a number of T20 matches for listeners across cities, who will fight for the BIG T20 CUP, the winning team here will also get the rare opportunity to witness a match involving India in Sri Lanka.

     

    According to the latest RAM ratings, 92.7 BIG FM with a listenership of 1076 (age group 24yrs -34 yrs) in the 7am-11am time slot is the No. 1 FM radio station in New Delhi.