MxMIndia

Author: mxmadmin

  • Ashish Pathak joins Edelman India as new ECD

    By Our Staff

     

    Edelman India, communications marketing firm, has brought Ashish Pathak onboard to take on the newly created role of Executive Creative Director (ECD), partnering with the firm’s practice and offering leaders to deliver stronger integrated work for its clients.

     

    At Edelman, Pathak is tasked with leading creative projects for some of the firm’s largest clients and driving forward its creative’ agenda in the industry. This will involve building a creative team, mentoring fresh talent, and leveraging Edelman’s integrated capabilities to deliver even more impactful work for clients.

     

    Speaking on the appointment, Tim Green, Chief Creative Officer for Asia-Pacific, said: “Ashish is a renowned creative across India and has several award-winning campaigns under his belt. He’s known for his creative talent, innovative ideas, and passion for producing work that touches a chord directly with people and culture. We are thrilled to have someone of his calibre come onboard, as we continue to craft integrated communications solutions that earn audiences’ attention and make our clients stand out. Ashish has the perfect skillset to deliver on our value proposition and I have no doubt that our India team will continue to scale new heights with him onboard.”

     

    Rakesh Thukral, Managing Director, Edelman India, added: “I am excited that Ashish has joined us. His portfolio of work is commendable, and he will play a key role in injecting creative thinking into every communications brief. The integration of creative and strategy skillsets into digital, corporate and brand solutions in the earned space will enable us to address our clients’ challenges and needs. With Ashish at the creative helm, we look forward to unlocking even more powerful ideas and experiences for our clients.”

     

  • Ad conceptualised and created in partnership with Khushi Advertising

    OnePlus brings immersive 4DX ad with PVR Cinemas

    By Our Staff

     

    PVR Cinemas partners with OnePlus mobile technology brand to unveil its latest flagship smartphone the OnePlus 10T 5G through a specially developed multi-sensory commercial using 4-dimensional effects that would be screened in all PVR 4DX cinemas. This is India’s first immersive 4DX Ad made in partnership with PVR Cinemas using all the effects of 4DX for a higher brand recall among consumers. This unique media activity was conceptualised and created in partnership with Khushi Advertising. The ad will be released in PVR’s premium format of 4DX in its 19 audis located across 12 cities.

     

    Commenting on the announcement, Gautam Dutta, CEO, PVR Limited said: “PVR as a leader believes in redefining experiences and setting new benchmarks for both cinema goers as well as our advertising partners. The 4DX ad commercial introduced for the first time by PVR is a testimony to this vision. Advertising has evolved over the year with clients exploring new ways to reach their audiences. 4DX will offer clients and their agencies limitless scope to portray a great story of the brand and make content customized to this technology to create a lasting impact on the consumer’s mind.”

     

    On the sideline of the launch of its first 4DX ad in cinema, Saurabh Kapoor, Director of Category & Brand Management, OnePlus India, added: “At OnePlus, our community remains core to all our efforts. We wanted to offer our community with a unique, refreshing experience when they were to visit the cinemas. This led us to create the first of its kind 4DX cinema ad in India, in collaboration with our valuable partner, PVR Cinemas. Featuring our newly launched flagship device OnePlus 10T, the industry-first OnePlus 4DX cinema ad offers an enticing sensorial experience. And we are confident that our community of users and cinephiles will truly enjoy this unique viewing experience as a result of our fruitful partnership with PVR Cinemas.”

     

  • To scale up their advanced 5-zoned orthopedic range

    Alia Bhatt recommends Duroflex for ‘Real Sleep’

    By Our Staff

     

    Duroflex mattresses unveil two campaigns with brand ambassador Alia Bhatt to encourage individuals to invest in ‘Real Sleep’. The TVCs reinforce the message that Duroflex is a sleep solutions provider with technology and offerings exclusive to the brand. Their advanced 5-zoned orthopedic range provides differentiated support for the five zones of the body.

     

    Commenting on the new TVCs, Mohanraj Jagannivasan, CEO, Duroflex said: “Our mission is to make every Indian sleep better and we are constantly investing in research to offer superior sleep solution products for real quality sleep. This festive season, we want to guide consumers to make educated choices and invest in themselves with trusted sleep products to ensure they sleep well, stay healthy and celebrate wholeheartedly. Subsequently, the roll-out of the campaign will also witness a scale-up of our signature doctor-recommended Duropedic range.”

     

  • To introduce its new brand of Epic Condoms

    Mankind Pharma launches new campaign

    By Our Staff

     

    Mankind Pharma has launched a campaign for its new condom brand Epic Condoms. It is designed to introduce and make consumers aware of the new brand from condom brand i.e. Manforce Condoms. The campaign is specifically focused on the Delhi NCR region.

     

    Speaking on the campaign, Joy Chatterjee, Associate Vice President- Sales & Marketing, Mankind Pharma, said: “We have launched a premium product in the market. Thus, an intensive campaign was required to make customers aware of the new offering. The thought behind having a 360-degree campaign is to increase its visibility in the market while highlighting its unique features to help the audience know about the offerings. The newly launched Epic condoms, curated to intensify the love-making session with long-lasting pleasurable moments, needed intensive campaign to match up to the premium market segment that it caters to.”

     

  • We know his love for print hasn’t diminished even though he has embraced digital in a big way. So let’s hear it from Dr Bhaskar Das in the September 26 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

    Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das | The Hindu has gone in for an ‘Instagram style of storytelling’ with more visually appealing content. Mount Road Mahavishnu finally smells the (filter) coffee?

    Bhaskar DasWe know his love for print hasn’t diminished even though he has embraced digital in a big way. So let’s hear it from Dr Bhaskar Das in the September 26 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

     

    If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

     

    Q. The Hindu has gone in for an ‘Instagram style of storytelling’ with more visually appealing content. Mount Road Mahavishnu finally smells the (filter) coffee?

     

    A. Mario Gracia’s design is well known for its contemporary aesthetics that appeal to readers who are youthful. This crafting of new design by The Hindu hasn’t been executed a day earlier, as new age audience are screen-agnostic and it is critical to offer them a seemless navigation experience.

     

    Kudos to the Hindu leadership team to pioneer such an initiative ahead of others. That’s thought leadership. In fact, Hindu has been consistently demonstrating various initiatives that are ahead of other market leaders. I am sure this aesthetic redesign is combined with matching protocols of new age audiences’ expectations of high octane value additive (including inter-format seamless navigability), trust-enhancing content (there is a supply side shortage in other media delivery formats). Being an ardent fan of the print media, I wish Hindu’s new drive a great success. In a creator economy, I am sure the esteemed brand would leverage the prosumer instinct of their audience base.

     

  • Launches campaign to spread awareness about the disease

    Anvayaa Senior Care start-up observes World Alzheimer’s Month

    By Our Staff

     

    Anvayaa, a Senior Home Health Care Services start-up, launched the #LetsTalkPurple campaign on the occasion of World Alzheimer’s Month. The objective of the campaign is to spread awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and the challenges faced in the post diagnosis care and caregiver burnout.

     

    According to Prashanth Reddy, Founder and Managing Director of Anvayaa Kin-Care Pvt Ltd: “On the occasion of World Alzheimer’s Month, we aim to identify the critical challenges faced during post-diagnosis care of people with dementia. The campaign ‘#Let’sTalkPurple’ is aimed at beginning the conversations on the problems faced by the elders with dementia, their families, and caregivers. We have developed AI-enabled ‘At Home Anvayaa’s Dementia Care Plan’ for compassionate care through a team of trained ‘Care Specialists’ who are guided by a team of qualified clinicians to provide customized support to persons with dementia and help families to prevent burnout. We firmly believe that although Alzheimer’s cannot be reversed, however with strategic interventions along with the trust and support of the elders and their families we can help to delay the progress. We have already been able to positively improve the quality of life of persons with dementia in the last few months and hope to continuously improve our services and help more elders with dementia.”

     

  • The propaganda channel now makes a fool of its viewers, writes Ranjona Banerji

    News on TV: Gullibility, lack of cynicism and no scepticism!

     

     

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Ranjona BanerjiMany people have this exalted idea about journalists – this includes some exalted journalists themselves, obviously – but let’s be honest, there’s nothing exalted about us. We spend our time digging about the filth of human existence because that’s what news is.

    There are two qualities which are paramount though, regardless of how big our egos and halos: scepticism and cynicism. Believe nothing without corroboration and the more spectacular the information, believe it even less.

    My views on what television understands as news is not secret. Usually, they don’t get it and almost everything they do is about dividing society, creating hatred, sensationalism and there increasing viewership amongst the stupid and the gullible and thus increasing ratings.

    But sometimes, TV is so spectacular that one has to bow down and applaud.

    Like with the rumours going around of a massive coup in China which had taken down their premier, Xi Jinping.

    The Whatsapp factory has been hard at work and since many TV channels in India depend on Whatsapp, fake news and BJP propaganda as credible news sources, how could they be left behind.

    The problem was two-fold.

    The first is, well, we’re talking about China.

    The second is that there was no corroborative evidence.

    Until some brave Republic Bharat person chanced upon the Twitter account of the Der Spiegel’s Beijing-based correspondent Georg Fahrion. And ran his tweets as news of confirmation about the coup.

     

    https://www.boomlive.in/fact-check/republic-bharat-coup-detat-china-xi-jinping-satire-thread-georg-fahrion-der-spiegel-twitter-misreporting-19393

     

    Fahrion put out a series of tweets, with photographs from around Beijing supposedly confirming this coup.

    The tweets are very funny and do not match the photographs in any possible manner. Only a person who has very little brain power would imagine that this obvious satire was anything but satire.

     

    Check the screenshot. How on earth could anyone imagine that this was real? Why not check with Fahrion before making a fool of yourself?

    And here’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it?

    Those who work at Republic, for instance, don’t really care if they look like fools. Their job is to make fools of their viewers. They know from experience that the people who watch their channel are not interested in the news, per se.

    First, they want their hatred for Muslims, Dalits, liberals, NGOs, supporters of all political parties except the BJP to be amplified and bolstered.

    Second, they want constant satiation of their addiction to conspiracy theories and sensationalism.

    As a BJP propaganda channel which relies on fake news, Republic is uniquely placed to fulfil those desires.

     

     

    Latest industry figures show that Republic’s viewership has dipped a bit. This does not however mean that India’s longing for fake news, misinformation and BJP propaganda has reduced. It only means that other Indian “news” channels which are not overt BJP propaganda channels have upped their game and eaten into Republic territory.

    If you’re on Twitter, do read Fahrion’s tweets. They are excellent satire.

    And if you’re on Whatsapp, you might consider using some of your remaining critical faculties to assess information that comes your way.

    If not, carry on getting taken for a ride.

    Somewhere, there are people laughing.

    And it’s not a pleasant sound.

    Maybe I should rework my intro. Gullibility, lack of cynicism and no scepticism will eventually lead all of us, not just journalists, further into the abyss.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and columnist. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays and sometimes on other days as well. Her views here are personal

     

  • Friends of our Wizard with Words often tell us why we love to put him in the dock over sensitive issues. Our response is: who better to philosophise on key matters of state (in a manner of speaking). So let's hear it from Dr Bhaskar Das in the September 27 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

    Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das | Edtech giant Byju’s has been getting a drubbing in the media over many issues. If asked, what would you advise the company to correct perceptions?

    Bhaskar DasFriends of our Wizard with Words often tell us why we love to put him in the dock over sensitive issues. Our response is: who better to philosophise on key matters of state (in a manner of speaking). So let’s hear it from Dr Bhaskar Das in the September 27 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

     

    If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

     

    Q. Edtech giant Byju’s has been getting a drubbing in the media over many issues. If asked, what would be your advice be to the company to correct perceptions?

     

    A. I wonder how one can be deterministic in giving any verdict about a company which has a valuation of 22 billion dollars. It’s possible that some steps might have gone awry due to changes in its operating environment but there is not enough evidence to say that its aggressive expansion or soundness of their business model is in doubt. The recent report about the company clearing $ 234 million dues to Blackstone is a testimony to their commitment to the business.

     

    I doubt if Byju’s needs any advice from anyone. In search of aggressive growth, that too globally, some steps might go wrong. There may be a bend and not an end. The company’s resilience is very high and I am sure that with various headwinds that are looming large (geo-political, regulatory, recession, health scare et al) in the business horizon, more circumspection may be what the doctor may order before intense winter sets in.

     

  • Will strategise and manage outdoor, digital, and traditional media

    Uncle Delivery mandates Madison Alpha

    By Our Staff

     

    Uncle Delivery, an app for logistical and transport needs, has appointed Madison Media Alpha, a unit of Madison World, as its official media Agency on Record (AOR).

     

    Said Sourabh Chatterjee, Founder and Executive Director, Uncle Delivery: “As a start-up in a highly competitive on-demand delivery domain, we were looking forward to having an agency as a partner who not only help us in execution of different campaigns but also advise us to utilize our resources effectively and efficiently. I think Madison has got that perfect understanding of local dimensions and that is helping us a lot and of course the association of Mr. Sam Balsara and Mr. Vishal Chinchankar gives us much more confidence.”

     

    Added Vishal Chinchankar, Chief Executive Officer, Madison Digital and Madison Media Alpha: “It is fascinating to me that Uncle Delivery strives to deliver fast, reliably, while prioritizing the safety of its partners in this competitive market. I’m thrilled to have Uncle Delivery on board and look forward to working with them to deliver innovative and meaningful projects.”

     

  • Scope would encompass managing digital, social and creative mandate

    1441 Pizzeria appoints Hyper Connect as its integrated AOR

    By Our Staff

     

    1441 Pizzeria appoints Hyper Connect Digital Marketing firm as its integrated Agency of Record (AoR). The agency’s scope would encompass managing digital, social as well as the creative mandate for the fast-growing QSR brand that has 23 outlets across Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and plans to go 50+ outlets in the next 2 year.

     

    Commenting on the mandate, Vandini Gupta – CEO, 1441 Pizzeria said: “We are geared up for our next phase of growth and in our pursuit, we needed a partner who understands strategy, digital, social and most importantly brand building with the same entrepreneurial zeal as us. The Hyper Connect team brought in all the right ingredients and we are excited to embark on this journey with them.”

     

    Added Kiran Khadke, Co-founder, Hyper Connect: “Our vision for 1441 Pizzeria is to create a unique and innovative communications strategy that helps 1441 Pizzeria stand out in this extremely competitive ecosystem. We envision the brand to increase its engagement with the end user as it begins this new phase of growth to tap newer markets. We are excited to be a part of this growth journey of 1441 Pizzeria as it gives us an opportunity to showcase our creative bandwidth as well.”

     

  • The media is too scared to take on upfront an administration because of possible vindictive reactions, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Token coverage of an Uttarakhand murder

     

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Ranjona BanerjiLocal public anger over the murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari is still simmering in Uttarakhand. The Rishikesh Highway was blocked for over 12 hours by angry residents. The behaviour of the police has come under scrutiny. And after days of unrest and protest, the national media has woken up, sort of.

    Why so long and why so late?

    The reason is simple. And expected. The accused in the case, Pulkit Arya is the son of BJP member and former minister of state Vinod Arya. That Arya senior has been expelled from the party is only because of public pressure and exposure.

    Ankita went missing from her job as a receptionist at the Vanantara Resort in Rishikesh on September 18, and her family found out the day after. She had a few days earlier sent a text to a friend of hers that the resort owner was trying to push her into prostitution and provide “services” for special guests.

    Her father had to move heaven and earth to get the police to take action, and only managed with the intervention of a BJP MLA, and Speaker of the assembly, Ritu Khanduri. Uttarakhand’s villages still come under an archaic system of “revenue police”, which causes massive problems when it comes to criminal investigation.

    It took the BJP administration in Uttarakhand days to respond, as anger continued to brew.

    The local media started picking up on the case, but the national media was slow as can be expected.

    Even today, after Ankita’s body has been found, after Pulkit Arya and his friends have been arrested, after Vinod Arya has been expelled from the BJP, one can see prominent TV anchors trying to look for excuses for the BJP. The Pushkar Dhami government took a leaf out of the UP administration’s destruction policy book, and bulldozed part of the resort. This is just smoke and mirrors to try and convince people that it is doing something. But there is no place for demolition in a murder case. In fact, demolitions are more likely to disturb evidence, inasmuch as India cares about forensic investigations.

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/girl-19-murdered-by-uttarakhand-resort-owner-son-of-bjp-ex-min-for-refusing-prostitution/articleshow/94404003.cms

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/ankita-murder-case-district-administration-examining-on-whose-orders-demolition-of-resort-was-carried-out/articleshow/94462634.cms

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/ankita-murder-case-resort-was-hub-of-prostitution-drugs-say-former-staffers/articleshow/94465509.cms

    People have compared this case to the Nirbhaya case of 2012.

    But that is a false comparison.

    There is nowhere near the sort of anger and outrage at the national level, and the cases are very different.

    What we have instead, and so far, is token coverage from the national media and only because there is local disturbance. The local media has been at the case hammer and tongs, so there is some small consolation there. The local Times of India has been consistent in its coverage, however, as an example of local media works, as the links above show.

    For Uttarakhand itself, hopefully this murder is a wake-up call.

    Absolute power corrupts absolutely and that is what we see here. Expelling Vinod Arya is not really enough. There are massive allegations of corruption against the ruling BJP government in Uttarakhand, especially when it comes to “development” and tourism.

    The massive growth in tourism since Uttarakhand became a state is unmatched by infrastructure arrangements. And the surge after pandemic restrictions were lifted is chaotic, disorganized and uncatered for.

    But all this is unlikely to affect the rest of India. Unless enough tourists are affected. What we see in the Ankita case is how locals are being manipulated and traumatised by the tourism industry and those in power. And how the media is too scared to take on upfront a BJP administration because of the possible vindictive reactions.

    That “journalists” can make excuses for the use of bulldozers in such a case or can present the expulsion of the accused’s father from the BJP after public anger spilled over, underlines once more the stranglehold of the BJP on the Indian media and the wilful capitulation of editors and owners.

    You only have to compare the excited glee over the political fracas in Congress-ruled Rajasthan to the dull outrage over the death of a young working woman in Uttarakhand by a BJP connection to see how tightly the Congress versus BJP reins are held and controlled.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal

     

  • Basis campaign on real-life experience

    HDFC Life launches film to emphasise personal insurance

    By Our Staff

     

    HDFC Life Insurance has launched a campaign focussing on term life insurance. The film is based on the real-life story of Shail Gaurav, who is a Covid-19 survivor and also a policyholder of HDFC Life.

     

    Speaking on the campaign launch, Vishal Subharwal, CMO and Head E-commerce & Digital Business, HDFC Life, said: “Enabling the family’s financial security in one’s absence is an important task. Recent experiences of untimely deaths have accentuated this need. The purchase of term life insurance is linked to a harsh reality, and it is human nature to avoid unpleasant conversations. Through our campaign, we see the product from the eyes of a survivor. We believe this could be a wake-up call for those individuals who have not yet realised the criticality of term life insurance or are still procrastinating about having one. We also encourage the young working Indians to secure themselves and their families financially at a nominal cost.”

     

    Added Rajdeepak Das, CEO & Chief Creative Officer – South Asia, Leo Burnett: “HDFC Life has always focused on the importance of planning to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances. Our latest film reiterates this message. Taking inspiration from a true story, the film narrates through a heart-warming father-child moment, no matter how uncertain the future maybe, you can secure your loved ones through timely financial planning.”