MxMIndia

Category: Ad Agencies

  • With Messi and Djokovic providing the star power, big advertisers turn to non-cricket sports like soccer and tennis

    Life beyond cricket: Messi and Djokovic pull advertisers to soccer and tennis

    By Meenakshi Verma Ambwani

     

    It turns out the grand success of the Lionel Messi show in an Argentina-Venezuela football friendly in Kolkata early this month was not an exception as new generation Indians and big advertisers chasing them increasingly turn to non-cricket sports such as soccer and tennis.

     

    In the past three years, TV viewership for sports like soccer, wrestling, tennis, car and bike racing has been growing at high double digits, according to data from television rating agency TAM.

     

    This has encouraged advertisers to spend on these sports like never before.

     

    “Brands who want to reach out to the young and contemporary generation are looking to invest on sports like tennis and soccer,” says Madison Media CEO Ms Punitha Aurmugam, adding that cricket is expensive and full of brand clutter.

     

    Media planners say big advertisers are spending an estimated 8-10% of their budgets on non-cricket sports, a massive improvement from just 3-4 years ago when all the focus was on cricket.

     

    Ad spots on a tennis Grand Slam like Wimbeldon are sold at an estimated Rs 1.25-1.50 lakh per ten seconds, while English Premier League soccer matches command up to Rs 1 lakh and F1 races get Rs 75,000-1.25 lakh per ten seconds.

     

    “Advertising revenues for premier sport events like Wimbledon or F1 have been growing 20-30% on an average,” says ESPN Software India Senior Director Business Development Mr Rathindra Basu.

     

    Already, several corporates like Airtel, Venky’s, Mahindra & Mahindra and United Spirits are investing in sports like F1, soccer and Moto Grand Prix. “With Indian corporates involved in developing some of these sports there is a growing interest among consumers as well as advertisers,” says ZenithOptimedia Managing Partner Mr Sanjoy Chakrabarty.

     

    The Kolkata football match that featured Messi on September 2 attracted as many eyeballs as a new serial does on its debut on a general entertainment channel. It garnered viewership rating, or TRP of 1.2 for males above the age of 15 in the top five metros as per TAM data. Media planners say it was impressive for a friendly match.

     

    Broadcasters of non-cricket sports bet on subscription revenues to ensure returns. For instance, half a million Tata Sky households subscribed to Ten Action Plus-which shows about 500 matches of European soccer clubs a year-within a few days after the channel was made available on the DTH platform.

     

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Lodestar CEO Shashi Sinha is set to be the new President of the Advertising Club Bombay

    Shashi Sinha will be Big Boss at Ad Club Bombay

    After two terms as President of the Advertising Club Bombay, Mr Bhaskar Das of The Times of India Group will make way for Mr Shashi Sinha, CEO of Lodestar Universal India. Mr Sinha is set to assume responsibility this month. Mr Sunil Lulla, the MD and CEO of Times Television Network, will be Vice President. Mr Ajay Kakar, CMO – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group will be the new Secretary and Pratap Bose, CEO-Mudra Max the Treasurer. The managing committee is reported to have been elected unopposed.

    Mr Sinha has been Vice President of the Club and is also an active member of various media industry forums. After running the media awards effectively, he was entrusted with responsibility of Chairman of the Awards Governing Council following disagreement between the Ad Club and the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) on the issue of the Abby Awards at GoaFest.

    After being mired in controversy for three years, thanks to Mr Sinha’s leadership, the high profile Creative Awards were held without any leaks and raging controversies.

  • Amul takes the road less travelled

    Aim and Objectives

    Amul is a Rs 10,000 crore company. The challenge was to maintain a steady growth of 20 percent year-on-year thereby furthering the aggressive sales targets for individual brands.

     

    The Background:

    Amul caters to an all-encompassing, universal TG; right from the woman of the house who buys Amul Butter, Ghee, Dahi, Cheese, Milk etc., to kids consuming Amul chocolates and Ice creams, and the youth consuming the Amul Kool Beverages.

    With a wide brand portfolio of 45 brands spanning across 14 product categories, Amul’s distribution network is ever-increasing and so is the need for aggressive marketing and advertising of these brands.

    But Amul faces strict spends restrictions, having an A:S ratio of less than 1% and yet needs to compete with megabrands like Nestle, Britannia whose A:S ratio is more than 5%.

    The media planner’s dilemma was how to do justice to 43 brands when the budgets would at best suffice for just 2 or 3 brands.

    We needed a single unifying thought which: Gives the brand a larger-than-life aura; allows for Amul to integrate its brands seamlessly; allows for adaptation to other geographies and profiles; cuts across the nati9on, binds across age and SEC.

    This unifier thought had to ensure that all our brands got the required visibility and in a manner that could help us break clutter, within our budget constraints

     

    How the strategy was implemented:

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 1: Amul took a brave decision of ploughing 90% of ad budgets into impact property buys rather than spot buys with sponsorships thrown in.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 2: Customizing format shows for Amul in each of the priority markets.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 3: Within each show the Amul range was incorporated so as to showcase Amul’s width and depth.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 4: For each of the properties, Amul identified situations within show content and conceived ideas to integrate the brands seamlessly, thus creating a property within a property for each of the brands.

    Some brands/ideas were taken across properties to highlight Amul’s omnipresence and hence maintained a thread of continuity across properties. For example, Amul’s iconic mascot The Buttergirl was seen across all shows.

    Amul’s beverage range was highlighted through a branded Amul Mug which was placed on the Judges table across all shows. The Mugs were branded by the various Amul beverage brands such as Amul Kool, Amul Kafe and Amul Koko. Thus, Amul Beverages were seen week on week across all shows

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 5: Some brand integrations were specific to specific properties and were integrated basis content situation identified in the show. Examples are Amul Masterchef and Amul Chhote Ustaad.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 6: The client partnered these shows in true Amul style and pulled out all stops to promote every show in a unique manner.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 7: Ensured amplification of every association through a complete surround sound via multimedia promotions.


    Expectations v/s Outcome:

    Amul gained tremendous mileage across each of these shows as a result of which Amul sales saw a surge of approximately 20-30% for brands which were technically zero budget and were struggling to move beyond single digit growth.

     

    Amul’s omnipresence was seen through:

    • 800 PR articles
    • 23 hours of in show brand presence
    • 872040 secs through promos
    • 27637 Promo GRPs

     

    Overall Brand Amul grew by 22% in 2010-2011. In terms of Brand Health Scores, Amul has seen a rise in its purity, trust and popularity scores by nearly 15%.Sales for brands like Ice cream, Paneer, Dahi, Mithaimate, Cheese soared by approximately 30 percent.

    The promo mileage that Amul got from these associations was worth Rs 32 crore, higher than the annual Promo GRPs for Britannia and Nestle combined.

    Like any other FMCG brand Amul garnered a reach of 90% @1+ and 80% @ 3+ levels. Healthy for any FMCG brand.

    Amul was present over 123 weeks cumulatively as Title Sponsor, with huge surround sound as part of marketing promotions for individual shows. The icing on the cake was the fact that this entry won a Gold in GoaFest 2011 for Best Use of Sponsorship.

  • "Indians, by nature, are changing. Earlier one wanted to use the brands that their parents used. Now one can't, even if the brand is very good"

    The top of the consumer pyramid is growing: Sam Balsara

    Mr Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison Communications Pvt Ltd, is one of the most influential people in Indian media. It is not only because he owns one of the largest media agencies in the country, and has a 51 percent stake in the other (Mediacom India), but because of his understanding of the Indian consumer and industry issues, and his ability to be one step ahead.

    Ritu Midha of MXM India spoke with Mr Balsara on topics ranging from the current consumer sentiment, experiential marketing, industry issues and more. Excerpts from the conversation:

    GDP growth at 7.7% is the lowest since December 2009. Besides, a recent AC Nielsen study shows that consumer sentiment has gone down. What does it augur for the advertising industry?

    More than slowdown, I think the sentiment is getting a bit affected, and this, indeed, is going to impact the advertising industry. I would say advertisers, or for that matter categories, which do not advertise regularly would get seriously affected by the prevailing sentiment.

    Talking of specific media, advertising on TV would be the last to be affected. Advertising in English print and outdoor would be affected first and in a slightly deeper way than advertising. The television, to my mind, provides far more flexibility, and tends to keep the inventory full… at whatever rate.

    On the positive side, however, India continues to be a shining star on the global map. Many more foreign companies will come to India with their global brands and competition for the established brands will increase. It surely means new players will have to spend aggressively to carve a niche for themselves, while the established players will have to step up their spends to keep ahead. This would, in a way, counterbalance the ad spends.

    We must not forget that India is an under-advertised economy. Our GDP-to-advertising ratio continues to be one of the lowest in the world.

    Will the mass brands cut down ad budgets more than luxury brands?

    Mass, specifically mass FMCG brands, understand that advertising is as important for them as raw material or packaging.

    It is discretionary categories like financial institutions and real estate and not FMCG which could cut down or exit totally like financial institutions, and real estate. 50 to 60 percent of television advertising is FMCG advertising. In print, FMCG would be less than 15 percent. And that is the reason television would not be hit that badly.

    Moving on to consumers, do you believe that the top of the pyramid is expanding

    Yes it is. The rich in India are growing richer, and that too at a terrific rate. This has led to luxury brands coming in and doing good business.

    But from a media perspective, these brands use more of events, CRM and experiential marketing. The impact of their advertising on typical mass media is a bit limited.

    This, in turn, should give a boost to aspirational brands.

     

    You just mentioned experiential marketing. Do you believe its time has come?

    Experiential marketing is growing at a phenomenal rate. More and more companies are now focusing on integrated marketing and engagement. So directionally, it is the way forward.

    Marketers now know that they need to engage their prospective target group in a more meaningful and deeper way to in order to convert them into customers and retain them.

    Earlier, a television commercial would suffice, but things are changing now. In addition to traditional advertising, you need to seduce the customer in variety of different ways. Awareness about one’s brand is not enough. Marketing spends in experiential marketing are substantially increasing.


    Are advertisers also reconsidering their retail and PoS strategies?

    Most large advertisers now have a focused set of people to look after modern retail and merchandising. Though organised retail is pegged between 6 to 10 percent of the total retail, for many upmarket brands these figures would be much higher, and for them to succeed adequate expertise in the modern retail area is a must.

    As per a few gurus, many purchase decisions are now made in the last seven minutes before the actual purchase happens.

    This is definitely true for smaller value products  the way a product is displayed and merchandised makes a huge difference.

    Indians, by nature, are changing. Earlier one wanted to use the brands that their mom and dad used. Now one can’t use the same brand that one’s mom and dad used, even if it is a very good brand. In addition to it, there is an increasing tendency to switch brands. If last month one used brand A, this month brand B would be the brand of choice. Loyalties are very difficult to come by, and experimentation is going to a higher plane it earlier was. People are not afraid to experiment with new brands and experiences. I think all this is putting the market on a boil.

     

    Moving on to a term I am still trying to understand well  neuro marketing. Do you see it helping advertisers?

    Given the two facts, a, world spends 400 to 500 billion dollars in advertising, and b, the phenomenal development in both medicine and technology  it stands to reason that we should spend a lot more effort in understanding why and how people buy.

    I have no doubt that in next 15 to 20 years, we would have a set of dos and don’ts as well as aids. These would provide a scientific basis on what to say and how, and what to show and what not to show. All this would definitely trigger sales.

    Right now in India, it is still in the parking stage. Not much happening as of now.


    And in what stage is digital as of now?

    Well, digital is finally at take-off stage. Last year, our digital arm grew at around 50 percent, and this year we are expecting 35 percent growth. Many large advertisers, including FMCGs, are now taking a serious look at digital as the medium to connect and engage with customers.

    It is now moving to a more serious attempt at using digital, and spending serious money on it to deliver business results. Digital is going to get very important in the next one or two years.

     

    Which of the Madison arms are growing faster in percentage terms?

    These are obviously the new divisions  as they have a smaller base. However, our OOH and experiential marketing divisions have seen good growth last year.


    Is rapid OOH growth a phenomenon across the industry?

    It is not just outdoor; the entire spectrum of OOH, activation, experiential and events is growing at a fast rate. Increasingly, advertisers believe that they need to include these, over and above what they were doing before. Hence, they are allocating a little more of their overall advertising budget to this. This, in turn, is making these segments grow at a faster rate than traditional and conventional segments.

    Moving back to Madison, how are your branches in Thailand and Sri Lanka performing?

    They are performing alright, but I would not say they are doing spectacularly well. Thailand has seen a fair share of problems in last few years, and it has been a bit of dampener. The company over there also does a lot of experiential marketing, events and promotions, and there was a setback for the last few years. However, from the middle of last year, there are signs of stability returning to the country.

    Now something about Mediacom. How have things changed for you from the time you picked up 51% stake in the agency?

    This industry is all about change, and if you are in advertising you have to do things differently and do different things in order to make your clients win every day. If you keep doing the same thing every day, both your clients and your clients customers are going to reject you.

    You must be a happy man, considering the achievements of Madison and Mediacom.

    Mediacom is a part of global network, and it has its own set of international clients. Madison, meanwhile, is homegrown agency rooted to the ground here. Both have their unique strengths and are doing well. Mediacom, of course, has done extremely well due to the aggressive growth of multinational clients. Madison’s growth is largely thanks to large clients that we have picked up in the last few months.

    Are there any more acquisition plans in the near future?

    We are fortunate that people continuously talk to us. It is not that we rush into acquisitions, but we do look at them on and off.

    One last question- a few agencies believe that they should not be penalised if their clients fail to pay channels for advertising

    To the best of my knowledge, IBF AAAI holds the client responsible for non-payment and so the client is put on PDC or advance payment before a complete ban is placed on the client. We understand that, though it is the agenciesresponsibility  ultimately one can’t earn 3 percent and pay up 97 percent!

    That brings me to another pain point raised by a few agencies: commission of 3%, which in many cases is 2% or less.

    Large clients now understand that they made a serious mistake by reducing media agency commissions under pressure. They have now begun to take corrective actions.

    At the top end, it is improving but at the middle and bottom end it’ll never improve. But as they say, If you throw peanuts, you’ll only get monkeys.

     

  • The Times of India gears up to make a splash in the Kerala market with last-minute touches to its plan.

    Can TOI win the Kerala race?

     

     

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    The Times of India has been giving the last-minute push to its entry into the Kerala market. Speculation was that the TOI would enter the market by early October – the launch date now seems to be October 24.  Mr Rahul Kansal, Chief Marketing Officer, Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd agreed that the TOI is looking to enter the market around this time but refused to name a date, saying that things do get delayed due to various reasons and hence he would prefer to refrain from specifics.

     

    The TOI in Kerala would have four main editions, he said, including Cochin, Trivandrum, Malabar and Cochin Upcountry, but in total the paper would be printed from 10 centres and would devote space to carry hyper local content.  So in that sense there will be 10 editions. However, Mr Kansal refused to divulge details about the number of print copies initially planned.

     

    He also said that TOI has entered into an alliance with the Mathrubhumi Group, which will aid TOI in providing logistics support. It is also possible, say sources, that there could be a combo offer available to Mathrubhumi readers.

     

    Mr Kansal said, “I think we are entering the Kerala market at an opportune time as it has a large literate population and English newspapers is largely a virgin market, with the presence of The Hindu as the dominant player.”

     

    The Kerala market is an interesting and unique market with literacy rate of close to 94 per cent and is dominated by Malayali dailies including Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Deshabhimani, Madhyamam, and Kerala Kumudam.  The English newspapers other than the Hindu include The New Indian Express and the recently-launched Deccan Chronicle. Advertisers include real estate players, but jewellery advertisers lead the pack.Players like Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance also have gone all out in the media lately with their gold loan schemes, and gained prominence.

     

    An observer of the market feels that there is a huge opportunity for an English newsppaper like the TOI in Kerala, especially with the young readers. The New Indian Express used to have a strong foothold which has declined over the years and The Hindu has following but is stronger near the Tamil Nadu border, hence there is a space for a strong English player. But it is also a tough market with the literacy rate being high, and readers well informed. So the strategy of entering the market with some sort of alliance with Mathrubhumi makes sense as by leveraging the strength of a vernacular paper, TOI could make impressive inroads. Also the challenge would be to tap the huge retail market like jewellery and textiles, where again it would help to have a regional partner. In terms of content too, the market thrives on regional content even more so than other parts of India, so even though TOI would have a strict template, its plan of having 10 centres of printing with four main editions, carrying localised content from other six markets, may prove to be smart strategy.

     

    Picture Credit : Fotocorp

  • Post its re-entry into India, Peugeot is now looking out for agencies to handle its PR mandates.

    Peugeot seeking PR agency in India

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    Peugeot, the French motor car brand, has called for a PR pitch after its re entry in the Indian market, industry sources close to the development have confirmed the news to MxM India.

    The creative mandates for them are mainly handled by Euro RSCG globally and Peugeot is one of the biggest clients for Havas Media .

    Peugeot is gunning for the launch of the Peugeot 508 premium sedan in India before the end of 2012. The car will be priced in the range of Rs 20-25 lakh. Apart from the Volkswagen Passat, the 508 will have to compete for space against Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Nissan Teana.

    After its exit from the country nearly 15 years ago, the company is cautious on its re-entry. Globally, the brand competes with Volkswagen and such brands and it is expected to be similar in India.

    The French company will set up a vehicle manufacturing facility near Sanand at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore ($650 million). At an initial capacity of 165,000 vehicles a year, the plant is slated to be commissioned by 2014 and can be expanded to 340,000 units in phases.

    The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion trademark. The company produced its first automobile in 1891. Due to family discord, Armand Peugeot in 1896 founded the Société des Automobiles Peugeot.

    Peugeot’s roots go back to 19th-century coffee milling and bicycle manufacturing. The Peugeot company and family is originally from Sochaux, France. Peugeot retains a large manufacturing plant and Peugeot Museum there. It also sponsors the Sochaux football club, founded in 1928 by a member of the Peugeot family.

  • Mindshare India strengthens Delhi operations, welcomes Sushanto Biswas as partner – client leadership.

    Sushanto Biswas to lead Ford team at Mindshare

    By A Correspondent

    Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM has recently appointed Mr Sushanto Biswas as Partner – Client Leadership. Based out of Delhi, Mr Biswas will be heading the Ford team at Mindshare India.

    Joining Mindshare from MPG, Mr Biswas has 13 years of rich experience in the media industry working with some of the top agencies. During this time, he has worked across a gamut of clients including HP, British Airways, Maruti, LVMH, Videocon, MTS and Reckitt Benkiser. He has also worked on the client side at LG and with Universal McCann on Gillette, Goodyear, Panasonic, MasterCard, GM and Microsoft.

    Commenting on his appointment, Mr Biswas said, “It is very exciting and at the same time very challenging to be part of the fastest growing agency in India. Auto as a category has always been a passion and I have had experience of the category, having worked on General Motors and Maruti previously. Ford has ambitious plans for the country over the next few years and I see this as a great challenge to craft media solutions in a hyper-competitive market place.”

    Welcoming Mr Biswas, Mr R Gowthaman, Leader, Mindshare South Asia, said, “Sushanto’s wealth of client and business experience makes him a vital asset to the Mindshare team. His in-depth understanding of behaviour and trends in the media industry will add incredible value to our clients.”

  • As the consumers are evolving and devising new media, this blog focuses on the new media develpoments with the perspective of media planning in the Indian context.

    Premjeet Sodhi’s Nascent Media: Stop over-simplification of media

    While, the core thought of this article about ‘over-simplification’ may apply to the overall domain of marketing, but I am using the setting of media planning to construct the view.
    Lets, first see what is the task or challenge that the media agencies take up in their business.Every advertiser expects the media planning agency to deliver performance for its business metrics. That is to say that – once a media plan is executed the brand manager expects sales to happen.

    Enough has been said about the increasing complexity of the market, the increasingly unpredictable and demanding consumer and the decreasing strength of brands. In such a scenario, the factors that lead to sales success are many. The classical models of marketing have now been replaced by far more dynamic models and media is only one of the many factors that influence sales. Hence, this is not a simple or easy expectation at all.
    Even a little bit of analytics will reveal that media has only got limited leverage to drive sales and this leverage varies for different categories and brands. However, there are other interim metrics leading to sales, such as brand recall, brand perception, brand enquiry, brand interactions, etc for which media can be held accountable for. There are so many marketing models and methods that help understand what a brand needs to deliver in media. None of these methods are simple.Looking at ‘media’ in isolation and expecting it to deliver sales is a naive simplification. 

    Media Planning is an intricate science. It deals with engaging extremely incredulous and volatile consumers to convince them of the merits of one of the score of brands that are available to them and possibly get them to move closer to buying the brand. In short, it deals with the wants and desires of people which can never be a simple subject to address.

    However, somewhere along the way in the past agencies have made advertises believe that this complex task can be broken up into two simple steps – (i) design the message and (ii) deliver the message to the desired consumer segment.

    Here, I will not comment on designing the message since I have already touched upon that in my earlier post titled “Creative is killing Creativity”. Lets look at the inherent simplification that has been cultivated in delivering the message.

    The first simplification was to strip each medium of its “qualitative” values and believe that each vehicle in a medium and across mediums can be represented by the measure of only “quantity”. 

    This made it very easy to measure media and trade media. One was only bothered about the count or reach as we call it. Research agencies made a killing setting up mammoth research projects measuring this lowest common denominator across media. Yes, there was a qualitative aspect but that was left to interpretation and application by the media planners. Now, we have the media planing community largely addicted and servile to these quantitative research databases totally oblivious to the qualitative value of the media they recommend.

    The second simplification was to believe that consumer minds can be affected just by managing the volume of this media measure. 

    The GRP was conceived – which is another simplification of the arithmetic that goes into making a media schedule and this GRP became the volume measure of  voice of the brand. Due to its simplicity, clients took to GRPs easily and it soon became a strong trading currency for media. Today, everything that is done is to create, deliver, manage, buy, sell – this GRP. This GRP comes in various reach and frequency packs and is available across media. This GRP has become the magic wand with which the client and the agency attempt to deliver market shares.

    The simplification is also evident in the remuneration structure that is prevalent in the industry. Everything that is done in communication is measured in terms of the traded value of media bought and the agencies are paid as a percentage of that. Since, actually estimating the real value contributed by media is difficult – so a percentage of spends keeps it simple.

    I guess, the whole media eco-system looks at the issues too simplistically and that is why “value-creation” is reducing day by day and leading to commoditization of media, media schedules, media talent and of media agencies. The advertisers will continue to simplify, but if, the media and advertising domain wants to enhance its value they will have to do away with this over-simplification. After all, Value is in the details.

  • FirstRand Bank (FRB), South Africa has called for a creative, media and PR pitch. Industry sources close to the development have confirmed the news to MxM India.

    FirstRand Bank calls for creative, media and PR pitch

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    FirstRand Bank (FRB) has called for a creative, media and PR pitch. The overall account size is estimated to be around Rs 10 crore.

    FirstRand Bank India is a branch of FirstRand Banking Group South Africa. FirstRand Bank, a pre-eminent financial services group in Africa is the first bank from the African continent to be granted a full scale commercial banking license in India. FirstRand has commenced its banking operations in India since April 2009 and currently has one branch set up in Mumbai.

    With a history dating back to 1838, FirstRand is a fully integrated financial services group and one of the big four South African retail, commercial and investment banks. Through its ownerships of brands like First National Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Momentum and Wesbank, the group operates in almost every area of the financial services arena.

    The group has representation elsewhere in Africa, including Nigeria, as well as the United Kingdom, Dubai, Australia and China, and now more recently in India.As part of its international expansion strategy, FirstRand has identified India as a key market for future economic growth and set up its Representative Office in Mumbai, India in January 2008. A year later, it received its banking license, becoming the first South African bank to open a branch in India. FirstRand India currently has an office in Mumbai.

  • Krish Dhingra finds his iPhone paying tribute to its famed father, Steve Jobs

    I Will Miss You Dad: An iPhone pays tribute to its Legendary Father, Steven P Jobs

    Author:
    Kris Dhingra

    It’s not often that you get woken up in the morning on your day off with a piece of news that leaves you shell-shocked and makes you fervently pray that what you’ve heard is all a rumour or a dream. Such reactions are normally reserved for unfortunate incidents that happen to your near and dear one’s.

    On the morning of October 6, 2011, while lying in sleep mode, I was suddenly picked up from my dock and rushed into the living room to verify what my owner had heard, “Steve Jobs has lost his battle against pancreatic cancer“. It was true, the moment I believed was still many years away had come much sooner than I expected. It was shocking, it was painful and it was sad both for my owner, myself and for millions of my siblings (other iPhone models) and cousins (ipod, iPad and other iOS devices) around the world.

    My birth father and the person who had visualized, conceptualized and created me was no more. I think I saw my owner shed a tear while watching visuals of my dad’s amazing keynote presentations from previous years. As the news started to sink in, my body started to get into motion as I began to access the twitter and facebook apps, update the timelines, render the graphics etc. It was hard to deliver the fabulous experience that I am known for given what I had just seen and heard, but I managed it as it was part of my DNA.

    My chief Architect and originator Steve Jobs was undoubtedly a brilliant man. In fact he was one of the greatest inventors and visionary entrepreneurs that this generation has ever known. Not many people in today’s world have seen or heard the likes of Edison, Marconi, Graham Bell or Einstein, but they have surely seen and heard my father introduce devices that have changed the face of this planet. He envisioned us in a manner no one could have ever imagined thanks to his extraordinary risk taking ability and capability to understand what users needed before they themselves knew what they needed.

    My owner and other iOS users around the world love what we can do for them and how easy we have made their lives, but what they don’t know is how loved we feel when we are bought. I have many foes today who come in a variety of weird names from the house of Samsung, LG, Motorola, Nokia etc and when I see people lining up for days outside our first homes (the Apple stores) it gives us such great delight and joy. No one else has or ever will manage to get such a following unless they believe what my father believed:

    Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

    Today, I can’t help but feel sad at the passing away of Steve but I also consider myself fortunate to have shared some part of my life with him. I am certain that my owners will continue to take great care of me and treat me in the best way possible, and they will certainly remember Steve every time I create some of the magic that my father gifted me with. Thank You Dad for everything you have done, I will miss you dearly.

    Steve Jobs encouraged us to listen to our heart and think differently, so in keeping with that spirit we decided to try this new format to pay homage to our idol.

     

    Kris Dhingra is founder and editor at DelhiPlanet Media. He can be reached at krisdhingra@delhiplanet.com]

  • 141 revamps itself; will henceforth be called Bates.

    Just Bates, now

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    WPP agency Bates 141 has dropped the ‘141’ from its name in its third rebranding employ. The agency is planning to adopt new attitude and corporate identity to underline its new agency model. With a new name and agency model, Bates now also has a new logo.

    The new logo features the Bates typeface in contemporary Helvetica and three speech balloons (in original Bates pumpkin, red and blue), replacing the former eye mnemonic.

    Bates has embarked on a new journey to become the changengage* people. Changengage* is the philosophy for the new Bates agency model.

    Changengage underscores a sea of change in the way the agency is structured to deliver better solutions to clients. It is a complete mindset and behavioural change.

    Dheeraj Sinha, Regional Planning Director, Bates, said, “All the previous rebrandings of Bates have happened due to acquisitions and mergers, Bates 141 was also a result of that. This time the rebranding is solely for the new prospective of a new world, the world is changing and so are we. Bates has not just been an advertising agency but we provide digital, rural marketing solutions as well, we will take this a step forward a continue our focus on new engagement-led strategy for the client where digital will definitely play a major role.”

     

    It may be recalled that the agency logo was refreshed in 2008 and represented Bates and 141 fully integrated as one company with one vision and an integration of their offering.

     

    The visual identity comprised repeating ‘eyes’ with one set facing the other direction, expressing Bates 141’s Change vision of ‘Change happens when you look at things differently.

     

    The name 141’s origins lie in the address of the division’s original London HQ, 141 Westbourne Terrace.

     

    Sonal Dabral, Regional Executive Creative Director and India Chairman, Bates, remarked, “In the new Bates we don’t think ATL and BTL, we think integrated and we believe all our ideas should lead to engagement for brands. We decided to drop 141 from the name Bates as 141 symbolizes our activation arm and therefore doesn’t find a place in our new agency model.The new logo has been designed by the Bates design team internally, mostly by the Kolkata and Mumbai teams. The added colours depict Bates as more vibrant, novel and youthful. The cluster of speech blurbs above the name is symbolic of vibrant conversations and debates we will aim to provoke through our work. The overlapping blurbs are also a subliminal reminder of tag clouds, the language of now and the future.”

    In terms of solutions, a large part of the agency’s revenue currently comes from engagement (eg, OOH, online, interactive, shopper marketing, activation, etc). Bates will continue to strengthen these pockets of expertise by enriching its talent mix with technologists, shopper marketing planners and designers to deliver more sparkling engagement solutions.
    It will also continue to bolster its cluster operating model (Greater China, India and Southeast Asia) which provide the means to leverage pockets of category and discipline expertise across markets/offices.
    Bates is a marketing communications network under the WPP Group.Located in 11 countries in Asia. They work with global and local brands including Accor, Café de Coral, Cheung Kong, Diageo, Disney, Fiat, Finnair, General Mills, HSBC, IDEA, Shanghai General Motors, Singapore Polytechnic, Unilever and Virgin Mobile.

  • Acid test from Pfizer as ideas@work win creative mandates for Gelusil Xtra Cool.

    Gelusil mandates for ideas@work

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    Ideas@work will be working as the creative agency for Pfizer’s Gelusil Xtra Cool, the agency has confirmed the news to MxM India.

    The incumbent on the business was Bates. The media mandates for them are handled by Mediacom.

    The new campaign will break in this quarter. The focus will be on television and highly targeted btl activities. The account size could not be ascertained at the time of filing the report.

    Ideas@work is a Mumbai-based boutique agency. The agency is the brainchild of co-founders and creative directors Zarvan Patel and Prashant Godbole. They handle brands like Reid & Taylor, Red Bull, Big Rock etc.

    Around the world, the Gelusil brand has become renowned for relief from an anxious stomach. Introduced in the late 1930s as a liquid and initially sold in a blue-glass wide-mouthed bottle, through its 70 years it has not only become a staple of medicine cabinets, but it has become a word associated with relief.

    Gelusil was created by the pharmaceutical company first known as William R Warner & Co. (later Warner-Chilcott, then Warner-Lambert) and was formally filed as a trademark in 1939. Warner was a pioneering pharmaceutical company known for the innovation of coating pills with sugar. Gelusil’s early slogan was “the different antacid” because it was both an antacid and anti-gas.