Lintas Live has bagged the social media marketing mandate for Turespaña in India (Tourism Office of Spain for India). It will be responsible for management of the entire virtual community around Turespaña’s social media accounts in India, including content development, crisis management and online reputation management.
Said Ameer Ismail, President, Lintas Live: “We are delighted that we have won such a prestigious tourism body like Turespaña to represent. The post-COVID world will challenge previously held notions, especially when it comes to the Travel & Tourism sector which will need to have creative and digital first strategies. Lintas Live has demonstrated the understanding of the sector with our years of experience working across hospitality, aviation and other tourism bodies. We have successfully married creativity and digital thinking through our ideas and will attempt to build our communication to position Spain as a preferred destination.”
We are delighted to record this. Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) has expanded Content + Publishing Strategy to its India operations. And to head up this business, the WPP-owned agency has hired a former MxMIndia team member Shubhangi Mehta as Director of Content + Publishing Strategy.
Abhishek Gulyani
Said Abhishek Gulyani, CEO for Hill+Knowlton Strategies India: “I am very excited to launch our Content + Publishing Strategy specialism in India, furthering our content marketing capabilities across the country. We believe purpose driven communications along with high impact innovative campaigns help brands to standout and build key differentiators. We welcome Shubhangi into the H+K family. Clients increasingly look to H+K for deeper understanding of content trends to help align their communications and business objectives. With Shubhangi’s extensive experience and in-depth knowledge, she will bring fresh thinking, perspective and ideas for our clients across varied sectors. The new Content + Publishing Strategy offering is a part of our overall strategy to provide integrated communications to clients and we will continue expanding the space in the years ahead.”
Bangalore International Airport has brought on board Dentsu Mcgarrybowen India as its lead communication partner for the next three years. The agency won the account following a multi-agency pitch and will service the brand from its Bengaluru office.
Indrajeet Mookherjee
Said Indrajeet Mookherjee, President South, DMB India: “In the brand communication business, there are once in a lifetime opportunities, and partnering with an airport brand is definitely one. We are truly delighted to have won this mandate and looking forward to embarking on this journey with Team BIAL.”
Shalini Rao
Added Shalini Rao, Chief Marketing Officer, BIAL: “Over the years, BLR Airport has grown in scale and stature. Airports today are becoming destinations by themselves. We are delighted to partner with dentsumcgarrybowen to build our brand journey that will bring alive a multitude of products, themes and experiences.”
It is the most respected of the forecasts of advertising expenditure in the country. We are referring to the Pitch Madison Advertising Outlook report that was unveiled virtually on Wednesday by Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World. According to the report, AdEx degrew 20% in 2020 and is expected to grow 26% in Calendar Year 2021.
Sam Balsara
Said Balsara, Chairman, Madison World: “A number of macro-economic factors, study of AdEx historical behaviour and stupendous growth in Q4 leads us to make a high projection of 26%. Our full report gives you more details of the basis of our projection and some Advice to Advertisers.”
Key findings of the report:
A. Overall:
1) In 2020 total Adex has degrown by 20% and Traditional Adex by as much as 29%.
2) In absolute terms ADEX has degrown from Rs. 67,603 crore to Rs. 54,151 crore, a drop of a whopping Rs. 13,452 crore, the highest drop in one year ever, in Indian ADEX’s history. Adex is now at 2017 levels, but is expected to reach 2019 level by end of 2021.
3) Although Traditional Media declined by 29% in 2020, its share in total Adex is as high as 69%, whereas the global average is 41%.
4) Covid’s negative impact on Indian ADEX has been more severe compared to Global Adex and many other countries of the world including US where the drop was only 4%.
5) Q4 2020 has registered a whopping 61% increase over Q3 2020 and a 16% increase over Q4 2019. And this gives us a lot of confidence and hope that both Market and ADEX is going to bounce back sharply in 2021.
6) Many Advertisers deserted TV, Print and Radio in Q2 2020, but by Q4 almost all Advertisers have returned to the Advertising fold.
7) FMCG continues to be the main category spender and its share moved up to 38% compared to 33% in full year 2019.
8) E-commerce and Education are the only two categories that increased spends, by 30% and 9% respectively.
9) 10 new advertisers entered the Top 50 list of advertisers, key ones being Phone Pe, Pepsico, facebook and Disney Hotstar.
B. Television
1) Television media degrew by a mere 11% to reach Rs.22,508 crore, its 2018 level, but has further consolidated its position as the No. 1 medium with 42% market share.
2) FMCG, continues to be the largest contributor for TV ADEX and further increased its share from 49% to 51%, though in value terms, the category de-grew by 9% almost in line with the TV degrowth of 11%.
3) The only 2 categories to show a growth in absolute terms are E-commerce, which registered a 95% growth over 2019 and Education, a 193% growth over 2019. Within e-commerce, in addition to online shopping, mobile wallets and media / entertainment / social media / OTT were the leading categories.
4) The impact on regional channels has been the least, implying that national brands prioritised campaigns in their strong markets and regional brands came back to ADEX faster than national brands.
5) TV Adex is expected to grow by 17% in 2021 to reach Rs. 26,350 crore, 4% higher than 2019.
C. Print
1) Covid damage to Print has been massive and Print ADEX lost as much as Rs. 8,120 crore or 41% and has gone back to a level it had reached in 2012.
2) With a drop in share from 30% to 22%, Print lost its No. 2 rank in ADEX.
3) However, a spike in ADEX during the festive season (Q4 20) has resulted in highest Volume and Ad revenue.
4) Print Adex grew by 59% in Q4 2020 vs Q3 2020, however, this is still 15% less than Q4 2019.
5) All categories in Print seem to have got affected including E-commerce (-57%), Education (-14%), Auto (-29%) and FMCG (-30%). Education increased its share of Print ADEX by 5 percentage points, from 10% to 15% and Auto and FMCG by 3 percentage points each, from 13% to 16% and from 14% to 17% respectively. These 3 categories accounted for 47% of Print ADEX.
6) Newspaper circulation in metros got affected a little more deeply and recovery seems to have taken longer. Because of which contribution of Hindi, in terms of volume has increased from 35% to 38% with English trailing at 24%. Kannada and Malayalam newspapers showed highest resilience and least degrowth in terms of volume, whilst Tamil, Telugu and Marathi publications de-grew the most.
7) Print Adex is expected to grow by 35% in 2021 to reach Rs. 16,100 crore, but it will still be at the level it reached in 2015.
D. Digital
1) Digital is the only medium that grew in 2020 by 10% to reach Rs. 16,974 Digital is now the No. 2 medium, having displaced Print with a share of 31%, up from 23% in 2019.
2) Digital has grown in 3 quarters and de-grew only in Q2 2019 by 35% when there was a strict lockdown. This drop of 35% must be seen in comparison to the drop of 79% in Print and 61% in Television in the same quarter.
3) Share of Search has come down significantly by as much as 5 percentage points and now stands at just 18%. This is not because Search has degrown, but other verticals have grown much faster. Video, not only is the largest contributor but has further increased its share from 30% to 32% during the year. Both Social and Display have marginally improved their Share and all three have grown shares at the expense of Search.
4) Programmatic has taken firm root in Indian Digital Adex and now almost 40% of all Digital spends are through Programmatic.
5) Digital is set to grow by 25% in 2021 to reach Rs. 21,200 crore.
E. Other Media
1) Radio ADEX is the third worst affected medium which de-grew by almost 44% and came down in value from Rs. 2,260 crore to just Rs. 1,270 crore. This sharp drop has taken Radio back to its 2014 level. With this drop, Radio has also lost 1% market share and now has a share of 2%. We expect Radio Adex to grow by 38% and reach Rs. 1,750 crore.
2) OOH ADEX also de-grew by as much as 63% to a low of Rs. 1,292 crore and its market share dropped by as many as 3% points from 5% in 2019 to 2% in 2020. OOH Adex in 2020 has gone back to its 2007 level. We expect OOH Adex to grow by 90%, to reach Rs. 2,450 crore.
3) Cinema is by far the worst affected medium because of Covid and in our estimate, suffered an 83% drop, capsizing its low base of around just a little over Rs. 1,000 crore to under Rs 200 crore. We expect Cinema to grow by 161% to reach Rs. 475 crore.
RECMA has acknowledged Dentsu X as the most ‘dominant agency’ of India for the second consecutive time. The diagnostic report released on December 2, 2020, audited the performances and competences of 17 agencies based on 18 criteria. This in-depth report captures competitive pitches, agency momentum, resources and the client profile of each agency. The report was released in December and we are now nearing the end of March, but we just received this communique.
Divya Karani
Said Divya Karani, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu X India: “It is a glorious recognition of the remarkable work that we have put in towards our ‘experience beyond exposure’ thinking and deep client partnerships that effect business outcomes. We are a team that sets itself tall goals and then does all it takes to achieves them!”
The directors of Media Factory have just announced that they have purchased the majority stake held by Sam and Lara Balsara of Madison World in Madison Media SriLanka Pvt. Ltd and the company will now become a fully owned subsidiary of Media Factory Pvt Ltd. The Balsaras have exited the Sri Lanka business. Sam Balsara has also resigned as a Director of Madison Media Sri Lanka Private Ltd. and the company’s name has been changed to Midas Media Pvt Ltd.
Both parties have agreed that Midas Media and its affiliates, associates and owners, Media Factory will immediately stop using the Madison name in any manner whatsoever nor claim ownership to the name Madison. Further, Sam and Lara Balsara and Madison in India or Sri Lanka will no longer be liable for any actions or financial liabilities or damages past, present or future of the company nor will they benefit from any financial assets or accruals to the company of the past, present or future for which they have not been compensated. Sam and Lara Balsara will also not claim any right or ownership to the name Midas Media Pvt Ltd.
Said Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World: “We entered the Sri Lanka market, 12 years ago with the launch of Airtel in the country. Over the years we have built some great relationships both personally and professionally and I hope to continue those. I wish the current Directors of Media Factory and Midas Media all the very best”.
Added Kapila Vidanagamage, Director Media Factory: “Our relationship was based on mutual trust and respect. We understood the expectations at a very early stage and were able to deliver to the complete satisfaction of our local clients, but more importantly our partners in India. I would like to thank Sam and Lara for their trust and eventual friendship and would like to wish them both the best in all their future endeavours.”
SIP Abacus has awarded its creative duties to Mullen Lintas. The account will be handled by the Bengaluru office of Mullen Lintas. The scope entails building the brand via omnichannel advertising and visibility via social media.
Dinesh Victor
Said Dinesh Victor, Founder & Managing Director, SIP Academy India Pvt Ltd.: “We are confident that our association with Mullen Lintas will help not just raise the awareness of SIP Abacus brand but also will let more Indians come to know the power of the Abacus Program!”
Sibi Sekhar
Added Sibi Sekhar, Director, SIP Academy India Pvt Ltd.: “We are delighted to have Mullen Lintas on board as our agency and we look forward to their well-known branding and communication expertise to take our flagship brand SIP Abacus closer to children and parents aligning with our powerful vision.”
Hari Krishnan
Said Hari Krishnan, CEO, Mullen Lintas: “SIP Abacus has been quietly brewing a storm in the educational sector over the last 17 years and has helped many children across the country to develop arithmetics and build their concentration skills. We are excited to be given the mandate to craft the brand strategy and point of view for SIP Abacus that will enable more parents and children to embrace the concept of mathematics and emerge successful. The category understanding and creative firepower demonstrated by our team led by our CCO Azazul Haque is what worked the magic for us.”
GroupM India has announced the promotions of Vinit Karnik and Karthik Nagarajan. Karnik, the Business Head of GroupM’s Entertainment & Sports practice (ESP), will take over the new role of Head – Sports, Esports and Entertainment, GroupM South Asia and Karthik Nagarajan, Chief Content Officer for Wavemaker India, will take on additional responsibility at GroupM in the new role of Head of Branded Content, GroupM India.
Said Prasanth Kumar, CEO of GroupM South Asia said, “Disruption and evolution go hand-in-hand and it also brought in opportunities in the content, sports and entertainment space and it is consistently redefining the market place. Over the years, we have been building these spaces by shaping great solutions for our clients. While we will continue to build on advertising technologies that will add speed and scale, we are equally committed to enhance our creative process and enable larger solutions in the content space. We are fortunate to witness leadership grow within as they bring in experience, adaptivity and inventiveness for being fit for the future. These leadership appointments signify our commitment to the journey and I am confident in both Vinit and Karthik’s abilities and together we look forward to creating great solutions and opportunities for our clients as well as our partners.”
Added Karnik: “The new-age consumers have a better understanding of advertising and this can be seen by their ongoing interactions with brands and readiness for participation. The demand for higher personalization shows that. Data indicates that delivering high-quality personalized content is what sets successful brands apart from their competitors. Today a brand has various means to reach out to its audience be it via sports, social media, eSports, influencers etc. Hence by strengthening our offerings and by bringing together creative optimization and data, we want to ensure that the brands get to reach their consumers with content, which is highly personalized, effective and relevant for them.”
Karthik spent a significant part of his early career in consulting, as a practice head for Frost & Sullivan in the United States. Before joining GroupM in 2011, Karthik set up Nielsen’s online division and was also the India Country Head for NM Incite, the joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey for social media consulting in India. He set up the social media practice for GroupM India, which also included its foray into advocacy. Karthik also evangelised the data agenda for GroupM by building its social analytics practice, products like Radar and the command centre offering. In 2015, Karthik conceived and launched Brew, which became the premier content up-front event for not just GroupM but the industry as well.
Said Nagarajan: “Content is a cultural intervention for a brand and the need to be authentic has never been more critical. Hence the journey of an idea today is seeped in data-led audience truths as much as it is in creativity. From an era when brands rode the trend waves, we are well and truly in a phase where brands author their sub-cultures. This is what makes it an extraordinary time to be in this industry. I am looking forward to taking on this additional responsibility at GroupM, at a time when the lines between content and commerce are blurring”.
In their new roles, Karthik & Vinit will report to Prasanth Kumar, CEO of GroupM South Asia.
Madison Media Omega, a unit of Madison World, has announced that The Landmark Group has appointed the agency as its Media AOR for its brands Lifestyle and Spar. The agency will handle the entire media mandate, which includes print, TV, radio, outdoor and digital. The account was won in a multi-agency pitch and will be handled by the agency based out of Bengaluru.
Said Vikram Sakhuja, Partner & Group CEO, Madison Media & OOH: “The retail business is all about driving sales. We took the best of our diverse talent across Madison in pitching for the prestigious Landmark group. We are thrilled to get their mandate and look forward to partnering them to deliver growth in challenging times of the pandemic.”
Added Dinesh Rathod, CEO, Madison Media Omega: “We’re very happy to partner with The Landmark Group for their 2 prestigious brands, Lifestyle and Spar in India. The Landmark Group has been in the market for years, building trust among its customers and we intend to further strengthen the brand’s popularity in the country.”
Carat India has appointed Dipika Bhasin as Executive Vice President. In her new role, Bhasin will lead the agency’s North and East offices and focus on developing and managing Carat’s senior client relationship in addition to helping the agency drive the growth for its North and East markets. She will report into Anita Kotwani, CEO, Carat India.
In her previous stint with PHD Worldwide, Bhasin held the position of Senior Vice President and was responsible for media management. She pivoted the digital media operations and their effectiveness for marketers in the media mix. She has worked on top brands like LG, Vivo, Royal Enfield, HP, SC Johnson, Perfetti, Maruti, Snapdeal, SAP, Adidas, Nissan and also various non-profit organisations. Additionally, she has also worked with Aircel and on brands that include consumer durables, FMCG, e-commerce and auto.
Anita Kotwani
Speaking on the appointment, Kotwani said” “As we strengthen and reshape the Carat offering for the Indian market, we needed a leader who is well networked, connected and understands the nuances of the Northern markets. Dipika, with her expansive & stellar work done across brands and categories, was our ideal choice as she brings in an integrated experience of the new-age eco-system. Her strong connections with the brands and marketers will ensure that the growth path crafted for Carat gets delivered in this market.”
Dipika Bhasin
Added Bhasin: “I am excited to be part of Carat India and to be working with an inclusive and diverse team. I would want to focus on expanding our footprint by strengthening seamless planning, digital transformation and innovation in the media space to help our clients grow. The commitment of the Carat team to deliver value for clients and partners are reckoned by the industry. It is a homecoming for me and I really look forward to strengthening the portfolio of our team offerings in collaboration with dentsu international. Looking forward to partner at all levels and deliver growth and value consistently.”
Dentsu X India has won the global media mandate of pharmaceutical firm Galderma. As per the mandate, the agency will oversee the media, strategy, planning, and buying for the total portfolio of Galderma products.
G Sathya Narayanan
Said G Sathya Narayanan, Managing Director – South Asia, Galderma: “We are delighted to have Dentsu X as our agency partner. Dentsu X’s fresh approach to communication planning hinges on consumers motivations, hopes and aspirations. Their data driven, clear thinking and innovative approach in addressing consumer and business goals, will strongly support our vision of becoming the leaders in the field of skin health.”
Divya Karani
Added Divya Karani, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu X added, “We are so excited at the incredible opportunity to partner with Galderma. Their ground-breaking research provides a continual progression of an innovative portfolio. Delivering consumers’ experiences beyond mere exposures, we, together, have clear plans to convert our ambitious goals into reality.”
Madison Media, a unit of Madison World has reported the winning of 23 new accounts in the last financial year. Amidst the nationwide lockdown and work from home, the new business wins amounted to a billing of $211 million as per Comvergence New Business Report published last month. The agency also received a top score of A+ in the Comp Pitches Report for 2020 by Recma.
Said Vikram Sakhuja, Partner & Group CEO, Madison Media & OOH: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going. As the pandemic impacted advertising spends profoundly we saw an opportunity to establish the link between media and marketing outcomes, and doubled down on our pitch efforts. The result – 23 wins! I am overwhelmed by the teamwork, spirit and smarts of our Madison family.”
