DangleAds Technologies has announceed the opening of its newest office in Amsterdam, Netherlands, as part of its strategic global expansion plan.
Said Pulkit Narayan, Founder and CEO, DangleAds Technologies: “We are thrilled to step into the vibrant city of Amsterdam, a place celebrated for its entrepreneurial spirit. This move aligns with our mission to comprehend diverse markets, bridge cultures, and craft a worldwide presence as we actively begin to contribute to the city’s digital ecosystem while taking our clients’ businesses to new heights. As a part of our global mission, we plan to collaborate with industry leaders, local tech platforms, and marketing experts in Amsterdam and across Europe to create an extensive ecosystem for performance marketing innovation.”
Added Harsh Manocha, who has recently been appointed as Regional Head-Europe in DangleAds Technologies: “I’m excited about our new Amsterdam office. This strategic move brings us closer to our European partners, allowing us to tailor our client-centric approach to local needs. We aim to foster cultural inclusivity, build collaborations, and help our clients reach new heights in the dynamic European market.”
BBH India has appointed Swati Balani as Executive Creative Director (ECD), in Mumbai. She will report to Parixit (yes, we got the spelling right!) Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer, BBH India, in her new role.
Parixit Bhattacharya
Said Bhattacharya: “We are casting for a high talent density collective. Where every individual inspires the other and impacts the work positively. Swati represents the very best of our industry. Her work puts technology, data, and platforms to the service of great insights. She has taken a modern, social approach to marketing across a variety of projects. Swati will guide the output of some of our key brands while pushing the boundaries on breakthrough, non-traditional work. We want Swati to make the best work of her life with the team here while laughing the hardest she ever has.”
Dentsu released its annual media trends report, titled ‘The Pace of Progress: Dentsu 2024 Media Trends’. Created by gathering insights from its specialists within Carat, Dentsu X and iProspect globally, the new Dentsu report highlights ten key catalysts of change within the media industry which are most likely to set the pace of progress for brands around the world.
With over 40 pages of in-depth commentary, Dentsu 2024 Media Trends extrapolates how Generative AI will be best used to spearhead growth, how monetization of the industry is gaining evermore traction and how genuine integrity in advertising will elevate brands. Not only does the report highlight the key trends within each of these three areas of interest, but it also provides suggestions on how brands can capitalize on them in the short and long term.
• Trend 1 – The rise of generative search
Generative AI will transform how people access information, from search engines to commerce platforms.
• Trend 2 – Creativity reimagined
The augmentation of human creativity through Generative AI in fields such as content and copywriting, as well as image development.
• Trend 3 – Generative optimisations Leveraging Generative AI for simplifying advertising production, targeting, and effectiveness at scale and pace.
The race to monetisation:
2024 will see the intensification of competition between tech platforms. As they strive to better monetise their services in their economic circumstances, platforms will double down on becoming more protective of their data, understanding their users, and stepping up their advertising offerings. This megatrend incorporates:
• Trend 4 – A world of lookalike apps As platforms become progressively similar, attracting audience attention has never been more important for brands.
• Trend 5 – From walled gardens to walled pipes Platforms have a more defensive stance on their data which opens the larger question of the delicate balance between protection and discoverability.
• Trend 6 – The identity refocus
A doubling down on people intelligence by media platforms as third-party cookies approach the end of the line.
• Trend 7 – More ads for more returns
Expansion of advertising into new areas for most platforms, with new formats, opportunities – and risks – emerging as a result.
Integrity economics:
Growth in the next year will not only be about hard economics; it will also be about brands’ sustainable contributions to society. Amid rising societal and political polarisation and climate emergency, building more carbon efficient, diverse, and safe online spaces for people and brands will be central to success. Highlighted through:
• Trend 8 – The new faces of growth With media consumption becoming increasingly diverse and personal, brands must adapt to reflect the needs and identities of audiences and stay relevant.
• Trend 9 – Safer, better, faster, stronger
Amid a fast-moving digital landscape, new developments in brand assurance aim to create safer environments for both people and brands.
• Trend 10 – More attention, fewer emissions
As brands implement carbon media efficiency strategies, optimizing for attention should lead to decarbonisation through optimised and improved impact.
Peter Huijboom
Says Peter Huijboom, Global CEO, Media international markets, Dentsu: “Our own client research has shown that more than 60% of marketers have said they’ve already started engaging with Generative AI in their company*. So, in our Dentsu 2024 Media Trends report it was important for us to identify and introduce the additive advantages, trends and technologies to help them progress in this space.”
Anita Kotwani
Adds Anita Kotwani, CEO Media, South Asia, Dentsu: “Artificial intelligence (AI) is not just a buzzword, but a gamechanger for the media industry. It has the power to automate, optimise, and personalize various aspects of media planning, buying, and execution. It can also unleash the creative potential of media professionals, by enabling them to generate new and engaging content, formats, and experiences for their audiences. This is what we call Generative AI, and it is the focus of our 14th edition of the Media Trends Report. At Dentsu, we take pride in our insightful expertise that keeps us ahead of the competitive curve. We are always exploring new ways to leverage AI for our clients, partners, and employees. The Media Trends Report deep-dives into one of the most disruptive technologies – AI, taking us through the many trends that serve Generative AI on a platter. It aims to enable readers to reshape their work dynamics, tapping into the untapped potential through its many facets.”
Omnicom Chairman and CEO John Wren has named Aditya Kanthy as CEO of the newly formed Omnicom Advertising Services group in India. Kanthy will oversee Omnicom’s creative agencies in the region, focusing on talent, cross agency collaboration, and innovation to drive growth in one of the company’s fastest growing markets. The respective creative agencies within the group – DDB, BBDO and TBWA – will maintain their current branding in the Indian market.
Noted a communique: “Omnicom Advertising Services will bring together the power of Omnicom to provide exceptional integrated solutions to meet the needs of clients in India. The group will capitalize on the top talent housed within its leading networks and work in partnership with other Omnicom agencies, such as Omnicom Media Group, to further strengthen Omnicom’s comprehensive offering in India. Omnicom recently announced the creation of large global capability centers with four campuses out of Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gururam.
Said John Wren, Chairman and CEO, Omnicom: “This year India will become the most populous nation on the planet. It is an important growth engine for Omnicom. By centralising the leadership of three creative powerhouses under Aditya, we will continue to build on our agencies’ strong foundations to deliver a wider breadth of capability and scale for our clients. Aditya brings deep experience to the newly created Omnicom Advertising Services, and our India operations is primed to thrive under his leadership.”
Criteo, the commerce media company, and GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, announced the first partnership in Asia Pacific (APAC) to strengthen omnichannel commerce media capabilities for GroupM clients in the region.
Said Anita Munro, Chief Investment Officer, GroupM APAC: “The innovation in commerce that will be made possible through this collaboration with Criteo is a significant and hugely exciting development for advertisers in APAC, and for our industry as a whole. Combining Criteo’s commerce media capabilities with our own not only strengthens our commerce offering in the region, but also allows us to set a new standard for what’s possible in advertising by bringing products, media, clients and consumers closer than ever before.”
Added Taranjeet Singh, Managing Director, Enterprise, APAC at Criteo: “Together with GroupM, we are honored to usher in the next era of omnichannel marketing in the region. This partnership represents a union of industry leadership, and we are optimistic that it will drive greater integration across omnichannel campaigns and elevate success for brands and advertisers.”
With the recent apocalypse of well-known agency brands, JWT, Y & R, Wunderman, Grey and several others, it seems in comparison, that the only agency to escape the onslaught of mergers in the WPP group is Ogilvy.
There is a near mythical story about a conversation that was once overheard in one of New York’s many synagogues between two heads of the world’s top communication conglomerates. “You know JWT is past its prime. It is very good at handling old established brands like Kellogg’s and Unilever. The best ad agency in the group is Ogilvy. They handle modern brands like IBM and many others. They are ready for the future. The two men departed the synagogue after that propitious meeting. Almost 25 years later, the JWT brand was slain.
The dialogue in the synagogue seems to have come true in many ways. Ogilvy has withstood the test of time as one would call it. They have continued to be one of the most creative agencies in the world coupled with their knowledge of new media, customer experience and data-driven communication. It is no wonder then that it continues as Ogilvy and refuses to be overcome by mergers and acquisitions. The only acquisition ever was when Sir Martin Sorrell pitched for the agency from WPP in 1989 when he acquired Ogilvy in a hostile acquisition for $864 million. A move that irked David Ogilvy into calling Sorrell ‘an odious piece of shit’ publicly. A little later, David Ogilvy’s tirade against Sorrell changed from ‘shit’ to ‘jerk’.
But David Ogilvy quickly changed his earlier animosity against Sorrel. He was to write much later, “To my surprise, I liked you. . . I was flattered when you quoted my books, and even more so when you invited me to become Chairman of your company, which goes by the name WPP. I accepted your invitation.. . It remains for me to tell you that I am sorry I was so offensive to you-before we met.
When Ogilvy was dying of cancer, Sorrell visited him and promised to look after his wife and even paid for his nurses, according to Miles Young.
The magic of Ogilvy
For one, Ogilvy pursued excellence in creativity relentlessly unlike its contemporary brethren like JWT. Also, Ogilvy embraced direct marketing much earlier than some of the other agencies in the old days, quickly giving it skills beyond mass media. For many decades, JWT produced middle-of-the-road advertising for its largest client Ford which once accounted for 25% of the agency’s revenue making JWT Detroit its biggest office in the world. That coupled with its client portfolio of old world brands perhaps was it undoing. It failed to embrace the tilt to modern forms of communications as well as Ogilvy. Its slew of modern brands like IBM, Verizon, Ikea and others I believe helped Ogilvy to keep in touch with the future much better than other agency brands which have got acquired and withered away. It has been creating iconic, culture changing advertising ever since Ogilvy founded the agency in 1948.
So here is a lesson to the rest of the agency brands out there. Please look at what Ogilvy is doing. Because if you follow them, you will stay alive and hope to avert the death of advertising as predicted by many.
Let me end this piece with one of my favourite quotes from David Ogilvy.
“The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything”
Here I am, on a blue-blooded advertising and marketing platform, taking a chance at expressing my opinion on WPP finally doing away with the famed “J. Walter Thompson” name. I am not an advertising professional, so do I have the very credibility to write on this subject? I think I do as I have been a ‘client’ for almost two decades dealing with various advertising agencies, including the one with a ‘p’.
Since WPP decided to give the agency a new name, or impose a name of an existing much smaller agency on the bigger one, many advertising professionals have lamented and lambasted the decision. “How can you take away such a venerable name?” has been the common refrain. “Who on earth knows the new name? No one!” has been the second most popular one. Most of these people have had careers in HTA / JWT / WT and have moved on in life.
So, will the name change see a change in business? Will it see a change in the ethos and culture? Will clients leave as they do not like the new name? Will employees leave as clients are leaving? Will the entire business come crashing down?
As someone had told me early in my career, “An agency is as good as the client.” This adage has had a 100% success rate in my professional career till now across eight organisations, six as a client and two as an agency. At every stage, whatever the context or occasion, the communication output has been as effective, efficient and enriching as the quality of the brief, the level of the involvement and most importantly, the depth of the understanding. Right across conventional advertising to media planning to digital marketing to out-of-home to on-ground activation and event management.
Just like brands have grown being with the right communications partner, so have the partners grown continuing with the right brands. The relationship is mutually impactful. If HTA / JWT / WP is the intellectual behemoth that it is today, it is because its relationships with certain brand behemoths have endured over decades. And these relationships have built its reputation. Just like any superstar, more than 50% of its work would be mediocre or pedestrian but it is that balance that has created the magic for it.
Over the years I have realised that using “partner” in place of agency and “brand” in place of client works better if you keep repeating them a thousand times in your head as then you start respecting the agency more as a partner and a client more as a brand. That makes a huge difference in the relationship and the quality of the communication.
Fiat became FCA. Peugeot became PSA. Then Fiat and Peugeot became Stellantis. One may argue that only the corporation names have changed while the customer-facing brands have remained the same. Okay. Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz became Novartis. ICI became Akzo Nobel. Sakura became Konika. Vam Organics became Jubilant. Phoenix became Firefox. Danone’s Bio became Activia. Bombay became Mumbai. The legacy brands wore new clothes and went about their work. The earth did not part consuming them for this act of blasphemy.
In fact, most of them benefited from donning a new name. it gave a new sense of purpose and direction. And the customer was the biggest gainer. In the enthusiasm of the new name, new ways of customer delivery, product innovation and delight were conjured up by the same team, almost like saying, “We have not only changed, we have gotten better!”
Advertising has evolved into communication. Communication is going through a tectonic change with the AI interface now rubbing shoulders with the creative human being. Mediums and methods are changing as rapidly as you can say “James Walter Thompson”. The new name VML has been consciously chosen to denote a fresh look at the world of communication. The consumer is changing. The brands needs to change. Should not the communication partner change too? As long as the people are the same and the intellectual capital only increases, the lamenters can rest easy. The clients will not run away. Neither will the employees. Nor will the operating standards fall.
Art-E Mediatech advertising agency has announced the acquisition of the digital (social and performance marketing) and website mandate for Tikidan, a joint venture between Tiki Tar Industries (India) and Danosa (Spain).
Said Vibhor Gulati, Partner at Arte Mediatech and Head of the Mumbai branch: “We are excited to join hands with TIKIDAN in this game-changing endeavour. This partnership aligns perfectly with our commitment to delivering exceptional advertising solutions that drive success in an ever-evolving market.”
Added Shruti Shah, Managing Director at Tikidan: “We are thrilled to partner with Arte Mediatech to showcase our innovative and high performance construction solutions to the Indian market. This marks a pivotal step in our journey to redefine the way we present our solutions and build awareness on the benefits our clients receive by using our products.”
A new Ogilvy Red Paper delves into six transformative influence trends that will shape and define 2024. With The Creator Economy estimated to be worth $500 billion by 2027, what does that mean for brands? Ogilvy notes that as much as 96% of the creator economy is yet to be tapped into and properly utilised.
The future of influence is one where influencers are not just adjuncts to marketing campaigns, but an integral component of brand strategies. This evolution is challenging brands to think bigger and bolder; forging robust relationships with creators that transcend traditional collaboration models. Led by Rahul Titus, Ogilvy’s Global Head of Influence, a group of global Influence experts dived into the following six trends:
1. The Year of Sport. Driving cultural impact will go beyond the field in 2024 – from the impact of the Olympics being streamed on TikTok for the first time to the burgeoning fascination with sports stars off the field. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship, for example, has brought a new legion of fans for Kelce and he’s seen an uptick in 1.6 million Instagram followers.
2. AI Influence Goes Hyper-Personal. AI will tighten its grip on Influencer marketing as Meta rolls out its AI Personas in the new year. Virtual twins of household names such as Kendall Jenner – named Billie – will shift Influence from passive spectatorship to hyper-personalized interactions in ways fans once thought was impossible.
3. Sonic influence. The sound of influence is another core trend set to dominate. Christina Aguilera and Latto’s viral ‘hip-hopera’ duet for Just Eat received five times the mentions across the UK, Ireland and Australia Katy Perry’s had last year, while Garnier-owned hip-hop track Micellar Rewind – used by Influencers when showing the benefits of a make-up remover – has 4.3 billion views. Sonic and visual identity are not mutually exclusive, both will complement each other in the coming year to amplify profiles, gain cultural resonance and improve share of voice for brands.
4. Sustainable Influence. The importance of influencing a better tomorrow will continue to impact Influencer content too. Brands’ ESG claims are under a magnifying glass from fans ready to call out greenwashing. Couple this with the pressure on Influencers to hold themselves accountable when making claims, 84% of creators say they’re hesitant to post about climate change and the environment for fear of backlash.
5. Employee Advocacy. Internal voices will increasingly drive external impact. Nearly nine-in-ten (89%) of C-Suite marketers recognise the benefits of employee advocacy on platforms such as LinkedIn, but 2024 will usher in more B2C brands capitalizing on their employees’ influence. They quickly win over consumers’ trust thanks to their uniquely informed insights and authentic advocacy of a business.
6. From second screen to main screen. The report cites how livestreaming across social platforms will continue to be a critical medium. 66% of brands already report that creator-led content delivers more ROI than traditional ads and Gen Z are also Christmas shopping on TikTok for the first time. Influencers could see revenue opportunities through livestreaming over traditional subscription models as more platforms integrate payment schemes.
Said Rahul Titus, Ogilvy’s Global Head of Influence: “Influence is still growing rapidly. These trends show the huge amount of untapped potential, especially in new spaces like health, employee advocacy and in new formats like sonic or AI influence. 96% of the creator economy is still untapped meaning the possibilities are endless – this should excite brands, offering them unique and evolving ways to interact with audiences and stand out in a cluttered marketplace.”
Publicis Groupe has appointed Rajdeepak Das as Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Groupe South Asia and Chairman Leo Burnett, South Asia.
In these newly created roles, Das will also focus on elevating the group’s creative agenda through the “alchemy of technology and data for transformation of client businesses”. He will work closely with the creative, data and technology talent across the group to champion these mandates.
Anupriya Acharya
Said Anupriya Acharya, South Asia CEO, Publicis Groupe: “I have really enjoyed working with Raj as his ideas and creativity continue to fuel both business impact and accolades. His quest for world-changing brand ideas is truly remarkable. His scintillating, sustained performance, ability to transform agency culture and reputation, as well as the width of the work that captures innovation, business transformation, data and sustainability, make him an ideal choice. We hope to leverage these strengths on a larger Groupe canvas.”
Ogilvy Mumbai has elevated Anurag Agnihotri to Chief Creative Officer (West).
He will report to the Ogilvy India CCOs, and be a part of the core Ogilvy West leadership running these offices alongside Hirol Gandhi, President and Head of Office – Mumbai and Kolkata, and Ganapathy Balagopalan, Chief Strategy Officer. As per his LinkedIn profile, he is currently Managing Partner (Creative), Ogilvy West.
Said Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Kainaz Karmakar and Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India: “Having worked with Ogilvy Mumbai for 18 years, Anurag has been at the heart of some of Ogilvy’s most defining creative work. With his deep understanding of our brands and solid partnerships with some of our most valuable clients, Anurag is perfectly poised to lead Ogilvy West in its next chapters.”
Publicis Worldwide India has appointed Nidhi Sinha as Vice President (VP) of Planning and Strategy. She will operate from the agency’s Mumbai office and report to Snehasis Bose, Chief Strategy Officer.
Commenting on the appointment, Snehasis Bose, Chief Strategy Officer, said: “Nidhi’s multidisciplinary experience and deep sense of ownership is what sets her apart from the traditional, dyed-in-advertising planners. At a time, when advertising itself is going through churn/evolution, hers is the kind of experience we need to navigate and deliver impactfully on the Publicis Worldwide promise of Creativity To Drive Brand Value.”
By Prabhakar Mundkur
Here I am, on a blue-blooded advertising and marketing platform, taking a chance at expressing my opinion on WPP finally doing away with the famed “J. Walter Thompson” name. I am not an advertising professional, so do I have the very credibility to write on this subject? I think I do as I have been a ‘client’ for almost two decades dealing with various advertising agencies, including the one with a ‘p’.
