MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • To be held on February 2 in Mumbai, the first ever International Advertising Association Leadership Awards will recognize and honour outstanding individuals in the fields of marketing, advertising and media

    Colors is presenting sponsor for IAA Leadership Awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    The International Advertising Association’s (IAA) India chapter has roped in general entertainment channel Colors as the Presenting Sponsor for the first ever IAA Leadership Awards to be held in Mumbai on February 2.

     

    The IAA Leadership Awards celebrates individual innovative thinking and performance excellence. The awards also seek to acknowledge the fact that the disciplines of marketing, advertising and media have to come together for the brand’s success, by having all three functional disciplines honoured simultaneously.

     

    Talking about this association Raj Nayak, CEO Colors said, “As an organization we have always supported industry initiatives, for example we recently sponsored The Advertising Club’s Effies. This is yet another step in that direction.  This is the first time when marketing professionals and advertising professionals from both disciplines (creative and media) and professionals from Media (Print TV, Radio, Digital etc) will come under one roof to honour excellence across all the three, and we are extremely happy and excited to be a part of this initiative by the IAA.”

     

    Speaking about the association with Colors, IAA president Srinivasan Swamy said, “The IAA Leadership Awards salutes the brilliance of top professionals whose contribution makes our industry what it is. Colors is a respectable and one of the fastest growing media brands and we are extremely grateful and happy that they have come forward to support this initiative. The awards night promises to be a memorable one with top entertainment and celebrations. I am also very grateful to the Honourable Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Mr Manish Tiwari, for agreeing to be our chief guest for the awards night.”

     

  • The inaugural awards for media, ad and marketing professionals tomorrow is to be followed by a star-studded Colors party

    IAA Leadership Awards: Stage set for big night for Indian media & marketing

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    All roads will lead to the Grand Hyatt tomorrow. Situated in what’s the new centre of Mumbai, the hotel will play host to the first ever awards for the country’s marketing, advertising and media fraternity. Organised by the India chapter of the International Advertising Association, there are 19 categories, nominees for most of which have been announced.

     

    Manish Tewari

    I&B Minister Manish Tewari is the Chief Guest and he will give away the awards. Colors is the sponsor of the awards. The awards presentation will be followed by a party celebrating four years of the channel.

     

    Although the organizers haven’t revealed too much about the entertainment acts during the show or who is going to emcee the evening, what we do know is that some of the biggest stars in Bollywood and television will be in attendance. As of course all the people who matter in the media, advertising and marketing fraternity.

     

    IAA’s commitment to the cause:

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Over the years, the IAA has indeed been spearheading activities towards the environment and sustainability. Said IAA President Srinivasan Swamy: “The IAA in India has always organized marquee events. Events that are not just big, but also meaningful. Many will remember the Lighting a Billion Lives campaign we created and ran to create awareness and raise money to install solar lamps in dark villages all over India as a part of Dr Rajendra Pachauri’s project. Many have been a part of the Olive Crown Awards for we launched two years ago. These remain India’s only awards for excellence in communicating sustainability.

     

    We have recently launched a large gender sensitization program which consists of a seminar to create awareness about gender nuances amongst content creators and a national communication campaign on the evils of eve-teasing  and we will roll it out soon. We see it as our duty to ourselves and to the women in our country. I believe all these initiatives endorse IAA¹s commitment to the communications industry and to society in general.

     

    In a similar vein, IAA Leadership Awards is a major initiative. These awards salute the most distinguished from the marketing, media and advertising functions… the silent warriors, who had made their companies and brands rich and famous.

     

    This is the first year of the IAA Leadership Awards and I am extremely pleased with the overwhelming response we have received from the industry. There may have been some categories we may have missed out this time due to time constraints like Digital, Radio etc and hopefully we will include it in Year 2.

     

    I must add that we found in Colors a great partner to not only finance this important initiative but to put their entire organizational weight behind marshaling the event and sweating out the million details. We are very grateful to Raj Nayak and his tireless team.

     

    Raj Nayak

    Said Raj Nayak on the eve of the event, “This is an award that the India chapter of the IAA had always wanted to do. The idea was seeded  almost a year-and-a-half ago when Kaushik Roy was the President, and Sunder the vice-president. The IAA board has been fully behind this initiative and the only thing that stood in the way was the resource to make this a reality. We at Colors saw this as a great opportunity for us to engage with our all the stakeholders of our industry and use this platform to bring the entire industry under one roof. Besides senior  professionals from advertising, marketing and media, the evening will be followed by a Colors party wherein we will also have the film and TV fraternity rubbing shoulders with the corporate world.”

     

    So is it a one-off sponsorship or a longer commitment? “We have a long term association with the IAA for this initiative and we plan to dovetail the Colors party along with it to make it an annual event,” said Mr Nayak, adding that his only regret is that “after these awards I may become a little unpopular as given the capacity constraint of the venue we had to limit our invitations and have had to say no to so many requests.”

     

    The organizers also point out the “wholehearted” support they’ve received from the fraternity. Apart from ads and mailers from trade sites such as MxMIndia, the print, television and outdoor media has also helped promote the event. “Honestly, the support we have got from or friends in media, whether it is TV, print or trade websites, the response has been fantastic. I am truly grateful to all of them,” said Mr Nayak.

     

    Meanwhile, the IAA has released nominees for another 5 categories of Leadership Awards

     

    The International Advertising Association (IAA) India chapter has announced the nominees for another five categories for the first edition of the IAA Leadership Awards. The nominees have been shortlisted on account of their outstanding contribution to the fields of Marketing, Advertising and Media.

     

    Besides the below, IAA has also constituted special six categories for Editor of the year, News Anchor of the year, Mediaperson of the year, the Brand Endorser of the year (Male and Female) and the IAA Hall of Fame.

     

    Nominees announced for five more categories: 

    The following are the list of nominees revealed today across five categories to win the IAA Leadership Awards:

     

     

  • YC Deveshwar, Sam Balsara and Piyush Pandey were amongst winners at the inaugural awards

    IAA awards media & marketing honchos at leadership awards

    Srinivasan K Swamy with I&B Minister Manish Tewari

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    ITC CEO YC Deveshwar, Madison World CEO Sam Balsara and Ogilvy & Mather CEO Piyush Pandey were amongst the award-winners at the first ever International Advertising Association (IAA) Leadership Awards held in Mumbai on Saturday. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari was chief guest of the evening.

     

    The International Advertising Association is the world’s only globally-focused integrated advertising trade association with membership representing Advertisers. Agencies and the Media. Well-known research firm The Nielsen Company and consulting firm Ernst & Young were associated with the event that was organised and sponsored by the Colors general entertainment channel.

     

    Popular television artist Mini Mathur emceed the evening as the fraternity was welcomed by IAA’s India chapter president Srinivasan K Swamy and Colors CEO Raj Nayak. In his address, the I&B minister asked the industry to mull over pressing issues like ad duration in channels, effective viewership measurement, adding that the government will not institute any regulations without consulting the industry.

    Award Categoy Awardee
    Marketer of the Year: Travel & Hospitality  Manish Kalra, Make My  trip
    Marketer of the Year: Banking  Sujit Ganguli, ICICI Bank
    Marketer of the Year: Insurance  Rita Bhattacharya, LIC
    Marketer of the Year: Media & Entertainment  Gayatri Yadav, Star India
    Marketer of the Year: Household Products  Amit Syngle, Asian Paints
    Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Personal Care  Arun Srinivas, HUL
    Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Food & Beverages  Chandramouli Venkatesan, Cadbury Kraft India
    Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Consumer Durables  Rahul Saighal, Samsung Appliances
    Marketer of the Year : Auto Two Wheeler Anil Dua, Hero Motocorp
    Marketer of the Year: Auto Commercial vehicles  UT Ramprasad , Tata Motors
    Marketer of the Year: Auto Passenger Vehicles  Mr. Mayank Pareek, Maruti Suzuki
    Marketer of the Year: Telecom Products  Anuradha Aggarwal, Vodafone
    Media Agency Head of the Year  Sam Balsara, Madison World
    Creative Agency Head of the Year  Piyush Pandey for Ogilvy & Mather India
    Best CEO  Y C Deveshwar, ITC
    News Anchor of the year  Rajdeep Sardesai, CNN-IBN
    Editor of the year  Jaideep Bose, The Times of India
    Mediaperson of the year  Shobhana Bhartia, HT Media
    Brand Endorser of the year – Female  Katrina Kaif
    Brand Endorser of the year – Male  Salman Khan
    IAA Hall of Fame  Pradeep Guha

     

    Also amongst the winners was Bollywood actor Salman Khan who made his first ever appearance at an awards function with IAA Leadership Awards. The actor known to have bagged maximum endorsements and is on a high with brands queuing to sign him, bagged the award for the Brand Endorser of the Year – Male. Katrina Kaif was awarded Brand Endorser of the Year – Female. Mr Pradeep Guha, former IAA president who has been CEO, Zee Entertainment and President, Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd was admitted to the IAA’s Hall of Fame with the lifetime achievement award.

     

    Marketers from across 12 categories were among the awardwinners as also were Editor of the Year (Jaideep Bose) and News Anchor of the Year (Rajdeep Sardesai). Shobhana Bhartia, chairperson of  HT Media, was awarded the Mediaperson of the Year award. The table above has the list of winners.

  • With Inkaar, director Sudhir Mishra has made all the mistakes that go into the making of a poor ad commercial, writes Anil Thakraney

    Anil Thakraney: Do Inkaar to Inkaar

    Anil Thakraney

     

    I watched Inkaar with a great deal of interest. Because it’s been touted as the nation’s first feature film that’s wholly set in the advertising world. And must say I walked away terribly disappointed. What a waste of a setting that’s pregnant with exciting possibilities!

     

    The problem with the flick is lack of singe mindedness (which, ironically, is the first mantra you learn in the ad biz). Director Sudhir Mishra is all over the place. Is this film about the ad guys? Or is it about sexual harassment? Or is it a good old love story? We are left utterly confused. And I think it’s turned out thus because the director found himself in a self-created trap: Mishra tries to please too many people at one go. And as any ad person will tell you, that’s a recipe for disaster.

     

    So, the director starts off by making a movie on the ad world. But he quickly rationalizes that if he dives too deep into the inner workings of the business, the mass audiences will feel alienated. To give it a broader appeal, he’s brought in sexual harassment to the story. The two tracks, instead of working seamlessly, compete for your attention, and therefore Mishra’s been able to do justice to neither. As a result, Inkaar gives us a totally superficial view of the ad world. What makes matters worse is that Chitrangada Singh hasn’t done her homework; clearly, the actress did not bother to understand how the ad world functions. She does not look like a creative director from any angle, Singh could well be working in the General Post Office. And the climax is a total cop out. Not wanting to upset anyone, Mishra has forced in the typical happy ending, and that leaves you even more puzzled. What the heck was this drama all about?

     

    Well, all I can say is that Inkaar is an opportunity blown. India’s first ad world based film is a washout. In fact, Sudhir Mishra has made all the mistakes that go into the making of a poor ad commercial. Instead of putting himself in the shoes of an ad agency CEO, he’s conceived this rubbish much like an insecure/worried client.

     

    If you are fortunate enough not to have wasted time on this one, I would suggest you do a big Inkaar to any temptation to watch.

     

    PS: Hehe. Famed outdoor artist Banksy doesn’t like advertisers very much. He has strong views on their ‘pernicious’ influence on the society. Here’s an open letter from him, designed in his own unique way. Nope, this won’t amuse my advertising and marketing pals very much. 🙂

     

     

  • Pradeep Guha, YC Deveshwar, Sam Balsara & Piyush Pandey amongst winners at glittering Saturday eve

    Media & marketing captains shine at IAA Leadership Awards

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    ITC CEO Yogi Deveshwar, Madison World CEO Sam Balsara and Ogilvy & Mather CEO Piyush Pandey were amongst the award-winners at the Colors International Advertising Association Leadership Awards held in Mumbai on Saturday. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari was chief guest of the evening. Pradeep Guha, former IAA president, who has been CEO, Zee Entertainment and President, Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd and is currently the Managing Director of 9X Media, was admitted to the association’s Hall of Fame with the lifetime achievement award.

     

     

    Professional responsibility is key: Pradeep Guha

     

    Pradeep Guha

    I am honoured to have received this award. I have worked more than 30 years in the Media profession encompassing print, television and now the internet…I have travelled a long distance and whenever possible I have contributed a lot to the industry because I believe you cannot be just taking things from the industry but you have to return it back as well. If people talk about CSR in the corporate space then one should focus on professional responsibility as well. That’s what I have been doing in my career.

     

    The award is a very good initiative and I am glad that they made it on such a large scale in the first year itself. Typically, when something starts big it tends to grow bigger.

     

    My advice to the industry, especially the younger generation is try and be the best in the world. Not just best among your friends or in the industry or in India; but the best in the world. When I was in the Times of India I used to look up to New York Times and say: I want to be bigger than NY Times. Unless you benchmark something very large and almost unachievable then there’s nowhere to go.

    The International Advertising Association (IAA) is the world’s only globally-focused integrated advertising trade association with membership representing advertisers, agencies and the media. Research major The Nielsen Company and consulting firm Ernst & Young were associated with the event that was organised and sponsored by the Colors general entertainment channel.

     

    Popular television artist Mini Mathur emceed the evening as the fraternity was welcomed by IAA’s India chapter president Srinivasan K Swamy and Colors CEO Raj Nayak. In his address, the I&B minister asked the industry to mull over pressing issues like ad duration in channels, effective viewership measurement, adding that the government will not institute any regulations without consulting the industry. “As an industry, advertising has done generally well for itself and it has been one of the beneficiaries of liberalisation and has bloomed well over the years,” Mr Tewari said. “What needs to be kept in mind going forward is that the limit of statutory regulation should be respected because when we respect the law and maintain equilibrium, maintain harmony between creativity, provocation and restrain are we able to get the best and give the best.”

     

    Also amongst the winners was Bollywood actor Salman Khan who reportedly made his first ever appearance at an awards function. The actor, on a high with brands queuing to sign him, bagged the award for the Brand Endorser of the Year – Male. Katrina Kaif was awarded Brand Endorser of the Year – Female.

     

    Marketers from across 12 categories were among the awardwinners as also were Editor of the Year (Jaideep Bose) and News Anchor of the Year (Rajdeep Sardesai). Shobhana Bhartia, chairperson of  HT Media, was awarded the Mediaperson of the Year award. The table alongside has the list of winners.

     

    Reported by Ritu Midha and Johnson Napier

     

     

     

     

  • No issues on the communication. My problem is with the treatment. I think feminists should take offence at this one, it takes us back to the dark ages, when man was believed to be superior to woman

    Debrief: Britannia NutriChoice: Welcome to medieval times!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I saw a staggeringly regressive commercial the other day, and I could not believe I was sitting in the year 2013 AD. Had to pinch myself to ensure this was reality.

     

    There is a boss who orders his female secretary/assistant not to disturb him as he’s started an important meeting. Much to the boss’s disgust, the disobedient lady does exactly that. And arrives with a box of Britannia NutriChoice Biscuits. Because, as she explains, the boss suffers from diabetes, and he needs to regularly consume these biscuits. Made of oats and ragi, apparently they help in controlling the blood sugar level (hello… dear ASCI… think you guys need to suss this out!).

     

    No issues on the communication, the message is delivered clearly and pointedly. Cool! My problem is with the treatment. The secretary/assistant has been made to act and behave as a subservient woman, her body language alarms me. She’s either looking for an instant double promotion, or the boss is a bloody tyrant. His rude mannerisms suggest the chap is a slave driver. Are office assistants hired to take care of your personal health issues?

     

    I think feminists should take offence at this one, it takes us back to the dark ages, when man was believed to be superior to woman. Just think about it: Would it not make for a charming commercial if you reversed the situation?  What if the boss shows concern for his secy’s health? Would not the brand win some free brownie points? I think it would.

     

    Despite effective communication, I shall be harsh on this ad and give it a big zero. If we can’t move things forward, at least let’s not go backward.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEMZfTfhmbA[/youtube]

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 0. Made me cringe.

     

  • Every Monday, AdStrat looks at the strategy that went into the making and exectution of a creative work

    AdStrat: Tactical ad from 99acres

    Name of the Campaign/Ad: 99acres ‘Sochna Bhi Mat’

     

    The Brief: The task was to communicate and showcase the various possibilities that the brand/site offers in terms of buying, selling and renting properties.

     

    Research insights: The market was cluttered with tactical communication from almost all other players. Research showed that though people knew of the brand 99acres.com, they were not clear of its buying, selling and renting offerings.

     

    The thought process behind the creative:Since the market was already flooded with property communication, the challenge was to come up with a creative that’s clearly distinct from others. Hence instead of turning it into pure, information based ad, we wanted to do so with a story backed by a true life insight.

     

    Media vehicles chosen: Electronic media (TV Commercial) and online

     

    Key issues kept in mind while executing the ad: Being a tactical communication, the key was to implement the message in a manner that it would not only resonate with the young audience but also entertain them. Another challenge was to build in the brand offerings seamlessly into the story.

     

    Agency comment: Talking about the campaign, Creative Director, Draftfcb Ulka-Delhi, Sanjay Sharma said: “It’s a topical thing. Everyone is talking about rent, buy and sell. We just took it as a tactical exercise for the brand and have done it in a more engaging and entertaining manner.”

     

    What is the differentiating factor about the ad:The story and execution of the ad is what sets it apart from the others.Using an interesting set-up of a young man meeting his prospective father-in-law, with a healthy dose of humor weaved in, the film plays up the true life insight that a when selecting a man for their daughter a parents foremost concern is whether the man in question owns a house of his own or not. The commercial goes on to show how the protagonist wins over his difficult to please father-in-law with the help of solutions provided by 99acres.com.

     

    Client comment: On the campaign, Sumeet Singh, Senior Vice President Marketing and Corporate Communication, InfoEdge India, said, “This is a tactical TVC and has been executed in a manner that appeals to both 35-plus audiences as well as young working professionals. An entertaining plot has been used to subtly inform our users about 99acres.com being a one stop solution for all their property related queries.”

     

    Complied by Tuhina Anand

     

     

     

  • The fourth edition of “The Laadli National Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2011-12” for honouring Media and Advertising professionals was organized by the NGO Population First on Tuesday, February 5 at the NCPA, Mumbai

    Laadli awards for gender sensitivity presented

    By A Correspondent

     

    The  fourth edition of “The Laadli National Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2011-12” for honoring Media and Advertising professionals was organized by the NGO Population First on Tuesday, February 5 at the NCPA, Mumbai.

     

    The Laadli Media Awards were instituted in 2007, as part of the media advocacy efforts under the Laadli girl-child campaign. The objective of the awards was to felicitate, acknowledge, recognize and encourage media, journalists and advertising professionals to keep working on gender issues and to draw the attention of the public to their positive efforts in the media with regard to gender sensitive reportage.

     

    The Oscar-winning and Indian cinema’s most well-regarded costume designer - Bhanu Athaiya – received the Laadli Lifetime Achievement Award at the event. The awards also had renowned ad-film director, Gauri Shinde receiving an award for Best Mainline Film for her directorial debut, ‘English Vinglish’. Other noted personalities like singer Sunita Rao, noted film director Ashutosh Gowariker and famous Indian film director and screenwriter Sudhir Mishra, Director, R. Balki, Bollywood actress, television talk show host Pooja Bedi, Prof. Nandini Sardesai, Rajashree Birla were also present while the event was hosted by television journalist and columnist Ms. Barkha.

     

    The leading author and columnist Ranjit Lal was awarded a Special Award for Best Book-Fiction on the issue of female infanticide for ‘Faces in the Water’. Sylvester da Cunha received a Special Award for Laadli moppet the Amul baby girl.

     

    The Laadli National Media Awards was graced by the presence of the well-known classical singer Shubha Mudgal, who rendered few songs on women empowerment. There were short performances by children trained by India’s famous choreographer, Shiamak Davar, the Saxophone Sisters, and children from a village in Shahapur.

     

    The book “Sense And Sensitivity” was launched during the award ceremony. This book is a compilation of the award winning entries of last three editions of the Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity. It showcases the real stories from all over India and brings to limelight investigative reports, editorials, features and human interest stories on gender inequality and violence.

     

    A panel of distinguished jury members, comprising eminent media and social sector personalities namely Vishwanath Sachdev, Sathya Saran, Mahesh Bhatt, Vimla Patil, Pradeep Guha, Deepa Gahlot, Ramesh Narayan, Pradyuman Maheshwani, Prakash Bal Joshi, Aanand Mahendroo, Neeru Nanda, Sameera Khan, Goutam Rakshit, Juhi Chaturvedi and Mrinmayee Ranade selected the awardees.

     

    Eighteen awards were presented which were selected by eminent jury members. In the four regional awards organized over the year, around 80 awards were given across all the States and Union Territories of the country covering 12 languages. The Laadli National Media Awards comprise the best of the season in addition to the special awards.

     

    List of Awardees

    WINNERS OF NATIONAL LMAGS 2011-12

    Category/ Language Name of the Awardees Channel/ Publication Title of the Entry Sub- Category
    Electronic – Malayalam P.P. Sandhya Asianet News Shisuva Vivaham (Child Marriage) Best Issue Based Programme
    Print – English Sharmista Choudhury The Week Tribal Warrior Best Human Interest Story
    Print – Marathi Amita Bade Prahaar Mahila – Kacharavechak Nave…Swachata Vyavasthapak (Waste Managers, Not Garbage Pickers) Best Column
    Print – Hindi Priyanka Dubey Tehelka MadhyaYugeen Pradesh Best Investigative Report
    Electronic – Malayalam Shiny Benjamin Jaihind TV Ottayaal Best Documentary
    Print – English Neha Bhatt Outlook What A Girl Wants Best Feature
    Print – Odiya Susama Misra Margadarshi Sustha Samaj Gathanare Nari (Women in the Creation of a Healthy Society) Best Article
    Web – English Deepa Ranganathan The Alternative Boys Don’t Cry Best Feature
    Electronic -  Marathi Prajakta Dhulap IBN – Lokmat Reportage – Kolhapurchya Leki (Daughters of Kolhapur) Best Feature
    Advertising-  Hindi DDB Mudra creative team DDB Mudra  Age of Marriage (NRHM) Best Public Service Advertisement
    Advertising – Hindi Sumanto Chattopadhyay Ogilvy & Mather Tejaswini (Tata Steel) Best Advertisement
    Special Award
    Book – English Ranjit Lal Penguin Books India Faces in the Water Best Book – Fiction
    Gita Aravamudan Penguin Books India Disappearing Daughters: The Tragedy of Female Foeticide Best Book – Non-Fiction
    Film – Hindi Gauri Shinde Eros International English Vinglish Best Mainline Film
    Film – Beary K V Suveeran Thanneer Films Byari Best Feature Film
    Drama – English/Hindi Purva Naresh Ok Tata Bye Bye Best Drama
    Special Award  Sylvester da Cunha  Amul Moppet
    Bhanu Athaiya The Laadli Lifetime Achievement Award

     

    Laadli the Girl Child campaign was launched in June 2005 by NGO Population First with the purpose of creating a positive image of the girl child. In Hindi the word ‘laadli’ means the ‘beloved girl-child’. The programme works to stop the practice of pre-natal sex selection by addressing the core issue of son preferences and discrimination against the girl child. Since then, it has been working actively on various campaigns, activities with various groups like college youth, NGOs and other communities and has received an overwhelming response from various segments of Mumbai.

     

    Population First is a communications and advocacy initiative for a balanced, planned and stable population. Its main focus is on reducing gender imbalances in the population and work towards gender sensitive and social development oriented health and population programmes.  (For more information: log on to www.populationfirst.org, www.creative-excellence.org )

     

    For more information, please contact:

    Crisscross Communication: Stacy Fernandes | stacy@crisscross.in  | 9819829870 || Anshu Ahuja | anshu@crisscross.in | 9987423546

     

  • DDB MudraMax has been appointed as the sole media planning and buying partner for Jyothy Laboratories Limited (JLL). The consolidation will be effective from March 2013

    DDB MudraMax Media wins Jyothy Laboratories

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB MudraMax has been appointed as the sole media planning and buying partner for Jyothy Laboratories Limited (JLL).

     

    Currently, DDB MudraMax is the planning partner and BPN (of IPG Media Brands Network) is responsible for the media buying, implementation across all brands of JLL brands.

     

    Speaking on the decision to consolidate its business with DDB MudraMax, JLL’s CEO Raghunandan said, “Our belief is that consolidation with one agency partner will enable us to maximise efficiencies and effectiveness of our marketing investments. Basis our experience with DDB MudraMax and their potential to offer end to end solutions, we have decided to put all our eggs into one basket. We are confident that they will do their job well.”

     

    Sathyamurthy NP

    Sathyamurthy NP, President, DDB MudraMax said, “It is always a delight to work with the JLL team and we are glad they have reaffirmed their confidence in DDB MudraMax, through this consolidation. JLL is poised to further fortify their brands in the next few years and we are glad to be their partners in this challenging and exciting journey. We are ready to roll and I am sure that you will see some great work from the team.”

     

    Pratap Bose, COO, DDB Mudra Group added, “My brief to the team is simple – deliver and demonstrate, once again, that we are a formidable force to reckon with. All the stake holders will benefit from this consolidation, I am confident.”

     

    Pratap Bose

    This consolidation will be effective from March 2013 and industry sources peg the JLL portfolio of business in the vicinity of Rs 100 crore.

     

  • Before these unfortunate young ladies abort their promising gig, an MTV or a Radio One should show some enterprise. Go ahead and adopt the band, people. If for nothing else, do it for the love of music, and for the love of Young India

    Anil Thakraney: Someone please adopt the Kashmiri band!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    We all know what’s happened with most of the desi television music channels. They now do everything but play the frickin music. Completely juvenile reality shows are now integral to their programming mix. The FM radio stations at least play the songs (thank heavens for small mercies!), but all the musical fun gets demolished due to the constant chatter from the jocks, and from the (usually) boring guests they invite to their studios.

     

    Here’s a wonderful opportunity for one of these buggers to change things, to get the focus back on music, and to build their own brand. Whichever is the smartest one of the lot shall waste no time in adopting the all-girl rock band from Kashmir, the band that’s planning to shut shop following the rape and death threats from some lunatic locals. It’s gotten so bad for these girls that even J&K’s chief minister hesitates to openly denounce the threat senders. Guess he’s worried about ‘hurting’ religious sentiments, because Kashmir’s Grand Mufti has declared the girls’ band as ‘Un-Islamic’.

     

    Before these unfortunate young ladies abort their promising gig, an MTV or a Radio One should show some enterprise. The channel/station could relocate the girls to Mumbai or Delhi, provide them with free accommodation, take care of their education, and most importantly, finance and support their musical journey. Result: The brand will get to own this band, and its success will benefit the TV or the radio station enormously. And not to forget all the goodwill that will get generated because of the social work involved in helping these poor damsels in distress.

     

    If one of the CEOs doesn’t move swiftly to make this happen, it would be a wonderful opportunity lost in brand building. And it will lead to the death of budding talent. Go ahead and adopt the band, people. If for nothing else, do it for the love of music, and for the love of Young India.

     

    ***

     

    PS: SodaStream is a manufacturer of bubbly soda. For the Super Bowl, they decided to run a commercial that makes rival brands, Coke and Pepsi, look like bumbling fools. Sadly, the TV network, CBS, did not allow this one to be aired, because they found it too ‘explicit’ in its attack. Wow! Methinks this is harmless stuff compared to the ad attacks Coke and Pepsi regularly launch on each other. I suspect CBS chickened out, not wishing to annoy big advertisers. What a pity!

     

    Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/SodaStreamGuru?v=68al-o2XSpE

     

  • Quick chat with Anuradha Agarwal, Senior VP, Brand Communications, Insights & Online at Vodafone India

    Meet the IAA Awardwinners-4 | Anuradha Agarwal

    Anuradha Agarwal, Senior VP, Brand Communications, Insights & Online at Vodafone India was adjudged the Telecom Marketer of the Year at the IAA Leadership Awards held last Saturday. Excerpts from a quick chat with MxMIndia’s Ritu Midha

     

    What is the key to marketing success?

    For service sector, more so in telecom – it is consumer engagement and satisfaction. We have an excellent team and partners – people have really liked our services and communication, and it sure has helped in connecting with consumers.

     

    We really do whatever it takes to keep the customer happy – be it the quality of network, quality of services or quality of customer care.

     

    As an outsider, what one largely notices is advertising – what else constitutes effective marketing for a telecom brand?

    Advertising is just the tip of the iceberg. A large number of things go in marketing of a telecom brand. We have 150 million customers – and not all of them can be reached through advertising – advertising is more of a brand building activity.

     

    We do segmented offers, targeted and point of-sale activities, new offers, new tariff plans, specialised offers – depending on where the consumers are located – what their requirements and needs are. We even strive to fulfil consumers’ unfulfilled needs – for instance mobile internet. Key here was to provide it in such a way that even consumers from a not very evolved educated world can take advantage of them.

     

    Do you believe mobile Internet in country has a large scope?

    Our belief is that in near future, the Internet revolution in the country would be led by mobile. A number of people in our country, unlike the Western world, experience Internet on the mobile first. We need to be ready as an organisation and as an industry that consumer needs are met in terms of discovering content and services.

     

    Would you say the same is true of rural markets as well? Would language not be a barrier there?

    It is true of every customer everywhere who can actually get on to the Internet and watch a little video, listen to the music or get some information.

     

    If Gangnam style can be successful across the world it clearly tells you that Internet has no language barrier. There is a lot of audio visual content that goes on – and it would make sure that language is no barrier.

     

    How important is the role that digital marketing plays in your strategy?

    We always believe that we must go where the customers are. As a company, we have used digital extensively in the last few years – and as more and more consumers move to the Net – we would be there to interact with them. We have always been doing things to engage customers on the Internet rather than informing them because it is a different medium, and needs to be treated differently.

     

    Coming back to mobile consumption, do you think there is still a need for educating consumers?

    There are different kinds of customers. It is the classic adaptation curve – some people are ahead of the curve and some people are still catching up. There are new technologies of phones, and devices – and people are coming to terms with what a phone can do. It may be education of a different kind – maybe not the basic education but about the possibilities – and what is the next big thing.

     

  • You cannot not like this commercial. However, there's a technical problem: The effects are a bit tacky, the babies' actions don't look real

    Debrief: Kit Kat: Bachchas rock it

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Nestle Kit Kat has extended its ‘Take a break’ idea. While earlier they made birds and squirrels dance, this time little babies perform a rock concert. Naturally, it makes the commercial look cute… dancing, jiving babies always do that.

     

    In the ad, our chap, who looks like a trainee lab technician, takes a break from training, and finds himself outside what looks like a crèche. As he starts consuming his Kit Kat, the babies get performing for him, with all the accompanying moves and shakes of a rock concert. The man is zapped, but as soon as the choc is finished, the babies return to their usual selves.

     

    You cannot not like this commercial simply because you cannot not like crooning babies. So it’s a very safe idea, and it should work for Kit Kat in terms of the brand recall. Also, dancing babies are a rage on the internet videos, so am pretty sure the brand manager would be hoping to exploit that medium as well. All in all, here’s a commercial that can’t go wrong.

     

    However, there’s a technical problem: Obviously, working only with live action footage wouldn’t have been possible in this case… getting babies to perform as a rock band must have been a nightmare. Therefore, some amount of animation becomes inevitable. Sadly, that’s where the commercial falters. The effects are a bit tacky, the babies’ actions don’t look real at all. This takes away from the overall impact. The Kit Kat creative team should not have allowed this to happen, they ought to have asked for more monies, if that was the problem.

     

    Aside from that, it’s an enjoyable ad. And hopefully these rockers aren’t Kashmiri babies, else Kit Kat can expect a fatwa announcement. 🙂

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvEr0fqYWs0[/youtube]

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 3. Cute idea. Needed some finesse.