Maxus has won the media planning duties for askme.com and askmebazaar.com. Getit Infomedia owns a portfolio of brands operating in both online and offline properties with brands including ASKME, ASKMEBAZAAR, FREEADS & YELLOWPAGES across Indian online search, deals, marketplace and classified industry.
The account will be managed by the Maxus New Delhi team.
ASKME is being launched as a next generation mobile app for consumption across local search, marketplace, classified and deals. It is platform agnostic and allows consumption across Voice (04444444444, ten times four), Mobile (APP n WAP) and Online. It has also executed some industry defining product partnerships such as with WECHAT.
Manav Sethi, Marketing Head, Getit Infomedia said “Our determination to lead the online search, deals, marketplace & classified space with clutter breaking marketing activities also drives us to ensure we work with the best of the agency to deliver on the ambition. After careful evaluation, we decided on Maxus, as it was able to bring in consumer experience beyond traditional communications.”
V. Narayanan, General Manager, Maxus New Delhi said “We are thrilled to partner Getit Infomedia. Their brands focuses on strategic thinking & smart innovations when it comes to communications solutions. This very much aligns with the Maxus way of working. We look forward to contributing to their success & work towards building the portfolio of brands in a fiercely contested market place.”
DDB Mudra West has released a new campaign for HBO South Asia to promote HBO’s belief – nothing should come in the way of entertainment.The HBO Premium channels campaign has been launched with the aim of making sure that audiences have an uninterrupted ad-free viewing experience.The campaign will highlight the HBO premium channels- HBO Defined and HBO Hits proposition of being 100 per centad-free.The objective of this innovative campaign is to get people to visit the HBOPremium.comwebsite and subscribe to HBO Premium channelsor directly through DTH operator or digital cable operators.
HBO Premium will take a new route in their quirky TVCs with HBO Premium Accessories like HBO Agriculture and HBO Super Clone. To illustrate these TVCs further, HBO Super Cloneis a clone that manages everything in life so that one is not interrupted while watching TV. HBO Agriculture is a set of plants that grow foods like popcorn, burgers, etc., so that hunger doesn’t interrupt one from watching TV. The HBO Ultimate Couch is a couch that has just about the whole house built into it – dumbbell holders so that one doesn’t have to get up to workout, a wash basin so that one doesn’t need to get up to go to the restroom, an in-built kitchen and phone charging station and much more.
Monica Tata
Announcing the launch of the new multi-media campaign, Monica Tata, Managing Director, South Asia for HBO India Pvt Ltd said,”Both the HBO Premium channels maximize the entertainment experience by airing HBO Original content and blockbuster movies 100% break-free. We have initiated a multimedia campaign developed by DDB Mudra to promote the visibility and popularity of this unique proposition of HBO Defined and HBO Hits across platforms including print, cinema, TV, digital and social media. Our aim is to spoil our viewers with the very best non-stop, high quality programming, thus providing an unparalleled viewing experience.”
Rahul Mathew
Speaking about the creative strategy behind the campaign, Rahul Mathew, Creative Head,DDB Mudra West, said, “It’s not often that a channel can truly boast of a viewing experience and not merely bleat about its content. And we wanted to make sure that the communication reflects the richness and the uniqueness of the channel. HBO premium accessories as an idea does that and allows for many interesting executions in different media.”
Philip Capital has launched an innovative OOH campaign titled ‘Talk to Philip’. With the improving domestic economic outlook, equity markets gaining positively and speculation the that markets would move higher in 2014 with enhanced corporate performance, supportive government in Delhi and healthy global growth the Philip Capital campaign reflects the positive outlook in the stock market and urges investors to ride it.
Executed by Six Inches Communication, an integrated communication agency, the objective behind this campaign is to establish Phillip Capital as a trusted financial partner when it comes to investments. The campaign was conducted as the rising market is making investors positive and Philip Capital wanted to connect with them.
The campaign looks different with its stunning visuals and highly appealing illustrations that convey a bull market. With minimal content, it appeals investors who intend to ride this bullish market. OOH is the only medium for this campaign as it has proved a right choice for Philip Capital in last two years.
Vineet Bhatnagar, Country Head, Philip Capital said, “Our latest campaign brings out the positivity in the market and also reflects investors’ confidence. Besides, it also showcases Phillip Capital as a trusted advisor for investors. Over past 2 years, OOH medium has given good response and visibility to our brand. This time again we chose OOH for our latest campaign, needless to say the campaign overall feel also required a large format.”
Google India’s Shashi Tripathi, Head of New Business Sales, and leading marketing services major GroupM’s Trishul Bhumkar, Head of the West Region, Motivator, spoke at the knowledge seminar with the theme ‘Real Estate in a Digitized World’ organized by the International Advertising Association (India Chapter) at the Nashik Engineering Cluster, Nashik, recently.
The seminar was sponsored by ‘Deshdoot’, the leading Marathi daily in North Maharashtra and the Nashik wing of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI).
Ramesh Narayan, veteran advertising professional and IAA India managing committee member delivered the inaugural speech. He stressed the importance of digital media in today’s global market and explained IAA’s focus not just on “good” initiatives but also on bringing quality programs to smaller cities across India. He thanked Janak Sarda, Managing Editor of the Deshdoot Group of Newspapers, and Jayesh Thakker, the president of Nashik CREDAI, for facilitating the seminar.
In his address, Bhumkar explained the work profile of ‘GroupM’ in India and its contribution in Indian market today. While making the realtors aware of the power of advertising, Bhumkar brought it to their notice that sale of the product, consideration of the product by customers, and awareness about it among customers are the three factors which play a key role in growth of any business. Digital media is the only media in which all three can be achieved simultaneously, he said.
He added that among urban population of 34 crore in India, 14 crore people use the internet today not only through computers, but also via mobile phones today. With this backdrop, real estate developers should make their property advertisements digitized to reach maximum number of customers, he said.
Reflecting Bhumkar’s sentiments, Tripathi evaluated the overall possible outputs that real estate developers can achieve in the next few years if they follow this path of the ‘Digitized World.’ He noted that the real estate market in India would double by 2017.
Digital media is the most cost-effective media and its striking USP is that the benefits are easily and clearly measurable, he reiterated. He revealed that there are more than 235 million users of internet in India today. This figure can rise upto 350 million by the next year. And these are mostly English knowing users.
With Indian languages gaining ground on the internet, there will lead to an explosion in the internet population. Thus, internet can be considered as the best medium to reach the maximum number of people today.
Srinivasan Swamy
Speaking on the success of the Seminar, Srinivasan Swamy, President IAA India Chapter & Vice-President, Development Asia/Pacific said: “We are overwhelmed with the response we received with the Seminar in Nashik and hope to organize many more such efforts beyond the metros in the months ahead.”
Yellow Dress Retail, part of the Brand Dialogue group continues its winning streak in India and has launched flipkart’s latest Digiflip Pro. The tablet is the first from Flipkart’s private label stable and has received good reviews especially for its innovative brand and package design by Yellow Dress Retail.
Yellow Dress Retail’s Marcel Gort said, “The package is ‘the silent salesman as packaging is the only real contact left with your customer apart from the site itself. Yellow Dress Retail provides branded packaging for all private labels under Flipkart and supports the brand in conceptualising and creating private labels in various key categories. This creative collaboration with Flipkart has begun with DigiFlip Pro and we are confident that this will support both the organizations in leaving a lost lasting impact.â€
Speaking about the combined project, Willem Woudenberg, Founder & CEO, Brand Dialogue, said, “Flipkart is a market leader in many ways, with Digiflip Pro Flipkart has made sure it beats the herd for now. The look and feel of Digiflip Pro is linked to the Digiflip design in a way, to show that it’s a family. The use of the color orange in both logo designs and the white background is simple yet premium, which is in line with the top A-brands but at the same time it does not lose its own charm.â€
Pradeep Dodle, Director – Retail (Tablets), Flipkart added, “We launched our private label brand DigiFlip in mid year 2012 and with DigiFlip pro, we are expanding our offerings. The tablet is in response to the growing demand for quality devices at great prices. To add to its appeal, we are working with the international design firm, Yellow Dress Retail to provide simple yet upmarket packaging for the product. â€
Flipkart has priced the dual-SIM tablet, Digiflip Pro XT712, at an affordable rate of INR 9,999. Digiflip Pro comes backed with additional benefits, where buyers will get shopping benefits worth thousands by shopping from the Flipkart app on the tablet. With 1.3 GHz quad core Cortex A7 process and dual SIM 3G calling features, the tablet will be provided to the customers with an after-sales provision which will be handled through a network of more than 120 service centres across 13 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad along with the usual Flipkart benefits such as cash-on-delivery and a 30-day replacement policy.
A new commercial created by FCB Ulka marks the relaunch of ITC’s Sunfeast Marie Light Oats. The TVC works in tandem with new Packaging, Print, Outdoor and Point-of-sale.
This animated film brings alive the key ingredients in the product as characters. Oats is portrayed as an energetic woman and wheat grains as a dynamic man, hence bringing alive the ‘lightness’ associated with Sunfeast Marie Light. The choreography captures the sheer emotion of feeling light.
Product attributes like extra added Oats, wheat and extra fibre, crispiness and lightness is woven into the storyline. Music adds to the overall mood and underscores the brand baseline, ‘Eat Light. Live Light’.
According to Dharmesh Shah, Creative Director, FCB Ulka, Bangalore, “The TVC interestingly showcases the coming together of oats, wheat and added fibre and thus adding lightness to the life.  The TVC also portrays the protagonist as being ‘light’ in attitudeâ€
Thoughtshop Advertising has unveiled a new campaign for Quick Heal Technologies. Quick Heal Technologies is a leading IT security solutions and an ISO 9001 certified company, which design products to simplify IT security management across the length and depth of devices and on multiple platforms.
With this campaign, Quick heal aims to educate the consumers on how precisely they can avail the benefits promised by the product and can be worry free. There is an audience which is tech savvy and has a knack of figuring the new innovations and offerings, but the larger chunk, which is the actual TG remains left out. With this campaign Quick Heal plays a responsible role in communicating the same to the audience.
Thoughtshop Advertising has created a series of six TVC’s with each TVC promoting a different feature of the product. After zeroing down the pain points considered by common people, the agency made a series of TVC’s highlighting the same. To make it more engaging they have taken protagonists that are easily relatable to the common people.
In the six TVC’s, Quick Heal tries to bring out that they are more than just an anti-virus product.
The first TVC features an army man, who highlights that his confidential data has to remain safe at any cost, and therefore he trusts Quick Heal. Here they promote the “Data Theft Protections†feature.
The next TVC showcases a young boy who does online shopping without worrying about fraud transactions, as he uses Quick Heal. This TVC promotes “Online Securityâ€.
The third TVC shows a fashionista who works tension free as she has the “USB Drive Protection†feature from Quick Heal helping her.
The fourth TVC portrays a graphic designer using the “PC Tuner†feature to delete unwanted files.
The next TVC shows a mother being tension free as she uses “Parental Control†feature to track her kid’s internet usage.
The last TVC in this series showcases an old man doing online transactions with the “Safe Banking†feature of Quick Heal.
The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the apex organisation of advertising agencies in the country, will felicitate veteran adman Ramesh Narayan with the Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
The felicitation will happen on Thursday, July 24 in Mumbai.
Mr Narayan, who runs Canco Advertising, has led various industry bodies like the AAAI, the Advertising Club, the International Advertising Association India Chapter and the Federation of Advertising Association. Â As a thought leader in the fraternity, Mr Narayan would also write for various periodicals including a column on advertising in Mid-Day some years back.
FCB Ulka has unveiled a new campaign for Santoor, the flagship brand of Wipro Enterprises Ltd. that showcases a different facet of the Santoor woman’s personality. The spotlight is on her desire to be more than just a beautiful face and make a real difference to her world. While the new commercial carries forward the core brand promise of younger looking skin, which has been the cornerstone of Santoor communication for over 25 years, there is a social message that is weaved in as well.
The TVC conceptualised by FCB Ulka begins with the protagonist noticing some kids playing on their PSPs or video games in a basketball court. She is disappointed that kids today have forgotten to play real games and are completely hooked on to impersonal virtual games. The protagonist starts playing basketball herself and attracts the kids’ attention. The kids are sufficiently intrigued and leave their video games to join her. Two women onlookers who have been seeing this scene play out are in awe of the protagonist’s beauty and they mistake her for a college student who is encouraging kids to play a real game. They are completely taken aback when she eventually turns out to be a mother.
Speaking about the campaign, Dennis Koshy, Vice President – FCB Ulka, Bangalore, said “The Santoor woman is not just beautiful. She is intelligent, confident and can make a difference to the world around her. The insight that kids play more virtual games than real games these days was used to build a context to communicate this, without letting go of any of the core brand properties”.
On the execution, Dharmesh Shah, Creative Director – FCB Ulka, Bangalore, said “It was the right time for Santoor to celebrate a new celebrity – the Woman. We thought we give her a slightly more social role without getting out of the beauty space in terms of the narrative.”
On the eve of the launch of its compact sedan – CLA 45 AMG – next week, luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India has announced the launch of its ‘Ah My God’ communication campaign in India. The highlight of this campaign, conceptualised by Creativeland Asia, is that it is the first ever India specific TVC that has been launched by Mercedes-Benz.
Globally AMG is synonymous with high performance motoring and cutting edge technological innovations. In India, the AMG brand has an impeccable stature for introducing high performance cars and enjoys immense popularity among customers, auto aficionados and motoring enthusiasts.
With the launch of the new CLA 45 AMG, the brand intends to open up to new target groups and reach out to more people. In order to connect with a larger audience, “AMG” brand is being communicated in a simple and relevant manner. This communication has been done by connecting AMG with a creative expression- ‘Ah My God”. This is the strong feeling that current owners or brand enthusiasts get when they get inside an AMG car.
‘The Ah My God’ communication has been coined to capture the indescribable feeling of driving the car. The communication starts with a TV commercial where viewers are asked, ‘When was the last time you felt something you just couldn’t put into words? This feeling is further drawn parallel by getting behind the wheel of an AMG. It is this indescribable feeling which is put in words, through the expression - Ah My God!
Eberhard Kern, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented, “The success of our New Generation Cars in India only gives us more reason to believe that, the CLA 45 AMG will fascinate our young customer groups. With this launch, Mercedes-Benz will be pioneering the ‘Compact Performance Sedan’ segment in India, similar to the introduction of ‘Compact Luxury’ in India. As the CLA 45 AMG will reach out to a whole new young customer group, we are launching the ‘Ah My God’Â campaign which includes the first-ever India specific TV Commercial. The excitement and buzz already generated in the digital space even before the car’s India launch, is a testimony of the inherent strength of brand AMG and the bright prospect of the CLA 45 AMG.”
Sajan Raj Kurup
Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia, commented, “Ah My God’ is a simple yet self-explanatory expression we have used to deliver the power of the CLA 45 AMG. We are excited to have been able to create the first ever TV commercial of Mercedes-Benz produced in India.”
Goafest 2015 will happen at Goa – that’s as much certainty you have about India’s premier advertising-marketing event. Basking in the glory of a successful Goafest 2014, it’s natural for not to look at the issues and problems with it and try addressing them in Jan 2015.
As an industry that claims to be at the forefront of designing marketing and advertising solutions for client , we would have once again failed. Trust me, the debate if it would / should / could been a Festival / Celebration / populist /  Boycott / Barat / knowledge platform / scam will never be finished. It’s been a mix of all of them and will remain so.
There are more problems than solutions at Goafest.  And the Kyoorius Awards night at NSCI has upped the benchmark raising new set of questions. But, Congratulations is due to the team that made Goafest 2014 possible.  The 2/3 day pass was definitely a relevant innovation. Getting the I&B Minister immediately after the election was a coup. ‘AIB’ and ‘AAP developers’ a masterstroke. Publisher and Broadcast Abby a positive stroke towards wider inclusion. But these cosmetic victories does not provide the answer indstry and the young brigade been seeking.
Complicated and well-documented issues like Egos / Sponsorship / Permissions / International Speakers / Scams / Formats / Awards have been slowly eroding its percieved value of the fest. I fondly remember the euphuria when the first fest happened and again when AAAI and Advertisng Club came together to create one single award. After so many years, it remains an iffy. Come to think of even if spoken in humour, the Goafest signature seems to be ‘Beer & Rain Dance’.
It starts with the basic. Today we know the dates for Cannes. Spikes, MediaAsia and  AdAsia. But for Goafest, please, wait for the new president to take over in Feb 2015. Can Ad Club and AAAI not agree to give the Goafest President/Chairman a three-year tenure. And are we still so underfunded that we cannot have a full-time-paid -secretariat working on the event. Before we single out Goafest, let’s be clear: this is true about all the industry events. The large acclaimed advertising-marketing bodies have not been able to create signature events with fixed schedules.
I have attended all editions of Goafest. I personally found new ways to enjoy the differentiated offering every year. Â But most of them got nothing to do with the fest itself. The problems facing Goafest are well-known and mostly been stated in macro terms. More so and may be the same set ot people been trying to fight to on too many fronts. But truly seaking, the solutions are also with them.
Today, the time is just right with 10-11 months to go for Goafest 2015 for them to prioritise their problems to attack. The problems are so inter-leveraged that solution to P1P2 ( Priority 1 and 2) are bound to set series of domino crashing.
If you look at the Goafest – the problems are Participation / Boycotts / Bad publicity / not enough publicity/ Entries / Jury / Awards / lack of excitement / April-May / Fee and many more.
Sincerely, I believe that given the scope, time, experience and mutual respect, the solutions should not be really tough for an industry that has solved many complicated brand positioning and execution problem. The personal belief remains that Goafest is a deat of celebrating great communication and should be cosnidered the flagsip event of the industry in India. But then beliefs do not count for anything till the issues remain.
1. DATES / TIMING :
Easier said than done. Can we just adapt 1st Thursday of April start date?
Why can’t the Goafest committee be in place now?
2. FEE :Â
Oh, they have started moving northward but are somewhat manageable.Or we need to find innovative ways. What about a refund that is based on the number of knowledge seminars you actually attended.
The amount of activation- fun and energy creating stalls and activity centres have been decreasing with the years. Trust these add to the whole space and the kick of attending Goafest
3. SPONSORSHIP:
Unlike international festivals we don’t see any agency or marketer non-media sponsors. Depending on media like Discovery, Goggle, Hindu, HT, Colors, Star, Dainik Bhaskar is going to be suicidal in the long run.
4. SPONSOR EXPERIENCE:
One of the biggest issue. What is being done n the experience and promise part of the deal. Currently with the sponsor matrix of ROI and ROE not being answered we have to chase sponsors. If this is taken care of the sponsors would be willing to do a long-term deal.
5. OUTSOURCING. Or is it unthinkable?
I am also aware that a body of people did made a case of outsourcing the event with acceptable financial and on the terms that Ad Club and AAAI would have wanted. I am sure that may take it to another level.And if you do look within the industry many such consotiums willing to bite the bullet exist.
6. INDUSTRY UNITY:
Toughest of all. Divided we stand and united is the image we would want to project. Every year the issues get voiced nearer the event. They need then to be tackled with the back to the wall. Mostly full of illogical, irrational at times seemingly ego-centric personal agenda-led crap creating volcanic fires tending to polarise the industry. it definitely does is to give the event a bad name and dampens individual interest.
7. AWARDS AND JURY:
Time to re-categories and re-look at the number of awards and create a group for the 3 nights that remains consistent. The clubbing of awards are also by the categories / media / entrants and interest. Deep dive and understand the root cause beyond the apparent stated reasons and solve the participation issue.
8. KNOWLEDGEPRESENTATIONS :
For every delegate and participating company there has to be something of interest and relevance.  This year I was surprised at many under powered presentation. I thought they should have been booed not clapped. One clear case was the presentation that aimed at enlightening developing Indian advertising industry with  last year social media Cannes winners. I presume that delegates at Goafest mostly likely would have have seen / heard / read about last year Cannes winners. That is ancient for a dynamic subject  like social media. The claps were just an echo of ‘Athethi Devo Bhav’ syndrome.
9. Who is the P1TG ( Priorty 1 Target Group) :Â
The young professionals or the industry influencers or just the industry from metro centers. The bigger agencies or upcoming talents. Personally I have never seen a more diffused campaign than the  Goafest 2014 campaign.
10. TAKING IT BEYOND MUMBAI:
Would be nice to know what has been the % of delegates that came from places other than Mumbai. I am surprised that as an Industry body we have hardly made any successful efforts to rope in the Unmetro industry centres.
11. MARKETER DELEGATES :
How have we failed to engage them. What can be done to get them in ?
12. REPLACEMENT DELEGATES:
Where will they come from? Â Have we mined the data to see how the delegate composition and participation details. More and more people I met kept threatening not to come next year. Normally they would come for 2 more cycles from the period they start thinking in this way before Goafest drops out of their radar. If replacement delegates are going to come from Unmetro Markets- what we doing to tap them.
13. WHAT ARE WE :
Are we about INDIAN LEARNING AND RELEVANCE OR A GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM OR ARE WE ABOUT ADVENTURE AND NETWORKING?
14. INCONSISTENCY.
Oh that’s our signature. Otherwise, how could we have treatedwinners differently across the three nights with three different formats. You can’t be so casual that category and the brand names are referred as ‘this’ and ‘that’. You can’t in one night honour bronze winner on stage and next night decide not to give the bronze winners in other categries the celebratory walk.
15. EMPTY HALLS:
I would like to beleve that it was the function of the size of hall and not the content or the beer and networking. I know you can not force people to attend. Â Can / should we really give a cannes trip to lucky-dip winner with delegate badge scanned in more than 80% sessions. Ensure we fill the front rows frst before openning slots fro perpetual backbenchers.
16. SIMPLE OVERSIGHTS OR WHAT :
What about having the winning category plate on the trophy. What happened to the young professional contest designed and executed at the fest. Where is THINK PRINT – you would definitely find sponsor and get huge participation for it and it would definietly be a winner. Or even a campaign designed at the fest for a national problem / CSR or an NGO.
17. LEARNING ORGANISATION:
Are we analysing and learning from other successful international formats and events. Or we have pledged to remain the knee jerk tactical – ‘let’s get over with the fest this year’ attitude.
18. LACK OF BUZZ.
There is enough happening at Mumbai before the fest. But what do we do during the fest that would ensure that the buzz continues.who miss out feel really bad. Maybe it’s time that Goafest hired a PR agency. Trust me, it’s a Goafest for the advertising- marketing crowd of Mumbai with dismal participation from even Delhi, Bangalore, Kiolkatta, Hyderabad etc
19. RESTRICTIVE SCHEDULE.
Without parallel sessions you are too cramped for choices
20. TRANSPORTATION:
Can we get dedicated flights and trains (at least 1st class and II AC Bogies)Â off from main delegate contributory centres ! Â What a talk that could be. The bus shuttles at GOA working on time and with a wider route-map.
There definietly be many more hot urgent critical issues to be addressed. But one thing is sure that that theGoafest team definitely needs to prioritise its problems and attacked P1P2 (Priority 1 and 2) to make Goafest a benchmark in itself.
You know how much we love to tell various stories via Amul ads. Over the years, they’ve indeed been the true chronicler of the times. Given the growing interest in the FIFA World Cup, there have been 12 ads created by da Cunha Associates for Amul Butter for the just-concluded championship in Brazil… six more since we had the first instalment of this feature on June 30. There have also been some classics over the years, though we couldn’t locate our favourite on Paolo Rossi from 1982 (Pau lo Roz hi) on the Amul website. Enjoy
FIFA World Cup winners ! – July ’14
Brazil’s humiliating defeat ! – July ’14
Lax officiating breaks Brazil’s back – July ’14
The stars of FIFA 2014 ! – July ’14
Dutch footballer fakes dive! – July’14
Leading goal scorer – Rodriguez – June’14
Uruguay striker uses his teeth! – June’14
Brazilian star excels!
Reign of Spain ends – June’14
Portugese player’s aggro behaviour ! – June’14
Persie helps Netherlands thrash Spain!
FIFA fever begins…
And here are some classics:
Octopus Paul predicting the outcome of the World Cup Football final (2010)
On French Captain Zinedine Zidane shown red card sending him off for vicious
head-butting Italian defender in the chest during the World Cup Football Final (2006)
On the Brazilian team’s star football players (2002)
Football sensation Diego Maradona takes on the world by storm (1989)
By A Correspondent
