MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • Through the many years of experience behind him, Kartik has worked on diverse brands like Airtel, Colgate Palmolive, Taj Hotels, Cadbury, DNA, Lakme, Tata Motors, Nerolac, etc

    Kartik Smetacek joins L&K Saatchi & Saatchi as ECD

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kartik Smetacek
    Charles Victor

    L&K Saatchi & Saatchi has announced the appointment of Kartik Smetacek as Executive Creative Director.

     

    Charles Victor, National Creative Director – L&K Saatchi & Saatchi said, “Acquiring talent has and will be our focus across offices. Great work can only come from wonderful creative people and I believe Kartik is definitely one of them. He has extensive, diverse experience and I love the fact that he’s hungry to take on bigger responsibilities and challenges.” Charles added that bringing people like Kartik into the system was one of the many steps taken to raise the creative bar, the results of which will soon be seen.

     

    Through the many years of experience behind him, Kartik has worked on diverse brands like Airtel, Colgate Palmolive, Taj Hotels, Cadbury, DNA, Lakme, Tata Motors, Nerolac, Bigrock and Rustomjee, to name a few.

     

  • Karishma Lintas would be responsible for providing creative insights and solutions to Paper Boat and will also chart out strategic recommendation, positioning and marketing of brand Paper Boat across various media

    Karishma Lintas wins creative mandate of Paper Boat

    By A Correspondent

     

    Karishma Lintas, part of the Lintas India Group has won the creative mandate of Paper Boat. Karishma Lintas edged out Happy Creative Services &Dentsu in the multi-agency pitch that was held a few weeks ago.

     

    As its partner, Karishma Lintas would be responsible for providing creative insights and solutions to Paper Boat and will also chart out strategic recommendation, positioning and marketing of brand Paper Boat across various media.

     

    Neeraj Kakkar

    Sharing his thoughts on choosing Karishma Lintas as its creative partner, NeerajKakkar, CEO, Hector Beveragescommented: “Design thinking is at the crux of Paper Boat and we believe that the same applies for Karishma Lintas. With a very clear mandate in mind, we decided to appoint Karishma Lintas as the creative agency for our brand. Backed by a strong team and disruptive ideas we were very confident about our choice and the quality of deliveries. Karishma Lintas understands our brand sensibilities and their work has been inspiring.”

     

    Paper Boat was launched nationally in August 2013 and is among the fast-growing juice brands from the stable of Hector Beverages.

     

     

    GV Krishnan

    Sharing his excitement on winning the account and providing a roadmap that Karishma Lintas would emulate in the growth of the brand, GV Krishnan, Executive Director said, “We admire the vision and purpose of brand PaperBoat aspiring to reduce cynicism in society and to reaffirm faith in life. Through our creative solutions, we genuinely believe that we could win the heart of every Indian by emotionally connecting with his childhood memory and serving them a delicious traditional Indian drink to savour. We’ve had inspiring and transparent discussions with the founders of Paper Boat and are excited to create an awesome portfolio going ahead for Karishma Lintas.”

     

    Paper Boat is backed by Sequoia Capital, Catamaran Ventures (N.R. Narayan Murthy’s VC firm) and Foot Print Ventures and is run by industry veterans – NeerajKakkar, James Nutall, SuhasMisra and NeerajBiyani.

     

  • Darji joins DDB Mudra Group, from BBH India

    Manish Darji appointed ECD at DDB Mudra West

    By A Correspondent

     

    Manish Darji
    Rahul Mathew

    DDB Mudra West has appointed Manish Darji as Executive Creative Director. With over 15years of experience, Darji joins DDB Mudra Group, from BBH India. He has worked with agencies such as McCann Erickson, Ogilvy, Rediffusion Y&R and Bates 141 and has worked on renowned brands such as Coca Cola, NDTV, Western Union, WWF, Incredible India, Fevicol, Cadbury, Tata Nano, Virgin Mobile, Skoda, CRY, TVS Wego, Marico, Vaseline and Vat 69.

    Rahul Mathew, Creative Head, DDB Mudra West said, “I’ve worked with Manish Darji at various stages of his career, and he has been a different Manish each time. It is this doggedness of his to keep evolving that makes him one of the finest in the country. With his unique and inimitable style, he harnesses the power of design to create solutions for many brands. Little wonder that work has been applauded and celebrated at various forums. And we can’t wait for him to create a lot more magic with us.”

     

    On joining DDB Mudra West, Darji said, “DDB Mudra is undergoing a transformation and it’s always great to be a part of change. The agency has a terrific roster of clients who I’m keen to work with. I’ m also happy to be working with Rahul again and create some spectacular work.”

     

  • KS Chakravarthy (Chax), Vikram Gaikwad, Raj Kamble, Josy Paul, Bobby Pawar Arun Iyer, Malvika Mehra, Rahul Mathew and Ashish Chakravarty comprised the Envies jury

    Second edition of Ogilvy’s Envy Awards on Nov 3

    By A Correspondent

     

    It is not a jamboree of 150 judges who may or may not be capable of identifying the best ideas.” No marks for guessing who these words from Ogilvy South Asia Executive Chairman & Creative Director Piyush Pandey are directed at. Mr Pandey’s agency has stayed from participating in the last two editions of the Abby awards held at the annual Goafest conference. But that hasn’t prevented Ogilvy from participating in a slew of international shows and the homegrown Kyoorius Awards.

     

    And then there are the Envies, the in house creative awards of Ogilvy & Mather India whose second edition will happen on Tuesday, November 3. The evening will see awards handed out to 25 pieces of work from the entire body of work that Ogilvy India produces in a year. A jury comprising non-Ogilvy creative biggies poured over the entries. KS Chakravarthy (Chax), Vikram Gaikwad, Raj Kamble, Josy Paul, Bobby Pawar, Arun Iyer, Malvika Mehra, Rahul Mathew and Ashish Chakravarty comprised the jury.

     

    Said Mr Pandey in a statement: “The Envies are rewards where we raise the bar beyond any other standard in the industry. 25 best pieces of work are awarded regardless of category and media. There is no easy way out.  Stalwarts from the best creative team measure up against each other with the sole purpose to raise our standards so that we deliver even better to our clients in the year ahead. And these are truly unique because a set of the best minds from the industry judge the entire body of work together. It is not a jamboree of 150 judges who may or may not be capable of identifying the best ideas.”

     

    Hmmmm.

     

  • NCD Abhijit Avasthi calls it a day after a 15-year bonding with Ogilvy. Rajiv Rao will hold solo charge wef Dec 1

    Ogilvy’s ‘jod’ goes unstuck as Abhijit ‘Kinu’ Avasthi quits

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s a bond one thought would last forever. For many years, Ogilvy & Mather India has been known for Piyush Pandey. So strong is the association with Pandey that the agency’s name could well be prefixed with a Pandey.

     

    But over the last five years, National Creative Directors Abhijit Avasthi and Rajiv Rao have come into their own and established themselves as creative gurus with their own standing, albeit a notch below Pandey.

     

    The news of Ogilvy India National Creative Director Abhijit Avasthi parting ways with the agency after working there a decade-and-a-half sent shockwaves in the industry. Confirming this development, Avasthi said he was mulling his next steps.  He said he was in discussions with Mr Pandey (coincidentally also his maternal uncle) for a few months.

     

    Last evening, Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Creative Director, Ogilvy South Asia sent a mail to Ogilvy & Mather employees announcing the development. Rajiv Rao, who also shares the creative charge of the agency as National Creative Director (NCD), will be the sole NCD with effect from December 1.

     

    Mr Avasthi will be with the agency till November 30 and continue to be associated with small projects, Mr Pandey said in a mail. According to sources, Mr Avasthi is likely to set up his own creative agency, a move that he has been contemplating for a while. The outgoing NCD though is tightlipped about his plans and would talk about them when the time is right.

     

    A metallurgist by formal education, Kinu, as Avasthi is known in the fraternity, got into advertising after working in a steel plant, manufacturing textile dyes, trading in saris and even exporting playing cards and match-boxes. He started as a copywriter with Enterprise Nexus in 1997 and joined Ogilvy in July 1999. Other than winning several awards and being on the jury of many award shows, Avasthi has been several acclaimed advertising campaigns to his credit. These being for: Fevicol, Cadbury, Asian Paints, Google, Tata Sky, Bajaj, Centerfresh, Mentos and Unilever amongst others.

     

    Friends in Ogilvy, say that while he is a creative, Kinu has a sharp business mind and in his quiet, affable way can win over clients and make decent monies for his agency.

     

    Watch this space for more.

     

    Image: Part of a Fevicol ad was doctored to show a hand (Abhijit Avasthi’s) getting unstuck from that of Ogilvy’s

     

  • The awards bring together the biggest names from the business and design fraternities in celebration of design that creates value

    Designomics Awards 2014 ready for India showdown

    By A Correspondent

     

    Into its fourth year‚ Designomics Awards is scheduled to be held at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai on November 15th from 3pm onwards. The awards bring together the biggest names from the business and design fraternities in celebration of design that creates value.

     

    The awards ceremonypromises to be an exciting evening with awards being presented in over 20 categories to businesses of diverse scales and across a wide-range of industries. Some of the popular categories include strategic brand identity, digital & social media innovation and integrated design projects, the past winners include Tanishq by Tata, HUL’s Vaseline, Kingfisher and Whirlpool Icemagic.

     

    Designomics is an initiative that was setup to raise awareness of the power of design to enable businesses to enhance productivity and processes. Designomics embarked on its journey with an eponymous show on Bloomberg, which featured top industrialists who believed in the power of design and had used design tocreate successful businesses. Some of the stalwarts interviewed include Anand Mahindra (MD – Mahindra & Mahindra), Kumarmangalam Birla (Chairman – Aditya Birla Group) and Kishore Biyani (CEO – Future Group).

     

    Over the years Designomics has gained recognition and momentum thanks to affiliations and endorsements from prominent organizations, such as the India Design Council, National Institute of Design (NID) and the World Marketing Congress. One of the key reasons that the Designomics Awards have gained the credibility that they have has been due to the eminent panel of judges that adjudicate the case studies. The panel this year comprises: Abhijit Bansod – Founder and Creative Director – Studio ABD; AjaiChowdhry – Chairman & CEO – HCL Infosystems Ltd.; Anthony Lopez – Founder and CEO – Lopez Design; Ashish Mishra – Managing Director – Interbrand India;Bhaskar Das – CEO – Zee Group; BhupalRamnathkar – Founder and Managing Director – Umbrella Design; Dr. B.K. Chakravarthy – Professor – IDC IIT Bombay;DeepaliNaair – Chief Marketing O­icer – Club Mahindra Hospitality;Ektaa Aggarwal – Creative Director – Landor Associates;LatikaKhosla – Founder Director – Freedom Tree Design; Mahesh Murthy – Founder – Pinstorm; MayankRuia – Director – Residential Business – The Phoenix Mills Ltd.; Neha Harlalka – Founder – NH1 Design; Neil Foley – Founder – Neil Foley Designs;Pradyumna Vyas – Director – National Institute of Design;PramitiMadhavji – Editor-in-Chief – Elle Décor India; Ram Gudipati – Founder and Managing Director – Brand Harvest Consultancy; RanjanaDani – Professor – H.O.D. Graphic Design – MIT Institute of Design;ShekharBadve – Founder Director: Strategy & Marketing – Lokus Design Pvt Ltd; Shital Mehta – CEO – Pantaloons; Suresh Sethi – Vice President, Global Consumer Design Asia – Whirlpool Corporation; and Tania Singh Khosla – Founder and Design Director – TSK design.

     

  • The D&AD-backed Kyoorius Advertising, Digital and Design awards are announced. The 2014 Annual were launched with a gathering of creative and assorted media hands on Thursday evening

    Kyoorius announce ad awards on May 29, 2015. Designyatra September 10-12

    By A Correspondent

     

    Aagey, aagey dekho hota hai kya.” These were the famous first words from Rajesh Kejriwal when asked by host Suresh Venkat on how he plans to better the act after Kyoorius stormed the advertising awards scene this year. Mr Kejriwal is aware that all eyes are on how he would better the 2014 act next year. And he did that by announcing dates for the advertising, digital and design awards for 2015 at a gathering of creative and assorted media hands in Mumbai on Thursday evening.

     

    The Advertising and Digital Awards will happen on May 29, 2015 and the Call for Entries will go up on March 2 with entries closing on April 10. In the case of the Design Awards, the Awards Night will be September 12, the last day of the Kyoorius Designyatra and the Call for Entries will go up on May 4 and entries will close on June 5.

     

    All the Awards will continue to be backed by D&AD and the entry and jury processes followed will be that of D&AD.

     

    Meanwhile, along with the announcement of 2015 dates, Kyoorius also released the Annual featuring Black and Blue Elephant winning entries along with all in-book winners from the 2014 edition of the awards. Some 4000 copies of the Annual will be distributed corporates, creatives and all the art and design colleges and institutions in the country to “help stimulate future talent”.

     

    Tim Lindsay

    Said Tim Lindsay, CEO of D&AD, in a statement: “We approach the second Kyoorius Awards supported by D&AD with great optimism concerning the positive impact on the creative community in India. D&AD and Kyoorius are both dedicated to inspiring, celebrating and nurturing the next generation of creative talent – vital for the future health of our industry.”

     

    Details on Kyoorius Awards 2015: http://awards.kyoorius.com/images/KyooriusAwards_Categories_2015.pdf

     

     

  • Swati Bhattacharya, who quit as national creative director of JWT India in September, will join Dentsu India and head a new project, Mama Labs, which will focus on the Indian mother as a consumer

    Swati Bhattacharya joins Dentsu India, to head Mama Labs

    By Shambhavi Anand

     

    Swati Bhattacharya, who quit as national creative director of JWT India in September, will join Dentsu India and head a new project, Mama Labs, which will focus on the Indian mother as a consumer.

     

    She will join Dentsu as principal partner – creative and report to Rohit Ohri, chairman at Dentsu India and CEO at Dentsu APAC. “The new role is like a dream come true for me although the fear of moving out of a comfort zone is also there,” Ms Bhattacharya said.

     

    She has spent almost all her work life so far at JWT, after joining the agency 22 years ago. She is known for her work with numerous brands including Airtel, Pepsi, Nestle, ITC, Unilever and GSK. Her work for Horlicks is the most acknowledged. Her work at Dentsu will involve planning advertising and digital campaigns for brands targeting women. “Till now, I have worked in a place which has been associated with so many brands. But now I will have to start from scratch and build a brand,” she said.

     

    Mr Ohri said, “Dentsu Mama Lab aims to be a thought leader on mothers, motherhood and mothering. Understanding both facets is what will make brands connect meaningfully with moms.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Airtel has been calling for media pitches once every five years and the last time it reviewed the account was in early 2010

    Airtel calls for media agency pitch

    By Pritha Dasgupta

     

    Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile carrier by revenue and subscribers, has called for a media agency pitch. It is touted as one of the biggest advertising pitches of 2014.

     

    The company has just finished the process of sending out invites to leading media agencies including the Sam Balsara-led Madison World, which has been handling the account for the past 11 years. According to people in the know, other agencies in the fray include one of GroupM agencies, Lodestar, Dentsu Aegis Network, OMD and ZenithOptimedia.

     

    “Airtel has made all the media agencies sign a non-disclosure agreement barring them from talking about the pitch process,” said an executive with knowledge of the matter.

     

    Airtel has been calling for media pitches once every five years and the last time it reviewed the account was in early 2010, he said.

     

    Airtel didn’t respond an email seeking comment. A top executive at the New Delhi-based company said it “is just a part of the evolution process” as it periodically reviews the contract. “This time too we want to see who’s offering what and at what price,“ he said.Globally, Airtel is the fourth largest mobile telecommunications company by subscribers, with more than 300 million subscribers across 20 countries as of end-September. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over 200 million subscribers.

     

    During the last pitch process, Madison had faced stiff competition from agencies like TME, Starcom MediaVest, Percept, Mediaedge:cia (MEC) and Lintas Media Group. This year, it will be up against the mighty GroupM ­ the biggest media agency of the country.

     

    Interestingly, GroupM already has four telecom companies in its portfolio ­ Vodafone, Tata Docomo, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications. “GroupM has five media agencies and four telecom clients. So they can still look at adding one more telecom business to its kitty,“ said a top industry executive in the know.When Madison retained the account in 2010, it was also given the outdoor duties of Airtel which were initially handled by Portland, a unit of GroupM.

     

    Later, Madison set up a dedicated outdoor team to handle the Airtel account.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • DDB Mudra West’s Mumbai team will lead the account

    DDB Mudra West wins creative mandate for ICICI Lombard General Insurance

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB Mudra West has won the creative mandate for one of India’s largest private sector general insurance company – ICICI Lombard General Insurance, post a rigorous multi-agency pitch. DDB Mudra West’s Mumbai team will lead the account.

     

    ICICI Lombard General Insurance is a joint venture between ICICI Bank Limited and Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, a Canada based USD 37 billion diversified financial services company engaged in general insurance, reinsurance, insurance claims management and investment management.

     

    Rajiv Sabnis

    On winning the account, Rajiv Sabnis, Executive Director, DDB Mudra Group & President, DDB Mudra West, said, “ICICI Lombard General Insurance has already established a strong leadership through its promise of efficient and speedy claim settlement articulated as “Nibhaye Vaade” in its communication. Our challenge was to give sharper meaning to this promise while also contextualizing General Insurance in a new light. Most of General Insurance (Auto, Travel, Health) bought today is transactional and more or less mandated. We presented our point-of-view on how to make this category more relevant to people’s lives. It is an interesting journey and we are excited that ICICI Lombard chose DDB Mudra to take the brand to the next level.”

     

  • This is the first phase of the campaigning, demonstrated by a 60 second TV commercial, which will be aired in 10 languages across all major networks

    Grey India unveils new campaign to propagate Swach Bharat initiative

    By A Correspondent

     

    To support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swach Bharat initiative, GREY group India, who was recently awarded to handle the creative duties of this mission has produced a new campaign as part of a larger campaign for the Swachh Bharat Mission.

     

    There are many offenders who have no qualms about throwing garbage on the street, littering on the streets, urinating in public etc., i.e. not contributing towards the social responsibility of keeping the nation clean. The central idea of the campaign is to “Shame” those offenders who do so. GREY¹s campaign aims at shaming those offenders, as the protagonist in the TV campaign is cheered or rather jeered by the people who have observed the protagonist’s dastardly act. This is the first phase of the campaigning, demonstrated by a 60 second TV commercial, which will be aired in 10 languages across all major networks.

     

    On the Swachh Bharat campaign, Samir Datar, VP & Branch Head, GREY Delhi says, “We are delighted to be part of Swachh Bharat initiative. We believe that the idea of shaming people who litter, is a compelling idea and can become a very effective behaviour change tool, once it gets traction in social media and ground activation.”

     

    GREY group is now working on the second phase to add momentum to this communication. GREY group India’s National Creative Director and EVP, Malvika Mehra said, “There is a saying in Hindi ‘jab ghee seedhi ungli se na niklay, tab ungli tedhi karni padti hai’. Despite countless ‘Keep India Clean’ efforts/messages by the government, we still see a total lack of involvement from our brethren for the cause. The sarcasm in the film is an attempt to drive home the point harder by now literally ‘humiliating’ the offender, albeit nicely. Hope such efforts lead to a Swachh Bharat indeed.”

     

  • Kaizad comes with 18 years of experience in the business with the last three being at Grey where he ran the Mumbai operations

    Kaizad Pardiwalla joins Orchard Advertising as COO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kaizad Pardiwalla
    Saurabh Varma

    The Leo Group has announced the appointment of Kaizad Pardiwalla to head Orchard Advertising (one of its group companies), based at their Head Office in Mumbai.

     

    Saurabh Varma, CEO, The Leo Group said, “We are delighted to welcome Kaizad to The Leo Group. Orchard, over the last year, has grown by 40 per cent y-o-y and has an incredible momentum. We required a leader with integrated experience to take Orchard Advertising to the next level. Kaizad, with his media-agnostic approach to brand building, is possibly the best candidate to add value to our clients’ businesses.”

     

    Kaizad comes with 18 years of experience in the business with the last three being at Grey where he ran the Mumbai operations. He started his career with Lowe Lintas in 1995 and moved to Ogilvy in 1997. After spending seven years at Ogilvy, in 2004, he was appointed as business director, OgilvyOne Worldwide, the digital and direct marketing division of Ogilvy, where he headed the operations in the western region. After three years, he took over as the national head of OgilvyOne India.