MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • The campaign serves as an invitation to the Indian consumers to express themselves in a genuine and authentic way

    For Ballantine’s, it’s about ‘Staying True’ through new positioning

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ballantine’s announced the launch of a new strategic brand positioning – ‘Stay True’ and an accompanying marketing campaign. Ballantine’s has associated with Gabriel Macht, famed actor from TV series ‘Suits’ for its new advertising campaign ‘Stay True, Leave an Impression’ targeted exclusively at India market.

     

    Conceptualised by Ballantine’s, the ‘Stay True, Leave an Impression’ campaign serves as an invitation to the Indian consumers to express themselves in a genuine and authentic way. Authenticity, self-belief and conviction are at the heart of this new campaign. The video-led campaign will be integrated across print, digital and outdoor media.

     

    The entire video film is about two worlds: the world of self-belief and staying true juxtaposed by a world of sycophants with shifting loyalties. The tension between these two worlds is what brings out the brand idea of leaving a mark by being yourself, of making it to the top on your own terms.

     

    The film does this through a depiction of a ‘day in the life of’ the corporate world – the charades, the fake smiles, the pretentious jokes and the ‘yes man-ship’ that plays out every day – as seen through the eyes of our protagonist during his journey through a typical corporate office.
    Commenting on Ballantine’s new campaign, Kartik Mohindra, Head – International Brands at Pernod Ricard India said, “George Ballantine stayed true and left an impression with the whiskies that he created. With this campaign, we want to continue his legacy by creating a platform that celebrates Ballantine’s and its founder’s intrinsic values. We hope to inspire people to have conviction to stay true to themselves, to follow their passions and to remain as genuine and authentic as they can be.”

     

    Sharing his thoughts about the campaign, Ajay Gahlaut, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, New Delhi said, “There are the movers and the shakers who are here today and gone tomorrow. Their allegiances are based on self-gain and change with changing winds. And then there are those few who quietly go about doing what they believe in, undeflected in purpose and unswayed by criticism. These are the ones who are remembered. They are the ones who leave an indelible mark on time. They are the ones who lead by example. This film is about them.”

     

  • #SAVELITTLESHELLY is launched as a hashtag in the social media

    Turtle Ltd. unveils unique #SAVELITTLESHELLY initiative

    By A Correspondent

     

    Turtle Limited launched #SAVELITTLESHELLY campaign to support its on-going efforts to conserve the endangered species of Turtles. This year, Turtle Limited has taken the campaign to a new height by not just celebrating the day, but the entire month announcing World Turtle Month Initiative and introducing little Shelly, the animated character through their newly launched #SAVELITTLESHELLY campaign.

     

    #SAVELITTLESHELLY is launched as a hashtag in social media as the story of Shelly, a baby turtle with a cute shell, making her journey from the nest to the sea, braving all dangers that come in the way. A unique animated social initiative, it is a 2 minute YouTube film broken down into four stages. At the end of each stage, viewers are asked to help Shelly complete the next leg of her journey by likes. Every new stage of the film was released only after a certain number of likes at the end of the previous stage. Curious viewers, eager to see Shelly’s journey, and gradually four stages of the film made it to the YouTube. Finally, on World Turtle Day, people were able to see the entire film and take pride in helping Shelly find her way and live on.

     

    Speaking on this campaign, Arjun Mukherjee, Creative Art Director, JWT, said “The entire idea was to raise awareness of the plight of the Turtles who are facing extinction in an interesting an engaging manner. So we wanted to give the people at large a hands on opportunity to save a turtle. The month long initiative saw the creation of a cute virtual turtle who can move a step forward towards survival only when one donates. While the actual donations went towards the conservation of Turtles and their environment, thousands of people logged in everyday to watch the journey of Shelly the Turtle and helped spread the word”.

     

    World Turtle Day, which was on 23rd of May is dedicated to the salvation of these marvellous creatures who have inhabited this planet for the last 200 million years. As they play a very crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance, we need to nurture them since the time the eggs are hatched till the turtles find their way to the sea.

     

    To build buzz around #SAVELITTLESHELLY campaign, the social media was flooded with interesting posts, ads and every Turtle shop in the country was speckled with posters that talked about the drive and the cause. Store merchandise were designed around Shelly and distributed to customers, who spread the word and drove the initiative both on social media platform and the personal front.

     

    Commenting on this initiative, Shitanshu Jhunjhunwala, Director, Turtle Limited said, “Turtles have been around for 200 million years, yet they are rapidly disappearing as a result of smuggling, the exotic food industry, habitat destruction, global warming and the cruel pet trade. Keeping in mind this sad state of turtle globally, we thought of launching a month long campaign instead of celebrating a single day to raise awareness to save turtles.”

     

  • The company appoints Shilpa Ambre as Chief Financial Officer and Vishal Nongbet as Senior Vice President & Business Head, Sooperfly

    The 120 Media Collective spruces up senior management team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Shilpa Ambre

    The 120 Media Collective announced two senior appointments, Shilpa Ambre, as Chief Financial Officer of the company and Vishal Nongbet as Senior Vice President & Business Head of their recently launched brand, Sooperfly – a joint venture with UK’s Diagonal View, dedicated to the empowerment of Asia’s digital video ecosystem. Both Ambre and Nongbet will be based in Mumbai and will report to Roopak Saluja- Founder & CEO, The 120 Media Collective.

     

    While Shilpa will be responsible for all Finance, Legal Affairs and Investor Relations of The 120 Media Collective and its sub brands – Jack in the Box Worldwide, Sniper, Bang Bang Films and Sooperfly, Vishal will be entrusted with building the Sooperfly team and business and running day to day operations including content, distribution and monetization across APAC.

     

    Vishal Nongbet

    A reputed corporate finance professional, Shilpa comes from Komli Media, bringing in multi industry experience of 17 years in Digital Media, Information Technology Enables Services (ITES) Auditing and Financial Services. Shilpa’s expertise lies in Fund Raising & IPO listing, Mergers and acquisition, Business Modeling & Financial Planning , ERP Implementation, to cite a few. Shilpa has also worked with Hexaware Technologies for close to seven years. Her professional knowledge extends across US, UK and South East Asian compliance, accounting and tax regulations.

     

    Vishal, with diverse experience across the media industry of more than 15 years, has held several leadership positions at The Times Group, Mahindra & Mahindra, Webaroo, Kodak India in the past. Prior to joining Sooperfly, Vishal was heading the India business for InMobi.

     

    “The company has undergone a metamorphosis of sorts over the past three years, from being a combined entity of a production company and a social media agency to one that is pushing the boundaries and blurring the lines between communications, entertainment and technology. As we embark on an ambitious growth plan over the next 36 months, bolstering our leadership team with top talent is essential. Keeping the company adequately funded and observing the highest standards of compliance and governance will be key and having someone of Shilpa’s experience and capability overseeing things is of paramount importance”, said, Roopak Saluja, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, The 120 Media Collective.

     

    “While the last two decades have been all about the democratisation of content, there has never been a better time than now for advertisers to engage their audiences via owned rather than paid or earned media. Sooperfly will be looking at harnessing the immense talent in the space, building content brands direct to audiences, and finding that sweet spot between content creators and advertisers”, said, Vishal Nongbet, Senior Vice President & Business Head, Sooperfly (a part of The 120 Media Collective).

     

    Additionally, Chahna Rupani, Senior Producer, Bang Bang Films has been promoted to Executive Producer, Sniper, and will primarily be responsible for driving revenues and growth and also ensuring excellence and efficiencies for both commercials and content production and Sanket Kunde has been appointed Group Head of Production.

     

    Shilpa and Vishal join The 120 Media Collective at an exciting time, as the company transforms into an end-to-end multi-platform content player that creates, produces, distributes, monetizes, creates engagement around and promotes the content that it produces. While The 120 Media Collective continues to build on its distinct offering of high-end film production capabilities and best-in-class digital marketing resources under one roof, it has strengthened its unique position with the recently launched brands, Sniper, aimed at redefining commercials and content productions and Sooperfly, dedicated to empowering video. With new appointments and recent promotions, the Management Committee of the company comprises Roopak Saluja – Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Heather Gupta- Chief Talent Officer, Shilpa Ambre – Chief Financial Officer, Abhishek Razdan – Executive Vice President & Business Head, Jack in the Box Worldwide, Vishal Nongbet – Senior Vice President & Business Head, Sooperfly, Chahna Rupani- Executive Producer, Sniper and Sanket Kunde – Senior Vice President & Group Head of Production, and will be instrumental in key decision-making and giving the company strategic direction.

     

  • The account moved after a multi-agency pitch

    Scarecrow bags creative duties of Graviti Smartphone Accessories

    By A Correspondent

     

    Delhi-based EasyTech Global Pvt. Ltd., has appointed Scarecrow Communications as its creative agency. One of the flagship products of the company is Graviti Power Banks. The account moved after a multi-agency pitch.

     

    Graviti has a wide range of mobile accessories from power banks to car chargers to bluetooth accessories to screen protectors. The promoter of the brand is Gopal Kalra, a veteran in the telecom space and co-founder of Lemon Mobiles.

     

    Referring to the association with Scarecrow, Gopal Kalra, Chairman, Easy Global Pvt. Ltd. says, “In Scarecrow, we found the right mix of creative excellence, consumer understanding and passionate involvement, which made us choose to work with them“

     

    Raghu Bhat

    Says Raghu Bhat, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications, “There is an immense opportunity to create a premium brand in this category that is highly commoditized. We like the challenge of achieving maximum impact with minimum spends in a cluttered market as that gives the widest canvas for our creativity.”

     

    Says Arunava Sengupta, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications, “Start ups like to work with us. Graviti is one more validation of that. There is something highly satisfying working on brands that are at an inception stage be it Localbanya or &Pictures as that gives us the chance to create things from scratch.”

     

  • Madison Media will now be the Media Agency of Snapdeal effective July 1, 2015 but work on the account will start almost immediately, informs a communique

    Madison Media snaps up Snapdeal wef July 1

    By A Correspondent [updated]

     

    Madison Media Plus, a part of Madison Media Group, has just announced the win of Snapdeal. The account – run by OMD – was won after a multi agency pitch. The account will be handled out of the agency’s Delhi office. Madison Media will now be the Media Agency of Snapdeal effective July 1, 2015 but work on the account will start almost immediately, informs a communiqué.

     

    Said Srinivas Murthy, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Snapdeal.com on selecting Madison Media, “We are very happy to have Madison partner with us on media going forward. They bring tremendous experience across categories, with learnings across multiple growth industries that can be leveraged for us. Madison is known for the high quality of media professionals and we look forward to them helping us drive our business to new heights.”

     

    Sam Balsara

    Added Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, “I am delighted that Snapdeal after an exhaustive competitive review has found Madison Media to be worthy of handling this large and demanding account. Today Madison Media offers an unparalleled depth of leadership, with unmatched experience and expertise and this will be further strengthened with the joining of VikramSakhuja in a few months as Group CEO of Madison Media and OOH.”

     

    Madison Media Group has won a host of new businesses in 2015including Viber, Lenskart.com, Zivame.com, Metro Cash & Carry, Gaana.com, Cricbuzz.com, Amul Hosiery, DHFL, Bandhan Bank, amongst others. The gross billing of Madison Media Group is about Rs 3750 crore, adds the communiqué.

    As reported earlier, the digital mandate for Snapdeal has been bagged by GroupM arm Mindshare.

     

  • The primary target of the campaign was to target consumers at those touchpoints where mass-gatherings happen

    Posterscope creates OOH campaign for Goodricke’s Roasted

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a bid to give boost to the soulful adda-culture better, Goodricke has taken to the Outdoor-route for the first time to promote their highest selling Brand – Roasted – amongst masses as the most sought after Darjeeling Tea brand in the country.

     

    Outdoor being the only medium of communication here, crafting the campaign strategy was a huge challenge for Posterscope. Since ‘adda’ was at the apex of the campaign brief, the primary target of the campaign was to target consumers at those touchpoints where mass-gatherings happen.

     

    Since people can gather, mingle and gossip anywhere, identifying requisite OOH spots near those areas using multimedia options was the key task that Posterscope took up as part of its client-campaign strategy. The touchpoints needed to cater to all age groups. Therefore, apart from using main media Billboards, different formats such as metro signages, island branding, Glass facad, BQS were used for the campaign. The campaign was rolled out in 2 phases wherein the initial burst was for a 30-day-period, which was then followed up with a sustenance campaign for next 30 days further. In between, there were quite a few filler phases conducted which were of short durations in a bid to give a time-boost to the campaign during the monthly buying cycles.

     

    The whole campaign strategy has been to position ‘Roasted’ as an ‘Adda Starter’ among the masses and influence the buyer’s purchasing decisions, which is then tilted towards Brand Roasted. Supporting the next two phases of the strategic road map, Hyperspace, the Retail Solution division under the Posterscope umbrella, mapped all their retail counters under general trade. Here, a retail audit was conducted to know the exact visibility challenges and consecutive solutions were given in terms of visibility enhancements at those stores; also customized executions were carried out to increase the Brand recall at loose-tea counters under general trade.

     

    Commenting on this campaign, Vikram Sungh Gulia, Senior General Goodricke Group Ltd., said; “When it came to the positioning of Kolkata’s No.1 Darjeeling Tea, we wanted Roasted to truly speak of the spirit in which it is bought, made and consumed in most households in this city. The two things that truly define the spirit of this city and its old world charm are, tea and adda. Both being complementary, in etiquette, in habit and in practice. For years, it has been a custom in this City of Joy, to sit and discuss politics, cinema and life in general, over a cup of tea. In the mornings before everyone goes to work, in the evenings when everyone comes back from work and several times in between. These tea sessions are almost always accompanied by an adda.”

     

    Haresh Nayak

    Haresh Nayak, Managing Director – Posterscope India said, “It gives us immense pleasure to be their preferred agency when it comes to providing outdoor solution and optimisation. The media strategy was aligned to ensure that the campaign matches the means of communication across all platform, be it outdoor or retail, within the consumer ecosystem. A very scientific method was put into the media planning, considering the brand value and insight and took great care in formulating and executing a plan that would create a powerful impact across the target group.”

     

  • Maxus South has been growing rapidly and handles some of the most prestigious clients of the region

    Maxus appoints Anil Sathiraju as General Manager

    By A Correspondent

     

    Anil Sathiraju

    Global media & communication planning firm Maxus has further strengthened its top management appointing Anil Sathiraju as General Manager, Maxus South 2.

     

    Maxus South has been growing rapidly and handles some of the most prestigious clients of the region. Anil Sathiraju will report in to Sanchayeeta Verma- Managing Partner, Maxus South India & South Asia. With Anil coming on board, Maxus consolidates the senior management strength in the South, along with Kishankumar Shyamalan as GM South 1.

     

    Kartik Sharma

    Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, Maxus South Asia said “Our South operations have been the trail blazers in many areas for Maxus and we are looking forward to scale new heights. Anil is an important and strategic addition keeping this in mind.”

     

    Commenting on the new appointment Sanchayeeta Verma- Managing Partner, South India & South Asia, Maxus said, “The media landscape is possibly at its most dynamic state today. It’s a time of rapid and big changes. Not only do we have to stay on top of this and ensure that we incorporate the new state of things in the way we do the communication planning for our brands, we also have to ensure executional excellence so that strategy translates to reality. On top of it in today’s uncertain economic conditions, our media monies have to result into tangible business results for our brands. All of this means, more engagement & more speed at the senior management level. This prompted us to create two distinct SBUs within Maxus South and bring in the best people to man them, i.e, Anil & Kishan. Anil typifies Maxus PACE and we are delighted to have him on board.”

     

    In his earlier role Anil was Associate VP & Head South, Mudra Max Pvt. Ltd. With over 19 years of experience he has handled many of the top clients in South India some of which are the TTK Prestige, Cycle Agarbathies, Tata Gold Plus, Eenadu Group, Ashok Leyland, Wipro Consumer Care, Sobha Developers, Wildcraft, Jyothy Laboratories, Beauty Cosmetics (now CavinKare).

     

  • Khosla is leaving the company at a time when it has lost share in over two-thirds of its business, a struggle reminiscent of its parent company that has now put over 100 brands on the block to focus on core business

    After 13 years as P&G MD, Shantanu Khosla, 55, quits

    By Sagar Malviya

     

    Procter & Gamble India’s managing director Shantanu Khosla is stepping down effective June 30, 2015, leaving behind a company that is struggling to grow its shares amid intense competition. The company announced his move on the BSE without elaborating on his replacement.

     

    The 55-year-old Khosla became part of P&G when it acquired Richardson Hindustan in 1985. In his tenure spanning nearly thirty years at P&G, Khosla led several business units around the globe. Later, in 2002, he took over the leadership of India operations of the company in June 2002. In 11 years under Khosla, P&G’s revenues have multiplied about six times at roughly 9,000 crore across three companies.

     

    Khosla, an IIT Bombay and IIM Kolkata alumnus, is leaving the company at a time when it has lost share in over two-thirds of its business, a struggle reminiscent of its parent company that has now put over 100 brands on the block to focus on core business.

     

    The Indian unit of world’s largest consumer products company ceded ground in products ranging from detergents, skin creams and shampoos to disposable razors and sanitary napkins. Experts said this resulted from P&G’s lack of innovation and focus on higher margins amid aggressive strategies adopted by its rivals to increase their market share.

     

    In the past two years, P&G has invested over Rs 2,000 crore in India, especially to set up manufacturing units to reduce dependence on pricier imports. However, big investments have taken a toll on its profitability, with the unlisted P&G Home Products, which houses laundry and shampoo brands, posting a loss of Rs 100 crore for 2013-14, on sales of Rs 5,381 crore.

     

    P&G in India including two subsidiaries, Procter & Gamble Health & Hygiene, which markets feminine hygiene brand Whisper and Vicks anti-cold balm; and Gillette India, maker of razors and other shaving products had annual revenues of Rs 9,274 crore during 2013-14.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

    All Rights Reserved, Licensed to republish

     

  • To help nurture the brand's unique identity and make it synonymous with smart shopping for New age (Mobile first) customers

    Zopper ropes in Lowe Lintas & Partners to handle its creative mandate

    By A Correspondent

     

    Zopper, leading hyper-local mobile marketplace has appointed Lowe Lintas & Partners as its creative partner. Lowe Lintas & Partners has been chosen following a best in-class multi-agency pitch to help Zopper expand its presence across multiple cities and become a brand that is analogous to hyper local mobile shopping.

     

    Speaking on the announcement, Neeraj Jain, Co-founder and CEO, Zopper said, “We couldn’t have found a better agency than Lowe Lintas & Partners to understand our target market opportunity. The agency was taken on board purely by virtue of their strong creative deliveries and the brand road map presented to Zopper. We are confident that with its strategic capabilities, planning, clutter breaking communication and a team with vast and varied experiences, the agency will facilitate Zopper in becoming a veritable leader in this domain.”

     

    Naveen Gaur

    Naveen Gaur, President, Lowe Lintas & Partners said, “We are very excited in partnering Zopper on their brand journey. It offers a unique opportunity to establish both a brand and a completely new category itself. Zopper is a superbly innovative platform which can potentially be the preferred route for shopping by new-age, tech-savvy consumers. We see incredible opportunities to bring forward new insights and introduce absolutely fresh communication to make it a great brand.”

     

    Zopper has pioneered the concept of hyper local marketplace. ROPO i.e. Research Online Purchase Offline has created ripples in the Indian market, and has already garnered the attention of the internet-empowered and price-sensitive Indian consumers. This has fuelled the growth of hyper local markets. In such a scenario, Zopper is leaving no stone unturned in helping users to find the best local deals by providing them impeccable pricing and product comparison services. The company now aims to activate expansion on an accelerated pace pan India and is taking definite steps to successfully execute its plan on the back of steady advertising and marketing progress.

     

  • Announces Adobe as a preferred partner

    ZO sets up Centre of Excellence for media tech

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tanmay Mohanty

    ZenithOptimedia’s Performics announced setting up a full-fledged digital media technology Centre of Excellence, a first of its kind in India, out of their Bangalore office. This will provide capabilities on real time segmentation and insights, services across marketing automation, attribution, data modeling, content and commerce. The centre will specifically cater to the Indian sub-continent.

    Comments Tanmay Mohanty, MD Performics, India “This centre is set up to provide solutions for comprehensive and integrated marketing, that will enable marketers to measure, personalize, and optimize marketing campaigns and digital experiences across screens and platforms. As you would know, globally Publicis has partnered with Adobe for these ‘Always On Solutions’ that will power insights and data fuelled planning globally for Publicis. The preferred partnership between Performics India and Adobe is already gaining traction with customers such as Airtel and Tata AIG already migrating to Adobe Marketing Cloud. Many other organizations are showing similar interest.”

     

    Anupriya Acharya

    Anupriya Acharya, Group CEO ZenithOptimedia group, India elaborates, “This is something that we have been working on for some time and in our assessment, the time is ripe to set up a centre like this. Online video is seeing explosive growth thanks to the explosion of mobile video consumption and the spread of internet-connected devices like desktop computers, tablets and television screens. All key social media platforms are developing their video products; and more online video is being sold by programmatic buying, providing advertisers with more control and better value. We find that currently a lot of clients, especially in the e-commerce and mobile segment have to work with media technology companies that are outside of India and have a hard time getting the time and attention they require. Inside India we will be testing multiple technologies against client requirements.  Both our teams and clients are excited about it.”

     

    Kulmeet Bawa, Director – Enterprise, South Asia, Adobe says, “Top brands around the world across industry verticals use Adobe Marketing Cloud to reach and engage customers, and our partnerships go a long way in making this possible. We congratulate ZenithOptimedia’s Performics on the establishment of their first centre of excellence for media technologies in India and are certain that customers in India will benefit immensely from this set up.”

     

  • Samir's new focus will be to grow other specialisations including shopper, retail and ecommerce

    Leo Burnett elevates Samir Gangahar as Prez – North

    By A Correspondent

     

    Samir Gangahar

    Leo Burnett announced the elevation of Samir Gangahar as President of North India. In his new role, Samir will be responsible to lead Leo Group’s operations in North India. Apart from content, digital and experiential, Samir’s new focus will be to grow other specialisations including shopper, retail and ecommerce.

     

    Saurabh Varma, CEO, Leo Burnett Group India said, “Under Samir, Leo Burnett, Delhi has transformed into a fully integrated operation. He has been instrumental in creating a culture of collaboration within the agency where a group of specialists work together to solve a client problem. Samir has helped strengthen Leo Burnett Delhi’s digital operation and I’m delighted to state that it has now become a technology/digital hub for many of our key clients. The activation business has grown tremendously in the last one year and going forward Samir’s role will be to build on that momentum. He will help us build new specialisations as part of his mandate. These include shopper, retail and rural.”

     

    Saurabh Varma

    Samir says, “In my new role I look forward to working closely with Saurabh in growing Leo Burnett India on the back of a “renewed thrust for integration. In line with our Human Kind philosophy, we will intensify our focus on finding and solving our clients’ problems and partnering them in the journey of brand building and business growth.” Samir joined Leo Burnett as Executive Director in August 2007 after a 17-year stint with JWT, where he was Vice President and Director, Client Servicing.

     

  • The executives had a gala time unwinding with a game of foosball, beer pong and beer chugging competitions

    HT celebrate leadership status at GroupM in Delhi NCR

    By A Correspondent

     

    Even as there is an advertising war between The Hindustan Times (HT) and The Times of India (TOI) on readership supremacy,  HT organised a celebration party for “being the No.1 newspaper in Delhi NCR for the fourteenth time in a row” at the GroupM office at Cybercity, Gurgaon last week. The celebrations saw executives unwinding with a game of footfall, beer pong and beer chugging competitions.

     

    Saket Sinha, Principal Partner, Mindshare, GroupM, said, “I congratulate Hindustan Times, everyone is really happy. Thank you for giving us a wonderful Friday evening.”

     

    Gopal Krishan, Senior Director-The Exchange, Mindshare, GroupM, said, “The event was really nice. The party really brought two big media giants-GroupM and Hindustan Times together. Everyone enjoyed getting together, engaging in fun games.”

     

    The evening of celebration was enjoyed by people from most of the Group M agencies including Maxus, Mindshare, and Motivators among others and they all came together to congratulate HT for its win.

     

    Next, do we see a TOI party at GroupM’s Delhi office?