GREY group India has appointed Leroy Alvares to lead the agency’s digital services in India. He joins GREY group as President – Digital Services. Alvares will be responsible for developing proprietary and innovative digital-oriented solutions for GREY’s clients. Alvares is based out of Mumbai and will report to Sunil Lulla, Chairman and Managing Director, GREY group India.
On Alvares’ appointment, Lulla said, “While GREY has significantly integrated its practices across its offices in India, there is still an enormous opportunity to leverage on Leroy’s skills in the digital domain to ‘New & Next’ oriented services. Leroy brings tremendous maturity, confidence and panache to original and innovative digital thinking.  His new role will see him follow an integrated work culture practice, bringing digital thinking and capability for all clients.  His core focus is to accelerate GREY’s already well-established digital capabilities across India. I know with Leroy at the helm, the Grey Digital footprint will only get stronger.â€
In Alvares’ previous stints, he has served as the President of Rediffusion Y&R Digital, Rediffusion-Wunderman and Sudler & Hennessey India. He was with iContact and Ogilvy India before he joined Tribal DDB as country head. A veteran with over 20 years of experience, Alvares has worked across a diverse range of categories including retail, telecommunications, financial services, information technology, pharmaceuticals, travel & tourism, and fashion & lifestyle.
India made its mark at the much celebrated and pursued global platform for strategic excellence – 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards. Two awards were won by India and Mullen Lowe Lintas Group picked up both, at an event in Chicago on October 5, 2014.
This is also the first time, that work from two Indian companies, Havells and Idea Cellular, has won at this award show. In its 19th year, 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards recognize and celebrate brilliant strategic thinking in Marketing, Media & Advertising. The key criteria for winning an award include a great strategic idea; a powerful creative manifestation of the idea; and a clear link between the two.
Noteworthy winners this year include Droga5 that won a Grand Prix for ‘Under Armour – I Will What I Want’, while Gold winners include TBWA Media Arts Lab for its work on ‘Apple iPhone 6, World Gallery’, Publicis NY that won the Gold for ‘Doctors of the World, More Than a Costume’ and Sancho BBDO/Direktor Films that won the Gold for ‘Pepsi, Dew Bottle Tool.’
India’s wins this year came under the category of ‘National Brand Building’ for ‘Idea Cellular – No Ullu Banaoing’ that won a Silver and ‘Havells – Respect for Women’ that won a Bronze. A total of 35 entries were shortlisted at the 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards 2015 across the six categories of Global Campaign, Media, National, Non-profit, Product Service / Creation and Regional.
Commenting on the Group’s performance, Joseph George, Group CEO, Mullen Lowe Lintas Group said, “Jay Chiat is globally acknowledged as possibly the toughest strategy award to win. We are delighted to have won it four times in two years now, something very few agencies in the world can boast of. As an agency group, we continue to obsess over clients’ ROI and wins like this go a long way in further strengthening our belief in this obsession.â€
S Subramanyeswar, National Planning Director, Lowe Lintas adds, “We are grateful to the faith that clients put behind our strategies and the resultant creative solutions. The wins at a platform like Jay Chiat is a great reward for the culture of sharp strategic thinking and result oriented creativity we pursue at the agency. With some of the best campaigns that were in contention, we’re glad to have emerged winners for our entries on Havells and Idea Cellular.â€
Launched in 2009, Daan Utsav (or The Joy Of Giving Week as it was originally called) is India’s annual ‘festival of giving’. Celebrated every year, in the week including Gandhi Jayanti (October 2-8 this year), it brings together Indians of all stripes, to celebrate ‘giving’. It is an open platform encouraging everyone in India to give back to society in a meaningful way. An act of giving can be anything – a small donation to a charity you know, a gift for someone less fortunate, a donated meal or a couple of hours spent volunteering for a cause.
This year, DDB Mudra Group did its share towards Daan Utsav by ‘giving’ it’s time and talent pro bono and helping in increasing awareness about it. The agency created two lovely little inspiring stories for free in order to drive home the point that Daan Utsav is about the act of giving, irrespective of the amount or nature of the ‘giving’.
The campaign comprising of two TVCs intended to reinforce the ‘joy of giving’, which baselines this event. The objective was to help Daan Utsav grow into a bigger, better and more inclusive initiative by inspiring Indians from all walks of life to give anything – time, money, effort or gestures and to relish the joy of giving. This thought gave birth to the idea- Kuchh bhi do, dil se do. (Whatever you give, give with all your heart.)
The idea intended to make ‘gestures’ and not money as a focal point of giving, and hence democratize the space of giving. By focusing on small gestures of kindness, the agency flipped the conventional concept of giver and taker and drove home the point that it is the spirit and not the amount that matters. They tried to establish the thought that it’s not about who you are or what you give, it’s about the joy of giving.
The two films were not asking for charity. Nor were they aimed at guilt-tripping the viewer into doing something for a good cause. They were simple, heart-warming stories that inspire one to give without being preachy.
DDB Mudra West along with the Production House- Like-Minded People came together to make these films pro bono. The entire process of creating and producing these films was born out of the very spirit that the films themselves espouse – the spirit of giving. The result is a goodwill project created by following the very philosophy that Daan Utsav works on – the joy of giving.
Sonal Dabral
Quoting on the campaign, Sonal Dabral, Chairman and CCO, DDB Mudra Group said “When one works on any social service message, it’s easy to fall prey to using exaggerated sentimentality and make the viewer feel morally burdened. We wanted to keep away from that. There is a certain simplicity of thought to the Daan Utsav initiative. The attempt was to capture this simplicity by keeping the stories simple and making simple ‘gestures’ convey the joy of giving. I sincerely hope that these two little everyday stories for Daan Utsav will inspire people to give with all their heart and the spirit of giving will continue well beyond the ‘Joy of Giving’ week.â€
Rama Arya, Daan Utsav Volunteer said, “This is the celebration of one of the most basic characteristics of human life- giving, and builds on the premise that giving gives equal joy to the giver as it does to the receiver. We approached DDB Mudra West for one simple reason. I don’t think anyone else, but Sonal, could do justice in translating the underlying principle of Daan Utsav into the film medium He is a fantastic storyteller and a natural giver. Giving is blatant in his DNA. To top it, Sonal’s team at DDB Mudra complement him perfectly. The two films they created for the festival gave us goose bumps even at script stage. The end products are marvelous to say the least: simple, inspiring and humane. But then we did not expect anything less from him and his team.â€
Varun Goswami has joined Grey New Delhi as Executive Creative Director. The news follows the appointment of Sandipan Bhattacharyya’s as Chief Creative Officer, Grey Group India. Goswami’s new role will see him leading the New Delhi creative team and reporting to Bhattarcharyya and Samir Datar, Vice President & Office Head, Grey New Delhi.
Goswami joins Grey New Delhi from Cheil India where he was the Senior Creative Director and responsible for the Samsung account.
With 12 years of experience in communications and advertising, Goswami has worked in several agencies including JWT, Lowe and BBDO India. He has handled a number of blue-chip clients such as PepsiCo, Aviva, Hindustan Times, Honda, Nestle, Micromax, and Samsung. Goswami’s creative work has consistently received recognition across national and international award festivals including Spikes Asia, BAFTA, Abby Awards, Effie, INDY, and has won Delhi’s only Gold at the Mirchi Kaan Awards 2013.
To further strengthen Gosawmi’s creative team, the agency has appointed two new Senior Creative Directors, Gautam Bhasin and Piyush Jain. Both bring a wealth of talent and experience with them. Bhasin moves from Lowe and has worked on brands such as Policybazaar, Dabur, 7Up, HP, Maaza and Thums Up, while Jain has made a big impact on a variety of accounts including Sprite, Vodafone, Kamasutra, Honda, GSK, Delhi Daredevils and Samsung. They will both report to Goswami.
WPP chief executive officer Martin Sorrell isn’t an infrequent visitor to India. In India for his annual reviews and announcing some key business initiatives, Sorrell is bullish about the country, and as he is with Prime Minister Narendra Modi whom he met in the United States with media captains last fortnight.
The India revenues for WPP are around USD 600 million, but it’s growing over 10 per cent, far above the global average.
Sorrell announced multiple new business initiatives in the country. After the Cohn & Wolfe acquisition of majority stake in Six Degrees PR and Alphabet Consulting, as reported by MxMIndia a few weeks back, he also inaugurated the WPP School of Communication in association with the Indian School of Design and Innovation in Central Mumbai. He also announced the launch of the Data Alliance with the objective of helping clients exploit data and analytics.
Part of the Sorrell agenda was the announcement of the coming together of Geometry Global and Encompass Network (GGEN). The merged entity fashions itself as the biggest experiential marketing player in the country. Sorrell also announced the WPP India Corporate Social Responsibility Foundation that orchestrates all CSR activities of WPP companies.
Culture Machine in partnership with Tubefilter and dick clark productions has brought the first internationally localized version of the Streamy Awards which honor the best in YouTube, Facebook, online video and the creators behind it, to India. The awards show will be produced for audiences in India and South Asian territories including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan.
“The prestigious Streamy Awards are a perfect fit with Culture Machine’s vision of creating entertainment for the Internet generation,†said Sameer Pitalwalla, CEO and Co-Founder of Culture Machine. “The South Asian market is amongst the top 3 Internet markets in the world, and our partnership with Tubefilter and dick clark productions is a step towards providing a platform that recognizes achievements for those pushing the boundaries of entertainment on the Interwebs.â€
“Online video and digital entertainment is indeed a global phenomenon that has brought us closer than ever before, but the world still remains a mosaic of many diverse cultures and the creative communities that surround them,“ said Streamy Awards creator Drew Baldwin. “From the beginning, the Streamy Awards have always strived to showcase digital entertainment to broader audiences, and our partnership with Culture Machine marks an important first step in our mission to celebrate excellence in online video, no matter in what part of the world it is made.â€
Our partnership with Culture Machine represents all of the elements we feel necessary for success in localizing the show,†said Mark Rafalowski, EVP, International Distribution, dick clark productions. “Digital networks and traditional media companies recognize the Streamy Awards as a truly unique program that bridges media consumption patterns across multiple demographics.â€
The international partnership was announced at MIPCOM, the year’s most anticipated global market for entertainment content across all platforms, where Tubefilter and dick clark productions will continue to pursue the development of localized versions of the Streamy Awards for additional international territories in the next year.
Seventynine, part of SVG Media has launched appjacketPlus, a new in-app advertising platform that brings greater monetization capabilities to app developers and publishers. appjacketPlus is powered with enhanced features and controls for publishers including but not limited to the world’s first zero buffering and HD-quality video display technology. It also features machine learning algorithm for consumer targeting and reach, and a mediation engine for best in class yield.
Mustali Kachwala, co-founder at Seventynine said, “With appjacketPlus, we have made in-app advertising even more financially rewarding for mobile app developers and publishers with the inclusion of a powerful global mediation engine. The new SDK will further strengthen our position as the mobile technology platform of choice, with over 350 leading apps and over 100 advertisers are already using our technology.â€
As part of appjacketPlus, Seventynine will offer its technology and technical support to large App publishers who maintain their own sales teams, and are looking for a robust solution to enhance their inventory offerings.
PepsiCo has asserted that it’s not seeking to renegotiate the terms of its contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“This is absolutely untrue and there is no talk of bringing down the title sponsorship fee,” a PepsiCo spokesperson said. “Issues raised by PepsiCo are based on our commitment to ethical conduct and the spirit of fair play in sports.” Pepsi was reported to be seeking to pull out of the IPL because spot-fixing accusations have tainted the tournament and fewer teams could be playing next season. There was speculation that the parent may have also been seeking to reduce costs.
The company categorically rejected this. “We are committed to sufficiently invest behind our brands and there is no change in that commitment,” the spokesperson said. Pepsi had committed Rs 396 crore for a five-year period to BCCI for title sponsorship for 2013-17, roughly Rs 80 crore a year and twice what predecessor DLF had paid.
A senior BCCI official said Pepsi and the administrator are trying to sort out the matter amicably. “We can encash the bank guarantee but we are not doing that. They have been good partners in the last few years. We don’t want to spoil the relationship,” he said. A clause in the contract allows BCCI to reassign the title sponsorship, he added.
Meanwhile, there are a handful of contenders willing to take over the role if it’s vacated, said one of the BCCI officials cited above. “The picture will get clearer in the next few days. There are four-five different companies that we are in touch with for the title sponsorship but those companies are yet to get a clearance from the board,” he said.
Tuesday, October 13, sees the India chapter of the International Advertising Association playing host to two events – one, as part of its regular series IAA Conversations, Essel group and Zee chairman Dr Subhash Chandra will be in conversation with senior journalist V Shankkar Aiyar.  The theme of the discussion is ‘News Neutrality’. This is on between 5.45 and 6.45pm.
At 7pm, the first edition of the IndIAA Awards happen.
Both events will be held at St Regis Hotel in Parel (what was earlier Palladium Hotel and even earlier Hotel Shangri La).
Said Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter: “News Neutrality is a controversial hot button topic. Given Zee’s global footprint and experience in various markets, Subhash Chandra in conversation with Shankkar will bring deep insights to the subject. We have decided to have the IAA Conversation and the IndIAA Awards on the same day, so that the people attending will have the opportunity to engage on two very different topics.â€
Said Dr Bhaskar Das, Chairman, IAA Conversations said, “Most often, the News Neutrality debate is around objectivity and ideology. Now with accelerated online news delivery and wider television reporting, the conflict is even more apparent. This session of IAA Conversations will definitely bring a new perspective to the existing narrative.â€
Pradeep Guha, Chairman, IndIAA Awards Committee said, “Since the advertiser and the agencies that co-created the winning campaign are honoured on the same stage, this award format promises to be different.â€
In what appears to be a big blow to Madison World, the entire Mondelez media account is moving to Carat India with effect from January 2016.
The India business has moved to Carat, which is a part of the Dentsu Aegis Network. The mandate, which includes traditional and digital media, in the region of Rs 500 crore, making it Carat India’s biggest account.
“It’s a gamechanger for Carat,†a media observer told MxMIndia, on conditions for anonymity. For Madison India, it’s unfortunate given that the pitch was global, and it could really not have any say in the matter except for aligning with one of the international networks, which it is reported to have attempted.
On the realignment with Carat (and a part with Starcom), Bonin Bough, chief media and ecommerce officer at Mondelez, is quoted to have said: “We’re excited about this next phase in our media transformation. Centralising our media buying with Aegis and SMG offers us a significant opportunity to drive enterprise-level efficiencies that can be re-invested in our long-term growth.â€
Leo Burnett India has appointed Sachin Das Burma as Group Executive Creative Director at its Delhi office.
Sachin comes to the team having built his credentials across several marquee brands like Dabur, Nokia, Indian Airlines, Carrier, Hyundai, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Slice, Iodex, Horlicks, Airtel, Hero Motors, MakeMyTrip, Snapdeal, HCL, Tata Salt, amongst others.
Welcoming him on board, Samir Gangahar, President – North, Leo Burnett India, said, “We are delighted to welcome Sachin. With an impressive track-record of creating path-breaking integrated communication across categories and the hunger to do a lot more, I’m excited to see him craft ideas that impact consumer behaviour and solve business problems across our portfolio of brands.â€
RajDeepak Das
RajDeepak Das Chief Creative officer, Leo Burnett India, added, “In Sachin we have found a leader who has the ability to keep things simple and connect every piece to a human truth. His ideology and working style is ideal to drive innovation and integration in the communication process. I’m sure Sachin’s inclusion will significantly enhance our capability of solving our clients’ problems by creating new age work based on strong consumer insights.â€
Sachin joins from Draft FCB Ulka where he was Group Creative Director. He has won many awards in national and international circuits including Goafest, New York Festival, Adfest, D&Ad, etc. He has also worked with Contract Advertising, Bates India and JWT.
Today, more than ever before we see women at the forefront of myriad fields. The Indian woman is pushing her limits, redefining boundaries, and subsequently earning herself top position in everything she does & making her presence felt. Recognising this role of women in our lives, Amul has unveiled a new campaign celebrating the same.
Women are now fiercely ambitious and are proving their mettle not only on the home front, but also in their respective professions. The campaign raises a toast to these women & portrays how milk energises them to go about their life and shine. The film captures a few dimensions where women are excelling like entertainment, sports & engineering.
Commenting on the campaign, R S Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF said,“We are happy to demonstrate the role of women in the advancement of our society. In fact, Amul is a brand which has been built on women empowerment over the last 7 decades. Our campaign “AmulDoodh Pita hai India†is very popular across the country and we are confident that this creative will further propel the brand.â€
Haresh Moorjani, Executive Creative Director, FCB Ulka & creator of the earlier campaigns on Amul Milk, said “Historically we have seen that there is a strong association between a country’s progress & how it treats its women. Today, if we are where we are it is solely because of the role women play in our lives – at home &outside. Taking this forward the Amul Milk campaign is an ode to the Indian woman captured in the track that says Aageaagebadtahai India. AmulDoodhPeetahai India!â€
