MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • Co-founded by Jimmy and Fida Shaw, DishCo was launched for both Android and iOS users in early September

    IdeaSpice wins biz mandate of DishCo

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mumbai based branding, management and design company IdeaSpice has won the account of recently launched food app, DishCo – a newly developed multi-city dining app that allows you to find, rank and share your favourite dishes in the city.

     

    Co-founded by Jimmy and Fida Shaw, DishCo was launched for both Android and iOS users in early September. With the help of IdeaSpice, the brand has created a hype in the food market for its unique outlook on the true meaning of eating out. Ideaspice has built the identity of the Application – everything from the name to the logo, B2B and B2C communication structure and UINUX design of the application interface

     

    Saurav Roy, Director, IdeaSpice said, “IdeaSpice does not only work with brands – it creates them. Brand ideas don’t just surface on their own. There is a lot of thought, hard work and sentiment that goes into creating a new product or service. We at IdeaSpice understand the heart of the matter and help build it from that very vantage point. DishCo is a brand that is so efficient, it practically sells itself and we’re happy to be helping the brand shape itself, one creative step at a time.”

     

    DishCo gives one a personalized dining experience – it can help one order food, book tables and receive coupons from restaurants of one’s choice – all of this, sans the concept of reviews. Any sort of criticism is not for the public eye, but only for the restaurant management for a more efficient interaction. An important objective of DishCo’s campaign is to ‘Pledge a meal and spread a smile.’ This feature helps users provide meals to the under privileged children in the city.

     

    “With DishCo and IdeaSpice working together, it has been easier to visualise the response the App is sure to get. The IdeaSpice team is a very talented group of professionals who have done their research well and produced an attractive brand design for us that has amplified the effect of the brand identity.” said Jimmy Shaw.

     

  • This multi-pronged campaign is aimed at farmers, homeowners, society chairmen, institutions, dealers and plumbers – the end-users, influencers and intermediaries in the pump buying process

    Scarecrow to promote new campaign for Varuna Pumps exclusively on radio

    By A Correspondent

     

    Scarecrow Communications, Mumbai has launched a strategic and insightful campaign to introduce the new brand campaign for Varuna Pumps.

     

    The campaign draws from the insight that every person has to face some kind of pressure in his or her daily life. In all these inevitable pressures, at least they won’t have to take the pressure of water because Varuna Pumps takes that responsibility.

     

    This multi-pronged campaign is aimed at farmers, homeowners, society chairmen, institutions, dealers and plumbers – the end-users, influencers and intermediaries in the pump buying process.

     

    To make the approach unique, the campaign is being spearheaded by radio as the primary medium.After extensive rounds of discussions, research and deliberation, radio was chosen as the primary medium to lead the campaign because of its ability to create an emotional connect with the consumer through auditory engagement and stroking of the imagination.

     

    The radio medium also enables the brand to effortlessly connect with listeners from rural to tier 1, tier 2 to metros as well as the media-dark regions. It also gives the brand a pan-India platform and enables it to segregate the communication based on the listeners’ profile and time-band.

     

    Varun Gajjar, Director – Marketing Varuna Pumps, said, “We believe that radio as a medium has a huge potential. It will give us an edge to connect with our consumers, spread across country.”

     

    To create an emotional connect, the brand has appointed two audio brand ambassadors for Radio - Om Puri and RohiniHattangadi. These two celebrities have lent their voice to the extensive radio campaign of Varuna Pumps. These two have instantly recognisable and highly memorable voice that develops a connection with the listeners.

     

    Manish Bhatt

    Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications said, “We believe that in order for a brand to create a high EQ (Emotional Quotient), radio with powerful audio ambassadors, is one of the best medium. It glues the listeners and also gives them the scope to imagine.”

     

  • 17 categories, 500 entries, 76 nominees, 16 winners, star-studded jury… need we say more?

    IndIAA brings all stakeholders together to collect awards

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The first edition of IndIAA Awards happened on Tuesday, October 13 evening with leading advertising, media and marketing professionals in attendance. Of the 500 entries received for 17 categories, the final shortlist had 76 nominees with 16 winners.  The IndIAA Awards were received by the Advertisers along with all the co-creators of the campaign, across Creative and Media Agencies and also included other agency partners from Digital, Events, PR, Activation etc.

     

    Also present were Jury Chairman Harish Manwani, COO Unilever and Non-Executive Chairman, Hindustan Unilever and Jury members – Bhaskar Bhat (Titan), Sangeeta Pendurkar (Kellogg’s India), B. Sriram (State Bank of India), and Sanjeeb Chaudhuri (Standard Chartered Bank).

     

    Said Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter “We attempted IndIAA awards as an experiment; we wanted to create a different way of awarding creativity. At the IAA Conversations preceding the awards, Dr. Subhash Chandra and Shankkar Aiyar, as expected, brought fresh perspective and deep insights around News Neutrality through the engaging session.”

     

    Pradeep Guha, Chairman, IndIAA Awards Committee said, “The IndIAA Award format ensured that ‘ads for awards only’ didn’t come through and this itself was the differentiator.”

     

    Earlier in the day, Dr Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group and Zee spoke to Shankkar Aiyar, author and journalist, on News Neutrality. The conversation ranged from the basic concept of neutrality; the solution to compulsion of revenue versus competition; regulation of news gathering and vagueness of media ownership in India. Dr. Chandra also mentioned a new technological engine being put into place in Zee, which will track stories right from filing, so that there is control over biases.

     

    Dr Bhaskar Das, Chairman, IAA Conversations said, “Going against the grain, if need be, to deep dive into the most relevant industry topics has been the objective of IAA Conversations. The topic on News Neutrality follows the same trend.”

     

    Winners of the first IndIAA Awards:

     

     

  • Fundamentally revised brand identity reflects transformation into a science and technology company

    Merck unveils fresh brand identity

    By A Correspondent

     

    Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced the relaunch of its brand identity. The fundamental revision of the visual appearance as well as the introduction of a new logo reflect the transformation into a global science and technology company. At the same time, the brand architecture at business level has been simplified. Outside the United States and Canada, the company will operate uniformly as Merck.

     

    “Merck has fundamentally changed over the past ten years,” emphasized Karl-Ludwig Kley, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO. “We have developed from a classic supplier of pharmaceuticals and chemicals into a global technology company. With our unique combination of highly specialized biopharmaceutical, life science and materials businesses, we are in a position today to offer solutions to support global megatrends such as health and digitization. The complete overhaul of our brand identity is to communicate this new direction vis-à-vis our customers, partners and applicants. We want to be recognizable and remain visible as Merck worldwide so as to strengthen our well-known brand name. For this we have deliberately rid ourselves of outdated features and will be focusing on a young and eye-catching image.”

     

    The investment in the Merck brand is part of the “Fit for 2018” strategic transformation and growth program, which includes the focus on innovative, technology-driven businesses as well as the modernization and expansion of global headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. This also involves a more self-confident and at the same time clearer tone of voice, reflecting Merck’s character and linking its pride in a nearly 350-year-old culture with scientific curiosity and a passion for research.

     

    With the introduction of the new brand design, the previously independent divisional brands Merck Serono and Merck Millipore will be eliminated. In the future, Merck Serono will operate as the biopharmaceutical business of Merck, and Merck Millipore as the life science business of Merck. “Following the two major acquisitions, the Merck Serono and Merck Millipore brands helped us to position the duality of existing and acquired businesses in the marketplace. We succeeded in doing so. That’s why we are returning to the brand that we have been known under for nearly 350 years,” Kley added. Product brands such as Erbitux or MilliQ will not be affected by this change.

     

    Merck holds the rights to the Merck name and brand globally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada. The company will therefore continue to operate in these two countries as EMD Serono in the biopharmaceutical business, as EMD Performance Materials in the high-tech materials business, as well as EMD Millipore in the life science business up until the planned acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich has been completed.

     

    Merck’s visual image is fundamentally new. It is based on the concept of a vibrant science and technology company, and is inspired by the colorful and multifaceted shapes seen under a microscope. The new Merck design features expressive colors and shapes with a scientific look-and-feel. These are also reflected by the new company logo. In comparison with the former logo, it makes a bold statement; its design is less complex and can be used in different colors.

     

    “A comprehensive external and internal analysis showed that we must emotionalize our brand appearance to a much greater extent in order to be perceived as a vibrant technology company in the market and by applicants,” said Walter Huber, Head of Group Communications.

     

    In addition, the new corporate design is to create a strong visual link to the Merck businesses in the United States and Canada. For this reason, the company is also introducing a striking, multi-colored “M” in addition to the Merck logo. It is to indicate the membership of businesses and products to the Merck Group, independent of company names or regions.

     

  • Indian e-commerce growth rate claimed to be faster than China during its early stages.

    YuuZoo appoints Ventes Avenues as reseller partner

    By A Correspondent

     

    Singapore-listed YuuZoo Corporation Limited, a leading global third generation social e-commerce company, announced it is expanding its footprint in India by appointing Ventes Avenues as a reseller partner of YuuZoo’s products and services in the local market of 1.25 billion people.

     

    The move is seen to take advantage of the country’s rapid e-commerce growth, and is another addition to YuuZoo’s advance in the world’s emerging markets. Currently one of the fastest growing markets in Asia, India is targeted to hit US$137 billion in market value by 2020, a steep rise from 2013’s US$11 billion. This massive growth is attributed to the local population’s increasing Internet and smartphone adoption, making it the country with the third-largest internet user base in the world.

     

    Under the terms of the agreement, Mumbai-based Ventes Avenues will market and sell YuuZoo networks to local clients. The company will promote YuuZoo through different marketing channel. YuuZoo will host and manage the social e-commerce networks, as well as the advertising and payment capabilities of each network.

     

    Niloufer Dundh

    Speaking on their recent appointment, Niloufer Dundh, Founder and CEO of Ventes Avenues remarked, “We are excited to partner with YuuZoo because there is tremendous potential in India, where we are seeing companies go in the direction that YuuZoo is leading. Our market has shown great interest in YuuZoo and we are delighted to be able to offer them its social e-commerce solutions. The gamified social commerce is also seeing great interest because our local market is social media savvy. YuuZoo’s social e-commerce solutions are very much what businesses here need to succeed in this modern age. We always want to be a step ahead of the race and we are happy that YuuZoo is our partner.”

     

    James Sundaram, CEO, YuuZoo said, “India is an e-commerce giant that is about to wake up, and YuuZoo will be there when that happens. That is why we are putting our systems in place through our partnership with Ventes Avenues. The market has traction now so there is no better time to expand our foothold in India. It is also a particularly exciting market because its growth rate today is faster than China’s when China was still in its early stages. The potential is great and I am confident that our unique, patent-pending solutions will be a strong player in India.”

     

  • A special extract from Piyush Pandey's Pandeymonium + a 164-word review

    Piyush Pandey on Martin Sorrell

     

    On Wednesday, Piyush Pandey’s memoirs ‘Pandeymonium’ was released in Mumbai with much fanfare with Amitabh Bachchan releasing the book and several dignitaries, family and friends in the audience. It was tough pulling out an extract from the book, but here’s one that we though we thought would interest MxMIndia readers…

     

    By Piyush Pandey

     

    People would like to believe that Martin is a control freak—nothing could be further from the truth. Martin’s name is misused by his managers in the operating companies so as to help them achieve their own ends. Martin would not even be aware of many of the things that his managers claim that he has an opinion on. His interest is in communication, in the health of his companies, in the finances, in corporate-governance issues, in the stock price and in WPP’s shareholders. Martin does not interfere in the running of the companies and has little interest in decisions that ought to be taken by his local managers-which is perhaps why WPP does so well globally. The fact that India is so important to WPP now, and yet the Indian operations are run totally by Indian managers underlines his belief that global businesses are best run by managers who know the lay of the land.

     

    If cigarettes helped me spend more time with David* than was warranted by my designation, it was cricket that helped build my relationship with Martin. Martin is a huge cricket fan, following the game from wherever he may be in the world. In London, he watches matches at Lord’s whenever he gets the opportunity. He plays as well, taking part in charity matches for causes that he believes in.

     

     

    Review in 164 words. Unputdownable

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Why a hundred and sixty four words? Piyush Pandey’s Pandeymonium can be reviewed in just one. Unputdownable.

     

    It’s a breezy read. The way Piyush speaks. And the way his ‘curator’ Anant Rangaswami writes. You can read it in one post-dinner sitting.

     

    The first part of the book is great fun. Depending on how much other people’s experiences move you, you can possibly have tears rolling a few times. I cried a bit.

     

    The second part of the book gets him into talking specifics about Ogilvy. To those not into advertising and Oglivy, in particular, this could be a stretch, but Piyush ensures that he doesn’t get too much into details.

     

    I was hoping to read some juicy comments and comments on people and issues, one has heard Piyush feels very strongly about. But there’s none of that.

     

    Pandeymonium is a must-read for all those whose lives have been touched by Piyush or his advertising. It’s a mustest-read for those wanting to get into advertising.

     

    Planning for one of his earlier trips to India, he mentioned to Ranjan Kapur that he wanted to play a cricket match in India. He asked him to get me to sort it out (he was aware that I had played first-class cricket). He wanted the teams to be formed from employees of the three larger agencies WPP had in India those days: Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA); Contract (which was considered a separate company, though it was 100 per cent owned by HTA); and O&M. Martin also wanted a couple of former India cricketers to play so as to add some flavour to the match.

     

    I did the maths and decided that each of the three agencies would contribute six players, making it eighteen players. Martin would make it nineteen. That would leave us three players short. I requested Bapu Nadkarni, Eknath Solkar and Ashok Mankad to play, and they all agreed.

     

    We now had twenty-two players, and the next challenge was the composition of the two teams. I had some thoughts on that. I wrote to the managers of HTA and Contract asking each of them to send me the names of their six players—and their heights. They wrote back and asked me why I wanted to know about their heights. I told them that it was for the cricket whites that we needed to play in.

     

    Martin was to captain one team, while I would captain the other. I divided the remaining twenty players into two teams.

     

    Martin came to the ground and discovered that his team was called Short Legs XI and that mine was Long Legs XI. I had created the teams based on the heights of the players. Martin came up to me and said, ‘You cheeky bastard.’

     

    For me, Martin is a human being and no more.

     

    That match set the tone for my relationship with Martin. It allowed us to be relaxed, frank, trusting and honest with each other—and that makes for a profitable working relationship.

     

    During another of Martin’s visit, I planned something else. When you entered the office, from far you could see a poster outside my room with ‘WPP’ written on it. WPP did not have an office at Ogilvy. So when Martin came, he saw the signage and walked to my room. From close, you could see the small letters between WPP. It said, ‘Worldwide Office of Piyush Pandey’. ‘Cheeky bastard’ is what he said to me again, as he laughed.

     

    ‘Cheeky bastard’ is a phrase that Martin loves to use, and I’ve been described as one by Martin on more than two occasions. In 2000, I was flying to judge the Cleo Awards at Aspen, Colorado. The perks of being a juror meant that I flew first class on British Airways. First class was a rarity as WPP’s policy did not allow it. I was in the first-class lounge in London, waiting for my connecting flight to the US, when I bumped into Martin. I walked up to him and said, ‘Hi, Martin, Cleo is paying for this trip. Just in case you call up Rane (my colleague and then Finance Head of Ogilvy in India) and ask him who is paying for this.’ ‘You cheeky bastard, did I ask you?’ He said. ‘No, you didn’t, but you would have called up Rane; I just saved you a couple of pounds on the phone call,’ I replied.

     

    When we meet now, conversations are relaxed and direct. Martin discusses larger issues with me, such as the company’s reputation and corporate governance, two areas where he spends considerable time and energy. We hardly ever talk about work or revenues. Indeed, sometimes we have to contrive devices which get him to look at recent work that has been done; I do not think that he has ever asked for a formal review.

     

    I’ve learnt so much from Martin-perhaps because I saw him as a human being and no more. Approach Martin with fear or trepidation or guile, as many do, and what you have achieved is to ensure that Martin doesn’t relax. That’s your loss.

     

    * reference made to David Ogilvy whom he refers to earlier in the chapter

     

    Pandeymonium
    Piyush Pandey on Advertising
    By Piyush Pandey
    Penguin Books India (Portfolio)
    Hardback, Pages 244
    Rs 799
    (Rs 556 on Flipkart)

     

    ​Excerpted with permission from the publisher​

     

  • The incumbent agency was Equus Redcell

    Hakuhodo Percept bags Sleepwell mandate

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hakuhodo Percept has bagged the complete creative mandate for mattress brand Sleepwell, the flagship brand from the Sheela Foam Group.

     

    In a multi-agency pitch that involved strategy, creative and execution plan presentations including Digital, BTL and ATL, Hakuhodo Percept was a clear winner when compared to Enormous Brands, The Mob, Synapse and Thinking Folks. The incumbent agency was Equus Redcell.

     

    Brand Sleepwell is the number one brand among the top 10 mattress brands in India. As per available data, the size of the Indian mattress market is estimated at Rs 5,000 crore, of which the organized market constitutes Rs 2,500 crore is growing at 12-15 per cent per annum.

     

    In keeping with Sleepwell’s philosophy, Hakuhodo Percept will be building further on the differentiator of “Sleepwell My Mattress”, a new concept in the Indian mattress industry that not only enables the customer to choose the right mattress but also differentiates the brand Sleepwell. The task for the agency ahead will be to communicate to the consumer the advantages of a Sleepwell mattress over other products available in the market place and create awareness about the different surface feels to suit individual preferences, be it a hard mattress, a medium hard mattress or a soft mattress, all available at the same price point. Plans are afoot towards a 360-degree communications programme.

     

    Pooja Malhotra

    Confirming the win, Pooja Malhotra, Sr. Vice President, Hakuhodo Percept, said, “We are absolutely delighted and raring to get started on the new mandate. It’s an unexplored category that makes our task both exciting & challenging. Our endeavours will focus on revolutionising the purchase process and steering the brand towards becoming an indomitable player in the category.”

     

    Manoj Sharma, Vice President, Marketing, Sleepwell said, “We found Hakuhodo very much in sync with the vision that we so passionately pursue, for our Brand Sleepwell. Their ability to think out of the ordinary and to present a strong differentiating strategy for the Brand Sleepwell convinced us, on the merits of this new partnership.”

     

  • Entrants will be competing against the most outstanding works from across the region

    APAC Effie Awards 2016 Calls for Entries

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Asia Pacific Effie Awards has launched its call for entries for the 2016 Awards. Entering the third edition, APAC Effie is recognised by advertisers and agencies as the gold symbol of marketing effectiveness in the region, a pre-eminent award that celebrates and awards ideas that work.

     

    This year’s award offers 37 categories, inviting advertisers and agencies to submit their works which have proven results in meeting their strategic objectives. Entrants will be competing against the most outstanding works from across the region.

     

    A new category called “Real-Time Marketing” is introduced to reflect the increasing speed at which business operates today and the acceleration of marketing communications in the industry. This category awards campaigns which have obtained results from real-time conversation that happens in social networks and real-time platforms.

     

    “APAC Effie continues to stay relevant with the ever-evolving media and communications landscape. With nearly two-thirds (76%) of global marketers using some form of real-time marketing today, it is essential that we recognise ideas that work in this category,” said Cheuk Chiang, who has been appointed the 2016 APAC Effie Awards Chairman. He added, “APAC Effie has established itself as the one award that marketers and agencies want to win because it represents the most effective and the most outstanding work in the region. Entering work into the competition shows that clients and agencies are committed to driving commercial excellence and innovation and I look forward to be inspired by these submissions.”

     

    As the Call for Entry campaign “Effectiveness Always Wins” says, every great idea has a story and it is a tale of creativity mixed with marketing ingenuity that get the results.

     

    The 2016 Awards is now accepting entries through to 21 December 2015 for all marketing communication efforts that have ran in Asia Pacific during the qualifying period.  Winners will be announced at the Awards Gala in Singapore in April 2016.

     

  • He will be based in New Delhi and report in to Jason Barnes, vice president of Asia Pacific at PubMatic

    PubMatic appoints Sudipto Das as Country Manager for India

    By A Correspondent

     

    PubMatic, the marketing automation software company for publishers, announced that Sudipto Das has joined the company as Country Manager for India. In his new role, Das is primarily responsible for leading PubMatic sales in India, working to maintain and create new publisher relationships for the company in this mobile-first region. He will be based in New Delhi and report in to Jason Barnes, vice president of Asia Pacific at PubMatic.

     

    Most recently Das was the Head of Video, Strategy & Monetisation at NDTV Convergence where he led the company’s video business.Prior to that, he served as Director-Strategic Accounts at LinkedIn India from 2010-2013, and built the platform’s B2B business. He has also held other strategic positions at Yahoo! India PvtLtd. and ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd.

     

    “We are delighted that Das has chosen to join PubMatic to support our business expansion plans in India,” said Barnes. “We are confident that his experience and track record for complex deliveries will put him in a great position to continue to build on our growth strategy for India.”

     

    Commenting on his appointment Das said, “I am very proud to join PubMatic at such a pivotal moment in the Indian market. Programmatic buying is still evolving in India, but with multiple publishers seeing significant traffic coming from mobile, we are in an ideal position to be leaders in the evolving programmatic space.  PubMatic addresses the publisher’s need to keep pace with innovation and change, giving them the marketing automation tools they need and the ability to scale their business.”

     

    Additional recent hires include Sagar Srivastavaon the Advertising Solutions team who joined PubMatic from comScore where he was a Sales Manager and before that an Account Planner at Google, and Harguneet Singh as a Senior Strategic Account Manager who joined PubMatic from Google where he worked closely with some of India’s largest publishers as a Strategic Partner Manager.Both will join Sudipto’steam in New Delhi.

     

  • The new company will focus on creating immersive VR content and communication

    Virtual Reality company “Digital Art VRe” unveiled

    By A Correspondent

     

    Setu Advertising and Digital Art have come together to form Digital Art VRe, a company focussed on creating customised, immersive virtual reality experiences.

     

    Based in Pune, both companies have complementing core competencies. While Digital Art specialises in 3D visualisation, realistic renderings with global illumination lighting systems and multimedia presentations, Setu Advertising is a 30 year old, full-service 360 degree brand communications and advertising agency.

     

    Rugwed Deshpande

    “We’re in the business of brand building and communication. And lifelike experiences are one of the most effective forms of communication. Virtual Reality is simply the means to offer that experience to people and to deliver uncluttered communication,” says Rugwed Deshpande, Director, Setu Advertising.

     

     

    Ajay Parge

    Ajay Parge, Managing Director, Digital Art, is very excited to work in the Virtual Reality Domain. “This is a medium where even the minutest details can make a big difference to the end product. The amount of perfection required is phenomenal, and that’s what makes it so challenging and interesting at the same time,” he says.

     

    As forerunners in the virtual reality scene in India, Deshpande and Parge attended the recent ‘Oculus Connect 2’, one of the biggest global events centered on virtual reality. Held in Hollywood from 23rd-25th September, ‘Oculus Connect 2′ is a platform where virtual reality thought leaders, innovators and creators come together, experts deliver keynote addresses and conduct workshops related to Game and Apps Design, Hardware, Product, Cinematic Virtual Realty and Virtual Reality Engineering.

     

    Commenting on being invited to the prestigious ‘Oculus Connect 2’ Deshpande said, “We were indeed excited and humbled to be a part of this mega event on virtual reality. It gave us a great platform to interact with global thought leaders and modern legends in the space of virtual reality. In fact we presented some of our own VR creations, one of which was that of Pune’s Shaniwarwada. Our overall effort falls in line with PM Narendra Modi’s vision of recreating museums and historic places, using virtual reality as a medium. Not only did our work garner much appreciation but one of our commercial VR projects, ‘K52’ done for a real estate client has now been featured on the official Oculus Share and AutoCAD websites. Obviously, we’re thrilled! In the second phase of implementation, we intend to work closely with the Government of India for education, entertainment and events. Prof. Mandar Rane, a senior faculty member from IIT Bombay has agreed to join us as a content adviser.”

     

    “Being at OC2 gave us an excellent opportunity to work with makers and experts of this technology and explore it in a much better manner. We are excited about future collaboration opportunities with the global developer community,” said Parge.

     

  • Move aimed towards revitalizing the brand ahead of the launch of its social multipurpose wallet

    TranServ appoints Happy Creative its creative agency

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mobile digital payments company TranServ announced the appointment of Hyderabad-based Happy Creative Services as its creative partner. The move comes ahead of the launch of TranServ’s social multipurpose wallet and will look to revitalize the company’s existing brand proposition in order to facilitate a better customer connect with the Indian users.

     

    Through this new social multipurpose wallet, TranServ aims to turn the Indian digital payments industry on its head by incorporating a social angle into digital transactions. The wallet is expected to be a huge hit with the smartphone-friendly mobile population of the country and will push forward TranServ’s aim of creating a ubiquitous, holistic digital payments ecosystem in the country.

     

    Speaking on the announcement, Asutosh Upadhyay, Head-Marketing & Product, TranServ, said, “As TranServ forays into the B2C market segment, we are looking to re-position our existing brand proposition to provide a more personal connect to the new segment of users. Bringing Happy Creative is a calculated decision that would give us an outsider’s perspective into the digital payments industry. This will help us garner more insights into the consumer psyche, which can then be leveraged to overcome traditional communication hurdles and will translate into products that can resonate better with the Indian population.”

     

    Praveen Das, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Happy Creative, commented, “Everyone uses money, but the communication has always been limited to older groups. It is only now that finance is becoming a mass offering across age groups, and we are thrilled to be part of this flux. Having designed brands in the digital space, we are especially excited for TranServ because we have done a complete re-branding of the brand’s name, positioning, and identity creation. We are now looking forward to how our efforts pan out in the digital ecosystem.”

     

    TranServ currently leverages innovative, easy to integrate APIs to deliver the best payments solutions to big, medium and small businesses across the country. With its social mobile wallet loaded with features such as referral-based incentive programmes, funds transfer from one wallet to another, money transfer from wallet to the bank account, reward redemption through rewards management companies, and social gifting,

     

  • DAN acquires Fountainhead Entertainment to further bossman Ashish Bhasin's quest to be #2 agency network

    Biggest ever Experiential Media buy as Dentsu Aegis acquires Fountainhead

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s being touted as the biggest ever buy of an experiential agency in India. Okay, okay, there was Encompass bought by WPP not long ago, but that was in a different era. If all milestones are achieved, the deal size could get the six Fountainhead owners richer by some 400 crore. In INR.

     

    So here’s the news: Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the acquisition of Fountainhead Entertainment Pvt.Ltd, one of India’s leading event and experiential agencies.

     

    Established in 1994 and now with more than 205 experiential specialists, Fountainhead is headquartered in Mumbai and has offices in Delhi and Bengaluru. Founded by Chairman Brian Tellis, Managing Director Neale Murray and Director Otis D’Souza and  later joined by co-directors, media honcho Pradeep Guha, V G Jairam and Owen Roncon,

     

    Post-acquisition, Fountainhead will continue to be led by co-founder and CEO Brian Tellis. The current management team will also continue as is. Tellis will report into Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia. Some time next year (2016), the existing experiential offering of psLIVE, with 86 people in India, will be merged with Fountainhead, making the combined agency India’s largest experiential and activation agency business.

     

    Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific said, “Fountainhead’s reputation in the event and activation market, and their extensive experience in both music and sports marketing, complements and strengthens our experiential offering in one of the region’s most exciting markets. This move represents a further step in our continued investment programme in the Indian market.We welcome Brian and the wider team to the network.”

     

    Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia said, “As the fastest growing network in India, we are continuing to expand our portfolio of diverse specialisations available to our growing client base. Fountainhead’s creative quality and reputation in the market make it the perfect addition to Dentsu Aegis Network India. Our unique ‘One P & L’ philosophy will help us bring their expertise to all Dentsu Aegis Network clients. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”

     

    Brian Tellis, Co-founder and CEO of Fountainhead said, “Our vision is to deliver world class experiences to our stake holders. To set benchmarks in delivery through cutting-edge creativity, innovation, value pricing and practices and processes.  We are thrilled to join Dentsu Aegis Network. The sheer dynamism of the group will open up opportunities for us. Our values are well aligned and the potentially combined entity of Fountainhead and psLIVE will become the most comprehensive experiential offering in India. We are very excited about this opportunity and the growth potential it offers. Fountainhead, a full service experiential agency, will now start to align with an enviable spectrum of brands through the Dentsu Aegis Network.”

     

    Fountainhead boasts a client base of more than a hundred on all types of events, digital initiatives, product launches, brand activation and meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. The five brands within the growing business are: Fountainhead Events, Oranjuice Entertainment, Fountainhead Activations, Fountainhead Corporate Journeys and Fountainhead Digital. Together, they deliver in excess of 350 events annually, a communiqué noted

     

    Fountainhead will retain its identity and branding, working alongside the other specialist Dentsu Aegis Network brands locally: Carat, iProspect, Isobar, Posterscope, Vizeum, Amnet, Dentsu media, Dentsu branded agencies (Dentsu Creative Impact, Dentsu Marcom, Dentsu Communications, Taproot Dentsu, Dentsu Webchutney), WATConsult and Milestone Brandcom.