MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • HUL, Titan Xylys, UB Group rope in Farhan Akhtar as brand ambassador

    By Meenakshi Verma

    Farhan Akhtar is the new star in the celebrity endorsement circuit, having cut five deals since the runaway success of his latest flick Zindagi Na Milegee Dobara released in July.
    The actor-director-producer has signed 4-5 deals with companies including Hindustan Unilever, United Spirits and Titan, two executives in the media planning industry said.
    Celebrity management firm Bling! Entertainment Solutions CMD Atul Kasbekar, who manages Farhan’s endorsement deals, said the actor has signed up with five brands, but refused to name them or share other details.
    Akhtar-who is nowadays fulltime engaged in editing of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Don 2, which he is producing and directing, said he will be selective about the brands he endorses.
    “It is important to remember that I am not lending just my face to a brand, but my reputation as well,” he said. “It makes sense to endorse products that I use in my everyday life,” he said.
    Hindustan Unilever, the country’s largest advertiser and FMCG player, has signed Akhtar for its water purifier brand Pureit, the two media buyers said. Vijay Mallya’s United Spirits, the country’s largest alcohol firm, has roped in the actor-director for one of its liquor brands, while watchmaker Titan has signed Akhtar for its high-end Xylys range, the media buyers said. A Japanese healthcare brand is also in talks to make him its brand ambassador.
    Media buyers say Akhtar is charging an estimated Rs 4 crore per year and most deals are for two years. Hindustan Unilever and United Spirits did not offer any comment.
    The trigger for India Inc’s newfound interest in Akhtar is standout performance as a casual, chilled-out young poet Imran in Zindagi Na Milegee Dobara. Celebrity management firm Kwan Entertainment & Marketing Solutions COO Indranil Das Blah says that there is a renewed interest among brands for Farhan Akhtar after the success of this movie. “He is an actor, singer and director, which makes him unique but whether he can emerge as big as some of the other big actors on the brand endorsement space remains to be seen,” Blah said.
    Lyricist and McCann Worldgroup Executive Chairman Prasoon Joshi says the Indian youth will connect with Akhtar who is an unusual star.”He is intelligent, exceptional and effortless and very real unlike the usual Bollywood stars. I believe youth connects with stars who are real,” he said.
    Akhtar’s breakthrough in the endorsement world comes exactly a decade after the son of Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani stormed the film world with his directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai, a super hit that won the national award for the best feature film. “Farhan is someone who stops at nothing and appeals to the youth or anyone who is young at heart,” said Mayank Pareek, managing executive officer, marketing & sales, of Maruti Suzuki. The carmaker had signed Akhtar for its A-Star compact car.
    But Akhtar is choosy. “I will represent the philosophy of the brand to the consumer, so it is imperative for me to agree with it.” His criteria for choosing a deal include “aesthetic, social responsibility, my conscience and on a creative level, the clarity of the idea and its ability to be communicated as simply as possible”.

    Source:The Economic Times
    Copyright 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd. All Rights Reserved

  • Everest Brand Solutions has hired Arnab Banerjee as Head of Creative, Art, for Delhi

    Banerjee scales creative heights of Everest

    By A Correspondent

    The Delhi office of Everest is set to see a creative shakeup with Mr Arnab Banerjee coming in as Head of Creative  Art. Mr Banerjee has had extensive experience of over 11 years in mainstream advertising with Ogilvy, Euro RSCG, Redifussion DY&R, Grey Worldwide, McCann Erickson and DDB Mudra, and his last stint was as a Creative Consultant with August Communications. He will be reporting to Rahul Jauhari, NCD, Everest Brand Solutions.

    Everest is the 2nd oldest agency in India, born in 1946. The agency is a creatively led, full-service agency with a reputation for delivering fresh, original thinking. Mr Banerjee will add to the agency’s team of seasoned professionals from diverse backgrounds. He has handled multi-national clients like Wrigley Orbit and Boomer, Philips, MasterCard, Hutch (now Vodafone) and national brands like Airtel, ITC, ONGC and others. His experience in handling media and publication clients includes The Statesman in Kolkata and the India Today Group in Delhi.

    A nature worshipper, Mr Banerjee is devotedly interested in photography, trekking, cycling, and also film studies, ancient civilization and graphic design. He was nominated for the BBC Photographer of the Year in 2006, the only Indian among twelve finalists. On his joining, Mr Jauhari, Arnab brings just the mix of talent, experience and enthusiasm that we seek to inject into our creative pool. His passion will be felt equally by our clients and people within the agency.

    Mr Naveen Saraswat COO, Everest Delhi said,Arnab is a great ideas person. He is passionate about doing good work and his excellent sense of design makes his creative output stand out visually. These abilities combined with his strong leadership skills will enhance the quality of the work that we do for our clients and add value to their brands.

     

  • http://mxm.mediology.in/?backend_req=1

    Kyoorius DesignYatra returns to Goa

    Kyoorius DesignYatra gets underway in Goa today, with a line-up of speakers across diverse design disciplines, including corporate identity, branding, graphic design, digital strategy, installation design and architecture design. The conference is from September 8th (evening) to Septemeber 10th. The theme for this year’s conference is Next- what’s next in the field of design, branding and visual communications.

    This year’s speakers include legendary Dutch book designer Irma Boom; digital strategist and once described as the Godfather of Guerilla (Marketing)-Mark Chalmers, founder, Perfect Fools; bestselling author of How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul and independent publisher Adrian Shaughnessy; the founding trio of Eva Rucki, Conny Freyer and Sebastien Noel from UK’s leading experiential design agency Troika; Nathan Cooper, creative director at Anomaly, London; Richard Holman, founder and lead creative director at UK’s leading agency devilfish, the chatty Liza Enebis more popularly known as Loveliza to the loyal audience of 5000 listeners who tune in to her radio show Typeradio daily; Michael Johnson of johnson banks, often referred to as one of Britain’s foremost designers; noted creative mind Hermann Vaske, well- known British installation designer Peter Higgins and leading figure on the Indian architecture scene Sandeep Khosla.

    The organisers say what will make this year especially meaningful for delegates will be the screening of a special short film, directed by celebrated web designer and documentary director Hillman Curtis and produced by Kyoorius, featuring noted design commentator Debbie Millman in a conversation with the legendary Massimo Vignelli.

    In addition, the two-day conference will screen the edited version of a film on the life and times of one of the most iconic design partnerships in the history of design- Lella and Massimo Vignelli in the documentaryDesign is One- The Vignellis,directed and produced by Kathy Brew and Richard Guerra.

    Kyoorius DesignYatra, now in its sixth year, celebrates excellence in design across disciplines and has brought together speakers like Sir Martin Sorrell, Stefan Sagmeister, Tyler Brule, Paula Scher, Bruno Maag, Michael Ian Kay, Gert Dumbar, Wally Olins, Kyle Cooper and Neville Brody among others.

    Says Rajesh Kejriwal, founder, Kyoorius, DesignYatra has served as a valuable meeting point for agencies in India and abroad in the sphere of design, branding and visual communications. It has been an opportunity to understand and learn from some of the finest minds in the field, delve into their creative process and be inspired by their work.

    Adds Bindu Nair Maitra, editor, Kyoorius Design magazine, This year, we embarked on a special initiative, which is a property we plan to sustain well after DesignYatra this year is done and dusted. It’s our Tumblr blog- Road to DesignYatra, where we plan to document all the special memories and images from previous editions of DesignYatra and build a hearty online conversation about how the conference has influenced delegates and speakers alike.

    Incepted in 2006, Kyoorius DesignYatra is an annual design conference that has attracted a cumulative audience of 8500 delegates over the last five years. In 2008, a special edition of DesignYatra was held in Malaysia on the invitation of that country’s advertising association. Past speakers at previous DesignYatras have included names like Sir Martin Sorrell, Paula Scher, Tyler Brule, Wally Olins, Michael Wolff, Piyush Pandey, Ross Lovegrove, Erik Kessels, Stefan Sagmeister and Sir Rodney Fitch, to name a few.

    Kyoorius DesignYatra is one of India’s foremost platforms for the intersection of design, branding and visual communications. The conference has served as a valuable meeting point for agencies in India and abroad in the sphere of design, branding and visual communications; an opportunity to understand and learn from some of the finest minds in the field, delve into their creative process and be inspired by their work. Kyoorius DesignYatra is a must-attend event for anyone involved in brand communication.

    You can check http://www.designyatra.com for further details.

  • Suzlon, the wind power company, is reaching out to youth with its p.a.l.s (Pure Air Lovers Society) initiative

    Suzlon goes for youth connect with green message

    Why would a wind turbine supplier’s campaign target the youth? That’s just what Suzlon has done with p.a.l.s (Pure Air Lovers Society). The campaign, which was kickstarted with a teaser and culminated in highly visible print advertising, aims at driving audiences to its website (http://pals.in/) which indicates that it is looking at bringing the young population into its ambit as they are the ones most active on the digital platform. The website too is unlike what one would imagine from a company that’s into wind power, as p.a.l.s is young, refreshing and interactive  in short, everything that would seem inviting to the youth.

     

    If one were to look at the link between Suzlon and p.a.l.s, it is really the issue of clean and energy-efficient quality of air. The inspiration for the initiative came from the truth that air pollution and the quality of air in our cities is becoming a serious issue today. This, coupled with research which suggests that Indians are concerned about this and address it as their number one environmental concern, was reason enough for the crusade exhorting people to stop air pollution. The company in fact quotes that more than 5 lakh people a year die of air pollution-related ailments in India.

     

    Ms Dharini Mishra, Global Head for Brand, Suzlon Group, explains, Suzlon has always been committed to sustainable development of the country. Since we are in the business of clean, pollution-free energy from the wind, we thought Pure Air was the best way to connect our philosophy with the youth of India and the country in general.

     

    The timing of the initiative is well thought of, as Indian wind energy is attracting global attention. Also, Suzlon’s order books are looking strong and giving the company the confidence of being well placed in the Indian market.

     

    Suzlon is India’s leading wind energy company for more than 13 years now. We already

    had a cause which is inherent to our business but we were waiting for the most

    engaging manner and right time to take it to the people, that’s how Ms Mishra explains the timing of the initiative.

     

    The youth connect may not be apparent at the outset but it’s clear when one understands the vision of Suzlon, which is all about a better tomorrow, a change for the better and renewable energy. Ms Mishra added, These attributes are directly related to the young. India’s

    youth is bringing in wide sweeping changes to the way we live and do business. We strongly feel that connecting our brand with people of a young mindset will see a revolution of change across this country which is very critical for our sector and our business as a whole.

     

    The campaign, which is conceptualized by LoweLintas, has seen a huge response with the number of p.a.l.s growing by more than 1,400 a day. The website has stories, videos and real-time updates on what pals are up to, besides other engaging and interactive features. The company sees it as one of the most successful social cause campaigns for the youth. In the first phase the advertising managed to create awareness about the cause, but now Suzlon will move on to activations and tools that encourage p.a.l.s to make a tangible impact. In this phase the focus will be on partnerships, school connect programs and creating a digital stir.

     

     

  • "The unique point of view that comes from your own gut, from your own perspective of the world, is what makes it fresh. Freshness is a must in a creative person"

    We have broken the shackles: Josy Paul

    BBDO India celebrated its third anniversary on August 30. Mr Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of the agency, is a happy man as in an existence of just three years, BBDO India has established its credentials as an agency nurturing creative excellence that incubates impactful ideas. As Mr Paul puts it, We create acts and not ads.

    Ritu Midha of MXM India caught up with Mr Paul on the anniversary day. Presented below are excerpts of the stimulating conversation encompassing 25 years of Indian advertising, Mr Paul’s journey through these years and of course BBDO  and what makes the agency the creative powerhouse it is today. Enjoy!

     

    You are celebrating the third anniversary of BBDO India. How does it feel?

    It feels great. We are celebrating three years of not being in advertising. We started three years ago with the thought that India needs more acts than ads. We started with a belief that there is a greater social consciousness in consumers, and the consumer is not only father, mother daughter… or any other relationship. Besides, the family or personal values, a social value is also creeping into the human beings. India is far more socially aware, and we felt that brands must be able to resonate with that. And that is what we are trying to achieve.

    This year, we won four Lions at the Cannes – one of them a Black Lion. This year, for the first time, Cannes has created Black Lion for advertising effectiveness  there are only six of them. One that we have is the only one in Asia. We are celebrating that as well.

    You sure must be a very happy man.

    Yes, of course. The awards are a big testimony to the team thinking together. It is a young team and all the accolades help in our continued strive for excellence.

    Tell me something more about the environment at the time of your launch.

    Well, at that time media fragmentation had started, and the only way to bring them all together was and is, with an excellent idea. A fancy line was just not enough – you needed an action-oriented idea based on behavior, which then allowed all mediums to get involved. It holds true today as well.

    We have proved the power of action oriented idea with campaigns like women against lazy stubble  it started on Facebook, Aviva great wall of education that started as a wall on the road, Quaker healthy heart mission that was a website and invited people to take healthy heart test and Quit India Movement for Nicorette which spanned various media. An interesting one down South (Tamil Nadu) was Lemon Patalum, which we did for 7up. It is a whole platform to invite kids to play light-hearted, lemony, rubber ball cricket with their superstar CSK. Today more than 2000 teams participate in it. We are creating platforms. Many such things are in the pipeline.

    Would you then say that television might cease to be the lead medium?

    TV will continue to be at the core, because it allows you to reach a lot more people faster, with a singular message, but the TV would not be just a 30-second spot, it will be more about content. For example, the Anna Hazare movement does not have any ads but it is there as news, views and debate and also images. What you create may be a documentary, just a vignette or a quick news item. The message can keep changing.

    If television is only a standalone thought where you are just cracking a joke or saying something in an entertaining manner, it becomes just for that moment, but if it is part of a larger consciousness, or a larger behavioral activity  it is part of the continuum, it is part of one energy wave  and hence it is 10 times more effective. A lot of our work is in that area.

     

    How can one maximize the creative impact?

    There are so many kinds of people with so many different mediums at their disposal  you have to maximize based on the budget you have. If you don’t have a great budget, and you have to just do a car sticker, it still has to be a great sticker. It is your ambition, together with what the environment allows and offers you. It is all about how you react to the world around you.

     

    To a very large extent, media effectiveness is a game of budgets; to what extent does it hold true for creative?

    It is a very interesting question. Honestly, as a creative person I can’t answer the question on the budgets  I can only chat about the impact. And when you have an effective idea, you know it has great impact value.

    If you have a larger budget, maybe a big celebrity in the ad, it might have a bigger jump. However, the core of good communication is ALWAYS an impactful idea. Some companies have the ability to take an impactful idea and distribute it widely to make the impact much larger. Others put it in a specific medium because that is the only money they have and that is what they need at that point. So big budget or small, you need an impactful idea.

    I will give you an interesting example. We did a piece of work for a company called White Collared Hippies  an alternative travel company set up by young Gujarati guys from California. It won us an award, and quite a few nominations at Cannes. They do not have large media budgets, so they have posted the campaign we did for them on their own website and their Facebook page. While it may not be distributed widely, and they might not be getting customers, this campaign is getting them partnerships. They are getting famous in the B2B space, the campaign is helping them in creating the echo system.

    To what extent does gut feel help a creative person?

    Gut feel is essential to a creative person. If there is no gut, no leap, no personal filter, you cannot add to the world. The unique point of view that comes from your own gut, from your own perspective of the world, is what makes it fresh. Freshness is a must in a creative person.

    However, gut feel does not work in isolation. We are also studying consumer behavior at media level. Though we have not set up any system to segregate content and understand it in different ways, we are watching what consumers are viewing and what they are gravitating towards.

    Moving to another oft discussed phenomenon – user generated content. Do you see it happening in creative?

    Well, in creative, there are a few examples but I do not know whether they fit into your definition of user generated content. The user is generating more content  not because he is creating the content but because he is forcing the content  for instance in the case of Old Spice campaign: The man your man could be. It started with one television spot, became three television spots – people started getting excited about it. They wanted their own version on the Net. So Old Spice said you speak to us, and we would start creating it online. So the consumer was talking to the advertiser  and he was creating it live for them. It is a very interesting format.

    A slightly different question, how has the ad world changed from the time you returned from the Himalayas about 25 years ago?

    Some things have changed and some things have not changed  but everything has definitely evolved. Interestingly, advertising is teaching us, especially me as an individual to also evolve.

    I am going with the flow…

    There was a time when we were doing a lot of print. There were many good print writers in mid-80s, around the time I joined. It gave way to a bit of cinema, and then to a lot of television. You started enjoying that.

    In 2005, we launched CNN IBN, with Rajdeep Sardesai and Dilip Venkatraman, and with that we pioneered two-way television in India. You realised that television is no longer the medium that just beams down on you.

    It isn’t just the acceptance of new worlds, and knowing that your past is irrelevant. It allows you to enjoy what is happening. It is just explorative  you are doing it because you are enjoying new things. It is not that you know something very well, it is that you don’t know enough about anything and that allows you to enjoy everything. That is a nice space to be for me personally.

     

    And how has Indian advertising changed in terms of quality?

    Advertising has really opened up and it has become very free  it is not really as structured as it was before  it has changed with the changing times. It is getting better and better and integrating with the real world. It was not so real earlier. I remember David Ogilvy asking me during his India visit in 1989, Why are all the women on Indian television completely pink-faced  pasted with makeup  while I have never seen any such lady in a five-star hotel or on the road? I had no answer, and the reason was we had become so used to seeing two different worlds on television, and in real life. Today when I look around I realise that we have broken all those shackles. Openness, freedom and new ways of looking at the same problems, is there. There are young, open-minded people  who are far better than us, far better than me at least.
    Is there a dearth of talent in advertising?

    There is a lot of talent  but talent over time starts becoming solidised… fossilised. They accept only what they know from before. Cholesterol starts getting into the system  and the only way to beat that talent cholesterol is continuously asking questions. The solution is going out and getting new people into the system  so that the whole system gets energised.


    Coming back to you, how is the experience in BBDO different from that in David?

    I have never seen it as difference. I see it as a continuum. The spirit of David was the spirit of challenge  the ability to question everything. It operated in a small space, with young clients who in most cases did not have a national footprint. We never had giant businesses. In a way it was the seed of BBDO. What BBDO gave you was space, size, ambition… the ability to integrate with the larger world and to be a part of one world philosophy. BBDO Worldwide is just a giant David – it is a great agency that is doing great work across the world – not only for challenger brands but also for leadership brands. What has stayed is the spirit of challenge  and what has changed perhaps is size, ambition, the platform, the dream, the people you are working with  the osmosis  the ability to integrate with the larger world.


    So, what plans for the agency?

    BBDO is not about me, it is about brilliant talent led by a fantastic team. We are an organization  and not a one-man band. Three years, and we have built a fantastic foundation.

    We want to build on that, and we want to build through national clients. We are a very cohesive agency with a new world mindset. We can solve lot of national problems from a non-advertising perspective, and that’s why we say we create acts not ads. We are in the business of solving a communication issue or using communication for solving a national or social issue or using communication to build something or to create relationships. We feel confident vibrations that we can do anything today.


    My last question, do the mountains still beckon you?

    It is important to try to find space to the assimilate speed of what you are receiving. Running away to the mountain again is great. It gives you time to catch up with what the world is telling you. You need time to receive. You are using that time to reflect. You are trying to find pauses and spaces in mountains, nature, mist and rain, to catch up with incredible experiences so that you can learn from it.

  • CreativeLand Asia leads the pack with a Grand Prix as Indian agencies win 34 metals at the Asia-Pacific festival

    Indian agencies bag 34 metals at Spikes Asia

     

    By A Correspondent

    If the Cannes Lions is the Olympics, Spikes Asia is the Asian Games. Competition is stiff, but heck there is no North and South America and no Europe.

    But this is no attempt to undermine the rep of Spikes Asia, the annual congregation of ad, marcom and marketing professionals in Singapore. At the three-day event which concluded last evening with much merrymaking in Singapore, Indian advertising boys and girls came back with 34 metals.

     

     

     

    It may be remembered that the score at Cannes Lions this year was 24 metals, but then not everyone at the Lions goes in for a Spikes.

     

     

    So, here’s the agency-wise tally:

     

     

    Agency

    GP

    G

    S

    B

    Total
    BBDO India

    1

    1

    6

    8
    Beehive

    1

    1
    Contract

    1

    1
    Creativeland Asia

    1

    1

    2
    JWT

    1

    3

    4
    Leo Burnett

    1

    1
    McCann

    1

    1
    Mediacom

    1

    1

    2
    Mindshare

    1

    1
    Mudra

    2

    6

    8
    Ogilvy

    1

    1

    2
    Taproot

    1

    1
    TBWA

    1

    1

    2


     

     


    In the metal types, here’s how it appears:

     

     

    Tally
    Grand Prix

    1
    Gold

    3
    Silver

    9
    Bronze

    21
    Total

    41

     

    Note, Indian entrants came back empty-handed in PR, Mobile and Outdoor.

    In the special awards category, Mudra Communications, Mumbai gets the third place as the Agency of the Year. O&M Malaysia gets first and DDB Group Singapore scores the second place. The big one definitely is for Raj Kurup’s CreativeLand Asia which is the Independent Agency of the Year, an award which celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurship. Samsonite won the Advertiser of the Year. In the category for Network of the Year, which is awarded to the Network which gets highest scores for entries across categories include DDB, BBDO and JWT in that order. India drew a blank in the Media Agency of the Year Category. Last year, Mediacom was runner-up.

    The Spikes Awards has been around for around a quarter of a century and the Spikes Asia Advertising Festival is a collaboration between the International Festival of Creativity, organisers of Cannes Lions, Dubai Lynx and Eurobest, and Haymarket, publishers of CampaignIndia. According to the organisers, Spikes Asia provides “the region’s growing creative and advertising industry with a platform to network and exchange ideas, bringing together some of the finest creative thinkers from across the region and around the world”.

    The Awards, judged by leading international and regional creatives including many from India, recognise top creative work in the categories of Film, Film Craft, Print, Print & Poster Craft, Outdoor, Radio, Digital, Integrated, Direct, Sales Promotion, Media, Design, Mobile and PR.

  • The European Bosch Home Appliances has announced their entry and launch of their product range in India, giving the creative mandates to O&M and media buying to OMD.

    O&M, OMD get Bosch Home Appliances mandates

    By A Correspondent

    Bosch Siemens Home Appliances (BSH Group) is all set to launch in India. Their new TVC created by the creative team of O&M will be launched today.

    The company has appointed OMD as their media agency and O&M as their creative agency.

    The company will address the media today to officially announce their India entry and launch of their home appliances product range

    Mr Marc Hantscher, Managing Director and CEO of BSH Home Appliances Pvt Ltd will discuss the new product range to be launched and the company’s retailing strategy for India.

    BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, (or Bosch and Siemens Household Appliances, BSH) is manufacturer of home appliances in Europe and one of the leading companies in the sector worldwide. The group stemmed from a joint venture set up in 1967 between Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart) and Siemens AG (Munich) and posted annual sales of 9,073 billion Euro (13,000 billion US Dollars) in the year 2010. Today, BSH operates 41 factories in 13 countries in Europe, the USA, Latin America and Asia. Together with a global network of sales and customer service firms, the BSH  today is made up of about 70 companies in 46 countries, with a total workforce of close to 43,000 people.

    The BSH product portfolio covers a wide spectrum. It includes large home appliances for cooking, dishwashing, laundry (washing and drying), refrigeration and freezing, as well as a multitude of high-quality small appliances, such as fully automatic espresso machines, floor care and hot water appliances (consumer products). One of BSH’s particular areas of expertise lies in built-in appliances.

  • The new prez lists his priorities as he takes charge of the Ad Club

    My Way: Shashi Sinha on his priorities as President of Ad Club Bombay

    Shashi SinhaBy Tuhina Anand

    The Advertising Club Bombay has appointed its new officebearers for the year 2011-12 with Mr Shashi Sinha as its President. As revealed first by MxMIndia on September 9, Mr Sinha’s appointment was confirmed on Friday after the Club’s annual general meeting. Mr Sunil Lulla, the MD and CEO of Times Television Network, is Vice President. Mr Ajay Kakar, CMO – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group is the new Secretary, Mr Sujay Ghosh of Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd is the Joint Secretary and Pratap Bose, CEO-Mudra Max the Treasurer.

     

    Mr Sinha, the newly elected President of the Advertising Club Bombay and CEO of Lodestar Universal India, talks about the priorities that he and his managing committee will take on this year for Ad Club.

     

    Continuing education:

    The Ad Club has been organizing knowledge series and training programme for the fraternity. We are looking at increasing the frequency of these knowledge sharing session which would help the fraternity.

     

    Making the ad club relevant to youngsters:

    While we have big tickets events like the Abby awards, Effies and Emvies which sees participation from young in our industry, we have to look at ways by which the Ad Club can be relevant to these youngsters. We want to encourage them to become members and want them to feel proud to be a part of the Ad Club.

     

    Make it inclusive:

    When the Ad Club Bombay was started, the city being the hub for the industry was a leading body but was also inclusive in its approach as other cities did not have such representative bodies. Now many cities have their own Ad Clubs but we would want to adopt the approach of making Ad Club Bombay a place where fraternity from other places is also welcome. We already have our Abby Awards which sees participation from across the country and the idea is to involve lot more people like in the judging process who belong to our industry but are in different city.

     

    Restore credibility:

    The Abby Awards has come under much scrutiny and has been criticized in the past. This year we tried to set things right by making the awards more transparent and tried to curb the accusations which were on votes being sold. We hope to restore the credibility of the awards so that fraternity truly holds it in high esteem. But one has to also understand that flak has come only for Abby’s and not for our other awards be it Effies or Emvies. We have tried to plug the hole when it came to creative awards but it becomes difficult beyond a point. Nevertheless, to restore credibility of our awards is our biggest priority.

     

    Asia-Pacific Effie to India:

    We have got the licence to host the Asia-Pacific Effie in India next year and we see this as a great opportunity. The Effie Awards recognize excellence in effective marketing communications and involves marketers in a big way. In fact, the grouse of the industry on awards is often that the marketers are not interested in these awards but Effie is different in that context. Hosting the Asia-Pacific Effie in India will give us a bigger platform to involve the marketers and the fraternity from the region.

     

  • With Messi and Djokovic providing the star power, big advertisers turn to non-cricket sports like soccer and tennis

    Life beyond cricket: Messi and Djokovic pull advertisers to soccer and tennis

    By Meenakshi Verma Ambwani

     

    It turns out the grand success of the Lionel Messi show in an Argentina-Venezuela football friendly in Kolkata early this month was not an exception as new generation Indians and big advertisers chasing them increasingly turn to non-cricket sports such as soccer and tennis.

     

    In the past three years, TV viewership for sports like soccer, wrestling, tennis, car and bike racing has been growing at high double digits, according to data from television rating agency TAM.

     

    This has encouraged advertisers to spend on these sports like never before.

     

    “Brands who want to reach out to the young and contemporary generation are looking to invest on sports like tennis and soccer,” says Madison Media CEO Ms Punitha Aurmugam, adding that cricket is expensive and full of brand clutter.

     

    Media planners say big advertisers are spending an estimated 8-10% of their budgets on non-cricket sports, a massive improvement from just 3-4 years ago when all the focus was on cricket.

     

    Ad spots on a tennis Grand Slam like Wimbeldon are sold at an estimated Rs 1.25-1.50 lakh per ten seconds, while English Premier League soccer matches command up to Rs 1 lakh and F1 races get Rs 75,000-1.25 lakh per ten seconds.

     

    “Advertising revenues for premier sport events like Wimbledon or F1 have been growing 20-30% on an average,” says ESPN Software India Senior Director Business Development Mr Rathindra Basu.

     

    Already, several corporates like Airtel, Venky’s, Mahindra & Mahindra and United Spirits are investing in sports like F1, soccer and Moto Grand Prix. “With Indian corporates involved in developing some of these sports there is a growing interest among consumers as well as advertisers,” says ZenithOptimedia Managing Partner Mr Sanjoy Chakrabarty.

     

    The Kolkata football match that featured Messi on September 2 attracted as many eyeballs as a new serial does on its debut on a general entertainment channel. It garnered viewership rating, or TRP of 1.2 for males above the age of 15 in the top five metros as per TAM data. Media planners say it was impressive for a friendly match.

     

    Broadcasters of non-cricket sports bet on subscription revenues to ensure returns. For instance, half a million Tata Sky households subscribed to Ten Action Plus-which shows about 500 matches of European soccer clubs a year-within a few days after the channel was made available on the DTH platform.

     

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Lodestar CEO Shashi Sinha is set to be the new President of the Advertising Club Bombay

    Shashi Sinha will be Big Boss at Ad Club Bombay

    After two terms as President of the Advertising Club Bombay, Mr Bhaskar Das of The Times of India Group will make way for Mr Shashi Sinha, CEO of Lodestar Universal India. Mr Sinha is set to assume responsibility this month. Mr Sunil Lulla, the MD and CEO of Times Television Network, will be Vice President. Mr Ajay Kakar, CMO – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group will be the new Secretary and Pratap Bose, CEO-Mudra Max the Treasurer. The managing committee is reported to have been elected unopposed.

    Mr Sinha has been Vice President of the Club and is also an active member of various media industry forums. After running the media awards effectively, he was entrusted with responsibility of Chairman of the Awards Governing Council following disagreement between the Ad Club and the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) on the issue of the Abby Awards at GoaFest.

    After being mired in controversy for three years, thanks to Mr Sinha’s leadership, the high profile Creative Awards were held without any leaks and raging controversies.

  • Amul takes the road less travelled

    Aim and Objectives

    Amul is a Rs 10,000 crore company. The challenge was to maintain a steady growth of 20 percent year-on-year thereby furthering the aggressive sales targets for individual brands.

     

    The Background:

    Amul caters to an all-encompassing, universal TG; right from the woman of the house who buys Amul Butter, Ghee, Dahi, Cheese, Milk etc., to kids consuming Amul chocolates and Ice creams, and the youth consuming the Amul Kool Beverages.

    With a wide brand portfolio of 45 brands spanning across 14 product categories, Amul’s distribution network is ever-increasing and so is the need for aggressive marketing and advertising of these brands.

    But Amul faces strict spends restrictions, having an A:S ratio of less than 1% and yet needs to compete with megabrands like Nestle, Britannia whose A:S ratio is more than 5%.

    The media planner’s dilemma was how to do justice to 43 brands when the budgets would at best suffice for just 2 or 3 brands.

    We needed a single unifying thought which: Gives the brand a larger-than-life aura; allows for Amul to integrate its brands seamlessly; allows for adaptation to other geographies and profiles; cuts across the nati9on, binds across age and SEC.

    This unifier thought had to ensure that all our brands got the required visibility and in a manner that could help us break clutter, within our budget constraints

     

    How the strategy was implemented:

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 1: Amul took a brave decision of ploughing 90% of ad budgets into impact property buys rather than spot buys with sponsorships thrown in.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 2: Customizing format shows for Amul in each of the priority markets.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 3: Within each show the Amul range was incorporated so as to showcase Amul’s width and depth.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 4: For each of the properties, Amul identified situations within show content and conceived ideas to integrate the brands seamlessly, thus creating a property within a property for each of the brands.

    Some brands/ideas were taken across properties to highlight Amul’s omnipresence and hence maintained a thread of continuity across properties. For example, Amul’s iconic mascot The Buttergirl was seen across all shows.

    Amul’s beverage range was highlighted through a branded Amul Mug which was placed on the Judges table across all shows. The Mugs were branded by the various Amul beverage brands such as Amul Kool, Amul Kafe and Amul Koko. Thus, Amul Beverages were seen week on week across all shows

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 5: Some brand integrations were specific to specific properties and were integrated basis content situation identified in the show. Examples are Amul Masterchef and Amul Chhote Ustaad.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 6: The client partnered these shows in true Amul style and pulled out all stops to promote every show in a unique manner.

     

    Non-Conventional Media Decision No 7: Ensured amplification of every association through a complete surround sound via multimedia promotions.


    Expectations v/s Outcome:

    Amul gained tremendous mileage across each of these shows as a result of which Amul sales saw a surge of approximately 20-30% for brands which were technically zero budget and were struggling to move beyond single digit growth.

     

    Amul’s omnipresence was seen through:

    • 800 PR articles
    • 23 hours of in show brand presence
    • 872040 secs through promos
    • 27637 Promo GRPs

     

    Overall Brand Amul grew by 22% in 2010-2011. In terms of Brand Health Scores, Amul has seen a rise in its purity, trust and popularity scores by nearly 15%.Sales for brands like Ice cream, Paneer, Dahi, Mithaimate, Cheese soared by approximately 30 percent.

    The promo mileage that Amul got from these associations was worth Rs 32 crore, higher than the annual Promo GRPs for Britannia and Nestle combined.

    Like any other FMCG brand Amul garnered a reach of 90% @1+ and 80% @ 3+ levels. Healthy for any FMCG brand.

    Amul was present over 123 weeks cumulatively as Title Sponsor, with huge surround sound as part of marketing promotions for individual shows. The icing on the cake was the fact that this entry won a Gold in GoaFest 2011 for Best Use of Sponsorship.

  • "Indians, by nature, are changing. Earlier one wanted to use the brands that their parents used. Now one can't, even if the brand is very good"

    The top of the consumer pyramid is growing: Sam Balsara

    Mr Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison Communications Pvt Ltd, is one of the most influential people in Indian media. It is not only because he owns one of the largest media agencies in the country, and has a 51 percent stake in the other (Mediacom India), but because of his understanding of the Indian consumer and industry issues, and his ability to be one step ahead.

    Ritu Midha of MXM India spoke with Mr Balsara on topics ranging from the current consumer sentiment, experiential marketing, industry issues and more. Excerpts from the conversation:

    GDP growth at 7.7% is the lowest since December 2009. Besides, a recent AC Nielsen study shows that consumer sentiment has gone down. What does it augur for the advertising industry?

    More than slowdown, I think the sentiment is getting a bit affected, and this, indeed, is going to impact the advertising industry. I would say advertisers, or for that matter categories, which do not advertise regularly would get seriously affected by the prevailing sentiment.

    Talking of specific media, advertising on TV would be the last to be affected. Advertising in English print and outdoor would be affected first and in a slightly deeper way than advertising. The television, to my mind, provides far more flexibility, and tends to keep the inventory full… at whatever rate.

    On the positive side, however, India continues to be a shining star on the global map. Many more foreign companies will come to India with their global brands and competition for the established brands will increase. It surely means new players will have to spend aggressively to carve a niche for themselves, while the established players will have to step up their spends to keep ahead. This would, in a way, counterbalance the ad spends.

    We must not forget that India is an under-advertised economy. Our GDP-to-advertising ratio continues to be one of the lowest in the world.

    Will the mass brands cut down ad budgets more than luxury brands?

    Mass, specifically mass FMCG brands, understand that advertising is as important for them as raw material or packaging.

    It is discretionary categories like financial institutions and real estate and not FMCG which could cut down or exit totally like financial institutions, and real estate. 50 to 60 percent of television advertising is FMCG advertising. In print, FMCG would be less than 15 percent. And that is the reason television would not be hit that badly.

    Moving on to consumers, do you believe that the top of the pyramid is expanding

    Yes it is. The rich in India are growing richer, and that too at a terrific rate. This has led to luxury brands coming in and doing good business.

    But from a media perspective, these brands use more of events, CRM and experiential marketing. The impact of their advertising on typical mass media is a bit limited.

    This, in turn, should give a boost to aspirational brands.

     

    You just mentioned experiential marketing. Do you believe its time has come?

    Experiential marketing is growing at a phenomenal rate. More and more companies are now focusing on integrated marketing and engagement. So directionally, it is the way forward.

    Marketers now know that they need to engage their prospective target group in a more meaningful and deeper way to in order to convert them into customers and retain them.

    Earlier, a television commercial would suffice, but things are changing now. In addition to traditional advertising, you need to seduce the customer in variety of different ways. Awareness about one’s brand is not enough. Marketing spends in experiential marketing are substantially increasing.


    Are advertisers also reconsidering their retail and PoS strategies?

    Most large advertisers now have a focused set of people to look after modern retail and merchandising. Though organised retail is pegged between 6 to 10 percent of the total retail, for many upmarket brands these figures would be much higher, and for them to succeed adequate expertise in the modern retail area is a must.

    As per a few gurus, many purchase decisions are now made in the last seven minutes before the actual purchase happens.

    This is definitely true for smaller value products  the way a product is displayed and merchandised makes a huge difference.

    Indians, by nature, are changing. Earlier one wanted to use the brands that their mom and dad used. Now one can’t use the same brand that one’s mom and dad used, even if it is a very good brand. In addition to it, there is an increasing tendency to switch brands. If last month one used brand A, this month brand B would be the brand of choice. Loyalties are very difficult to come by, and experimentation is going to a higher plane it earlier was. People are not afraid to experiment with new brands and experiences. I think all this is putting the market on a boil.

     

    Moving on to a term I am still trying to understand well  neuro marketing. Do you see it helping advertisers?

    Given the two facts, a, world spends 400 to 500 billion dollars in advertising, and b, the phenomenal development in both medicine and technology  it stands to reason that we should spend a lot more effort in understanding why and how people buy.

    I have no doubt that in next 15 to 20 years, we would have a set of dos and don’ts as well as aids. These would provide a scientific basis on what to say and how, and what to show and what not to show. All this would definitely trigger sales.

    Right now in India, it is still in the parking stage. Not much happening as of now.


    And in what stage is digital as of now?

    Well, digital is finally at take-off stage. Last year, our digital arm grew at around 50 percent, and this year we are expecting 35 percent growth. Many large advertisers, including FMCGs, are now taking a serious look at digital as the medium to connect and engage with customers.

    It is now moving to a more serious attempt at using digital, and spending serious money on it to deliver business results. Digital is going to get very important in the next one or two years.

     

    Which of the Madison arms are growing faster in percentage terms?

    These are obviously the new divisions  as they have a smaller base. However, our OOH and experiential marketing divisions have seen good growth last year.


    Is rapid OOH growth a phenomenon across the industry?

    It is not just outdoor; the entire spectrum of OOH, activation, experiential and events is growing at a fast rate. Increasingly, advertisers believe that they need to include these, over and above what they were doing before. Hence, they are allocating a little more of their overall advertising budget to this. This, in turn, is making these segments grow at a faster rate than traditional and conventional segments.

    Moving back to Madison, how are your branches in Thailand and Sri Lanka performing?

    They are performing alright, but I would not say they are doing spectacularly well. Thailand has seen a fair share of problems in last few years, and it has been a bit of dampener. The company over there also does a lot of experiential marketing, events and promotions, and there was a setback for the last few years. However, from the middle of last year, there are signs of stability returning to the country.

    Now something about Mediacom. How have things changed for you from the time you picked up 51% stake in the agency?

    This industry is all about change, and if you are in advertising you have to do things differently and do different things in order to make your clients win every day. If you keep doing the same thing every day, both your clients and your clients customers are going to reject you.

    You must be a happy man, considering the achievements of Madison and Mediacom.

    Mediacom is a part of global network, and it has its own set of international clients. Madison, meanwhile, is homegrown agency rooted to the ground here. Both have their unique strengths and are doing well. Mediacom, of course, has done extremely well due to the aggressive growth of multinational clients. Madison’s growth is largely thanks to large clients that we have picked up in the last few months.

    Are there any more acquisition plans in the near future?

    We are fortunate that people continuously talk to us. It is not that we rush into acquisitions, but we do look at them on and off.

    One last question- a few agencies believe that they should not be penalised if their clients fail to pay channels for advertising

    To the best of my knowledge, IBF AAAI holds the client responsible for non-payment and so the client is put on PDC or advance payment before a complete ban is placed on the client. We understand that, though it is the agenciesresponsibility  ultimately one can’t earn 3 percent and pay up 97 percent!

    That brings me to another pain point raised by a few agencies: commission of 3%, which in many cases is 2% or less.

    Large clients now understand that they made a serious mistake by reducing media agency commissions under pressure. They have now begun to take corrective actions.

    At the top end, it is improving but at the middle and bottom end it’ll never improve. But as they say, If you throw peanuts, you’ll only get monkeys.