MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • Hari has about 20 years of experience in the advertising and media industry; having spent most of it between Lowe Lintas, JWT, Star TV and Grey

    Lowe Lintas appoints Hari Krishnan as President – South

    By A Correspondent

     

    Lowe Lintas has announced the coming in of Hari Krishnan as the new President of its South operations. This appointment comes on the back of GV Krishnan’s recent exit.

     

    To be based out of Bengaluru, his remit includes the agency’s offices in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. As the largest creative agency in South region, the portfolio includes over a 100 clients and brands such as Arvind, Britannia, Fastrack, Flipkart, Gold Drop, Hike, ITC Foods, MRF, Mobizz, Paperboat, Sonata, Tanishq, TI Cycles, TVS Motors and many other companies and brands.

     

    Hari, currently CEO of MullenLowe’s operations in Sri Lanka is in the process of transitioning into his new role.

     

    He had joined MullenLowe early 2015 from Grey India where he was heading their South operations.

     

    Hari has about 20 years of experience in the advertising and media industry; having spent most of it between Lowe Lintas, JWT, Star TV and Grey.

     

    Commenting on his move, Joseph George, Regional President – South & South East Asia, MullenLowe Group and Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group, India said: “Hari has done an incredible job in Sri Lanka almost transforming our operations there overnight. Going by his track record across the agencies he has worked in, he is just the right person we need to build on the fantastic momentum that the South operations of Lowe Lintas have achieved over the past 3-4 years in terms of creative product and new business acquisition. Both of which, Hari is rabidly passionate about.”

     

    Hari Krishnan adds: “This is a homecoming of sorts for me since my association with Lowe Lintas almost 18 years ago started in the Bengaluru office. The India operations of Lowe Lintas has been on an unbelievable roll the past few years and my mandate is clear. The talent in our 3 offices in the South, especially the creative fire-power under Rajesh Ramaswamy’s leadership is just reassuringly and intimidatingly brilliant. Can’t wait to get started!”

     

    Speaking of succession for MullenLowe Sri Lanka, Joseph George says, “Our Sri Lanka operations are in a sweet spot thanks to all the efforts made in the past 18 months under Hari’s leadership and some fantastic clients. And we are perfectly poised to build on from here; which is why Hari’s replacement for the Sri Lanka CEO’s role is crucial; and so I am very pleased with whom we have found. The announcement will take place in a few days.”

     

  • The two-day festival of creativity and innovation marketing communication announces speakers and website for registrations

    Kyoorius announces speaker line-up for Zee Melt in Aug

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kyoorius is set to host Zee MELT 2016 on 26th and 27th August with a line-up of speakers and panel discussions. Its first time in Delhi, the unique festival aims to bring together advertising, digital, marketing, emerging technologies, media and PR industry to celebrate creativity. MELT is a 2-day rollercoaster event conceptualized in partnership with Zee Entertainment, Hindustan Times, GroupM, and D&AD.

     

    This year MELT 2016 will feature some of the most influential names in the business of creativity and marketing communications. It will have sessions curated for different interests, skill sets and audiences. From advertisers, industry experts such as Ted Mellström (Art Director, Forsman & Bodenfors, Sweden) to leading marketers like Per Nilsson (Corporate Communication & Marketing Director at Semcon, Sweden) and Mark van Iterson (Global Head of Design & Concept at Heineken, Amsterdam), the top professionals, will be presenting and engaging at the anchor events of melt. Some other speakers to watch out for are Tom Betts (Chief Data Officer, Financial Times), Andrew O’Dell (CEO & Co-Founder, Pereira & O’Dell), Karrelle Dixon (Director of Emerging markets, Wieden+Kennedy ) to name a few.

     

    MELT 2016 will consist of a range of conferences, seminars, exhibitions, showcases, workshops and networking sessions for delegates from across marketing and communication genres by industry experts, catering to all experience levels. The organizers are expecting more than 2000 creative, marketing people will convene to discuss, inspire and learn through sharing and interaction.

     

    The content for MELT 2016 is divided across 4 key pillars i.e. Learning, Showcase and Gallery, Networking and Celebration. Each of these pillars will be driven by content partners and participating brands at MELT 2016.

     

    Commenting on the line up, Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder and CEO, Kyoorius, said, “The aim of MELT 2016 is to spoil its attendees with choice of multiple sessions that not only excites and informs but also engages them. What sets this edition apart are the best speakers and presenters from the industry with the addition of experience zones and workshops. We want our partners and all attendees to get the most out of their time at MELT 2016.”

     

    All delegates can sign up for individual events which can be bookmarked. Zee MELT 2016 welcomes everyone to create their own itinerary for each day in accordance to their predilection.

     

  • The brand positioning stems from a universal insight that good habits are hard to keep

    Scarecrow develops new communication for DS Group’s dairy brand Ksheer

    By A Correspondent

     

    DS Group’s Ksheer, a premium dairy brand, launched a new campaign including a TVC with the tagline “Ek Acchi Aadat”. The new TVC strengthens the brand positioning of Ksheer as a good habit to instill. The TVC depicts the daily routine of a joint family  – be it sleeping in late, playing video games or doing too much of office work from home.

     

    The brand positioning stems from a universal insight that good habits are hard to keep — whether it’s cultivating habits like being on time or exercising regularly in our day-to-day lives; our ambitions may be high, but most of us don’t have the willpower to maintain the right habits.

     

    Using lighthearted storytelling, the ad establishes Ksheer as one habit that’s easy to keep, every day. “Ksheer, Ek Achhi Aadat”, the tagline reinforces how consuming healthy Ksheer products is a great habit to have and keep.

     

    The ad is heightened by its cast that includes Hrishitaa Bhatt, who is known for her acclaimed roles in Bollywood’ plays the homemaker, while Jugal Hansraj the ‘Masoom’ boy of bollywood plays her husband. Actor Nassar Abdulla also features, along with the stalwart Sujata Kumar. One of the role is played by veteran actress Late Sulbha Deshpande, who passed away shortly after the shoot. Bringing this star-studded cast together and telling a lively tale is ace director Pradeep Sarkar.

     

    Speaking about the Ksheer brand, Sunil Bansal, Business Head-Dairy, DS Group, said, “Milk and milk products are known for their health benefits. Children are always told that milk is good for them. We aim to put milk back in the daily routine of the Indian family as a great habit to follow – “Ek Achhi Aadat”.  The brand ‘Ksheer’ symbolizes the ocean of milk, which represents purity filled with lots of goodness that replenishes health and is a great daily habit to instill.”

     

    On the mischievous tonality of storytelling, Scarecrow’s Founder Director, Manish Bhatt adds, “We experimented with Mehra Family’s self-admissive-yet-sarcastic statements regarding their various habits, where we establish Ksheer Milk and Milk Product as an easy-to-keep habit in the backdrop many of their hard-to-keep good habits and not-so-good ones. We have used a storytelling approach where what has been said and what has been shown in the visuals is contradictory – to create intrigue, light humour, sarcasm and chemistry between the family members. Use of unusual casting in the film is intended to make the film noticeable and memorable in the clutter of FMCG communication on TV. We also added a song in the film ‘Achhai ko Zindagi se Lipatne Do’ to increase the Emotional Quotient and take-away factor of the film.”

     

  • It has announced a new way for advertisers to reach the people who will bring more value over time

    Facebook unveils App Event Optimisation for advertisers

    By A Correspondent

     

    When it comes to mobile, apps are where it’s at. Mobile apps can bring ongoing value to businesses, especially when the right people download them. Almost 90 per cent of time spent on mobile is spent in apps and 58 per cent of mobile purchases in the US are made through apps.

     

    However, not every person who installs an app will take actions within it that are valuable to businesses, such as making a purchase, booking a trip or reaching a certain level within a game. Thirty days after people install an app, only 6 per cent of them are still using it.

     

    In other words, not all app installs are equal. As mobile app businesses evolve, it’s increasingly important for them to connect with the people who are likely to not just download their apps, but to take valuable actions within them. In its latest initiative, Facebook has announced a new way for advertisers to reach the people who will bring more value over time.

     

    To build healthy mobile app businesses, advertisers must connect with the people who are likely to take valuable and repeated actions within their apps. To help businesses to reach these people, Facebook is launching a new product: App Event Optimisation. This helps businesses to maximise long-term app value.

     

    “We’re extremely excited for Facebook’s new capabilities for app install advertising, which helps us optimise towards our true business goals. By reaching people on Facebook that are most likely to engage in our app, we have seen an 80 per cent decrease in cost per event, leading to five times the growth in lifetime value,” said Chris Chow, Head of Growth at PennyPop.

     

    Because so many people engage with adverts across Facebook, Instagram and the Audience Network, the app is able to determine whether a person is likely to take actions based on historical data and people with similar characteristics. Through App Event Optimisation, advertisers can deliver adverts to the people who are likely to take valuable actions within their apps. This brings value to businesses, as well as to people, who get adverts for the apps that will be most useful to them.

     

  • Makani Creative has won the pitch in a multi agency pitch

    Lavie appoints Makani C reatives as its ad agency

    By A Correspondent

     

    Fashion accessory and footwear brand Lavie has appointed Makani Creatives as its advertising agency for its range of bags and shoes.

     

    Established in 2010, Lavie is India’s leading women’s accessory brand, with a pan India presence. Lavie launched its range of footwear in 2013. The brand leveraged the insight that women are indecisive and fickle in all their choices and worked on a communication platform – Fickle is Fun. The proposition was launched with a campaign with Kareena Kapoor which had very high stickiness with the consumers.

     

    Makani Creative has won the pitch in a multi agency pitch.

     

    Speaking on the development, Sandeep Goenka, COO said, “Makani Creative has an illustrious track record of building and sustaining some of the most high profile fashion and retail brands in the country. It’s this expertise that they leveraged in order to come up with a very fresh perspective on “Fickle is Fun”. Makanis based their pitch on consumer insights while retaining the fashion and aspiration quotient of the brand. We look forward to breaking new grounds with the path created along with Makani Creative.”

     

    Sameer Makani, MD, Makani Creatives said, ‘‘Lavie has created a very strong presence in a very short span of time in the market. Its strength lies in having a range of products right from wallets to bags and shoes all within an affordable range. Lavie gives women the liberty to amass more and more fashion accessories to go with their many moods and wardrobe. The Lavie (range of products) is able to straddle the everyday as well as occasion based need of a woman. Its pan India presence ensures style or trend is not just an urban phenomenon.”

     

  • Acquisition will help scale breadth of analytics offerings; entry into artificial intelligence, machine learning capabilities

    Hansa Cequity acquires data sciences co, D-Square Solutions

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hansa Cequity has announced a majority stake in D-Square Solutions Private Limited, a data sciences and analytics company based out of Bengaluru, India. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

     

    In a statement, S Swaminathan, CEO and Co-Founder of Hansa Cequity said, “This acquisition would strengthen our data science expertise and help in building strong capabilities in building cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities in addition to enhancing our analytics-driven marketing offerings.”

     

    “Founded in 2009, Bengaluru based D-Square Solutions brings together business analytics products and consultancy solutions to help optimise time spent on informed decisions,” added Swaminathan.

     

    “There has always been a growing appetite by decision makers for data science,” said Anand Srinivasan, founder and chief executive of D-Square Solutions. The company currently caters to clients in IT & networking, BFSI and other industries across markets. Srinivasan is a thought leader and leading solution specialist in data science. He is an alumnus of IIT, Chennai and has done his Masters in Operations Research from Purdue University. He has also published a book – Business Analytics, which is a definitive guide to many industry practitioners.

     

    Ajay Kelkar

    Ajay Kelkar, COO and Co-Founder of Hansa Cequity said, “The new acquisition would help leverage on data science in many of Hansa Cequity verticals while giving a lot of focus and cutting-edge capability to the products and platforms that we are developing.”

     

    Hansa Cequity had raised around $5 million (Rs 30 crore) from private equity firm ASK Pravi in June last year. This is Hansa Cequity’s first acquisition in the India market where analytics start-ups are emerging with niche offerings. “D-Square will operate as a separate entity but will synergize its resources and offerings with Cequity,” informed Kelkar.

     

     

     

  • Dutt joins FCB Ulka from Sapient Nitro where he worked as Head of Creative – Delhi

    FCB Ulka appoints Surjo Dutt as NCD

    By A Correspondent

     

    Surjo Dutt

    FCB Ulka has appointed Surjo Dutt as National Creative Director. Dutt joins FCB Ulka from Sapient Nitro where he worked as Head of Creative – Delhi.

     

    Surjo played a key role in the most successful year for Sapient Nitro’s advertising business since its’ inception in India, notes a communiqué, adding: “The Delhi office won marquee creative projects for brands like Nestle, British Airways and Philips during his 15-month stint.”

     

     

    Swati Bhattacharya

    Speaking on Surjo’s new role at FCB Ulka, Swati Bhattacharya, CCO, FCB Ulka said, “I remember the first time we heard the line ‘cheetah bhi peeta hai’ in JWT. We all knew the new kid on the Pepsi floor was special. Surjo’s omnivorous talent comes with an infectious energy and passion that not just creates great creative work but also strong creative teams. I am absolutely excited to have him partner me in building a bright creative future for FCB India.”

     

    Commenting on Surjo’s appointment, Nitin Karkare CEO, FCB Ulka said, “Surjo is a powerhouse of talent. The sheer energy that he brings to every assignment makes him a delight to work with. He is a great people’s person and his teams are always ready to give their best for him. He is a fantastic addition to our creative leadership team and I am sure our clients will benefit from his work”.

     

    Nitin Karkare

    Speaking on his new role at FCB Ulka, Dutt said, “FCB Ulka is an agency I have always admired for not just its work but also its core values and culture. And now with true gamechangers like Rohit and Swati coming in, it’s a wonderful time to be in this agency.I am thrilled to be a part of the team and will do everything I can to write my bit of the success story that is sure to be written.

     

  • Nielsen India and Campaign India has joined hands with IAA as Knowledge Partners for this event

    Entries invited for second edition of IndIAA awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) is inviting entries for the second edition of its coveted IndIAA awards. Launched last year, and positioned as the awards for real hard working creative advertising, the awards will have an all-star jury of CEO’s who have judged advertising in the real world. Nielsen India and Campaign India has joined hands with IAA as Knowledge Partners for this event.

     

    Pradeep Guha

    Pradeep Guha, Chairman IndIAA awards said “Advertising campaigns that were released between 1st July 2014 and 30th June 2016 will be honored in multiple product and service categories. To qualify for the Award the campaign should have film (TV or Digital) as one of its elements. In each product or service category no more than an overall winner and a challenger brand (a newcomer) would be awarded. The awards ceremony would be in Mumbai in late September 2016 This is an initiative to reward truly creative advertising and I am confident it will build on the respect and popularity it received on its debut last year. There will be no entry fee”.

     

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Srinivasan Swamy, President IAA India Chapter and Senior Vice President IAA Global, said “At the IndIAA awards event, just like last year, you will see campaigns that have been watched and loved, and have gone on to impress our stellar jury, being awarded. Therefore, we will invite on stage all the co-creators of the campaign to accept the award. This will include the marketing team, the Agency creative team, the media team and other agencies who contributed to the success of the campaign”.

     

  • Edelweiss was announced as the Principal Sponsor of the Indian Olympic team in April this year

    Edelweiss unveils ‪#‎iAmTeamIndia campaign to support Indian Olympic team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Edelweiss Group has launched a campaign to garner support for the Indian team going to Rio Olympics. Edelweiss launched a foot-tapping anthem inspiring people to support the Indian team and has also released an e-book which tells the Indian team to ‘Go fearless, entire India is with you’. This book was handed over to IOA chairman, N Ramachandran and IOA general secretary, Rajeev Mehta by Rashesh Shah, Chairman, Edelweiss Group at the official send-off held in Delhi earlier this month. The #iAmTeamIndia anthem was also released at this ceremony.

     

    Edelweiss was announced as the Principal Sponsor of the Indian Olympic team in April this year. In addition to the sponsorship, Edelweiss offered a life insurance cover of Rs 1 crore each to every athlete representing India at Rio Olympics. This insurance cover was provided by Edelweiss Tokio life insurance, the life insurance joint venture between Edelweiss Group and Tokio Marine Holdings of Japan.

     

    In keeping with its philosophy of offering need based solutions, Edelweiss has made this anthem keeping in mind the needs of athletes – protection and support. Edelweiss believes that while it has taken the first step towards protection with sponsorship and insurance cover, it is the support for the athletes that is needed the most. Through this anthem, Edelweiss is garnering the support for the Indian team, which is the largest Indian contingent ever to go for the Olympic Games.

     

    Conceptualized by Scarecrow communications, the anthem is catchy and fast paced and aims to build excitement about India’s medal hope at the Olympics this time. The vibrant video highlights that the team of over 120 athletes is backed by cheers and support of a nation that is over a billion strong. Edelweiss is using 360-degree communication, from Television to Digital, Print, Outdoor, Radio and Cinema to make the anthem popular and take it to the masses.

     

    The E-book was given to the Indian team to convey the message that the entire country is standing behind them, cheering them as they go and participate in the largest sporting event. The E-book is a compilation of pictures collected from across the country through the fully integrated campaign which included print, outdoors, on-ground events, digital medium and internal events to invite people of India to come forward and support the team by sharing, liking, uploading pics holding the #iAmTeamIndia placard and till date has garnered over 3 lakh pictures and over 1.5 million interactions, shares and comments. The campaign also managed to garner support from current Olympians like Saina Nehwal, Tintu Luka, Saardar Singh, Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, with past Olympians like Geet Sethi, Prakash Padukone with celebs like Shilpa Shetty, Madhavan, etc.

     

    “Through #iAmTeamIndia anthem and the E book, we at Edelweiss have taken our association with Indian Olympic team to the next level. The main objective is to attract the interest of as many people as possible towards Olympics. This campaign is a beautiful way to motivate and promote the Indian contingent at the Olympics. It will re-energise the spirits of not only the Indian team but also the Indian audience who is going to watch it. In fact, our hashtag #iAmTeamIndia was trending at No. 1 on Twitter. Through this anthem and E book, we really wish the Indian team well for Rio Olympics which starts from August 5 and pray that they bring as many gold and silver medals possible,” said Shabnam Panjwani, CMO, Edelweiss Group.

     

    Explaining the campaign further, Raghu Bhat, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications said that, “Indian sport needs all the support it can get. Through this film, Edelweiss exhorts Indians to stand behind the national team. Our brief to the film maker (Naren Multani) and the music composers (Rohan & Vinayak) was to create a contemporary rendition of ‘veer ras’. The final result has scale, visual drama and emotion. Something we are proud of.”

     

  • TravelTriangle is an online travel planning portal with a network of more than 600 travel agents located in India and abroad

    Lowe Lintas Delhi appointed creative agency for TravelTriangle

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sankalp Agarwal

    TravelTriangle, a leading online holiday marketplace has appointed Lowe Lintas Delhi to handle its creative duties. A host of agencies competed for the account but Lowe Lintas Delhi was shortlisted for its clear understanding of the brief and suggesting a plan that resonated with what the brand had in mind for the Indian market.

     

    ​Commenting on the appointment, Sankalp Agarwal, CEO & Co-founder, TravelTriangle said, “TravelTriangle is built on a unique business model and communications is strategic to our category. With Lowe Lintas as our creative partner, we hope to make definite strides towards improving our brand offering in the market.”

     

    Naveen Gaur

    ​On the new business win, Naveen Gaur, President, Lowe Lintas Delhi said, “Indians are now holidaying and traveling more often both domestic and internationally as well. Amidst the presence of local travel agents and variety of online travel portals catering to travelers, we saw the uniqueness of TravelTriangle – a product which makes for a seamless and pleasurable holiday planning and booking experience which Indians will really value. We are excited to leverage this innovative product and build a strong consumer brand which challenges the status quo in the category.”

     

    ​TravelTriangle is an online travel planning portal with a network of more than 600 travel agents located in India and abroad. Based out of Noida with a team of 300 people, the company is the brainchild of three IIT alumni – Sankalp Agarwal, Sanchit Garg and Prabhat Gupta. ​As the name suggests, it’s an eco-system play of three constituents: travelers, travel agents, and an efficient marketplace. The USP of the platform is in its personalized approach, customer oriented product and reliable fulfillment. Operating in 60+ destinations, TravelTriangle has served over half a million travelers till date.

     

    ​This win marks another one for Lowe Lintas Delhi that has been seeing steady business growth over past few months. A few brands that Lowe Lintas Delhi handles include Vivo, Google, HouseFull, Youtube, Olx, Pepmelt, Revital, Zopper etc.

     

     

    About Lowe Lintas:

    Lowe Lintas is a creative agency offering from MullenLowe Lintas Group, India. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has a strong presence throughout India with offices in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi (NCR) and Pune. Lowe Lintas lends its branding and creative expertise to a host of clients in India and the Asia Pacific including HUL (for which the agency handles 21 brands), Axis Bank, Britannia, Dabur, Flipkart, FreeCharge, Google, Idea Cellular, MRF, OLX, Tanishq among others.

     

    MullenLowe Lintas Group is one of the largest country operations of the MullenLowe Group (part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG). It has operating divisions in advertising (Lowe Lintas, Mullen Lintas), design (dCell), PR (GolinOpinion), brand consulting (LinConsult), experiential marketing & activation (LinEngage), video content (LinProductions) and digital marketing (LinTeractive) that manage 300+ clients. With a talent pool of over 900 people across 7 cities in India, MullenLowe Lintas Group currently manages more brands amongst the Top 10, Top 20, Top 50 and Top 100 of AC Nielsen-Brand Equity’s India’s Most Trusted Brands (2013 and 2014), than any other agency in India. In February 2015, MullenLowe Lintas Group was ranked the No. 1 creative agency in the world in effectiveness by the World Advertising and Research Council’s report, WARC 100. Recently, the group was declared the Effie Agency of the Year for 2015 in India.

     

    To know more about MullenLowe Lintas Group, visit us at www.mullenlowelintas.in or follow MullenLowe Lintas Group on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube

     

    For further information, please contact:

    GolinOpinion                                                        MullenLowe Lintas Group

    Aparna Mehrotra                                                Johnson Napier

    +91 9969623947                                                  +91 9892981600

    aparna.mehrotra@golinopinion.in                  johnson.napier@mullenlowelintas.in

     

  • Exclusive to MxM: Shekar Swamy on industry veteran Srinivasan (Sundar) Swamy who will be recognised by the AAAI with its highest accolade this evening

    So my brother gets the AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award

     

    By Shekar Swamy

     

    Sundar told me about it casually, like he usually does. He could well have been telling me “I am going to get a cup of coffee”. I accepted the news casually, mumbling something like “Good, congratulations”. I can’t recall if I shook his hand. No theatrics from either side. Both of us were there when our father accepted the same award 22 years ago. May be both of us knew this was going to happen.

     

    Enough will be said and written about his various activities in the industry, so I am not going there. In my mind, no one else deserves it more. He has been tireless, period. The only thing about this news was that I didn’t hear about it from the driver, who somehow always seems to know more about Sundar’s whereabouts, and happenings relating to him, than I do.

     

    Our growing up years in Chennai were pretty unremarkable and middle-class to the core. Busy father. Housewife mother. Grandmother and an aunt always at home. Six siblings, who as I think about it, were all pretty well-behaved, perhaps even boring. Lots of cousins and family around. Home was a place to be shared. The front door was hardly ever shut, except at night. One day in the ’70s there was a lot of hushed talk. My father and his elder brother, and the wives, were in a huddle. I later learnt that my dad had quit his job, which was his life. He was to do something on his own. The import of it hardly made a dent to my teenage senses. Over the next few months, lots of people kept coming and going. There was a sense of urgency and preparation. The puja happened, and R K Swamy opened shop in his brother’s house, I suspect because he could delay rents as much as he wanted.

     

    A vintage pic of the Swamy brothers: Shekar (left) with Srinivasan Swamy

    The rest of it was a whirl. So many people working so hard to meet so many unreasonable deadlines. Sundar finished his MBA, and went into the business, five years after it started. Comments were heard. “He is looking after his father’s business” was a common refrain, like he was literally sitting in the shop. Little did people know.

     

    R K SWAMY the agency was never meant to be another shop. The DNA from ever was to build a lasting institution. The ambition stretched beyond the Chennai roots, which in itself was unusual. In this, Sundar played a strong role, running around from city to city, often trailing behind Mr Swamy. As one of our colleagues put it, if Mr Swamy was the Account Director, then Sundar was the Account Supervisor carrying artworks around. Clients always came first, people always had to be respected and family interests came thereafter.

     

    BBDO joined hands in the mid-80s. We kept building the core advertising business. We recast the Research activity. We created a Television programming game. We expanded into diversified marketing services. We pioneered the Analytics and Customer Marketing space, embracing marketing technology. We ventured to build a US presence, on our own.

     

    All of this underpins Sundar’s ability to take that risk, and continue with the DNA of building the institution. He is a serial entrepreneur – no angel investor or VC here – on his own dime. He has been in the lead, helping fashion the foremost Indian-owned and controlled advertising and marketing services group, by itself a serious contribution to the industry.

     

    Sundar no doubt grew up in the business. But his participation stretches way beyond to very many social causes. He gives, more than he takes, again and again and again. There is a lesson there, somewhere. Perhaps awards come when one does this without nary a thought.

     

    Shekar Swamy is Group CEO, R K SWAMY HANSA

     

  • Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network (Aegis Media India Pvt Ltd), was elected Vice-President of the Association

    Nakul Chopra elected President of AAAI

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nakul Chopra

    Nakul Chopra, CEO – South Asia, Publicis Communications India Pvt Ltd, was elected President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2016-2017 at its Annual General Body Meeting held recently.

     

    Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network (Aegis Media India Pvt Ltd), was elected Vice-President of the Association.

     

    Other members of the Executive Committee include CVL Srinivas from Group M Media India Pvt Ltd, Ganesh Baliga from Fifth Estate Communications Pvt Ltd, Kunal Lalani from Crayons Advertising Ltd, Pranav Premnarayen from Prem Associates Advertising & Marketing, Rana Barua from Contract Advertising, Srinivasan K Swamy from R K SWAMY BBDO, T Gangadhar from Mediaedge:Cia India and Vivek Srivastava from Innocean Worldwide Communication Pvt Ltd.

     

    Immediate Past President, Dr M G Parameswaran will be the ex-officio member of the new AAAI Executive Committee.