MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • BBDO Worldwide, adam & eve DDB, Starcom New York lead network and agency rankings

    BBDO Mumbai’s ‘Share the Load’ declared best campaign in the world

    By A Correspondent

     

    WARC has announced the 2017 results of the WARC 100, an annual ranking of the world’s best marketing campaigns and companies according to their business impact.  Procter & Gamble, Vodafone, BBDO Worldwide, adam&eveDDB and WPP are among the organisations at the top of this year’s rankings, which are based on performance in effectiveness and strategy competitions around the world.

     

    The top-ranked campaign was the highly awarded ‘Share the Load’, developed by BBDO Mumbai and Mediacom Mumbai for Procter & Gamble’s Ariel detergent brand in India. The campaign film, in which men were encouraged to share the weight of household chores, was supported by campaign-specific packaging, and was spread across online, cinema and TVCs. As 1.57 million men pledged to ‘share the load’, Ariel more than doubled value and volume sales, which grew 106% and 105% respectively.

     

    Now in its fourth year, the WARC 100 is built on a rigorous methodology, developed in consultation with Douglas West, Professor of Marketing at Kings College, London.

     

    Looking at this year’s top 100 campaigns, key findings include:

    1. Data-driven creative hits the top 10
    Two of the top ten campaigns this year are those that have seen success from the smart use of data to drive creative and media strategy. The Economist used a targeted programmatic display campaign to reach new prospects with humorous and accessible tagline ads. The campaign hit 50% of target in 9 days, with a return on investment of over 25:1. In sixth place, a big data campaign for Australian swimming pool builder Narellan Pools took a ‘moment marketing’ approach. Customers were targeted at the precise times they were most likely to buy a pool, with focused creative motivating purchase decisions. The campaign increased direct leads by 11% and sales by 23% year on year. At a time when the ad tech industry is under attack in some quarters, these campaigns show how, when used smartly, programmatic techniques can open up new creative and media opportunities.

     

    2. There was a strong showing for stunt or event-based campaigns, as well as big-budget TV
    Campaigns built around an event or stunt also ranked highly this year. ‘Rabbit Race’, a seasonal live event and stream involving rabbits racing for customers of Media Markt in Germany to win in-store prizes, was the fourth-ranked campaign of 2017. More than 21 million people watched the races, prompting the electronics retailer to make the stunt an annual event, with consumers spending on average €8.60 more than the previous Easter. The number-three campaign in the 2017 rankings was ‘Lucy the Robot’, a news-grabbing stunt in which Double Robotics, an American technology company, created a telepresence robot called Lucy to be first in line to buy a new iPhone 6s outside a Sydney Apple store. The stunt aimed to launch the company into the Australian market, and was covered in 4,000 news stories globally, resulting in more than 12,000 sales enquiries worth more than $44 million.

     

    However, beating these two campaigns into the top two positions were Share the Load and John Lewis’ Christmas campaigns – both big-budget, big-idea,TV-led campaigns. There were plenty of other examples in the top 20 showing the power of TV-led work, including campaigns for Old Spice, Snickers, IKEA and Sainsbury’s.

     

    3. Procter & Gamble retains its lead as No. 1 advertiser over Unilever
    Procter & Gamble is for the second year in a row the top advertiser for 2017, though its lead over Unilever has decreased since last year. With five campaigns in the top 100 versus Unilever’s three, the success of campaigns for its Ariel, Always and Old Spice brands have cemented P&G’s position as No.1.

     

    4. Vodafone wins top brand as Coca-Cola and McDonalds drop from 1st and 2nd place for the first time
    Vodafone has had an extremely consistent year in terms of award wins across campaigns and regions. With only two campaigns in the top 100, but multiple wins at fifteen separate awards competitions, the brand accrued enough points to take it into the lead.

    For the first year since 2014, Coca-Cola and McDonalds do not occupy positions one and two in the brands ranking. Both have dropped down the rankings in a year when neither had a campaign in the top 100.

    New entries to the top 10 include UK department store John Lewis at No. 3, as a result of its series of highly effective Christmas campaigns; Dove, with its continued socially progressive stance; and Snickers, through campaigns including their big-budget TV campaign ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’.

    Said David Tiltman, Head of Content at WARC, says: “This year’s WARC 100 reflects an industry in flux. It’s clear from the rankings that TV-led, ‘big idea’ advertising, when executed well, is still highly effective. But we’re seeing a range of alternative approaches also capable of generating business results – from data-driven ‘moment marketing’ to stunts or events designed to focus consumer attention. One of the big questions in the industry at the moment is whether these alternative approaches build brands and deliver results in the long term as well as at the time of the campaign.”

     

    WARC 100: Top 10 global advertising campaigns 2017

    Rank Campaign Brand Primary Agency Brand Location

    Points
    1 Share The Load Ariel BBDO Mumbai / MediaCom Mumbai India

    164.2
    2 John Lewis Christmas advertising, 2012-2015 John Lewis adam&eveDDB / Manning Gottlieb OMD UK

    142.2
    3 Lucy the Robot Double Robotics Atomic 212° Group Australia

    95.0
    4 Rabbit Race Media Markt Ogilvy & Mather Frankfurt / UM Frankfurt Germany

    84.2
    5 Raising Eyebrows and Subscriptions Economist, The Proximity London UK

    68.3
    6 Diving into Data for Narellan Narellan Pools Affinity Australia

    64.5
    7 World Gallery Apple TBWA\Media Arts Lab Los Angeles / OMD Los Angeles USA

    64.2
    8 #LikeAGirl Always Leo Burnett Toronto / Leo Burnett London Global

    52.2
    9 #MyFamilyCan SPC Leo Burnett Melbourne Australia

    51.7
    10 Infrequent Flyers Tigerair McCann Melbourne Australia

    49.

     

    Rank 2017 Rank 2016 Top 5 countries 2017 Points
    1 1 USA 3558.9
    2 2 UK 2091.5
    3 3 India 977.7
    4 4 Australia 877.7
    5 5 China 666.2

     

    Rank 2017 Rank 2016 Top 5 creative agencies 2017 Location Points
    1 41 adam&eveDDB UK 219.7
    2 5 AMV BBDO UK 152.4
    3 47 BBDO Mumbai India 142.2
    4 31 Grey London UK 140.1
    5 new MullenLoweLintas Group Mumbai India 123.3

     

    Rank 2017 Rank 2016 Top 5 media agencies 2017 Location Points
    1 2 Starcom New York USA 147.3
    2 16 Mindshare New York USA 100.6
    3 new Atomic 212 Group Australia 95
    4 14 Mindshare Istanbul Turkey 71.8
    5 new OMD Los Angeles USA 61.0

     

    Rank 2017 Rank 2016 Top 5 digital specialist 2017 Location Points
    1 36 Proximity London UK 81
    2 new Affinity Australia 70.9
    3 new Ketchum New York USA 64.1
    4 new Trisect USA 56.7
    5 13 R/GA New York USA 51.6

     

    Rank 2017 Rank 2016 Top 5 agency networks 2017 Points
    1 1 BBDO Worldwide 1412.4
    2 2 Ogilvy & Mather Advertising 978.9
    3 9 McCann Erickson 702.9
    4 7 Starcom 573.9
    5 5 Leo Burnett 572.8

     

    Rank 2017 Rank 2016 Top 5 agency holding companies 2017 Points
    1 1 WPP 4079.4
    2 2 Omnicom Group 3598.4
    3 4 Interpublic Group 2237.7
    4 3 PublicisGroupe 2174.6
    5 6 Dentsu 549
  • Based out of Delhi, Mathur will be leading the Maruti Suzuki Relationship

    Hakuhodo Percept appoints Sharad Mathur as SVP

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hakuhodo Percept announced the appointment of Sharad Mathur as Senior Vice President, Client Servicing. He moves from FCB Ulka and will be leading the Maruti Suzuki Relationship.

     

    Announcing the appointment, Elvis Sequeira, Chief Operating Officer, Hakuhodo India, said: “At Hakuhodo, we are constantly reshaping ourselves as an organisation to create more value for our clients and Sharad brings the next level of capability and talent that we’re always on the hunt for. He is a solid relationship guy, a sharp brain and someone who can get people around him all fired up and raring to do new things. I have no doubt he will be one of our key pillars, moving forward.”

     

    Speaking on his joining, Mathur said: “Hakuhodo has been doing some exciting work on Maruti Suzuki. When the opportunity came to be part of this association that was started by Hakuhodo launching Nexa, I just couldn’t miss it. At Hakuhodo we are redefining the agency client relationship to be more than just a creative service provider and I am really excited to be a part of this journey that is pioneering the Integrated Marketing approach.”

     

     

  • Celebrates spontaneity by driving relevance with today's generation

    Pepsi unveils campaign celebrating global moments

    By A Correspondent

     

    The best moments are those when you decide to let go, choose to act, follow your passion – nothing holds you back. It’s summer, and this is the theme of the new Pepsi ad.

     

    Speaking on this campaign, Vipul Prakash, Senior Vice President, Beverage Category, PepsiCo India, said: “Through the Moments campaign, we have once again taken a progressive approach to truly reflect today’s generation with a relatable packaging innovation. ‘SochaNahiJi Gaya, Pepsi Thi, Pi Gaya’ is our campaign philosophy and we see our purpose in being able to seed spontaneity in the life of our new age consumer. At PepsiCo, we have always celebrated packaging, which is our strongest asset, and a key driver for our Shelf to Media approach. We are confident that our Moments campaign will truly make Pepsi stand out on the retail shelves.”

     

    Added Senthil Kumar, Chief Creative Officer, J Walter Thompson India:”Pepsi has always been an iconic brand that mirrors millennials and creates popular culture. This summer Pepsi is celebrating the spontaneity that defines today’s generation, with a set of three summer special commercials that capture how icons and new age consumers themselves are seizing the moment and doing it with a swag that represents the great taste of Pepsi. The insight remains the same as our ‘Pepsi Thi Pi Gaya’ campaign; there are some things in life that you can’t say no to, a chilled bottle or a chilled can of Pepsi.”

     

  • The three-day annual congregation of advertising, media and marketing professionals starts in Goa today

    Goafest, again!

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s Goafest time. To the world outside, the advertising industry is a bundle of contradictions. Small in size, but loud in voice. Fiercely competitive, but always united. Well, almost.

     

    One arm of the world’s largest conglomerates WPP finds the Abby awards a no-no. That’s Ogilvy. In fact its supremo – Piyush Pandey – once said that the his team members saw no value in them, in fact they are strewn all over their cabins. Another arm of the same WPP is a fierce believer in the awards. In fact J Walter Thompson has been #1 over the last few years in the final tally of the creative awards. And before we go on and on here, we must add that GroupM, the media investments arm of WPP is not only an active participant in the Media Abby, but its CEO for South Asia – CVL Srinivas – is also an active member of the organising committee.

     

    Then there’s the MullenLowe Lintas Group. The diktat of its former chairman R Balki of not participating in the Abby is still followed, but in the past we’ve had integral parts of the same group participating actively. In fact two years back, Pickle Lintas even won the Grand Prix for its campaign for Dabur.

     

    There are some other agencies which don’t participate in the Abby. Some because their bosses don’t like creative awards in India, some because they don’t have enough good work to send which will hence put them twenty first in the pecking order. Even some hole-in-the-wall digital or out-of-home agency in the boondocks.

     

    Be that as it may, the 12th edition of Goafest, which starts today, is said to be the biggest ever held thus far. And as Organising Committee chair Ashish Bhasin told us, it’s a full house. Though we don’t have the final numbers of registered delegates as there are always some spot registrations and opt-outs at the last min.

     

    We asked MxMIndia columnist Sanjeev Kotnala for his list of favourite speakers, and this is, as he also wrote in this column on Wednesday, his list: Hemant Malik (ITC), Acharya Balkrishna ( Patanjali), Ishita Katyal (Youngest Ted speaker), Gaur Gopal Das (Spiritual Guru), Miss Malini Agarwal (the blogger), Geeta and Babita Pogat (Going to be crowd favourites), Eric Cruz (ECD AKQA), Claus Stangl (IG Creative Shop), Vivian Richards (Cricket), Juhi Kalia (Facebook), Laura Ries and Sanjay Dutt.

     

    We agree with most of the names. But Sanju baba? Well, Kotnala clarified to us, Baba comes last in the list of names which are in order of priority.

     

    The awards start in right earnest from Day 1 with the Media Awards, though the big night is the last with the key creative awards.

     

    Keep tracking the MxMIndia coverage of Goafest starting today. Enjoy

     

     

     

  • There were a total of 1128 entries from 94 entrants. There were 53 awards given away, of which 10 were golds and 26 silvers. There was no Grand Prix given away

    Mindshare tops Media Abby again. Maxus & Madison in Top 3

    By A Correspondent

     

    It was Mindshare yet again on top of the winning entrants at the Media Abby awards presented on Day 1 of Goafest 2017. Mindshare India (as against the team from Bangladesh which also bagged a silver and two bronzes) bagged 10 metals in all – two golds, five silvers and three bronzes. Sibling Maxus bagged seven metals – a gold, four silvers, and two bronze. Madison bagged five silvers and three bronze metals. Mediacom bagged just a gold and silver, Lodestar had a gold and bronze, but #4 in the pecking order would be The Social Street with a gold and three silvers.

     

    Prasanth Kumar

    Said Prasanth Kumar, CEO Mindshare South Asia on Goafest Abby’s 2017:”Topping at Goafest is definitely a great achievement. We are delighted that the series of good work across our clients are witnessing recognition. We as always get motivated when we win and we thank all our clients and partners for being the force behind our performance. For us, it is a constant that we keep evolving and redefining ourselves as well as challenging ourselves every year to ensure we deliver the best to our clients. We promise to keep this momentum continuous.”

     

    Mindshare had bagged 17 metals in last year’s Media Abby. In this year’s edition of the Media Abby, there were a total of 1128 entries from 94 entrants. As many as 112 industry professionals were part of the jury process. On being asked about the awards process, Publicis Media CEO Anupriya Acharya, who chaired the Media Abby jury, told MxMIndia that she was pretty happy with the number of entries, given that the submissions happened post-demonetisation.  “The number of entries and the participating organisations grew. This year we had many independent, small and specialist organisations.”

     

  • Announces an exciting Contest inviting practitioners to create a 60 sec Video on the theme – "An Advertising Brief is incomplete without the ASCI code"

    ASCI introduces a new initiative for its e-learning course

    By A Correspondent

     

    In its endeavour to promote self-regulation and to strengthen self-discipline among creators of advertising, the Advertising Standards Council of India has introduced a new initiative inviting participants to create a 60-second video using the theme – An Advertising Brief is incomplete without the ASCI code. The 60 second video would encourage advertising practitioners to create an important message that every advertising brief ought to have objective, proposition, communication, etc. but it is still incomplete if not checked against the ASCI code for self-regulation in advertising. This will help guide the creative expression to be creative yet responsible and get their advertisements “Right the first time”.

     

    Participants can submit their entries by uploading the 60 seconds video, highlighting the ASCI e-Learning programme on YouTube.

     

    Commenting on e-Learning programme and the new initiative, Srinivasan K. Swamy, Chairman, ASCI, said, “We have received an encouraging response to the e-Learning programme so far. This has been helping personnel working with advertisers, creative/media agencies or the media, etc. to pro-actively learn and appreciate the dos and don’ts of advertising. We believe that – Be it an advertiser briefing an agency or an agency briefing their team, it’s time we add the ASCI Code sign off to every advertising brief. This is crucial for longevity of any ad and saves money, time & hard work gone in making the ad, by avoiding major pitfalls that require modifying or withdrawing advertisements. We expect a very enthusiastic response from the advertising community to this initiative which would help them internalize the key message.”

     

    On successful completion, participants are awarded with a certificate.

     

     

  • Acharya Balkrishna of Patanjali was the star speaker of Day 1 which also saw the presenting of the Media and Publisher Abby

    Day 1 @ Goafest: It’s celebration time

    L to R: Ashish Bhasin, Nakul Chopra, Ramesh Narayan and Raj Nayak

     

    It’s Goafest and while the knowledge sessions, masterclasses and awards, are on offer, it’s the networking and meeting old friends and making new that people look forward to. And in the spirit of things, the inauguration happened with champagne.

     

    The four heads of the organising committee – Ashish Bhasin, Ramesh Narayan, Raj Nayak and Nakul Chopra – appeared delighted that the event took off sans any hitches. Day 1 of the festival saw the Industry conclave with Archarya Balkrishna of Patanjali Ayurved being the star attraction. Other speakers included UpasanaTaku of Mobikwik and Hemant Malik of ITC Limited. The Media and Publisher Abbys were presented in the evening.

     

    Speaking about the event, Nakul Chopra, President –  Advertising Agencies Association of India said, “Twelve years ago, Goafest began as an event for people from the world of advertising to get together to network and celebrate quality work. Today, it gives me immense pleasure to see how this festival has grown into becoming one of the foremost events in the creative calendar. It’s extremely encouraging for us to see so many young people participating in the event with such enthusiasm – and not just attending the Abbys but also showing immense amount of interest in the varied seminars that we have lined up this year. The quality of work that has been felicitated today just goes to show how India has today become a tour de force when it comes to creative thinking. If the scene on day one is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure the next two days are going to be just as exciting with some exemplary speakers taking the stage and some must attend seminars taking place.”

     

    Added Raj Nayak – President, The Advertising Club: “Goafest is the world’s largest industry event in the advertising industry – organized by two industry bodies coming together. In the true sense, it is an event by Indians, for Indians and completely made in India. This year, we had over 300 jurors from across the country coming together to judge the entries for which awards will be presented over these three days of the event…with almost 112 of them judging tonight’s Media and Publishing Abbys. Goafest, when it started was only a creative awards ceremony. However, today, in its twelfth edition, it has become a festival of knowledge, wisdom, entertainment, fun and a great networking opportunity.”

     

    Elaborating upon the event, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman, Goafest 2017 said: “With changing times, Goafest has also evolved. For the first time Goafest is going green in part by getting the delegates visiting the event to conserve water and taking other baby steps to our bit for the environment. This year we have heavily subsidized entry to let more and more young people to attend the event. It is extremely exciting for us to see so many young people participating in the event and appreciating the changes we have brought in. Curious young minds are keen to attend seminars and talks by interesting speakers this year. Day 1 has been such a huge success. We can only see this getting better and better over the next two days.”

     

    Said Ramesh Narayan, Chairman of the Awards Governing Council of Goafest 2017: “The atmosphere at Goafest is always filled with excitement, camaraderie and a whole lot of fun. And this year is no different. It is absolutely heartening to see members of the advertising and marketing fraternity sending in some wonderful entries this year which have kept the jury on their toes. Judging any award is a difficult process and more so when you’re pitting one excellent entry against another. All I can say is, all the winners tonight are truly deserving of the honours that have been bestowed upon them. Judging by the level of excitement today, I’m sure that the next two days are going to be absolutely spectacular.”

     

    Karan Bajaj kicked off the Discovery Channel presents Industry Conclave on the topic ‘Role of brands in changing India’. “The brands that we experience in this room have a deeper impact on our lives than we realise. I’m happy to be in a roomful of people who are impacting people and lives,” he said. The UpasanaTaku, Co-Founder MobiKwik, came on stage to talk about demonetisation, the growth of digital payments and powering 55 million users and 1.4 million retailers in India. “Brands have played a role in transforming India. Consumer choice drives brands, and brands have the power to transform an entire country. 86% of India’s spending is cash. It’s a massive amount of money that moves in an unaccounted manner. I truly believe it’s the era of mobile wallets, and won’t deny that demonetization has sped up the journey,” she said.There was much anticipation for the session by Hemant Malik, Divisional Chairman of ITC’s Food Business, who also spoke about e-commerce and digitisation, while acknowledging the evolution of Goafest. “We are the only carbon positive company in the world.”

     

    But the session that everyone waited for was by Acharya Balkrishna, CEO and MD, Patanjali.  “If you learn to applaud yourself sometimes, the world will learn to applaud you,” he said. “The nation is ours, the children are ours, the life is ours. We must take care of it ourselves. Always remember, for the world India is just a market place; for us it’s our home,” he said.

     

    Earlier, the ceremonial lamp was lit by M K Anand, MD & CEO Times Network, Piyush Sharma, CEO New initiatives India Zee Entertainment India, Karan Bajaj, Senior Vice President & General Manager, South Asia, Discovery Networks, Asia Pacific, and Nagesh Alai other than Nayak, Chopra, Bhasin and Narayan.

     

    Click here for slideshow

     

    Media – Abby 2017 | Publishers – Abby 2017

     

  • A quick chat with Pratap Bose, Chairman, The Social Street which won the second-largest number of metals in the Creative Abby and a few in the Media Abby too!

    Winning across 3 days gave us a lot of pleasure: Pratap Bose


    We’re going to do well at Goafest this year, Pratap Bose, Chairman and Co-Founder of The Social Street had told us before we left for Goa last week. The shortlists were good indicators that Social Street would do well, but being #2 in the metals tally? Well, he proved the naysayers wrong and also confirmed the point that you don’t have to be 10-20-40-70-year-old agency to be winning big at the Abby. In conversation with Pradyuman Maheshwari, Pratap Bose talks about the wins, scam work, the focus on print and the way forward for his agency. Read on…

     

    Just your second year in business and already right up there!

    We’re actually only 20 months old. It’s an amazing feeling. We’ve worked very hard to get where we are, at Goafest particularly. It’s been like a David versus Goliath story. The underdogs if you can call it that. All kudos to the team who’ve made it possible.

     

    You’re not actually an underdog. You’ve been there, done that. You know the…

    People wouldn’t have expected us to do that well at Goafest. But you’re right, we’re not an underdog. We are industry veterans. But yes, for a small agency to do so well at Goafest is a great sense of pride and achievement.

     

    You’ve done it in the past at Mudra when you were helming it. You obviously know how it works. So when did you decide to play the Goafest game?

    Honestly, it’s not just about playing the game well. It’s also about doing great work. If you look at our wins, we’ve won in pretty much all of the major 14-17 categories. So, it’s always good work at that pace. To win you have to start very early in the year. You can’t just leave it to December and then scramble at the end. Producing good stuff all throughout the year. That gives you the humongous tally of metals at the end of the day. That’s something I keep advocating to the people who want to do well at the awards. You have to be at it. You have to have a dogged goal to do great work. I don’t think we do great work to win awards. You have to do consistent work month-on-month and produce two-three great pieces of work every month and if you measure yourself with that benchmark, you’ll certainly do well.

     

    In terms of the work you’ve done… you’ve said in the past you’re not just an outdoor agency, you’ve done a fair bit of work for print and print-craft.

    Yes, we’ve done a lot for print and print-craft outdoor, even won a lot of metals for digital, branded content, PR, our strong units are out of home, promo and activation is where we score very high… so, yes, the results in terms of where we’ve won the metals is indicative of how wide our network is in terms of our integrated offerings across all verticals. That has paid dividends for sure.

     

    But is print one of your core strengths?

    It’s not, but we had a lot of fun doing print advertisements for clients and we won on big clients. We’ve won big for brands like Aegon Religare, IDBI.

     

    I must tell you that there’s a charge that a lot of work you’ve done is scam work.

    Scam is a dirty work. Sometime proactive. If any agency tells you they haven’t done proactive work, they’re lying through their teeth. There’s always a bit of it. If your main body of work… and this is not just the awards, because every day when you go to office for clients you don’t always do award work. But, yes, sometimes the work is proactive and you’ve made a lot of efforts with the client to say, let’s enter this field in this direction. It ticks all the boxes in terms of the parameters in which you have to enter. It has to be published, approved, released. I don’t like this scam word though I said it. Sometimes you do work that motivates the team and sometimes you have clients that allow you to do that.

     

    You’ve won some 40 metals in creative. And you’ve some metals at the Media Abby as well. How many of these are for genuine work?

    Most of them are. What gives me a lot of pleasure is winning across three days. While a lot of hoo-haa is done about a lot of creative agencies and media separately. We don’t have a very large media offering. We have a small media offering but it’s a great offering. But, to be honest, no agency has won across Goafest for three days. Maybe, one or two. So, that gives us a lot of pride. So, to answer your question, most of it is on large brands.

     

    Your strategy until now has been to fashion yourself more than just an outdoor and activation agency. But if you have to look at your play in the last three months, how have you fared by your own assessment?

    So we are just under two years now and if you read the book by Tom Peters, ‘Thriving on Chaos’, I think that’s what we went through. Because we’ve grown very rapidly. We have 180 people now. That’s a lot of people in these two years. But ultimately the true value that Social Street will derive in terms of where it’s going to be positioned and seen in the area of a highly creative company, backed by data, analytics, content, we’re looking at production services and we’re also looking at partnering and opening a few JVs outside of the country. I think that’s really how I see it.

     

    And how are the financials looking?

    I think we’re doing very well. As I said, we’re just under two years and this is a very important year, financially. By all indications it looks good. So, hoping for a great year ahead.

     

    When you were at Mudra, the great wins helped it get acquired by Omnicom. While you’re ou’re already funded. Are you going to use it to any advantage in terms of more investments

    Not really. Metals at Goafest don’t get you any VC funding. I can tell you that. It rewards you for the work you’ve done. It’s a recognition that we are now a force to reckon with in the awards scenario. Not just the creative awards, we’re also doing well at the Effies, Emvies and internationally at Cannes as well. But there’s no extra funding for winning metals at award functions.

     

    You mentioned about the David v/s Goliath analogy. How have the Goliaths been with you so far?

    We’ve received a lot of love and affection, to be honest. When you get on your own, people wish the independent agencies well, by and large. When you’re a part of a large network, you have a lot of competition and crab crawling. But we don’t have that at all. The industry is also happy for us and wishes us well.

     

  • Santosh Padhi, co-founder and CCO of Taproot Dentsu, put his agency's #1 status in perspective

    Small is big and impactful: Santosh ‘Paddy’


    Santosh Paddy isn’t his real name. It’s Santosh Padhi. But the dual identities are just in the name… he’s always very forthright and clear in his views, not shy to show his emotions and passion for his work, and as this chat with Pradyuman Maheshwari shows, happy to put his win in perspective…

     

    #2 last year with a much smaller team than some of the biggies. And this year #1. As they ask sometimes on news television: kaisa lag raha hai aapko… how does it feel?

    I think we’ve been mostly in Top 2 over the last seven years and we ended up becoming #2 agency at Goafest when Ogilvy was there in 2012. Over the last few years we’ve been #2 and on a couple of occasions we were #3. But mostly we’ve been in the Top 3 and I think consistency is what we believe in strongly… We’ve always aimed for the top slot and we were pretty sure these 2-3 solid campaigns may take us to that top slot. I’m glad we’ve finally achieved this. But I’m not happy just being the #1 this year. I think if we can retain this for a couple of more years, we’ll be really happy. It’s easy to reach somewhere but difficult to retain the position. I’ll definitely make sure we’ll retain this title for a couple of years.

     

    For an agency that’s less than 10 years old, what does this win mean to you?

    I think it’s pretty big if you think it seriously. I’ve been telling my team that there have been agencies with 1000 people and competing for years and haven’t achieved this and we have. It’s everyone’s individual contribution. Thanks to our Delhi team. Because this year they’ve also contributed in a big way.

     

    Well, that’s a Dentsu agency that has metamorphosed into yours right?

    Though technically it was announced some time back but we have been working with them for close to 8-9 months. There are some very intelligent and sharp youngsters who’ve taken the Taproot philosophy ahead, so thanks to them as well to contribute to the tally because with one office of 30-35 people we can only stretch to a certain extent. But the minute we added one more office, we can see the result…

     

    We’ve also seen Social Street has done very well. Your agency is 8 years old. You have Social Street which is #2 or #3, depending on the way you rank agencies. Obviously it’s not important to be a 50-100-year-old agency to be maxing at Goafest.

    Absolutely. This is an era of small agencies and small is big and impactful these days. Look at the number of golds that smaller agencies have won this year. There are 15-odd agencies that have won gold here and 12 of them are all young agencies. They’re very specialised agencies, focusing on a few businesses but doing justice to a lot of them.

     

    You have an agency like Open Strategy and Design which have done 11 and 4 are Gold.

    Absolutely, they, Autumn Winter, Umbrella… many!

     

    Does that worry you?

    Absolutely not. I always think competition is healthy. Competition makes you better, sharper, more creative. It keeps you on your toes and I love that challenge. We want that competition. Then only the industry can get better.

     

    In the light of what you said, there’s always a sentiment that you’ve come on top without the top agencies participating. Your comments?

    I don’t think a great piece of work will get impacted whether there are two or 20 agencies. That work will get celebrated. Adidas Odds has won in a big way at Adfest. It’s won here as well. If there were five more agencies, I’m sure Odds wouldn’t have got impacted because great people will appreciate great work. I’m not worried about that. Having said that, if you look at our past international wins, in four out of eight years, Taproot has topped at Cannes where all the big players were there. It’s unfortunate some of the key big agencies are not there at Goafest. It’s very unfortunate because I believe that if you have the Australias and South Africas of the world playing cricket with you, you always lot better. You are on your toes, you want to push, you want to contribute. So, the challenges are good. And unfortunately these guys have not been coming and staying away from Goafest which is also not a good, healthy sign for the industry. I’d request these guys to come together and have all our differences killed and do whatever is needed especially for the youngsters of the agency. Winning a gold and a couple of metals for smaller agencies is a boost. They will do lot better work next year. When we were young, someone gave us this platform. It’s our duty to ensure one big, healthy award festival happens in whatever form it takes.

     

    Why speak about other agencies. Even Aggie (Agnello Dias) doesn’t come for the Goafest and the Abby?

    You know Aggie well, he’s a shy guy. He always shies away from such events where there are more than 40-50 people. I’m scared that if there are more than 80 in Taproot, he might not come to office also(laughs). So, he’s a shy guy and in spite of pushing him, pulling him…

     

    You more than make up for that.

    We try to, but as you know Aggie is Aggie.

     

    You are aware of the body of work that was produced last year in in India. If you had to put include the agencies who haven’t participated, how do you think you would’ve fared?

    I think the boundaries are getting blurred in terms of the mediums. I’m so glad that lots and lots of new age ideas are coming forward or being done for brands. We’re no more a traditional country which does TV, Print and Outdoor. I’ve seen a lot of design work, activation ideas, a lot of direct ideas, lot of digital, mobile ideas being done. So, I think, we’re living in a world where you can’t say this is an agency doing well or is expected to do well. I think today there are specialist guys coming and contributing. I’d love to give the Jonty Rhodes example. Without even coming to bat, by just fielding, he scored 25 runs for his team by fielding so well. That’s the kind of specialty agencies in India are getting into. There are all great performers. So, it’s not that if the Top Performers are here, these guys will stop performing or winning. I think the country is in a fantastic state with a lot of new contributors adding to it and we should applaud these things.

     

    Do you think you’d still be No. 1 had the others been there?

    I think we would have won the same no. of metals but I think we wouldn’t be #1 or #2 because the moment a big agency with six offices comes in, it will obviously override the work our two offices have done. But having said that I don’t think we’ve seen work from agencies as powerful as Adidas Odds, but I think we’re really proud of that piece of work. And another piece of work we’re equally proud of is the Open Network campaign, Unfortunately, that didn’t pick up many metals. But I’d be a little happy had it picked up more metals.

     

    I know this is a celebratory mood. But since we don’t do these interviews too often, lemme ask: One of the things said about your work is that while you are a creative hotshop, in terms of effectiveness you don’t win too many awards. How would you react to a charge like this?

    To be frank, we didn’t enter effectiveness awards the way we should have entered. It’s a format. Somebody has to take that format seriously. We’re creative guys, so we have been entering creative work. Early on, we didn’t even enter creative awards. So, to be frank, we have been only entering Effies, and not the APAC awards. Some of the pieces of work we have produced have huge chances of winning at APAC level also. For example, Open Network or Adidas Odd*, I’m sure these will win big time but I don’t think we’re that gung-ho about entering effectiveness awards. There are some agencies who believe in effectiveness. We believe that if you create a great piece of creative campaign, it’s going to effect in a positive way. Maybe it’s an effective campaign, that’s why clients are buying it, it’s been celebrated. It’s a matter of cutting that case study in a way that it impresses the Effie judges, and we’ve not done that. We haven’t put our energy behind pleasing those juries. So, it’s a matter of getting those numbers and charts and XYZ, which I think being a small agency we haven’t done…to be frank.

     

    One last question, since we are on awards. Typically Taproot doesn’t participate at Kyoorius, is that going to change?

    There is a reason. We always believe there has to be a single award. We enter Cannes which is the biggest international award. We skip Cleo, D&AD and many other awards because one has a limited budget to invest. You can’t enter all 20-25 award shows happening across the world. So, you have to choose your battle carefully and we always believe after years of battle, the industry decided here is an award we all should be proud of, we should be entering. And we’ve been entering since the last eight years….

     

    You are on the Kyoorius jury this year and Aggie was there last year. So, you have nothing against it?

    Yes. Correct. It’s a matter of deciding you have 10 units. Whether you want to divide and put 5 in both places or gun for one and put all 10 units in one place. Because it’s an expensive affair. You can’t put two, two places. It becomes really expensive. So, nothing against it. I think Kyoorius is getting better year-on-year. There are more Indian juries this year compared to the last two years. Because, if it’s a local award, Indian jury will do far more justice compared to an international jury and somehow Rajesh has been taking care of those small things that make the festival better and they are getting better.

     

  • What was distinctive about the awards was the invasion of the youth and the takeover by the boutique creative shops, writes Sandip Ghose

    Point of View by Sandip Ghose: Huge and slick, but clients were missing

    By Sandip Ghose

     

    Came to Goafest after a long hiatus – almost 10 years, I think. On the surface, not much has changed. As the inaugural speaker assured in his welcome address, this year too, Goafest has retained all its standard sights and fixtures. From Sam Balsara strutting around (though I did not see him in his signature shorts), Shashi Sinha in his “Dabang” avatar to the wild after-hour parties, all were in place.

     

    However, talking for myself, this time around, I did feel like an outsider. It was probably age. The world certainly belongs to the millennials now. But, it was more than just that. It was like gatecrashing into someone else’ private party.

     

    Let us admit: it is a closed club. The ad fraternity has been genetically incestuous. Perhaps, I was being unduly self-conscious. However, this year, it looked like a Bombay clique. That too is perfectly understandable since, Mumbai is where the action is. Gurgaon still remains a distant cousin. Folks from the other cities were conspicuously missing or I did not recognise them.

     

    Having moved out of the advertising and media circuit for some years, in a way it was reassuring to see the old familiar faces on the dais – Raj Nayak, Vikram Sakhuja, Ashish Bhasin, Nakul Chopra, Ramesh Narayan. They all looked remarkably young and fit. Obviously, the workout regimes and diets are working. Of course, there was Srinivasan Swamy, the patron saint of Goafest. Also, one spotted the inimitable Bhaskar Das, with his latest hair-do, wafting through the crowd.  But, where were the other Gods?

     

    Clash of the Titans is a common story. But, one had heard, the big guns had smoked the peace pipe a few years ago. Then why were the biggies so conspicuously missing?

     

    From what I recall, there used to be a sizeable presence of the Marketing fraternity of different media houses. Other than Dainik Jagran, who were one of the sponsors and DB Corp (Dainik Bhaskar) in small measure did not see any of my old friends, whom I was expecting to meet, further adding to my loneliness.

     

    Even the Media Buyers were under-represented, I thought. Though, some of the top honchos, who are part of the organisation committee, were present none of their second-in-command were visible. My own media buying agency must have been hugely relieved, because they could be sure that none of their competitors were around to make a pitch to me after the third drink.

     

    The reason why Media Agencies or even the Creative Heads and Planners chose to give the fest a miss one can guess. After so many years, the attendance of Clients is negligible. So, Goafest provides very little opportunity to network for business development.

     

    The Conference itself has become huge and slick. The big budgets (Rs 8-10 crore, we were told) and the labour of love that industry volunteers cutting across levels put in for months were clearly showing.

     

    Moving to the Grand Hyatt from the earlier Park Hyatt gives it greater class but also makes it a more exclusive, which may not be quite conducive for a “fest”. Bambolim is a tonier part of Goa, close to Donna Paula and Panjim. No doubt a prettier location overlooking the sea. But, it lacks the ambience of Park Hyatt in Arossim with its beach, shacks and smaller hotels and bars in the vicinity. And, Martin’s Corner, without a meal there no visit to Goa can be complete, is a good 25 kilometers away.

     

    The speaker line-up, one could say, was high on entertainment quotient (Acharya Balakrishna of Patanjali fame, Viv Richards, Sanjay Dutt) and short on depth. But, who likes to listen to boring lectures at fests?Therefore, Laura Ries struck the right balance. But, inclusion of Maneka Gandhi to launch the industry initiative on Violence against Women, seemed like a force-fit.

     

    What was distinctive about the Awards was the invasion of the youth and the takeover by the boutique creative shops. Kids going up on stage to collect the prizes looked barely out of school and their bosses were trying hard to fit in – chopping their horns to be with the calves, as they say in Bengal.

     

    It was heartening that Taproot and Webchutney, who made their debut, only some years ago have become part of large international groups so soon. Even a new kid on the block like Pratap Bose’s Social Street announced their coming of age blowing trumpets all the way to the stage.

     

    Clearly the future is digital, social media and OOH (Out of Home). The days of traditional ATL media are numbered and, perhaps, it is also time for the old order to take a bow and move on.

     

    Following my own cue, if I come to Goafest next year it will be with a nubile companion. Since, at my age, that will be a challenge, it will have to be my daughter, who is just out of an art school and planning a career in Graphic Design. Otherwise, the bright and bold young ones, bursting with talent, give us the oldies a huge complex by the time we get back.

     

    Sandip Ghose is a roving marketer and popular blogger. He has worked extensively in FMCG, Media and other Brand categories.Twitter @SandipGhose The views expressed here are his own

     

  • And this is how the various entrants stacked up in the Creative Abby

    Entrants-wise tally – Creative Abby 2017

    And this is how the various entrants stacked up in the Creative Abby… note we have used the word entrants and not agencies, because some of the entries have been submitted by clients/advertisers directly.

  • The debut edition of The Marquees is slated to premiere in August 2017

    Ad Club’s ‘Marquees’ to celebrate gamechanging stories of brands

    By A Correspondent

     

    After conducting events as big as the Abbys, Emvies and Effies, The Advertising Club unveiled at Goafest 2017 an all-new annual property called ‘Marquees’ which addresses the needs of marketers who form a large constituency of the Advertising Club.

     

    The Awards intend to recognise brands for excellence in marketing, but also those who have come out successful despite facing numerous adversities iterating the well-known adage “That which does not break you only makes you stronger.”  The debut edition of The Marquees is slated to premiere in August 2017. Network18 has come on board as presenting partner.

     

    Speaking about the newly constituted awards, Raj Nayak, President, The Advertising Club said, “Brands operate in a dynamic and evolving environment where challenges are manifold and mostly unpredictable. It is hence important to recognise and honor creativity and effectiveness of brands that take challenges to their stride and emerge triumphant. The Marquees will play the role of acknowledging and cheering brands and marketing initiatives that have been gamechangers.”

     

    Commenting on the raison d’être of the awards, Partho Dasgupta, Chairman Marquee Awards said: “We believe that brands are a force of change and influence in society. The awards will recognise all the elements of marketing with communication being just one of them. We are sure that the awards will emerge as an ultimate benchmark for excellence in marketing.”

     

    Apart from the regular category awards for sectors such as FMCG, Banking, Auto, Insurance, Telecom & DTH, Consumer Durables & E-commerce. The Marquees will also have “Marquee Special Awards” and will recognise brands who have made a name for themselves differently. Some of the examples of the special awards are: conquering an impregnable fortress, riding on an emerging wave, reinventing for the better, carving out a niche and traversing unchartered waters.