MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • Introduces 'Independent Review Process' to the overall complaints procedure

    ASCI strengthens complaints process. Hires retired IAS officer as Chief Complaints Officer. Justice Mudgal to head review procedure

     

     

    The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has announced an Independent Review Process which will facilitate an independent mechanism to review recommendations made by Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) if either the advertiser or the complainant is dissatisfied with such recommendations.

     

    The new Independent Review Process will have a Chairman, who will be a retired Judge of the Supreme Court/High Court, assisted by the Secretary General/Chief Complaints Officer, along with the Chairman or Co-chairman who was involved in the CCC recommendation and a Technical Expert, where necessary. Currently, Justice Mukul Mudgal (Retired Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana, High Court) has been appointed by the self-regulatory organisation as the Chairman for all Independent Review Process cases henceforth.

     

    Meanwhile, ASCI has also appointed Dr CBS Venkataramana, a recently retired IAS officer as Chief Complaints Officer (CCO), who will drive complaint redressal and 360-degree stakeholder interactions.

     

    Srinivasan K. Swamy

    Commenting on these initiatives, ASCI Chairman Srinivasan K. Swamy said: “ASCI is constantly evolving and seeking effective measures to enable self-regulation in advertising and compliance to ASCI codes. The inclusion of the Independent Review Process mechanism creates transparency for both advertiser and complainant in further facilitating fair judgement of complaints. Further, the appointment of Dr. Venkataramana will go a long way in ensuring speedier and more effective complaint redressal process.”

     

  • Ismail has led GolinOpinion (eka LinOpinion) for over two decades

    MullenLowe Lintas Group elevates Ameer Ismail to Prez, GolinOpinion

     

     

    PR veteran Ameer Ismail has been promoted to President by MullenLowe Lintas Group, effective immediately. He has led the group’s PR firm GolinOpinion (formerly LinOpinion) for over 20 years and built the agency into one of the top players in the PR industry. He was also instrumental in bringing Golin on-board as JV partner in India in 2014. GolinOpinion operates as a part of the marketing services offerings of MullenLowe Lintas Group.

     

    Ismail continues to report to Vikas Mehta, Group CMO & President, Marketing Services for the group. Announcing this elevation, Mehta said: “Ameer is just the right mix of vintage and vision. In a time when the practice of PR is more important than ever, but the business of PR is getting highly commoditized; he’s the kind of leader the industry needs. PR is an integral part of our re-bundled offering and GolinOpinion occupies a great position in the market today. Reinventing yourself from a position of strength is a rare & valuable opportunity and I’m delighted to have Ameer lead that agenda for us.”

     

    Speaking of the promotion, Ameer Ismail, says, “I am so proud to be a part of this great institution – the MullenLowe Lintas Group and am looking forward to this new phase in my journey with a renewed focus and dedication towards delivering great work.”

     

  • The veteran CDO for Mindshare Asia Pacific has added the Middle East and Northern Africa to his scope of work

    Mindshare expands Sanchit Sanga role to also be CDO for APAC & MENA

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sanchit Sanga

    Mindshare has expanded Sanchit Sanga’s role of Chief Digital Officer (CDO) for Mindshare Asia Pacific to also include the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA).

     

    In his role as CDO for Mindshare Asia Pacific, Sangaled the agency’s FAST rollout, which offers clients a series of industry leading digital and technology solutionss.  With this promotion, notes a communique, Mindshare is looking capitalise on his success in crafting custom built brand and performance marketing products for more clients using open source technology, AI and data products.

     

    Sanga has been with Mindshare since 2003, when he joined as the National Director for India.  He has since been in several roles for both the agency and GroupM and has been Mindshare APAC’s CDO since April 2015.

     

    Commenting on the new role Sanga said: “I am stoked to be working more closely with our trailblazing MENA team. Under Tony Bourached’s leadership as the digital head for MENA, we have reinvigorated the region with some stellar digital innovations and we will continue to redefine the region with fresh approaches to digital marketing. Our regions for APAC & MENA have many similarities in terms of digital evolution and it’s only natural that the teams work more closely to shape Mindshare digital products and our business outcome services under Mindshare FAST.”

     

    Added Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, AMEA and Russia/CIS: “Sanchit is an industry leader and has been on the leading edge of marketing technology for years.  His work in establishing FAST in APAC, driving excellence in execution, and setting up industry standards on brand safety, fraud avoidance and viewability have been extraordinary – not just in the results that they deliver for clients, but with the flawless rollout of each client offering. With the launch of [m]Platform, GroupM’s technology offering that consolidates digital and data assets, we want to accelerate capability building and scale up all the products we have developed at the Singapore hub for growth markets. It is great to have someone with Sanchit’s experience and ability leading the effort in more offices.

    Sanga’s role is effective immediately.

     

  • Ramesh replaces Nirmal Pulickal, one of the founding partners and creative head of the agency, who has decided to move on

    M&C Saatchi February appoints N Ramesh as head of creative

    By A Correspondent

     

    N Ramesh, former executive creative director of agencies like Enterprise, Ambience, Ogilvy, Lowe, Meridian and The Thinking Machine has been appointed as president, Creative, at M&C Saatchi February.

     

    Said Gopal Krishnan, founding partner of M&C Saatchi February: “Ramesh’s passion for creativity and entrepreneurial thinking is inspiring to all who have known and worked with him in the past. He is the perfect fit for the kind of agency we are building at M&C Saatchi February.”

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Ramesh said: “Start-up culture is in my blood. Launching small enterprises and leading teams to become successful is the greatest joy I have had in my career. M&C Saatchi February is in a league of its own combining independent holding structure and its inspiring creative philosophy of ‘Brutal Simplicity of Thought’, I can’t wait to get started.”

     

    Ramesh replaces Nirmal Pulickal, one of the founding partners and creative head of the agency, who has decided to move on. The appointment is effective immediately.

     

  • Presenting the executive summary of a KPMG-Google overview of online gaming market in India

    Khelo, India, Khelo!

     

    Republished from a KPMG-Google report on online gaming titled ‘Online Gaming in India: Reaching a new pinnacle’

     

    The advent of India’s online gaming industry can be dated back to 2000s, when console and PC gaming brought several middle-income group Indians on digital gaming platforms. During mid 2000s, online gaming was largely in the form of social games. This adoption was facilitated primarily through global games by international developers. Indian development ecosystem acted primarily as service providers for international developers. Since then, India has been a volume based story enabled by rise in internet penetration and increase in smartphone user base.

     

    Online gaming market realised impressive volumes with 120 million online gamer(s) and market value estimated at ~ 290 million USD in 2016. The key driver of market volume was proliferation of low cost smartphones amongst urban and rural population. The monetisation is realized through revenue streams like in-app purchase, pay per download, subscription service etc. by gamer(s) and in-app advertisement, incentive based advertisement etc. by ecosystem. Today, monetisation is dominated by advertisers and publishers.

     

    However, challenges like limited local games development and monetisation of gamer(s) are still restraining the high potential. In recent years, local internet ecosystem has initiated the course correction by end to end local game development and adoption of digital payment solutions.

     

     

    The online gaming consumers market, characterised by large volumes, is rising fast in terms usage and monetisation. The local development is characterised by highly skilled manpower and expertise.

     

    In the future, India is expected to move towards value driving consumption and comprehensive local development. The industry is expected to gain momentum and reach a market value of 1 billion USD and ~310 million online gamer(s) by 2021. This ~28% CAGR growth will be driven by:

     

  • The objective is to drive transformation through fresh perspectives on shared goals

    Publicis Media creates future-focused nextgen Board

    By A Correspondent

     

    Publicis Media has created a next generation board which will work with the company’s global executive group to address opportunities and drive transformation across the company.

     

    Notes a communique: Board members have the full support from local and global leadership, providing a real opportunity to influence the direction of all brands and practices within Publicis Media, challenge the status quo and implement global initiatives and projects

     

    Launched across 14 markets  other than India – US, UK, Nordics, MENA, Singapore, DACH, Italy, Mexico, Australia, Poland, China, Russia, UK, Spain and France – the aim is to foster a spirit of collaboration across a group of high-performing individuals from around the world.

     

    Each local board comprises 8 -15 employees identified as future leaders and representing diverse skillsets. They will work together to architect and activate medium to long-term deliverables that increase employee engagement and advance Publicis Media’s Trust, Talent and Transformation vision.

     

    Said Steve King, CEO, Publicis Media:  “Our next generation of leaders are the future of this company. It is vital that they play a significant role in creating Publicis Media’s future, from both a talent and client perspective. The launch of the next generation board is about challenging and disrupting how we currently do things, to the benefit of all stakeholders. We had our first global board meeting earlier this month, which ran in parallel with the global Publicis Media board, and we were incredibly impressed with the proposals that were presented, some of which we have already started to adopt.  The energy and new perspectives that they bring are fundamental to our ongoing transformation and success.”

     

    Added Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Media India: “The next generation board infuses fresh thinking into the organisation and brings forward proposals and opportunities that are truly creative, innovative, collaborative and path-breaking.  The Publicis premise of ‘Power Of One.’ resonates through this landmark initiative which cuts through regions, markets and boundaries”

     

    Representatives from each of the local boards will meet four times a year to work on delivering specific global initiatives.  The first of these meetings took place in May and the company is already acting on the proposal by next generation board to harmonise communication across all global talent through the use of innovative new mobile technologies.

     

    The executives who are on the India NGB are the following:

     

    Name Brand Designation
    Kunal Shah Performics.Convonix Vice President
    Sushant Mishra Starcom Digital Sr. Vice President
    Gurpreet Singh Performics.Resultrix Vice President
    TanushreeRadhakrishnan Performics.Resultrix Managing Partner
    VibhorMehrotra Performics.Resultrix Vice President
    AjitGurnani Zenith Managing Partner
    GautamSurath Starcom Sr. Vice President
    AartiBharadwaj Publicis Media Sr. Vice President

     

    Said Tanushree Radhakrishnan, Managing Partner, Performics. Resultrix in India who is on the Board and also attended the quarterly meet last month: “It was an absolutely brilliant and enriching experience to collaborate with the sharpest minds from 15 countries and work on the organisational challenges. It was exciting that I could actually present my thoughts to the Global Executive Group and work towards bringing a real change at a local and global level. I am honoured to be a part of the very first Next Generation Board and I am really looking forward to the implementation of our proposal.”

     

  • Ajeet Shukla and Khurram Haque have joined the creative team for Mumbai and Delhi branch respectively

    Enormous hires senior creative in Mumbai & Delhi

    By A Correspondent

     

    Enormous Brands has appointed Ajeet Shukla as Executive Creative Director, Mumbai and Khurram Haque as Senior Creative Director, Gurgaon office.

     

    Said Ashish Khazanchi, Managing Partner, Enormous Brands: “It feels really great to add such immensely talented people to the agency. Both of them come with great expertise and some big campaigns which is likely to add value to the agency.

     

    Shukla has 12 years of advertising experience has worked with Zee Group, Euro RSCG (Havas), FCBUlka amongst others. Khurram, on the other hand, has worked with Ogilvy, Rediffusion and JWT.

     

  • Creativeland Asia turns 10, launches Baaash Digital

     

     

    Ten years after launch independent agency Creativeland Asia, Sajan Raj Kurup has announced Baaash Digital, a digital ready content company that will create, execute and monitor everyday content for brands, and will cater to every communication need of brands from Branded content, Brand/Product Stories, Experiential Engagements, AR, VR, Blogs to Content development for platforms, Usability Engineering, UX and Content delivery ecosystems etc.

     

    Commenting on the launch, Kurup (Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia) said: “At Creativeland, we have always challenged status quo and disrupted the market with our thinking. Right now, I truly believe there is a change required in the content ecosystem.Ten years ago, we created a new ecosystem that pushed the bar for brand communications and advertising content in this market. Now, we want to create a new ecosystem for every day content that brands need. A decade ago, brands still relied purely on advertising content. Today, brands need to go beyond traditional advertising content to engage with consumers on a daily basis.

     

    With Baaash, we want to disrupt the traditional digital ecosystem. There has been a flurry of digital and social media shops after the advent of digital agency ecosystem. This eco-system today is fragmented with digital agencies, social media shops, various types of independent content creators, digital media outfits, ORM, social PR etc.  A lot of them who offer ad-hoc cheap social media management which is focussed on functional needs rather than pushing the brand’s creative potential to engage better with consumers.”

     

    Kurup has got Tejas Ravindranath from within the Creativeland team to lead this venture with a team of 24 people to start with.

     

  • Laqshya Media Group announces change in key leadership roles

    By A Correspondent

     

    Laqshya Media Group has announced the division of its OOH agency business into two parts namely Laqshya Solutions and Outdoor Media Integrated. The company has also announced a consolidation of  the group business with special focus on south market under the leadership of M V Sairam, who will be the new Executive Vice President (South).

     

    Among the other changes, Amarjeet Singh Hudda is the new COO of Laqshya Solutions while Naresh Bhandari is COO of Outdoor Media Integrated. Both the agencies will work independently in all the markets and will have separate teams for relevant functions.

     

    Commenting on the development, Group CEO Atul Shrivastava said: “Going by the employment records of the company we have minimal employee turnover and all over key association with the team is long term. Laqshya is proud of leaders like Sairam, Amarjeet and Naresh who have not only created strong business base for the company but have also created a strong professional equity in the market for themselves. Growth is a regular phenomenon in Laqshya for the performers and it was just natural to give the larger role and recognition to these gentlemen. Management is confident that these leaders will take the company to the next level of growth.”

     

  • GroupM’s portfolio will now comprise three media agency networks — Mindshare, MediaCom & the new co

    GroupM merges Maxus & MEC globally. In India both to operate as is

    By A Correspondent

    GroupM has announced a portfolio restructure which is essentially entails the merging if the global operations and teams of its agencies MEC and Maxus into a new, billion dollar revenue, media, content and technology agency under the leadership of MEC’s CEO Tim Castree.

    However, Maxus will continue to operate as an agency brand in India with the support of the newly formed global agency as well as the GroupM network. Ditto with MEC which will continue as is. In the near future, MEC will be rebranded to reflect the new global brand.

    GroupM’s portfolio will now comprise three successful global media agency networks — Mindshare, MediaCom, and the new company – each with more than one billion dollars in annual revenues, plus an innovative digital-first agency, Essence. GroupM also plans new investments across all of its agencies and its [m]PLATFORM data and technology capabilities.

    “We’re committed to improving our service to clients. These moves will give us greater focus, help us innovate, and improve our speed of delivery,” said Kelly Clark, Global CEO, GroupM in a statement.

    Since Clark became global CEO in October 2016, GroupM has made a number of organisational changes. Clark recently appointed Lindsay Pattison as GroupM’s Chief Transformation Officer to lead a range of transformation initiatives.

    Meanwhile, in a communique, GroupM said it is committed to the expansion of Essence, its digital-first agency, by adding traditional media capabilities and a larger geographic footprint to the agency’s existing media and creative credentials. In time, Essence will also lead several key GroupM client relationships as part of this restructure, the note added.

    GroupM acquired Essence in November 2015. “The leadership team at Essence is excited about the opportunities this creates for our clients and our people,” said Christian Juhl, CEO, Essence. “Our mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world; with this infusion of talent, capabilities and markets, we can do this now on a bigger stage.” Clark named Castree CEO of MEC in November 2016.

    “Maxus and MEC share common values and ambitions. Both networks have a strong local market presence and entrepreneurial drive. Together, we believe we can create an exciting new media, content and technology agency which we look forward to introducing soon,” said Castree.

    “We’ve clearly signaled our ambition to transform, and we mean business,” said Pattison. “This allows us to more meaningfully invest in each agency’s future – retaining and attracting the best talent with inspiring and rewarding workplaces, creating differentiated cultures and approaches, and sharing in a focus on helping clients win.”

  • Ozone 1M highlights the importance of intimate hygiene

    By A Correspondent

     

    R K Swamy BBDO Delhi launched a digital and on-ground campaign#ThatsMyDatefor Ozone 1m, a brand of intimate hygiene products for women. The objective of this initiative is to create awareness among women about the importance of intimate hygiene.

     

    Said Creative Head Ankur Suman: “We can’t make women aware, unless we first open them up on the topic of menstruation. And to help them open up, we needed to start with something as simple as asking them to talk about their menstrual date.”

     

    A few days before Menstrual Hygiene Day, several women were contacted through private messages on social media, urging them to upload their photos mentioning their next menstrual date along with #ThatsMyDate on their social profiles.

     

    The on-ground activity was launched on May 28, Menstrual Hygiene Day, at an event organised by NGO Sacchi Saheli, at Inner Circle, Connaught Place.

     

    Said Neeta Agarwal, CMO, Ozone Group: “As a brand, we always wanted to promote the importance of intimate hygiene among as many women as possible. Looking at the phenomenal success of #ThatsMyDate campaign, we are now planning to go to next level by taking this initiative pan-India.”

     

  • The winds of change are blowing across the media agency world, and GroupM has done this to better operational efficiencies

    Business as usual for Maxus & MEC in India. For now…

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    That last bit of the headline is most critical. For now.

    Because the winds of change are blowing across the media agency world. There are huge pressures on operational efficiency – cutting costs and flab wherever necessary, combine forces whenever it’s possible and bracing oneself for a world where technology will drive business.

     

    And for WPP-owned GroupM, one of the world’s largest media agency and services conglomerates and clearly the numerouno in India, the situation is the same. And like for any smart strategy consultancy, the writing on the wall is clear. Only the fittest and smartest will survive.

     

    But the decision to maintain the status quo in India, while effecting changes across the world, means a lot.

     

    Although globally MEC is bigger, Maxus is huge in India. Sibling Mindshare may be way ahead, but Maxus has traditionally been very aggressive in the marketplace. Two years back in fact it beat Mindshare at the Emvies, the annual media agency award conducted by Advertising Club. Recently, it bagged the coveted ITC account which was earlier held by Madison and was fiercely contested that involved multiple agencies.

     

    MEC was founded in January 2002 with WPP buyingout CIA’s parent, Tempus. MEC was formed by the merger of The Media Edge and CIA. In 2010, the agency was rechristened MEC from Mediaedge:cia.

     

    In November last year (2016), MEC announced a new global CEO in Tim Castreereplacing Charles Courtier.

     

    Maxus, on the other hand was formed in 2008, though it did exist in some others before. Lindsay Pattison is Global CEO of Maxus, but last month she was also appointed Chief Transformaton Officer of GroupM. She currently holds both charges.

     

    This is what Pattison today after the announcement of last evenng:

    Transformational news from @Groupmworldwide today exciting for@Maxusglobal@MECideas and @Essencedigital Proud to be part of this

    — Lindsay Pattison (@lindsaymaxus) June 1, 2017

     

     

    Meanwhile, let’s revisit the story that MxMIndia carried on the site last evening:

    GroupM has announced a portfolio restructure which is essentially entails the merging if the global operations and teams of its agencies MEC and Maxus into a new, billion dollar revenue, media, content and technology agency under the leadership of MEC’s CEO Tim Castree.

     

    However, Maxus will continue to operate as an agency brand in India with the support of the newly formed global agency as well as the GroupM network. Ditto with MEC which will continue as is. In the near future, MEC will be rebranded to reflect the new global brand.

     

    GroupM’s portfolio will now comprise three successful global media agency networks — Mindshare, MediaCom, and the new company – each with more than one billion dollars in annual revenues, plus an innovative digital-first agency, Essence. GroupM also plans new investments across all of its agencies and its [m]PLATFORM data and technology capabilities.

     

    “We’re committed to improving our service to clients. These moves will give us greater focus, help us innovate, and improve our speed of delivery,” said Kelly Clark, Global CEO, GroupM in a statement.

     

    Since Clark became global CEO in October 2016, GroupM has made a number of organisational changes. Clark recently appointed Lindsay Pattison as GroupM’s Chief Transformation Officer to lead a range of transformation initiatives.

     

    Meanwhile, in a communique, GroupM said it is committed to the expansion of Essence, its digital-first agency, by adding traditional media capabilities and a larger geographic footprint to the agency’s existing media and creative credentials. In time, Essence will also lead several key GroupM client relationships as part of this restructure, the note added.

     

    GroupM acquired Essence in November 2015. “The leadership team at Essence is excited about the opportunities this creates for our clients and our people,” said Christian Juhl, CEO, Essence. “Our mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world; with this infusion of talent, capabilities and markets, we can do this now on a bigger stage.” Clark named Castree CEO of MEC in November 2016.

     

    “Maxus and MEC share common values and ambitions. Both networks have a strong local market presence and entrepreneurial drive. Together, we believe we can create an exciting new media, content and technology agency which we look forward to introducing soon,” said Castree.

     

    “We’ve clearly signaled our ambition to transform, and we mean business,” said Pattison. “This allows us to more meaningfully invest in each agency’s future – retaining and attracting the best talent with inspiring and rewarding workplaces, creating differentiated cultures and approaches, and sharing in a focus on helping clients win.”

     

    Bottomline:

    It’s business as usual for Maxus and MEC for now in India

    Clients of both agencies needn’t worry. Conflicts, if any, will be ironed out

    There will be rationalisation in teams, with movements from one grouping to the other. This will help populate the team of Essence

     

    The communication teams of GroupM, MEC and Maxus are tightlipped about giving out any more info, but there is indeed worry about what responsibilities some key folks in both agencies will be given once the merger happens fully.

     

    For now, Ajit Varghese, CEO APAC at Maxus will continue in his current role, but it will be interesting to see what his next role will be given that Maxus Indiia will continue as is, though for the rest of the world, things will change