MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • He will be based out of Mumbai and will report to Lalit Bhagia, CEO, DAN Consult

    Karl Gomes joins DAN Consult as Partner – Customer Experience

    By A Correspondent

     

    Karl Gomes

    DAN Consult has roped in Karl Gomes as Partner – Customer Experience (CX). Gomes will be based in Mumbai and will report to Lalit Bhagia, CEO, DAN Consult. As Partner – CX, his chief mandate here will be to help lead a client-facing customer experience and build platforms and content-strategy practice.

     

     

    Lalit Bhagia

    Commenting on the appointment, Lalit Bhagia, CEO, DAN Consult said: “The traditional consulting firms have always focused on frameworks and left-brain thinking. However, in today’s digital world, there is no one framework that fits all businesses. If that were the case, the Big 4s (Deloitte, KPMG, E&Y, PwC) would have made every startup a unicorn. To succeed in a digital world, you need a combination of the right brain and left brain thinking, Karl’s legendary work as one of the best digital creative and experience guys in the country is well-known. He brings in that amazing right brain thinking to all our growth hacking assignments and will help build a specific practice focusing on CX.”

     

    On his new role, Gomes said: “Word-of-mouth has always been the most powerful mode of communication. People don’t talk about advertising; they talk about the product, the service and the experience. And it’s become even more important as data and technology have increased competitive pressure in every market. Customer experience has become the most important factor to drive exponential growth. And I truly believe DAN Consult has the vision, appetite and the people to take this opportunity to the next level.”

     

     

  • Next phase will see the integration of payments to publishers and inclusion of more performance metrics in smart contracts

    Mindshare’s programmatic supply chain reconciliation drives up numbers for PepsiCo

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare has reported success in providing seamless end-to-end reconciliation of the programmatic supply chain using blockchain for PepsiCo in partnership with Zilliqa Research, Rubicon Project, MediaMath and Integral Ad Science.

     

    The test ran in March 2019 in Asia Pacific with control versus test budget to measure its benefits. Mindshare, notes a communique, observed up to 28 per cent increased efficiency in terms of costs for viewable impressions, in running the campaign through smart contracts, versus one without.

     

    Said Gowthaman Ragothaman, Global Lead for blockchain across GroupM: “The impact on marketing budgets and the performance brings great value to the advertiser. We will expand the alliance and keep developing more features on the smart contracts to include more media performance metrics to make it even more effective.”

     

    Commenting on the results, Farida Shakhshir, Director of Consumer Engagement for PepsiCo AMENA said: “We are happy to be partnering with Mindshare to test the application and value add of blockchain in media. It is key that we stay abreast of new technologies, and continue to advance transparency, viewability, brand safety and buying efficiency. The results are encouraging, and we plan to run a few more campaigns under different conditions to verify more hypotheses and measure overall impact.”

     

    Added Erich Wasserman, co-founder and head of strategic business development at MediaMath: “We are delighted by this partnership as it matures solutions that further the promises of transparency and performance in programmatic marketing. We look forward to growing the addressable data and media supply chain that can take full advantage of the powerful optimization tools that buy-side platforms afford advertisers.”

     

    Said Max Kantelia, Co-Founder of Zilliqa Research: “We are proud to work with Mindshare and other leaders and influencers within the global media landscape. This alliance illustrates the power of smart contracts and serves as a reminder that blockchain can drive business benefits to industries beyond just finance. As Project Proton unfolds, we eagerly await to assess its impact and how we could – along with Mindshare’s expertise and insights – develop it on our scalable and secure platform.”

     

     

  • Well, that’s what Navin Shenoy, Marketing Head of Youth, Music & English Entertainment at Viacom18 seems to say after bagging the Creative Company of the Year at Goafest

    Big creative agencies, beware. MTV can do your job, cheaper

     

    At the Creative Abby awards at Goafest 2019, Viacom18 bagged the coveted Creative Company of the Year pipping legacy agency brands in the rankings roster. MxMIndia caught up with Navin Shenoy, Head Marketing of Youth, Music and English Entertainment at Viacom18 to get his views on the win….

     

    MxMIndia: You should be celebrating, instead you are looking very serious?

     

    Navin Shenoy: Me? I am always a serious kind of a guy.

     

    Congratulations on being the Creative Company of the Year at the Abby at Goafest.

    Thank you so much. We are very thrilled at this. We got a fantastic team back at MTV and I think we have been in a period of transition for a while now. And finally, all of this is coming together. It’s working out for us. So, we are really thrilled. The whole team is over the moon.

     

    We have always known MTV to be a frontrunner in terms of creative output. You do think out of the box etc. But to be the creative company of the year at the Abby is dramatic. You have many creative biggies participating – okay, not all of them, and there are digital agencies. As a marketer, can you assess this and put in reference to the rest of the industry?

    Well, I think all the old structures are changing massively in terms of how a marketer should look at the options in terms of partners. I think for us everybody is competition. Advertising agencies are competition, media agencies are competition. We are currently in a place where we are able to provide a full 360-degree solution. We are able to provide creative, we are able to provide inventory and media, we are able to provide customised solutions, we have an insights studio which gives great insights into youth. So, I think there is a lot of hard work that has gone behind pulling this together and I think it’s come at a great time for us. It gives us more impetus to take this forward.

     

    ¥ou have worked across the spectrum in terms of organisations, FMCGs, telcos etc. Since you have got an award like this do you see other organisations also doing the same… get into creative mode?

    Yeah. Sure. I think innovation is now a given. Earlier, it used to be 20% of what possibly organisations used to do. I think unless you’re innovative and creative an organisation is more likely to be built to crash. The earlier paradigms that were built to last are far gone. Most organisation are built to crash if they are not built for innovation or creativity. And I think this is an important lesson for everybody saying that you need to keep re-inventing yourself. It’s unlikely that the same framework will be used for evaluation. What’s going to happen is that media, digital, creative, marketing, all of those technology, all of those are likely to collapse into a single sort of structure. And whichever organisations are best placed to take advantage of that are the ones who are likely to win, and we are hoping to be one of those. Hopefully this award sets us on the path forward.

     

    You have also worked with agencies in the past. Do you think that there is a message here for the traditional agencies? Today, you have won the Creative Abby. Tomorrow, you could be winning the Effies?

    Right. Definitely there is a message for everyone, including us. You would have heard of Accenture buying Droga5. Now, Drog5 is a creative hotshop and Accenture is known for its consulting jobs. Now what’s happening is an Accenture is actually looking at the other end of the spectrum and they have acquired a Droga5 to try and play the whole spectrum. Similarly, we seem to be in a great position now, to be able to play the whole creative to media spectrum. So, the message – rather a lesson – for every other company is that if you end up being unidimensional, you are not innovating, you are not able to provide across the spectrum, it’s likely to be a sign that you are going to struggle in the times to come.

     

    But does this also put pressure on you? Because till now, you were concerned about television and other platforms. Does this now put a new kind of pressure on you – of achieving the impossible on the creative front

    Yeah. It does, but we love this pressure. We think we are doing some great work and hopefully there will be other people who will believe so as well. And we love this pressure and we are going to take this to a whole new level. And I believe in the next 12-24 months MTV is poised to take this up quite a few notches.

     

    Winners at Goafest Abby also go on to enter other awards. Are you looking at trying elsewhere too?

    Of course, we are. Our ambitions are sky high. Recognition is a byproduct. We intend to do world class work that cuts it across the board on all platforms and Cannes would be an important platform. So, like I said in the next 12-24 months we are expecting to do work that is global, that is hitting global standards, that is setting the standards for other brands and in that sense hopefully Cannes will be one of the byproducts.

     

    For the benefit of people who are not aware of things, how large is your creative team?

    Well, we have got an interesting bunch of people there. I think the diversity and the width is what makes us unique. We have got a set of people who are craft-driven, people who are production- and creative- and video- driven. So, that’s one unique perspective that we bring to the table. We have got a set of people who are brand solutions-driven… who are creative but can think, like say, what a classical traditional agency might think? We have got a set of marketers who think for the business and finally, we have got a set of research people who are part-anthropologists, part-media experts, part-youth experts and these are people who bring pure life insights to the table. I think the potent mix is when we bring all four of these together and we put a solution on the table, or we put any output on the table. Whether it’s for brand MTV or whether it’s for a brand who has come to us for a customised solution. I think that is really the X factor that is giving us the edge.

     

    So how large is your team?

    This is a totally a team of around 30 people. We prefer to keep it lean. We are very picky about the people we chose to be in this crack team. But yeah, it’s working for us well. As the business expands, hopefully, we will add more people to the team.

     

    Lean? Thirty people makes to be the size of a smallish agency. Are you open to doing to work for others as well?

    Of course, we are. You know, as I met other people at the Goafest this time, I have been telling them that as I have been hearing them go to production houses with ideas where they have struggled to manage costs. I think one of the things, that is happening is on an average a marketer is getting an ad film for, let’s say, Rs 50-70 lakhs in the ballpark. And I think we can do a very good job of this because we are in an ecosystem. We do it for our own brand and for other brand as brand solutions. So, I have been telling a lot of my friends in creative agencies, all my friends in marketing organisations that they should look at us as an option.

     

    So could well be providing some competition to the existing biggies?

    Absolutely. Why not?

     

     

  • The platform claims over half a million users since its inception 60 days ago

    Batooni brings hyperlocal mobile advertising to India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Batooni, a hyper-local mobile advertising startup in India, claims to have acquired over half a million users in a span of just 60 days. The platform is in the form of a dialer app which plays an eight- to 10-second video ad when users dial a number through it. Once the user dials in, the app effectively transfers money to them as compensation for watching the advertisement.

     

    On crossing this important milestone, Jitendra Chaturvedi, Director and Co-Founder, Batooni said: “We are happy to have crossed this significant milestone which only reinforces the uniqueness of our offering both for advertisers and consumers. Today, we are scaling up our offerings and the company is expected to see further growth in the coming months. Ours is a unique platform that is specially designed for smartphones unlike the traditional approach where ads meant for desktop properties were then adapted to smartphones.”

     

     

  • Sanjeev Kotnala writes on why and how Andrew Keen’s book ‘How To Fix The Future’ is a must-read

    Future Shock or Fixed?

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala

    I knew all along, there was something drastically wrong with the way the future is unveiling itself. I was on the lookout for a debate on ‘How to fix the future’. Andrew Keen’s session at the IAA World Congress held at Kochi, India in February this year probably opened new spaces for the discussion.

    We are under constant surveillance. Our behaviour is slowly being nudged towards what the dominant biggies Google, Amazon, Facebook of the business want. It is the new era of ‘Winner-takes-it-all’ business that is creating polarisation of wealth rather than distributing it.

    We are ignorantly working towards bettering their algorithms. We believe we are getting all this free. Not realising there is nothing free.

    The internet is a boon, but may be the price we are paying for its services outweigh the benefits.  Internet is the new morphine. Like many of us, I feel trapped in the system. I am addicted to it. I am unable to withdraw or detox.

    After having read ‘Internet is not the only thing’ by Andrew Keen, and having an equally polarised view of the internet, it was logical for me to pick his next book ‘How to Fix The Future: Staying Human in the Digital Age’.

    And if this is the trailer, what profound changes Artificial and Alternate Intelligence can unleash on mankind, unless we pre-plan to control the damage. History is witness to the fact that we are blinded by our vision of advantages and rarely humans have thought of the future repercussion while it adopted a new regime of services and products.

    Talking of the influence of internet-based services and addiction, I find it amusing and true. A potential threat humans failed to appreciate at the initial stage. “In the 1960s, we swam through the waters with only a few hooks: cigarettes, alcohol and drugs that were expensive and generally inaccessible… “In the 2010s, those same water are littered with hooks. There’s the Facebook hook, Instagram hook. The porn hook. The email hook. The online shopping hook. And so on. The list is long –far longer than it’s ever been in human history, and we’re only just learning the power of these hooks.”

    On the other side, humankind has always been smart enough to get out of the damage path by intense social pressure, tweaking of the technology and bringing new guidelines and reforms to control the damage.  Half of us would believe that we would once again succeed in doing so with the Internet and AI.

    In his book, Keen makes a very pertinent point: ‘The computer is the “Brain Outside ourselves” our “Second Brain”. From an evolutionary point of view, there we have taken an exponential leap. The new brain has outpaced our heart, our morality and beliefs. We are so preoccupied looking down at the second brains, that we forget how to look smartly at ourselves. As these devices get faster and faster, we appear to be standing still, as they produce more and more data about us, we are getting any more intelligent: as the devices become more powerful, we might lose control of our own lives. Instead of the singularity, we actually be on the brink of antithesis- let’s call it the “duality” –  an ever-deepening chasm between humans and smart machines and also between tech companies and the rest of humanity.’

    He adds what I call a real possibility:  ‘In the future, we may no longer be in charge of our own creation… Our technology might be developing a mind of its own, thereby excluding and disempowering, and enslaving us. The existential threat of self-conscious algorithms is very real. They might be our final invention.’

    May be the answer lies in genuinely finding ‘What the Humans are good at’ and will always be a wee bit better than the machines. The current answer is ‘Nothing’. And we in our quest of making machines equally smart and emotive with a better power to process and take decisions are clearly on the path to wipe out any difference. I have my doubts. I am part of the small subset that believes; we are on the way to hastening the end of mankind. And one of the reasons I like reading Andrew Keen.

    Most of us are intellectually challenged to understand the enormity of the technology revolution, the amplified inequalities, the creation of parallel power centres feeding on our data and the race to harnessing Alternate intelligence.

    No doubt, Keen is open and transparent in stating: ‘This is a maybe book, based on the belief that the digital revolution can, like the industrial revolution, be mostly successfully tamed, managed and reformed. It hopes that the best feature of this transformation – increased innovation, transparency, creativity, even a dose of healthy disruption – might make the world a better place.”

    The book title ‘How to fix the future’ is misleading. There are no solutions. There can’t be.

    Keen presents a strong argument in favour of his belief that “No, not even the smartest technology can solve technological problems. Only people can”. I agree with him as he shares a few example and stories of how people are solving the thorniest problem in the digital age.

    Though there are directional paths from education to governance, to fixing it well in time. The example quoted in the book of Governance in Estonia and the always-on technology for betterment in Singapore shows some promise. The concept of ‘Universal Basic Income’, paid to everyone for ‘Not Doing Anything’ is also explored but be warned that can never be the solution. The only good part is that Andrew Keen is raising the issue. He at least presents a possible solution around competitive innovation, government regulation, consumer choice, social responsibility by business leaders, and education. It is up for healthy discussion.

    What I disliked was the constant reference to the 1516 work of Thomas More’s Utopia. It comes across as a framework of an idealistic world-inspiring Keen. But that is hardly the way life is expected to turn. Though it was interesting to note that if seen from a perspective More’s Utopia Map resembles a skull. May be there is a cryptic message in the map design that we are missing.

    Go read this interesting book that may sound fiction to many followers and admirers of internet-led ease in life.

     

     

  • The new RCO structure comes as a progression to the CCO announcements made earlier this year

    Lowe Lintas strengthens second leadership level with four new RCOs

    By A Correspondent

     

    Lowe Lintas has announced a new structure for the second level of creative leadership at the agency. The new RCO structure comes as a progression to the CCO announcements made earlier this year.

     

    As part of this move, three senior creative leaders Joy Mohanty, Amar Singh and Carlos Pereira, have been elevated to the post of RCO. Additionally, Kapil Mishra, a senior creative resource has been hired as the new RCO for its South office.

     

    Joy Mohanty,

    Joy Mohanty, who leads the creative function for the Delhi and Kolkata offices of Lowe Lintas, is now elevated to Regional Creative Officer. His mandate is to strengthen the agency’s creative standing in the designated regions. Joy will continue to handle creative duties for the North and Eastregional offices.

     

     

    Amar Singh

    Amar Singh has been elevated to Regional Creative Officer at Lowe Lintas. In his close to 16 years at Lowe, he has worked on brands such as Vim, Domex, Clinic Plus and Pureit. He will be based out of the agency’s Mumbai office.

     

     

     

    Carlos Pereria has now been elevated to Regional Creative Officer at Lowe Lintas. With just over a decade in Lowe Lintas, he has led several brands across the agency including Idea Cellular, Surf Excel, Vim, Wheel, Sunlight, Ultratech, Kara, etc. He will be based out of the agency’s Mumbai office.

     

     

    Kapil Mishra

    Appointed as Regional Creative Officer at Lowe Lintas, Kapil Mishra comes from Contract Advertising, where he led a host of brands under his creative leadership as the Creative Head for its Mumbai office working on brands like Asian Paints, Cadbury Celebrations, Edelweiss, UTI Mutual Fund, Sugarfree, HSBC, Halls, Choclairs, ITC Charmis, Docomo etc. Mishra will be based out of the agency’s Bengaluru office.

     

    Amer Jaleel

    Speaking about strengthening the second level of creative leadership at Lowe Lintas, Amer Jaleel, Group CCO & Chairman – MullenLowe Lintas Group said: “As a group we are instituting this new structure that will be the logical second level after CCO. At MLLG our RCOs will define leadership of a strong cluster of clients or brands that could be either geographical or not. Let’s just say RCOs are capable of leading a small agency by themselves. Lowe Lintas is an agency with a large portfolio of clients. When Virat and I took over the reins of the Group, putting the building blocks in place was our top priority. To deliver a powerful creative product, you not only need great creative leaders but also strong people under them to give shape to those great ideas. I see this quality in every RCO who can ably support Prateek and Sagar in their creative pursuits.”

     

  • Here’s the list of top-rankers in the automotive, drinks, financial services, FMCG, and food and retail sectors

    WARC’s Best of the Best

     

    WARC has released a ‘Best of the Best’ ranking of campaigns, agencies and brands showcasing the best all-round performances in the automotive, drinks, financial services, FMCG, food and retail sectors.

     

    The six separate product category reports are based on the analysis of the combined data of the three annual WARC Rankings — the Creative 100, Effective 100 and Media 100 rankings — compiled from the results of the most prestigious and rigorous award shows of 2018.

     

    Said Amy Rodgers, Managing Editor, Research & Rankings, WARC: “These sector analyses, the last of a series of reports produced based on the results of the WARC Rankings, provide category intelligence and an industry benchmark showcasing the top all-round sector performers across creativity, effectiveness and media excellence.”

     

    Automotive category highlights:

    With Audi topping two of the three automotive rankings, it is no surprise that Audi not only ranked #1 as a brand, but its owner Volkswagen Group came out as top automotive advertiser.

     

    This success is reflected through the companies who worked with Audi, with BBH London ranked as the #1 agency with its campaign ‘Clowns’ topping the automotive creative ranking. Strong performances from PHD Worldwide agencies drove the network to the number one spot.

    #1 campaign for creativity: Clowns, Audi, BBH London

    #1 campaign for media: Lead Generation, Kia, Havas Media Madrid

    #1 campaign for effectiveness: Beauty and Brains, Audi, BBH London / Salmon London / MediaCom London / PHD London

    #1 agency: BBH London

    #1 agency network: PHD Worldwide

    #1 brand: Audi

    #1 advertiser: Volkswagen Group

     

    Drinks category highlights:

    In the top ten agencies for drinks, there is a three-way split between Auckland (3 agencies), London (3 agencies) and Latin America (3 agencies), with MediaCom Mexico City taking first place and Africa São Paulo second. Touché! Montreal is the only agency representing North America.

     

    With campaigns featuring in two of the three drinks rankings, Coca-Cola has topped the brands list and is ranked #2 in the drinks advertisers list. Anheuser-Busch InBev is in first place.

     

    In the drinks category, MediaCom Mexico City tops the agency list and its network, MediaCom, ranks #4. BBDO Worldwide leads through the contribution of a range of agencies including AMV BBDO London (#7) and Colenso BBDO Auckland (#8).

    #1 campaign for creativity: Tagwords, Budweiser, Africa São Paulo

    #1 campaign for media: The Awesome Is Here, Cerveza Victoria, MediaCom Mexico City

    #1 campaign for effectiveness: No More Excuses, Heineken, Publicis Milan / POKE London / Starcom Amsterdam / Publicis London

    #1 agency: MediaCom Mexico City

    #1 agency network: BBDO Worldwide

    #1 brand: Coca-Cola

    #1 advertiser: Anheuser-Busch InBev

     

    Financial Services category highlights:

    Due to the long-term success of Fearless Girl, which topped both the Creative and Effective 100 for financial services, State Street Global Advisors ranks #1 for brands and its owner State Street Corporation leads the advertiser rankings in the financial services sector.

     

    Following on from this success, McCann New York, which worked on the campaign, tops the agency ranking and McCann Worldgroup is ranked #1 network with its agencies in Sydney, New Delhi and Mumbai also contributing to its success

    #1 campaign for creativity: Fearless Girl, State Street Global Advisors, McCann New York

    #1 campaign for media: The Animals’ Own Emergency Number, DNB, TRY/APT Oslo

    #1 campaign for effectiveness: The Impact of Fearless Girl, State Street Global Advisors, McCann New York

    #1 agency: McCann New York

    #1 agency network: McCann Worldgroup

    #1 brand: State Street Global Advisors

    #1 advertiser: State Street Corporation

     

    FMCG category highlights:

    With Colenso BBDO and AMV BBDO London taking first and second place in the FMCG sector agencies’ ranking, it is no surprise that BBDO Worldwide is the top network, ahead of MediaCom in second.

     

    Whilst Pedigree topped the FMCG brands list, this performance could only drive its owner Mars to #3 advertiser with Procter & Gamble ranked #1 through the performance of brands including Gillette, Procter & Gamble and Tide.

    #1 campaign for creativity: #Bloodnormal, Bodyform/Libresse, AMV BBDO London

    #1 campaign for media: I Don’t Roll On Shabbos, Gillette, MediaCom Connections Tel Aviv

    #1 campaign for effectiveness: Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks, Savlon, Ogilvy Mumbai

    #1 agency: Colenso BBDO Auckland

    #1 agency network: BBDO Worldwide

    #1 brand: Pedigree

    #1 advertiser: Procter & Gamble

     

    Food category highlights:

    Skittles is the top brand with campaigns featuring across all three food rankings: Exclusive The Rainbow #1 for creative, Let Out The Sour #1 for media and Breaking Conventions With Pride joint #4 for effectiveness.

     

    The agencies that worked on the winning Skittles campaigns all feature in the top ten agencies’ league table. The highest ranked is adam & eve DDB London, with work for Skittles as well as Marmite. DDB Chicago, which worked on the Exclusive The Rainbow is ranked #2. The success of these agencies alongside DDB’s offices in Paris, Johannesburg, Mexico and Moscow propelled DDB Worldwide to top network.

    #1 campaign for creativity: Exclusive The Rainbow, Skittles, DDB Chicago

    #1 campaign for media: Let Out The Sour, Skittles, MediaCom Dubai

    #1 campaign for effectiveness: Cheetos Museum, Cheetos, Goodby Silverstein & Partners San Francisco / OMD New York

    #1 agency: adam&eveDDB London

    #1 agency network: DDB Worldwide

    #1 brand: Skittles

    #1 advertiser: Mars

     

    Retail category highlights:

    Mindshare Shanghai tops the agency list for retail having contributed to three of the top ten campaigns in the category in the Media 100 ranking, driving Mindshare Worldwide to #2 network.

     

    Ogilvy is ranked #1 retail network, in part due to DAVID Miami’s work on Google Home of the Whopper, which came second in both the retail Creative 100 and Effective 100. This, along with Scary Clown Night (#1 creative campaign) meant that Burger King topped the retail brand list, with it’s owner Restaurant Brands International leading the retail advertisers table.

    #1 campaign for creativity: Scary Clown Night, Burger King, LOLA MullenLowe Madrid

    #1 campaign for media: Turning KFC Into Gamers Playground, KFC, Mindshare Shanghai

    #1 campaign for effectiveness: How Lidl Grew A Lot, Lidl, TBWA\London / Starcom London

    #1 agency: Mindshare Shanghai

    #1 agency network: Ogilvy

    #1 brand: Burger King

    #1 advertiser: Restaurant Brands International

     

    Download a sample report of the ‘Best of the Best’ in automotive, drinks, financial services, FMCG, food and retail sectors.

     

    The full reports for each of the six sectors are available to WARC subscribers and include the top ten campaigns across creativity, media and effectiveness, as well as agencies, networks, brands and advertisers. Additionally, the story behind four top ten ranked campaigns for each sector are featured, including information on the challenge, strategy and results.

     

  • Appoints Tanya Ahluwalia as Vice President – Brand Marketing and Rahul Karthikeyan Head – Digital Marketing

    Upgrad strengthens senior leadership team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Online education company Upgrad has strengthened its senior leadership team by appointing Tanya Ahluwalia as the Vice President – Brand Marketing, while Rahul Karthikeyan will head Digital Marketing.

     

    Ahluwalia brings 18 years of experience working with leading organisations like Coca-Cola, BBlunt, Nike, Unilever, Delta Corp among others. Karthikeyan has been associated with the marketing and advertising industry for last 11 years in different capacities.

     

    Said Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, Co-founders, Upgrad, in a statement: “Over the last two years Upgrad has developed a holistic digital education experience for working professionals and college students for upskilling and reskilling. We are happy that the new senior leadership brings diverse and rich learnings for upGrad to unlock the immense potential in the online education space and understand the Indian learners. We will continue this growth momentum, offering innovative opportunities for the working professionals and students to equip themselves with the new-age skills for workforce of the future.”

     

     

  • The new campaign highlights the exclusive benefits Airtel customers get as part of its #AirtelThanks program

    Taproot relives the ‘Har Friend Zaroori Hota Hai’ magic with new campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    To showcase the wide range of benefits of its recently re-launched customer program #AirtelThanks, Airtel has rolled out a new brand campaign, which we believe relives the ‘Har Friend Zaroori Hota Hai’ freshness created by Taproot not many moons ago.

     

    The new campaign, also conceived by Taproot Dentsu, takes a break from Airtel’s high speed 4G network imagery and has a refreshing and youthful feel. It will have a 360-degree media mix across multiple touch points including – TV, radio, digital, outdoor and cinema.

     

    Said Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing officer, Bharti Airtel: “This is a path breaking campaign in our brand journey that is built on customer obsession. #AirtelThanks is our way of rewarding our valued customers with some super benefits that not just add value but also differentiate the whole smartphone experience on our network. Our ambition is to build #AirtelThanks into a world-class platform in collaboration with our partners and take customer delight to the next level.”

     

    Added Agnello Dias, Chairman and Co-Founder, Taproot Denstu: “Airtel has one of the most loyal customer base in the country and Airtel Thanks is the brand’s way of acknowledging that loyalty through a range of rewards and benefits that are available only and only to Airtel customers. You won’t find these online or offline or through any other programme. This campaign kicks off the comprehensive first batch of benefits and there will be a continuing slew of more in the future… some of which even money can’t buy.”

     

     

  • The team size of Think Design is 125 and 30 per cent of revenues comes from overseas markets

    Havas buys UX design firm, Think Design

    By A Correspondent

     

    Havas Group has announced the acquisition of Think Design, a leading user experience consultancy and design firm in India. Founded in 2004, Think Design has five design centres in India and the US (Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Denver).

     

    The team size of Think Design is 125 and 30 per cent of revenues comes from overseas markets. Notes a communique: Think Design will continue to be led by its co-founders – Deepali Saini, Hari Nallan and Rama Aleti – and will become a key part of Havas India and Ekino Global, led respectively by Vishnu Mohan (Chairman & CEO Havas SEA/India) and Yann Doussot (CEO Ekino).

     

    Said Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO Havas Group, in a statement: “We really believe that in today’s world, customer experience is key to all brands to make them more and more meaningful to their audiences. It is mandatory to have the right solutions across touch-points. Over the past few years at Havas we have been reinforcing our digital experience capabilities in Europe, Asia and North America with the acquisitions of Boondoggle, Project House, Fullsix/Ekino and Plastic Mobile. Adding Think Design to the Havas family allows us to further strengthen our global digital experience offering and increase our footprint in India where we aim to triple our presence and operations. I am delighted to welcome the teams on board.”

     

    Added Hari Nallan, Founder and CEO of Think Design: “At Think Design, we have always believed that collaboration with the right minds can lead to the greatest results. During our conversations with Havas leadership, we experienced a very strong connection and equally great synergy. We have no doubt that Think Design’s integration into Havas Group will help us become an even stronger, global force to reckon with. We are now several steps further towards realising our vision of being a leading global player in Design for the connected world. This is an exciting time for us and the results are just around the corner!”

     

    Vishnu Mohan, Chairman & CEO, Havas India & South East Asia said: “Think Design is poised to be among the largest design innovation consultancies in the world and their addition will further strengthen Havas Group’s integrated offering, ensure an agile, seamless and dynamic service to our clients as well as add greater momentum not just to our India operations but to the network, globally.”

     

     

  • He assumes his new role with immediate effect

    Subbu is Group Chief Strategy Officer at MullenLowe Lintas Group

    By A Correspondent

     

    Known in the fraternity as Subbu, S Subramanyeswar has been elevated as Group Chief Strategy Officer of the MullenLowe Lintas Group with immediate effect. In the eight years he has been with the agency network, he championed its effectiveness awards agenda and, as a communique underscores, he has played a capital role in the group winning at prestigious award shows such as APAC Effies, India Effies, Tambuli, Tangrams and the world-renowned Jay Chiat by 4As.

     

    Commenting on the development, Virat Tandon, Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group said: “Subbu has been a fantastic partner for not just our planning, business and creative leaders, but also for our clients over the past few years. He is a very generous giver of his thoughts, time, energy and passion. In his new role as Group CSO, Subbu will play a crucial role in driving our global model of “hyper-bundled” solutions for our key clients across Lowe Lintas, Mullen Lintas, LinConsult, GolinOpinion, LinEngage, dCell and other strategic collaborations and partnerships. As always, we want to put strategy first, even while developing hyper-bundled campaigns.”

     

    Said Subramanyeswar on his new role: “MullenLowe Lintas Group is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the industry with transformational and culture-leading brand ideas, and I couldn’t be more honoured to have been chosen to lead the strategy agenda for the entire group. The opportunity ahead for us is vast and a big part of my job is to accelerate our proven strategic thinking ability in this turbocharged technology and data-led world, with “hyper-bundled solutions” that give unfair share of attention to our Clients’ businesses, brands and reputations.”

     

     

  • New end-to-end offering enables brands to run AI-powered content marketing campaigns beyond social channels to achieve real outcomes for marketers

    GroupM’s INCA launches in APAC

    By A Correspondent

     

    GroupM announced the Asia Pacific rollout of its influencer marketing solution, INCA. INCA will connect brands to publishers and influencers to create and promote content in social channels and beyond to drive brand engagement across digital platforms.

     

    Mark Patterson

    “It’s no longer enough to look at an influencer’s follower count, likes, or comments – these metrics are too easily faked,” said Mark Patterson, CEO GroupM Asia Pacific. “To guarantee effective marketing, advertisers must carefully interrogate available data on their partner influencers and their campaign performance.  INCA enables us to do exactly that: we can connect brands with relevant, authentic influencers and publishers that have the power to help a brand achieve its objectives.”

     

    Dafydd Woodward

    Added Dafydd Woodward, Global Lead, INCA: “Considering the rapid evolution of social media platforms and the rise of the content and influencer-driven ecosystem, particularly in Asia Pacific, we are proud to bring a powerful solution to our clients in the market. Advertisers can now have peace of mind in knowing that they are working with the most trustworthy and relevant influencers and publishers, at a scale that can deliver the outcomes they need. With our transparent, data-validated process, we will help to shape the influencer marketing ecosystem for the better.” We don’t know specifics about INCA’s presence in India, but we are sure it will make an entry here, it hasn’t already.