MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • 12 Industry evangelists to decode inspiring digital campaigns

    The Advertising Club announces second edition of the India Digital Review

    By A Correspondent

     

    After the success of the first edition that addressed the drivers of the tectonically shifting brand ecosystem, The Advertising Club has now announced the 2nd edition of D-Code. The upcoming edition will be held on August 7, 2019, 6.30 pm onwards in Mumbai and will attempt to an idea exchange with 12 Industry professionals showcasing  best in class digital campaigns by their own brands and celebrating other inspiring digital campaigns, all in just 10 -minutes each.

     

    The first round of stalwarts confirmed to speak at D-Code include

    – Bajaj Auto: Sumit Narang, Vice-President, Marketing: Moving the world as the 4th largest three and two-wheeler manufacturer

    – Bytedance (Tik Tok): Sachin Sharma, Director, Sales & Partnerships: Revolutionising short-form digital content

    – Corner Stone Sport and Entertainment: Jogesh Lulla, COO: Talent Management of many sporting icons like Virat Kohli.

    – Dentsu Webchutney: Sidharth Rao, CEO & Co-Founder: Category evangelist making India proud with a lion’s share of global laurels.

    – Facebook: Nirmal Pulickal, Head – Facebook Creative Shop: A beacon for brands to get the most from Facebook and Instagram’s social environment

    – Google: Vikas Agnihotri, Country Director, Google: Just ask Google!

    – Kolkata Knight Riders: Venky Mysore, MD and CEO: A franchise known for upping the cricketing game

    – MX Player: Karan Bedi, CEO: Leading holistic mobile entertainment experience in India

    – McCann Worldgroup: Partha Sinha, Vice Chairman and Managing Director: World leaders in creatively driving effective marketing services

    – Nestle: Rashi Goel, VP- Consumer Communication Media, CRM & NHW: Global leader in Food & Beverage

    – Swiggy: Srivats TS, VP Marketing: Driving the digital revolution in Foodtech

    – Kenny Sabastian, comedian: Redefining entertainment

     

    Speaking about the second edition of the review, Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, media and OOH, Madison Communications & President, The Advertising Club said: “Digital occupies a higher share of mind space of marketers than the share of spends. Partly because they are still trying to figure out how to unleash the true power of Digital. D-Code is the most important calendar entry for these marketers, because it is the only forum where numerous Digital practitioners, will share their best work, someone else’ss best works, and give their essence of learnings on what worked. Miss it at your own risk.”

     

    Speaking about the need for a Digital Review, Aditya Swamy, Head, Agency Partnerships and Creative Services at Google and Managing Committee member, The Advertising Club said: “Curating D-Code with Punitha, we have looked to get views from all sides of the eco system. Publishers, marketers and agencies will put their work and the work of the industry under the scanner to tell you in a rapid-fire format the kind of work that truly makes the cut across creative, media and data. With over 500mn users, digital is now truly mainstream and cracking the D-Code is a huge opportunity to grow your brand and business.”

     

    Added Punitha Arumugam, digital evangelist and Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club: “Similar to D-Code last year, we are ensuring a speaker list that represents the vast and multifaceted dynamics of the online world. Our speakers this year once again include a mix of the established and emerging online publishers, a client list that spans the traditional advertisers to pure online commerce  businesses, representation from the agency world , creators who have built their brands online and the speaker list would not of course have been complete without cricket given its dominating online presence this year . We hope at the end of D-Code 2019, the 24 case studies and 36 tips from these 12 speakers over just two hours would provide great insights on how to use online for brands and business.”

     

  • Is the KLM ad a good gimmick or a responsible act, asks Sanjeev Kotnala

    Surprised With KLM Asking You To Fly Responsibly

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    Seriously, someone has to be quirky and disruptive sounding with a ‘Fly Responsibly – Take a Train’ to catch attention.

    We live in an era where brands are being forced to demonstrate their commitment to a purpose. Look at #ToxicMasculinity, #ShareTheLoad,  Jago Grahak, #OrgasmInEquality. All of these are bold and in some way disruptive. Some of them are justified but many of them questionable in their focus and commitment.

    The information has been democratised. Marketing a bit deglamourised can no longer hide behind vanilla promises and functionality.

    Many categories uniquely fulfilling some need of consumers are now finding out that they are harmful to the whole ecosystem. They are doing more wrong than right. And the consumer expects them to f*$%king take responsibility for it.  As none of these are illegal, the companies want to continue doing business.

     

    Airline Industry Has To Fly Responsibly.

    The airline industry is one such case. High-flying climate ambassador has questioned its carbon emission impact from 32,000 feet and above. Carbon emission will continue to rise until sustainable fuel usage takes off. Currently, airlines account for some 2.5% of global emission.

     

    The Airlines Can Fly Responsibly.

    The possibilities exist, and many airlines are making some progress in the area. Airlines can shift to more green or sustainable fuel and even commission Hybrid planes. The airline can work on rationalising route, fleet and size. The seat configuration between first, business and economy class can be reworked. Maybe they can start charging people by weight.

     

    KLM Point Of View.

    KLM has been working on the service part of the ecosystem. KLM realises that working only on the airline side of the ecosystem is never going to be sufficient to address or make a sizeable contribution to the cause. Hence, to make it more effective, the airline wants to involve the demand side of the ecosystem, the customers the flyers.

    Till the option of flying cheaper faster to a destination for business or pleasure remains available, people are going to opt for it.

    KLM wants to nudge the passengers (the demand side of the ecosystem) to help make a positive contribution. This thinking is the foundation of the campaign FLY RESPONSIBLY. Here is the quote from the KLM website. “Fly Responsibly is KLM’s commitment to taking a leading role in creating a more sustainable future for aviation. With the introduction of Fly Responsibly, we’re making the world aware of our shared responsibility. We can only succeed if we work together, so join us today for a more sustainable tomorrow.” And it is already one of the world’s more fuel-efficient airliners.

     

    How To Fly Responsibly the KLM way.  

    The airline wants the flyer to consider other travel options, like a train. It gives an example that flying from Amsterdam to Brussels takes longer than going by train. Maybe it wants to get out of uneconomical shorter routes!

     

    KLM ask the flyer to evaluate if the travel is really needed.  Or one could use the various technology tools like Skype and web-links etc. to conduct the business. It is nothing new; many of companies have already adopted this system of doing business.

    KLM wants a flyer to pack light to help burn less fuel.

    It wants the flyer to voluntarily pay to offset their travel carbon footprint. The cost of carbon print offset is around 1 to 1.5% of the total cost of travel. However, when flyer opts for CO2ZERO service of KLM, he or she contributes to the ‘CO2OL Tropical Mix’ reforestation initiative in Panama where so far at least 3,5 million trees have been planted.

    These are small steps. The airline hopes these suggestions will nudge the customers to mould their behaviour.

     

    No One Wants To Take The Harder Route.

    KLM could have been the first one to charge passengers by the weight. So if a passenger is above a certain weight (just like baggage allowance), they have to pay extra.  In the process, forcing some frequent flyers to reduce weight and be health conscious.  Or it could have promoted healthy ways by giving a discount to lighter people.

    It could have increased the extra baggage rates exponentially, thus nudging passengers to pack light.

    It could have stopped services between the towns where other modes of travel are faster and equally comfortable & convenient.

    It could start charging rather than asking flyers to voluntarily opt for CO2 footprint offsetting.

    Thus, the airline could have forced the consumer to think again.

    We all know it is impossible for a single airline to do so. It will be priced out of the market. However, the Government can bring in laws and policies equally impacting all airlines.

     

    Is KLM Serious About Your Not Taking The Flight?

    Yes, I believe it is. This communication is not like the fake COKE or the ‘Stop eating Tide Pods’ communication. It is not even like the ‘HT NO TV DAY’, where a newspaper was asking people to have a no-TV day.

    It’s the airline wanting you to just fly responsibly.

    Before you raise your eyebrow, they have no intention to stop flying.

    The airline tells you “It is our business and we want to stay in business… We are stepping up to speed up progress towards a sustainable future, but we are a company that needs to make a profit to survive and to continue to invest in sustainable solutions. We want to still be around when we have succeeded in our efforts to make aviation sustainable.” And it tells you in, FLYING RESPONSIBLY is a two-way street, we the airline and the flyer both are equally responsible.

     

    A Good Gimmick Or A Responsible Act.

    Frankly, in spite of all the explanation in the website and umpteen videos available on YouTube, for some reason, KLM ‘Fly Responsibly’ looks gimmicky. Maybe it is the distrust in such campaign that makes me think so. I think we will have to wait and watch how the campaign develops and what further steps the airlines take to engage, involve and nudge the passengers.

    The airline has definitely taken the lead.  It seems to be ahead of possible politically and global regulations that may hit the industry sooner than later. Being the more fuel-efficient airline with experience with sustainable fuel is Fly Responsible a great PR lobby idea to push the Government to impose a Carbon Footprint Offset tax or cess, it will benefit KLM.

    FLY RESPONSIBLY has helped KLM garner a thought share. Whatever may be the reason, I do hope it succeeds in its attempt to nudge the consumer. Every step counts.

    ASIDE.

    Meanwhile, I don’t think it is going to make anyone of us shift from Delhi-Mumbai flights to Rajdhani or Mumbai-Nagpur to Duranto. We are an equality-operated economy. The airports and air-travel are as uncomfortable and inconvenient as the train. Hence if AIR-INDIA or INDIGO or VISTARA will talk Fly Responsibly, it could only hint for the flyers to behave appropriately, stand in the queue, don’t should and fight, follow instructions.

    I will leave you with this DON’T EAT TIDE PODS message, just for fun. Very impressive, very purposeful.

     

  • His last role was with Accenture UK & Ireland where he was based in Dublin and managed key businesses for Accenture EMEA, as the EMEA delivery leader with a 500+ member team based across Dublin, Lisbon and Krakow

    Publicis Media hires Sunish Jose from Accenture as Global Distributed Delivery Lead

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sunish Jose

    Publicis Media India announced a senior-level appointment for overseeing its Global Distributed Delivery set-up – a centre of expertise catering to international markets on a full spectrum of digital, data and tech services. It houses over 300 specialists across Mumbai and Gurgaon and supports a host of Publicis operations across US, Europe and Asia and their multinational clients on Search, Programmatic, Data engineering, Data sciences, Ecommerce, Consulting and Development.

     

    Jose comes with about 18 years of experience and is a Six Sigma Black belt professional with extensive experience in managing Digital Operations business across Programmatic Solutions, Search, Social, Display & Mobile, Analytics and Business Process Management. Some of the global clients he has had experience on include P&G, Sprint, Reckitt Benckiser, Nestle, Kraft, PepsiCo, Verizon, Toyota, Honda. With a proficiency in managing Service Delivery, defining SLA’s, contracts, His last role was with Accenture UK & Ireland where he was based in Dublin and managed key businesses for Accenture EMEA, as the EMEA delivery leader with a 500+ member team based across Dublin, Lisbon and Krakow.

     

    Anupriya Acharya

    Said Anupriya Acharya, CEO of Publicis Media India:  “Sunish Jose’s rich experience and demonstrated capabilities in successfully managing and scaling up large specialist operations across India and Europe, makes him the right fit for the role. As GDD expands its footprint both in terms of geographies as well as capabilities, managing the speed of growth well is important. Jose will guide our GDD charter and deliver on expansion and operational excellence. Furthermore, GDD will also continue to provide the right talent pipeline for our fast expanding domestic business and clients across all the future-facing service streams.”

     

    Added Jose: “This is an exciting time to be returning to India. The market is vibrant and the country continues to be an incubator and exporter of ideas and innovation. GDD is a world-class operation that provides the backbone talent and infrastructure for strong execution on our Global clients. I look forward to accelerating GDD’s growth and keeping our offering competitive, relevant and well-ahead of the curve as we gear up for the  next round of expansion.”

     

  • Takes a big step into the future of DOOH

    Kinetic India hosts workshop on programmatic advertising

    By A Correspondent

     

    In order to create awareness and bring other media partners at par with industry trends, Kinetic India hosted a workshop on programmatic advertising Digital OOH (DOOH) on July 12, 2019 at the GroupM Mumbai office.

     

    Classified as a by-invite only event, among the renowned media partners in attendance were Vyoma Media, Armour Digital OOH, All About Outdoor, Times Media, Signpost India, Jagran Engage, PlayAds and Skyrams. Along with Kinetic, industry veterans such as Bharat Khatri – Country Head of Xaxis, Kyle D’lyma – Associate Product Director of Xaxis, and Mayuresh Phadke – COO and Co-founder of LEMMA Technologies were key speakers at this exclusive event.

     

    Iterating the vision of Kinetic, the workshop began with insights from Rachana Lokhande, Co-CEO of Kinetic Worldwide, India. Said Lokhande: “The purpose of the workshop has been to get media and technology partners to collaborate and build the programmatic ecosystem by marrying data across sources and platforms together to provide a seamless experience.”

    Added Bharat Khatri, Country Head, Xaxis India: ‘’Programmatic is often conflated with actions like retargeting, conversions, real time optimization & audience targeting. However, an advanced programmatic stack (DMPs, DSPs and SSPs) can map out many contexts such as consumer-proximity store, store visits, live triggers – weather, cricket scores and many other signals that ensure the right ad is served to the right person at the right moment. By nature, DOOH inventory is a perfect way to deliver relevant messages to consumers who are on the go. With the power of programmatic, DOOH is an automated inventory buying/selling process which takes advantage of location data to drive more meaningful measurement, quality engagement, allowing advertisers to scale omnichannel strategies.”

     

     

  • Multi-channel campaign celebrates the home and lifestyle products that blend form and functionality available at Ellementry.com

    Network Advertising unveils ad campaign for lifestyle brand, Ellementry

    By A Correspondent

     

    Network Advertising has launched its latest ad campaign for homegrown lifestyle brand, Ellementry.

     

    Shayondeep Pal

    Said Shayondeep Pal – Chief Creative Officer, Network Advertising: “In our everyday life, we tend to play down the importance of aesthetics in mundane things. The campaign rides on this insight and turns it on its head to talk about the larger philosophy of making everyday beautiful. The idea was to revive the power of print and attempt a ‘slow down and sit back’ approach to advertising that matches the brand ethics – ‘life is beautiful’”.

     

    Ayush Baid

    Added Ayush Baid – Founder, Ellementry.com: “From Day 1 we have built our brand on six core pillars – Form & Function, Fusion, Culture Revival, Food Safe, Sustainability and Hand Crafted. Each of the pillars has been carefully chosen because in some manner or other they make each and every day beautiful for us, our people, our consumer and the environment. However, being a young brand, not many people knew about us or our philosophy. That’s where the ‘Everyday beautiful’ campaign created by Network fits perfectly well to inform the consumer about our brand, our philosophy and our brand pillars.”

     

     

  • The brand recently brought in Katrina Kaif as brand ambassador

    Reebok ropes in Varun Dhawan as brand ambassador

    By A Correspondent

     

    Fitness brand Reebok has announced Bollywood actor and fitness enthusiast, Varun Dhawan, as its new brand ambassador in India. The brand recently brought in Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador.

     

    Commenting on the association, Sunil Gupta, Brand Director, Reebok India said: “We are thrilled to have Varun as the new brand ambassador for Reebok. Being a fitness enthusiast, Varun complements the brand brilliantly. He echoes Reebok’s enthusiasm and dedication to fitness, and we are confident that together we will continue to revolutionise the fitness industry.”

     

  • Konnections takes a sweet bite of Dadu’s communication mandate

    Dadu’s appoints Konnections as their strategic communication partner

    By A Correspondent

     

    South India’s leading brand of sweets and confectionary, Dadu’s has appointed Konnections as its strategic communication partner post a multi-agency pitch process.

     

    Said Rajesh Dadu, Owner of Dadu’s: “We were looking for an integrated consultancy that could support our communication requirements. We identified Konnections as our partners as they hold strong credentials and are known for their expertise in handling cross industry clients. We are confident about their ability to execute strategic communications plans that will align with our business objectives. ”

     

    Added Mukta Kumar, Director Communications, Konnections: “It is a great opportunity for Konnections to be associated with Dadu’s which has been a household name of hand-crafted, traditional Indian sweets and confectionary in South India. With our proven expertise in handling hospitality business and our focus on client relationships we are confident that we will support and strengthen Dadu’s expansion strategy and brand journey in future.”

     

     

  • An EY global report notes that India represents a massive market for M&E

    A Billion Opportunities

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The world is keenly looking at the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) market given the potential of growth. There is of course fair reason: According to consulting firm EY (aka Ernst & Young), with a “population of more than a 1.3 billion people, India represents a massive market for media and entertainment (M&E) companies, with very positive growth fundamentals across virtually every type of media.”

     

    Said John Harrison, EY Global Media & Entertainment Leader: International expansion is critical for global media and entertainment (M&E) companies seeking to build scale, tap new audiences and enhance competitive positioning. Those looking to seize the upside of growth should set their sights on India. With more than a billion consumers and a favourable macro backdrop, India offers a massive opportunity across almost every type of media.

     

    In a report released globally in late June 2019 titled ‘How a billion screens can turn India into a media and entertainment powerhouse’, the EY M&E team has reflected on the state and potential of M&E in India. “India’s M&E market is strategically interesting to global players seeking to monetize content and capture growth upside, either as a participant via licensing or other commercial arrangements, or as an outright owner through an in-bound acquisition or organic investment approach. Advertising, the lifeline of India’s M&E industry, remains among the lowest in terms of spend as a percentage of GDP, signaling upside potential. In addition to a myriad of digital outlets, India has more than 850 TV channels and over 17,000 newspapers, making it one of the most diverse and vibrant media markets globally. The country is also at an inflection point in wireless broadband connectivity and infrastructure that, combined with its GDP growth and young demographics, offer new opportunities.”

     

    Click here for the full report

     

     

  • Nick Lawson promoted to Worldwide Chief Operating Officer, Josh Krichefski becomes EMEA CEO and Kate Rowlinson to lead MediaCom UK

    MediaCom announces changes to Worldwide, EMEA and UK leadership

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nick Lawson

    Nick Lawson, currently MediaCom’s EMEA CEO and Global Client Practice Lead, succeeds Toby Jenner as Worldwide Chief Operating Officer. Lawson will be responsible for driving the network’s business development, marketing and product offers, while retaining his position as Global Client Practice Lead. Lawson has been with the agency for 28 years, originally as part of the Media Business before it merged with MediaCom in 1999.

     

    Josh Krichefski

    Josh Krichefski, who originally joined MediaCom in 2011, replaces Lawson as EMEA CEO, having spent the last three years as UK CEO. He takes responsibility for 4,400 people across 37 offices, driving the vision and culture for the region.

     

     

     

    Kate Rowlinson

    Krichefski is replaced as UK CEO by Kate Rowlinson, the agency’s current Managing Director, Worldwide Hubs who has been part of the network for ten years. She will lead the country’s biggest agency, comprised of 1,250 people across five offices.

     

    Said Stephen Allan, Worldwide Chairman and CEO, of the appointments: “Nick, Josh and Kate’s track records in delivering truly innovative work are unparalleled and I am in no doubt they are the best people to lead the MediaCom network into its next exciting chapter. They will bring forward thinking and rich expertise to our clients, helping them achieve their growth agendas, and perfectly exemplify our People First, Better Results belief. Their continued personal growth has and will continue to deliver the best possible results for the brands we work with.”

     

    Lawson and Krichefski will report into Stephen Allan, whilst Rowlinson will report into Krichefski.

     

     

  • Anil is tasked with accelerating the growth of Publicis Media’s programmatic capability across the agencies

    Publicis Media appoints Anil Pandit as Programmatic Head

    By A Correspondent

     

    Publicis Media India appointed Anil Pandit as Head of its Programmatic Practice.

     

    Anil Pandit

    Pandit is tasked with accelerating the growth of Publicis Media’s programmatic capability across the agencies. He will oversee the central programmatic team – providing agency teams access to expert data, technology capabilities and solutions – that will deliver superior client value through greater effectiveness and media efficiency. He will also work with the global team to bring in the full Precision capabilities to India.

     

    Anupriya Acharya

    Said Anupriya Acharya, CEO Publicis Media India on his appointment: “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Anil’s expertise and leadership in this crucial role as we focus on further consolidating our overall programmatic presence and bringing in PM Precision capability to India. Our group has been a pioneer in programmatic and with Anil’s leadership, we will look to fast- forward the full launch of the Precision capability in the market. Maintaining our competitive advantage on all aspects of digital and ensuring that we continue to deliver best-in-class capabilities and growth for our clients is key to our continued success.”

     

    Added Pandit: “Programmatic is witnessing a phenomenal rise both in India and globally. About a third of India’s ad inventory is already programmatically traded. I’m excited to get this mandate of expanding PM’s central capabilities in future platform innovation, audience strategy, data consulting and precision excellence. I would like to bring into my role, sharp client lens coupled with operational ad -tech experience and look forward to collaborating with our agencies and marketplace partners to deliver faster and more scalable impact for our clients.”

     

     

  • It is an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based insights engine for programmatic audience performance

    DAN Programmatic launches ‘DAN Explore for Programmatic’

    By A Correspondent

     

    DAN Programmatic has collaborated with Amnet, the network’s programmatic arm, to launch DAN Explore for Programmatic. It is an Artificial Intelligence-based insights engine for programmatic audience performance, which merges with their flagship insights engine – DAN Explore.

     

    Salil Shankar

    Commenting on the launch, Salil Shankar, Vice President – Amnet India said: “Despite the obvious benefits of the ecosystem, when it comes to programmatic advertising, the environment is mainly opaque. With the tech still being very much of a black-box, the lack of transparency still remains a major point of concern for publishers, brands and marketers. With its unique ability to provide more understanding to audience cohort performance, DAN Explore for Programmatic will be one step closer to our vision of making this ecosystem more transparent as well as providing us with the insight to sharpen our audience buys and set new performance benchmarks.”

     

    Added Gautam Mehra, CEO- DAN Programmatic & Chief Data Officer- South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network: “Armed with the right algorithms, DAN Explore for Programmatic aims to become a translator in conversations by bringing trust between industry stakeholders in the programmatic space. With its unique access to data and proprietary logic frameworks, DAN Explore for Programmatic will help classify programmatic audiences accurately and reliably to analyse the performance of audience cohorts in line with marketing objectives based on thousands of real-time data points – forming a base for future planning and real time optimization of programmatic campaigns.”

     

     

  • The work will be led out of the agency’s New Delhi headquarters and executed across the country

    Avian WE appointed communications partner for Honda Cars

    By A Correspondent

     

    Avian WE has been appointed as the communications partner of Honda Cars India Limited (Honda). The agency will be responsible for growing awareness of Honda cars across the region through multi-channel integrated communications campaigns.

     

    Said Nitin Mantri, Group CEO of Avian WE: “Honda is one of the most respected premium automakers in India, offering consumers quality, and technologically-advanced products. It is a pleasure to apply our automotive expertise to a revered brand like Honda.”

     

    On the appointment, Rajesh Goel, Senior Vice President and Director, Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India Limited, said: “Avian WE’s proposed strategy aligns with our communications objectives and we look forward to working with them.”