MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • Apex body of advertisers says that the suggestions made do not make the government lose any revenue…

    AAAI reaches out to government for business continuity

    By A Correspondent

     

    Everyone has been witnessing with growing alarm the spread of the coronavirus across the globe and in India. Our Country has been on a lockdown for a few weeks now and Governments, both Central and the States, have taken many effective steps to reduce the impact of this pandemic.

     

    But all this is coming at a huge economic cost. The Advertising Agency business, like many other businesses have been seriously affected. The bulk of the agency’s costs are fixed in nature, be it Salaries, Rent, Electricity, Communication, Upkeep, Media Audience measurement reports, etc. The income and cash flow has been in serious stress in the last month and unless there is some intervention, many businesses will either file for bankruptcy or will have to undersize considerably.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    While the Indian Newspapers Society and Indian Broadcasting Federation, the media associations representing the interest of print and television edia respectively, have permitted AAAI members to pay monies they have collected from their clients and not insist on what is due to them on the due dates, the continuity of the agency business cannot be for long without the help of the Government of India, note a commuique from the Advertising Agencies Association of India. In this regard, Ashish Bhasin, President of AAAI, has sent a detailed set of recommendations on behalf of the members of AAAI to the Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar. In this he has stressed the importance of advertising industry for the accelerated revival of the economy.

     

    “What we have asked the Government is very reasonable. We want principally money that is owed to us by way of IT & GST refunds, and dues from Government and PSUs for our advertising bills to be settled immediately. We have also said that any payment made to us should not suffer any TDS deduction going forward, since there is unlikely to be any significant profit for the year. Further we have sought a direction to banks and our debtors that they provide the much needed cashflow to pay salaries and meet other essential expenses, etc,” said Bhasin, adding: “These do not lead to any revenue loss to the Government. They just need to show a kind heart. The timely help they will provide actually is the help they are providing to the people of India, since advertising is a critical input that can provide a ripple effect in reviving many sectors of the economy.”

     

    One other recommendation made is to treat advertising expenses as an investment and have this cost amortised over the next three years. AAAI believes this will encourage larger advertising outlay which will help revive the economy faster. In the same vein, AAAI also suggested that advertising expenses could be given weighted deduction while computing taxes. The suggestion was that every Rs 100 spent on advertising, should be treated as Rs 200, while computing the taxable income.

     

     

  • It has announced that Ventes Avenues will be the official reseller of Bigo Ads platform in South and West India

    Bigo partners Ventes Avenues as it kickstarts India journey

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bigo Ads has announced its foray into India. Bigo Ads is a part of Bigo, which has an average of 349.4 million monthly active users and is an ads platform that provides mobile marketing solutions globally. It has announced that Ventes Avenues will be the official reseller of BIGO Ads platform in South and West India.

     

    Said Niloufer Dundh, Founder & CEO of Ventes Avenues: “Ventes Avenues is delighted to partner with Bigo in India, we are honoured to be chosen and have set up dedicated teams for both Likee and imo here in India. Likee and imo makes for a unique engagement opportunity for brands to explore. We are looking forward to new learning, new highs and doing path breaking work with Bigo here in India.”

     

     

  • The lineup also includes women cricketing stars such as Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj

    Ogilvy partners government in war against Covid-19

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ogilvy India has created an anti-coronavirus campaign for the Government of India, under the title, ‘Mask Force’. It involves some of India’s cricketers talking to the nation, starting with captain Virat Kohli and concluding with Sachin Tendulkar. The lineup also includes women cricketing stars such as Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj.

     

    Speaking about the exercise, Ogilvy’s Chief Creative Officer Worldwide and Executive Chairman, India, Piyush Pandey said: “For decades now, we at Ogilvy have stepped up to stand by our country’s needs through our CSR, be it for polio eradication, literacy, fighting crimes against women and many more causes. So as soon as the Government of India approached us for our effectiveness in spreading messages to the masses, we wholeheartedly jumped in to do our bit. I believed that ‘Mask Force’ would be a likeable term that could be used to galvanise the whole country, hence decided to name this program ‘Mask Force’.”

     

     

  • In its letter to Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, IBF has made several requests

    IBF seeks relief package for the broadcast sector

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), has sought the government’s support to deal with the economic crises in the television broadcast sector as a fallout of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

     

    In its letter to Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, IBF has made the following requests:

     

    1. Regulatory moratorium for the sector for at least next 18 months.

    2. Phased resumption of production activities.

    3. Extension of moratorium period for GST payment.

    4. Mandating digital payments of subscription and advertising dues to broadcasters.

    5. Advisory to DPOs in respect of release of payment of subscription fees for the period up to February 29, 2020

    6. Waiver of processing fee and temporary live up-linking fee for live sporting events for a period of one year from the resumption of normal business activities.

    7. Increase in time period of one to two years for operationalisation of new channels which have been granted permission.

    8. Suspension of requirement of Performance Bank Guarantees in respect of channels sought to be launched for a period of one year.

    9. Waiver of carriage fee due to Prasar Bharati for three months (April, May and June) for FTA channels on Prasar Bharati’s Free Dish Platform.

    10. Deferment of payment due to Prasar Bharati for Free Dish carriage by 31 March 2020 be deferred until July 2020.

    11. All pending refunds even exceeding Rs. 5 Lacs should be urgently processed.

    12. The first instalment of advance tax (due on 15 June 2020) should be done away with and taxpayers be allowed to pay the 2nd instalment (due on 15 September 2020) directly without any interest liability

    13. The due date for deposit of TDS for the months of March and April 2020 should be extended to 31 May 2020 without any interest liability.

    14. Extension /waiver of permission for FX payments for foreign satellite transponder hiring.

    15. Lower rate of TDS from 10 to 2 per cent on subscription revenues

    16. Payment of stamp duty on agreements should be deferred upto expiry of ninety (90) days’ from the date of lifting of nationwide lockdown.

    17. Allow discharge of GST reverse charge obligation through GST input credit rather than paying in cash.

    18. Extend all existing stay of income tax demand for next 6 months without any new hearing.

     

    Said N P Singh, President, IBF: “The outbreak of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have posed several challenges for the television broadcast sector.  With complete cessation of  production  of  television  shows,  cancellations  of  live  sporting  events  and  scheduled advertisements, advertisement  bookings  nosediving  by ~50 per cent;  delays  in  payments  by advertising agencies/advertisers and distribution platform operators, the Broadcast sector is facing the brunt of the slowdown,” adding: “Moreover,  while  we  welcome  the  compliance  and  statutory  relaxations  granted  by  the Government in its latest notification of Apri 15l, the broadcast sector is seeking a stimulus package from the Government in the form of economic relief and regulatory flexibility so that all Broadcasters especially the smaller businesses can be helped to get back on track. IBF has also requested the Government for reduction in GST rate on Digital services (B2C), automatic  refund  of  input  credit  and  immediate  processing  and  issuance  of  lower withholding order (LTDS)”.

     

     

  • Ahuja will be based out of the Mumbai office and will report to Joint CEO Hareesh Tibrewala

    Mohit Ahuja to head brand strategy & client services at Mirum

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mohit Ahuja

    Mirum has brought onboard Mohit Ahuja as the Director of Brand Strategy and Client Services. This position sees Ahuja with responsibility of managing brand planning and client servicing divisions at Mirum. Ahuja comes with two decades of extensive agency experience across the likes McCann, Ogilvy, DDB and latest being an eight-year stint with 82.5 Communications (earlier Soho Square) as Senior Vice-President.

     

    Ahuja will be based out of the Mumbai office and will report to Joint. CEO Hareesh Tibrewala.

     

    Hareesh Tibrewala

    Said Tibrewala: “Mohit is a great addition to the Mirum family. With his two decades of agency stints, he brings a lot of rich advertising and marketing experience to the table. We have very talented client servicing and brand planning teams at Mirum, and we are sure Mohit will provide direction and able leadership to them.”

     

    Added Ahuja: “I am thrilled to be a part of Mirum. The agency is growing, has big ambitions and I am looking forward to being part of this journey.”

     

     

  • Meher Castelino, celebrated fashion writer and Miss India 1964, pays tribute to the veteran editor

    RIP, Gulshan Ewing

     

    By Meher Castelino

     

    My first meeting with Gulshan Ewing was brief when I walked into the office of Femina to see the editor, Dr K D Jhangiani for a cover picture. Gulshan was the ultra glamorous, Assistant Editor of the most popular women’s magazine in India, Femina, that had just announced the first Miss India Contest in 1964.

     

    It was a photographic contest when 500 beauties from all over India sent their photos, from which 10 were selected for an exhaustive interview with Mr P K Roy, General Manager of Times of India and Dr K D Jhangiani, Editor of Femina. Fortunately, I was selected and later learnt that Gulshan too had approved the choice.

     

    Reminscing the Gulshan Ewing/Eve’s Weekly Era

    Soon after, Gulshan left Femina for a more challenging post as Editor of Eve’s Weekly, Femina’s only other rival women’s magazine and older than Femina in years.

     

    Luckily, as a model, my association with Gulshan continued for many years after ’64. The Eve’s Weekly Miss India pageants for the Miss World Contest competed with the Miss India Contest all-India Tours for Miss Universe contest by Femina. Both the rival magazines had the franchise for the two biggest beauty pageants in the world and there was a constant annual ‘battle’ to check the winners and how they performed at the international contests.

     

    Jeannie Naoroji and Hilla Divecha were the designers and choreographers of the Eve’s Weekly shows. The first year Eve’s Weekly held the Miss India Contest in 1966, the show was a revolutionary concept when Jeannie and Hilla introduced taped music instead of a live band, which Femina had been doing from 1965. In addition, Gulshan and Eve’s Weekly both scored a bull’s eye when Reita Faria, Miss India 1966 was crowned Miss World 1966. It was a great beauty and glamour victory for Gulshan and Eve’s Weekly’s popularity soared on the circulation charts.

     

    Gulshan was my ideal career woman. Her entry was as dramatic as her persona but her nature and behaviour were quite the opposite. There was no artificial attitude and incommunicado stance that some of today’s editors feel they have to project.

     

    I can never forget her elegance. Cigarette attached to a long stylish filter in one hand, clad in beautiful, printed, chiffon saris, elegantly styled décolleté cholis and perfectly coiffured hair, Gulshan would float into a room enveloped in the most exotic perfume. She was the ultimate style Diva of the days and in a coterie of male editors she was a breath of fresh air.

     

    I made many visits to see Gulshan in her office, as I was featured on the covers of Eve’s Weekly often, modelled for the fashion pages regularly, contributed designs for knitted garments and generally felt quite at home in Eve’s Weekly.

     

    Every visit of mine had to include a chat with Gulshan. We talked about fashion, style, modelling, the latest tends. She was never too busy to meet me.  Over a cup of tea, we spent hours just talking, at times in Gujerati since we are both Parsis. I also had the pleasure of meeting Gulshan’s husband Guy Ewing when I worked in the PR department of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, now British Airways) in 1965 and he was as friendly as Gulshan.

     

    Gulshan had a knack of spotting talent. Whether it was a model or a writer, she knew who had what it takes to succeed. Many young journalists who are seasoned writers and editors today owe their careers to Gulshan and so do I.

     

    It was in in 1974 at the tail end of my modelling career of 14 years that I did a humorous piece on travelling by a BEST bus called ‘The BEST Way to Travel’. I showed it to Gulshan who promptly published it in the December 14, 1974 issue of Eve’s Weekly.

     

    That was the turning point of my life and start of my journalistic career when The Current, a popular weekly, offered me a weekly column called ‘The Women’. I also did numerous articles for Eve’s Weekly on various subjects like fashion, health, fitness, beauty, lifestyle and interviewed personalities.  Eve’s Weekly’s special editions, along with the very daring topics that were covered were all concepts that Gulshan visualised.

     

    Gulshan Ewing was decades before her time. The subjects magazines cover now were visualised by her along with fashion features years ago. For me, Gulshan Ewing will always be the ultimate editor who had elegance, style, grace and above all a personality, which was not only friendly warm and memorable but also unforgettable.

     

    Meher Castelino is a former Miss India (way back in 1964) and one of India’s seniormost fashion writers and columnists. In between tracking fashion shows, teaching and adjudicating fashion events, she lives in Mumbai.

     

     

    Remembering, Gulshan

     

    Many of the fashion greats who interacted with Gulshan remember her fondly.

     

    Maureen Wadia

    Editor-in-Chief and President, Glad Rags

    “I remember Gulshan very well. I interacted with her a few times. She was a woman to reckon with in those days. They don’t make that many memorable women like her. RIP”

     

    Salome Roy Kapur

    Dancer, Model, Choreographer

    “I can never forget how she called and in her beautifully modulated voice and said, “Salome, Eve’s Weekly has selected you to represent India at a beauty contest in Bangkok.” She always had such a flair about her which was unforgetable. She was gentle and firm and was always impeccably dressed. She was someone we all looked up to. God rest her soul and may she be in ethereal peace and light. Lots of love and thanks to you, dear Gulshan.”

     

    Jay Ramrakhiani

    Textile Restorer and Fashion Designer

    “I remember in the 1970s, Gulshan Ewing used to visit our multi product store Raj Kamal at Fountain, which was near Akbarally’s. Her office was behind our store and she dropped in regularly as she was very fond of my father and me while we had coffee from Welcome Restaurant. She was very stylish, very forthright and you couldn’t fool her with stories. She knew her job, knew her substance. She loved chiffon saris in florals and plains as well as exotic perfumes. She knew the exact weight of the saris too.  She had beautiful hands and feet always manicured and pedicured. I remember one day Rekha the actress and she were in the store at the same time and Rekha loved Mary Quant’s lipstick shade Choosey Cherry. Gulshan too thought of buying it but I told her that with her complexion Cerise Pink by Mary Quant would suit her better and she bought that. When it comes to elegance in a sari no one could beat Gulshan Ewing.

     

    Lakshmi Narayan

    Author, Journalist, Editor

    Lakshmi Narayan started as a trainee journalist in Eve’s Weekly moved to Senior Assistant Editor and was later Editor of the magazine.

     

    “Gulshan Ewing, the person who brought a young 20-year- old saucer eyed, naïve, girl just out of college to the exciting world of Journalism is no more. Gulshan Ewing, the elegant Editor of Femina, Eve’s Weekly and Star & Style gave scores of young people a chance to express themselves. She guided them through the minefields of active journalism, taught us when to go all out and when to rein ourselves in; all the while keeping a strict eye on the English used by us and the facts we were peddling. After retirement, she had moved to London with her British husband Guy and children Anjali and Roy. The last time I bumped into her was on a street in London. She had exchanged her elegant saris for natty slacks and was as warm and friendly as ever and asked me a hundred questions about people in Mumbai.”

     
  • Launches #MakeHomeASafeSpace campaign

    Sakshi turns focus on sexual abuse faced by children at home

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sakshi, a rights-based NGO working towards preventing child sexual abuse, has launched a digital campaign #MakeHomeASafeSpace, communicating the importance for people to secure their homes against potential abuse of children.

     

    #MakeHomeASafeSpace is a part of #StopChildSexualAbuse initiative by The Rakshin Project of Sakshi, in partnership with the Directorate of NSS, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The campaign has been rolled out across all social media platforms and addresses the spike in child sexual abuse cases and the demand for child pornography during Covid-19 lockdown.

     

    Talking about the campaign, Smita Bharti, Executive Director, Sakshi, said: “The idea of reaching out to youth between 18 to 22 years is really simple. Each student we are reaching and educating to be a preventer has a family. Each of these students is tasked with a simple action. Each teach Two. One older and one younger family member. If families acquire a comfort around the language to prevent child sexual abuse, and can have a conversation on what to watch out for, and how to call out the behaviour, without succumbing to the barriers of denial, silence, shame and stigma, half the battle is won, and in turn we have a young generation taking charge of creating a constitutionally enabled secure home space, free of child sexual abuse.”

     

     

  • Getting on board are seasoned professionals Sneha Gupta and Pooja Bhate

    Ventes Avenues beefs up top deck

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ventes Avenues has strengthened its senior management with the appointment of two senior executives across its verticals of branding, performance and programmatic.

     

    Sneha Gupta
    Pooja Bhate

    Sneha Gupta joins as AVP for its Domestic Performance & Programmatic business. This comes at a time when the company is launching its own programmatic platform.

     

    Meanwhile, in the Western India team, Pooja Bhate has been hired as Deputy Head – Sales & Business Development. Bhate will be responsible for revenue generation from clients and agency partners based in West India for all the new publishers mandate Ventes has recently signed up. This appointment comes at the advent of Ventes Avenues partnering with VidMate and Bigo.

     

    Niloufer Dundh

    Said Niloufer Dundh, CEO & Founder- Ventes Avenues on the appointments: “Ventes is honouring its promise to new recruits, and has gone ahead and onboarded Sneha & Pooja. With our evolution into an adtech company, Sneha’s joining is timed perfectly and I look forward to learning from her experience and to working closely with her on our programmatic foray. Keeping in mind our new branding publisher partners and our commitments to them we have Pooja who will lead a separate pod for the same in the West to ensure business commitments are met. I look forward to growing our brandings sales revenue with Pooja; especially since our new publishers have created a unique opportunity for us to seek better extraction from FMCG, OTT & BFSI clients. 2020 will be a special year for us, with the right talent in place and the right intent I am sure our young leadership team will shine”.

     

     

  • The tool has been launched under the umbrella of DMC Explore

    DAN launches Dentsu Marketing Cloud Video+ for OTT

    By A Correspondent

     

    The data sciences division of the Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India has announced the launch of ‘DMC Video+ [Dentsu Marketing Cloud Video+]’, a tool that provides an agnostic approach towards planning and buying on over-the-top TV (OTT) platforms.

     

    Shamsuddin Jasani

    Commenting on the launch, Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD, Isobar- South Asia said: “The Indian OTT ecosystem is hyper competitive and has attracted varying types of players, each of whom offer varied value propositions to consumers. This has created a somewhat fragmented ecosystem with no accurate measure of how brands should engage and activate these audiences. With rapid increase in consumption of online content – primarily fueled by OTT Video, audio and gaming, the ecosystem suffers from the absence of a single source of truth when it comes to buying inventory from these platforms. The Dentsu Marketing Cloud Video+ presents a unique solution to this problem by creating a single ecosystem to understand and buy these audiences in a seamless manner, limiting the rise of another walled garden ecosystem.”

     

    Gautam Mehra

    Added Gautam Mehra, CEO, DAN Programmatic & Chief Data Officer, DAN – South Asia: “In an environment that is now heavily focused on reducing wastage, brands know they need to move budgets from linear TV and traditional advertising towards digital advertising driven by OTT. They however, tend to play it conservatively when they aren’t sure exactly how much of shift will achieve the best ROI. In the absence of transparency, unified insights and audience buying system for OTT consumers, there exist several inefficiencies within the ecosystem. The promise of the Dentsu Marketing Cloud Video+ product is to plug this gap, thereby guiding brands on their journey of capitalizing on audiences who are increasingly mobile and engaged in consuming high quality production content on OTT rather than traditional video consumption of user generated content.”

     

    The tool has been launched under the umbrella of DMC Explore through which clients are not only enabled to gain deep insights into the content consumption of audiences in the OTT ecosystem, but can also activate selected segments for their campaigns.

     

     

  • Through this collaboration FCB India and Networkbay will work with brands and retailers to quickly adapt to this new scenario

    FCB & Networkbay to offer brands contactless retail exp

    By A Correspondent

     

    FCB India in collaboration with Networkbay announced the launch of ‘Retail: Day 1’ a special initiative to work with brands and retailers to manage, redefine and transform their retail experiences in the post-Covid era.

     

    Through this collaboration, FCB India and Networkbay will work with brands and retailers to quickly adapt to this new scenario. By leveraging digital tools and spatial design innovation, ‘Retail: Day 1’ is aimed at creating enhanced new retail virtual experiences which are engaging and at the same time fulfilling business requirements of conversion and sales for brands.

     

    Speaking on current challenges, Rohit Ohri, Group Chairman and CEO, FCB India said: “This lockdown period will change our world forever. When we emerge on the other side of this crisis, retail experiences will be redefined. Our research shows that shopper behaviour will dramatically change. Even though retail stores may be open, customers who shop there will not engage with the stores as they used to. Retail needs to urgently reinvent itself for the post-Covid world. We’re hoping that our Retail Day 1 initiative, we are able to help our clients rapidly build back their business.”

     

    Added Hozefa Attari, Co-Founder, Networkbay: “Our platform combines the strengths of some of the leading retail design, technology and service brands to develop every retailer’s Store of the Future. Project ‘Retail: Day 1’ will allow us to work closely with FCB, taking advantage of their deep expertise in brand and customer behaviour, to develop radical customer journeys, be it contactless automotive dealerships, virtual stores or even connected packaging and Augmented Reality.”

     

     

  • Lioness is the award-winning author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s next novel based on the life of the last queen of India

    Endemol acquires rights to the book ‘Lioness: The last Queen’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Endemol Shine India announced that it has acquired the rights for Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s yet unreleased book ‘Lioness: The last Queen’. Mumbai-based book-to-screen company – The Story Ink has put the deal together and will also be involved as one of the producers.

     

    Abhishek Rege

    Said Abhishek Rege, CEO, Endemol Shine India: “Endemol Shine India is pleased to collaborate with an acclaimed author such as Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The stories she tells and the characters she etches are as inspiring as they are intriguing. With ‘Lioness’ she brings alive a hero whose story is largely unknown. Authentic, motivational, patriotic yet tragic, we can’t wait to bring alive the story of this legendary queen.”

     

    Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

    Added author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni:  “Lioness: The Last Queen is a truthful & complex tale of an amazing woman with great qualities and fatal flaws.  Her indomitable spirit and the determination with which she continued fighting the British with whatever weapons she had available to her is inspiring to us even today. I am thrilled to collaborate with Endemol Shine India and Sidharth to bring to screen, this fascinating story of a queen who fought against the tyranny of the British and stood tall against the insidious cultural colonization of the time. I hope that this story is an apt ode to this lioness of India!”

     

    Said Sidharth Jain, Chief Storyteller and Producer of The Story Ink: “I have been patiently waiting since years to produce a project based on Chitra’s book, so when she told me about Lioness, I jumped at the opportunity. Endemol Shine India was the first company I reached out to for a collaboration and they were excited to come on board & lead the project. Couldn’t have celebrated the completion of two years of The Story Ink, with a better announcement than this. Excited to get this going.”

     

     

  • Harper Collins India’s ‘Parcel’ gets a selection at Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival

    By A Correspondent

     

    The 10th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2020 has announced that HarperCollins India’s short film Parcel is part of the Official Selection. The film has incidentally also been shortlisted for the One Show Awards 2020.

     

    Parcel, produced by HarperCollins in association with Taproot Dentsu is an ode to the art of storytelling. It is a short film celebrating the wonderful power of the narrative. This short tale chronicles its scheme with such detail that it keeps one hooked until the very end.

     

    Added Akriti Tyagi, Marketing Head, HarperCollins India: “Who doesn’t love awards and accolades! Especially when they pour in for something as special as Parcel – our homage to the crime genre. At HarperCollins India, we aim to reinforce the power of a good story and establish new ways of storytelling for an audience that is now consuming stories in all its forms – words, audio and moving images. We hope it wins all the recognition it deserves and reaches many more audiences!”

     

    Added Titus Upputuru, Creative Head, Taproot Dentsu: “This is the highest honour in films in India. And to think that it’s come at a time like this makes me appreciate it that much more. When I began writing the screenplay, I was really excited because of the possibilities that were going on in Ved’s mind. Making the film was quite challenging as it dabbled with the genre of mystery and suspense. Ananth [Padmanabhan, CEO, HarperCollins India] had amazing faith in us. The team at Atrangi Ideas gave wonderful support. The cast and crew worked very hard and this accolade belongs to every one of them.”