MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • To build awareness, Lowe Lintas launched a national campaign leading with television, on channels of Zee Network last week

    Lowe Lintas launches new awareness campaign to promote tech platform Kaam Wapasi

    By A Correspondent

     

    Addressing the nationwide clarion call to reintegrate the displaced migrant workers with the economy, Lowe Lintas has announced the launch of Kaam Wapasi, a unique tech platform. It helps migrant workers return to work and simultaneously assists employers with access to a pool of skilled and unskilled blue-collared manpower. To build awareness, Lowe Lintas launched a national campaign leading with television, on channels of Zee Network last week.

     

    Commenting on the initiative, Prateek Bhardwaj, CCO at Lowe Lintas, said: “What does a job in hand mean to a migrant worker returning to the city? It means being able to return with dignity, self-respect and a sense of control over one’s destiny. That’s what Kaamwapasi is about. That’s what our campaign is about. Working around the simple idea of ‘Kaam hai to jahaan hai’, we’re urging migrants to return with clarity and confidence.”

     

     

  • With a name like Lalamove, we weren’t very sure if we should take it seriously. But then we used its services and found it pretty good. And efficient

    Lalamove pushes its delivery message

    By A Correspondent

     

    And we don’t know if Lalamove is a ‘lala’ company, but it’s a Hong Kong-based seven-year-old set-up operating in 21 cities. So Lalamove has launched its new campaign – ‘Deliver Possibilities Faster’ with a focus on supporting small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with delivery and logistics.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Sneha Mehta, Country Marketing Manager, Lalamove: “To act fast and dynamically has become the new normal. But what’s as important is to have an idea that speaks to our audience in this time of need. It was essential for us to execute and launch a regional campaign across 8 Asia Pacific markets with differing degrees of development. This one single theme not only shared market insights, but also became an easy-to-adapt format for the brand across different locations”

     

    The integrated campaign will be supported by digital engagements and advertisements targeting brand’s core target audience.

     

     

  • Supporting the communication efforts of this initiative is Dentsu Webchutney, the Dentsu Aegis Network agency which has come on board as Creative Partner

    Ad Club & MICA announce data science programme

     

     

    The Advertising Club and MICA has announced a Leadership Development Programme on ‘Data Science in Strategic Marketing & Management’ is aimed at driving learning and effectiveness in the category. Supporting the communication efforts of this initiative is Dentsu Webchutney, the Dentsu Aegis Network agency which has come on board as Creative Partner.

     

    Speaking about the partnership, Partho Dasgupta, President, The Advertising Club: “The current global landscape has been challenging and every business strategy had to be adapted to the new digital order. In such a scenario it is critical that the young minds in the category upskill and are aligned to meet the changing demands of the advertising and marketing landscape – data analytics being one such important and defining marketing metric. The program curated in association by MICA and delivered by category thought leaders will play a key role in allowing young minds from the industry to develop an appreciation of the applications of big data analytics in marketing. It will aid in learning tools required to solve marketing problems through data science.”

     

    Speaking about the  initiative, Dr Preeti Shroff, Dean – MICA, said: “The programme curated together with The Advertising Club is critical in elevating knowledge level and expanding learning experiences of our young and creative advertisers and marketeers. The course will induct these young minds into the world of data mining analytics – now imperative to understand consumer trends, track impact and showcase effectiveness of every marketing effort. Data is the most important global currency at a time when ROI is being constantly measured in a rapidly changing world. This programme will empower young professionals with knowledge required to ensure effectiveness for their campaign and deliver return on every rupee and all other resources invested in marketing”.

     

    Application information to be available soon at www.theadclub.com.

     

     

  • He will report to Dheeraj Sinha, Managing Director & Chief Strategy Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia

    Leo Burnett India brings Sujay Rachh as ED

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leo Burnett India has announced the appointment of Sujay Rachh as Executive Director. Rachh will head multiple business groups in the Mumbai office. He will report to Dheeraj Sinha, Managing Director & Chief Strategy Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia.

     

    Speaking on the appointment Dheeraj Sinha, Managing Director & Chief Strategy Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia said: “We are very excited to welcome Sujay onboard albeit ‘virtually’. In the current scenario the need to build a strong leadership team is even more crucial and essential. With his depth of experience, especially his last stint where Sujay worked with start-ups, he will add valuable perspective and energy to the momentum we have at Leo Burnett India. Sujay’s appointment enhances our leadership team and will help us continue to grow our capacity to partner our clients.”

     

    Adding further, Rajdeepak Das, Managing Director & Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia added: “Sujay has a very diverse and interesting professional background and his experience will definitely add a new perspective for both our teams and our clients. I look forward to working together and welcome him to the Leo Burnett family.”

     

    Sad Rachh: “Leo Burnett’s commitment and reputation on delivering new age thinking and creativity sets it apart and I am very excited to be a part of this dynamic team. I am looking forward to working closely with Dheeraj and Raj in driving this energy alongside our partners who have entrusted us with their businesses, strengthening the core capabilities, adding more perspective, contributing to Leo Burnett’s growth and in turn learning new things myself. Essentially ensuring it is all onwards and upwards for the stakeholders.”

     

    Rachh has spent several years at Lowe Lintas and his last assignment was with the Times Group heading the brand strategy team.

     

     

  • The acquisition will augment Deloitte’s media industry prowess

    Meenakshi Menon’s Spatial Access is now a Deloitte company

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s formal and final. It’s was rumoured to have happened in February this year, but now the official commuique has been issued. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (Deloitte) has acquired Spatial Access, the leading advertising and marketing advisory and analytics firm, founded by Meenakshi Menon. The move will  enhance Deloitte’s advisory capabilities and enable brands to make more efficient advertising and marketing (A&M) decisions.

     

    Speaking on the acquisition, Chandrashekar Mantha, Partner, Media and Entertainment Industry lead, Risk Advisory, Deloitte India said “Deloitte strengthens its foothold in the advertising and marketing advisory space by enabling our clients to enhance the effectiveness of their marketing spends which are directly aligned to their business objectives. Our endeavour is to help brands address their business challenges by introducing value added, and differentiated tech-enabled solutions across the A&M value chain,” he added.

     

    On working with Deloitte, Menon added: “We are excited to be a part of Deloitte. At Spatial Access, our differentiator lies in understanding the key challenges of the advertising and marketing fraternity. We have an insiders’ view of the industry.

     

    This proposition – combined with the need to scale up the impact of marketing through the technology and analytics skills of Deloitte is poised to provide a more holistic, effective, and efficient solution suite on a larger platform and most importantly, deliver significantly enhanced value to our stakeholders.”

     

    Spatial Access had a team size of around 30 people and over the last 15 years has carve a niche in the industry with its media spends advisory specialisation.

     

     

  • Indrani Sen scans the mid-year review of the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2020

    Dramatic changes in Indian Ad Industry

     

     

    Editor’s Note: The Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2020 is a significant industry milestone held every year. Although MxMIndia belongs to the same space as the Exchange4media group-owned Pitch magazine, we believe the report is an industry property and are glad that the two entities – Pitch and Madison – are doing this for many years. Our report very clearly acknowledges the association of both Pitch and Madison, and have hence not called it the Madison Advertising Report, but the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2020, as it should be.

     

    By Indrani Sen

     

    The Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2020 presented its mid-year review yesterday and revealed the extent of damage done by the pandemic to Indian ad industry.

     

    A comparison with 2019 shows that the overall AdEx lost INR 14,000 crore and declined by 39% in H1, the first half of 2020 due to the effects of Covid-19. A break up of the first half by two quarters showed that Q1 had an 8% decline in the overall AdEx in the pre-Lockdown period due to the slowing down of Indian economy. In Q2, during the complete lockdown in April and May, the overall AdEx dropped into almost a bottomless pit. The fall was partially arrested with the unlocking starting in phases from June 1, but overall AdEx still declined by 65% in Q2.

     

    Citing the trends of recovery of TV and Digital advertising in June and July, PMAR has predicted 60% -72% recovery of overall AdEx in H2, the second half of 2020 boosted by the festive season, revival of IPL, big ticket TV shows like KBC and Big Boss. The estimated recovery of AdEx in H2, is expected to arrest de-growth of overall AdEx in 2020 and contain it within a range of -14% to -18% as shown in the chart below.

     

    Source: Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2020 Midterm Review

     

    While TV and Digital are set on getting back to normalcy, Print is lagging far behind and Radio, Cinema and OOH are yet to show signs of regaining normalcy. The report has refrained from calculating a specific growth number in the forecast for 2020, instead has indicated a range for the AdEx value of each sector as well as the overall Ad Industry as reflected in the above chart. PMAR needs to be congratulated on their commendable efforts of mapping the effects of COVID 19 on Indian Ad Industry in the current situation.

     

    As per the usual format of reporting, PMAR has presented a detailed picture of TV, Digital, Print, Radio, OOH and Cinema and an analysis of advertisers active during the first two quarters of 2020 across different media. Among traditional media TV suffered the least damage with TV AdEx dropping by -43% in H1 ‘20 and retained 38% share of the advertising pie. Print AdEx dropped by 51% in H1’20 and it had to concede the number two position to Digital in terms of share in the advertising pie which dropped to 25%.  Adex dropped respectively by 52% in Radio, 55% in OOH and 52% in cinema in H1 ’20.  Digital had only a minor contraction of just 7% in H1 ’20 and its share in the advertising pie went up to 30%.

     

    As far advertisers are concerned, more than half disappeared from Print and Radio during the first half of 2020. TV also lost a quarter of its regular advertisers. 13 new advertisers entered the list of Top 50 advertisers which accounted for 31% of the overall AdEx. HLL topped the list with INR 1300 to 1500 crores advertising in H1 ’20. A wide gap was noticed among HLL and Procter & Gamble who ranked second with an ad spend of INR 250 to 350 crores.

     

    The Indian ad industry has never experienced such a decline. If we look at the last two decades, we find the industry growing in leaps and bounds during the first 8 years of this century with year on year double digit growth. In earlier PMAR reports we saw the growth rate of overall AdEx dropping to -8.9% in 2009 from 18.9% in 2008 as the international financial crisis triggered off by the sub-prime mortgage problem in the US led to recession in many countries and cast a shadow also on our economy. However, the overall industry recovered quickly with a whopping 27.9% growth in 2010. During the current decade there has been ups and downs in the performance of the overall AdEx but we never saw actual de-growth of our Ad Industry. According to PMAR 2020 Midyear Review, COVID 19 may set the industry back by 2 to 3 years. It is unlikely that the industry will recover as quickly as it did in 2010. A lot depends on how the government can control further spread of the pandemic and how soon vaccine for coronavirus can be available for Indian masses.

     

  • The perpetrator and perpetrated are both at fault for allowing such a culture for so long and not breaking this chain, writes Avik Chattopadhyay

    Copycat, copycat, what have you seen?

     

    By Avik Chattopadhyay

     

    Four incidents over the last 15 days have ‘inspired’ me to write this piece.

     

    First, a much-circulated article written by a former Indian corporate head honcho about a bridge over the Choluteca river in Honduras.

     

    Second, the launch of the new Mahindra Thar.

     

    Third, an advertising agency called Hakuhodo being taken to court by an event agency called Gravity Entertainment.

     

    Fourth, a court ruling in Mannheim going against Mercedes-Benz on use of mobile technology from Nokia in its new cars.

     

    In each of the above instances, people and organisations were divinely “inspired” to create from ideas that came from elsewhere. They were either copied from somewhere else or simply refused to acknowledge and compensate the creator / ideator.

     

    Plagiarism is one socio-creative evil that most of us accept but refuse to act upon. Therefore, the bold act of taking an agency to court for creative cut-copy-paste is surely a welcome one, especially as the Hakuhodo-Gravity relationship would be like a Goliath-David one.

     

    As a society, we seem to be pretty immune to rampant plagiarism. It’s built into our psyche, starting with the education system wherein we wrote projects happily lifting paragraphs from here and there, as long as the key points were covered for that was all our teachers looked for. As research students, we evolved into hunting out obscure journals and papers to lift from. There are rumours of a venerable ex-President of India who was charged with claiming a junior’s thesis as his own, with the Vice Chancellor of the university adequately hushing up matters! The typical reaction to plagiarism is to either hush up matters or simply look away.

     

    Nobody denies the musical genius of R D Burman, but when he does not even acknowledge his source of “inspiration” for a composition, it is disrespectful of the world of creativity and your own craft. As an example, most viewers would have never heard of Emerson Lake & Palmer but there was no harm giving them the credit for the background musical track for the Hindi film ‘Parinda’. The attitude is, “nobody knows, so nobody cares”. And as nobody objects, the malaise grows bigger and more brazen. Just as Steven Spielberg should have credited Satyajit Ray for the inspiration for ‘ET’!

     

    Mahindra is a hugely respected brand, yet I fail to understand why it has to copy the Jeep time and time again. It already got a rap on its knuckles with the Roxor in the US market, yet again the new Thar looks so similar to the Jeep Wrangler!

     

    In my own professional life, I have come across innumerable instances where either the client wanted to own and lift ideas from advertising ‘pitch’ presentations, or an agency brazenly lifted concepts off the famous ‘Black Book’ and presented them as its own.

     

    There are three key reasons behind this absolute apathy towards plagiarism.

     

    1. Ideas are supposed to come free– while our cultural heritage takes pride in “gyan”, yet as a corporate client we expect domain knowledge, expertise and ideas to come free in a project. How many times have we asked external agencies for “good ideas” without paying them? Or how many times have we asked them to submit ‘detailed project proposals’? We almost imply that giving ideas for free is critical to getting a project. It is as if the brain is an appendix. Yet in the US or Europe we readily cough up fees by the hour as the law of the land demands so!

     

    2. Whoever executes, owns– the end is more important than the means in most instances. We gloss over the critical aspect of where and how the idea germinated. The final output knows no source and thus no need to give credit. It is just a recent phenomenon that some film makers have given credit to the original story, especially if it is sourced from overseas. Seeing William Shakespeare wink during the credits of Gulzar’s “Angoor” is still a gold standard to me in a fitting tribute in mainstream communication.

     

    3. The legal system is lax– this is the loophole most make merry of. The laws are there in place, but judicial slackness combined by diffidence of the affected to file cases have created no deterrence to plagiarism. And the affected might even be a brand as large as Zoom which does not wish to take Jio to the court for drawing ample inspiration for their meeting app, for fear of meddling with a local biggie. It will take a couple of landmark judgments against both blatant and veiled plagiarism to open the can of worms.

     

    The perpetrator and perpetrated are both at fault for allowing such a culture for so long and not breaking this chain. In today’s digital age and with social media, it is easy to both trace instances or plagiarism as well as amplify them, as happened in the case of the article on the bridge in Honduras. The original writer himself said, “Excuse me…”.

     

    It does not cost to acknowledge and announce the creative source candidly. The announcer’s creative prowess does not diminish but in fact get strengthened as you will then build a unique fraternity of creative partners who would want to work with you and create bigger and better.

     

    As the philosopher John Stuart Mill had said, “Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of.”

     

    Avik Chattopadhyay is a senior brand and marketing strategist. He writes for MxMIndia every other Thursday. His views here are personal. He can be reached via Twitter at @Byapok

     

     

  • The mandate includes all consumer-facing and partner communication across India for Essilor India

    Network bags mandate for Essilor India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Network Advertising has won the above-the-line creative mandate for Essilor India following a multi-agency pitch. The account will be serviced out of Network’s Mumbai office. The mandate includes all consumer-facing and partner communication across India for Essilor India.

     

    Vinod Nair

    Commenting on the win, Vinod Nair, Managing Director, Network Advertising, said: “Essilor India is a strategic addition to our growing clientele and this is a responsibility we feel proud to own. It was basis our ability to understand their business challenges and our sound strategic thinking that has helped us win this mandate. The win is sweeter because a global organisation, with global alignments has chosen us, a 100% Indian agency, for their India business.”

     

    Added Neha Sharma, Head – Marketing, Essilor South Asia: “We have decided to associate with Network’s seasoned team due to their long standing exposure to the changing advertising landscape, their creative consumer mind-set, and a good strategic approach. This will help Essilor strengthen its brand presence further. We are delighted to have Network on board with us and look forward to an enriching association.”

     

     

  • Trell is huge short video-based social network emerging out of India

    Promodome to handle strategies for Trell

    By A Correspondent

     

    Promodome Communications, a unit of Promodome Group, has won the strategy, creative and media duties of Trell. Trell is huge short video-based social network emerging out of India.

     

    Said Sandiip Kapur, President, Promodome Group, said, “We’re very excited to partner with brand Trell on this journey of theirs. App market is exploding and making a dent in it will be a stimulating channel for both our strategy and creative teams”.

     

     

  • Simpliv is a global learning marketplace

    Mirum to provide marketing cloud services to Simpliv

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mirum India, a leading digital marketing solution agency, will implement Salesforce Marketing Cloud services for Simpliv, a global learning marketplace.

     

    On winning the account, Mihir Karkare, EVP, Mirum India, said: “Mirum is a Salesforce Gold Consulting Partner and has great experience in implementing marketing automation solutions in the EdTech space. We are excited to work with Simpliv and eager to collaborate with them on this project.

     

     

  • The campaign says: ‘Aankh Kholke Nahi, Naak Khol Ke Dekho’

    Grey group’s campaign for P&G Ambi Pur

    By A Correspondent

     

    Grey’s latest film for Ambi Pur tackles the common problem of ‘hard to get rid of’ damp smells, which may linger even in the cleanest household during the monsoons.

     

    Talking about the campaign, Vivek Bhambhani, Group Creative Director, Grey Group said: ”People get used to malodours in their home and little do they know that when guests come over, they truly suffer. And in our country, there’s a famous saying for people who don’t pay attention to what’s right in front of them: Aankh khol ke dekho .Taking this colloquial phrase forward, we created the idea: Aankh kholke nahi, naak khole dekho. (Which means, don’t just open your eyes, open your nose to see.)So in the execution, we exaggerated the malodour for the consumer, so that they finally realise the malodour that’s right below their nose.”

     

    Added Sana Zaman, Brand Director, Procter & Gamble: “For our consumer having a good smelling home that welcomes guests and family is as important as a home that appears clean. And with this new campaign, we are trying to take a fun but very relevant approach towards ‘invisible smells’ in Indian homes – be it that dreaded monsoon odour from indoor drying of clothes or the lingering smell of food in your car. When you clean your home you don’t just make it appear clean but also clear away all dust and dirt. Similarly, Ambi Pur’s brand objective is to not just mask the odour but to eliminate it completely, leaving behind a delightful fresh fragrance.”

     

     

  • The account was won following a multi-agency pitch and Thought Blurb will now be handling the 360-communication mandate for InterMiles

    Thought Blurb bags InterMiles creative mandate

    By A Correspondent

     

    Creative agency Thought Blurb has bagged the mandate for travel and lifestyle rewards programme, InterMiles (eka JetPrivilege). The account was won following a multi-agency pitch and Thought Blurb will now be handling the 360-communication mandate for InterMiles.

     

    Zameer Kochar

    Said Zameer Kochar, Vice-President (Marketing & Member Engagement), InterMiles: “InterMiles has evolved into an everyday travel and lifestyle rewards programme fulfilling the aspirations of its 10 MN+ members with relevant and engaging value propositions. In Thought Blurb we found an able creative partner to bring our brand vision to life. With their expertise and acute understanding of the category and consumer sentiment, we are confident that this partnership will truly be rewarding for both of us.”

     

    Vinod Kunj

    Added Vinod Kunj, CCO and Managing Partner, Thought Blurb: “InterMiles is a one of a kind player in the market, and we’re really excited to be working with such a dynamic brand. Right now, we believe it’s more important than ever that brands strengthen their relationships with their customers. For us, InterMiles’ expanded offerings is a big opportunity to connect with customers in new ways through digital platforms and build relevance for the brand.”