MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • The mandate was awarded the account in a multi-agency pitch

    Madison Digital to manage social for ETS’s TOEFL iBT Test

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madison Digital, a unit of Madison Media, has announced that it has won the digital contract with ETS for the TOEFL iBT brand, including the TOEFL iBT at home edition. Madison Digital was awarded the account in a multi-agency.

     

    Said Srikant Gopal, Executive Director of ETS’s TOEFL program: “We look forward to working with Madison Digital to provide test takers in India with important information about the many convenient ways to take TOEFL iBT tests. Madison Digital will help us to expand opportunities for test takers to ensure that they can continue their educational and professional journeys during these challenging times and beyond.”

     

    Says Vishal Chinchankar, Chief Digital Officer, Madison Digital: “TOEFL iBT provides a distinct advantage for test takers to stand out in confidence to admission officers. We’re glad to work with ETS and the TOEFL iBT brand to help test takers unlock their full potential.”

     

     

  • It was held in partnership with Google to discuss and debate growth hacks and bring to you curated and rich insights from industry experts, marketers, and partners…

    DAN Consult & MMA presents MarTech series

    By A Correspondent

     

    DAN Consult and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) hosted a three-part series in partnership with Google under the Modern Marketing Confluence banner.

     

    The series hosted 18+ Industry leaders representing sectors such as BFSI, Retail, Consumer Goods, FMCG, Apparels, Born Digitals and more. 500+ audience were engaged through live discussion, debate, deliberation, and polling on key MarTech trends which have gained popularity and importance through the pandemic. The sessions were launched by industry experts providing a macro view and perspective with Sapna Chadha, Sr. Director Marketing for Google India & SEA  in Session 1 and led by Vikas Purohit, CEO, Tata Cliq and Vivek Bhargava, CEO, DAN Performance Group, as keynote presenters  in Session 2 and 3 who brought much needed attention to how first-party data is marketers gold, the new approach to personalisation with N=1 concept, marrying D2C strategy with digitisation, and reimagining marketing strategies with technology and machine learning along with implications of cloud marketing.

     

    Said Lalit Bhagia, CEO, DAN Consult: “Change isn’t coming; it’s here. COVID-19 has brought it at breakneck speed, when we leave our houses in the near future, consumerism won’t look the same. New behaviours are being formed which will become permanent and this is redefining how businesses sell, service, engage, market, and retain their customers. The standards of customer engagement have shifted yet again, and marketers need to be at the forefront of this innovation. At DAN Consult, we are committed to partner with CEOs and CMOs in this transitional journey. As a business, DAN Consult has been working on the forefront of this marketing transformation and the MMC series is our endeavour to showcase & drive thought leadership in this ever-evolving space.”

     

    Added Moneka Khurana, Country Head, MMA India: “The series couldn’t be better timed given the new normal we are all living in. It is the era of modern marketing. The Marketer is upskilling to adopt modern marketing techniques as organisations dabble with  first party data strategy, D2C and cloud for marketing as must haves for marketing plans to succeed. It is imperative for a marketer to be equipped as he leads digital transformation from the front. Hence its important MMA enables the expertise and learnings required to shape the future of modern marketing.”

     

     

  • Every communication cannot be award-winning, so should critics take a walk? Sanjeev Kotnala discusses

    Judging Communication Differently

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    A TVC or DVC or any other video needs to be judged in its totality. We all have our own palate for judging them and brand them as good or bad. We must realise, there will be frames you did not like and could have been done better. The casting, editing, script, dialogues, direction- there are multiple possibilities of areas to excel and go down.

    If communication is achieving its objective and is strategically sound for the brand, then everything is fine, and critics can go take a walk. However, we are in an industry where we value judgment and get affected by the buzz around the communication. We forget that the real test is in the market.

    Every communication cannot be award-winning, but it should be an award-winning output for the time, money and media weights deployed behind it. Hence always maintained that one must invest more in creative product to ensure the best production even at the cost of losing some media investment. A good product exposed fewer times will give a better result than a Bad product exposed many times. No argument there, yet we all end up making the same mistakes.

     

    What if the audience does not watch it completely?

    That is the area where the creative and the planning must take the blame. If the audience doesn’t watch long communication as a habit, then the communication should be trailered to their acceptable length. And suppose the audience watches longer versions but is partial to you in not watching your creative completely. In that case, you know where the finger must point. This should not make you go after the myth called perfection because at some stage the input of time and efforts will start hitting the law of marginal returns.

     

    But audience will judge

    Oh, despite whatever we all may want, the reality is that the audience is bound to generalise and slot a communication. Brand it, likeable and enjoyable, good or bad and the desired message may reach them, or it could be lost forever. Brands that do multiple communication in a process divide their risk.

    In recent times, I have watched a few communications which caught my attention. It may be their concept, art, execution or even edit that first clicked with me. And honestly, with almost all of them, I found some issue. In cases where I did not really know the answers, I used one of the two favourite client comments. ‘Kahi Kuch Kami reh gayi’ and ‘Maza Nahi Aaya’.

    So here I share a few of them.

     

    Colloquial Communication:

    This is one of the better pieces of communication. It is simple and speaks in a language and a tone that is so universal. It is iterative, but it is not dull. KAANO PAR ZIMMEDARI  is such a subtle take and summarisation of request to wear the mask.

     

    Skin in the Game:

    Motilal Oswal Mutual Funds new communication is about building trust within the investing public. Here, the traditional wisdom is amplified; ‘Trust the owners who Trust Their Business’. It is a logic that no one can counter. The brand claims that the company and the promoters are the largest investors in their AMCs equity funds.

     

    Pride in Local Talent & Quality:

    Pepperfry promotes ‘Swadeshi Sale’ while celebrating Indian artisans and adding the assurance of superior quality. The films promise edgy style and design, traditional expertise passed through generations and International quality from Ratangarh. Again simple communication which is loveable and trust inspiring. Time to check out some furniture from Pepperfry.

     

    Positivity:

    There been too much Positivity and Immunity. Brands talk motivational when the audience is fighting to keep the head above the water. Positivity now sounds repetitive and irritating. The PHONE PE commercial is too late in the day talking of possible normalisation of the situation. Stating that we will get comfortable with the new normal as we did with the old. Montage shots tick up all the right situations and do make you feel better. Love the two-generation interacting over PhoePe. Definitely, the brand could have done better.

     

    The Answer Changes Everything:

    What do you want to do when you grow up? A question we all have answered in childhood ( when we knew nothing), professional studies interview, job interview, marriage meeting and many more times. The question did not change, the answer does. What about what you want to do post-retirement? That’s HDFC INSURANCE asking the question, #Whenyougrowup. The idea does not tease as the story is out quite early. It misses the feeling of freedom and at my own terms.

     

    Side Track:

    The two brands which have expertly experimented within their zone are Snicker and Mountain Dew, yet their communication always had a freshness. However now SNICKERS  is confused and MOUNTAIN DEW turning Patriotic. Somehow I liked the International ad of snickers better. What is your opinion?

     

     

    Opportunity Hunting:

    A viral hit. Shared on WhatsApp with regularity. You would have seen it. Roger Federer Surprised two school-going fans Vittoria Oliveri and Carola Pessina in Italy by playing a  match on rooftops. The brand Pasta brand Barilla made it happen and rightly contextualised the message, “pasta brings people together.”

     

     

  • This is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry

    Krishan Premnarayen to be conferred with AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award 2020

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India today announced that this year’s AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award will be conferred upon Krishan Premnarayen, Senior Partner, Prem Associates Advertising and Marketing. This is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry.

     

    Premnarayen was the youngest President of AAAI when he took charge as President in 1988 at the age of 36 years.

     

    Making the announcement, Ashish Bhasin, President, AAAI, said: “Krishan Premnarayen, besides being the youngest ever President, made very significant contributions to the industry. It was during his tenure that the foundation was laid to make AAAI the legitimately recognized body for our industry across constituencies. He must also be given due credit for vastly strengthening AAAI’s relationships with the media industry – including while he was at the helm of ABC and NRSC. He is truly deserving of this honour”

     

    Added Nakul Chopra, Chairman of the AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award Selection Committee: “It gives me immense pleasure that this year’s Committee unanimously decided to confer this richly deserved honour on Krishan. His manifold contributions to the industry have played an important role in helping strengthen both our industry and our Association over many years. Even after he was no longer directly active with AAAI he continued to go out of his way to help, whenever called upon for an industry cause. It is somewhat fitting that he is being conferred an award, the inception of which, dates back to his own tenure as President AAAI. He richly deserves this award, my heartiest congratulations to him.”

     

     

  • Highlights safety and hygiene factors while ordering a pizza amidst the ongoing pandemic

    Oven Story bets big with Publicis India campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Oven Story pizza has worked up a safe and hygienic solution to enable consumers to order pizzas without worrying about safety and consumption woes.

     

    The ad campaign has been conceptualized and executed by Publicis India. The production house for the film is Content Factory while it has been directed by Tarannum Pasricha.

     

    Commenting on the brand campaign thought, Shoumyan Biswas, Head of Strategic Alliances, Rebel Foods said: “Our aim was to instill faith in the minds of our consumers that how Oven Story is doing its best to bring safe and quality product to its consumers. Publicis India has done complete justice to the concept and delivered a great piece of advertisement. Ajeet’s team has been stupendous in terms of conceptualization and delivery of the product.”

     

    Added Ajeet Shukla, Publicis India ECD: “Like many things during the pandemic, ordering food is also a huge tussle between with heart and the mind, especially when it pertains to one of our favourite foods – the pizza. Oven Story offers a unique safety experience right from showcasing the temperature of the chef preparing your pizza to that of the delivery person at your doorstep. The entire journey ensures the ultimate safety to relish an Oven Story pizza and puts our hearts and mind at peace.”

     

     

  • She will take over from Shweta Purandare who joined joined ASCI eight years ago as Chief Complaints Officer and took over in 2014 as the Secretary-General

    ASCI appoints Manisha Kapoor as Secretary-General

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has named Manisha Kapoor as its new Secretary-General. From September 1, Kapoor will take over ASCI’s secretariat responsibilities, including the consumer complaints redressal process as well as the marketing, public relations and social media initiatives. Kapoor has been part of ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council for the past five years and is, therefore, closely associated with the advertising industry’s self-regulatory body. She will take over from Shweta Purandare who joined ASCI eight years ago as Chief Complaints Officer and took over in 2014 as the Secretary-General.

     

    Said Rohit Gupta, Chairman of ASCI: “We thank Purandare for her work in achieving our vision and her belief in our goals and motto. She was instrumental in enabling ASCI’s closer engagement with the regulators resulting in ASCI signing MoUs with the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the Ministry of AYUSH. As she embarks on the next phase of her career, we wish her the very best. We are delighted that Kapoor will take on the role now. We look forward to her valuable inputs and leadership.”

     

    Added Purandare: “It has been an extremely enriching experience professionally through which I could contribute to ASCI’s transformation in terms of capacity, capabilities and stature. As I move on to undertake a new journey, I wish Kapoor the very best.”

     

    Said Kapoor: “It’s an honour to be given the responsibility of leading ASCI’s vision for the future. I look forward to working closely with all of ASCI’s stakeholders and furthering its agenda of fairness in advertising.”

     

    Kapoor has more than 25 years of experience in building brands and businesses. Having worked with companies like Hindustan Unilever and J&J India, she has also consulted with corporations on brand development and strategy for the past 15 years – first with MarketGate Consulting and more recently with Futurebrands Consulting. Kapoor has also worked with non-profits and the government on development sector projects.

     

     

  • Campaign is titled ‘Bloom Daily’

    Jovees Herbal onboards Bang in the Middle, launches new campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Jovees Herbal has launched its new brand campaign ‘Bloom Daily’.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, Prathap Suthan, Co-founder and CCO Bang in the Middle, said: “The brand thought was very much there for the taking. With products that come in from nature, and ideas that are imbued with herbs, the final benefit naturally led us to the territory of bloom. Which again is almost the very reason why the audience buys into the franchise of Jovees Herbal. It’s a word and a truth that’s linked so much to the goodness of herbs, and what these daily use products are designed to deliver. To make skin come alive, and to be at its best. More than that, Bloom Daily is also the inspiration that we give our audiences. To be at their best every day and at every instance. At work, at home, wherever the day takes them. To be fresh and triumphant across the day. We believe it’s a beautiful promise and a softer ‘carpe diem’ for the youthful women of India”

     

    Added Yuvraj Ahuja, Director, Jovees Herbal: “We have always been very passionate about harnessing the power of nature to create products that are good for the body. Our goal is to give our customers high quality products made from the best ingredients at an affordable price. All our products are free from any harmful chemicals. This is what our campaign Bloom Daily is all about. We want our consumers to prefer us as we are a brand that is good for them. Bloom Daily is more than our promise, it’s our motto.”

     

     

  • The self-regulatory body has partnered with TAM Media Research to add the monitoring of digital platforms to the already tracked print and television media under its National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS)

    ASCI adds 3k digital platforms for monitoring

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has partnered with TAM Media Research to add the monitoring of digital platforms to the already tracked print and television media under its National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS) for identifying potentially misleading advertisements. Initially, ASCI will track the food and beverage, healthcare and education sectors on digital media as they accounted for 79% of the complaints processed by ASCI last year, notes a communique, which adds: “With this, ASCI will now be monitoring a media horizon that is estimated to have more than 80% of India’s advertising spend on it. With digital advertising now accounting for 30% of the total mediaspends, and growing fast, this was the need of the hour. The variety of platforms covered spans search engines to video sites, news portals and websites for interests like astrology and automobiles. It is a natural extension of the responsibilities ASCI takes on to ensure the highest ethical standards in advertising and to increase consumer trust in it.”

     

    Said Rohit Gupta, Chairman, ASCI: “We live in a world that’s becoming more digital by the day, so a lot of marketing is shifting to such platforms. For a self-regulatory body, it makes sense to expand our monitoring of the offline space to include the online space as well. I believe ASCI is the only self-regulatory organisation in the world that does such extensive and ongoing monitoring of advertising. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner than TAM – its reputation and wide experience will help us achieve our mission to enhance trust in advertising and to ensure that our ethical code is adhered to.”

     

     

  • Publicis Worldwide has today that Srija Chatterjee, Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide India will be moving on from the organisation.

    Publicis confirms Srija Chatterjee’s exit, dissolves role

    By A Correspondent

     

    Publicis Worldwide has today that Srija Chatterjee, Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide India will be moving on from the organisation. But there will be no further additions to the PWW leadership team with this movement, a communique informed. The agency network recently announced the integration of BBH and a joint leadership team of Subhash Kamath and Russell Barrett to oversee BBH-PWW.

     

    Commenting on Chatterjee’s move, Subhash Kamath, CEO, BBH-PWW  said: “We thank Srija for all her contribution to PWW and wish her all the very best in her future endeavours. Publicis Worldwide stands at an important growth juncture and with very talented teams and a robust brand portfolio already in place, we will continue to build on the momentum. Srija will be missed.”

     

     

  • Mitra was last with McCann

    Blink Digital appoints Ratnapriya Mitra as VP-Client Services

    By A Correspondent

     

    Blink Digital, a full-service, award-winning digital agency, has announced the appointment of Ratnapriya Mitra to lead client servicing at the agency. Mitra comes with over 15 years of experience with networks like McCann Worldwide, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson, among others. At Blink Digital, she will be overseeing fulfilment of client goals and overall success of the client portfolio at the agency.

     

    Rikki Aggarwal

    Said Rikki Aggarwal, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Blink Digital: “We are happy to have Ratnapriya join us with her prowess and experience as a marketer. She is a valuable addition to our growing team and will be a crucial member in driving efficiency and success at the agency. She brings more real-world perspective and insights into the creative output along with the ability to weather multiple challenges into creative solutions. This appointment also speaks of Blink Digital’s ability to hire some of the best talent in the industry and provide state of the art services to our clients.”

     

    Ratnapriya Mitra

    Added Mitra: “I’m enthused to join a team of such talented and hardworking people. Knowing that this is the team behind so many award-winning campaigns is a testimony to Blink’s dexterity that drives such meaningful work for our clients. I’m looking forward to driving more novel, creative solutions while ensuring we are at our efficient best.”

     

     

  • Kumar, Sodhi and Jacob will report into Gupte in their new roles

    Kishan Kumar, Premjeet Sodhi, Vishal Jacob & Sandeep Pandey get new roles at Wavemaker

    By A Correspondent

     

    Wavemaker India has announced changes in the executive leadership roles. Kishan Kumar MS is elevated and has taken on a larger role as Chief Growth Officer, Wavemaker India.  Along with his new mandate, Kumar continues to lead Wavemaker South businesses across Bengaluru, Chennai, Kerala and Hyderabad.

     

    Premjeet Sodhi transitions into Chief Strategy Officer, Wavemaker India from his earlier profile of Chief Growth Officer. Sodhi joined Wavemaker in April this year after a 2-year stint with Mindshare Fulcrum as agency head.

     

    Vishal Jacob returns to Wavemaker India as Chief Digital Officer after close to two years with GroupM as Principal Consultant – Change Planning & Transformation.

     

    Meanwhile, Sandeep Pandey, who leads product and strategy has been elevated as Global Head of Analytics where he will be driving Wavemaker’s global practice on analytics.

     

    Commenting on these changes, Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia, Wavemaker said: “This has been an extraordinary year that has challenged us in many ways. These changes are designed to enhance our position and enable us to drive continuous growth for our clients, teams and other stakeholders. I am excited about these changes and look forward to create some positive disruptions in the near future”.

     

    Kumar, Sodhi and Jacob will report into Gupte in their new roles.

     

     

  • Kathuria will be National Director for Brand Strategy and Account Management

    Purnima Kathuria moves from Performics to Liqvd Asia

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital agency Liqvd Asia has beefed up its senior management with the appointment of Purnima Kathuria as National Director for Brand Strategy and Account Management. Kathuria served as Director – Media and Digital Operations for the last two years in her six-year stint at Performics India. She will lead the strategy and account management domain for the agency’s existing and new client mandates.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Tanushree Radhakrishnan, COO, Liqvd Asia said: “Purnima is a brilliant addition to the Liqvd Asia strategic team as the National Director for Brand and Account Management. She comes armed with over 13 years of experience working on diverse portfolios at leading marketing agencies. Purnima will focus on adding value to existing and new relationships by directing all aspects of brand strategy and co-creating value for us as well as our clients.”

     

    Added Kathuria: “I am elated to join the superbly creative and capable team of Liqvd Asia and walk together the path of becoming one of the finest agencies in India that believes in performance driven deliveries for clients. I am excited to be part of the LA growth story and will be keen to deliver value for all our clients.”