MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • The agency installs a gigantic pen drive at a mall in the city. The installation attempts to highlight and reiterate ‘storage and space’, the USP of the brand

    Six Inches Communications develops unique OOH innovation for Kingston

    By A Correspondent

     

    Six Inches Communications, an integrated brand communications agency, has created an exceptional Out of Home (OOH) innovation for Kingston Technology, the US based, independent memory module company whose products include Solid State Drives, memory modules, Wi-Drive, USB Drives, memory cards and card readers. The installation in the form of an enormous pen drive attempts to highlight and reiterate ‘storage and space’, the USP of the brand.

     

    The agency has replicated a pen drive on a large format OOH installation which is 31 ft in length, 9.5 ft tall and 12 ft wide at the entrance of Nirmal Lifestyle, Mulund for a period of one month. The concept of the innovation revolves around the idea of giving the users a real life experience of entering a pen drive.

     

    From the exterior, an illusion of people getting into the pen drive will be created while the inner walls of the gigantic installation will have interesting graphics depicting the benefits of the device.

     

    Commenting on the latest initiative, Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director,KingstonIndiasaid: “Kingston pen drives have large capacity and is one-of-its-kind in this category. We wanted to highlight the fact that though pen drives look small, they are huge storage devices and convey the idea that one can carry his/her world in a pen drive; be it music, movies, data, photographs or confidential documents”.

     

    Pravin Shah, CEO and Managing Director of Six Inches Communications said: “In order to communicate the magnitude of space offered byKingstonpen drives we opted for the OOH medium as it gives a brand the flexibility to explore innovation with products in terms of size, shape and experience. The larger-than-life installation will successfully bring to life some of the key benefits ofKingstonpen drive”.

     

    The customers will also witness a painter painting a portrait along with a guitarist strumming a song inside the installation to highlight the idea of bringing the data stored in the pen drive to life whenever required.

     

  • Campaign featuring Rajasthan Royals players to be supported with brand activation and social and digital media to reach out to millions of cricket fans in the country

    HDFC Life’s new campaign propagates ‘Never Give Up’ attitude

    By A Correspondent

     

    HDFC Life, one of India’s leading private life insurance players, has unveiled a new advertising campaign featuring the players of Rajasthan Royals to promote and propagate its brand philosophy of ‘Self Respect’. HDFC Life has been associated with Rajasthan Royals for the fourth consecutive year as the Associate Sponsor.

     

    Commenting on the new campaign, Sanjay Tripathy, Executive Vice President and Head, Marketing and Direct Channels said: “Our campaign carries a simple yet compelling message. The theme is focused on the spirit of ‘Never Giving Up and Moving Forward to face all challenges’. With the new IPL season, the Rajasthan Royals’ commitment is focused on giving their best to the game. Their attitude is not solely to win or lose, but to perform for the team. In simple terms, they play with pride, self-respect and determination.”

     

    Mr. KV Sridhar, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett, said: “Through this simple ad, we have tried to showcase the significance of HDFC Life’s brand value ‘Sar Utha ke Jiyo’. When a team gets onto the field, full of zeal to perform their best, it doesn’t really matter what would be the result, but to play the game for pride and self-respect.”

     

    HDFC Life plans to drive the core essence of the association through different platforms and intensify the brand experience. It will drive a focused TV campaign on the news genre, followed by the movies segment to derive maximum visibility for the campaign on account of regular news updates on the IPL property. The campaign will be running along with exciting contests across prime multiplexes in India (Fame, Fun, Big Cinemas, Inox and Cinemax).

     

    In digital space, HDFC Life will leverage on the cricket frenzy season and drive users to a very engaging contest on Facebook. The users will not only get a chance to interact with the other cricket fans, but also get an opportunity to win exciting IPL Rajasthan Royals merchandise. The company, in partnership with Indiatimes and  Youtube IPL, will roll out a unique HDFC Life Zone to feature the Man of the Match, best batting innings and best bowling innings as the ‘Sar Utha Ke Jiyo’ moments of the day. Through this unique partnership, HDFC Life intends to reach out to millions of consumers across the country.

     

    For the on-ground activation, HDFC Life ‘Game of Pride’, an interesting mall activation drive will be rolled out in two phases across four cities.

     

    Campaign Credits for Rajasthan Royals 2012:

    Creative agency – Leo Burnett, Mumbai

    Executive Creative Director -  Rajesh Mani

    Creative Director -  Manan Mistry

    Copywriter – Rajesh Mani, Akshay Seth and Shatrughan Tripathi

    Art Director – Manan Mistry

    Production House – Opticus Inc

    Director – Sanjay Shetty

     

  • The motive behind launching the site was that a challenging business environment demands versatile skills and subject matter experts have to transcend the boundaries of management and communications to stay in the game and keep winning

    Now upgrade your skills with Gyaan Niketan

    By A Correspondent

     

    Recently www.gyaanniketan.com – an online platform for upgrading your skill sets, remain relevant in your jobs, and survive in a highly competitive global environment – was launched.

     

    The motive behind launching the site was that a challenging business environment demands versatile skills and subject matter experts have to transcend the boundaries of management and communications to stay in the game and keep winning.

     

    The website helps one optimize their performance and constantly raise the bar. With the help of the website, one learns to hone their skill sets; enhance their performance at work; and track the trends, developments and technological changes defining their specialized fields/markets.

     

    At Gyaan Niketan, one also get the opportunity to interface with mentors and consolidate domain-specific and managerial credentials that will enhance their performance at work and accelerate their movement up the growth curve.

     

    The focus of the website is to combine relevant theories with the practice of conducting business in today’s global economy. Their focus is on re-skilling professionals, through Education (Learn), Experience (Do) and Expertise (Act).

     

    Their aim is to enable the applicants to equip themselves through the online platform and expand their horizon in their chosen areas of specialization.

     

    One can achieve all these and more with Gyan Niketan – a group of knowledge networked individuals with extensive experience in coaching, mentoring, training and teaching-by logging into our online collaborative platform.

     

    The site will be online with full blown features of payment gateway, video, chat room and so on.

     

  • Imagine's fictional shows were completely me-too, and most of their reality stuff was a huge disaster. In such a scenario, Imagine's closure does not surprise me at all…

    Anil Thakraney: Lack of imagination

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Even a kid will tell you that there are just toooo many TV channels inIndia. Both, entertainment and news. And even as talks of a shake-out have been doing the rounds for years, more channels are waiting to start operations! Like everything else inIndia, it’s a mad house out there.

     

    Quite obviously, there can be place for only so many brands. The advertising pie is limited, and it cannot be shared by so many hungry mouths. And in the Indian context, a vast majority of a channel’s revenues come from advertising and not through subscriptions. In such a scenario, Imagine’s closure does not surprise me at all… in fact, I wonder what took them so long.

     

    As for the many other struggling channels, they are fortunate to be run by very deep pocketed suits. But those deep pockets, like Turner’s, will dry up at some point. It’s a matter of time.

     

    Imagine came on to the scene in 2008, when the Hindi GECs market was already divided between Star, Zee and Sony. Each had already established itself, and all three channels enjoyed viewer loyalty. To break into this extremely capital intensive and crowded house, Imagine’s only chance was to unleash kickass, totally offbeat programming. ‘Shock and awe’ ought to have been the mantra. 2008 was also the time when the nation had begun showing early signs of tiring of Ekta’s traditional saas bahu sagas, and there was a huge opportunity for Imagine to be the game changer that the market wanted.

     

    Alas, it was not to be. Imagine’s fictional shows were completely me-too, and most of their reality stuff was a huge disaster. ‘Swayamwar’ was perhaps the only ‘hatke’ programme, but in the GECs biz model, reality shows and movies are, at best, jam servings, laid out to entice viewers to the bread and butter fiction shows. And if the latter is a thakela and done-to-death fare, the channel is sunk. Which is exactly what happened with Imagine.

     

    Make no mistake about this: Imagine’s problem wasn’t funds or staying power or distribution or even talent. It was very simply this: Lack of imagination.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: This is a memo Shri David Ogilvy sent out to his employees way back in 1982.

     

    On how to write. It’s fantastic. You will notice that his suggestions, in this day and age of micro blogging and short attention spans, are more valid than ever before.

     

    Link: http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/how-to-write.html

     

  • Amidst all the gush about AdAsia 2011, a senior mediaperson dwells on why it's OK if you've given it a miss.

    6 reasons why you can do without attending AdAsia 2011

    #1 Rs 40,000 for entry. Okay, you could get early bed or bulk entry discounts, but it’s still not small money. Plus travel – flight tickets, local travel and hotel. All of this amounts to around Rs 75,000 if you stay in a budget hotel. Rs 1 lakh if it’s 4-star-upwards.

     

    #2 Usual suspects, usual suspects, usual suspects. It’s the same old faces at all our industry events. AdAsia had Harish Manwani of Hindustan Lever on Day 1. But Shah Rukh Khan? Grrrr!

     

    #3 There is a need to draw younger professionals to AdAsia and not 40-plus and 50-year-olds.

     

    #4 The same old format of keynotes, speeches and panel discussions is boring. C’mon marketers and advertisers. You guys are creative, why not think of something innovative?

     

    #5 You network every day with your friends and aspirational friends on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. So conferences like these need to relook the role of these events for connecting with the fraternity. Agreed there’s nothing like meeting people face-to-face, and Facebook friendship is also fine.

     

    #6 Why Delhi? It was good to not do it in Mumbai. How about Bangalore, Pune, Amritsar, Calcutta, Chennai? Wasn’t Calcutta once the capital of the adwallahs?

     

    The writer of this is a senior member of the media industry. She/he prefers to stay anonymous as according to her/him, the industry is not much of a sport and may not take kindly to the criticism.

     

  • Good stuff. The ad will appeal to the non net savvy folks too, and this could result in a huge boost in sales for Flipkart

    Debrief: Flipkart: Clever and entertaining

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Using kids as adults isn’t really a novel idea in advertising. But because it’s done well in this instance, ads from Flipkart are always great fun to watch. Flipkart is back with a brand new series of commercials, and the one I watched is quite funny.

     

    This time the theme is ‘Shopping ka Naya Address’. And it looks like Flipkart is out to nail folks in the non-metro towns as well with an old world Hindi film treatment. The ad features three generations of a family living together in a house. The grandson receives a pack via courier that contains a mobile phone which the grandpa has ordered. From Flipkart, of course. The boy’s father plays the cynic of the family, and he expresses doubts over online transactions. This makes his missus join in the conversation, and it all gets really amusing. As kids play elders, with all the make-up and expressions in place.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt18PjLzNcw[/youtube]

    Good stuff. The ad will appeal to the non net savvy folks too, and this could result in a huge boost in sales for Flipkart. The execution isn’t slapstick or over-the-top, and that’s why it works. The humour is understated and this makes the ad charming. And the kids have simply rocked it.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 3.5 Smart marketing strategy. Cool creative work.

     

  • This initiative will also reward the fans with discounts and freebies at more than 100 partner stores, which have partnered with Deccan Chargers

    Now fans can own Deccan Chargers Team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Deccan Chargers, a popular IPL franchise on Monday announced a unique social media marketing initiative using Mojostreet (www.mojostreet.com) – a popular location based mobile game.

     

    The marketing initiative will allow fans to virtually own the Deccan Chargers team and watch the IPL matches from the Owners Lounge at the Hyderabad Stadium. This initiative will also reward the fans with discounts and freebies at more than 100 partner stores, which have partnered with Deccan Chargers.

     

    Making the announcement, Kalyan Manyam, CEO of Mojostreet said: “We are excited with the way Mojostreet is being used by brands acrossIndia. This unique initiative by Deccan Chargers will take the DC brand closer to its fans and increase engagement. I am sure Mojostreet users will be very excited to grab this opportunity to own the DC team.”

     

    E. Venkat Reddy, COO ofDeccanChargers said: “This is a first of its kind initiative in the world wherein a sports team is connecting with its fans virtually through a mobile game and rewarding them in the real world. We are confident this initiative will greatly contribute to the strong presence of the DC Brand in the digital world.”

     

    To virtually own the Deccan Chargers, a user needs to download Mojostreet on their smartphones (freely available on all major app stores) and then check-in at any of the partner outlets of Deccan Chargers listed on Mojostreet. Once a user completes a check-in, a special offer is delivered right on the users mobile screen.

     

    The same can be redeemed at the outlet in real-time. Users who check-in maximum at partner locations will get to virtually own the DC team and will get a chance to watch the matches from the Owners lounge at the Hyderabad stadium.

     

    Mojostreet (www.mojostreet.com) is a location based game, friend finder, city guide and loyalty rewards all rolled into one app for your smartphone. The app also helps one discover amazing places of their interest based on friend’s recommendations. Mojostreet has an online and mobile version. The mobile app is available for Blackberry, Nokia, iPhone and Android users. One can sign in with their Facebook or Twitter account to access Mojostreet.

     

    Deccan Chargers is an IPL franchise that represents the city ofHyderabadin the Indian Premier League. The Deccan Chargers franchise is owned by the Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited. Deccan Chronicle is the largest circulated daily in South India.

     

    Deccan Chargers turned the tide in their favour by winning the second season of IPL -2009 inSouth Africaand making it to the semi-finals in the IPL-2010.

     

    The Deccan Chargers mascot represents a raging bull signifying strength, power and aggression while the red and gold bands on the flag stand for dominance and victory.

     

  • ETV Marathi and Star Majha come on board as telecast and news partners respectively

    92.7 BIG FM returns with the second edition of BIG Marathi music awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reliance Broadcast Network Limited’s intellectual property vertical BIG Live and its radio arm 92.7 BIG FM, the Golden Mikes’ Broadcaster of the Year, have announced the second edition of BIG Marathi Music Awards 2012 – the biggest celebration of regional music for the Marathi music industry.

     

    After the phenomenal success last year, the second edition of BIG Marathi Music Awards promises to be bigger, better and more glamorous this year. ETV Marathi will once again be the official telecast partner and STAR Majha has come on board as the news partner. A special one hour segment of the ceremony will be aired on STAR Majha.

     

    BIG Marathi Music Awards 2012 is a unique platform conceptualized to recognize, applaud, and honour the extraordinary talent from the Marathi music industry who have significantly contributed to the music industry. These awards will have nominations across a wide range of categories and will also pay tribute to legendary artists of the Marathi music fraternity who have contributed to growing the industry and inspiring talented young singers and musicians to excel.

     

    The esteemed list of jury members include classical vocalist Arati Ankalikar, Ravindra Sathye and Sudesh Bhosle. The jury, along with the public, will select the winners.

     

    A judicious mix of media including 92.7 BIG FM, OOH media and the social media will be pressed into service to promote this property. The Facebook page which will be specially created for this property will allow the online users to browse through the page, explore links, and upload videos or files in related categories and above all a special voting application to vote for their favorite nominee of the awards. In addition to all this promotion an SMS push for the event will reach out to 10 lakhs consumers directly.

     

    Reliance Broadcast Network Limited is a multi-media entertainment conglomerate with play across radio, television, intellectual properties and out of home. It is part of the Reliance Group and specializes in creating and executing integrated media solutions for brands.

     

  • Study finds leading voices are politicians, journalists and bloggers

    Burson-Marsteller releases list of the most influential political voices

    By A Correspondent

     

    Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, on Monday released a list of the top 10 most influential political voices on Twitter inIndia. This list was developed as part of a global research study- G20 Influencers – that named the 200 most influential political voices on Twitter across the G-20 nations.

     

    G20 influencers is a study conducted by Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations agency working with Klout, the social media analytics company. The study aims to identify the ten most politically influential people on Twitter in each country of the G20. The study measures influence by using a tweeter’s Klout Score. Burson-Marsteller created a list of over 900 politically influential people on Twitter across 26 countries. This included politicians, journalists, bloggers, public affairs specialists, NGOs, and industry and trade associations. The data used for the study was taken in March 2012 based on activity over a 90-day period.

     

    The list of the top 10 political tweeters was determined using data from Klout (klout.com), the standard for influence. Klout analyzes engagement across social networks and creates a Klout score, based on this data to help users understand and unlock their influence.

     

    Burson-Marsteller’s global public affairs and digital consultants drew up a list of close to 1000 people on Twitter who are politically influential in the G-20 nations. Klout then assessed and scored them against its influence metric, set on a scale from 1-100, measuring influence based upon a user’s ability to drive action.

     

    The ten most influential Twitter accounts inIndiaare (alphabetically):

     

    1. Kiran Bedi – @thekiranbedi

    2. Anand Mahindra – @anandmahindra

    3. Narendra Modi – @narendramodi

    4. Derek O’Brien – @quizderek

    5. Vir Sanghvi – @virsanghvi

    6. Jonathan Shainin – @jonathanshainin

    7. Digvijaya Singh – @digvijaya_28

    8. Dr. Subramanian Swamy – @Swamy39

    9. Sushma Swaraj – @SushmaSwarajBJP

    10. Shashi Tharoor – @ShashiTharoor

     

    “The G20 study is representative of how social media is an increasingly trusted and utilised platform for shaping public opinion here inIndiaand around the world,” said Rahul Sharma, president of Genesis Burson-Marsteller’s public affairs practice. “Citizens are not just seeking new information, but looking for a forum through which their voices can also be heard. Twitter is definitely becoming a preferred medium for delivery and discussion of new ideas, policies and whatever else that is the shaping the political and social landscape.”

     

    The study found that the top political tweeters inIndiaare politicians, journalists, bloggers and campaign advisors. The study found that over a 90-day span these influencers: received an average of 28,110 re-tweets; received an average of 24,600 mentions and had an average of 337,964 Twitter followers.

     

    The other countries covered in this study include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and the European Union (including Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden).

     

    Burson-Marsteller, established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, reputation and crisis management, advertising and web-related strategies. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 69 offices and 80 affiliate offices, together operating in 107 countries across six continents.

     

  • The key objective of the survey was to factor in all the relevant components so that results reflect all the ideal key considerations of today's MBA aspirant

    Free Press releases annual B-school rankings

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Free Press group of newspapers has released its annual cluster rankings of Mumbai B-schools. The report is ranked in clusters and by specialisation in one of the most detailed surveys conducted.

     

    The specialisations covered are Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Operations, IT/Systems/Technology. The ranking survey uses proprietary ranking methodology that includes expert inputs from important stakeholders like the corporate sector, faculty, alumni, analysis of some publicly available information, and detailed feedback from academic experts, making this a powerful tool for students.

     

    The survey covers B-Schools based out of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, offering a two-year, full-time postgraduate degree or diploma program in management studies. The key objective of the survey was to factor in all the relevant components in the research methodology deployed so that research results reflect all the ideal key considerations of today’s MBA aspirant.

     

    The 23-page report also has articles by senior educationists and counsellors. The full copy of the report can be downloaded at www.freepressjournal.in.

     

     

  • MEC India, Maxus Bangalore and Gemini TV win top honours at the prestigious Festival of Media 2012 awards held in Montreux, Switzerland on Tuesday

    Group M shines as MEC, Maxus, Gemini TV win laurels @ Festival of Media

    By A Correspondent

     

    Three Indian entries won top honours at the Festival of Media 2012 which concluded in Montreux, Switzerland. The awards were presented on Tuesday evening at a gala dinner. While the number of awards won may be only three, it’s noteworthy that these are all the main winners in their respective categories (see box). While two winners were from Group M agencies directly, the third was entered by Gemini TV, but went with a mention of Mindshare in ‘Other Credits’.

     

    Also, the categories themselves indicate the wealth of talent and expertise. MEC India’s ‘Night Hammer’ for Colgate was adjudged winner in ‘Creative Use of Media’.

     

     

     

    CREATIVE USE OF MEDIA AWARD

     

    WINNER

    Title: Night hammer

    Entering Company: MEC India

    Brand: Colgate

    Country: India

    Other credits: Bates India

     

    BEST CONTRIBUTION TO A CAMPAIGN BY A MEDIA OWNER

     

    WINNER

    Title: Making of a Superstar

    Entering Company: Gemini TV

    Brand: Lux

    Country: India

    Other credits: Mindshare

     

    BEST USE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

     

    WINNER

    Title: Light powered media for light powered watch

    Entering Company: Maxus Bangalore

    Brand: Titan HTSE

    Country: India

    Other credits: Titan, KRDS, Kinetic

     

    In ‘Best Contribution to a Campaign by a Media Owner’, a trait that every media agency and advertiser yearns for in a media owner, Gemini TV won the award for ‘Making of a Superstar’ for Lux.

     

    The third award for India was won by Maxus (Maxus Bangalore, to be precise) for ‘Best Use of Emerging Technology’.  Maxus enterted ‘Light powered media for light powered watch’ for Titan HTSE to bag the honours.

     

    The Festival of Media awards are all about rewarding creativity and innovation that is at the heart of effective media communications. The jury, chaired by Mr Michael Donnelly, worldwide interactive marketing director, The Coca-Cola Company, spent two days reviewing the entries and coming to their decisions. “The work was truly inspiring across the board,” Mr Donnelly said in a statement on the Festival of Media website. “The category of Public Service Award was particularly poignant, as was the entries in the Experiential category. These and others, such as Best Use of Content and Creative Use of Media demonstrated outstanding use of strategic thinking and goal setting up front, and then tremendous collaboration amongst clients, agencies, publishers and in many cases technology partners to yield astounding results that will provide learning for all interested parties for many years to come.”

     

    See earlier report and shortlist at: 9 Indian entries in Festival of Media Montreux shortlist

    Link: http://www.mxmindia.com/2012/03/9-indian-entries-in-festival-of-media-montreux-shortlist