MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • 2011 witnessed the first edition of the awards, where the cine stars are judged by their fans. The awards are by the public, for the public, of the public

    Bol Bachchan stars announce Dainik Bhaskar Bollywood Awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dainik Bhaskar.com’s CEO, Gyan Gupta, alongwith the Bol Bachchan team to launch the Dainik Bhaskar Bollywood Awards 2012

    Dainik Bhaskar Group launched the second edition of the Dainik Bhaskar Bollywood Awards. The awards were announced by the star cast of the film, Bol Bachchan.

     

    2011 witnessed the first edition of the awards, where the cine stars are judged by their fans. The awards are by the public, for the public, of the public.

     

    Gyan Gupta, CEO Dainik Bhaskar Digital Division said: “After the success of the previous awards, Dainik Bhaskar is delighted to announce the launch of the second edition. I am really thankful to the team of Bol Bachchan, as they graced this occasion with their presence.”

     

    Ajay Devgan, known for his acting skills and with two National awards in his kitty, does not believe in the award ceremonies. But as the DB Bollywood awards are decided purely by audience voting, he humbly accepted the award in 2011.

     

    The awards not only let people choose their favorite stars as winners, but also the 10 lucky winners get to walk on the red carpet and hand over the award to the winning stars.

     

    Dainik Bhaskar Group has brought a fair award show where Best Character, Best Dialogues & the Hottest Item Number will also be awarded.

     

    RadioCity and E-24 are partnering with Dainik Bhaskar for the their Bollywood awards

     

  • AliveNow will carry out digital marketing activities for Forum Mall, Koromangala and Forum Value Mall, Whitefield

    Forum malls appoints AliveNow for social media

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Forum Mall, one ofBangalore’s first full-fledged malls, has appointed AliveNow as its social media partner. AliveNow will carry out digital marketing activities for Forum Mall, Koromangala and Forum Value Mall, Whitefield.

     

    Rama Raju, GM – Mall Operations said: “Forum Mall, being one of the pioneers of the mall culture inBangalore, is gearing up to elevate the brand proposition to the next level. Understanding the demographics of our TG who are significantly prevalent on social media platforms, we are pursuing to establish a better user interface to engage them further. We aim to create such an experience wherein our customers, even while being seated within the comfort of their homes, can still interact with us. Our goal is to enable our customers to carry the experience of visiting our mall out of the premises and beyond, thus creating effective brand recall.”

     

    AliveNow CEO, Adhvith Dhuddu added: “We are very excited to partner with Forum Mall and the Prestige Group to promote this iconic mall on social media. Malls could benefit from these social media tools and push the brand towards better visibility, and we plan to execute some very innovative and interesting campaigns for Forum Mall on Facebook and other social platforms.”

     

  • The account was previously handled by Carat

    Madison wins Parag Milk media AOR

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madison Media Infinity has announced the win of Parag Milk Foods, the makers of Go and Gowardhan milk-based products like cheese, milk, ghee, and so on. The account was previously handled by Carat.

     

    Mr Gautam Kiyawat, Group CEO,MadisonMedia & Platinum Media said: “We are delighted to add Go to our portfolio of clients and are confident of adding a lot of value to their businesses and starting a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”

     

    Mr Devendra Shah, Chairman, Parag Milk Foods Pvt Ltd said: “We have partnered with Madison Media, considering their strength and hopeful that their strength will definitely help us to draw our future growth path strategically.”

     

    Madison Media was recently in the news for winning Dixcy Textiles, Enamor and Crompton Greaves Media AORs.

     

  • Now while the insight is cool and the execution funny, there is a basic flaw in the communication. Monster.com is only a job finder, they can't help you do well in an interview

    Debrief | Monster.com: Misplaced communication strategy

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Monster.com believes that more than talent, Indian candidates rely on luck to make it through in a job interview. This is true. Many of us do have our superstitions. The lucky tie, the lucky socks, the lucky underwear, and so on. It may or may not work, but the illogical superstitions go on. In that sense, Monster.com is on to a good consumer insight.

     

    So these two blokes are waiting to be called in for the interview. And they spend the time competing with each other on who is more superstitious, and therefore luckier of the two. Eventually both get egg on the face as the job goes to the third chap who doesn’t believe in luck, but uses Monster.com.

     

    Now while the insight is cool and the execution funny, there is a basic flaw in the communication. Monster.com is only a job finder, they can’t help you do well in an interview. Ergo, if luck is what Monster.com is riding on, then this ad doesn’t make sense. Because even the superstitious candidates DID land the job interview. So on pure logic, the commercial derails.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbrzc8-w6SY[/youtube]

    This would have been a sound strategy for, say, a grooming shop, one of those that help you create a favourable impact in an interview. For Monster.com, this doesn’t work at all. Funny that the managers of the job portal overlooked such an important factor. I suspect on the day the brand manager came up with this strategy, he/she wasn’t wearing his/her lucky charm. 🙂

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 2. Entertaining ad. Based on a wrong promise!

     

  • Cadbury Bournville will pull out all stops for the cinema release of The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) inIndiawith one of their biggest and innovative integrated marketing campaign yet

    The Dark Knight Rises in India with Bournville

    By A Correspondent

     

    As the countdown to Christopher Nolan’s epic conclusion of the Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, kicks off around the world, Cadbury Bournville has partnered with Warner Bros to celebrate the release of the most anticipated Hollywood blockbuster of 2012.

     

    Cadbury Bournville will pull out all stops for the cinema release of The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) in India with one of their biggest and innovative integrated marketing campaign yet.

     

    The Cadbury Bournville-TDKR integration comes to life with special brand packaging, in-store branding, on-ground activities and television and cinema campaigns. The campaign has been designed and created, going through great lengths to ensure engagement across all touch points to reach out to dedicated fans of the movie franchise as well as Bournville loyalists.

     

    However, the biggest component will be Bournville’s digital campaign, especially created for the TDKR association. The digital campaign has been brought to life with a large format online contest that will add to the wave of anticipation and excitement with the legion of movie buffs and dark chocolate aficionados.

     

    The Dark Knight has already taken centrestage on Cadbury Bournville’s Facebook page, which has over 1.5 million fans, with contests and gave 100 lucky fans prizes through an innovative pixel contest.

     

    The digital campaign also features a specially created 30-second ‘digital commercial’ viewed exclusively on Cadbury Bournville’s official YouTube channel. The video is interactive in nature as daily trivia around the Batman franchise will be posted on it with exciting prizes for lucky winners. Those with the right answers will win passes to the pre-screenings of TDKR which will be organized in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.

     

    Mr. Chandramouli Venkatesan – Director, Snacking & Strategy, Cadbury India said: “As the fans await the movie of the year to be released in India, we plan to take the ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ release to greater heights and even greater excitement among Bournville consumers. The movie characterizes strong feeling of emotions among youth, something that Bournville lovers are known for. The Bournville brand fit with the Dark Knight franchise cannot be any better than this. It’s like the Dark Knight really has a Dark companion in India.”

     

    A specially created 30 second TVC on the Cadbury Bournville-TDKR promotion will be starting in the second week of July. The TVC will be aired on television channels and cinema theatres.

     

    The special TDKR packs of Bournville will run an online contest for customers where one lucky winner will stand a chance to win a free trip for two to Warner Bros Movie World in Australia. The contest will be available on all packs of Bournville.

     

    The association will be promoted in-stores through heavy trade activations in traditional and modern trade throughout the month of July. The campaign will continue to be driven through direct marketing and promotional activity.

     

  • Personally speaking, I am all ready for the future. I have decided to start a specialized scam ads shop. Which to me sounds like a really lucrative business

    Anil Thakraney: Channel V: A wasted opportunity

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Channel V has announced they are giving up music for good, and it will be all about youth entertainment from hereon. My first reaction: ‘So what’s new, guys?’ Because whenever I have made the mistake of dropping by at Channel V, I have never spotted a music video, only some mindless trash involving screaming and yelping kids.

     

    Channel V has been around for nearly two decades, and I must say they have struggled badly in terms of the content mix, from the start. From music to comic promos (remember Quick Gun Murugan?) to juvenile reality shows… they’ve been trying to pull all sorts of stunts, with the hope that something will get the Indian youth hooked. This hasn’t worked. Channel V has remained a very small player in the STAR bouquet, and every other year there are murmurs of a shut down.

     

    The core problem, in my books, has been lack of focus. As programming heads and CEOs changed over the years, each one added new confusion to the proceedings. With the result that today, all these years later, Channel V stands for nothing really to the youth segment. It’s become like that proverbial dhobi ka kutta… na ghar ka na ghat ka. This is bad news for any brand, leave alone a television channel operating in a very saturated market.

     

    Anyways, they seem to have finally decided it’s going to be all about entertainment content, whatever that means. But it appears to be good bye to music for sure. Let’s see how this pans out in terms of actual programming, though going by past records, this is likely to be 24X7 nonsense stuff.

     

    When I look back, there appears to be one very important trick that Channel V missed. And it’s cost them heavily. They should have positioned the brand as THE Bollywood music channel from the very start. Hindi film songs are always popular in this nation (the local pop and rock bands are sidey shows anyway). And the channel, being an early starter, could have owned this genre, leaving no place for those who came in later, such as Sony Mix, Mastii, and others. Channel V could have become Bollywood’s official music station. This would have translated into loyal viewership and a lot of ad revenue.

     

    But instead of that, they opted for retarded reality shows, and today they are neither here nor there. Channel V should consider itself lucky its parent has very, very deep pockets.

     

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    PS: Harvey Nichols recently ran this outdoor campaign inLondon. The idea is totally sensational and many locals found it to be deeply offensive. But the damage was done before it could get pulled. Wonder when we’ll see such stuff in India. And wonder how the hockey loving ACP Vasant Dhoble would react. 🙂

     

    Anil Thakraney is a senior journalist and commentator. He is Editor-at-Large, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are his own.

     

     

     

  • Both accounts are headquartered in Mumbai and shall be serviced by Happy's Mumbai branch

    Happy bags Ola Cabs and Eros Now

    By A Correspondent

     

    Happy Creative Services, which recently launched its Mumbai operations, has been appointed the creative agency for two new accounts based out of the city.

     

    The first one being Ola Cabs, a technology-based cab service that allows people to book a cab directly through an app on their smart phone along with the option to book via telephone and the web. The service is currently available in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore currently and shall soon roll out to 8 cities within the year.

     

    “It is about time we had a proper organized cab service in our country. I am sure everyone is sick and tired of being put to the mercy of unorganized cab services and unprofessional cab drivers. We’re really excited to be working with Ola Cabs to launch their brand across the country. That fact that it is a technology-based service makes it all the more exciting. We are grateful to the team at Ola for placing their faith in us”, said Kartik Iyer, CEO, Happy Creative Services.

     

    On appointing Happy as the creative agency Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola Cabs said: “I was impressed with the simplicity and broad appeal of Happy’s past work and that’s exactly what we wanted at Ola. The team at Happy has put in a lot of time with us to understand what our product and brand is and how to communicate with our consumers. I’m really excited about bringing them on board!”

     

    Happy also bagged the Erosnow.com account, the digital arm of Eros International – the producers behind many of some famous Bollywood movies. Erosnow.com is a subscription based website where people can watch their favourite Bollywood movies on demand, from anywhere in the world. The site shall also feature Tamil and Telugu movies and will proceed to offer more languages in the future. Erosnow.com shall also offer music and humor content alongside the movie offering.

     

    “It is an opportunity to take Bollywood to the world. And we can’t think Eros enough for choosing us to do the job. We have a lot of exciting things planned for the global audience. It is all about the movies, and that can only be fun and entertaining,” said Pallavi Nayak, GM Mumbai, Happy Creative Services.

     

    “Getting Ola Cabs and Erosnow.com on board at Happy Mumbai is very much in sync with our overall growth strategy,” said Siddhartha Roy, COO, Happy Creative Services. “We are very confident that our work on these businesses will certainly help increase our penetration in Mumbai” he added.

     

    Both accounts are headquartered in Mumbai and shall be serviced by Happy’s Mumbai branch.

     

    Since its inception the Mumbai branch has also been working with MTV on certain special projects surrounding their ACT initiative.

     

  • The business will be approximately in the range of Rs15-20 crore once the product gets launched countrywide

    Danone Narang appoints Scarecrow for B’lue

    By A Correspondent

     

    Danone Narang Beverages has appointed Scarecrow Communications as its creative agency for its beverage brand, B’lue. The agency was selected after a comprehensive selection process. The business will be approximately in the range of Rs15-20 crore once the product gets launched countrywide. The incumbent on the business is Everest Brand Solutions. The win is significant to Scarecrow as Danone, as a brand internationally, is aligned to the Y&R group and has strayed from this in just few markets, and India is one among them.

     

    An official from Danone Narang has confirmed this development.

     

    The brand B’lue is a new concept in ready-to-drink beverages. It is a restorative drink that leaves you feeling refreshed and uplifted, thanks to it’s unique formulation. B’lue is currently being test marketed in Pune. In 2010, Danone (the world’s second largest bottled water company) partnered Narang Beverages through a joint venture.

     

    Raghu Bhat, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications said: “It’s a source of personal and professional pride to be associated with a brand like B’lue from Danone Narang Group. And there is a genuine opportunity to create interventions at multiple levels through the power of creativity.”

     

    Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications added: “Danone has given the world iconic brands like Evian. Working on this new innovative FMCG brand conceived by Danone Narang – B’lue  – is one of the most exciting opportunities for Scarecrow. ”

     

  • In my belief, that answer lies inside the marketing office of Cadbury India, the company that enjoys a 70 per cent market share in this category

    Anil Thakraney: How ads helped chocolates treble sales

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Read an interesting story in The Times of India. It reported that chocolate consumption has trebled in India, not in the last 30 years, but in the last seven years alone! This is a huge rate of growth in any product category, and by any stretch of imagination.

     

    So, then what happened? Has India suddenly developed a sweet tooth? Can’t be that, because mithais and other sweetmeats have been part of our tradition and eating habits for centuries together. There must be another explanation. TOI’s story seems to link the growth in choc consumption to the rising income levels in this country. I find this link a bit tenuous. Because rising income usually translates into increased expenditure on consumer durables and other high ticket items, those that import some degree of status to a person’s life. How on earth does a bar of chocolate fit in this scenario? It’s a low cost impulse purchase product, much like all other sweets and snacks. So the answer lies elsewhere.

     

    In my belief, that answer lies inside the marketing office of Cadbury India, the company that enjoys a 70 per cent market share in this category. All those years and efforts the chocolate major has invested in expanding the market in India, to make their brands attractive to the adult segment, have paid off big-time. And Cadbury’s rivals have benefited in the process, too. This is the key reason behind the booming choc market.

     

    Some of you may not know this, but as recently as 20 years ago, chocolates used to be targetted only at kids, and this imagery of the product totally alienated the vast adult population. In the year 1992 if you dared to consume a Cadbury Dairy Milk bar in a public place, you ran the risk of being scoffed at for ‘shamelessly eating a bachchon ka product’. And in just twenty years the market has turned on its head.

     

    And this has been achieved by Cadbury purely on the power of advertising. It took some years, but the results are showing now, and how! The Cadbury commercials have won many awards over the years but their biggest victory has been that they turned the fortunes of the entire category. Cadbury India has shown the world the magic you can do when your strategy is innovative and when the creative work shines. The trebling of the choc market in India is the victory of advertising alone.

     

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    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI7Oq8y-jXA[/youtube]

    PS: This is why I am so looking forward to watching The Newsroom, the latest, hottest American TV serial. Am excited not just as a viewer, but also as a journalist. It’s high time the media looked at its own self. This is gonna be something else, going by this kickass capsule. Must watch.

     

  • The account will be handled out of Scarecrow's Mumbai office

    Scarecrow bags creative duties for Emami Healthy & Tasty

    By A Correspondent

     

    Emami Healthy & Tasty has appointed Scarecrow Communications as its creative agency. The account will be handled out of Scarecrow’s Mumbai office.

     

    Healthy & Tasty, from Emami Biotech Limited with a presence across 6 states, has an ambitious plan to go national during the course of this financial year. Despite being in existence for a short period of just over two years in a highly complex category with various regional variants and preferences and a litany of national and local players, the brand has been able to create a premium imagery and consumer preference for itself and is well on it’s way to becoming a strong national brand.

     

    Saroj Chakraborty, CEO, Emami Biotech, said: “Healthy & Tasty is a young brand with a strong appetite for growth and needed an equally young creative agency with great creative abilities to be able to match its aspirations. Scarecrow fits the bill and I have no doubt that their creative skills would be able to bring forth the inherent goodness of the brand to the consumer and help translate the brand’s aspirations into reality.”

     

    Manish Bhatt, Founder-Director, Scarecrow Communications, said: “This is one of the sweetest wins for Scarecrow. Emami is one of the most advertising-savvy companies inIndiaand it is an honor to work on one of their most prestigious brands.”

     

    Joy Sengupta, Founder-Director, Scarecrow Communications, added: “There are truly very few national brands in edible oil. We hope to create advertising that will help Healthy & Tasty find a place in a woman’s heart and also, her kitchen.”

     

  • The second edition of Power Brands provides a bigger platform for the brands to stamp their authority

    BIG FM among 100 most successful brands in Power Brands 2012

    By A Correspondent

     

    BIG FM has been named amongst the 100 most successful brands of the nation in Power Brands 2012. It is said to be the only radio network to get on the list this year. The brands were selected through one of the most extensive surveys conducted panIndiaover a research base of 20 centres and 5,000 respondents.

     

    In addition to BIG FM, the mega launch of the second edition of Power Brands saw brands like Apple, IPL, LUX, Sunsilk, Hero Motocorp, McDonalds, Airtel, HP and SBI Bank being honoured as part of the 100 Power Brands. The Power Brands Hall of Fame ceremony also took place, along with the book launch which salutes icons and leaders who have carved a niche for themselves with their remarkable strategies and vision.

     

    Rabe T Iyer, Business Head, 92.7 BIG FM said: “This recognition speaks volumes of the efforts put in by our associates across the country over the years in living the promise of ‘Life Banao’. This is the first time that a radio brand got into the power-brands, which highlights the power of the medium and its effectiveness. We are humbled by this honour and would like to thank Power Brands for this credit, as we stay committed to offering value to our stakeholders.”

     

    The second edition of Power Brands provides a bigger platform for the brands to stamp their authority. The ‘Power 100’ exemplifies the 100 most successful brands of the nation.

     

  • Sameer Suneja moves on to a global role as Executive Vice President – Innovation and Business Development

    Perfetti appoints Ramesh Jayaraman as MD

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ramesh Jayaraman

    Perfetti Van Melle, the confectionery giant will shortly be appointing Ramesh Jayaraman as the Managing Director of Perfetti Van Melle, India. Prior to this Mr. Jayaraman was the Managing Director of PVM’s businesses in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He will take over this responsibility from Sameer Suneja who has been promoted to a global role as Executive Vice President – Innovation and Business Development.

     

    Mr. Suneja will now be based out of Netherlands, having a larger responsibility in the global operation of the company and will report to the Global CEO of Perfetti Van Melle.

     

    Mr. Jayaraman is well respected for his extensive skills and knowledge across all functions of the company. His leadership has been a key driver in transforming the company’s operations and sustained growth in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh markets.

     

    Sameer Suneja

    In India, he worked for Cadbury and Britannia, in the Marketing area. He also had a brief stint with Ogilvy and Mather. From early 1999, he has worked mainly outside India, and his assignments have taken him to China, France, Egypt, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

     

    Prior to joining Perfetti Van Melle in 2006, Mr. Jayaraman was Project Director India for Danone, and the Deputy Managing Director of Yakult Danone India Private Limited, a joint venture between Groupe Danone and Yakult Honsha of Japan.

     

    Mr. Suneja, who now moves on to this international assignment, has been with Perfetti for more than 15 years in various capacities. During his tenure in India he has played a key role in the company’s distinguished growth and he has been heading the Indian business for the past 4 years.  During his tenure the company forayed into the snacks category in India, thus becoming the first subsidiary in the group to diversify into non-confectionery segment.

     

    In his new role as Executive Vice President – Innovation and Business Development, Mr. Suneja will identify and eventually develop projects in different markets related to new product ideas and exchanging cross-Group successful experiences in the marketing and commercial fields.