SBI General Insurance has assigned its creative duties to Rediffusion.
Shefali Khalsa
Said Shefali Khalsa, Head- Brand, Corporate Communication & Website Sales, SBI General Insurance: “The brand affinity for SBI General is high amongst Indians. Completing a decade of operations in the industry, we believe it is the right time to re-focus on the brand identity and align with our digital focused infrastructure & outlook. Basis a defined brief, backed by detailed research, Rediffusion came up with a beautiful concept that resonated with our brand and was the best, of a good lot of pitch presentations. We are glad to have such an expert team onboard, backed by strong leadership, to manage this brand exercise from planning to execution.”
Navonil Chatterjee
Added Navonil Chatterjee, Joint President & Chief Strategy Officer, Rediffusion Brand Solutions on the appointment: “Winning SBI General Insurance is a triple treat for us! Firstly, General Insurance is a severely under-penetrated category in India, which makes it a planner’s delight. The barriers to adoption are many and it is something that is sold and not bought. Eventually when one buys, it is still a grudge purchase. It’s perceived as a waste of hard-earned money that is going to go needlessly down the drain, because nothing bad will ever happen to me and my valuable things! We not only have the challenging task of building the brand, but also the formidable onus of growing the category.
Rahul Jauhari
And this is what Rahul Jauhari, Joint President & Chief Creative Officer, Rediffusion Brand Solutions said on the appointment: “”SBI General Insurance combines the maturity and wisdom of SBI with the agility and energy of a young industry player. Their passion is infectious and we look forward to working with them in this exciting space.”
Mumbai-based social impact organisation Population First, which works for women empowerment and gender equality, has announced its ‘Call for Entries’ for the 10th Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity (LMAAGS) 2020. The date for receiving entries is 30th June 2020.
Said Dr A L Sharada, Director, Population First: “From mere 100 entries in 2007 to more than 1500 entries in 2017, Laadli Media Awards have come a long way in acknowledging the media’s contribution in women empowerment and gender issues. The increasing volume of discussion in public domain on gender issues is an indication that we are witnessing the beginnings of change. These awards facilitate engagement of journalists with gender issues and we are happy to note that our various interventions have resulted in more coverage from gender perspective over the years across media.”
Over 800 awards across 14 languages in print, electronic, radio and web categories have been presented to media and advertising professionals from across the country since 2007.
Added Dr Sharada: “Considering the popularity of OTT streaming sites & applications, an award for a Web Series is also introduced this year. Also, two new and popular awards are being introduced in the General Entertainment segment for the Most Inspiring Woman Protagonist and Best Episode with a positive message on a gender issue”, she informed. A special award for Best Reporting on Covid-19 from a gender perspective is also being introduced in this edition.
For detailed guidelines and entry form, visit www.populationfirst.org or email at laadlimediaawards2020@gmail.com.
The Media & Entertainment sector is facing unprecedented challenges from the spread of Covid-19. Rapid changes in consumer behaviour and consumption, stoppages in content production, cancellation of live events and sports, and cuts in advertising spend, are impacting companies across the ecosystem. Media agencies, many of which were grappling with operational volatility, are struggling to maintain media spend as marketers manage risks and reduce spend rapidly. Publishers and media companies are benefitting from some marketers seeing the opportunity but face advertising revenue losses. Film and TV producers are under pressure to mitigate impact from delayed release schedules, theatre closures, and production stoppages.
Companies are currently focused on enterprise resiliency and triaging revenue, but will likely need to turn to rapid cost reduction as business models settle into new norms as business models are not on solid foundation. Bright spots across the industry include digital pure-plays (such as video gaming) and other virtualised production capabilities.
Accelerated consumer shift to digital journeys
:: Enhance technology and infrastructure to support digital journeys including streaming and commerce
:: Ensure digital sales and service models are as effective as traditional journeys
:: Consider moving
Marketers cut ad spend and demand agile response times
:: Accelerate efforts around ad ops and creative production support to enhance responsiveness to marketer needs
:: Proactively conduct brand sentiment analysis and consumer research to offer stronger insights
:: Consider incentives or package bundles to maintain or motivate ad spend, including entertainment or escapism content
Rapid transition to virtualized working environments
:: Leverage collaborative software to maintain productivity and connection with vendors and clients (e.g. Microsoft Teams)
:: Accelerate efforts around self service and inside/virtualized sales • Develop models for virtualized customer service rapidly, including potential for augmented reality
Disruption or cancellation of content production and launch
:: Revisit programming schedules to extract value out of back catalogue
:: Accelerate releases to enhance consumer engagement
:: Identify partners with virtualized content production capabilities
And here’s a SWOT analysis as presented in the EY report:
Strengths
:: M&E is categorised as “essential services” and permitted to continue operation (except theatres and events)
:: Need for escapism, news and knowledge increases in times of trouble – demand for content expected to remain high
Weaknesses
:: Inability to produce content (physical presence critical)
:: High dependence on advertising for revenues
:: Inability to connect with and sell to large number of advertisers and SMEs (traditional media)
Kyoorius Creative Awards are happening, albeit in digital form.
Punit Goenka
Said Punit Goenka, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited: “We understand and acknowledge the challenges faced by the entire creative fraternity and this disruptive step is being taken to enhance the participation levels while significantly reducing the award entry budgets,”
The entry fee will be Rs 1500 per entry, exclusive of taxes.
In addition to reducing the fees, Kyoorius Awards will donate a minimum of 2000 PPE kits to authorities in Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Bengaluru on behalf of the advertising community of India. The first consignment of 500 PPEs has been delivered in Mumbai.
Rajesh Kejriwal
Added Rajesh Kejriwal, founder of Kyoorius: “Obviously, we debated whether the Award should, indeed, be held this year. After much thought, we decided that the Awards should be held, at the same size and scale as previous awards, but taking into account the realities of the post-coronavirus world that we live in,” adding: “The major change will be in the judging process. “While the quality and composition of the jury will be similar to previous years and will see both Indian and international practitioners assessing the work, the jury sessions will be online and virtual… It is a difficult time for all businesses including advertising, and we hope the Kyoorius Creative Awards plays a small role in the upliftment of the mood of the industry and all those who work in advertising and marketing, especially the younger professionals,” added Kejriwal.
Kyoorius has announce the jury panel for the 2020 edition of Kyoorius Creative Awards.
The jury comprises: Ajay Gahlaut (CCO & MD, Publicis Worldwide India), Arun Iyer (Founding Partner, Spring Marketing Capital), Ashish Chakravarty (Executive Director & Head – Creative, McCann Worldgroup India), Bobby Pawar (Chairman & CCO, Havas), Emmanuel Upputuru (CCO, Cheil India), Garima Khandelwal (CCO, Mullen Lintas), Gautam Reghunath (CEO, Dentsu Webchutney), Joji Jacob (Co-Founder & Creative Partner, BLKJ), Josy Paul (Chairman, BBDO India), Kunal Jeswani (CEO, Ogilvy India), Malvika Mehra (CCO, Dentsu India), Nirmal Pulickal (Head – India, Facebook Creative Shop), Pallavi Chakravarti (ECD, Taproot Dentsu), Rahul Mathew (NCD, DDB Mudra Group), Raj Kamble (Founder & CCO, Famous Innovations), Ritu Sharda (CCO, Ogilvy India – North), Sukesh Nayak (CCO, Ogilvy India), Swati Bhattacharya (CCO, FCBUlka), Tista Sen (Regional Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson), Umma Saini (Brand & Creative Lead, Google), Varun Duggirala (Content Chief & Co-Founder, The Glitch and Vidya Manmohan (ECD, Grey Group Dubai).
“I am proud to present the prestigious jury panel that will vote on the submitted projects between July 31 and August 8, 2020. The credibility and the comprehensive nature of our judging process remains undeterred, even in a virtual environment,” said Rajesh Kejriwal, founder of Kyoorius, adding: “It is a difficult time for all businesses including advertising, and we hope the Kyoorius Creative Awards plays a small role in the upliftment of the mood of the industry and all those who work in advertising and marketing, especially the younger professionals.”.
Kyoorius Creative Awards has donated 2,000 PPE kits on behalf of the Indian advertising community to help healthcare professionals in Mumbai, Gurugram, New Delhi and Bengaluru. In a bid to reward talent in the advertising space, Zee Entertainment will provide 75 per cent of the cost of each entry at the Kyoorius Creative Awards. The entry fee to the 2020 Kyoorius Creative Awards remains a nominal Rs. 1,500 per entry (exclusive of taxes). Entries can be submitted to awards.kyoorius.com.
It’s an award that’s perhaps as big as the Nobel Prize. It’s like the Honorary Oscar presented to the great Satyajit Ray fifteen years back. You’ve read it elsewhere already, but in case you haven’t: the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that brothers Piyush and Prasoon Pandey will be honoured with the Lion of St. Mark award at the 2018 Festival.
So are we making a big deal about it? After all, Brand Equity – the publication which everyone in the A&M ecosystem aspires to be in – relegated to the bottomspread despite being given an exclusive.
Well, we aren’t here to question editorial discretion, but suffice to say that the names of Lion of St Mark winners in the recent past will tell you how important the honour is:
2017: David Droga, founder and Creative Chairman, Droga5 2016: Marcello Serpa, former Partner, AlmapBBDO 2015: Bob Greenberg, Founder, Chairman and CEO, R/GA 2014: Joe Pytka, Director, PYTKA 2013: Lee Clow, Chairman, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Director of Media Arts, TBWA\Worldwide 2012: Dan Wieden, Co-Founder and Global Executive Creative Director, Wieden+Kennedy 2011: Sir John Hegarty, Worldwide Creative Director, Founder, BBH
This is the first time anyone from Asia – yes, no one from China till date – has been accorded this honour. The Pandey brothers of course do not need this recognition to be placed up there in Indian advertising’s Hall of Fame.
Said Jose Papa, Managing Director of Cannes Lions in a statement: “The Lion of St. Mark recognises those who have made a significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in our industry. Piyush and Prasoon have undoubtedly made the world pay attention to creativity in India. While they are famous, and rightly so, in their homeland, I’m thrilled that we have this opportunity to celebrate their contributions to our industry on the Cannes Lions stage. The fact we get to honour the achievements of two brothers makes this year’s Lion of St. Mark award particularly special.
Piyush Pandey paid tribute to India, his clients and colleagues, commenting: “This is a huge, huge honour. I am humbled and immensely grateful to the people of India. It is the richness and diversity of this nation that gave my brother and me the opportunity to learn and to create good work. I am also indebted to my clients, my colleagues and Ogilvy who gave me the support and the freedom to fly. Thank you Cannes Lions for giving every creative professional in my country a reason to believe that if Prasoon and Piyush can do it, so can they.”
Added Prasoon Pandey: “The Lion of St Mark is an absolutely incredible and stunning honour for two 10-15 year-old kids from Jaipur who were just having a blast playing Emperors and Thugs, Dragons and Demons, dreaming stories and playing them out with some far more imaginative and talented friends. We were so engrossed in that play that we forgot that we were well into our 50s and 60s! This is such a huge and humbling honour for us; I just hope it doesn’t make the kids inside us conscious.”
Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director Ogilvy South Asia won his first Cannes Lions awards with two Gold Lions for his work on an anti-smoking campaign in 2002, marking the start of a period of global recognition for a man who was already a creative legend in his native India. Piyush’s work is considered instrumental in the popularity of advertising campaigns produced in Hindi during the 1980s and 90s, heralding a shift to more universally accessible creativity in India.
Prasoon Pandey, younger brother of Piyush is a highly respected director whose name has repeatedly featured in global rankings of top film directors. Prasoon is credited for directing the first Indian campaign to win a Lion, for Ericsson’s ‘One Black Coffee’ in 1996 and is one of the most awarded directors in India.
Piyush Pandey joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1982, and made his name on work for Fevicol, Luna Moped, Cadbury and Asian Paints. In 1994, he was made National Creative Director for Ogilvy & Mather India. Piyush was the first Jury President from Asia at the 2004 Cannes Lions Festival. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016.
Prasoon Pandey started his career at Lintas Delhi, eventually becoming the creative director for Lowe India. He set up his own production company, Corcoise Films, in 2002.
Piyush and Prasoon Pandey will be presented with the Lion of St. Mark at the closing awards ceremony of the 2018 Festival. The brothers will also take part in an interview hosted by Philip Thomas, CEO, Ascential Events in the Lumiere Theatre as part of the 2018 content programme.
The IAA India Chapter has been selected to receive the coveted 2020 IAA Compass Chapter Excellence Award. Announcing this, Heather Leembruggen, Chairman – IAA Compass Awards: “This is awarded to the IAA Chapter judged to have made the best overall contribution to achieving the aims and objectives of the IAA over the previous two years (2018 and 2019).”
Srinivasan K Swamy
Added Srinivasan K Swamy, IAA Chairman and World President: “I am very happy that the India Chapter’s efforts have been recognized by a global jury. The Chapter has consistently worked at setting an example for any industry body to emulate. Its wide range of activities and the quality of their initiatives is noteworthy. I must specially commend them for always working to show that communication is a force for good. This elevates not just the industry body but the industry as a whole. I congratulate President Punit Goenka and the team at IAA India.”
Said President IAA India Chapter Punit Goenka: “The Management Committee of
Punit Goenka
IAA’s India Chapter is blessed with the collective wisdom of senior professionals in marketing, advertising and media domain. The Committee and office bearers have always taken the required extra mile picking up initiatives and causes that affect our industry and our society at large. This makes the Chapter a vibrant and responsible representative of the communications industry. I accept this prestigious award with humility on behalf of all the members of the IAA and our industry.”
The award will be presented at the IAA World Congress in Saint Petersburg in May 2021.
ITV Network has bagged the second prize in ‘Best TV Show for promoting water conservation’ for its water campaign- Aakhri Boond at the second National Water Awards organised by the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
The award ceremony was held earlier this week in New Delhi.
Commenting on the win, Kartikeya Sharma, Founder of iTV Network, said: “This award is a testament to our resilience and our passion to work tirelessly. Saving water is not the responsibility of only you or me or for that sake any single individual. But on the contrary, saving water is a national cause and should be a common practice. Ground connect & digital amplifications will be a key agenda that we will be driving in the coming year to make people aware of the importance and techniques to save water.”
The Ad Club Bangalore is putting together a series of programmes to engage with the advertising, media and marketing fraternity this festive season.
The three-week series starts on Dec 4 and will be held on Friday evenings through December. It will feature events like Open Mic Comedy, a fun quiz, Singing with a Twist and many other fun activities that make it mandatory for the participant to leave their home-office for a while and just let their hair down.
The BB Utsav is presented in partnership with Facebook and is open to all from the media, marketing and advertising community as long as they are members of The Ad Club Bangalore. The Club had recently announced that membership benefits for all who enrolled from June 2020 will be valid for a two-year a period through June 2022.
Speaking on the BB Utsav, Laeeq Ali, President of The Ad Club Bangalore and Co-Founder – Origami Creative said: “We want to celebrate Big Bang differently this year. Considering the overall pandemic situation as well as the stress which the industry is going through, we have decided to call off the regular Big Bang Awards and the whole focus starting with Big Bang Utsav will be to celebrate as well as elevate the people. While the Big Bang Utsav is purely focused on fun and building the camaraderie within the advertising, media and marketing fraternity at large, we also plan to roll out a series of upskilling initiatives which will help the fraternity starting early next year.”
Added Kishankumar Shyamalan, Head of the Big Bang Utsav 2020 and Chief Growth Officer – Wavemaker: “It is a very stressed environment out there currently and we wanted this program to come like a breath of fresh air. We have a series of programmes spread over three weeks which will not just be fun, but also a refreshing break. I urge the entire advertising, media and marketing community to come, encourage your team members to join us and make this event a very memorable one.”
Along with the programmes, the Ad Club Bangalore is also inviting nominations for the Arvind Kumar Memorial Award for the most Enterprising Professional of the year in the age group of 25-40 years. Judged by an eminent jury, the winner will be announced on the last Friday of the series. Nominations are open from November 27, onwards and can be submitted on https://bigbangawards.com .
The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) has announced the call for entries for the 11th IAA Olive Crown Awards. The URL Link for submission of entries is: https://oca2021.awardor.com/. Last date of submission of Entries: 31st Jan 2021
Megha Tata
Said IAA India President Megha Tata: “These are very special awards. They remain the only one of their kind that salutes excellence in communicating sustainability. And as someone who has personally been involved in its journey it gives me a great sense of satisfaction to see its growth and acceptance all over India and Asia. The pandemic focused attention on the environment and I am sure we will get to see some significant work.”
Neeraj Roy
Added Neeraj Roy, Chairperson of the Olive Crown Awards Committee and Past President of IAA India: “these awards are run as a cause. There is no entry fee. And the new categories like Green NGO of the Year, International Green Campaign of the Year and New Age Green Initiatives got an immediate traction when they were launched last year. Of course the Green Crusader of the year and the Corporate Crusader of the Year are awards that have gained in respect with every passing year.”
INMA has revealed the finalists for Global Media Awards. Some 290 finalists have been listed for the competition. Most the themes centre on pandemic community outreach, brand-building, subscriptions, and data innovation at the heart of the shortlist.
The 2021 competition by the International News Media Association (INMA) garnered 644 entries from 212 news brands in 37 countries. The finalists hail from Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Leading the finalist list were entries from India (47), United States (36), Austria and Norway (22 each), Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden (with 19 finalists each). Companies that led the INMA shortlist include Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd. (17), Russmedia (17), NZME (15), and News Corp Australia (14).
First place winners, regional winners, and the global “Best In Show” will be unveiled June 3 in a virtual announcement.
This year’s INMA Global Media Awards include 20 categories focused on excellence in news brands, media platforms, subscriptions, business development, and data and insights. The competition judges similar brands with groups for national news brands, regional news brands, and – for the first time – groups.
The 644 entries in this year’s Global Media Awards competition are live on INMA.org in the association’s Best Practices archive. Finalists may be viewed publicly, while all other entries are reserved exclusively for INMA members. INMA has 6,500+ “best practices” from the past decade of Global Media Awards competitions, sortable to finalists and winners, category, year, and country.
On the Jury from India is Ajay Chandwani, Director, Percept Ltd and Independent Strategic Brand Engagement Consultant. .
Last year, Indian companies and agencies won seven gold medals and 11 finalists at Montreux Festival 2020. Viacom 18 led the Indian charge with four Golds followed by one Gold each for Sony Entertainment, Tonic Media Worldwide and Miami Design School.
The Viacom 18 golds were for MTV in Best Use of Integrated Media, Colors TV Channel for Mobile App of Colors Premier League and Social Media campaign of Vidya, Ridhi Meghani for Social Media campaign for Big Boss 13.
Sony Marathi won a Gold for subliminal advertising of KBC in Best Use of Television, Tonic Worldwide won a Gold for MTV in Direct Response in Digital Marketing while Miami Design School Talent entry for Spotify won a Gold in the Digital/Social category.
Mathrubhumi Publishing won two Finalist Awards, Viacom 18 won 4 Finalist Awards, Sony Marathi won two Finalist Awards and Tonic Worldwide won two Finalist Awards. In the New Talent section, Miami Design School Mumbai won three Finalist Awards.
Energy BBDO Chicago won the Most Creative Agency of 2020.
Montreux Festival has been a precursor to Cannes for 30 years now and is one of Europe’s leading Advertising and Media Festivals. The Categories include Creative, Media, Design, TV/Cinema, Branded Content Print, Direct, Digital, PR and Events. Details of the entry categories and 2021 form are also on goldenawardmontreux.com
The key milestones and dates are as follows:
ITV Network has bagged the second prize in ‘Best TV Show for promoting water conservation’ for its water campaign- Aakhri Boond at the second National Water Awards organised by the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
