MxMIndia

Category: MARKETING

  • The agency will handle integrated marketing duties for India’s largest provider of onsite solar power

    Asymmetrique wins marketing and branding mandate for CleanMax Solar

    By A Correspondent

     

    Asymmetrique has won the marketing and brand communications mandate for CleanMax Solar. Asymmetrique will be responsible for a series of activities including brand positioning, digital marketing and lead generation, social media marketing, content creation and marketing, website enhancement and maintenance.

     

    CleanMax Solar is a leader in solar solutions, with the largest installed base of rooftop solar power generation in India. As a first mover in the space, CleanMax Solar enjoys a reputation nationwide of being a solution provider with deep engineering expertise and a no-compromise attitude towards quality.

     

    Speaking on the win, Nitin Gupta, CEO & MD, Asymmetrique said, “It gives us great pleasure to have acquired the opportunity to create strategic communications for CleanMax Solar’s unique solutions. Our aim is to position the brand as a pioneer in solar power projects  and build an effective connect with consumers through focused, cutting edge strategies leveraging our innovative ecosystem.”

     

    Kuldeep Jain, Managing Director, CleanMax Solar, commented, “We are excited to bring on board Asymmetrique, as our brand solutions partner. With their fresh approach and creative thinking, we feel Asymmetrique is sure to add value and offer advanced business-led solutions”

     

  • The funds will help SheThePeople with its future expansion plans as it launches new initiatives including forums, events and regional languages

    Anand Mahindra invests in video platform on women achievers

    By A Correspondent

     

    Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group has invested into the digital storytelling platform for women www.SheThePeople.TV, founded by award-winning journalist Shaili Chopra.

     

    Mahindra has invested in his private capacity in the video platform, which is building a much-needed digital media space and ecosystem for women achievers and is dedicated to championing and promoting their success stories.

     

    Since its inception, SheThePeople.TV has profiled stories of nearly 10,000 inspiring women, who are entrepreneurs, authors, game-changers, sportswomen, corporate executives and more. It has been able to offer networking opportunities to over 100,000 women via conferences, meets and other events. It was an official partner for the government’s prime program for entrepreneurs Start-Up India in January 2016 and for the startup initiative at Make In India week in Mumbai February this year.

     

    Regarding his decision to support the platform, Anand Mahindra said, “Women need a space that quenches their intellectual hunger, engages, and empowers them with relatable content. With Shaili as founder possessing a solid understanding of both conventional and digital media over 15 years, I have great confidence that SheThePeople.TV will become a focal point of inspiration for tomorrow’s women leaders.”

     

    SheThePeople.TV is the go-to platform for women in India for inspiration, engagement, and is documenting the changing discourse on women in the country. The stories are currently offered in English and Hindi versions and driven primarily by video content. Shaili Chopra’s fifteen years of experience in television and her discerning understanding of the digital media business have together helped her build this to a critical mass within one year of its inception.

     

    The funds will help SheThePeople with its future expansion plans as it launches new initiatives including forums, events and regional languages.

     

    Commenting on the investment by Anand Mahindra, Shaili Chopra said “We are thrilled to see Anand’s belief in our vision and the platform. He is not only a corporate leader with an evolved intellect but also a great supporter of women leadership in various fields. We are happy to have his support, which indicates his desire to back new and progressive ideas as well as new technologies, which extend beyond the traditional formats. Our passion is to identify new and young women leaders as India witnesses millions of women join the work force and share their stories.”

     

  • The ad targets urban news consumers in the age group of 18-35, who value brevity and time

    Inshorts unveils inaugural brand campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    In order to boost awareness about its short form content value proposition, news app Inshorts has launched a video commercial of its first ever brand campaign on YouTube. Executed by Cheil India, the ad targets urban news consumers in the age group of 18-35, who value brevity and time.

     

    Carrying the tagline – “Short mein jaano”, the campaign captures real life situations where the protagonists get frustrated from people around them who waste time in beating around the bush instead of communicating to the point.

     

    This being the central theme, the video commercial revolves around a bomb squad commando stuck in a situation of urgency, awaiting instructions from his senior, to take the necessary action. It is only after a series of unimportant information that the commando is guided about the course of action he was looking for all along.

     

    Inshorts, through its 60-word shorts, provides users a unique content discovery experience that allows them to read a lot of news items in short, in very little time. With just a few swipes, at a time and place of their convenience, consumers can keep abreast with all the important news of the day.

     

    Commenting on the launch of the campaign, Azhar Iqubal, CEO & Co-Founder, Inshorts said, “Being an internet company, we are launching our campaign online first and intend to go all out with ATL and BTL campaigns later. Through this TVC, we hope to highlight the Inshorts value proposition of keeping its users updated with simple, factual and to-the-point content which can be consumed in minimum time.”

     

    The commercial has been directed by Gajraj Rao, produced by Code Red Films and conceptualized by Cheil India. The four-week long campaign will go live on digital and social platforms like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

     

    On the launch of the campaign, Aneesh Jaisinghani, Executive Creative Director, Cheil India said – “When you have a great product like the Inshorts app, a veteran director like Gajaraj Rao, super talented actors like Rajesh Sharma, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi and Sumit Gulati, a few things are guaranteed, a ball of a shoot and a couple of awesome TV commercials. Hope the viewers enjoy watching them as much as we enjoyed making them”

     

  • Day 1 of the IAMAI Marketing Conclave was mostly dominated by a discussion on 'Untangling Marketing Convolutions'

    Hail the consumer @ IAMAI Marketing Conclave

     

    ‘Untangling Marketing Convolutions’ is the tagline for the 12th Marketing Conclave presented by the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).  And ‘Untangling’ it was from the word go. Day 1 of the two-day event started with a welcome address by Tushar Vyas, Managing Partner- South Asia, GroupM and a special address by D Shivakumar, Chaiman and CEO, PepsiCo India. The day was predominantly centered on digital marketing, better way of utilising the platform and the digital future of India.

     

    A chat about ‘Global Marketing’ was conducted by Virginia Sharma, Director- Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn India with Sameer Desai, Head of Consumer Healthcare, Mundipharma and VP Asia Pacific, World Federation of Advertisers. At the start of the conversation, Sharma announced that 58 per cent of LinkedIn consumers access the network through mobile, which began the conversations on what are the learnings from emerging and global markets. Desai shared his own experience and challenges that he faced when he entered the pharma sector and about global marketing. He said: “The challenge was to consumerise the pharma model.” Desai also said that it is very important to understand the internal organisational culture while going global. “Working together and maintaining coordination within each department is the key,” he said when asked to give some tips for being a business leader. Sharma and Desai both praised the way e-commerce has fared in India and suggested that instead of looking West, we should be focusing within the country. In conclusion, Desai said research is an important part but it should not dominate decision making, the moment that happens, people stop being marketers.

     

    Moving from global marketing to marketing technologies, the first panel discussion moderated by Sourabh Gupta, Engagement Manager, Tata Strategic Management Group started. ‘The age of marketing technologists’ was the topic and panelists included Manav Sethi, Group Head- Marketing and Digital Platforms, Head- Classifieds and Deals, AskMe Group India and Malaysia, Gunjan Soni, Chief Marketing Officer, Myntra, Pallavi Chopra, Head Marketing, redBus.in, Mohan Menon, Head Marketing, Max Healthcare and Sanjay Tripathy, Senior Executive Vice President- Head Marketing, Analytics, Digital and E-Commerce, HDFC Life. The discussion was divided in to four parts: the cultural change in companies due to digitisation, KPIs beyond sales and marketing, the changes in roles within the organisation and leveraging digital marketing dashboard. In the context of digitization, Soni said: “It has impacted quality and speed of decision making” and was quick to add that digital is a way of living for Myntra. The panelists agreed that the widespread digitisation has helped in breaking the hierarchies within a company. Consumer engagement and creating a consumer centric product were some of the major talking points in this discussion. Chopra shared that his company has developed a unique algorithm bus code to understand the consumer demands better and so that the bus operators start taking the consumers seriously. A case study session was being taken in parallel by Theodore Hayes, AVP Analytics, iProspect Communicate 2.

     

    Next was a presentation followed by a discussion session with the presenters. The presenters included Apurva Chamaria, Vice President and Head Corporate Marketing, HCL, Virat Khullar, Head Marketing, Renault India, Karthik Jain, EVP Head Marketing and Customer Analytics, HDFC Bank and Raja Hussain, Chief Executive Officer, Airloyal, who also moderated the discussion. The topic was ‘ Maketing Automation: Golden opportunity for marketers’. Chamaria was the first presenter, he discussed the transition from MarCom (Marketing Communication) to MarTech (Marketing Technology) and now, MarOp (Marketing Operations). He said there is a need for agile marketing strategies in MarTech through personalisation , geo-based targeting, programmatic SEO strategy etc. The next presenter, Khullar shared how Renault launched its new car Kwid in the digital platform and developed an exclusive app for it. He emphasised on the effective usage of social media for marketing automation. Jain, named his presentation ‘Sharper Marketing’ and he said that it is very important to be customer centric. He also advised that the Analytics and Campaigning teams have to work closely to succeed. Last but not the least, Hussain focused on how feedback is the life blood of marketing and it can be used to make a bigger impact. The discussion that was followed mainly highlighted the personal experiences and the challenges that each panelist faced in their respective fields. The common consensus of the discussion was that it is important to understand the consumer psyche and change the mindset about digital, that is digital should be looked as a priority.

     

    Parallel case study sessions were held by Deepak Kumar, Vice President- Ambient OOH, Posterscope India Group and Martin Nygate, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Gentay Communications, who took the session on ‘Mobile advertising is killing your brand. What if we could make it powerful?’

     

    After an insightful discussion on various techniques of marketing, Tushar Vyasconducted a one-on-one with Prasant Peres, Director- Marketing (Chocolates), Mondelez India. They discussed about ‘The old-new age curve of brands: how new age brand’s marketing techniques are different than old age brands and vice versa’. The chat started with a quick volley of questions thrown at Peres, from which it was concluded that: the ad character Lalitaji is still stuck with him and he is a Kishore Kumar and Shahrukh Khan admirer. After the fun beginning, Vyas was back to the topic of discussion. He asked Peres to describe the evolution of marketing. “Marketing evolved not in the last 10 years but in the last five years, which was quite dramatic. Digital is a big change and we have become a mobile nation”, was Peres’s reply. He also added that he was awestruck by the transformation in mobile. “Engagement has become a core point of marketing,” Peres said. Another interesting point that was raised by Peres was that family TV viewing might become nostalgia as the current scenario demands focus on individual demands. He also said the success and failures in digital should be treated similarly as in traditional mediums.

     

    The post-lunch panel discussion was moderated by Deepali Naair, Advisor, IAMAI and the topic was ‘Beyond numbers: The art of digital marketing’. Karthi Marshan, Head Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Gulshan Verma, Chief Revenue Officer, Times Internet, Priya Jayaraman, Cofounder and Business Director, Propaganda India, Gyan Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, DB Digital and Sanjay R, Marketing and Network Head, Flipkart ads were the panelists. ‘Brand building’ and ‘brand engagement’ dominated most of the discussion. With everyone agreeing that digital offers ample opportunities for brand building and should be used to its potential. A workshop on ‘Out of stock in 24 hours- Marketing Exclusively on Digital’ was being conducted simultaneously by Anthony Padayachi, Associate Creative Director, BC Web Wise and SiddharthPednekar, Business Director, BC Web Wise.

     

    This was followed by a session on ‘Mobile Storytelling’ by Vishal Rupani, Business Head, M-Canvas, Affinity. The highlight of his presentation was he drew analogies between the immensely popular HBO series ‘Game of Thrones’ and the mobile storytelling. He demonstrated a few examples on how advertising can be made interactive and engaging for the audience. “Seduce your consumers through beautiful story telling through brands” was his tip to every marketer.

     

    The last panel discussion was moderated by Milind Pathak, Chief Operating Officer, Madhouse and the panelists were Dhruv Chopra, Chief Marketing Officer, Carwale, PrakashSikaria, Business Head, Flipkart ads, Gaurav Gandhi, Chief Operating Officer, Viacom 18 Digital Ventures (Voot) and Vishal Rupani.  The topic was ‘Mobile: Is it minor screen or the major screen?’ “Digital marketing is equal to mobile marketing” said Pathak at the start and set the tone of the discussion. There was a unanimous agreement that mobile should be given more importance and content for mobile should also be given thought about seriously. “Mobiles should be the only screen looked at,” said Chopra in answer to the topic. “We believe that over time data price will neutralise and you will have opportunity to charge for content as well. The future looks very good of online video per say and eventually every screen will be connected.” said Gandhi, when MxM asked him about consumers not being ready to pay for content.

     

  • The film has been directed by Saad Khan, founder and creative head of Centerstage

    Housejoy breaks the stereotype through their campaign ‘ShesTheFan’

    By A Correspondent

     

    As the cricket frenzy catches the nation by storm Housejoy, the leader in home services category in India, releases a video on cricket that show both men and women watching cricket. The difference is that they show women enjoying cricket in their own style. In the ad, women are seen enjoying beauty services at their home while watching cricket.

     

    The film has been directed by Saad Khan, founder and creative head of Centerstage.

     

    Nikhil Kumar, Head of Marketing-Housejoy says, “Being the leader in beauty services at home, we have received many requests this season. Women love to order our beauty services and get pampered at home while watching cricket with friends/family. Strangely this insight has never been showcased on any cricket ad or spots who mainly reflect it as a game only viewed or enjoyed by men of all ages across the country. Since IPL is the flavour of the season, we decided to feature this unique consumer insight in this video”

     

    Talking about the film, Saad Khan Creative Director at Centrestage says, “Women enjoying cricket hasn’t been depicted before and with this film we really wanted to celebrate women. We have tried to bring an emotional aspect to the film and show the love of cricket from the nation. It was great to work with these lovely bunch of ladies who really know how to have fun”

     

  • The campaign comprises a film that focuses on how most often the pressure to be fairer really begins at home

    Banjara’s bets big on natural skin colour in latest campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    To enhance it’s positioning of being known for its natural range of hair and skin care products, Banjara’s supports a movement against colour bias in India titled “#proud of my colour”.

     

    Commenting on the communication objective behind the new campaign, Ramesh Vishwanathan, Managing Director, Banjara’s said, “We wanted to change the perception that fair skin does not mean beauty. A woman should feel gorgeous in her natural skin color. The focus of skin products should be on healthy skin and not skin lightening. The highlight of this short film will be to educate people to get over their unhealthy obsession about fairness.”

     

    The campaign comprises a film that focuses on how most often the pressure to be fairer really begins at home. It captures the concerns and apprehensions that older family members have about skin colour, especially when it comes to their daughters and marriage. Many things both desirable and not so desirable start at home says Prabhakar of India/2 who scripted and directed the film meant for a largely internet audience. If we ever wish to beat this bias, it has to start with giving our children the confidence to blossom into talented, beautiful people who can stand up to such bias, rather than blame society and perpetuate this stereotype.

     

    A second film that captures the affinity of advertisers both large and small to only portray fair girls in their advertising is next on the cards. It will take on the need to look beyond colour at talent and achievement, and for that matter at the need to see beauty itself beyond color.

    Sharing his views on the creative thought process, Krishna Mohan, India/2 said, “We learnt a lot from the movement against colour bias that we launched #proudofmycolour. We built a community of almost 2 Lakhs in a period of just 4 months. And the support we got from our “mavens of colour” be it the girl next door (in their hundreds) or celebrities like Padma Lakshmi, Radhika Nair, Nidhi Sunil has been astonishing.”

     

    The music composed by Dr. Divakar Subramaniam is built around the theme; you can’t judge beauty by colour, and specially created to enhance the desired message. The film has been shot by India/2 Productions and will play on prominent online mediums and cinemas as part of its outreach plans. The strategic promotion of the film on the internet has been crafted by Manish Sinha and Arvind Jha of Pariksha Labs.

     

  • The campaign comes with the objective of showcasing Kamdhenu as a brand of paints that doesn’t just hide or mask imperfections, but is a concrete solution for them

    Treat imperfections from within, says new campaign by Kamdhenu Paints

    By A Correspondent

     

    GREY group India has launched a new television commercial for the brand, Kamdhenu Paints. Launched in the year 2008, Kamdhenu paints is the paint vertical of Kamdhenu Ispat Limited. It is available in a wide range of decorative paint products amongst others.

     

    The campaign comes with the objective of showcasing Kamdhenu as a brand of paints that doesn’t just hide or mask imperfections, but is a concrete solution for them. The campaign extends from an inherently Indian insight where most of us indulge in quick-fix cover ups rather than finding proper solutions. If there’s dirt on the floor, we often cover it with a rug. A mark on the wall is often hidden by a portrait. A stain on the couch is often accounted for by flipping the cushions. We’ve all at one point or the other indulged in something similar. Kamdhenu Paints offers customers to make an informed choice to beautify wall surfaces of their homes, offices and other premises through the attractive and wide range of color shades offered by them.

     

    “In a category obsessed with swirls, mosaics and textures, the campaign re-purposes paints in the minds of the consumers. Paints are not just meant for beautification. They are equally responsible for rectifying and improving the condition of the wall they’re used on,” Varun Goswami, Executive Creative Director, GREY group India

     

    The campaign line, ‘Chupao nahin sudharo’ propagates the message of finding solutions over a superficial cover-up. The campaign features a TVC, supported by press, radio and on-ground & digital activations.

     

    “In a category where the top three brands have huge ad spends, it is very easy to get drowned by sticking to the category codes. For a challenger brand, it is very important to have a perspective that is differentiated and manages to make its mark with a very limited spend. Chupao Nahin, Sudharo retains why paints are primarily used and links to the larger social context.” added Samir Datar, Vice President and Office Head, GREY group India, Delhi.

     

  • The campaign Insight is based on extensive qualitative and quantitative research including in-depth customer interviews

    Pepperfry unveils latest campaign promoting prominent features

    By A Correspondent

     

    Pepperfry has taken on the task of expanding the online furniture category through its new 360o marketing campaign. The campaign comprises three creative executions which will be aired on television, across digital video channels and in multiplexes. Pepperfry’s outlay on this campaign is expected to be above Rs.10 crore.

     

    Pepperfry staff (including the founders and CXO’s) regularly deliver furniture alongside the delivery teams to understand customer purchase behaviour and the needs of Indian householders. The campaign Insight is based on extensive qualitative and quantitative research including in-depth customer interviews.

     

    The customer insight behind Pepperfry’s new campaign is that getting furniture made at home brings with it the physical inconvenience, time escalations, budget overruns and a lack of design/functional fidelity. Customers who have gone through the process of getting furniture made at home have been through these issues but those who haven’t undergone the experience of getting furniture made at home vastly underestimate the issues involved while often over estimating the perceived benefits.

     

    Through this campaign Pepperfry seeks to educate customers about these potential pitfalls and provides them with an alternate choice of buying furniture through a seamless and Happy Pepperfry experience. Over the past five years Pepperfry has processed more than 3 million customer shipments from its highly curated merchandize range of over 1 Lakh furniture and home products. As Pepperfry works directly with small and medium sized businesses who manufacture the products themselves, it is able to provide great value affordable options across all price segments.

     

    Commenting on the objective of this campaign, Kashyap Vadapalli, CMO Pepperfry, said “Our goal is to help 20 Million customers create beautiful homes by 2020. In these last few years, Pepperfry has reached a tipping point amongst early adopters and via this campaign we will expand the market by going up the product life cycle curve to address the early majority of shoppers.”

     

    Talking about the insight and idea, Debarjyo Nandi, Sr. Vice President, Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi explained; “There are several of us who believe that getting furniture made at home will give us more control and get us exactly what we want. The problem is most of us are not sure of what we really want and what we are really getting into. The noise, dust, displacement, delays and budget overflows make it an even more painful process. Pepperfry is the easier and simpler solution to getting your furniture on-time, at a fixed price and the design and finish you want.”

     

  • The TVC captures the product proposition and promise of 'extending the life of your teeth', which is delivered through 10 potent herbs

    Himalaya unveils new campaign for its toothpaste brand

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Himalaya Drug Company has launched a new TVC in Hindi for Himalaya Complete Care Toothpaste, its variant that promises long term oral care.

     

    The TVC captures the product proposition and promise of ‘extending the life of your teeth’, which is delivered through 10 potent herbs like Amla and Pomegranate, known for their rich antioxidants. The tag line ‘Jeetey Raho’ creatively brings to focus the need for long term oral health and hygiene.  Well known TV personalities, Ravi Dubey and Nia Sharma, star in the TVC, and bring the communication to life in a fun way.

     

    Starting with the Hindi speaking markets, the TVC will subsequently be released in other languages too.

     

    Sushil Goswami, Category Head – Oral Care, The Himalaya Drug Company said, “Consumer research findings showed that while consumers are aware of the impact of our fast-paced lifestyle and changing food habits on overall health and wellbeing, they are not particularly concerned about how it impacts the long term health of our teeth. We used this insight to build on our communication.”

     

    He adds, “When we want to stay healthy and fit, we do things differently – exercise, eat well and suchlike. Through this TVC, we want to communicate the message that we need to take active steps to ensure the long term health of our teeth, including choosing a product capable of delivering that promise. Our Complete Care toothpaste is a wonderful product, packed with         herbal ingredients, that delivers oral wellness, extending the life of your teeth. With this new TVC we hope to double our sales in the Hindi speaking markets. ”

     

    Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Business Head-Consumer Products, The Himalaya Drug Company said,   “The Oral Care category has evolved over the years and the Multiple Benefit segment is one of the fastest growing segment. There is also an increasing preference among consumers for Natural / Herbal propositions providing a long term Healthy Mouth. This new communication is intended to make consumers re think their Oral Care habits in view of the Life Style challenges.

     

    “The creative of this TVC taps into the cultural trend of people getting health conscious, which hasn’t necessarily translated into conscious oral care that ensures healthy teeth in the long run. Jeetey Raho is a universal Hindi phrase that anyone who’s ever been blessed is sure to know. Now re-imagine that phrase in the context of teeth and gum health. This creative hook paved way to drive home the benefit of a hard working product in a memorable and entertaining way.” said Ganga Ganapathi, VP, Soho Square.

     

  • The two-day event attempted to ‘untangle’ some of the marketing obstacles and show a smooth road ahead for digital marketing

    Day 2 of IAMAI Marketing Conclave: The Digital story continues

     

    By Anuka Roy

     

    It was the twelfth edition of the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)’s annual marketing conclave. And as the proceedings concluded on Thursday, some of the takeaways from the two-day event were: focus on context and content, understand your target group, utilise social media tools properly and mobile marketing will be the next big thing.

     

    The digital storytelling journey continued on Day 2 of the Conclave. Saurabh Varma, Chief Executive Officer- South Asia, Leo Burnett Group, carried forward the topic of ‘Art of Storytelling with Digital Marketing’, which was touched upon a little on Day 1. In his presentation, Varma emphasised on the point that organisations need to find a purpose and once they find that everything falls in to place. He also cautioned that in the process of getting the act and purpose right, brands sometimes become too noisy while implementing their plan, which should be avoided. “We need more human brands, especially in digital,” stated Varma. He focused on the need for the right content and context, which eventually helps a brand to be successful. This was explained through two videos, one by Gatorade which paid tribute to a retiring baseball player and the other was Bajaj V, which showed motorcycles being made from the metal of, now dismantled, INS Vikrant. By giving examples of these two videos, he tried to reason that if the context and content of the brand are in proper place, everything gets going for a brand. Varma also spoke about ‘Functional integration’, something which is followed in his company and it pushes agencies to focus more seriously on client needs. He also pointed out that Social tools need to be used more efficiently.

     

    In a marketing conclave which has been mostly dominated by discussions about digital marketing, how can a discussion focused on social media not take place? Karthik Nagarajan, National Director- Content and Social Media, GroupM moderated the discussion on ‘Social Media- Marketing through Videos’, with Sameer Pitalwalla, Chief Executive Officer, Culture Machine, Malay Dikshit, Chief Communications Officer, Tata Sky, Vijay Nair, Chief Executive Officer, Only Much Louder and Shreyas Rao, Senior Vice President, #fame as his panelists. Before the discussion, each panelist made a short presentation on the same topic. Pitalwalla presented the case study of ‘Being Indian’- a brand which they are associated with. Through the case study he showed how this brand expanded using different social media platforms. Taking the unconventional route, just like the videos that Nair’s company makes, he chose to just talk about the topic rather than showing a PowerPoint presentation. Jain stated, “Creators are going to be the agencies themselves and content marketing should not be confused with advertising.” Dixit’s presentation highlighted the fact that very soon traditional media platforms will merge with internet. The presentation ‘Video is the new text’ by Rao showed how just through videos and live video streaming his company made an impact within one year of its launch. The panelists agreed to the attention required for correct content and context, just like Saurabh Varma did in his session. Another very important change in today’s scenario that surfaced in the discussion was that due to the plethora of digital platforms, consumers give their feedback almost immediately and they can be brutal. So, brands need to be very careful about what they are offering. This pre-lunch discussion definitely gave the audience some great food for thought.

     

    The session on ‘Programmatic Marketing- Make the best out of it’ was moderated by Nadeesh Ramachandran, Vice President- Sales and Strategy, Vserv. The panelists of the session were Ashish Sahni, Head- Digital Marketing (Passenger Vehicle Bussiness Unit), Tata Motors, Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, Craftsville.com, Hitesh Malhotra, Chief Marketing Officer, Nykaa and Henry Stokes, Vice President of Client Development- APAC, Xaxis. When the moderator asked the panelists to define programmatic marketing, Kalra was quick to reply, “It is a jargon and basically, the use of technology that enables marketers to target right people at the right time.” The discussion was mostly about how advertisers should know their audience and should be clear about the target group. This discussion was carried forward by Stokes, who made a presentation about the same topic immediately after the discussion, explaining the concept of ‘Programmatic Marketing’ more extensively. “Take control, by defining and managing your own target audience,” he said in conclusion.

     

    From programmatic, the discussion moved to ‘Performance Marketing- pay for outcomes only’. The post-lunch session moderated by Siddharth Puri, Chief Executive Officer, Tyroo with panelists Sevantika Bhandhari, SVP- Marketing and Head Products, DHFL, Shivani Dhanda, Director Marketing, eBay, Nikhil Rungta, Chief Executive Officer, Housing.com, Venkatesh C R, Chief Executive Officer, Adatha, Atit Mehta, VP and Head of Media, Sequoia Capital and Vivek Singh, Sr VP- Marketing and Analytics, Firstcry, made sure the audience was attentive through their insightful discussions. Dhanda and Singh had contradictory opinions on the definition of Performance Marketing, as the former said: “From eBay perspective, performance marketing is when you are paying for a click or the end transaction that takes place, while negotiating with a vendor, the performance metrics come in to play” while the latter opined: “Performance marketing is the process in any kind of marketing. It is about having an end goal while using any form of performance marketing.” The discussion concluded with each panelist giving their view on what they will be discussing about in a year from now, the common consensus was “about integrated marketing devices.”

     

    The last panel discussion was quite a fiery one, with quite a few contradicting views on the topic ‘Using mobile marketing to build healthy brands’. The session was moderated by Chandranshu Mishra, Consultant, Tata Strategic Management Group and the panelists included Ritza Trivedi, Director- Marketing India and South Asia, Visa, Uday Sodhi, Executive Vice President and Head- Digital Business, Sony Pictures Network, Anuj Kumar, Co-founder and MD, Affle, Martin Nygate, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Gentay Communications and Lavin Punjabi, President, Affinity. While discussing about mobile advertising, Nygate said that his company conducted a survey which should people are annoyed by mobile advertising. “We believe the industry is in crisis,” he said. Kumar disagreed and said, “I do not buy the survey. The data consumption aspect in terms of mobile ads is overrated. This platform is giving free content.” Punjabi was quick to ask in reply to the statement, “Are viewers ever going to be ready to pay for content?” But everyone agreed to the fact that the future of mobile advertising is brand and eventually the obstacles of this platform will go away. “Mobile content is getting very exciting now. It allows you to communicate to the individual directly. It is the fastest growing space in the advertising ecosystem.”

     

    Day 2 also had three case study sessions taking place parallel to the panel and individual sessions. The case study session on ‘Building a brand on digital’ was taken by Anindita Chatterjee, Senior GM Marketing, Spaces and Ajit Nair, Region Head, Quasar. ‘SME Advertising Market- Big opportunity, bigger challenge’- case study session was taken by Samir Chaudhary, Co- Founder, The Media Ant and another session was taken by Priya Jayaraman, Co-founder and Business Director.

     

  • The campaign thought is based on the basic premise of one setting aside a goal or dream that they can achieve in the future

    ICICI Prudential unveils print campaign to promote new MF offering

    By A Correspondent

     

    ICICI Prudential has launched its latest campaign titled ‘Whats Your Number’. The campaign thought is based on the basic premise of one setting aside a goal or dream that they can achieve in the future. Be it buying a house, creating a corpus for their retirement or for their child’s higher education. All these goals or dreams have a number. This number is the financial value of their goal or dream. Consumers work hard throughout their life in order to reach this number. Everyone’s number is unique. What is important is that there is a finite amount of time which anybody has to achieve this number.

     

    The campaign is based on the insight that to achieve one’s financial goals and dreams, the consumers have finite time. While investing for the future the consumers do not take into account the future-cost or inflation. The amount of investments they make, might not help them achieve their number in totality. Hence, there is a need for a financial instrument which helps them prepare their investments keeping mind the future cost. Consumer’s start their SIP but stop it after a while because the returns are not enough or to their liking. Consumers when creating wealth also seek instant gratification. Even if, they continue their SIP, they do not increase the amount, though their income continues to increase year after year. This incremental income is frittered away in their lifestyle expenses.

     

    The consumers therefore need to be informed that wealth creation is a long term game. This long term needs to be made tangible for the consumers. SIP TOP-UP method of investing in mutual fund, takes into account all the three factors viz. firstly, consumers have a financial number to achieve, secondly, they have a finite time to achieve it in and thirdly their instant gratification has to be tempered by making the benefit tangible for them in terms of a finite time frame.

     

    The print ad asks a pertinent question to the consumer i.e. “What’s Your Number?” The visual of ‘Starting SIP Amount/Month’ helps the consumer understand that he can start with a small amount which will not burden his current lifestyle. Further in a period of 20 years he can accumulate a sizeable amount. The print creative gives an example across three amounts viz. Rs.1 Crore, Rs.3 Crore and Rs.5 Crore. This helps the consumer gain wider perspective of how much he would need to invest now, in order to reach a higher amount in the future. It is also very important for the consumer to note that he needs to TOP-UP his SIP annually and it is through this SIP TOP-UP he would be able to achieve his number and thereby his life-goal or dream.

     

    The lead medium for this campaign is print with all editions of TOI and ET, and has a regional boost through Maharashtra Times, Vijay Karnataka and NavBharat Times. This campaign has further been amplified on-ground through collaterals, one-pager and a SIP TOP-UP calculator and on digital media through display advertising, search marketing, email marketing and social media. The website features this campaign on the home-page which links to a SIP TOP-UP calculator that gives the customer the power to calculate his number and gain a deeper understanding of how he could go about achieving it. In order to seed the thought further, the campaign will also go live on our customer experience touch-points such as IVR, SIP Renewal Forms etc.

     

  • Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, the new ad campaign features Kangana Ranaut

    MebelKart rolls out new ad campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    MebelKart, leading online furniture marketplace launched a new ad campaign across TV and digital platforms. The TVC featuring Kangana Ranaut showcases the “Ease of Buying Furniture” through their mobile application and getting them home delivered in one click.

     

    The campaign has been conceptualized by Rajkumar Hirani Films, AskMe and MebelKart team. The idea behind this TVC is to create a space in the furniture category highlighting the ease of buying furniture by just sitting at home and ordering. The story is told from the perspective of a tech-savvy new age girl who uses technology to her advantage. She convinces her strict father and hoodwinking him that she was looking for furniture the entire day in her own impish way.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Rahul Agrawal, Co-founder and CEO, MebelKart said, “There is a huge problem of service, warranty, design availability, cost effectiveness and brand absence in furniture market which is primarily unorganized. Our aim is to remove these hassles through technology and speed its growth by focusing on mobile sales, augmented reality-based app and the services market.”

     

    “Home furniture market of India has observed a steady evolution over the past decade with a shift in customer perception to choose organized brands instead of developing furniture products from carpenters. The increase in knowledge about designs, wood materials and pricing schemes has propelled the Indian customer to choose more branded products.” said Manav Sethi, Group CMO & Head Digital Strategy, AskMe.

     

    AskMe holds a majority stake in the online furniture marketplace MebelKart. With furniture being available at AskMe.com now, one does not have to travel around to choose their furniture, instead all they need to do is browse through the wide range of furniture at AskMe.  This is precisely what the advertisement suggest, with added flavor of Kangana’s acting skill.

     

    Karan Narvekar, Creative Director said, “Our interpretation of ‘Ease of Buying Furniture’ was quiet interesting and the campaign is completely based on hassle free shopping experience starting from search to the delivery of the product. It reflects the idea of designing every home in India at the most affordable prices with best services.”