Category: MARKETING

  • Suresh Raina appointed brand ambassador for Intex Speakers

    By A Correspondent

     

    Intex Technologies has roped in cricketer and captain of Gujarat Lions Suresh Raina as the brand ambassador for its new range of speakers segment. He has been signed for a period of one year. During this period, Suresh Raina will be seen in a series of brand campaigns and activations for Intex Speakers.

     

    “We are delighted to have our captain, Suresh Raina, as the brand ambassador for the speakers segment, which made Intex a household name for more than two decades and still continues to do so. Suresh Raina is a brilliant sportsperson & team leader that makes him the perfect choice to endorse our long-standing speakers segment and further enhance the consumer connect,” stated Nidhi Markanday, Director & Business Head, Consumer Durables & IT Peripherals, Intex Technologies.

     

    The oldest category in Intex product portfolio, IT Peripherals, had been the mainstay of the company in the initial years and continues to remain strong in face of changing consumer preferences. Intex has a rich portfolio of B2B and B2C speakers with over 70 models.

     

     

  • Anushka to promote latest range of Acer products

    By A Correspondent

     

    Acer has announced Anushka Sharma as its brand ambassador. Anushka will feature in the upcoming campaigns – both offline and online for the brand and will endorse Acer’s gamut of revolutionary products ranging from laptops, desktops, ultrabooks and convertible laptops. The new campaign featuring Anushka Sharma will be broadcasted across mediums.

     

    This announcement comes as the company launched a range of devices at IFA Berlin recently such as the Swift 7, Spin 7, Predator 21 X laptop and many more. The alliance will primarily foster the expansion of Acer’s innovative product range in various categories.

     

    Announcing the association with Anushka Sharma, ChandrahasPanigrahi, Sr. Director and Consumer Business Head, Acer India says, “We are delighted to announce one of the leading youth icon, Anushka Sharma as our Brand Ambassador. Anushka’s love for gadgets and her quest for pushing the limits to be the best, seamlessly fits the brand persona. We believe it will be a great association and would help us enhance the brand’s distinctiveness”.

  • Karbonn Mobiles launches new ad campaign for K9 Viraat

    By A Correspondent

     

    Karbonn Mobiles has launched a brand new ad campaign- “Thoda Bada Socho” for its newly launched– Karbonn K9 Viraat Smartphone. The TVC produced by Ronnie Lahiri, urges viewers to think big and not settle for mediocrity in a hilarious four-part commercial series. The TVC features comic actor Manoj Pahwa in various humorous avatars- as a cricketer, a husband, a recently promoted employee and also as a mother-in-law, who is left embarrassed because of his limited ambitions or inability to think Bada or big.

     

    In line with Karbonn’s strong affinity for sports, the TVC went on air on Sep 22 during the India-New Zealand Test series. The campaign, conceptualised and executed by Chapter Five, creates an analogy between thinking big with the Smartphone’s USP of big screen and 3D video viewing features catering to customer’s need for big entertainment. The core idea of the commercial resonates well the lifestyle and aspirations of today’s youth who prefers to live life king size.

     

    Said Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn Mobiles: “India is a mobile first-country with over 60% video content been consumed on Smartphones. Karbonn K9 Viraat with 13.97 HD screen and 3D viewing capabilities makes it a perfect device for bringing in an enhanced video experience. We took a humorous approach to communicate this core USP of the device of the device roping in the highly talented ManojPahwa who brilliantly brought to the life all four of his characters who are belittled for their inability to think big. The TVC’s catchphrase- “ThodaBadaSocho” has varied interpretations including miserliness, narrow mindedness or lack of ambition and each of the connotations lend beautifully to the four highly relatable situations evoking a smile from the viewer.”

     

  • Brand-building via Content Marketing

     

    Text and Videos by Santosh Jangid

     

    How critical is Content Marketing to the marketing and media fraternity. It’s growing in acceptance, was the broad verdict from a cross-section of the fraternity at the Content Marketing Summit Asia 2016 held in Mumbai last week. The third edition of the Summit saw over 300 delegates listen in to to a diverse set of speakers. Amarjit Batra, CEO of OLX and the  first keynote speaker, stressed upon the fact how content has become the most important element in marketing today. Sandeep Bhushan of also emphasised that the timing is perfect right now to explore content marketing. Flipkart’s Senjam Rajsekhar spoke on the Flipkart way of storytelling. Using Salman Khan’s dialogues from blockbusters, Ashish Patil of Yashraj Films conveyed how to be a “Sultan” of content marketing. And Rohtash Mal of EM3 Agri Services, the second keynote speaker, encouraged marketing professionals to find a strong purpose of their marketing activities.

     

    The conference hall started Summit Chairperson RP Singh’s opening address “I am personally satisfied with the response as we continue to raise the bar every year. Unlike other events, we focus only on great content with almost Zero sponsored sessions so that CMS Asia becomes a platform to learn for every one rather than a platform to sell services,” he said while announcing that next edition will be held at Delhi NCR.

     

    The CMS Asia awards in five categories were also announced on the same day. Y-Films from YRF walked away with Content Marketing Agency of the Year & Content Marketing Innovator of the Year awards. Brooke Bond’s Six Pack Band was declared Content Marketing Campaign of the Year, which was also created by Y-Films. Content Marketing Brand of the Year was awarded to Nescafe and comedian Kapil Sharma was declared Content Marketing Personality of the Year.

     

    Senjam Raj Sekhar, Head of Corporate Communications, Flipkart

    How does Flipkart use content to reach various stakeholders?

    The way we look at it is that every organisation has interesting stories within itself. stories of customers, stories of employees and stories of the organisation itself or stories on how the organisation is funded. We have a team of writers and storytellers who actually go and hunt for the stories and  who look at what are the stories that will be of interest to readers. We report on ground and we found a lot of customers from Jhumaritalaiya actually shopping on our website. So we send them to Jhumaritalaiya, spent a week there to find out why Jhumaritalaiya is shopping online and from the mobile phone and we found some very interesting insights there. So, essentially if there are stories inside the organisation, then it is our attempt to tell those stories.

     

    You have said that Flipkart generates a lot of clicks on LinkedIn and Twitter but not on Facebook despite your various attempts to promote your content there. Why is that?

    The kind of content that we have are more long form content. Short videos of say 20-30 seconds work very well on Facebook, short posts work very well but if you look at long form pieces of around 2000 – 3000 words, we find a more engaging relationship on LinkedIn and on Twitter. The clickthrough rates of LinkedIn and Twitter are much more higher, in fact 4-5 times higher than Facebook. So medium to medium it depends on whether you have short form content or long form content. If you have a lot of visual content, then you use Instagram.


     

    Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, Craftsvilla

    Would you say that content marketing has short-term or long-term gains?

    Content marketing is completely a long-term phenomenon and you may not get short-term gains. What you can get is how many repeat visits are you driving to your website, what is the stickiness of the users that you are getting in, how much content consumption in terms of pages view per visit is happening, is it increasing your time spend on the site. So that’s where content marketing becomes very important for e-commerce websites but if you are looking for short term results it’s not at all effective.

     

    How does one check if content marketing is working or not for the audiences. What are the parameters for measurement of efficacy?

    Some of the parameters are that it will not be direct e-commerce attribution but it will be more around stickiness, repeat visits and pages view.

     

    Do you think content marketing helps in brand-building or is it just one of the many things one needs to be doing in a marketing activity?

    It is a part of building and connecting with the user in the long-term. It is not a short-term phenomenon. It is something which every brand should do if they want to connect with the user on a subliminal way, in a non intrusive way, in a way that they would like to consume you than the way you would like to get consumed. It’s an important part of the overall marketing mix.

     

    What are the challenges in content marketing for Crafsvilla?

    In case of content marketing, because we are so niche we need to ensure that the right content gets curated. So, if some handicraft from Kutch, say it’s a dhokra art and then people don’t know what it is, I need to have an expert who can go in and curate, source and shoot that content. So that’s the challenge that we don’t find the right talent which is able to curate the right kind of content for us whether its video or written content but we are evolving and creating internal teams which can help us.


     

    Bianca Ghose, Chief Content Officer and Head – Content Marketing, HCL Technologies Limited

    What are the challenges of content marketing?

    For a content marketer, creating quality content is something that I think is a major problem area because what you need is partners who understands your business, understands your business goals and the marketing outcomes and understands your audience. Unless you’re able to map all these three together you are not going be able to generate content that cuts through and grabs attention. The second challenge that content marketers today in India and all across the world are facing is also how is it that they are optimising the content to make sure that it’s performing because at the end of the day those form of tools and methodologies to measure the performance of content don’t really exist. But to be able to say that, this is my white paper and this is the kind of engagement that it has generated is difficult because a white paper is not just a white paper. It could be in the form of a blog or it could be translated in the form of a brochure that goes up on the website. How do you measure all those interactions with your piece of content to ensure that you are really taking back to your CxOs the amount of engagement or sales cut through that it has generated? These two are the areas that we still need to figure out as content marketers.

     

    Does content marketing have any short-term gains or is it a long-term play?

    Content marketing has no short-term gains and I don’t think this a play that can happen in a couple of months. You need to be able to do content marketing seriously, consistently for months on end to be able to generate some kind of impact. Content marketing will be able to take you to places where your sales folks won’t be able to go to. You’re sales folks will be able to leave behind a content asset in a closed door meeting or if you’re able to put in your content into the social browsing habits of your customer or prospect. So content is definitely something that will generate returns to your business but it is something that you have to do well and consistently for it to start showing results.

     

    Do you think content marketing helps in brand-building or is it just one of the many things one needs to be doing in a marketing activity?

    Content is the heart of a campaign so if you’re talking about a brand strategy or a brand narrative without having your content or your message at the heart of it, you really have a piece of a hollow shell. A lot of content marketers and brand marketers start thinking about the platform before they start thinking about the content strategy which means that you’ve thought through the outer circle without really thinking about what is the message that I’m trying to push out, what is that conversation that I am trying to generate for my audiences. So, unless you’ve really thought through the content, the message, the articulation of that and then the platform you’ve really done it the other way round. So being asked the question or saying that is content important is redundant. The question is how do I do it right to be able to generate the kind of outcomes that I am expecting for my business.

     

  • Asian Paints launches ‘Colour Academy 360 degree video’ of its academy

    By A Correspondent

     

    Asian Paints Colour Academy has launched ‘Naam Hoga Toh Kaam Hoga’ initiative with the objective of attracting and training painters and contractors striving to build a name and identity for themselves as a professional. After the success of Saroj, Asian Paints has launched ‘The Colour Academy Visual Tour’ to reach out to more unskilled labour and train them at Colour Academy.

     

    The ‘Saroj’ story showcased how Colour Academy transformed lives of unskilled labour by providing them with skills and support. This video was very well received. Asian Paints Colour Academy received many requests for training; especially from women inspired by Saroj’s journey. In fact a few all women training batches have been initiated at various locations post that. Taking this a step further, Asian Paints Colour Academy has launched ‘The Colour Academy Visual Tour’. This innovative video gives consumers a 360-degree view of Colour Academy.

     

    This is the first time that Asian Paints has used Virtual Reality technology to showcase any of its offerings or services. In fact, this is one of the first times that Virtual Reality technology has been used by a brand to advertise or promote a film. The objective is to create a more immersive and engaging experience with the consumer and leave a deep and long lasting impact on them. The video offers guidance at grassroots level to motivate and inspire people to join Colour Academy. Moreover the video gives one a clear guided tour of the world class training facility and the entire journey of the training course and environment of the academy.

     

    Speaking on ‘360 degree Colour Academy Visual Tour’, Amit Syngle, President-Sales, Marketing & Technology, Asian Paints Ltd said “Our first initiative to promote colour academy was through the digital video, Saroj. Our objective from day one was to reach out to unskilled labour enthusiastic to learn and make a name for themselves but have limitations related society or financial issues. We are here to provide a creative and reputable career opportunity. With 360 degree video format that is available on YouTube and other social media platforms, consumers can now get a deeper insight into Colour Academy. We hope the video will encourage them to enroll for the courses and become a professional in the paint industry.”

  • RR Kabel does the #AkalmandThing

    By A Correspondent

     

    RR Kabel, the wires and cables arm of RR Global Group has launched its campaign on the digital platform. Liqvd Asia is the digital agency for RR Kabel.

     

    The campaign started with a burst on YouTube where the masthead was blocked for the day to take the user to microsite. A Twitter handle dedicated to the campaign was created where various ‘Akalmand’ conversations were held with people online encouraging them to take part in the quiz. A Twitter quiz contest is currently running with the hashtag #AkalmandThing – where a winner will be awarded vouchers worth Rs 10,000.

     

    Commenting on the campaign Kirti Kabra, Director, RR Kabel said, “The campaign focused on the conversation around “Doing the AkalmandThing” Taking this thought further, on digital we directed our overall communication to the same theme #AkalmandThing.”

     

    Kirti further added, “You see the video and reach the microsite where you are given multiple options to pick ‘what kind of Akalmand character you are?’ based on a simple questionnaire that had quirky questions and creative answers, you get a score. All leading to you getting a certificate in doing the  #AkalmandThing which people could share on their social handles and challenge their friend’s.”

     

    Conversation around the relatable topic of #AkalmandThing helped the campaign to become viral. In a single day, the #AkalmandThing hashtag with 50M impression and TVC with 100M impression managed to be the most spoken topic. Hashtag Akalmand Thing trended for more than four hours with various brands like Raymond, IIFL etc. taking part in the Akalmand conversation on Twitter.

     

    Speaking on the digital campaign Rashmi Putcha Co-Founder & Director, LIQVD Asia said, “We used a multi-screen approach using digital primarily to extend reach and garner engagement. The idea was to use the digital medium to not only drive interactions but to also capture rich analytical data that would provide actionable insights for further optimisation of the campaign.”

     

    Spearheading the creative at Liqvd Asia, Dharmesh Shah, National Creative Director stated, “Since the TVC was yet to be released; we wanted to create a lot of buzz and excitement around the launch before the actual launch. The campaign had to be interactive and imaginative. Who doesn’t think they are akalmand, and who wouldn’t want to prove it with a certificate that can be shared with the world. The entire communication was designed around this need for us to show off!”

     

     

  • Dixcy Scott gets Salman in new light with Ogilvy & Madison as agency partners

    By A Correspondent

     

    Innerwear manufacturer Dixcy Textiles has rolled out its new advertising campaign starring megastar Salman Khan. The humorous ad highlights Dixcy Scott’s fit and quality. The film has been conceptualised by Ogilvy Advertising for innerwear brand Dixcy Scott. This is the first campaign for Dixcy Scott after Ogilvy won the account without a pitch process early this year. Salman Khan is seen in a new light in this campaign, as Dixcy Scott moves away from action-oriented campaigns of the past.

     

    Said Premji Sikka, the founder of Dixcy Scott: “The brief to the agency was to highlight the fit and quality of the product. While the brand would love to talk about entire range of innerwear, talking about underwear when a celebrity is involved would be a challenge. So in the ad while Salman is wearing a vest, the agency has managed to include underwear and extend the proposition of ‘Fully elastic, fully fantastic’ to the entire men’s innerwear range.” Added Raghul Sikka, Director, Dixcy Scott: “The campaign is now consumer – focused whereas earlier campaigns were trade-led. The campaign reinforces the thought that is borne out from customer feedback based on market surveys about high durability elastic of Dixcy Scott underwear and also the vests.”

     

    Said Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Creative Director, Ogilvy South Asia: “This campaign marks the return of a lethal combination – Dixcy Scott and Salman Khan. In this campaign, we decided to leverage Salman for his great ability to pull off humour in way that connects with the masses. The brand promise is captured in a simple and fun line – ‘Fully Elastic, Fully Fantastic’. We look forward to a long partnership with Dixcy Scott.

     

    Sam Balsara, Chairman Madison World whose agency Madison Media Sigma in Mumbai has the media mandate: “We are delighted to have Dixcy Scott once again as our client. I am sure we will do full justice to the brand.”

     

    Brand : Dixcy Scott

    Product Group : Hosiery

    Name of Agency : Ogilvy Advertising

    City of Agency : Mumbai

    Client : Dixcy Textiles

    Work type : Client work

    Date of publication / release : Sep 20, 2016

    Additional credits : Director: Prasoon Pandey
    Production house : Corcoise Films
    Creative: Piyush Pandey, Anurag Agnihotri,Nasrullah Husami,Shahrukh Irani
    Account Management: Ajay Menon, Dushyant Kumar, Rahul Khandelwal
    Planning:  Arjun Vedanayagam, Ameya Prabhu

     

  • Saffolalife’s new campaign inspires consumers to take small steps towards a healthier heart

    By A Correspondent

     

    Saffolalife has launched a new World Heart Day campaign coining “Chhote Kadam – dilke bade kaamke” as a creative idea to drive home the point of the need to have a healthier heart.

     

    Various consumer studies have revealed that most people see achieving heart health as a daunting task and find it difficult to make big changes in their current lifestyle. This is the reason that despite being aware, there is inertia towards taking proactive steps regarding heart health. Taking cognisance of this barrier, Saffola realised that it needed to change the language around heart health to showcase how it can be made enjoyable, everyday yet effective.

     

    Saffolalife kickstarted the campaign with a TVC that hums the tune – “Chhote Chhote kadam, ta ra rum pumpum, roz-roz uthaya karo”.  It showcases people in all walks of life taking tiny steps towards a healthier lifestyle – regular walks, playing a sport, indulging in dance or yoga, being happy and having fun, eating mindfully by avoiding junk food or consuming in small portions, etc.

     

    Additionally, Saffolalife has launched the Healthy Lifestyle Index on www.saffolalife.com, which tool that correlates lifestyle score to heart health. The Saffolalife Healthy Lifestyle Index has been developed in conjunction with eminent cardiologists, dieticians and doctors with the mission to educate people on early heart health measures.

     

    Said Anuradha Aggarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, Marico Limited: “Saffolalife has always stayed committed to spreading awareness and making people realise the importance of heart health. This year’s campaign evolves that paradigm and talks about proactive heart health. It is a progression that the consumer is seeking – an evolution from fear of illness to proactive health. The new communication aims to inspire people to take small steps like staying active, eating mindfully and being happy which will go a long way towards leading a healthier life.”

     

    Added Partha Sinha, Vice Chairman & MD, MccannWorldGroup: “The health narrative in this country was getting rather daunting and discouraging. We figured out that if health is not a part of everyday living, it becomes unattainable. At Saffolalife, we want to encourage people to embrace health in everyday life and open their minds to the possibility of benefiting from small, enjoyable steps to health.”

     

  • Deepika plays to the festive tune for Coca Cola’s latest campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s that time of the year again, when festivities, celebrations and joyful togetherness fill the air. And it’s also that time  of the year when the soft drink giants come up with new advertising campaigns to leapfrog consumption. Coca-Cola has unveiled a new campaign promoting its ‘Taste the Feeling’ credo.

     

    The campaign sees Deepika as a young confident girl who along with her brother end up at a wrong house. Blissfully unaware of this fact, both are welcomed warmly by the hostess, portrayed by Renuka Shahane, however the brother soon realises the mistake. Before they can make a quick exit, the sight of the bubbly Coca-Cola being poured for them captivates Deepika, rendering her unable to take her eyes off the drink.

     

    Talking about the new campaign, Debabrata Mukherjee, VP – Marketing & Commercial, Coca-Cola India, said: “Making every moment special is our core belief and this year’s social occasions campaign reiterates how Coca-Cola is the perfect companion for the both friends and strangers alike. It not only helps bring people together but also provides a great uplifting refreshing beverage experience. Standing strong as the preferred choice of beverage for guests, this campaign is a testimonial to how Coca-Cola brings about the feeling of celebrations and makes everyone feel right at home.”

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairperson and Creative Director, President, McCann Asia Pacific added: “We as Indians take pride in guesting or mehmaan-Nawaazi. The new TVC takes a different spin on guesting. We have looked at it purely from a guest’s point of view & accentuated the desirability for Coca-Cola, in a fun way. The ability of Coca-Cola to bring people together and make moments special remains at the centre, like when Deepika says in the ad ‘aise hi chalejaate toh Coke buramaan jaata!’”.

     

  • Himalaya unveils digital campaign targeting mothers

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Himalaya Drug Company has launched a digital campaign — #BecauseYouNeedTakingCareOfToo, for its personal care product line ‘Himalaya for Moms. The products include Soothing Body Butter (three variants- Rose, Lavender and Jasmine), Toning Massage Oil, Anti-Rash Cream and Nipple Care Butter.

     

    The video captures the emotions of a mother whose daughter is entering motherhood and the tag line #BecauseYouNeedTakingCareOfToo rightly highlights the need and importance of self-care while devoting all her time towards the new born. The video shows a glimpse of the emotional and physical changes that a mother goes through during this phase of her life.

     

    Said Chakravarthi N V, General Manager Marketing, Himalaya BabyCare: “The core idea behind #BecauseYouNeedTakingCareOfToo is the insight that once a baby is born, moms have little time left to look after their personal care needs and self-care is mostly side lined. The video is an attempt to emphasise its importance with the help of safe and herbal product range for mothers.”

     

     

  • DentsuWebchutney’s 360 digital campaign for Flipkart sale

    By A Correspondent

     

    Flipkart and its digital partner DentsuWebchutney have come together to create a ‘made-for-360 experiences’ to highlight the key offers of Flipkart’s annual flagship sale tittled The Big Billion Days.
    As the lead character in the film says, it’s a “game disguised as a 360 video”.

     

    Taking from the campaign theme, ‘Ab ITNE mein ITNAAAA milega’ (cueing in value maximisation, courtesy the sale’s offers) – the activity maximised the experience of the user by packing in a treasure hunt within the 360 video. Said Shoumyan Biswas, Vice President – Marketing Flipkart: “For us engaging with our users with a compelling story is as important as sales. We constantly like to push the frontiers – be it with our service, technology or consumer engagements”.

     

    Said PG Aditiya, Creative Director, DentsuWebchutney says, “360 as a technology hasn’t progressed too far yet, and we were experimenting with form which had little precedence- gamification within storytelling using 360. There were tons of roadblocks- but as it’s always the case, the output was worth it. For Indian digital creatives, it’s a pretty big step in the right direction- with the potential of interactive video using tech that social gives you.”

  • Voot draws up campaign for kids

    By A Correspondent

     

    Voot, Viacom18’s OTT platform, is set to roll out a high decibel marketing campaign for its Voot Kids service. With 1750 hours of content, 7000+ videos and 100+ characters, Voot Kids has curated a larg digital repository of premium kids content, since the OTT platform’s launch four months ago.

     

    Commenting on the importance of kids content and the need to market specifically to them, Gaurav Gandhi, COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, said, “Right at launch, we built the largest repository of premium kids content in the digital space in India.. At 15% share of the overall traffic, Voot Kids is a significant contributor to VOOT’s growth.  We feel that this segment is only set to grow, both in size and influence, and we want to be the default digital platform of choice for kids entertainment. Our endeavour is to build a parent-approved kids-favourite brand, and we will continue to develop exciting campaigns and dial up engagement with this community even further.”

     

    The campaign captures how kids from across India have taken to the new way of life and turned ‘goody goody’ in their ultimate quest to earn Voot time. Today’s kids know what they want and they’re smart enough to get it effortlessly. Parents are aware of this and are willing to reward a good behaviour. The campaign captures this dynamic between parents and kids very effectively, and delivers this insightful message through lucid storytelling and a catchy musical anthem that will really grab the attention of kid and parents alike.