Category: MARKETING

  • Croma’s Household Habits survey throws up interesting insights

    By a correspondent

     

    India’s women own the household TV throughout the day, however when the clock strikes 9pm it’s the men who take over, according to a new research published by Croma, the electronics megastore from Infiniti Retail Limited.

     

    The findings – highlighted in Croma’s Household Habits survey – reveals 9pm as a form of ‘Remote Relay’ hour when control of the ubiquitous and all-important remote finally passes from female to male jurisdiction. According to the findings, nearly 40 per cent of men claim that their female partners dominate the remote control all afternoon (from midday to 9pm); while over half of all respondents collectively claim that it’s their respective mothers who rule the remote during the same period. Over half female respondents actually admit to ‘fighting for control’ for the precious device.

     

    “While we all know the day of multi-device and cross-screen usage is here, Croma’s Household Habits survey demonstrates the importance, protocols and household politics relating to control of the household TV set. And – according to our findings – the females of the household exercise a near monopoly on the remote; at least during daylight hours,” shared Ajit Joshi, MD & CEO, Infiniti Retail Ltd.

     

    “With the current soaring FIFA fever, men are likely to invade the TV largely. Quite aptly, the survey sees a spike in male viewership during the night slot. In all honestly, with many World Cup matches kicking off well into the early hours Indian time, this is probably a battle most women are happy to cede to their male co-habitants,” Joshi, added.

     

    Part One of Croma’s Household Habits survey coincides with the launch of Croma’s much awaited month-long festival – ‘Croma Gadget Fest’ – which runs until 13th July, 2014. This festival is a one-stop-shop for all buyers on the lookout for exciting offers on tablets and laptops. EMIs, student offers, easy exchange policies, cashback offers on SBI and new launches are all major attractions available during this back-to-school month.

     

    “According to the study, during the day when the family watches television together it is still the female gender, this time the mother, who usually retains control of the remote. It is only during the time slot of 9pm to 12am that fathers take the remote reins. This is a perfect metaphor for family life, keeping all parties happy and together; which is really what the TV remote’s ‘Changing of the Guard’ and ‘Remote Relay’ hour are all about,” he concluded.

     

  • Cadbury’s new TVC attempts to find ‘Joy in Snow’

    Cadbury Dairy Milk has been a part of the Indian collective consciousness for many years. In the years together, the brand and the consumer have both grown and evolved. Their relationship with each other has grown to a new level - in terms of fondness and intimacy. It is around such times that the brand can start talking beyond its functional, social or culturally contextualized role. Cadbury Dairy Milk has reached such a stage in its lifecycle with respect to the Indian audience, that it can be more nuanced in its communication and afford to get more personal with its audience.

     

    In this case the brand has chosen to make the consumer aware of the fact that life lies in the now; that joy resides in the act of letting go, and that one should live like no one’s watching. The new campaign, devised by Ogilvy & Mather India urges the consumer to live from the heart, and in essence, free the joy that is deep within all of us. The commercial is meant to dramatize the benefits of letting go and being your true self.

     

    The TV commercial shows a couple in a beautiful location on snowy mountains; despite the location being breath-taking in its beauty, the husband is almost insensitive to his surroundings and chooses to answer e-mails. The woman who is more in touch with her childlike inner self, provokes a snow fight with the man; the outcome of the fight is nothing short of pure joy. The film does an amazing job in illustrating how a little nudge in the right direction can actually help bring so much joy in one’s life and or open one’s life to pure joy.

     

    In the future, the brand aspires to be associated with ‘Joy’ in terms of philosophy as well as a product deliverable. Every move the brand makes will make movements in this direction. The good thing about this approach is that the brand already stands for the values it’s chosen to propagate.

     

  • Mash Up & Blazar get Kapil Sharma to launch new Honda Mobilio

    By A Correspondent

     

    Honda India is all set to launch their new premium 7-seater, the Honda Mobilio in July. Before the launch of its TVC, the car is generating a lot of buzz around the web with a series of four videos with India’s favourite comedian – Kapil Sharma. The concept and execution of this web series has been done by Mash Up, a part of GroupM India. The digital campaign is being executed by Blazar, the digital marketing agency of GroupM India.

     

    This is the first time Honda has taken the route of a celebrity association and branded original content to launch a car. The videos are not product videos, but are designed to announce the launch of the car, touch upon its features and give the audiences a dose of entertainment. Kapil plays a Honda car salesman in the web series.

     

    GroupM released the campaign on YouTube on June 24th 2014 at 6pm. Since then the video has garnered over three lakh organic views and over 1.5 lakh likes. This is also the first time Kapil Sharma has associated with any brand. GroupM specifically chose Kapil, keeping in mind his popularity across digital media and his fan engagement on social media.

     

    Shakeel Anjum, Head – Brand Communications, Honda said, “Unlike the traditional advertising, digital is a pull medium. And we for sure wanted to leverage the medium to its best. All the four Honda Mobilio films are buzz worthy content. The first film has already gained social chatter and consumer engagement organically, within just hours of launch. Kapil Sharma is definitely the new benchmark of Family Entertainment. His humour cuts across genres and age groups. Kapil is one of the most searched celebrities on digital with a massive fan following on social media. We believed he was the best fit to launch this Family car on digital media”

     

    Kumar Deb Sinha, head, Digital Content, Mash Up said, “We are extremely thrilled to take Blazar’s long standing partnership with Honda Motors to next level by creating a brand association with Kapil Sharma. The objective is to unleash the full value of digital media and branded content to engage consumers, inducing high sharability amongst users.

     

  • Marketing the FIFA way

     

    By Delshad Irani

     

    The FIFA World Cup is arguably the biggest topic all marketers are currently obsessing about. The main course is the big budget commercials directed by awardwinning filmmakers for brands like Nike or Adidas. Or the five-minute-plus videos featuring the likes of Neymar Jr and Co (9 footballers in total) in the midst of pre-game rituals, be it a moment of contemplation in the locker room or sex before the big game, as seen in the recent video hit for audio brand Beats By Dre.

     

    Accompanying them are the condiments: collective experiences scattered all over the month-long feast. Marketers have set up real-time war rooms and have been weeding or tweeting themselves into conversations to engage with global football fans. Welcome to the first truly social World Cup.

     

    At Cannes, Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg spoke to a room full of advertising professionals and creatives from over 100 countries. Sandberg is an American and admits to not being too familiar with the game of football or soccer, as they call it across the Atlantic. However, she is fully aware of what Facebook, the social network with over a billion users, has to gain during the FIFA World Cup.

     

    During the last FIFA World Cup, Facebook had over 500 million users across the world. Today, there are over 500 million users actively engaging on topics and content around the FIFA World Cup Brazil. The power of the borderless sport has been fuelled by a socially connected world where fans living at opposite ends of the earth can interact, share the joys and disappointments that come with the most popular sport on the planet. And guess who wants to listen and participate in the action? Marketers, of course.

     

    In another seminar at Cannes, Wendy Clark, vice-president, The Coca-Cola Company, connected with Coke’s realtime marketing station in Rio de Janeiro during her presentation. The Coke Rio room itself could be easily mistaken for a NASA outpost with a dedicated crew monitoring multiple screens to track the conversation and respond in real-time.

     

    An advertiser like Coca-Cola that dabbles in everything from the grand 60-second television commercial to marketing devices that are no older than your latest smartphone has pounded our screens and feeds with hashtags and the world?s largest selfie mosaic of football fans this edition. Brands across the board are looking for intriguing and unobtrusive ways to engage. As Clark says, for brands ?Silence is no longer an option in a socially connected world.

     

    Apart from the unbridled passion of fans, there’s the numbers. The average viewership of a World Cup match at 125 million, is equal to 64 Superbowls, the American football extravaganza that has US marketers pumping in millions of dollars for a 30-second TV spot. According to a report by IPG Mediabrands, an estimated audience of 410 million will tune in for the the World Cup final. The study also found that 76% of adults have used a second screen in the past year whilst watching a sports match on TV. If brands can capture the imagination of the audience within those few seconds when his or her eyes are not on the pitch or while people involve themselves in football chatter offline and on, consider half the battle won.

     

    The job then is to have audiences volunteer their time to participate and contribute to the conversation brands have going. Even the over 12,000 communication professionals at the Cannes Lions had a chance to be part of the game conversation.

     

    Apart from taking over the local pubs to watch matches, delegates could pop by the Exact Target Marketing Cloud booth outside the Majestic hotel on the Croisette where they could play footie with a connected football. That’s right after the Brazucam, the Adidas official ball that has a 360-degree camera and a Twitter feed of its own, we have a ball that tracks the number of goals scored within 30 seconds. It then awards bonus points based on the location of the shot, then posts the rankings on a real-time score board.

     

  • Mindshare creates Youtube ad for Instant Chocolate Horlicks

    By a correspondent

     

    Mindshare has created a unique innovation with GSK’s Chocolate flavor Horlicks.

     

    The campaign was conceived as part of the integrated Audio-visual strategy for Chocolate Horlicks. Instead of going the conventional way of replicating the TVC on web, Mindshare has used the 5 second skip button of YouTube to highlight the brand proposition – Chocolate Horlicks mixes instantly in milk – and hence decided to add a 5-sec tag that preceded the original TVC. The tag reads – ‘Instant Chocolate Horlicks -mixes in milk even before you skip this ad.’

     

    Ravi Rao

    Commenting on the same, Ravi Rao, Leader- South Asia, Mindshare said, “We have been working with GSK Consumer Healthcare Division for a while now and understand their need for innovative and unique strategies and campaigns especially in the digital space. Instead of replicating the TVC online, we wanted to leverage the potential of the medium by making it inextricably linked with the message.”

     

    Jayant Singh, EVP Marketing, GSK Consumer Healthcare said, “Horlicks is a brand that that perfectly balances a rich heritage with constant innovation, to ensure we make our consumers do more, feel better and live longer. We are very happy to be the first brand in country to create this innovation in partnership with Mindshare.”

     

  • CavinKare unveils new TVC for Indica easy pack offering

    By A Correspondent

     

    After the launch of Indica 10 minutes crème hair color, CavinKare’s Indica has now launched an exciting crème hair color range in a ‘Easy pack’. This unisex crème hair color pack is available in four enriching shades of Natural Black, Burgundy, Natural Brown and Darkest Brown.

     

    Ad agency Curry-Nation Brand Conversations has worked on the TVC that has been developed based on the insight that consumers love to color their hair for different needs but find the process of coloring very boring and time consuming. The insight is that there is a need of a hair color which could give the same gorgeous hair color but much faster so one could hair color anytime.

     

    The key challenge was to communicate the idea of getting celebrity like hair in 10 minutes and integrate the brand attributes of rich hair color, smooth and silky hair, superior and natural looking hair and communicate the price point and conditioner pack as the major consumer propellant.

     

    The pack is very affordable and available at Rs. 30/- for 47.5 gms product. The Indica 10 minutes crème hair color ‘easy pack’ is free of ammonia and safe to use and gives 100 per cent grey coverage in 10 minutes.

     

    Indica 10 minutes crème colour comes with color retain conditioners which has natural almond proteins which conditions one’s hair to give a shiny, long lasting colour.

     

  • DDB Remedy unveils new TVC for Gelusil

    DDB Remedy has unveiled a new campaign for Pfizer’s leading product Gelusil. The insight behind the campaign was based on the fact that Indians tend to ignore acidity or rather treat it first with home remedies.

     

    According to findings, it is observed that a large number of people acidity take seriously. They may not even be completely aware of the symptoms. They tend to ignore acidity completely or use home remedies which are not effective. Whereas customers who consume antacids are aware of antacids and consume Gelusil and other competitor brands. Research indicates that many of consumers consume inadequate dosage of Gelusil leading to partial relief. Customers hence need to be educated about the correct dosage of Gelusil.

     

    Through the new communication, the aim was to target consumers who do nothing as well as those who prefer other brands of antacids. Hence, the new communication addresses the problems that ignoring acidity for a long time can lead to and direct the consumer to trust Gelusil for solving his acidity problems.

     

    The key marketing objective was to establish Gelusil as an expert in the acidity domain and ensure growth above category as well as competition in 2013.

     

    The TVC opens on dadi and doctor sitting on a swing with a bride sitting in the middle. The bride seems to be uncomfortable, suffering from acidity right before the pheras! The doctor sneers at the situation, saying that wedding season implies over eating which leads to burping and acidity. Dadi defends the situation saying that wedding season is the season of eating and celebration, and it’s not a sin to enjoy. The bride is getting more and more uncomfortable in the meanwhile. Dadi, now concerned about the bride offers her chilled milk. We see the doctor making faces, aghast at the home remedy offered. The chilled milk seems to have no effect on the bride as her acidity gets worse. The doctor then offers Gelusil to the bride who takes 2 spoons of it. The scene cuts the effect Gelusil has on the stomach, combating acidity while lining the stomach to keep it safe – Gelusil provides long lasting and quick acting relief from acidity. Then the scene moves to dadi and doctor sitting on the swing, while the bride has left after finding relief with Gelusil.

     

  • The new marketing hotspots

     

    By Amit Bapna

     

    Sometime in May this year Samsung did a first ever?by rebranding one of the busiest airport terminals in theworld UK’s Heathrow Terminal 5 as ‘Terminal Samsung Galaxy S5’ to promote their latest flagship phone the Galaxy S5.

     

    Closer home in one of the busiest and richest commercial hubs of the country, the Gurgaon Rapid Metro opened its stations not just to commuters tired of dealing with the city’s famously whimsical rickshaws and time consuming traffic snarls, but to brands. The Cybercity station became IndusInd Bank Cybercity.

     

    Others on the metro line are MicroMax Moulsari Avenue, Vodafone Belvedre Towers and Airtel Phase 3. The soon to be launched Andheri – Ghatkopar corridor of the Mumbai Metro is also going to be marketer friendly. For advertisers, these ambient media vehicles represent a surge of opportunities both for branding and cold hard business, even if they are seemingly expensive

     

    As per industry sources, the station naming rights for the rapid metro have been sold at anywhere upwards of Rs 30 lakh per month for a period of two to three years.

     

    Not content with painting the Cybercity station in brand colours and naming rights, IndusInd is also setting up a fully digitised branch – the bank’s first – inside the station premises.

     

    In addition, for a certain number of days, brand promotions can be done inside the station to engage commuters. As per Mohit Ganju, head – marketing and communication, IndusInd Bank “Gurgaon is one of our high priority markets and venues for a high decibel branding property is limited.

     

    The Rapid Metro was the best possible opportunity.” The brand plans to evaluate similar opportunities in other key markets.

     

    In the case of Vodafone which also has station naming rights, the tie-up fetches the telecom player exterior visibility at a prime location, retail business space on the platform, and an experiential marketing setup complete with interactive design elements.

     

    Explains Ronita Mitra, senior vice president, brand communication and insights, VodafoneIndia,”We needed to strengthen the brand in Delhi-NCR in an innovative way and Vodafone Metro station was a unapt fitment.”The brand has kept the overall design theme around the key promise of Vodafone 3G of being – Faster. Smarter. Better –  which it claims dovetails into the many virtues of the metro rail system.

     

    While the brands get a medium for unique advertising opportunities, for the capital-intensive metro it provides quicker ways to monetise. It is a known fact that long periods of time are required to breakeven and globally metro services have started looking for non-fare revenue opportunities.

     

    Dubai Metro was the first project in the world to sell station-naming rights and others have followed suit. Two things that make metro branding stand out according to Aman Nanda, executive vice president, Times OOH are: most of the metro passengers are regular travellers and advertising here gives brand the opportunity to communicate a story 365 days a year. Secondly, metro offers high dwell time – image captivated audience inside the metro station – who can be engaged, he adds.

     

    Sanjiv Rai, CEO & MD, Rapid Metro Gurgaon is very gung-ho about the potential of the medium having been a part of the Bombardier, the company that built and launched the Las Vegas Monorail as well as opened it up for branding.

     

    Drawing a comparison with the IPL, the biggest branding event in the country, he says IPL takes place for only around 45 days in a year and when compared the metro train is a 365-day daily phenomenon drawing in the crowds many times over. A permanent station branded is that much more powerful as a medium, he adds.

     

    Of course like any other marketing programme, the key to a successful ambient media campaign is to choose the best media format available and combine it with effective message. Says Aneil Deepak, head of ideas, DDB Mudra “Branding is the easiest part. If you have spent that kind of money, you have to ride those investments.” The story starts the morning after the branding.

     

    This paradigm shift in ambient media is not restricted to airports and metros alone. The family entertainment centre brand KidZania is another instance of a disruptive ambient opportunity. Started in Mexico, the brand present across the globe with its 15 centres and in India currently in Mumbai, emulates the workings of a real city and each experience zone represents industries from the real world like private services, public services, entertainment,automobile, retail, restaurants, factories, etc.

     

    According to Viraj Jit Singh, chief marketing officer, KidZania, “To build authenticity to the experience each zone or establishment is made in conjunction with the brand partners to bring brands, services and products to life.” Brands across categories are looking at utilising the ambience to match their product portfolio. Kellogg’s has established the first cereal factory for kids worldwide at KidZania that offers kids an excellent role playing platform to understand the journey which simple grains undergo to reach from the field to their cereal bowls.

     

    Shares Harpreet Singh Tibb, marketing director, Kellogg India, “This initiative has helped us demystify cereals to kids and their parents and establish the brand’s solid nutrition credentials.”

     

    Not just kiddie brands but other category brands like Yes Bank and Hyundai are also enthused about the inherent possibilities in the ambience of the kids zone.

     

    For instance, Yes Bank has associated with KidZania to inculcate financial literacy in children and allow them to understand the value of money through a branch like set-up inside the centre. The auto brand Hyundai has established the first kids driving school and the dealership at KidZania premise, targeting the age group of 4-14 years, to introduce the young generation to safe and responsible driving.

     

    Informs Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Hyundai,”while the school allows kids to learn the responsibilities of driving as well as road and traffic safety guidelines, at the car dealership kids can become an auto sales consultant, or a car designer.”

     

    With media convergence happening across platforms, consumers are moving from first circle of connectivity of traditional media options to the second circle of ambient OOH. Agrees and adds Haresh Nayak, managing director, Posterscope Group India, “The future really is in Ambient 2.0 which brings in connectivity and engagement with consumer through technology and digital platforms.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • MICA to host seminar on ‘Building High-Performing Service Businesses’ seminar

    MICA is organising a three-day residential MDP on “Building High-Performing Service Businesses” from 20 – 22 August, 2014 at its Ahmedabad campus. The programme will be conducted by Dr. Kallol Das, Associate Professor in the Marketing Department and Chairperson of the Research Committee at MICA.

     

    Aimed at enabling participants to learn the art and science of building, sustaining and growing a service business, this MDP would help participants transform their ventures into high-performing service businesses.

     

    Commenting on the programme, Professor Das, informed, “It has been designed to support participants in learning the relevant knowledge frameworks essential for building a successful service business, while enhancing their leadership and team-working skills essential to delivering high customer satisfaction and simultaneously helping them develop a service attitude, which is the key to success in this sector.”

     

    The programme is meant for participants from marketing, operations and human resource departments in companies dealing with consumer services such as hotels, airlines, telecom, health and wellness, financial services, travel and hospitality, retail, etc.

     

    While this MDP is most suitable for senior and middle-level managers from service organisations across departments, it would also be immensely valuable to manufacturers of consumer durables as they have significant revenues coming from services.

     

  • Godrej rolls out innovation-led contest with Talenthouse

    By a correspondent

     

    Godrej in association with SEA’s leading creative crowdsourcing platform, Talenthouse India, has recreated the magic of innovative thinking via ‘Symbol Of Innovation’ contest. The contest invites designers, artists, students and anyone with a flair for design to come up with a logo or symbol that represents innovation. The key challenge would be to intuitively convey innovation and should be universally applicable on all mediums including print, on-product stickers, television, digital platforms etc. The last date for entry is July 08 while the winners will be announced on July 31, 2014.

     

    The winner will receive a grand prize of Rs Rs 1 lakh and an exposure for their entry across the host’s social media channels. The winner will also get an opportunity to be featured on future communication by Godrej on multiple mediums.

     

    Announcing the collaboration, Shireesh Joshi, Head-Strategic Marketing, Godrej Group said, “Continuing with our commitment to foresee and develop innovation in sync to our masterbrand campaign – Ideas that makes life brighter, we have introduced this campaign to provide a unique platform to promote, showcase and cultivate innovative thinking. It’s also a good opportunity to create recognition of the unique and innovative ideas behind our products that make life brighter for our consumers.”

     

    Elaborating on this association, Arun Mehra, CEO, Talenthouse India said, “Talenthouse is fast becoming a prominent platform that collaborates with leading brands to ensure maximum consumer engagement. We are very happy with our association with Godrej and are certain that this initiative will generate a lot of interest from participants. Brands need to be a part of the consumer’s mind space rather than just plugged from the outside and this innovative initiative is reaching its consumers in a creative way.”

     

  • Himalaya unveils first TVC for men’s facewash

    By a correspondent

     

    Making inroads into the booming men’s grooming segment, The Himalaya Drug Company is set to introduce on air its new TVC for Intense Oil Clear Lemon Face Wash. Himalaya, recently announced its entry into the men’s grooming segment with the launch of Himalaya for Him. With an interesting narrative the TVC highlights the brand proposition – Abhi toh bahut aage badhna hai.

     

    Created by Lakotee Films, the TVC revolves around the protagonist who appears for his interview and is unable to create a good impression because of his dull and oily skin.

     

    The new commercial plays out at a college campus where placement interviews are underway. The protagonist has an oily skin is unaware of the impact of his unpleasant appearance. While he ponders over the reasons for his rejection and sees his peers celebrating their jobs all around, a voice speaks to the protagonist saying, “Sabke paas degree hain, talent hain aur connections bhi hain, par tumhare paas toh ek aur cheez hain – Oily Skin.” At this point the protagonist realises the importance of personal grooming and being presentable.

     

    The product is then introduced, highlighting the benefits of Himalaya’s new Intense Oil Clear Face Wash, powered with a special Active Boost Technology that increases the rapid action of natural herbs.

     

    The TVC ends with the protagonist shown as a smart and successful executive displaying a new level of confidence that he attains after getting healthy, oil-free skin.

     

    Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Business Head – Consumer Products Division, The Himalaya Drug Company, said, “Himalaya’s new TVC for its Intense Oil Clear Lemon Face Wash is a significant step for the brand. It marks our entry into an important and growing segment of the men’s grooming category which is currently a Rs 3,800 crore market, growing at 21%. An internal research highlighted that oily skin is a big concern among men and they are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits of a face wash to maintain healthy, glowing skin.”

     

    Prateek Srivastava, Head, ChapterFive Brand Solutions added, “It’s amazing how young Indian men have become conscious about grooming and how they are focused on their career. A great opportunity lies at the cusp of these two trends and Himalaya is at the right place and time to exploit it. Our communication magnifies the importance of grooming for men in a work situation. ”

     

  • Air Wick unveils TVC to announce new product launch

    By a correspondent

     

    Air Wick has announced the launch of a new flavor and has done so with the launch of new TV commercial. Capturing a series of real life situations amongst the new age couples, the brand aims to rekindle the romance with Air Wick.

     

    The series of 30 second TVCs have been scripted and directed by film-maker of Bhootnath Returns and Chillar Party – Nitesh Tiwari.

     

    The air fragrance market is gradually evolving in India and Air Wick, through this commercial, aims to build the relevance of air-care in our daily lives with an emotional hook to it. The new TVC has tried to capture the human emotions with a distinctive angle to showcase the fact that ‘Air Wick brings life to the air to help one feel more alive and add to the aesthetic of the room.

     

    Commenting on the new TV campaign, Nitish Kapoor, General Manager, RB India said, “Air Care as a category is evolving in India and Air Wick is amongst the top players. Through our new TV commercial we have focused on building relevance through real life situations. Air Wick, with its extensive range of offerings across formats, aims to bring alive the romance and sparkle in the lives of young couples.”

     

    Talking about the new commercial, Director Nitesh Tiwari added, “In the new TV commercial from Air Wick, we have captured real life situations which can cause stress amongst the couple. One must not let the romance from the daily lives fizzle out and the daily nit-picks to turn into mood spoilers. Fragrance can play a crucial role in uplifting the mood and overcoming the daily stress. I am sure most of the couples watching the TVC will be able to relate to it.”