FCB India has announced that it has been awarded the integrated communication mandate of Hindustan Unilever’s cosmetic brands Lakme & Elle 18 following a multi-agency pitch.
Said Rohit Ohri, Group Chairman & CEO, FCB India: “We are proud to partner Lakme and Elle 18 in India. These iconic Indian brands are a symbol of and inspiration for ‘Make in India’. At FCB, we believe in creating ‘Never Finished’ stories for brands. We’re delighted to have this opportunity to write an exciting new chapter in the ‘Never Finished’ stories of Lakme and Elle 18.”
Added Swati Bhattacharya, CCO of FCB: “Lakme is a brand that has witnessed the internal and external journeys of Indian women. To be a part of this brand’s voice, makes it an absolutely exciting opportunity for us.”
Bengaluru-headquartered ethnic wear brand Soch Apparels has appointed Salloni Arora Nanda as Head of Marketing. In her new role, Aror will be responsible for all marketing efforts for the brand, firmly establishing Soch in the women’s wear segment in India.
Said Vinay Chatlani, MD and CEO of Soch: “As we enter our next phase of growth, Salloni’s diverse experience in digital, fast fashion and deep understanding of the needs of today’s women will help propel Soch to greater heights. Under her marketing leadership we look forward to having a high-performance marketing engine which sets the bar for customer growth and media innovations. She will lead the task of brand building and to bring alive the true Soch experience at every touchpoint and forge deeper connections with our consumers.”
The Nation was celebrating its 72nd Republic day. Dressed in a kesariakurta, I had returned from a drive to Bandra Band Stand. The taste of Jalebi-Dhokla-Vada Pav from Punjab Sweets at Pali Hill was still fresh. It was slowly getting subdued with the fresh cup of Society Masala chai. A heavy dose of customary patriotic songs over the radio stations during the drive had charged me. On return to my society, I had even stopped and shot the typical picture, saluting the National Flag. And I had just watched the Republic Day communication developed by Manish Bhatt and the team at Scarecrow M&C Saatchi for the client Ambuja Cement.
For a change, the TV set tuned to NDTV I was watching the live parade telecast. In such a pleasant situation, dulled with everything will be right. The NCC cadets marching on Rajpath, the helicopters flying over the parade.
I was jolted to reality.
In between the parade coverage, the channel kept the viewers updated with visuals from the three alternate parades happening in the capital—the tractor rally of so-called protesting farmers.
What one saw was disappointing. One felt ashamed for the fellow countrymen taking this solemn moment to act in the way they did. They have been playing cat and mouse game with the government for long. January 26 was just a culmination of ill intension most likely supported by outsiders. This time it was not as bad as the riots of 2020.
One wished we were not a democracy. That the protesters had some fear of the law-and-order machinery. That the machinery was allowed a free hand to do what they are meant to do- maintain law and order. Hoped that they were amply supported with right weapons and intelligence. And when one saw the visuals from Lal Qila, one wished they allowed to shoot at sight, instead of allowing the hooligans to keep the city terrorised.
The law-and-order machinery was never in the game. The Government was put into catch 22 situations. The Government was anyway getting called for not acting. And would be called if they did act. Charged with this confidence, the patriotic farmers were busy challenging the Government.
The WhatsApp groups were full of typical armchair analyses if the situation. I was one of the vociferous participants. Whatever may be the Rajneeti, the politics of protest. Whoever may be supporting such a protest and gundagardi. If they were Nihangs or Jats. If they were on tractors or on foot. If they agreed or were protesting against a law that the elected representatives have crafted. And one that a large part if the country finds no problem with. None had the right to act the way they did. I go a step ahead; none should dare to act the way they did.
There is an urgent need in this country to bring new laws and take hard actions. Bring the destructors and penalise them. And if that calls for an emergency type of situation, so be it. The Nation has a responsibility. The Government has responsibility and accountability. What about the citizens of the country? What should the country expect from them?
I don’t know how, but we cannot afford such destructive protests. The Nation cannot be held to ransom. The laws are enacted by the elected representatives, and any question must be raised in the parliament. In my view, they should not even be challenged in the supreme court. At the worst case just like the president, the court can ask the Government to reconsider – but not force to amend a law duly enacted by an elected government. The battle has to be fought inside the parliament. If the regulations are anti-people, the people have the opportunity in the next election to reject the appeal.
When one sees the Rajpath Parade, and the Protestors violent parade side by side on the TV screen one gets disoriented. When one views a highly emotive campaign by brands on such occasions, one tends to get disoriented. When one listens to those songs that charge you up, one is unsure which country they refer to.
I know advertising cannot reflect this violent mood of the Nation. It will still continue to play on the emotions that you hold so dear. The campaigns will remain idealistic and the brands purpose-led. I am sure no brand will comment on what happened on January 26, 2021. Not sure, if they should. The taste has soured. The Ambuja Cement commercial was no longer making sense. What made sense is the MTV and GoldMedal electricals ad.
https://youtu.be/yMd29gMcJXQ
What I am sure is that we, hopefully, feel the need to wake up and take a stance. Tell the government we are with them. The citizens do not need to be threatened and terrorized of such gundas. We have elected a Government to keep order. As citizens, we just want to go about our business in peace and have a good night sleep. The citizen wants no more such incidents.
That the citizens feel about the Nation. They are patriotic enough not to raise questions if the Government acts decisively. The citizens feel charged when they see the patriotic campaigns not because it is not real-life. But because it is the Nation, they want to live in. And for it to happen, the citizens look at their elected government and the whole opposition to be constructive and decisive in action. Otherwise, none will be spared, and that is not being said figuratively.
So, if you are still not up. Here is another to close the argument- this time from Adani. And I am happy to note that instead of mussy-mussy all for the Nation- Tera Hai Par Mera Hai feeling- some are raising the questions.
House of Hiranandani celebrated Republic Day with a digital campaign targeting its existing and prospective customers. Tonic Worldwide conceptualised and executed a campaign to create customised experiences for them reflecting the House of Hiranandani homes.
Said Prashin Jhobalia, Vice President, Marketing Strategy, House of Hiranandani: “We always look to enhance customer experience, whether it is through the product or such innovative digital mediums. Delightful customer experiences go a long way in bridging robust relationships and encourage us to serve them better. Our aim was to tell our customers through the videos that they have the #RightToPerfectHome.”
Perried has announced a comeback with a new campaign building a ‘pop culture’ around the brand.
Said Chandni Kohli Dhall, CMO of Hindustan Liquids, the distributor of Perrier in India: “Perrier is one of the creative brands and its reinvention of the brand’s historic signature De l’eau, de l’air, la vie, which translates to “Water, Air, Life” has certainly made a dramatic comeback globally. However, in India with this campaign launch, we will be making the iconic brand relevant more than ever.”
Piaggio India announced the launch of its TVC campaign, “Maxify Life” for its premium, Aprilia SXR 160. The
Commenting on the release of the campaign, Diego Graffi, Chairman and Managing Director, Piaggio India said: “The Aprilia SXR 160 is an epitome of great style, high performance and great comfort. It is set to create high standards in the Indian premium two-wheeler market offering wonderful riding experience with its great design. With the launch of new TV and Print campaign, we are effectively communicating our ideology to our discerning consumers who are the new generation of life experience maximisers and we think that with Aprilia SXR 160 they will truly “Maxify Life!”
Lintas Live has bagged the social media marketing mandate for Turespaña in India (Tourism Office of Spain for India). It will be responsible for management of the entire virtual community around Turespaña’s social media accounts in India, including content development, crisis management and online reputation management.
Said Ameer Ismail, President, Lintas Live: “We are delighted that we have won such a prestigious tourism body like Turespaña to represent. The post-COVID world will challenge previously held notions, especially when it comes to the Travel & Tourism sector which will need to have creative and digital first strategies. Lintas Live has demonstrated the understanding of the sector with our years of experience working across hospitality, aviation and other tourism bodies. We have successfully married creativity and digital thinking through our ideas and will attempt to build our communication to position Spain as a preferred destination.”
Digital Refresh Networks (DRN) has bagged the pan-India mandate for yet another leading brand, ‘Krish-E by Mahindra’, a new ‘Farming as a Service’ (FaaS) business, introducing a digital era in farming. Krish-e is a business vertical that provides technology, access to equipment through rentals and multiple other services with the objective of increasing per acre income of farmers.
Notes a communque: “The role of Digital Refresh Networks (DRN) is to offer search (SEO), optimisation of the app (ASO) and local content creation that will help engage with the farmers fraternity, build relevance and create engagement opportunities at large. The company has actively been in the digital space for 10 years and believes that language shouldn’t be a barrier but trusts that every individual can explore the platform in their own chosen language.”
Wakefit.co joined hands with GenY Medium to execute a programmatic advertising campaign using DV360, Google Marketing Platform’s demand-side platform for programmatic media buying. The campaign, claims a communique, led to a significant increase in brand search volumes by 174% compared to the same period in the previous financial year.
Said Yashwant Kumar, Co-founder and CEO of GenY Medium: “The pandemic has resulted in massive opportunities for D2C brands focused on winning on consumer experience and innovation. In order to achieve Wakefit co’s goal of becoming a household name among Indian consumers, we used programmatic advertising (DV360) to promote their brand films across different platforms which connected with the target audience while minimizing duplication. With our data driven approach, we were successful in solving the inefficiencies that one typically encounters in brand growth campaigns and delivered better ROI for the business both in terms of brand recall and sales.”
Added Sandesh Gupta, Senior Manager Digital Marketing at Wakefit.co: “With a mission to promote a healthy sleep and home culture with our products, we expanded our portfolio over the years and also collaborated with companies to fulfill our business goals. Similarly, to guide us on this journey we zeroed in on GenY Medium due to their data driven approach and deep expertise in programmatic advertising. The digital campaign with DV 360 helped us consolidate our digital media via a single platform thereby reducing inefficiencies in reach duplication across multiple platforms. This was in alignment with our objectives and resulted in an improvement in traffic and inquiries.”
Club Mahindra has launched an online family travel game show – ‘The Fantastic Family Show’.
Said Pratik Mazumder, Chief Marketing Officer, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts: “Club Mahindra enriches relationships by helping families rediscover the joy of spending time together. And, with the launch of ‘The Fantastic Family Show’, we are giving families an opportunity to showcase what makes their family fantastic. Bringing families together and creating magical moments is the core philosophy of Club Mahindra and The Fantastic Family Show aims to live up to this promise”.
Chumbak announced Sara Ali Khan as its first brand ambassador for its home and watch categories. The campaign features brand films created by The Script Room. The stills and mood films were created by Verrocchios Workways. The media strategy is handled by Wavemaker India.
Speaking on the brand campaign, Shazia Zafar, Head-Marketing, Chumbak, said: “Chumbak has always been well- recognized for its warmth, wit and connection to its customers. With this campaign, we are hopeful that our audience will realize how our brand is a joyful addition to every moment of their lives. Sara Ali Khan brings the idea of #WithChumbak alive and we are confident that it will be loved not only by our ardent brand supporters but also a larger audience. It was a delight collaborating and co-creating the campaign with The Scriptroom & Verrocchios Workways”
Added Rajesh Ramaswamy, Founder-The Script Room: “As a brand Chumbak is loved by its consumers and it’s quite personal to them. Interestingly it also means many things to many people. The whole idea of the campaign is to bring all of it together as a lifestyle choice, aesthetic sensibility and a kind of an outlook. To make this come alive we have managed to recreate Sara’s living space with Chumbak and capture charming stories from her everyday life. We’re delighted with the opportunity to work on a brand like Chumbak. They are such passionate people. And also so creative in their thinking and approach. It was truly a great collaborative process – starting from the idea to scripts and final execution. And with Akanksha Seda, and her sense of art, design and storytelling, we are very happy with the way the campaign has turned out.”
Said Kishankumar Shyamalan, Chief Growth Officer, Wavemaker India and Office Head, South: “Chumbak stands for design excellence and a unique brand personality. We are excited to bring alive these aspects of the brand through a very special digital-first campaign. Working with the that I’m sure will be loved, since the media strategy was specifically created keeping our audience & platform in mind”
IPG has announced that Team Dynamic has been named the integrated communications partner for BMW India. The mandate includes lead creative, digital services and studio production. Team Dynamic is a bespoke IPG solution created for BMW India, with regional resources drawn from across the IPG portfolio.
Said Simon Bond – SVP, Chief Growth Officer, Interpublic Group: “We continue to be proud of our partnership with BMW, and are excited that we are able to expand our relationship with this iconic brand in India, a key strategic growth market for the premium car segment. Much like the BMW brand, Team Dynamic is committed to the very highest quality.”
The Nation was celebrating its 72nd Republic day. Dressed in a kesaria kurta, I had returned from a drive to Bandra Band Stand. The taste of Jalebi-Dhokla-Vada Pav from Punjab Sweets at Pali Hill was still fresh. It was slowly getting subdued with the fresh cup of Society Masala chai. A heavy dose of customary patriotic songs over the radio stations during the drive had charged me. On return to my society, I had even stopped and shot the typical picture, saluting the National Flag. And I had just watched the Republic Day communication developed by Manish Bhatt and the team at Scarecrow M&C Saatchi for the client Ambuja Cement.
Club Mahindra has launched an online family travel game show – ‘The Fantastic Family Show’.