MxMIndia

Category: Digital

  • The fashion portal has got the two top agencies to spearhead a marketing strategy in order to maintain its leading position in apparel retail

    Myntra hopes to maintain high with Lowe & Ogilvy in tow

    By Radhika P Nair

     

    Myntra, a fashion portal, has roped in advertising agencies Lowe Lintas and Partners and Ogilvy India Worldwide to spearhead its marketing strategy in a bid to maintain its leading position as an online apparel retailer.

     

    The Bengaluru-based company will also create separate brand identities for a few of its in-house labels that it plans to sell on other portals and offline stores, as these will provide higher margins. While Ogilvy will focus on the private-label branding, Lowe will handle the overall strategy for Myntra.

     

    Companies such as Flipkart and Myntra are vying for a pie of an overall online retail industry worth more than $3 billion ( 18,000 crore). Lifestyle, including fashion, accounted for 35% of the industry. Myntra aims to be a 10,000-crore firm in the next three to four years and is targeting 1,500 crore in sales during the next fiscal year.

     

    “A couple of our private labels have become quite large and we will now create a brand identity for them beyond Myntra,” said Vikas Ahuja, Myntra’s chief marketing officer. “They will also be available in other online and offline stores by end of the year.” Some of the private labels in the company’s stable have the potential to become a 500-crore brand in two years, Mr Ahuja said.

     

    The company is also finalising kidswear and men’s formalwear ranges to be unveiled in the coming months. A private label is a range of products manufactured and sold by a multi-brand retailer. While third-party apparel brands provide margins of between 30% and 40%, in-house labels can provide over 60%.

     

    Mr Ahuja said the appointment of the two agencies was the next step in the company’s journey. “Our objective is to be the largest and preferred fashion destination in the country. Brand communication is almost as important as the products on offer,” said Mr Ahuja, who was Nestle India’s country business manager til last year.

     

    Online retail market leader Flipkart, on the other hand, has so far used a little known Bengaluru-based agency, Happy Creative Services, which came up with the retailer’s distinctive kids-masquerading-as-adults ads.

     

    Lowe’s recent ads include the one for Tanishq which was scripted around the topic of remarriage and the series of Micromax ads featuring Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman.

     

    While Myntra and the agency did not go into specifics of the marketing strategy, G V Krishnan, Lowe’s executive director, said the focus will be on creating a ‘fandom’ for Myntra. “We want to make the brand endearing, aspirational and yet inclusive to all its consumers.”

     

    Myntra’s Mr Ahuja said the company is still finalising the private labels around which they will announce specific marketing campaigns. The firm, which raised $50 million (over Rs 300 crore) earlier this year, has a range of western casual wear labels for men and women and an ethnic wear label for women.

     

    Poran Malani, president at Ogilvy India Worldwide, said Myntra was “forging the New Digital India.”

     

    It makes business sense for Myntra to create specific campaigns around their successful labels, Aashish Bhinde, executive director at financial services firm Avendus Capital, said. “The idea is to bring in higher margins and they will keep introducing private labels for that.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The company commemorated the triumph with a star-studded event graced by accomplished cinematographers, directors and producers

    Reliance MediaWorks crosses 400-film mark

    By a correspondent

     

    Reliance MediaWorks, the media and techno-creative solutions provider and a part of the Reliance Group, announced the landmark achievement of completing 400 films successfully at their digital lab.

     

    The company commemorated this triumph with a star-studded event graced by accomplished cinematographers, directors and producers that Reliance MediaWorks has worked with on their projects.

     

    Set up in 2008 as Asia’s first Digital Intermediate Lab with a 4K facility, the Reliance film lab revolutionized the way films are processed in India. It also offers cutting edge VFX Solutions to Indian and international productions through its state of the art VFX studios in LA, London and Mumbai. With specialization in highly complex VFX, the company and its team of award winning artists stand at the forefront of an extremely dynamic world of VFX production.

     

    Equipped with a state of the art DI facility to cater to film, TV and web related video content, the team has worked on a slew of recent blockbusters that include Chennai Express, Ram Leela, Krrish 3, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, 3 Idiots, Singham, amongst others.

     

    Venkatesh Roddam, CEO, Reliance MediaWorks said, “At Reliance MediaWorks we have always believed in adding value to the filmmaking process by keeping up to date with the latest technology and techniques. The completion of 400 films is a testimony of our commitment and hard work.”

     

    Krishna Shetty, President – Post Production Services, Reliance MediaWorks said, “Digital filmmaking has opened up greater possibilities and opportunities for filmmakers than ever before. Every movie, from the massive big budget blockbusters, to the small independent films made on a shoestring budget, have been influenced by the advents in digital technology and filmmaking. We look forward to continuing our efforts to reinvent the ways in which movies are viewed.”

     

  • The campaign aims to bring together budding photographers to share their images with Bing and MSN

    HDS unveils #TheBigShot campaign for Bing

    By a correspondent

     

    Hungama Digital Services has created a unique and one-of-its kind photography led social media campaign for Bing, one of the leading search engines by Microsoft.

     

    Bing’s homepage displays images across genres that people like to engage with; keeping this as the driving thought, HDS designed Bing’s #TheBigShot campaign that aims to bring together budding photographers to share their images with Bing and MSN to become part of Bing’s homepage imagery. The six week contest kick-started on 10th March, 2014. Weekly themes will be unveiled by the Jury, thus inviting entries for submission in each of the categories.

     

    “We are very pleased to partner with Hungama Digital Services for this initiative. The Bing search engine is steadily gaining momentum and its visual richness is one of its top features. We are therefore excited about reaching out to top photographers across the country with our joint campaign”, said Vinay Kumar, APAC Head, Bing Partnerships.

     

    A celebrated jury comprising leading photographers of India such as Hari Menon, Rathika Ramaswamy, Venky of Photriya Photography and Dr. Ceaser Sengupta will not only be screening the entries, they will also aid amateur photographers with tips and tutorials to hone their photographic skills. The jury will declare a weekly winner in each of the categories, who will have their image featured on the Bing homepage for a day. Bing will also enlarge the image to poster size and send it across to them. Besides being featured in the downloadable wallpaper pack of the Microsoft website, the winning entries will be featured prominently on Bing and MSN India Facebook pages.

     

    “Images can have a very deep and lasting impact. Bing is a pioneer in this space with the beautiful imagery that goes on every day on the search engine. It makes for a beautiful experience! So we thought, why not involve our fans and ask them to contribute? Through #TheBigShot campaign, we want to nurture budding photographers and provide them with a platform to showcase their work, making it a one of its kind social media campaign”, said Kunal Arora, Head Digital Services, Hungama Digital Services.

     

    Bing’s #TheBigShot campaign is for everyone who is interested in photography including amateur photographers. In order to participate in the contest, fans have to follow Bing India’s official Facebook page and submit their images for various themes suggested by Bing India over a span of six weeks.

     

  • This unique platform provides brands and agencies a higher degree of campaign control, optimization and audience profiling

    Affle launches ad2campaign

    By a correspondent

     

    Affle’s ad2c business has been redefined and launched as ad2campaign. ad2campaign is the data centric mobile marketing platform for brands and agencies with mobile attribution intelligence and programmatic procurement that allows for unified ad delivery and analytics experience. This aligns ad2campaign with Affle’s data and audience centric mobile marketing platform strategy and the evolving industry dynamics of mobile marketing.

     

    Anuj Khanna Sohum, Founder and Chairman, Affle Group, said, “ad2campaign is a significant paradigm in the field of mobile marketing. This unique platform provides brands and agencies a higher degree of campaign control, optimization and audience profiling, thereby, boosting up impact and ROI. In an increasingly complicated environment for mobile marketing, ad2campaign provides a one stop platform solution to help brands procure media efficiently, deliver campaigns at scale and all of which is powered by smart and actionable analytics. The brand, marketing position and business model of ad2campaign is now perfectly aligned with Affle’s core strategy of providing highly integrated data centric mobile marketing technology platforms as a service.”

     

    Madan Sanglikar, Co-founder and Managing Director, ad2campaign, said, “Considering the lack of any standard measurement metrics; audience profiling and performance become the key parameters in evaluating effective media investments. This rebranding is an assertion of our focus on technology in order to provide end-to-end, seamless campaign management solutions to brands and agencies that can help them to reach out to their target audience in a more effective, efficient manner.”

     

    The ad2campaign platform has been used by hundreds of brands across India and Asia, including Samsung, Yahoo!, Mondelez, adidas, Max Bupa, Aircel, airtel, XL Axiata, Indosat Amazon, OnMobile, Redbus, TrueCaller etc. to drive, measure, quantify, analyze and improve efficiency of their respective campaigns on the mobile medium.

     

  • Users in India can access a translated version of the Pinterest website and Android apps immediately

    Pinterest takes the Hindi route to popularity

    By a correspondent

     

    Pinterest, a site where tens of millions around the world go to get inspiration for the things they love and plan their future, has been translated into Hindi. Users in India can access a translated version of the Pinterest website and Android apps immediately.

     

    “We’re excited to help Pinterest fans explore the things they love to do in Hindi,” said Matt Crystal, Head of International, Pinterest. “Pinterest India already has an active pinning community with our most popular categories including fashion, travel, crafts, food and home décor.Today’s localizationis a first step towardhelping pinnersdiscover their interests and hobbies in an entirely new way.”

     

    In the last year, Pinterest has launched in more than 20 languages and will continue with more translations in 2014.

     

    “Global growth is a top priority for us because as more people join the site, the more interests will be represented, and the better the service becomes for Pinners,” Crystal said.

     

    People use Pinterest to create wish lists, plan decor for their home, get inspired about places to visit, discover new recipes, and more. On Pinterest, people can follow Pinners with similar interests to get creative ideas for the everyday activities in their lives or things they hope to do someday in the future. As a global discovery tool, Pinners get access to a worldwide resource of visual content based on the categories they’re most interested in.

     

  • Travel portal ixigo.com has announced a major revamp to its trip planner product with new content and social features

    ixigo bets big on content, apps post revamp

    By a correspondent

     

    Travel portal ixigo.com has announced a major revamp to its trip planner product with new content and social features.

     

    Some of the new features include street view of monuments that will offer 360-degree views of historical monuments. Through this feature, ixigoers will be able to get panoramic views of key monuments and historical sites in India, providing a real virtual tourist experience of what the place actually looks like. This will help travellers in planning their trips better by knowing in advance what to expect at these historical sites. Other feature includes expanded content coverage where the website will cover tourist information over 5000 cities, towns and hill-stations in India. It will provide detailed information including names, addresses, locations, photos, opening timings, prices, detailed tourist guides etc. for over 63000 places to visit, 17000 activities and things to do, 16000 hotels, 5000 nature and wildlife spots and over 5,000 tips from travellers.

     

    Announcing the revamp, Aloke Bajpai, CEO & Co-Founder said, “Thanks to the ever-expanding content coverage on trip planner and our unbundled approach to solving specific travel use cases on mobile apps, we have registered a 2x year-on-year growth. We now have over 2.5 million active users every month and have seen almost 2.5 million app downloads across our five apps. We think this is just the beginning.”

     

    Other features include finding restaurants across the country where the website will showcase over 65,000 restaurants across India on its website and apps. It will also offer the useful ‘Near Me’ location-based mobile feature in its app that helps people explore great local places to eat at, stay or explore in whichever city they are. Ability to add new places and pictures that will allow travellers to add interesting places to visit, hotels, restaurants and even photos making the website more comprehensive, and in turn more informative for fellow travellers.

     

  • FCBUlka appoints Joy Das as Media Director – Digital

    By a correspondent

     

    Joy Das

    FCBUlka Interactive has appointed Joy Das as Media Director – Digital. With the rapid growth that the FCBUlka Interactive arm has been clocking, it was only imperative to make a hire at this level to handle some of its key accounts.

     

    Joy has tremendous experience in the digital space with over 10 years of focused digital media specialization. Being a well-entrenched digital expert, Joy boasts of an enviable twitter following of over 17,000 tweeters and a unique and inspiring blogger network. He also brings with him deep knowledge of Digital Media Mix Modelling Tools which ensure high efficiency and measurable response.

     

    Prior to his stint at FCBUlka Interactive, Joy has worked on a gamut of brands like eBay, ITC, Tata Docomo, MTV, among many others.

     

    FCBUlka Interactive has a long and impressive client list and works with Amul, TCS, Tata Chemicals, Abbott Healthcare, Wipro, ITC, Bausch & Lomb, Nerolac, ICICI Bank, World Vision, FabIndia,  Tata Housing to name a few. Joy will provide leadership to the digital media duties of several of these accounts and will lead a team of over 10 digital media planning and buying professionals.

     

    Commenting on Joy Das’ appointment, Satish Ramachandran, Senior Vice President, FCBUlka Interactive, said, “We are growing at a scorching pace and digital is well poised to become a key medium for many of our Group’s clients. Our Interactive team’s strength is now over 50 members. We have been consistently investing in talent and technology to ensure we are ahead of the curve. Joy’s experience will be of immense value for us to maintain our growth rate.”

     

  • emphasizes how the incredible range of cars on CarTrade.com will leave consumers spoilt for choice

    CarTrade.com’s new TVC highlights its one-stop-shop USP

    By a correspondent

     

    Leading car portal Cartrade.com has launched a new campaign starting with a TVC to highlight the website as the ultimate address for buying a car, whether old or new. This campaign is focused on choice and has been conceptualized by its agency FCB Ulka. It emphasizes how the incredible range of cars on CarTrade.com will leave consumers spoilt for choice.

     

    The ad is inspired from the insight that every consumer struggles to arrive at a choice. It fills both his rational and emotional needs and more often than not, the consumer ends up compromising one for the other, due to the paucity of options or time to search for those options.

     

    The ad shows a consumer’s heart (dil) and mind (dimaag) debating whether to choose a car that the heart is set on or the one that makes more practical sense. CarTrade.com’s USP is that it gives you all the information on cars available in the market today across models, brands and manufacturers. So now buyers don’t have to worry about exploring every car outlet in the city to find the right car. Besides, accessing all the information that a buyer needs about a car, its pricing, features, comparison, and reviews etc, CarTrade.com offers the widest range of cars you can find online. The only decision the consumer is left with is to make up his mind from the plethora of carsin front of him

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Vinay Sanghi, Founder and CEO, CarTrade.com said, “CarTrade.com prides itself on the extensive variety of cars that we have available for the consumer to choose from and we wanted to communicate the same in an interesting and funny manner. The ad clearly brings out the fact that when it comes to buying a car, consumers need not look further than CarTrade.com to be their ultimate guide. We feel that this commercial will help associate the brand with the values of choice and trust.”

     

    The Mumbai-based online platform, Cartrade.com has over 3.8 million unique visitors every month researching for new and old cars. The latest campaign aims to strengthen its brand identity of offering the best range of automobiles available, and firmly establish its features and services in the market.

     

  • Volini launched the pat on the back campaign wherein people applauded the special women in their life

    Volini’s digital campaign draws good response

    By a correspondent

     

    Pain-relieving brand Volini’s nine-day long digital campaign – ‘Volini Pat On The Back’ received a good response from the consumers. Conceptualized and conceived by Volini, the idea was executed by WATConsult and managed to receive 51,000 entries through ‘pats’.

     

    With the core idea of acknowledging and appreciating the efforts made by women to give us a pain-free life, Volini launched the pat on the back campaign wherein people applauded the special women in their life. This was done through several digital medium viz. Facebook, a microsite, through the IVR by sending a SMS or making a call on the toll-free number. Best messages were gratified by sending a special gift to both the pat sender and the receiver.

     

    Subodh Marwah, Vice President and Head Consumer HealthCare Business, noted: “Volini believes that today’s women seamlessly carry on with so many roles in their daily lives, effectively multitasking between work and home and are a source of strength and support for all the loved ones around them. Women’s Day and ‘Volini Pat On The Back’ create one such opportunity of thanking them for all the efforts that they take for us.”

     

    A specially designed microsite and Facebook were prime sources of engagement. Besides IVR integrations through which the pats were sent, SMS and call on toll-free numbers were also introduced. The campaign was supported through Zoom TV with integrations, print with Times of India in key metro editions and radio tags and RJ mentions on Oye and Big FM. Apart from this, there were on-ground activations created in corporate hubs and malls in key cities to encourage people to participate in the campaign.

     

  • The TVC shows an empowered, smart, and vivacious woman protagonist, and reinforces the ease and simplicity of the OLX Mobile App

    OLX says SELLphone, as it launches mobile app

    By a correspondent

     

    A new TVC by OLX.in celebrates the exuberance, individuality, and the confidence of the women-of-today, highlighting their independence, and freedom to express themselves. The TVC shows an empowered, smart, and vivacious woman protagonist, and reinforces the ease and simplicity of the OLX Mobile App.

     

    Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX India, commented, “Selling is a joyous experience on OLX as it is simple, and leaves you with more money in your pocket, and more space in your home for things that really matter. It is this joy of selling that is captured by our new TVC. The OLX Mobile App is the easiest way of selling either from home or on-the-go, and is ranked as the top shopping App on Google Play Store India. Approximately 70 per cent of the traffic on OLX is coming from mobile users, which is why we are urging people to use the ‘Cellphone as a SELLphone‘ and enjoy the experience of selling on OLX.”

     

    The new TVC, shot to the catchy tunes of the popular Bollywood number ‘Womaniya’, aptly captures the aspirations of the women of India to make their lives more manageable, to not feel financially dependent on others, and to have some fun in the process.

     

    Conceived by advertising agency Lowe Lintas, the TVC captures a quintessential conversation between a husband and wife, with the wife expressing her desire to buy new household products, and the husband procrastinating and rejecting the idea for lack of money, and space in the house. The wife, who is left a little stumped by his response, decides to take matters in her own hand by downloading the OLX mobile App to sell things the family has no use for. The idea of selling, ridding her home of clutter, and earning money without anyone’s help is so enjoyable that she is seen dancing and skipping around her home, merrily clicking used items from her ‘SELLphone’to post Ads for free on OLX. So infectious is her energy that her mother-in-law soon joins the selling frenzy, breaking into a jig to the beats of the Womaniya song. When the husband returns in the evening, he is left puzzled by the uncluttered apartment and his wife and mother dancing with a wad of cash in their hands. When he asks where all the stuff went, the two ladies hold up the cellphone and proudly tell him that they sold all the goods they didn’t have use for on the ‘SELLphone’, referring to the OLX mobile App.

     

    “We chose to tell the story of ease of usage of the OLX mobile App through a commercial dedicated to women. ‘Phone Ko Banaao ‘SELLPhone‘ as an idea captures the proposition of the OLX mobile App and caps the effortlessness with which a woman goes about selling things in her house in a fun manner,” says Shriram Iyer, Executive Creative Director, Lowe Lintas India.

     

    The campaign has gone live from March 26, 2014 and will be broadcast in seven different languages.

     

  • The film – part of the #Pledgetovote series – hopes to inspire both – seasoned, as well as first-time voters

    Google ‘Pledge to Vote’ film with India’s first voter

    By A Correspondent

     

    Independent India’s first general elections may have happened in early 1952, but an exception was made for Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh as snowfall was expected. Hence the polls were held in October 1951 and there lies the story of Shyam Saran Negi, India’s very first voter, and a 97-year-old retired schoolteacher. This is the theme of the new Google commercial in the crafted by leading ad agency Ogilvy.

     

    Since 1951, Negi has voted in every single election, including each of the 15 Lok Sabha polls held thus far. The years haven’t diminished his belief in democracy and the power of elections. He also continues to be an inspiration to his family, friends and community in Kalpa.

     

    The film was shot in Mr Negi’s hometown, Kalpa, over several days in early March. The team worked closely with the village folk and Negi.

     

    Says Sandeep Menon – Director, Marketing, Google India: “Perhaps more than any other election in the past, these elections are about capturing the imagination of millions of both first-time as well as experienced voters. This video has been developed to inspire Indian voters to vote this election. The story of Mr Negi is a testimony of Indian voters’ belief in the power of democracy.”

     

    Abhijit Avasthi

    The film – part of the #Pledgetovote series – hopes to inspire both – seasoned, as well as first-time voters, said an Ogilvy India spokesperson. Added Abhijit Avasthi, National Creative Director at Ogilvy: “While all of us have cribs about the state of affairs in the country and a cynicism about the government, we forget that the only weapon of change we have in our hands is our vote. Like so many others, Google too wants to motivate people, especially youngsters to exercise their right to vote. But rather than being preachy, it wants to do it the inspirational and emotional way. And who better to inspire us than Mr Negi.” Leading internet services conglomerate Google has been attempting to integrate with the country through ad films that strike a chord. Its film on showing an Indian and Pakistani reuniting for the first time after Partition, has received rave reviews.

     

  • Ballabh will be leading the agency's efforts in digital media planning and strategy for all clients

    Cheil appoints Vivek Ballabh as AVP – Digital Media

    By a correspondent

     

    Cheil Worldwide SW Asia announced the appointment of Vivek Ballabh as Associate Vice President – Digital Media. Ballabh will be leading the agency’s efforts in digital media planning and strategy for all clients. He will be reporting to Rajesh Bhatia, Senior VP & Head Digital, Cheil Worldwide SW Asia.

     

    Ballabh is an accomplished digital media professional with over 12 years of experience and a proven track record of planning and executing numerous integrated digital campaigns that have worked to the advantage of driving client businesses. Known for his out-of-the-box thinking, he is a strong believer in capturing consumer minds through effective deployment of new media strategies.

     

    Hari Krishnan

    Hari Krishnan, COO, Cheil Worldwide, SW Asia said, “Vivek is an accomplished digital media specialist and will add muscle to our strategic firepower in Digital.  His joining enhances our talent pool and will enable us to broaden our scope and augment our offering to a larger market.”

     

    “We are delighted to have Vivek on board. With his knowledge and experience I believe, he will be an invaluable asset to Cheil India’s Interactive team,” said Rajesh Bhatia, Senior VP & Head Digital, Cheil Worldwide, SW Asia.

     

    Ballabh joins from Razorfish [Publicis] where he was Sr. VP Digital Media. Prior to this he was with Solutions | Digitas [Publicis], where he set up the entire Digital Media practice and was responsible for  both operations and P&L. Previously he was with Webchutney as Head of Media Planning, where he led the HP business and was instrumental in launching successful campaigns for PSG. His work on the launch of a new range of notebooks by HP was awarded with a Bronze at Zenith Optimedia’s ROI Excellence Awards in 2008.

     

    Ballabh is an alumnus of The Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), Hyderabad, from where he obtained his MBA and a Graduate in Science from Osmania University, Hyderabad.