Category: Digital

  • Dentsu Webchutney is Rentomojo’s digital agency

    By A Correspondent

     

    Furniture and appliance rental firm Rentomojo has signed Dentsu Webchutney to shape its digital agenda.

     

    Geetansh Bamania

    After a competitive onboarding process, the two companies finalised their contract. Dentsu Webchutney’s Bengaluru team will now take the startup brand to the urban, young, working audiences and their mandate includes social media, digital content, video, and acquisition programmes. “Rentomojo is building a category and in this process, connecting with our audience & engagement is the prime objective,” said Geetansh Bamania, founder – Rentomojo, “It’s imperative to not just talk but also to listen to our audience. We look forward to establishing communication pegs in an interesting way that connects with the audience – something that Dentsu Webchutney was able to showcase during their introduction with us. We are confident that together, we will create great work.”

     

    Gautam Reghunath

    “Rentomojo and the growing rental economy excite us a lot. Consumer behaviour in this category is very counterintuitive from the typical consumption culture and the concept of owning one’s own. We’re thrilled at the opportunity to helping establish Rentomojo as a key player in the space.” says Gautam Reghunath, Senior Vice President and Branch Head, Dentsu Webchutney Bangalore. “We have great admiration for Geetansh and his team’s vision and in a space as short-lived as digital, we’re two teams now working as one – ready to roll good, effective ideas when they strike.”

     

  • India took to Twitter with renewed vigour in 2016, notes study

    By A Correspondent

     

    Twitter India has released its most trending moments of the year 2016.

     

    These moments became worldwide conversations on Twitter, be it PM Modi’s revolutionary demonetisation reform (Most Influential Moment of the Year), Delhi’s rising pollution problem, the debut of Global Citizen Festival in India, and the Bollywood glam at the Filmfare Awards. Meanwhile, some Indian voices joined the global Twitter community when India’s women athletes broke new ground at the Rio 2016 Olympics, cricketers Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni achieved milestone successes at the international World T20 tournament, and global cultural celebrations took place for Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi and the International Day of Yoga.

     

    PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, and Dipa Karmakar, India’s women athletes made #Rio2016 the Top Hashtag Trend of the Year on Twitter. Their medal victories and near-misses inspired women everywhere, and showcased a spirit of unwavering determination and grit.

     

    Virat Kohli’s Tweet in support of Anushka Sharma was the Golden Tweet or the most Retweeted Tweet of 2016. He encouraged his fans and critics, who attributed his outstanding performance in the ICC World T20 to their break-up, to focus instead on empathy and community building.

     

    Here are the highlights of the most influential moments of 2016 as determined by Twitter India

     

    1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation scheme

    On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1000 currency notes to fight against black money and corruption in India. The move impacted the majority of Indians and Twitter continues to resonate with their opinions and debates over the currency ban. The platform recorded 650,000 Tweets in 24 hours following the announcement and millions more Tweets in the following weeks. The magnitude of these conversations by experts as well as common people put the global spotlight on India.

     

    2. Women athletes at Rio 2016

    India united on Twitter to support and praise these top women athletes during #Rio2016. It was girl power all the way for India at the Summer Olympics and fans came together like never before to publicly voice their gratitude to India’s star performers. Twitter recorded millions of Tweets for these moments of national pride as part of the global conversation for #Rio2016 from 5-21 August. These victories saw Sindhu, Sakshi and Dipa rise as individuals beating the odds and excelling at sports, consecutively emerging as an inspiration to millions of women around the world.

     

    3. India versus Pakistan at WT20

    On March 19, #INDvPAK trended all day on Twitter in India and globally, and more than 1.1 million Tweets were recorded, making it the most Tweeted T20 International match ever, beating the earlier record of the recent Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan where more than 670,000 Tweets were sent. With his fantastic innings in a tight run-chase, Virat Kohli became the most mentioned player of this match on Twitter.

     

    4. Delhi Pollution

    The capital city’s escalating pollution levels all year have seen citizens take to Twitter to express their worries, share photos of smog-filled streets, and find solutions. At the start of the year, the government implemented the Odd-Even scheme, impounded diesel vehicles and banned fire crackers during Diwali to improve air quality levels. Like every winter, the pollution levels continued to escalate in Delhi this November leading to worries of severe health hazards amongst citizens.

     

    5. India celebrates Diwali

    Indians across the world celebrated the biggest and brightest festival via Tweets, photos and videos of sweets, fire crackers, festive clothes, and more from Oct 30-Nov 2. This year, thousands of Indians also participated in a Twitter Poll to choose the colour of the ‘diya’ Twitter emoji, eventually choosing the orange version for the #HappyDiwali hashtag.

     

    6. India versus Australia at WT20

    One of the most exciting games of #WT20 was the do-or-die, winner-takes-all clash between India and Australia on March 27. Virat Kohli scored 47 runs in the last five overs, hitting seven boundaries and a six, and the moment he hit the winning runs to secure India’s passage to the semi-finals was the most-Tweeted moment of #WT20. With 973K Tweets recorded during the match, this was the second most Tweeted match during the tournament.

     

    7. International Day of Yoga

    The second International Day of Yoga on June 21 was celebrated by yoga enthusiasts in India and across the world on Twitter. The ‘asana’ emoji was a delight for people celebrating the day and the platform lit up with invigorating photos and videos from the yoga community, even as remote as the Siachen glacier!

     

    8. Global Citizen India

    On November 19, British rock band Coldplay and American hip-hop artist Jay Z performed for the first time in India as part of the Global Citizen Festival India 2016 in Mumbai. As Coldplay frontman Chris Martin performed a duet with AR Rahman for ‘Vande Mataram’, the electric moment lit up on Twitter with videos and photos from the 80,000 screaming fans reaching a global audience. The concert’s energy resonated on Twitter as fans gushed over the event that connected global and Indian music cultures.

     

    9. India celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi

    Indians across communities, including celebrities, sport stars and politicians celebrated the cultural moment on the platform with colourful Tweets, greetings, photos and videos from August 5-16. This year, Twitter announced a special Lord Ganesha Twitter emoji for the first time. The special emoji was a pleasant surprise and an instant hit amongst Indians worldwide, who made #GaneshChaturthi emerge as one of the top Global Trends during the festive period, recording nearly half a million Tweets.

     

    10. Filmfare Awards

    For the 61st Filmfare Awards on January 15, Twitter provided a front row seat to fans across the world. Bollywood fans flocked to Twitter to follow the live and exciting conversation as the awards unfolded: real-time results of the winners, exclusive behind-the-scenes moments, live news broadcasts from the red carpet, exclusive videos and photos, and more. All of this made the Filmfare Awards the most talked about Indian award show of the year on Twitter.

     

  • #YouTubeRewind report celebrates top moments on the video content platform

    By A Correspondent

     

    Twenty-sixteen was the year when sidekick became the superhero, at least on the social platform YouTube. While Kabali ruled the charts to become top trending movie trailer, the Kapil Sharma show featuring Salman Khan got company from YouTube stars of The Viral Fever playing truth or dare with dad and All India Bakchod’s portrayal of bars and restaurants as the top trending videos of the year.

     

    #YouTubeRewind study celebrates more than 200 YouTube stars from 18 countries that accepted the Ultimate 2016 Rewind Challenge to pay homage to the biggest videos, memes, channels, songs, and pop culture moments of the year.

     

    Collectively, the Top 10 videos have 70 million views and the channels who make them have more than 45 million subscribers who tune in regularly to  watch the funny, insightful, entertaining content they create/ upload.

     

    Top trending videos:

    1. The Kapil Sharma Show: Sultan
    2. The Voice India Kids: Ayat Shaikh
    3. Crime Patrol Dial 100: Andhkaar
    4. Complete truth of Rs 2000 notes with a chip embedded in it
    5. TVF: Truth or Dare with Dad
    6. TVF’s Permanent Roommates: The Parents
    7. AIB : Honest Bars & Restaurants
    8. Life Sahi Hai:  The Maid
    9. How Shah Rukh Khan Became The FAN – Gaurav
    10. AIB Diwas:  Zakir Khan

     

    Top music videos:

    1. Kala Chashma:  Baar Baar Dekho
    2. Kar Gayi Chull: Kapoor & Sons
    3. Baby Ko Bass Pasand Hai:  Sultan
    4. Bulleya: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
    5. Cham Cham: Baaghi
    6. GF BF: T-Series
    7. Hua hain Aaj Pehli Baar: Sanam Re
    8. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
    9. Jabra:Fan
    10. The Breakup Song: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

     

    Top movie trailers:

    1. Kabali Tamil Movie
    2. Dangal
    3. Sultan
    4. M.S.Dhoni – The Untold Story
    5. Shivaay
    6. Befikre
    7. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
    8. Fan
    9. Baaghi
    10. Dishoom

     

    From an ads perspective, it is quite evident from the YouTube Leaderboard 2016 that several brands chose to create long format ads for a primarily digital-first audience. In fact, seven out of top 10 most watched ads in 2016 were over 90 seconds long. And audiences too were willing to invest their time and attention on ads that are narrative-driven and take a storytelling approach. #Dettolsheronkepanje was the most viewed ads for 2016 with close to 13 million views, and #Ranveerchingreturns and Amazon’s#ApniDukaan taking the next spots.

     

    Most viewed ads:

    :: Dettol Sheron ke Panje – #MaaMaane Dettol Ka Dhula
    :: Ranveer Ching Returns

    :: Amazon #ApniDukaan
    :: Doublemint #StartSomethingFresh
    :: Ola Micro Stories

    :: Bajaj V – The Invincible

    :: Makemytrip #BefikarBookKar – Taxi
    :: #NothingDirty Anthem ft. Badshah
    :: Amazon#MomBeAGirlAgain
    :: Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

  • Tata Steel Corporate awards the digital mandate to Hungama Digital Services

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hungama Digital Services (HDS) announced that it will leverage the communication for Tata Steel Corporate across all its digital channels. HDS has been selected following a multi-agency pitch as the Digital Agency on Record (AOR).

     

    Carlton D'Silva

    Commenting on the win Carlton D’Silva, CEO and CCO, Hungama Digital Services states, “Tata Steel Corporate giving us the mandate  to assist them in this digital journey is a great responsibility as well as a huge moment of pride for the entire HDS family. To be associated with the world’s second-most geographically-diversified steel producer, operating in 26 countries and having a commercial presence in over 50 countries, in itself is an immense learning opportunity for us and we are all-set to deliver clutter breaking ideas with progressive communication.”

     

  • LinkedIn unveils India’s Top Voices of 2016

    By A Correspondent

     

    LinkedIn, with 467 million members globally and 39 million in India, announced the LinkedIn Top Voices list for 2016. Of nearly three million unique writers on the platform, LinkedIn Top Voices list puts the spotlight on professionals that have emerged as top voices by publishing compelling content. These storytellers of the year are from industries such as advertising and marketing, media, financial services and others.

     

    LinkedIn Top Voices list for 2016 identifies 15 popular writers including Prabhakar Mundkur, ‎Chief Mentor, HGS Interactive, Ester Martinez, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, People Matters and Subhash Chandra, a leading political consultant.

     

    The LinkedIn Top Voices 2016 List – India:

    Writers – Member List

    1.   Prabhakar Mundkur

    2.   Abhijit Bhaduri

    3.   Ester Martinez

    4.   Subhash Chandra

    5.   Tamal Bandyopadhyay

    6.   Prabal Basu Roy

    7.   Procyon Mukherjee

    8.   Purnima Menon

    9.   Hari TN

    10.   Roshni Dhal

    11.   Jayashree Patnaik

    12.   Vartika Kashyap

    13.   Ritesh Kumar Singh

    14.   Parag Kar

    15.   Lakshmipathy Bhat

     

    “LinkedIn Top Voices 2016 is our way of celebrating professionals who have developed an influential voice by investing in the exchange of knowledge, ideas and opinions. There are exciting times ahead for our members as they can leverage the opportunity to expand their knowledge and develop perspectives by following influential writers and honorees (influencers) to discover professionally-relevant local insights,” said Akshay Kothari, Country Manager and Head of Product, LinkedIn India.

     

    The top voices list also features seven influencers as honorees, including  Narendra Modi, Shradha Sharma, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Vani Kola, Santosh Desai, Ravi Venkatesan andShashi Tharoor. The Top Voices 2016 also unveiled some interesting insights.

    • ‘India’ ranks first as discussion topic in 2016

    ○        The top content topic for 2016 was India, followed by management, branding, and advertising and marketing

    • Indians are reading as much as they are writing

    ○        On an average, Indian top writers garnered almost twice as many follows (96,000) compared to the global average (54,000)

    ○        Indian Honorees overtook their global counterparts by publishing on an average of 44 times this year while the global average stands at 36

    • Trending industries

    ○        Marketing and advertising was ranked as the number one industry followed by Information technology and services. In the third place was a mix that includes research, financial services and political organizations.

     

  • Facebook appoints Pulkit Trivedi as Industry Director

    By A Correspondent

     

    Facebook has appointed Pulkit Trivedi as Industry Director for e-Commerce, Retail, Travel and Financial Services verticals, where he will lead in building and maintaining strategic relationships with clients in the country.

     

    Trivedi comes to Facebook with over 18 years of extensive industry experience covering Sales, Business Development & Partnerships for Indian and multinational technology companies such as Google, Intel, Microsoft, IBM and HCL. Most recently, Pulkit held the position of Head of Industry, eCommerce at Google India and was with the company since April 2012. He was responsible for driving a large business for Google India.

     

    “We are thrilled to have Pulkit join the talented Facebook team to help grow our advertising business. Pulkit is a well proven business professional who along with our teams will strengthen our ability to deliver personalised marketing at scale to clients in India,” said Umang Bedi, Managing Director, Facebook India.

  • Times Internet launches ‘Partner Program’ to boost digital growth for agencies

    By A Correspondent

     

    Times Internet has announced the launch of the ‘Times Internet Agency Partner Program’. The programme is designed to empower independent full-service and digitally focused agencies all over India. From certification to recognition, from technical knowhow to client satisfaction, it will empower professionals to discover new ways to grow their businesses.

     

    Said Gulshan Verma, Chief Revenue Officer, Times Internet while talking about the launch, “Today more than 400mn Indian users are on the internet, making it the platform of choice not only for the largest marketers, but also for hundreds of thousands of businesses that operate it. They depend on partners like AdGlobal 360 and Logicserve to aid their operations. They also depend on partners like Spiral Content Solution to create content that resonates with the consumers. We are very happy to have them as the founding partners of the Times Agency Partner Program”

     

    Speaking on their association with Times Internet and the Times Internet Partner Program Rakesh Yadav, CEO Adglobal 360 said, “AGL has seen good value for its clients by running certain types of campaigns on Colombia. This new innovative platform from TIL has good future and we want to leverage it for the benefit of our clients. We believe that as platinum partners, we will be able to offer to our clients, the best this platform can offer.”

     

    Speaking on their association with Times Internet and the Times Internet Partner Program, Prasad Shejale, CEO Logicserve Digital, Co-Founder Couponraja and Compareraja said, “Today, content is the king; so reaching the content consuming audience is the key. Hence, the right content partner is important and TIL inventory backed by Columbia came as an obvious choice. Colombia helps us with reaching the content consuming audience and influence them. Its flexible interface and premium inventory supports in making the campaigns a success. The interest level targeting enables us to reach out to a wider range of consumer. Colombia is a smart marketing platform for native ads and Logicserve Digital is very excited to be partnering with TIL to deliver great value to our digital media clients.”

     

    Speaking on his association, Rajan Srinivasan, Founder and CEO Spiral Content Solution said: “Scatter is happy to partner with Colombia. This works really well for our clients as we bring together the best in the content creation and content distribution through Scatter and Colombia respectively. Because even the best content means nothing if it can’t be discovered.”

     

  • Why & How AI will have greater impact than social media

     

    Warc, the global marketing intelligence service, concludes that Artificial Intelligence (AI), defined as the ability of computers to take on tasks that have previously required human intelligence to complete – such as speech recognition or interpreting data – will have a major impact on the marketing industry next year. More than the impact of the social media.

     

    Said David Tiltman, Warc’s Head of Content: “2017 looks set to be the year that many brands take their first steps in artificial intelligence. Machine learning is already being applied to programmatic trading – and we’ve seen brands like Aviva in the UK improve their media efficiencies as a result. The next major application looks set to be chatbots, as marketers look to respond to a consumers’ take-up of messaging apps.”

     

    The key insights identified where AI is expected to impact the marketing industry in 2017 are:

     

    1.    Immediate opportunities include advanced data analysis:

    Data mining and analysis that is normally done manually may be done quicker and better using AI. This can span business and consumer data, with AI potentially providing more informed outcomes.

    2.    Global CMOs are already planning their AI strategies:

    According to a survey by PR agency Weber Shandwick in association with KRC Research, nearly six in 10 (58%) global CMOs believe that, within the next five years, companies will need to compete in the AI space to succeed, and around seven in 10 (68%) say their organisations are already using or planning for business in the AI era.

    More than half (55%) of global CMOs expect AI to have a greater impact on marketing  and communications than social media ever had.

    3.    Chatbots will become key touchpoints for service brands:

    Chatbots are software programs designed to automate customer-to-company conversations. They use machine learning to help determine what the consumer’s question is, source a relevant answer and form a reply.

    4.    Marketers must consider the tone of voice of ‘branded conversations’:

    Brands will be keen to express their identities via chatbot technology. Language nuances, sentiment and the ability to hold conversations are the next short term nuances to be addressed.

    5.    Virtual assistants will change path-to-purchase strategies:

    ‘Programmatic consumption’ is the automation of brand choices. Rather than a consumer spend the time and effort selecting a product and placing an order, these are partially or fully automated – in other words, purchase decisions will increasingly be made by computers, rather than by consumers standing in shops.

    6.    Machine learning is being applied to automated trading:

    Machine learning is already used within certain areas of programmatic media trading, and this is expected to be a major growth area. For example, machine learning might help optimise campaigns based on what is working, or adapt campaign creative based on new information.

     

    Artificial Intelligence is one of six key trends featured in Warc’s Toolkit 2017. The report, produced in association with Deloitte Digital, brings together the best of Warc’s content over the past year – the latest ideas, research and examples. The result is a guide to current thinking in each area, and the implications for marketers. For more information and insights on Toolkit 2017, visit www.warc.com 

     

  • Blink Digital unveils KFC’s new product in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital agency Blink Digital has devised a gamified route for launching KFC’s latest product from America, here in India. By creating a microsite, the digital agency took gamification to the next level by asking participants to unlock the biggest secret to discover KFC’s latest product launch. The objective behind creating the microsite was to enable secrecy and build hype around the launch of the product. The campaign titled ‘America’s biggest secret’ saw over 50,000 registrations within three days of its launch.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, Dooj Ramchandani, Co-Founder & Creative Director, Blink Digital, said, “With time and attention at a premium, consumers are increasingly looking for fun and engaging activities that can offer add-on achievements. With this campaign, we wanted to challenge our consumer to be an agent and uncover ‘America’s Biggest Secret’ while fostering a more meaningful connection to the product being launched.”

     

    Added Luiz Ruiz Ribot, KFC India’s Chief Marketing Officer: “In order to create intrigue around a new KFC launch, we created a unique game based on the current fascination towards all things American, from the oval office to Hollywood. At the end of the game, consumers discover that the biggest American secret being revealed is a cult-like following chicken recipe from Nashville which we are now launching in India. This interactive way of pre-launching KFC’s new Nashville chicken is truly addictive and a great way of keeping users hooked.”

     

  • Chrome DM launches Interconnexion for broadcasters and distribution service providers

    By A Correspondent

     

    Chrome Data Analytics and Media has launched Chrome Interconnexion, for broadcasters and distribution service providers. Chrome Interconnexion is an unprecedented, exclusive database of distribution interconnections across urban India. It is an online application which has been designed to depict feed tracking for each headend, from the parent headend till the last headend.

     

    Speaking at the launch, Pankaj Krishna, Founder and CEO, Chrome DM said, “The objective of offering such a comprehensive platform to broadcasters is to ensure Transparent Deals in the Broadcaster-MSO Ecosystem. With Chrome Interconnexion, broadcasters will be able to track source feed of Fluctuations and take prompt corrective action. ”

     

    In broadcast distribution (Distribution of a Channel from a Service Provider to Consumer) there are Multi System Operators like Den, Hathway, Siti Cable etc and Local Cable Operators. As a Standard operation procedure an MSO provides same feed (line up of channels) to a lot of local cable operators across various areas of operations.  For example, a Den in Kanpur might be providing its feed to multiple smaller players, who would provide the same feed to viewers.

     

  • MEC India to handle media duties for Vistaprint

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mukti Kumaran

    MEC India, a leading media agency, has been awarded with the media duties for Vistaprint. The account will be handled by MEC’s Mumbai branch.

     

    Commenting on this, Mukti Kumaran, General Manager – West, MEC India said, “We are excited about extending our footprint in the e-commerce space. Online printing is an exciting category and is poised to take off in a big way in India. We look forward to a mutually fulfilling partnership”

     

    Bharath Sastry

    Speaking on bringing MEC India onboard as a media partner, Bharath Sastry, CMO, Vistaprint said, “Vistaprint.in offers a wide selection of products and designs which can be customized, with a very high focus on quality and customer service. With MEC’s proven track record on e-commerce brands, we are assured that they will create relevant campaigns that will strengthen our business in India. We look forward to a mutually rewarding partnership.”

     

  • Fynd unveils new digital campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Fynd, the fashion e-commerce portal, has launched its new digital campaign. The campaign brings to the fore the unique offerings and services on Fynd. Through this campaign, Fynd aims to establish how it is different from other e-commerce players in the market and underlines its proposition as the portal which sources products directly from multiple brand stores and offers customers only the latest and authentic products. The video ad captures a common question that fashion savvy people in India are often asked i.e. Kahan se liya (Where did you buy this from?). With Fynd being the answer, the ad drives home the unique appeal of the platform in the most relatable and appealing of ways.

     

    The digital video showcases a young couple walking around the streets and passersby in awe of their fashion sense. Young men and women are curious to know from where did this couple picked up such an enviable collection of outfits, whether it is from online or retail outlets. Customers are made to realize that online fashion offers collections from the previous year, which maybe outdated. But with Fynd, a person can easily shop from the brand new collections that are available in stores. Conceptualized by the Mumbai team of Option Designs, the ad campaigns are directed by Roop Naik and produced by Red Arrow Productions, Mumbai.

     

    Fynd Co-founder, Harsh Shah, expressed his enthusiasm about the digital campaign launch, and commented, “What makes Fynd unique is that it helps to connect customers with precisely the kind of fashion they are looking for. The USP of Fynd is that it sources all its products via the brand store itself. This is a strength which is currently unchallenged by any competing fashion brand. Through our campaign, we want to make customers understand this differentiation and how it works in their favour. Customers can lay their hands on anything from clothing, footwear, jewellery to accessories, whatever their heart desires. We have tried to make this ad as entertaining, engaging and relatable as possible.”

     

    Unlike its competitors, Fynd has neither taken an emotional route nor is showcasing people dressed in high fashion to try and create an aspiration amongst customers. The attempt is to establish that one character whom everyone can relate to in his/her life; someone who is smart and has a good dressing sense which everyone wishes to ape. The video ad campaign will be released on digital platforms such as YouTube, Hotstar and Facebook. It has been fashioned keeping in mind the target audience aged 18-30, especially those who are new to corporate life and are always looking to make smart style choices.