MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Ecommerce player ShopClues.com has initiated a multi-agency pitch to bring on board a creative partner to lead its mass media strategy

    ShopClues seeks creative agency

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ecommerce player ShopClues.com has initiated a multi-agency pitch to bring on board a creative partner to lead its mass media strategy. The multi-agency pitch will happen in Gurgaon. This is the first time that the company has called for a creative pitch.

     

    Two years into operations, ShopClues.com has previously been active on the social media, radio and the outdoor front. Till now the online and ATL campaigns were done inhouse. With the growth and expansion in the company and the boom witnessed in the E-commerce space, the company is set to get on board a creative partner for its mass media strategy.

     

    Commenting at the development, Radhika Aggarwal, Founding Member & Corporate Vice President Marketing and Merchandizing at ShopClues.com said, “Having built a wide assortment across 900+ product categories, we are now looking for a creative partner who will further help us strengthen our position as a one-stop destination for millions of online customers across India.”

     

  • Hungama App rolls out airplay for iOS and is compatible with iPhone 5

    Hungama App introduces adaptive streaming

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hungama has upgrading its app for iOS and Android with Adaptive Streaming for audio and video, Airplay for iOS and compatibility with the iPhone 5. The new build has facilitated an integration with Google Wallet. Now, music lovers all over the world can own their favourite music by a simple click of a button within the app to make the purchase.

     

    Ranked ranked #1 in the top music apps category on iOS and Android platforms in less than ten days of its launch, the Hungama App comes with a loyalty feature that rewards users for every action on the app.

     

    The adaptive version of the Hungamamusic app is available on the iOS and Android platforms.

     

  • Extensive 360-degree marketing campaign with some shock value to promote the show

    MTV launches comedy reality series with Imam Siddique

    By A Correspondent

     

    MTV India has launched a new comedy-reality show with social impresario Imam Siddique. The show titled ‘Time Out with Imam – Ek Insaan, Kai Pehchaan’ will air on Sunday evenings starting July 14.

     

    Speaking on the launch of the show, Aditya Swamy, EVP and Business Head, MTV India, says, “We are opening up a brand new genre – Comedy Reality. Young people are constantly looking for out of the ordinary entertainment and there is no one who is more out there than Imam. Everything about the show is surreal, the situations, the promos and even the marketing. Spending just a day with Imam is full of surprises, 13 weeks is going to be a riot!!! ”

     

    The thirteen part series will document his journey as he expresses his take on various hi profile events that will be topical – Cricket, films, TV, music, fashion…Nothing will be spared by Imam. From reconnecting with his old Bigg Boss frenemies to making a music video on his favourite city Mumbai and styling an IPL team, Imam will be seen doing it all.

     

    The show to preented by Swipe ‘MTV Slash’ Fablet will be supported by an extensive 360-degree marketing campaign. MTV will be promoting the show by joining hands with the rickshaw drivers in Mumbai. Adding to the shock value, the entire city will be swarmed with 500 Imams all around them as the rickshaw drivers and promoters will be seen wearing Imam Masks. The channel will also connect with its audience through the launch of a new app, Imamogram, which will help fans say something bold and cheeky to anyone they want with a personalized message delivered by Imam himself. The series will see real time radio integration in an episode for the first time in a show.

     

  • The partnership creates a closed-loop creative and data offering for advertisers

    Havas Media & Cognitive Match power data-driven creatives

    By A Correspondent

     

    Havas Media Group and Cognitive Match have partnered to deliver true data driven creative optimization.  This enables Havas agencies to closely integrate their ad serving capabilities, data platform (Artemis) and Demand Side Platform (AffiPerf).  Advertiser clients of Havas, India included, can now benefit from a market leading closed-loop dynamic display advertising platform.

     

    Cognitive Match leverages first and third party consumer data to deliver relevant display advertising creative to every individual in real-time.  Deep integration with DSP technology at Havas, and Havas internal advertiser data platform Artemis, means advertisers will benefit from maximum value from their data.  This solution leapfrogs the current firms in market that focus solely on personalized retargeting, such as Criteo, or customer relationship management marketing programs such as Marketo.  Campaigns for top advertisers have already begun running through the combined platform, showing gains in performance and insights for advertisers in the US and globally.

     

    “The Cognitive Match platform provides us with a great flexibility and efficiency to adapt the message in real time to our clients’ customer,” said Sylvain Le Borgne, EVP Data Platform for Havas Media Group.

     

    “Our teams at Cognitive Match and Havas are working together globally across web and mobile” said Alex Kelleher, Founder CEO of Cognitive Match.  “Our shared expertise in advertiser and dynamic creative campaign management, across Europe, Asia and The Americas, means that both global and local advertisers will immediately benefit from our new partnership”.

     

  • DDB MudraMax has 17 awards at the recently concluded Outdoor Advertising Awards 2013

    DDB MudraMax sweeps OAA outdoor awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB MudraMax has bagged 17 awards including the coveted ‘Campaign of the Year’ and ‘Innovation of the Year’ titles at the recently concluded Outdoor Advertising Awards 2013 held in Goa.

     

    The Campaign of the Year title was given to Volkswagen’s  campaign titled ‘Post-It’ and the campaign for Adventure 18 titled ‘Window Washers’ bagged the Innovation of the Year.

     

    Commenting on the win of 8 Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze awards, Pratap Bose, COO, DDB Mudra Group, said, “It’s a great result for the brave clients that we work with and a great thumbs up for the best Out of Home team in the country.”

     

    Information not verified as MxMIndia was not invited to the awards

     

  • Digital marketing agency VML Qais creates 6-second video tweet for Revlon!

    Revlon promotes foodproof lipstick with 6-sec video tweet

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital marketing agency VML Qais has created a video tweet to help promote its client, Revlon. The product being promoted is Revlon’s Color Stay Ultimate Suede lipstick.

     

    The agency wanted to find an innovating and engaging way to tell Revlon’s Twitter followers about the USP of the new product that has been launched, notes a communique. It is a food-proof lipstick and VML Qais wanted to highlight that visually. To achieve the objective, the agency created a custom vine (a 6-second video tweet) for Revlon (link: https://twitter.com/RevlonIndia/status/347628970998632449). Recently acquired by Twitter, Vine is a social media service which allows the user to shoot and share 6 second videos.

     

  • There is much excitement about what politicians say on social networks. But is it much ado about nothing?

    Introducing PoliTech: a new fortnightly column by Vijay Mukhi

     

    There is much excitement about the exchanges by politicians on Twitter and Facebook. But will these have any impact on the forthcoming general elections? Internet Guru, infotech evangelist, data security specialist, trainer, author and former columnist Vijay Mukhi will answer this question and track trends in a new fortnightly column for MxMIndia

     

    By Vijay Mukhi

     

    Our politicians don’t understand social media. They need to take lessons from the likes of an Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan or even the Dalai Lama. Their tweets don’t get retweeted, and the ones that do like those of Milind Deora or Ajay Maken or Omar Abdullah aren’t political in nature.

     

    For instance, Ajay Maken’s tweet was as follows: RT @BlackBerry: BIG NEWS: BBM slated to be available on iOS and Android as free download this summer. MORE: http://t.co/f6sJEBWrVn . Note it didn’t concern anything remotely concerned with politics. And Omar? Here’s his tweet that got retweeted 43,332 times at the time of writing: RT @WarrenBuffett: Warren is in the house.

     

    The US internet population is around 170-180 million and that in India is 120-130 million.  There may not be too much of a gap here, but the problem is that in the US of A, 70-80% of the population is internet-enabled whereas in India it’s only 10-20%.

     

    Also, of the 15% of population that’s internet-enabled, at least 5% will be kids who don’t vote and another 5% from the affluent who have never voted, and possibly never will.

     

    What we have in balance is a 5% of the internet-enabled janata and I don’t think a swing here or there really matters. Bottomline: Mr Modi and his team may embrace Twitter and Facebook, write blogs, go to YouTube, but all of this will not help him win the 2014 general elections.

     

    But in 2019, we should have four to five hundred million people on the internet, and only then we could say there will be action on the social media front. Elections 2014 will be the semi-final and it’s important to get our act together for 2019.

     

    I have been a fair number of videos of the US elections over YouTube. One of them had a mindboggling 43 million views. With that kind of a number, the videos in question can impact a result, and create a stir with the masses. That’s why elections in the US can be fought over Facebook and Twitter.

     

    There are many issues that the new social order raises and which must be debated. The Election Commission sends people with video cameras to monitor the speeches at political rallies. How are they planning to monitor Facebook and Twitter? If I stand for elections from the Mumbai South constituency, and if you are in the US and you pay Facebook a million dollars for my promotion, how’s the EC  going to monitor that spending?

     

    Also, a contestant is not allowed to campaign within 48 hours before polling. So can Narendra Modi send a tweet out in that time period? And what if a well-wisher from England sends a hundred thousand tweets hours before voting?

     

    While one can’t be critical or character-assassinate an opponent, what’s stopping an unnamed supporter from doing that on Twitter, create blogs and go berserk? Suppose I create a million fake BJP Twitter followers and if they start retweeting nasty things about the Congress, wouldn’t it amount to be an election malpractice.

     

    It’s issues like these that we must discuss, debate and ponder over. The Election Commission must seize itself of these issues and figure what it should do. And if that doesn’t happen, expect mayhem in 2019.

     

    Battlewatch: BJP wins Facebook, Congress up on Twitter

    If the general elections were to be held today and the voting population comprised Facebook and Twitter users, the BJP would win the elections.

     

    What works on Twitter however does not necessarily work with Facebook and vice versa. Facebook is more BJP whereas Twitter is leans slightly towards the Congress.

     

    The million dollar question that no one has been able to answer is how do you rank politicians on Twitter or Facebook in terms of influence which then reflect in how people actually vote. Because there can never be just one answer, we look at how we can slice and dice the data to answer our conclusions.

     

    In our view the most important parameter on Twitter is not the number of followers you have but the number of Retweets. This is because you can follow someone only once but you can Retweet tweets multiple times. Retweeting is an ongoing process. When you Retweet, you are generally in agreement with that tweet and it is the only way of giving a thumbs up for that Tweet on Twitter. Please visit Vijaymukhis.com and see politicians fare on ReTweets. We update our data at least once a day and everything is interactive (www.vijaymukhis.com).

     

    Next fortnight: How many of Narendra Modi’s followers are real? And those of Shashi Tharoor?

     

  • To say that Mr Modi is going to get the BJP back to power given his popularity in the social network is being foolhardy. We aren’t for once suggesting that this is because his followers aren’t for real… it's just that the people who flock the social media do not necessarily represent the masses

    1 Minute View: Much ado about Modi’s social presence

    There is no doubting that BJP election mascot Narendra Modi has been lightyears ahead of the rest of the politicians when it comes to deploying modern technology to project himself.

     

    So whether it was a 3D avatar of himself in the run-up to the State elections or if it was reaching out to the world via Google Hangout, Mr Modi has done it all.

     

    He was the first to reach out to all and sundry on the occasion of Navratri and Vibrant Gujarat some years ago, and he was also among the earliest to figure that a presence on social media was an imperative for the present day politician.

     

    However, to say that Mr Modi is going to get the BJP back to power given his popularity in the social network is being foolhardy. We aren’t for once suggesting that this is because his followers aren’t for real. But it’s just that the people who flock the social media do not necessarily represent the masses.

     

    In order to tell us more about how our politicians and political parties are doing on the Worldwide Web, MxMIndia has invited internet guru and evangelist Vijay Mukhi to write a fortnightly column called PoliTech. In fact click here, to read his views on the issue.

     

  • While Udayan Mukherjee has stepped down as Managing Editor, he will continue his exclusive association with the channel in a new role

    Face of CNBC TV18 Udayan Mukherjee steps down. Will continue, but Shereen Bhan to be Managing Ed

    By A Correspondent

     

    Udayan Mukherjee

    Udayan Mukherjee, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18 has decided to step down from his full-time role, after 15 years of service with the group. “The reasons for this change are entirely personal,” notes a communiqué from Network 18 sent to the media. “Udayan has been facing issues of professional exhaustion and wants to devote more time to other pursuits of personal interest. However, he will continue his exclusive association with the group, albeit in a contributory and consulting role, through a mix of events, shows and appearances, even as he relinquishes his daily responsibilities.” Shereen Bhan, Executive Editor, CNBC-TV18 will take over responsibility of the day-to-day operations of the channel as its Managing Editor from September 1.

     

    Shereen Bhan

    Widely regarded as the face of the channel given that he anchors its widely watched stockmarket coverage, a media planner who spoke to us on conditions of anonymity said it would be too early to say that Mr Mukherjee irregular presence will impact CNBC-TV18 much. He is not moving to another network so there is no fear on that score, the planner told MxMIndia.com.

     

    Speaking on the development, Raghav Bahl, Founder & Editor, Network18 said “Udayan has contributed to the emergence of CNBC-TV18 as a benchmark in business news since its formative years. He has ably led the team to many successes and we wish him the very best in his new avatar at CNBC-TV18. Shereen has all the skills and experience to take this mantle forward and we look forward to her leadership.” Added B Sai Kumar, Group CEO,Network18: “Udayan has been instrumental in making CNBC-TV18 the success it is today. We thank him for his invaluable contribution and look forward to his new role with us. In Shereen we entrust the task of leading CNBC-TV18 onto new levels of growth and leadership”

     

    Commenting on the transition, the 41-year-old Mr Mukherjee said: “I have had a rewarding and enriching 15-year stint with Network 18, but of late the responsibility of running the channel had become repetitive and I had a difficult time motivating myself to continue. At this stage of my life, I need to devote more of my time to other personal passions and interests.”

     

  • Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati is in a spot over the computer being referred to as 'Raje' which is normally used for Chhatrapati Shivaji

    Marathi KBC in spot over computer being called ‘Raje’

    By A Correspondent

     

    ETV Marathi show ‘Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati’, the Marathi language version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Kaun Banega Crorepati, has run into a controversy with the computer scorer being called ‘Raje’.

     

    In the show anchored by actor Sachin Khedekar, the computer is referred to as ‘Raje’ which is normally used in Maharashtra as a revered reference to Maratha ruler Shivaji.

     

    The Thane district cell of the Sambhaji Brigade has told Marathi daily Sakal that while they respect a senior artist like Mr Khedekar, but it was unbecoming of him to have used this word in the show. The Sambhaji Brigade plans an agitation in case the reference is not changed.

     

    MxMIndia too has received a few messages on its comments board to a report on the show (see link: http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/03/kbc-is-kon-hoeel-marathi-crorepati-on-etv-marathi/)

     

    Wrote Sadanand Kulkarni: “In Maharashtra, we call Raje only to our Shivajiraje. Shri Khedekar says, Raje Shikka Maara (Put the stamp to the given option). This is insulting to all of us. We strongly object. Mr Khedkar may say: 1) Shriman Computer or 2) Shri Computerji but not Raje. Urgent change is required.” Another reader, Sumedh Agre, raised the same issue adding that the move to refer to the computer as ‘Raje’ has upset sensitivities.

     

    At the time of writing, the ETV Marathi spokesperson wasn’t available for comment.

     

  • Suvarna Plus will offer programming in the comedy, non-fiction, movies and music genres

    Star to consolidate Kannada TV with ‘Suvarna Plus’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Star India has announced the launch of its second Kannada general entertainment channel to be called “Suvarna Plus”. Suvarna Plus will go on air from Sunday, July 14.

     

    The idea behind Suvarna Plus is to create content which acts as a stress-buster and the content offering will be movies, comedy fiction shows, reality shows, chat shows, film-based shows and Music. The channel will also offer shows like Campus Connect which target the youth.

     

    Said K Madhavan, MD, Asianet Communications Ltd,” With the launch of Suvarna Plus, we intend to increase our dominance in Kannada GEC market. Karnataka has been a key market for us, we are buoyant and see huge potential in the Kannada television space. Suvarna has been offering wholesome family entertainment to Kannada homes and is the leader in prime time. Suvarna Plus is our new offering which will have a new perspective in terms of entertainment. Both these channels will have distinctive content offering.”

     

    ‘Masthi Swalpa Jaasthi’ is the tagline of Suvarna Plus capturing the basic tendency of humans to get ‘A abit more’ in everything as it promises the viewer the ‘something extra’ in terms of entertainment.

     

    Suvarna Plus comes six years after the launch of Suvarna which has women as its core audience. The GEC offers popular shows like Amrutavarshini, Kannadada Kotyadhipathi (the Kannada version of KBC), etc.

     

    Although both Suvarna ane Suvarna Plus will operate in the same market and catering to similar viewers, according to a communiqué, the older GEC’s key offering is fiction and is positioned as a companion to viewers whereas Suvarna Plus aspires to be a “stress-buster and a complete entertainer”.

     

  • A solution is found to the TV measurement stalemate with TAM going monthly and CPT for those clients desirous. But will it really resolve matters?

    1 Minute View: TAM goes monthly for some. And weekly for the rest

    It’s a twist to the tale pulled out from the books of the various soaps that you see on entertainment television. After the tu-tu-main-main like the kind you find on news television, TAM has decided to offer monthly data and in the CPT format to those desirous of it. This is with immediate effect. However, those who don’t want that, will get it weekly.

     

    Bizarre. We asked a few media agency biggies and bizarre and weird are the words they used. And added: whether you report weekly or monthly, we will use the metric that we  think is appropriate for our advertisers.

     

    Evidently, we haven’t heard the last on this one. Also, the whole idea of two different sets of numbers coming in – weekly and monthly, could only lead to more confusion. Note this move is not a result of the series of meetings that the various stakeholders (the ISA, AAAI, IBF and TAM) have been having over the last few weeks. There is reportedy no consensus yet from those meetings.

     

    However, what is a welcome move is that a settlement has been found to the problem and all stakeholders can now wait for the BARC-managed measurement regime to commence.

     

    On its part, TAM – a joint venture of Nielsen and WPP-owned Kantar, issued a statement from a spokesperson saying: “TAM, purely as an act of professionalism, is fulfilling and respecting its contractual duties and obligations that it is bound by, with individual broadcaster clients. This decision is basis individual client letter requests received by TAM from only specific few TV Channels.  Data for all other TV Channels will be reported as earlier.”