MxMIndia

Category: NEWS

  • Managing a media archive is no mean task, though the digital era has infused it with new life and efficiency. The Association of Media Libraries and Archives' two-day conference on Feb 4 and 5 will discuss the challenges and opportunities of digital archiving

    Archiving in the time of digital

    By A Correspondent

     

    Newspaper archives have existed since the newspaper itself. The efficiency and turnaround time in daily production is affected hugely by the availability of an archive giving instant access, retrieval and re-use of content created in the past, be it stories, photographs, graphics, audio, video and so on. The return on investment (ROI) is made well worth it when the right technology and more importantly the right professionals are in place to organize this intellectual property into a valuable asset that can be tapped for multiple purposes, endlessly.

     

    The advent of the Digital Archives Management System (DAMS) both in terms of technology application and investment has shown significant returns in the past decade. Add to that the instantaneous needs of 24×7 news delivery and new media. The Association of Media Libraries and Archives (AMLA), a professional forum and the first such initiative inIndiawas conceptualized by the Indian media library and information professionals. It primarily aims to provide a professional platform to deliberate, discuss, examine and debate the various practical issues in managing all aspects of media libraries, across the various mass media segments such as Print, TV, Radio and Online.

     

    Anita Pujari, General Manager, Research, Archives & Syndication, DNA – Daily News & Analysis, said, “No media house can afford to not digitally archive their content. The value of immense intellectual wealth lies only if the content can be re-used and re-purposed. Especially, in news media, the stories keep coming back. One needs to have a cutting-edge archive to revisit and reuse the stories of the past. Else, one can spend money and gather from archives of some other resource.”

     

    Media archives as a source of revenue generation is a growing area of business interest amongst established media houses and this potential perhaps augurs well for the Media library & archives professional. The two-day conference on “Managing Indian Media Libraries and Archives: Challenges, Opportunities and Best Practices” jointly hosted by Association of Media Libraries and Archives (AMLA) and Jawaharlal Nehru University and supported by UNESCO will be held on Feb 4 and 5, 2013 at New Delhi and will discuss all aspects of Digital Archiving.

     

    The conference will be followed by a one-day workshop on ‘Digitization, Digital Archiving and Digital Video Archiving in Media Libraries and Archives’ on Feb 6. More details are available at www.amla.org.in.

     

    MxM India is the media partner to this event.

     

  • Communications firm Genesis Burson-Marsteller has identified the top 13 trends that could define Indian youth in 2013

    Genesis Burson-Marsteller reveals the TR:OUTH

    By A Correspondent

     

    With the constant evolution of youth and their choices, it is pivotal for marketers and communication specialists to read their pulse and match steps with their moves.  Understanding this need and deriving from the expertise and insights, the consumer and brand marketing team at communications firm Genesis Burson-Marsteller has highlighted key trends among Indian youth in 2013.

     

    From being proud desis to fitness fanatics, youth is bringing alive the passion and re-inventing the rules of life every single day. What’s relevant this moment will be outdated today and what is defined a taboo could be the next big trend.

     

    Talking about these new-found trends, Papri Dev Sharma, India Practice Chair, Cosumer & Brand Marketing, Genesis Burson-Marsteller, India & South Asia said, “Youth is increasingly becoming the focus target audience for brands and it is imperative for marketers to listen to the voice of these emerging influencers. The consumer and brand marketing team at Genesis Burson-Marsteller realised the importance of capturing the thoughts of young India to find out what gets them ticking. With TR:OUTH 2013, we hope to give a glimpse of what youth wants and help communication professionals keep pace with the mobile generation.”

     

    Aastha Taneja, a young working professional, adds, “We are being heard, seen and taken seriously, for the first time. And it has become more important now to continue to speak our mind and be heard. One of the primary reasons we have been able to do this has been the judicious use of Social media which gives us, the youth, an opportunity to be a part of any movement.  The youth has the potential to change the perspective of the nation and it has already started to happen. Hope to see the same zeal in everyone in the time to come.”

     

    Another 25-year-old, Shreyashi Sanyal, says, “I feel there is very little tolerance for misbehaviour and whether it’s a little stray dog on the street hurt and not getting help to bigger issues like violence against an individual, we are not ready to accept injustice. The youth have realized, finally, that change will happen only when they make it happen. That in itself is a big step towards a new beginning”.

     

  • Jaideep Shergill's senior level appointment follows a landmark year with prestigious client wins and the launch of the 2nd annual MSLGroup India PR Industry Report

    Jaideep Shergill now CEO of MSLGroup India

    By A Correspondent

     

    MSLGroup, Publicis Groupe’s flagship strategic communications and engagement company, has announced the appointment of Jaideep Shergill as Chief Executive Officer for MSLGroup India.

     

    While Mr Shergill has led MSL India, MSLGroup’s flagship full-service agency for some years now, he will now lead the group’s other arms as well – specifically, Creative+, Social Hive, 20:20 Social. MSLGroup Asia President Glenn Osaki said, “Mr Shergill has been instrumental in helping us position MSL India as one of the leading networks in the nation today, and has already been working with me and other MSLGroup India senior leaders to chart our aggressive growth and development plans for 2013 and beyond. His passion for our business, commitment to our people and will to win are relentless. I am honored to make this long overdue announcement to one of the most deserving individuals in our entire organization.”

     

    Mr Shergill’s senior-level appointment follows a landmark year for the MSLGroup network in India. MSL India shifted towards a more strategic consultancy approach, and repositioned itself from traditional PR practitioners to strategic communications and engagement consultants. The agency refined its brand identity by re-branding Hanmer MSL to MSL India, and led the market in thought-leadership by developing a series of compelling whitepapers that explored the Indian PR industry, economic reforms, e-commerce and society. Its second annual PR industry report, ‘Public Relations in India: Inside the Industry’s Mind and the 2013 Outlook’ was launched on January 16. The network also won many of the client pitches in India including Sony, eBay, Singapore Tourism Board, Intel, Haier, Bangalore International Airport, KPMG, Pfizer and many others. With Mr Shergill’s appointment, MSLGroup India enters a new chapter of growth and development that will increase its level of engagement with key local, regional and global clients.

     

  • To be held on February 2 in Mumbai, the first ever International Advertising Association Leadership Awards will recognize and honour outstanding individuals in the fields of marketing, advertising and media

    Colors is presenting sponsor for IAA Leadership Awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    The International Advertising Association’s (IAA) India chapter has roped in general entertainment channel Colors as the Presenting Sponsor for the first ever IAA Leadership Awards to be held in Mumbai on February 2.

     

    The IAA Leadership Awards celebrates individual innovative thinking and performance excellence. The awards also seek to acknowledge the fact that the disciplines of marketing, advertising and media have to come together for the brand’s success, by having all three functional disciplines honoured simultaneously.

     

    Talking about this association Raj Nayak, CEO Colors said, “As an organization we have always supported industry initiatives, for example we recently sponsored The Advertising Club’s Effies. This is yet another step in that direction.  This is the first time when marketing professionals and advertising professionals from both disciplines (creative and media) and professionals from Media (Print TV, Radio, Digital etc) will come under one roof to honour excellence across all the three, and we are extremely happy and excited to be a part of this initiative by the IAA.”

     

    Speaking about the association with Colors, IAA president Srinivasan Swamy said, “The IAA Leadership Awards salutes the brilliance of top professionals whose contribution makes our industry what it is. Colors is a respectable and one of the fastest growing media brands and we are extremely grateful and happy that they have come forward to support this initiative. The awards night promises to be a memorable one with top entertainment and celebrations. I am also very grateful to the Honourable Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Mr Manish Tiwari, for agreeing to be our chief guest for the awards night.”

     

  • The inaugural awards for media, ad and marketing professionals tomorrow is to be followed by a star-studded Colors party

    IAA Leadership Awards: Stage set for big night for Indian media & marketing

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    All roads will lead to the Grand Hyatt tomorrow. Situated in what’s the new centre of Mumbai, the hotel will play host to the first ever awards for the country’s marketing, advertising and media fraternity. Organised by the India chapter of the International Advertising Association, there are 19 categories, nominees for most of which have been announced.

     

    Manish Tewari

    I&B Minister Manish Tewari is the Chief Guest and he will give away the awards. Colors is the sponsor of the awards. The awards presentation will be followed by a party celebrating four years of the channel.

     

    Although the organizers haven’t revealed too much about the entertainment acts during the show or who is going to emcee the evening, what we do know is that some of the biggest stars in Bollywood and television will be in attendance. As of course all the people who matter in the media, advertising and marketing fraternity.

     

    IAA’s commitment to the cause:

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Over the years, the IAA has indeed been spearheading activities towards the environment and sustainability. Said IAA President Srinivasan Swamy: “The IAA in India has always organized marquee events. Events that are not just big, but also meaningful. Many will remember the Lighting a Billion Lives campaign we created and ran to create awareness and raise money to install solar lamps in dark villages all over India as a part of Dr Rajendra Pachauri’s project. Many have been a part of the Olive Crown Awards for we launched two years ago. These remain India’s only awards for excellence in communicating sustainability.

     

    We have recently launched a large gender sensitization program which consists of a seminar to create awareness about gender nuances amongst content creators and a national communication campaign on the evils of eve-teasing  and we will roll it out soon. We see it as our duty to ourselves and to the women in our country. I believe all these initiatives endorse IAA¹s commitment to the communications industry and to society in general.

     

    In a similar vein, IAA Leadership Awards is a major initiative. These awards salute the most distinguished from the marketing, media and advertising functions… the silent warriors, who had made their companies and brands rich and famous.

     

    This is the first year of the IAA Leadership Awards and I am extremely pleased with the overwhelming response we have received from the industry. There may have been some categories we may have missed out this time due to time constraints like Digital, Radio etc and hopefully we will include it in Year 2.

     

    I must add that we found in Colors a great partner to not only finance this important initiative but to put their entire organizational weight behind marshaling the event and sweating out the million details. We are very grateful to Raj Nayak and his tireless team.

     

    Raj Nayak

    Said Raj Nayak on the eve of the event, “This is an award that the India chapter of the IAA had always wanted to do. The idea was seeded  almost a year-and-a-half ago when Kaushik Roy was the President, and Sunder the vice-president. The IAA board has been fully behind this initiative and the only thing that stood in the way was the resource to make this a reality. We at Colors saw this as a great opportunity for us to engage with our all the stakeholders of our industry and use this platform to bring the entire industry under one roof. Besides senior  professionals from advertising, marketing and media, the evening will be followed by a Colors party wherein we will also have the film and TV fraternity rubbing shoulders with the corporate world.”

     

    So is it a one-off sponsorship or a longer commitment? “We have a long term association with the IAA for this initiative and we plan to dovetail the Colors party along with it to make it an annual event,” said Mr Nayak, adding that his only regret is that “after these awards I may become a little unpopular as given the capacity constraint of the venue we had to limit our invitations and have had to say no to so many requests.”

     

    The organizers also point out the “wholehearted” support they’ve received from the fraternity. Apart from ads and mailers from trade sites such as MxMIndia, the print, television and outdoor media has also helped promote the event. “Honestly, the support we have got from or friends in media, whether it is TV, print or trade websites, the response has been fantastic. I am truly grateful to all of them,” said Mr Nayak.

     

    Meanwhile, the IAA has released nominees for another 5 categories of Leadership Awards

     

    The International Advertising Association (IAA) India chapter has announced the nominees for another five categories for the first edition of the IAA Leadership Awards. The nominees have been shortlisted on account of their outstanding contribution to the fields of Marketing, Advertising and Media.

     

    Besides the below, IAA has also constituted special six categories for Editor of the year, News Anchor of the year, Mediaperson of the year, the Brand Endorser of the year (Male and Female) and the IAA Hall of Fame.

     

    Nominees announced for five more categories: 

    The following are the list of nominees revealed today across five categories to win the IAA Leadership Awards:

     

     

  • YC Deveshwar, Sam Balsara and Piyush Pandey were amongst winners at the inaugural awards

    IAA awards media & marketing honchos at leadership awards

    Srinivasan K Swamy with I&B Minister Manish Tewari

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    ITC CEO YC Deveshwar, Madison World CEO Sam Balsara and Ogilvy & Mather CEO Piyush Pandey were amongst the award-winners at the first ever International Advertising Association (IAA) Leadership Awards held in Mumbai on Saturday. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari was chief guest of the evening.

     

    The International Advertising Association is the world’s only globally-focused integrated advertising trade association with membership representing Advertisers. Agencies and the Media. Well-known research firm The Nielsen Company and consulting firm Ernst & Young were associated with the event that was organised and sponsored by the Colors general entertainment channel.

     

    Popular television artist Mini Mathur emceed the evening as the fraternity was welcomed by IAA’s India chapter president Srinivasan K Swamy and Colors CEO Raj Nayak. In his address, the I&B minister asked the industry to mull over pressing issues like ad duration in channels, effective viewership measurement, adding that the government will not institute any regulations without consulting the industry.

    Award Categoy Awardee
    Marketer of the Year: Travel & Hospitality  Manish Kalra, Make My  trip
    Marketer of the Year: Banking  Sujit Ganguli, ICICI Bank
    Marketer of the Year: Insurance  Rita Bhattacharya, LIC
    Marketer of the Year: Media & Entertainment  Gayatri Yadav, Star India
    Marketer of the Year: Household Products  Amit Syngle, Asian Paints
    Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Personal Care  Arun Srinivas, HUL
    Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Food & Beverages  Chandramouli Venkatesan, Cadbury Kraft India
    Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Consumer Durables  Rahul Saighal, Samsung Appliances
    Marketer of the Year : Auto Two Wheeler Anil Dua, Hero Motocorp
    Marketer of the Year: Auto Commercial vehicles  UT Ramprasad , Tata Motors
    Marketer of the Year: Auto Passenger Vehicles  Mr. Mayank Pareek, Maruti Suzuki
    Marketer of the Year: Telecom Products  Anuradha Aggarwal, Vodafone
    Media Agency Head of the Year  Sam Balsara, Madison World
    Creative Agency Head of the Year  Piyush Pandey for Ogilvy & Mather India
    Best CEO  Y C Deveshwar, ITC
    News Anchor of the year  Rajdeep Sardesai, CNN-IBN
    Editor of the year  Jaideep Bose, The Times of India
    Mediaperson of the year  Shobhana Bhartia, HT Media
    Brand Endorser of the year – Female  Katrina Kaif
    Brand Endorser of the year – Male  Salman Khan
    IAA Hall of Fame  Pradeep Guha

     

    Also amongst the winners was Bollywood actor Salman Khan who made his first ever appearance at an awards function with IAA Leadership Awards. The actor known to have bagged maximum endorsements and is on a high with brands queuing to sign him, bagged the award for the Brand Endorser of the Year – Male. Katrina Kaif was awarded Brand Endorser of the Year – Female. Mr Pradeep Guha, former IAA president who has been CEO, Zee Entertainment and President, Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd was admitted to the IAA’s Hall of Fame with the lifetime achievement award.

     

    Marketers from across 12 categories were among the awardwinners as also were Editor of the Year (Jaideep Bose) and News Anchor of the Year (Rajdeep Sardesai). Shobhana Bhartia, chairperson of  HT Media, was awarded the Mediaperson of the Year award. The table above has the list of winners.

  • CEO Shankar B is ecstatic that a strong portfolio makes his Chennai-headquartered outsourcing firm a trusted ally of top media brands

    Fourth Dimension turns two

    By A Correspondent

     

    Shankar B

    It’s celebration time at the office of Fourth Dimension in Chennai’s bustling T-Nagar. For, on February 7, the premier media outsourcing firm completes two years of existence. Set up by seasoned media professional, Shankar B, Fourth Dimension (FD) has seen a dramatic rise and now has a 33-strong team across offices in Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi.

     

    Mr Shankar says he has been fortunate to have some top-rated media entities in his portfolio right from the start. Puthiyathalaimurai news channel, that’s popularly called PT has emerged as the numero uno channel thanks to an absence of a political alignment. Among FD’s clients is Sathiyam News which too is placed on top of the charts amongst Tamil news channels. “We also have V6 News, a 24-hour Telugu satellite news journalist-driven channel and Chennai Live 104.8 FM, the only English FM station in Chennai.”

     

    Beyond television, Fourth Dimension also represents the weekly Puthiyathalaimurai magazine, career mag Puthiyathalaimurai Kalvi and as well PuthiyaThalaimurai.tv, the website of the PT news channel.

     

    According to Mr Shankar, while he will continue to grow, the focus will be on representing niche channels and offer the right sales and even marketing support to those who need it. Fourth Dimension has already diversified into events by not just selling sponsorships (as in the case of a tie-up with E18, but also organizing them.

     

  • Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head, Big 92.7 FM speaks to MxMIndia about the station's remarkable growth in Delhi and other markets

    Jaldi 5 with Ashwin Padmanabhan: Going retro for differentiation

    By Ananya Saha

     

    Over the past 12 months, 92.7 Big FM has seen a phenomenal growth in the Delhi market with the average share growing to 11.3 from an average share of about 6. Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head, Big 92.7 FM speaks to MxM India about the station’s remarkable growth in Delhi, and other markets.

     

    01. What has contributed to this growth?

     

    Late last year we did studies and research to understand the unique and mass position of Big FM in Delhi. And with this research we decided to go retro. We took a clear-cut and distinct positioning of a retro music station with ‘Hit The, Hit Rahenge’. Within eight weeks of changing our music positioning along with a new RJ line-up that was more mature and new local shows, we saw a trend of increasing listernership. So, sampling started happening. In the 52nd week, we started averaging to 11.2 points from the previous 6. It tipped in second week of 2013, when three FM stations in Delhi stopped airing for a week. It became a two-horse race between Fever and us. What is heartening for us, we tipped Fever, which has been leading in Delhi, in this week. Our share went upto 33 percent in that week.

     

    02. Is Delhi witnessing faster growth than other markets where Big 92.7 is present?

    We have grown across markets. As per the Q2 and Q3 IRS figures, we have seen significant growth and continue to be leaders in Hindi-speaking markets. We have actually grown further from last quarter to this quarter. In Bengaluru, we have been growing and are a strong No.2. We did see a dip about an year back, and we have clawed back since then. We have been a very strong No.2 in Kolkata but now, our big shows like Breakfast Show are consistently No.1 in Kolkata. In Hyderabad, we have traditionally been strong, so we are maintaining that. In Chennai, we are witnessing quarter-on-quarter growth. According to IRS and the last round of RAM that happened in Chennai, we came at No.3.

     

    We have seen overall growth happening across our markets.

     

    03. Has the growth resulted in higher ad revenues?

    The growth has resulted in the brand becoming more visible and audible, and top-of-mind for our potential advertisers. We are seeing a larger offtake from advertisers. A lot of this is also being driven from smaller markets where SMEs and large brands from Tier II markets are taking to our network in a big way. Many of them are actually using our network to launch their products.

     

    Have the ad rates increased?

    We have been looking at increasing. At this point in time, we have been able to maintain our ad rates. But we are surely looking at increasing yields 15-20 percent depending on the market.

     

    04. Do on-ground or off-air and on-ground marketing initiatives help an on-air brand?

    When we lauched and introduced Retro in Delhi, we initially just allowed the people to sample our station for good three months. Then we did our first campaign in Delhi – Mohabatien, which was to promote our 11am-2pm show. Then we did the concert with Kailash Kher. And then on, it has been primarily driven by content that we have been creating on-air. Our marketing has been from weekly street-level perspective when we have tried to reach our listeners and tried to acquire new listeners through street-level activations that we do on weekly basis.

     

    There has been a lot of consumer engagement on-ground. It has been sampling and activation-based marketing rather than marketing in the pure sense.

     

    05. What can we expect from 92.7 FM in the coming months?

    We have Retro positioning in four stations: Indore, Delhi, Bhopal and Surat. We are looking at engaging with consumer at 2-3 levels in this market. We are creating platform for consumers to come on and express themselves. In Indore and Bhopal, we have just finished this initiative called Big Hindustani.

     

    In Delhi, we are looking at series of concerts – Hit The, Hit Rahenge that we’ll do every quarter. It will be Retro music celebrated by today’s musicians and singers. We are also launching talent hunt across our network in March – Big Star Voice. The big gratification being – a chance to sing for a movie. There are going to be local activations that will happen in each of these markets, which will be driven by the positioning of our station in those markets.

     

    We invest, and will continue to invest in differentiated content.

     

    Is Big 92.7 FM looking at internet radio?

    At this point, obviously everyone is looking at internet radio. But we need more time in terms of clarity on music licensing policies on internet. Hopefully, when we get that clarity, we will surely look at it.

     

  • Rana Barua joins Contract as COO succeeding Umesh Shrikhande who left recently

    Rana Barua quits Law & Kenneth to join Contract as COO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rana Barua

    Two decades back, he had joined the advertising major as a trainee in the Kolkata office. And now he’s back to the fold, right on top. JWT South Asia has announced the appointment of Rana Barua as the COO of Contract Advertising, India. Mr Barua succeeds Umesh Shrikhande, who recently left the agency.

     

    A seasoned media and marketing professional with nearly two decades of experience, Rana Barua joins from Law & Kenneth, where he was the COO. “Rana has diverse management experience with a proven track record that makes him an ideal choice for Contract, one of India’s leading independent integrated advertising agencies”, said Colvyn Harris, CEO JWT South Asia on the appointment. “I am confident that Rana with his experience across advertising and integrated brand solutions will ensure that Contract continues to be a very successful agency,” Mr Harris said.

     

    Colvyn Harris

    “I am excited with the opportunity of being a part of the Contract story. It is a wonderful time for our industry as it continues to evolve so rapidly. Contract is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this and I am confident I will be able to facilitate this process by partnering with the senior management team”, said Mr Barua on his appointment which is effective today (February 4).

     

     

    “Contract has always been an attractive destination for people who are passionate about creativity and process of brand building. Rana with his diverse experience will add value to Contract and will help take the journey ahead. We look forward to having him on board,” said Ravi Deshpande, Chairman and CCO, Contract

     

    Ravi Deshpande

    Prior to Law & Kenneth, Mr Barua was COO of RED FM (2010-12) and the EVP Programming and Marketing for Radio City (2006-10) where he successfully repositioned the radio station to make it amongst the top two stations in the country. He started his career in advertising having worked at HTA (JWT) in 1993-94, Ogilvy (1995-96), McCann (1996-2000) & Rediffusion Y&R (2000-05).

     

    His category experience includes working with brands like Renault, eBay, ING Life, Godrej, Reckitt Benckiser, J&J, Gillette Parker, Microsoft, HP, Tata Tea, ZydusCadila, Levers, Tata AIG & AIA, Marico, Virgin Atlantic, ITC, to name a few.

     

     

     

  • The iButterfly application, which has won many industry awards, creates a virtual environment where marketers can push branded messages or promotional information to their target audience by transforming simple content into colourful virtual butterflies

    Dentsu Digital launches mobile marketing platform iButterfly

    By A Correspondent

     

    Originally developed by Dentsu Inc., “iButterfly” was first launched in Japan in 2010 as a “Coupon Entertainment” platform. It’s innovative design and simple user experience soon connected with consumers across the country and became a massive marketing success story.

     

    After creating waves in Japan, iButterfly has been successfully launched across the Asian region by many Dentsu network agencies. Markets include Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand and others.

     

    The iButterfly application, which has won many industry awards, works through a combination of three technologies : Augmented Reality, Motion Sensing and GPS. It creates a virtual environment where marketers can push branded messages or promotional information to their target audience by transforming simple content into colourful virtual butterflies that can be ‘caught’ on mobile devices and stored through a simple swipe action.

     

    Once these butterflies are caught they can be collected and redeemed or traded for exciting offers. These virtual butterflies can also be exchanged amongst friends & family. iButterfly is also integrated into social media, ie Facebook, where consumers can keep track of new offers and information on various brands by signing up for and following the iButterfly conversation.

     

    Dentsu Digital India is introducing this engagement platform in India for the first time with more enhanced features that are custom-built for the Indian consumer.

     

    With the increasing smartphone penetration in urban India, as well as the huge demand for mobile apps and games, from a marketers perspective the uniqueness of “iButterfly” is that one can select a designated time, range and location where butterflies can be introduced – this adds to the flexibility of running multiple campaigns across various locations.

     

    Apart from offers and privileges, marketers can also publish brand information or hyperlink the butterflies to their own official website , apps or even Facebook fan pages. iButterfly can also trigger consumer purchase behaviour by driving them to visit retail stores to collect special edition brand butterflies, therefore stimulating impulse purchase for a brand and increasing the opportunity to sell.

     

    Rohit Ohri, Chairman of Dentsu India Group, said, “iButterfly is a truly transformational platform that will help brands in India create massive differentiation. In a highly fragmented media environment today, brands need to connect with consumers in a disruptive yet simple way. And iButterfly does exactly that by putting the experience right into the hands of the customers.  For customers today, it’s all about the power of immediacy and instant gratification.”

     

    How to play iButterfly:-

    1. Free download iButterfly at iTunes store

    2. Turn the mobile device left and right to catch butterflies

    3. Once the Butterfly is saved and stored

    4. Click the Butterfly to view details of content

    5. Hyperlink to brand’s website

    6. Enjoy special offers and discount at retail points

    7. Search for your favorite Butterflies via Google maps and continue to catch them at various locations

    8. Now share your Butterflies via Facebook or Bluetooth with friends and family

    To find out more about iButterfly, visit http://www.iButterfly.in

     

     

  • Ignitee Digital Services has been signed on as the digital marketing partner by American Swan, the global online and lifestyle brand owned by The American Swan Lifestyle Company

    Ignitee bags digital duties of American Swan

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ignitee Digital Services has been signed on as the digital marketing partner by American Swan, the global online and lifestyle brand owned by The American Swan Lifestyle Company.

     

    Ignitee Digital Services will undertake to establish a strong digital footprint for American Swan in the fast growing Indian lifestyle and fashion segment. It has developed the corporate website for American Swan and will now manage the brand’s social media campaigns and communication across assets including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. Additionally, Ignitee will also manage the digital media planning and buying for the brand across platforms.

     

    Atul Hegde

    Atul Hegde, CEO, Ignitee Digital Services, said, “The fashion and lifestyle segment in e-commerce has shown the largest growth this year. It’s a crowded but very exciting space to be in. American Swan with its globally designed products is uniquely placed to leverage this booming trend online. Ignitee will put all its might in making American Swan one of the premier fashion brands online.”

     

    According to a recent report by Google India, apparel and accessories has emerged as the second biggest product category with 30 percent market share in the e-commerce space. Other categories that have witnessed a significant growth online include beauty and personal care with 10 percent, and home and furnishing with 6 percent market share respectively.

     

    On partnering with Ignitee Digital Services, Anurag Rajpal, Director and CEO, The American Swan Lifestyle Company said, “The American Swan brand has been conceived and developed to be aspirational, accessible and affordable. We aim for a differentiation through our brand proposition and positioning to offer affordable luxury to an aspiration-led audience. We want to bring our target audience closer to the brand through our digital activities and for this we have brought Ignitee Digital on board.”

     

  • The magazine, which had turned weekly in 1999, will also see a change in its physical dimensions and design

    BusinessWorld turns fortnightly

    By Ananya Saha

     

    BusinessWorld, the popular ABP Group business newsmagazine, is set to become a fornightly. The last issue in the weekly format is dated Feb 11, 2013. The fortnightly BW will see a change in its physical dimensions and its design. In a letter to the readers, Editor Prosenjit Datta said, “Based on feedback gathered over the past couple of years, we are adding many new sections and features to the magazine while also expanding existing sections and rethinking others.”

     

    BusinessWorld had turned weekly in 1999. Mr Datta explained the rationale of the decision: “In 1999, when we had turned weekly, there was a very clear need to do so. Twitter did not exist, and the internet contained largely static content when it came to news. There was just one business news channel and it focused mostly on stocks. There was a great need for a business newsweekly. Most of the newspapers concentrated on news, and not analysis. Even though there were feature pages in all newspapers, they were not enough to capture the full implications of the rapidly changing business environment. There was a crying need for a weekly publication that could analyse in detail the implications of the events taking place.

     

    Over time though, the world changed and so did BW’s core content. As the Internet matured, and more dedicated business channels were born, they took over the primary role of disseminating news. At the same time, BW itself evolved and began focusing increasingly on analysing changes that would throw up big business opportunities, or would reshape existing industries. We were also looking at the new generation of businesses and businessmen, and the long-term plans of established business houses. News became an increasingly small portion of what BW offered.”

     

    The editor, however, promises that BW is stepping out of the news genre to focus entirely on issues, events and trends that affect business and the economy, apart from greater analysis. BW will also be expanding its coverage to several areas based on readers’ feedback, which could not be created earlier because of the constraints of the weekly format.