MxMIndia

Category: NEWS

  • AAAI goes on offensive, says advertisers left with no option but to cancel activity on 8 broadcast groups

    AAAI goes on offensive, says advertisers left with no option but to cancel activity on 8 broadcast groups

    By A Correspondent

     

    Arvind Sharma

    In what appears to be a clear offensive against broadcasters, the Advertising Agencies Association of India issued a statement on on the current impasse on Television Audience Measurement. Said Arvind Sharma, President of the AAAI: “For fourteen years, TAM has been the TV Audience measurement system in the country. It has been the currency on the basis of which advertising planning, buying and selling have been conducted. We all agree that this measurement system needs to evolve. That is the common goal towards which broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies came together to create Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). BARC will take 10 months or so to start generating its audience measurement data. In the meantime, however, if individual broadcasters try to force unilateral changes in the current system, as some have tried, it will result in a disorderly and hybrid measurement system. It will become impossible for advertising agencies and advertisers to plan and therefore, buy TV spots. In this scenario, it is natural for advertisers to begin to question the value of advertising in this medium at all. Cancellation of TV releases by many advertisers on eight network groups that have insisted on unilateral changes is a natural outcome of that. More clients are following”.

     

    The statement adds: AAAI believes that any change in the TV measurement system needs to be thought through and to have support from all the three industry constituents – Broadcasters, Advertisers and Advertising Agencies. “We continue to be firmly of the belief that dialogue among all constituents is essential for evolving the system. We remain open to discussions, as always. However, this does require similar openness across all constituents. We will continue to work towards a dialogue,” said Arvind Sharma.

     

  • The clock's ticking for the 72 working day hours after the 1st of the ad withdrawal notices were sent on Fri

    Will the ad switch-off get broadcasters to revert to weekly ratings?

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Logically, ads of FMCG majors who sent letters to eight broadcast group on Friday evening should’ve been off air from late last night, but given that there was a Sunday in between, the 72-hour notice given is being considered to be 72 working day hours.

     

    The advertisers have decided to take on the broadcasters head-on. “We’ve decided we don’t want to get bullied any longer,” one big spender told MxMIndia, adding that the channels need to acknowledge that until there is enough money from distribution, it’s the ads that are funding their business.

     

    While broadcasters have adopted a wait-and-watch game, privately, they admit that they are cornered this time around. Moreover, a Colgate needn’t worry about Oral B using this opportunity to over-advertise because both Colgate and P&G have sent us pull-out letters, one channel revenue head told us.

     

    However, the real losers, as industry analysts tell us, are the broadcasters because the revenue loss will be real when it actually starts. “Since most broadcasters are CEO-run or are publicly listed, the stakes are lower for CEOs,” the analyst told us. Except for Zee and Sri Adhikari Brothers, a blip is not a huge worry for MNC-owned or listed company CEOs. “It’s only when the losses mount that the international/regional headquarters will start putting the pressure.”

     

    Meanwhile, another analyst MxMIndia spoke to reasoned that broadcasters will lose out by asking for monthly data. “The monthly release is not going to be a combined number for 30-31 days. It will give you the same weekly break-up. So it’s in a sense a case of deferred live.” Advertisers and media agencies can still review the numbers and nail the channels sales team, he said. “The problem is also for the channel programming team and bosses because in the absence of weekly data, they will not be able to tweak content if ratings are going south and it’s tougher doing it after month,” said the analyst.

     

    The industry-watchers we spoke with believe that for advertisers the issue is now of their egos being hurt by the insistence of broadcasters to go monthly. The demand to refer the matter to the BARC technical committee has been shot down because there is a feeling that the switch to a monthly release of numbers will not get a two-thirds majority that may be deemed imperative for changing the ‘technical’ framework of measurement.

     

    Meanwhile, the offensive against broadcasters was raised last evening by the Advertising Agencies Association of India issuing  a statement on the current impasse on Television Audience Measurement. Said Arvind Sharma, President of the AAAI: “For fourteen years, TAM has been the TV Audience measurement system in the country. It has been the currency on the basis of which advertising planning, buying and selling have been conducted. We all agree that this measurement system needs to evolve. That is the common goal towards which broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies came together to create Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). BARC will take 10 months or so to start generating its audience measurement data. In the meantime, however, if individual broadcasters try to force unilateral changes in the current system, as some have tried, it will result in a disorderly and hybrid measurement system. It will become impossible for advertising agencies and advertisers to plan and therefore, buy TV spots. In this scenario, it is natural for advertisers to begin to question the value of advertising in this medium at all. Cancellation of TV releases by many advertisers on eight network groups that have insisted on unilateral changes is a natural outcome of that. More clients are following”.

     

    The statement added: AAAI believes that any change in the TV measurement system needs to be thought through and to have support from all the three industry constituents – Broadcasters, Advertisers and Advertising Agencies. “We continue to be firmly of the belief that dialogue among all constituents is essential for evolving the system. We remain open to discussions, as always,” said Mr Sharma.

     

    Hinting at the broadcasting fraternity’s refusal to budge, Mr Sharma said: “This does require similar openness across all constituents. We will continue to work towards a dialogue.”

     

    What all stakeholders are hoping for is the emergence of a back-channel to negotiate a settlement between the stakeholders. Watch this space for more.

     

  • Discovery Networks which had reportedly written to TAM to switch to monthly reporting of data is now said to have communicated to the measurement agency asking for a revert to the weekly format.

    Discovery asks TAM to revert to weekly ratings

    By Chaitanya Rathod

     

    In what is being termed a significant development and possibly a crack in the solidarity of the broadcasters on the television measurement issue, Discovery Networks is said to have communicated to the measurement agency asking for a revert to the weekly format. The network had written to TAM recently to switch to monthly reporting of data for three channels.

     

    Though we could not reach the Discovery or TAM spokespersons for comment, the news has been confirmed to us by a reliable industry source.

     

    As is known a slew of advertisers have sent 72-hour notices to broadcasters asking for their ads to pulled given the insistence that TAM publish measurement data for the channels only once a month.

     

  • India managed to clinch only 7 metals, including 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 5 Bronzes in the four categories for which the winners were declared – Design, Press, Radio & Cyber

    ‘The Hinglish Project’ and 6 other wins add on to India’s tally on Day 4

    By A Correspondent

     

    Day 4 at the Grand Auditorium, Palais des Festivals was not as eventful for the Indian contingent as the metals failed to come in big numbers as envisaged. India managed to clinch only 7 metals, including 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 5 Bronzes in the four categories for which the winners were declared – Design, Press, Radio & Cyber. In Cyber there were no shortlists from India.

     

    The Gold was bagged in the Design Lions category which had a total of eight shortlists from India. DDB Mudra Group was the winner of the lone Gold for their work ‘The Hinglish Project’, bagged under the Consumer Services category, the work was for Ministry of Tourism under the Incredible India initiative.

     

    Ogilvy & Mather’s work for Mentos Sour Marbles saw it bag a Bronze

    The creative credits for the entry include Sonal Dabral, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Pratap Bose, Chief Operations Officer, Louella Rebello, ECD, Shirin Johari, Associate Creative Director – Copy & Art, Michael Remedios, Agency Producer & Warren Pereira of W Films.

     

    Incidentally, The Hinglish Project also bagged a Bronze in the Design Typography category. Reacting to the win, Louella Rebello, ECD, DDB Mudra Mumbai said: “The Hinglish Project has been a labour of love. We named it ‘The Hinglish Project’ because it is exactly that. A project that aims to demystify Hindi and make it familiar and more approachable by using a wonderful blend of the two languages. It was very well received and appreciated even before it was entered and the Cannes Lions are testimony to this. Kudos to Shirin Johari. At DDB Mudra, it’s champagne time as we bring home our Lions.”

     

    Perhaps the biggest disappointment for the Indian contingent was in the Press Lions category where it managed only four metals out of a total of 30 shortlists. The big winner was Leo Burnett as it bagged Silver for its client Bajaj Electricals. Leo Burnett bagged the award in the Home Appliances & Furnishings category; the creative team for which included KV Sridhar – CCO, Nitesh Tiwari – ECD, Vikram Pandey – CD, Vikram Pandey – Copywriter, Brijesh Parmar – Art Director, Amol Jadhav – Photographer, Sushma Singh/Adya Thakur – Account Supervisor and Beena Koshy – Advertiser’s Supervisor.

     

    The Print category also brought in three Bronzes forIndiawhich included one by Ogilvy & Mather for Mentos Sour Marbles – the team for which included Abhijit Avasthi/Rajiv Rao, CCO, Priti Arora, CD, Tushar Pal, Copywriter, Deelip Khomane, Illustrator and Typographer.

     

    O&M bagged another Bronze in Press Lions for its work around Hot Wheels

    The other bronze went to BBDO India for its ‘White Collar Hippies’ campaign – the team for which comprised Josy Paul, CCO, Rajdeepak Das, ECD, Sandeep Sawant, CD, Yohan Daver, copywriter; while the third Bronze went to Ogilvy & Mather for ‘Hotwheels’ for its client Mattel Toys – the team for which included Abhijit Avasthi/Rajiv Rao, CCO and Sukesh Kumar Nayak, ECD & Copywriter.

     

    The other Bronze was bagged in the Radio Lions category by Leo BurnettIndiafor Strand Bookstall. The team for the campaign was led by K V Sridhar, CCO, Nitesh Tiwari, ECD and Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, CD of Leo Burnett.

     

  • TBWA\India has announced the appointment of Shirin Johari as Creative Director. Ms Johari will be based in Mumbai, reporting to Parixit Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer of the agency.

    Shirin Johari joins TBWA as CD

    By A Correspondent

     

    Shirin Johari

    TBWA\India has announced the appointment of Shirin Johari as Creative Director. Ms Johari will be based in Mumbai, reporting to Parixit Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer of the agency.

     

    Commenting on Ms Johari’s appointment, Shiv Sethuraman, Chief Executive Officer of TBWA\India Group, said, “Shirin represents the kind of multi-talented, progressive and ambitious person we are seeking to attract at TBWA. I believe our client brand portfolio and width of offer will provide an excellent canvas for Shirin to deploy her talents.”

     

    Parixit Bhattacharya

    Said Mr Bhattacharya, “Shirin’s creative pedigree and track record speak for themselves. She is unquestionably one of the best talents in the industry today. She is passionate about using her skills for good. At TBWA, we are building a team of people who are inventive, ambitious and kind. Shirin is one such individual and I can’t wait to see what she has in store for our clients.”

     

    Ms Johari began her career in 2005 with JWT, and has also worked at Ogilvy, Creativeland Asia and DDB Mudra. Over the past eight years, she has worked with clients such as HSBC, Vodafone, Emirates, Parle Agro, Frooti, Baileys, TopGear and Volkswagen. She has won over 30 national and international awards for various campaigns, the two most recent being Gold and Bronze in the Design category at the 2013 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for ‘The Hinglish Project’.

     

    Shiv Sethuraman

    “One of the things that drew me to TBWA was what Parixit said about creativity with a conscience,” Ms Johari commented. “Creative work should either solve a problem, make something easier to do, change a perception, enlighten, or simply entertain. I’m really looking forward to creating work at TBWA that can serve as a catalyst for positive change in society.”

     

  • Lowe Lintas gets picked up as OLX's creative agency after a stiff multi-agency pitch

    Online classifieds site OLX selects Lowe Lintas as creative agency

    By A Correspondent

     

    After some memorable advertising creative by Saatchi & Saatchi, OLX had moved its mandate to ITSA even as it was rumoured to be looking at an all-new creative agency.

     

    Now, the online classifieds site has announced the selection of Lowe Lintas & Partners to build on its brand communication and strengthen its position in the digital space.

     

    In a communique, Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX India, said, “The initial TV ads and messaging of ‘Sab Kuch Bikta Hai’ and ‘OLX pe bech de’ has witnessed positive mass appeal resulting in immense brand recall and a clear user preference for the brand. Building up from here, we want to take this notion a step further to fortify OLX’s brand equity and humanize the brand. Having weighed all the proposals and looking at the best fit, we chose Lowe Lintas for their ‘Populist’ creativity, their focus on business results and their understanding of our brand.”

     

    Commenting on the win, Amer Jaleel, National Creative Director, Lowe Lintas said: “OLX is an extremely dynamic and exciting brand. The most interesting thing is that it’s a completely new category with challenges of changing human behaviour. There will be opportunities to crack new insights, and therefore the brand would allow us to introduce absolutely fresh communication.”

     

  • The finance firm launches the Do Right Initiative at www.doright.in

    Tata Capital invites Indians to share their ‘Do Right’ story

    By A Correspondent

     

    Financial services firm Tata Capital has launched the ‘Do Right’ initiative with the aim of “inspiring and inculcating the ‘right’ values in children from a young age, so that an overall positive impact is made in society at large”.

     

    The initiative, reflective of Tata Capital’s brand promise – ‘We only do what’s right for you’, is an attempt to get parents and other adults to spread the spirit of ‘doing right’,inspiring children through their actions, informs a communique. As a key step in the Do Right initiative, Tata Capital has launched the ‘Do Right’ Stories, a compilation of warm, heart-warming stories of children exhibiting the spirit of ‘do right’ in their daily lives. Individuals are encouraged to share their childhood stories or stories of their children exhibiting values such as trust, respect and honesty on the Do Right Stories platform on the website www.doright.in.

     

    A highlight of the exercise is also the Tata Capital Signature song, the lyrics of which have been written by lyricist Gulzar and whose music has been composed and performed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

     

  • MSLGroup bags Holmes Report and Campaign Asia-Pacific PR Week awards for public relations

    MSLGroup is Asia Pacific Consultancy of the Year

    MSLGroup, the Publicis group’s strategic communications and engagement consultancy, was awarded ‘Asia-Pacific Consultancy of the Year’ by the Holmes Report, a web-based publication and engagement firm. Last month, the firm was also awarded the Agency Network of the Year by Campaign Asia-Pacific 2013 PR Week Awards.

     

    “A third consecutive year of 30 percent or better organic growth in Asia means that the MSLGroup has established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the region,” said Arun Sudhaman and Paul Holmes of The Holmes Report 2013 Asia-Pacific Consultancy of the Year award winner.

     

    Glenn Osaki, Asia President, MSLGroup, was unavailable for comment when MxMIndia tried to reach him via his office in Mumbai. However, in a communique, he sent this comment on the win: “If an agency can be in ‘pole position’, then MSLGroup in Asia is. Our business plan for the region outlines ambitious and aggressive plans in Asia.”

     

    Meanwhile, among the other winners of the Asia-Pacific Consultancy of the Year awards for 2013 were: Perfect Relations for India Consultancy of the Year and Adfactors for Financial Consultancy of the Year.

     

    The Holmes Report is conducting its Sabre Awards for India in association with the Public Relations Consultants of India (PRCAI) on Friday, July 26.

     

  • Open magazine has launched a breakfast chat series in association with restaurant chain Some House Deli

    Open magazine launches breakfast chat series

    By  A Correspondent

     

    Arvind Kejriwal with Open editor Manu Joseph Digivijay Singh with Open political editor Hartosh Singh Bal

    Open magazine has launched a breakfast chat series called Open Breakfast @ Smoke House Deli in association with restaurant chain Some House Deli. The chat series has been planned to be held every month and will host prominent public figures, in conversation with the journalists from the newsmagazine. Through the monthly conversations, the magazine desires to illuminate its readers’ understanding of politics, people and culture, notes a communique.

     

    The inaugural event on June 1 featured Arvind Kejriwal, activist and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party in conversation with Manu Joseph, Editor, Open magazine.

     

    The second edition of the series was hosted on July 6 with Congress Party General Secretary Digvijaya Singh in conversation with Hartosh Singh Bal the magazine’s Political Editor.

     

  • Mobile apps preferred over browser for booking and sharing, notes Google India study

    Net savvy smartphone users book travel from their phones: Google report

    By A Correspondent

     

    With the growing adoption of smartphones in India, Google India released a study conducted by research agency Ipsons titled ‘Multi-screen traveller’. The study was conducted to understand the behaviour of smartphone users in India and its impact on the travel vertical – focusing on a target group which uses multiple devices to get online for their travel related needs.

     

    The study revealed that 76% users use both computer and mobile across the travel stages (dreaming, researching, booking, experience, sharing) while 60% users move from one device to another when they switch from researching to booking. Out of the 1500+ leisure travellers surveyed – 87% users said that they have used mobile phones to research about their trips and 66% respondents also booked a trip element on it. 60% said that the information they find while researching on their mobile phones influences their booking decision.

     

    In terms of triggers for holiday planning, online sources were rated higher than offline mediums with Internet getting five touch points in comparison to offline which offered two touch points. The biggest triggers for holiday destinations/planning were online pictures – where 88% users said that online pictures trigger their holiday planning. Browsing pictures on social networks, blogs, travel sites get users to start thinking of their next vacation destination.

     

    In the planning and research phase, the target group did not differentiate between their choice of Internet access device – user’s rated using desktop, mobile and tablets at over 85% – clearly highlighting the multi-screen behavior of the users for holiday or trip planning.  Smartphone’s & tablets were also the first go to devices for travel researchers even at home.  Convenience was rated as the biggest motivator for use of mobile.

     

    Speaking about the study findings, Vikas Agnihotri, Director – Travel & BFSI, Google India, said “We already know that smartphone users on an average spend 76 minutes on the internet through their mobile. The Smartphone user base is set to explode in India to touch 70 million by end of this year. Over 1/3rd of travel related search queries on Google India are now coming from mobile and tablet devices, with queries from smart phones growing at 397% YoY. This study establishes that today’s hyper-connected, hyper-informed Smartphone user is consuming online content across devices. This impacts the complexity in engaging users from a marketer’s standpoint. With travel being the most evolved and mature vertical, we believe that the findings from this study will help them to devise strategies to engage the users across multiple online screens/devices.”

     

    The study also looked at the booking behavior of the smartphone and tablet users, wherein 66% respondents said that they’ve booked using a mobile phone and 69% on a tablet. While the absolute numbers of transactions is low in the real world, the report does indicate the growing trend of bookings being completed on mobile devices from mature users.

     

    From the respondents – 36% users said that they booked a flight on a mobile, while 25% have booked a hotel room and 13% have submitted a holiday lead from their mobile device. The study also revealed significant cross-device attribution. Out of 87% who researched on their mobile phones, 76% booked on mobile and 80% booked on a computer as well. Concerns around security were cited as the biggest barrier for booking on mobile.

     

    The respondents also highlighted the convenience and preference for mobile applications over using mobile browsers for booking their trip and sharing information on the trip. For booking and sharing, mobile app usage was 12% to 15% higher in comparison to mobile sites.

     

    The study highlighted that the Indian travel planner goes through a variety of resources around destination research, like browsing through pictures on social networks (74%), reading trip information on travel sites & apps (56%) and watching videos about destinations (52%).

     

    While on the trip – users also showed high usage of Internet from their mobile phones. Mobile was used as the information and communication wallet when traveling. 74% respondents said they shared or posted on their social network and 46% respondents re-scheduled a trip element using the phone. Over 30% checked maps, weather and events from their mobile phones on a vacation. Post holiday, over 50% respondents said they uploaded photos and posted reviews using their phones and interestingly over 10% had started researching for their next holiday.

     

  • The company is currently scouting for a creative partner for its Skybags brand

    VIP Industries appoints McCann as creative agency

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading luggage manufacturer VIP Industries Pvt Ltd has announced the appointment of McCann Erickson as its creative agency for VIP brand. The company also said that it is currently scouting for a creative partner for its Skybags brand.  The business has moved both its brands -VIP and Skybags from its incumbent agency Ogilvy and Mather

     

    Commenting on the development, Sudip Ghose, Vice President, Marketing- VIP Industries said, “We believe that McCann has the potential of leveraging our innately strong brand and providing the thrust to take it to the next level. ”

     

    Prasoon Joshi

    Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and CEO McCann Worldgroup said, “VIP is among India’s most prestigious brands. We are proud to partner a brand of this stature and heritage. We look forward to doing great work on the brands and a long-term relationship.”

     

  • The online railway reservation website and and Yebhi plan to do over Rs 200 crore of business in the first year

    IRCTC launches online shopping with Yebhi.com

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a landmark move, IRCTC, the subsidiary of the Indian Railways which is into ticketing for trains and now other modes of travel as well, has partnered with Shop Online Trading Pvt Ltd. (SOTPL)m a franchisee of lifestyle and home portal – Yebhi.com.

     

    Through this tie-up, SOTPL and Yebhi.com will be responsible for developing and managing the e-commerce platform for IRCTC. It will be responsible for end-to-end customer experience from User Interface design on the IRCTC Shopping page to final delivery of the product to the customer.

     

    “We are thrilled to partner with IRCTC India’s largest e-commerce website, and look forward to this mutually beneficial association. With this association IRCTC is getting a readymade supply chain with all products offering at one go powered by Yebhi.com and at the same time Yebhi.com is able to reach out real India that starts from tier 2 – tier 3 cities and goes deep into tier4 and 5 cities.” said Manmohan Agarwal CEO Yebhi.com

     

    According to a communiqué, IRCTC gets close to 1.2 million daily visits generating 180 million transactions every year thus making it the largest e-commerce site in the country. Yebhi.com gets close to 100 million visits per annum and does over 2 million transactions every year.

     

    The partnership is based on a tender process that IRCTC opened in February this year to shortlist a partner for its online shopping platform. The tender was open for established e-commerce companies with a minimum annual turnover of Rs 40 crore from B2C e-commerce business in the last financial year and having a catalogue of over 500 brands and offer merchandise from minimum five product categories.

     

    As per the contract SOTPL will be deploying the entire online shopping platform for IRCTC within 60 days from the date of signing of the agreement.