MxMIndia

Category: NEWS

  • The agency's Delhi branch will handle the TV and laptop accounts

    Dentsu Marcom wins creative mandate for Toshiba India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rohit Ohri

    The Dentsu India group has announced that Toshiba India DS division has moved its creative duties to Dentsu Marcom. The pitch process began in May and the partnership was sealed in June. The agency’s Delhi branch will handle the television and laptop accounts.

     

    Talking on this development, Rohit Ohri, Executive Chairman, Dentsu India Group, said “Toshiba India is now gearing up for its next phase of aggressive growth in India. Our integrated communication thinking will be at the centre of our communication approach.”

     

    Adding to this, Sanjay Warke, Country Head, Toshiba India (DS division) said, “Innovation is at the core of our brand and with our brand communication, we aim to inspire our audiences. Dentsu’s understanding of this industry, their skills and the ability to translate consumer insights into unique media touch points, made us choose them as our creative partner.”

     

  • He will do that in addition to being Managing Director Australia and New Zealand for WBCP

    Preston Kevin Lewis to oversee India for Warner Bros Consumer Products

    By A Correspondent

     

    Warner Bros Consumer Products (WBCP) has announced that Preston Kevin Lewis, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, will expand his position to include oversight of the India market, while continuing to drive the Australia and New Zealand businesses. Mr Lewis will be responsible for building WBCP’s interests in India and will oversee all sales, marketing, promotions, clip licensing, media and retail partnerships related to merchandising and product licensing business for the market.  He will continue to report to Jeffrey Whalen, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Latin America and Asia-Pacific for Warner Bros Consumer Products (WBCP).

     

    The appointment comes as WBCP places increased focus on emerging markets to develop significant brand growth around the Studio’s extensive portfolio of properties. Expanding his role into India, Mr Lewis will continue to build the business utilizing WBCP’s arsenal of brands, from classic animated fare like Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry, to the DC Comics Super Heroes portfolio, and theatrical films including Man of Steel, Godzilla and The Hobbit Trilogy to popular properties such as The Big Bang Theory.

     

  • The Dentsu Communications division bags the mandate for the Indian Army account

    Citizen Dentsu wins Indian Army account

    By A Correspondent

     

    Citizen Dentsu has won the Indian Army mandate after a multi-agency pitch process. The  mandate is to create a holistic comprehensive communication package for the Indian Army, a communiqué notes. Their endeavour will be to project the Indian Army as a prestigious, aspirational and exciting career prospect for the youth in the country.

     

    Rohit Ohri

    Rohit Ohri, Executive Chairman, Dentsu India Group said, “We’ve set up Citizen Dentsu with a vision to help trigger positive social change through integrated communications. It’s a matter of great pride for Citizen Dentsu to be appointed as communication partner to the Indian Army. Cutting edge technologies will underpin our integrated communication approach for the Indian Army campaign.”

     

    Commenting on winning the account, Arijit Ray, CEO, Dentsu Communications said, “This is the first big win for Citizen Dentsu in 2013.  And a well-deserved one for the team, since it involved 8 agencies.”

     

    Arijit Ray

    Commenting on the win, Rajendra Singh, Senior Vice President and Head, Citizen Dentsu who will lead the business:  “Here’s a true example of working on a cause that one truly admires and respects. No soft stuff here. Apart from the pleasure of dealing with real gentlemen officers as clients, it’s a matter of honour to contribute towards strengthening the security and defence of the country. The team is super-excited.”

     

  • Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd has announced August 18 as the launch date for its new Hindi movie channel '&pictures'.

    Zee to launch ‘&pictures’ on Aug 18 [updated]

    From L-R – Mr. Akash Chawla, ZEEL Marketing head (National Channels); Mr. Bharat Kumar Ranga, ZEEL Chief Content & Creative Officer and Mr. Ruchir Tiwari, ZEEL, Cluster Programming Head

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd announced August 18 as the launch date for ‘&pictures’.  The channel is the sixth movies-only channel aired by ZEEL other than Zee Cinema, Zee Cinema HD, Zee Premiere, Zee Classic and Zee Action.

    Speaking to mediapersons in Mumbai, ZEEL Chief Content and Creative Officer Bharat Kumar Ranga, Marketing Head – National Channels Akash Chawla and Cluster Programming Head – Hindi movie channels Ruchir Tiwari shared finer details on the channel and how it will be “India’s first interactive movie channel”.

    Creative agency Scarecrow has been entrusted with the creative advertising for the channel. While a short promo is already on air, the campaign will break on August 8.

    Said Mr Ranga: “Over the past 20 years, ZEE has built a reputation for content that is entertaining, profitable and of high quality…while at the same time, it has been inspiring and empowering to audiences. A new movie channel allows us to build upon our existing film and digital resources to create a continuing conversation with an audience that is interested in staying connected and engaged with the world around them.”

    Speaking about the symbol ‘&’ and the logo, Mr Ranga adds, “The Ampersand sign in ‘&pictures’ signifies ‘Udaan’ (flight) & ‘Neev’ (rooted) and celebrates the duality of contemporary Indians. The Ampersand in the logo merges seamlessly with the ‘p’ of pictures and connotes the ease with which today’s viewer blends his ambition to soar high while remaining rooted to his sacrosanct values. The color red similarly radiates his bold ambition as well as the richness of his traditions.”

    Said Mr Chawla: “The name and logo of the channel have been decided post a detailed study of more than 1000 brands across the world and after testing it with consumers in India. The main differentiator for ‘&pictures’ will be the innovative mediums of interactivity initiated to engage with audiences.  In fact, the core of brand ‘&pictures’ stems from the fact that today, viewers are not watching TV as the sole activity that they do…TV viewing is accompanied with time spent on mobiles, chatting on various, social media platforms, etc.”

    Added Mr Tiwari:  “Building credibility and trust with our audience is paramount, so naturally we’ll provide a rich schedule right out of the box…and, we’ll do it the ‘&pictures’ way!”

    The library consists largely of films released in the last 10 years. It includes newer titles include Kai Po Che, ABCD, Barfi, English Vinglish, Tanu Weds Manu, Love Aaj Kal, Agent Vinod, Agneepath, Desi Boyz, Kambakt Ishq and Break Ke Baad.

    Meanwhile, ‘&pictures’ also announced a crowd-sourced film with active participation online.

  • The VIP Industries luggage and backpack brand has retained L&K for its creative advertising

    Skybags appoints Law & Kenneth as creative agency

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading luggage and backpack brand Skybags has appointed Law & Kenneth as its creative agency.

     

    Commenting on the development, Sudip Ghose, Vice President, Marketing- VIP Industries said, “We are pleased to have Law and Kenneth as our new creative partners. The young and energetic team at Law & Kenneth has the potential of leveraging our brand and providing the thrust to take it to the next level.”

     

    Said Anil S Nair, CEO and Managing Partner, Law & Kenneth: “We are extremely excited to have Skybags as our client. Skybags has managed to create a strong equity for itself in a very short span and offers immense possibilities for interesting work in the future.”

     

  • He joins the Viacom18 leadership team and will build efficiencies and drive synergies in the system

    Utpal Das appointed Chief Commercial Officer at Viacom18

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 Media has announced the appointment of Utpal Das as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr Das joined the company on August 1 and is reporting in to Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats and will be part of the Viacom18 leadership team.

     

    Announcing the appointment, Mr Vats  said, “As a network we are growing exponentially. In our next phase, we are committed to strengthening our central functions to build efficiencies and drive synergies. Utpal brings rich and diversified experience to the team and I am confident he will contribute to our growth story.”

     

    Commenting on his new role, Mr Das said, “I have always been in awe of the Viacom18 network for the strength of the channel portfolio and the way they have set benchmarks for television and film entertainment.”

     

  • After the success of Mastiii, Dabang and Dhamaal, Sri Adhikari Brothers launches a Marathi entertainment channel with a mix of music & comedy

    It’s 50-50 music & masti with Maiboli

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Adhikari brothers – Gautam and Markand – have been true pioneers in the Indian television space. Having been among the first private and independent programmers for Doordarshan and private satellite television, the brothers went on to publicly list their company, launch a comedy channel in SAB and then sell it to Multi Screen Media (Sony), launch two other channels – Janmat which later turned into Live India and Mi Marathi, both of which were part-sold, and more recently he launched music and entertainment channels Mastiii, Dabangg and Dhamaal. Here too, he pioneered the concept of focused regional plays with channels catering specifically to certain states in the Hindi Speaking Markets.

     

    Markand Adhikari

    And now it’s a ‘Maiboli’, a Marathi humour-and-music channel that has had a quiet launch today (August 8).  “I live in Maharashtra, Marathi is my first love and we started out with Marathi-language content,” says vice-chairman and managing director Markand Adhikari. While he regrets that Mi Marathi couldn’t take off on expected lines after construction major HDIL bought majority stake, he is hopeful that Maiboli will be a success from the beginning.

     

    The reason: humour has always been the core strength of Adhikari Brothers. MaiBoli will a 24-hour free-to-air channel with music and humour in equal measure. The music will appeal to all age groups, says Anita Verma, vice-president – programming who informs that the channel’s tagline is ‘Aapli Aaplya Mansaanchi’. “Comedy will be in the form of short three-odd minute standalone skits starring well-known theatre and TV performers like Sunil Tawde, Anshuman Vichare, Pradip Patwardhan, Santosh Pawaar, Digambar Naik, Arun Kadam, Kishori Ambiye  and Vijay Patwardhan amongst others,” she says

     

    Anita Verma

    The music bands of Maiboli are designed as per the mood of the slot which suits it the best. The day hence commences with ‘Bhakticha-Thheva’ which is a devotional band of soulful and spiritual songs, followed by ‘Priteechi Jhul Jhul Gani’ of romantic numbers, ‘Mast Madmast’ band of high-spirited fast numbers, ‘Sur tech Chhedita’ of soothing and relaxing songs and  ‘Chandne Shimpit Jashi’ of classic romantic and sad songs.

     

    The distribution spread will grow across Maharashtra over the next few weeks and months and simultaneously a marketing campaign will also be initiated.

     

    “After the South and Bengal, Marathi is big for regional television,” says Mr Adhikari. And how are his other channels doing? “Mastii turned No 1 within four months and has been No 1 or 2 ever since. Dabbang has also been No 1 in UP and Bihar for two years. Marathi has been on the cards for a while, and we thought the time was right.”

     

    But isn’t everyone talking of another slowdown and liquidity crunch? “On the contrary. With digitization, things have improved and will be even better in a couple of years. In fact the In times of come, with digitization, the time for media has come. In one or two years, media will have a golden period,” forecasts Mr Adhikari.

     

    What next, after Maiboli? “We will obviously expand,” says Mr Adhikari who is simultaneously also stitching up plans for the expansion of the Governance Now magazine that he runs.

     

  • No edition on August 9 and 15. Special edition on August 16

    Eid Mubarak. No edition tomorrow + Aug holidays

    By Team MxM

     

    Greetings!

     

    Because you matter so much to us (and we hope we matter to you as much), here’s some advance notice on our holidays for August:

    We are closed on Friday, August 9 for Eid and on Thursday, August 15 on account of Independence Day. We understand Friday, August 16 is virtually a holiday for many of us in media, advertising and marketing, we are doing a Special Edition on that day and we’ll send a repeat mailer on Monday, August 19.

     

    The holiday doesn’t mean that we’re snoozing away. Our antennae are up, so if there’s something major, we’ll bring you the news. As we’ve done in the past.

     

    And we’ll be accepting ads and cheques towards them. In fact for sales, like it is for news, we are up 24×7, 365 or 366 days a year.

     

  • The sports channel ropes in Mahendra Singh Dhoni as brand ambassador to endorse football

    Star Sports gets Dhoni to endorse football

    By Ratna Bhushan

     

    Guess who is the biggest star signing in this season’s Barclays Premier League? Mahendra Singh Dhoni! Broadcaster Star Sports has roped in the Indian cricket captain as brand ambassador to endorse the English club football championship, the world’s biggest sports league, in India in the 2013-14 season.

     

    “The aim to associate with M S Dhoni is to introduce, invite and excite sports fans who consume a lot of cricket to sample soccer properties like Barclays Premier League and expanding their fan base,” Vijay Rajput, COO at ESPN Software India, said. Star Sports will kick off its campaign featuring Dhoni on August 11, one week before the start of 2013-14 season, in a bid to boost the appeal of soccer in a cricket-crazy country.

     

    “We believe there is a huge potential for growth in soccer viewership in India,” Mr Rajput said, adding that the premier league is one of the most watched sports events worldwide. He did not share the commercial terms of the deal.

     

    M S Dhoni, who endorses about 15 brands including beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo, sportswear firm Reebok and telecom services provider Aircel, charges close to Rs 10 crore per deal annually, industry insiders told ET.

     

    The campaign will show Dhoni glued to the TV set watching premier league matches every weekend while his family and friends look for him.

     

    The Indian captain is a known football enthusiast and a Manchester United follower who dreamed of becoming a renowned soccer goalkeeper in his schooldays at Jawahar Vidya Mandir in Ranchi where he was a goalkeeper.

     

    Arun Pandey, promoter of Rhiti Sports, the sports management firm that represents Dhoni, said, “Dhoni’s association with soccer can influence the sport in a big way in the country.”

     

    Besides getting Dhoni to urge viewers to watch soccer, Star Sports will also offer the option of Hindi commentary for more than a hundred select premier league matches to woo Indian viewers. “We believe that if you want people to consume lot of content, you should offer it to them in their language of comfort,” Mr Rajput said.

     

    ESPN Software hopes the move will help expand the sport’s viewership, which will help it increase advertising rates.

     

    While ad revenues from soccer continue to be far lower than cricket, experts say the beautiful game’s viewership is on the rise in India.

     

    “Though ratings of soccer are small on an all-India basis, in SEC-A and B markets and among the youth, soccer is consistently gaining in popularity,” Shashi Sinha, CEO of media buying firm IPG Media Brands, said.

     

    Besides the Barclays Premier League, ESPN-Star Sports network holds broadcast rights for multiple soccer tournaments including Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, the English FA Cup and England’s international matches.

     

    ESPN officials say advertiser interest has already picked up on the league, with 85% of the available inventory sold. “Tata Motors, Pernod Ricard, Adidas, Gujarat Co-operation Milk Marketing Federation (Amul) and Nokia India have come on board as associate sponsors on air for live telecast of the Barclays Premier League,” Mr Rajput said.

     

    Contested by 20 clubs, the Premier League season runs from August to May.

     

    In June last year, broadcast giant major Star Group’s 16-year-old equal joint venture with sports broadcaster ESPN was dissolved, with Star buying out ESPN’s stake in the JV. Post acquisition, Rupert Murdoch-owned Star became the owner of ESPN’s business.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The Hindu in School was launched by Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan last Thursday

    The Hindu enters Mumbai via student edition

    By A Correspondent

     

    National daily The Hindu does not have an edition from Mumbai, but its student edition made an entry with a launch by the state chief minister Prithviraj Chavan last Thursday (Aug 8).

     

    Speaking at the launch, Mr Chavan expressed pleasure with the entry of The Hindu in Mumbai, “even if in this small way”. “Quality of education is a big challenge that our country and this State is facing. Natural resources will not last long enough to keep us running as a major economic entity. The only way to continue as a rich and powerful country is by developing the knowledge economy and for this, quality of education is very important,” he said.

     

    Siddarth Varadarajan, Editor, The Hindu, said younger readers had different interests. The school edition would remain true to the idea of The Hindu, and would explain things in a language a young audience could understand. He said that the school edition would not talk down to its young audience. It would have all the important news that goes into a regular edition but conveyed in an appropriate manner.

     

    Educationist Nandini Sardesai, J.N. Mishra, Deputy Managing Director of State Bank of India and P.S. Venkatasubramanian, Vice-President, Circulation, The Hindu Group, were also present.

     

    Priced at Rs 3, The Hindu in School is published from Monday to Friday and is designed for students in Classes 8-10. According to a communique, it is distributed to over 2,500 schools across India, with a circulation of around two lakh copies. The edition will also be launched next in Kolkata by August-end. In Mumbai, complimentary copies will be available in schools for the first week. Interested schools may contact vaidyanathan.n@thehindu.co.in.

     

     

  • Presenting sponsor tie-up with the GEC assures Tata Motors visibility beyond the 30-sec commercials

    Tata Motors cars to be integrated in ’24’ as part of sponsorship deal with Colors

    By A Correspondent

     

    If you find only Tata Motors vehicles on the Indian version of ’24’, there’s reason. As part of its association as presenting sponsor, Tata vehicles will be integrated in the the Indian adapatation of the acclaimed American series 24 to be aired on Colors soon.

     

    Commenting on the partnership, Raj Nayak, CEO – Colors said, “Our collaboration with Tata Motors  it takes brand partnerships to another level — beyond the conventional 30-second commercials. For the first time, we have effectively integrated the Tata Motors brands with the narrative of 24. The show is all about Anil Kapoor’s race against time and how he is powered by sturdy Tata Cars and UVs.”

     

    Raj Nayak

    Elaborating on the association,  Ranjit Yadav, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors Ltd, said, “With this association, Tata Motors showcases itself as a creative and innovative brand that always places its customers at the core of its existence. This association with 24 offers us an exciting platform to demonstrate the true capability of our dynamic cars, which deliver performance and come with technology rich features.”

     

    Said Anil Kapoor, who essays the role of Jai Singh Rathod, “In the show, I will be driving Tata Motors’ dynamic and exciting vehicles in my adventurous quests across terrains to tackle various security threats. This kind of seamless thinking at every stage of the making of 24 is what enables us to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience to Indian viewers.”

     

    It is learnt that parts of the Indian ’24’ which is being directed by Delhi Belly director and well-known adfilm-maker Abhinay Deo, were reshot after the deal with Tata Motors was inked to enable the integration.

     

  • Draftfcb+Ulka has recently taken on board Anirban Chaudhuri as Head of Strategic Planning for its Delhi operations

    Anirban Chaudhuri joins Draftfcb+Ulka in Delhi

    By A Correspondent

     

    Anirban Chaudhuri

    Draftfcb+Ulka has hired Anirban Chaudhuri as Head of Strategic Planning for its Delhi operations. He comes in with 18 years of expertise in brand advisory and integrated marketing communications development, having worked with leading domestic and multinational players for India as well as South East Asia.

     

    Mr Chaudhuri has worked at Shining Strategic Consultancy, IMRB International, TNS, Dentsu and DDB Mudra Group in the past and most recently was experimenting in the digital space with a marketing knowledge portal.

     

    Said Arvind Wable, Advisor to the Board: “Anirban brings a unique combination of brand consultancy, market research and a keen insight into digital & social media which will be a valuable addition to our strategic planning efforts.”

     

    Added Sanjay Tandon, COO, Draftfcb+Ulka Delhi operations: “Anirban has a close connect with our value system and with his diverse experience promises to play a game changing role in creating brandwealth for our clients.”