South African Tourism has appointed DDB MudraMax as its outdoor advertising partner in the tourism board’s destination brand building efforts in India. The agency will be responsible for the 2013 -14 campaign which goes live in January 2014.
As many as 12 leading creative and media buying agencies were part of the pitch which saw them presenting a pitch post a comprehensive campaign brief being presented to them in July.
Commenting on the announcement, Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism said,” Given the importance of the Indian market in our global tourism growth strategy, we were scouting for an agency that showcases the best understanding of South Africa as a holiday destination. DDB MudraMax was declared the winner as they provided the most innovative and compelling ideas in addition to showcasing their team strength and expertise that can support South African Tourism’s brand building and marketing requirements across our key markets and audiences.”
Mandeep Malhotra
Said Mandeep Malhotra, President, DDB MudraMax – OOH, Experiential and Retail: “I’m extremely happy to be partnering with South Africa Tourism to help promote their tourism plans and expand their strategy to the outdoor market, in India.”
He faced the axe at Chennai-based newspaper company for doing his job well. And in less than two months of the controversial coup that saw editor Siddharth Varadarajan and his exit, CEO Arun Anant’s next port of call has been announced.
Mr Anant, the affable media former CEO of The Hindu, is all set to join HT Media this month. He is to take place in the Leadership Team of the group and will report to Executive Director Benoy Chowdhury. Although the nitty-gritty of his role has not been revealed, Mr Anant is likely to be taking up a top media marketing responsibility.
Having successfully fought the onslaught of The Times of India in Chennai and also launched the Hindu’s Tamil edition, Mr Anant has had rich experience in multiple media entities. He was part of the launch of what is now Bloomberg TV India from 2007-08 and for two years with Myiris.com, a B2C financial markets portal. He had a decade-plus stint with Lintas India in various functions and in a start-up advisory for a few years post the UTV job.
Mr Anant is an engineer from IIT-Varanasi (BHU) and a postgraduate in management from IIM Ahmedabad.
Mumbai has a 35 lakh Urdu-reading population, and hoping to reach out to as many of them as possible with his new Urdu daily Avadhnama is senior media professional Yunus Siddiqui. Mr Siddiqui, who has spent a bulk of his career with the Mid-Day group which included the Urdu daily Inquilab, is Director (Editorial & Printer-Publisher).
According to a note circulated to advertisers, 44 lakh Muslims in Mumbai constitute 20% of the population with all major Muslim groups well-represented in the diverse population. More than 35 lakh of these 44 lakh Muslims are native readers and speakers of the Urdu language.
The launch edition of the Mumbai edition will see 50,000 copies and Mr Siddiqui hopes to double it “very soon”.
The re-run Hindi general entertainment channel genre has met with limited success in the country. Doordarshan had DD Bharati, Star India has Star Utsav and earlier this year, Zee launched Zee Anmol. But now comes the news that Colors is set to launch Rishtey. How well Colors is able to rewrite the rules of the game remains to be seen, but the action in the genre has begun. According to industry circles, some revving up with news on Rishtey is being seen. Star has already moved former Life OK marketing head Pratik Seal to the role of the Star Utsav business head. Mr Seal was marketing head of Micromax before he moved to Star India.
Pratik Seal
Rishey is an existing Viacom18 entertainment channel from the Colors bouquet. It was launched as the second entertainment channel from Viacom18 in the UK market and has met with much success.
Now Colors hopes to extend this relationship with viewers to India with the free-to-air GEC. In fact Doordarshan’s DD Direct DTH service website already has this post: “DD Direct Plus added a new general entertainment channel Rishtey to its channel line up by replacing Test 308 channel. Rishtey is a new Entertainment channels from Viacom18 group. The channel is a test feed and it is going to be officially launched soon.”
When asked, a Colors spokesperson said “Rishtey, the second entertainment channel from the Colors bouquet that was launched in UK last year has had a very successful run. This free-to-air channel has reached out to a much wider audience base and has held a strong No 2 position in the Hindi GEC category in UK. We are currently testing the signals for Rishtey in India and will launch the channel at an appropriate time.”
Media planners are meanwhile happy to see the revival of the re-run genre. According to a planner who preferred anonymity, television has various new entrants, and re-runs can do very well if packaged and marketed well. “What we have seen right now is shovelware – just dump some old hits. If there’s a good programming strategy and if marketed well and even if there’s some new content put in as a teaser, it could easily cross the 100 GRP mark,” he said adding: “We have seen a classic case of CID re-runs on Sony. The channel has made hay with them.”
It’s a story that saddens our heart. Sony Entertainment Television, the Hindi general entertainment channel with spunk, the channel that’s got in some really top programming like CID, Indian Idol, Crime Patrol and even Kaun Banega Crorepati (though not this season), continues to have awful ratings.
Its gross viewership ratings in Week 48 of this calendar year, as per TAM, is at a lowly 239 million. To be precise 238987. Colors is at 479 (or precisely 478534). And Star Plus way ahead at 548 (548331).
This is how the ratings numbers stood (in million)
Star Plus             548        (560)
Colors         479        (513)
Zee TV Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 449 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (433)
Life OK Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 334 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (335)
SAB Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 269 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (308)
Sony TV Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 239 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (269)
The figures in brackets are those for last week (Week 47). It may be noted that TAM does not (or is not allowed to) share viewership numbers with the media. So we rely on what is dished out to us by some subscribers. Consequently, we can’t vouch for the authenticity for these numbers with a ‘sar pe haath rakh kar’, but we trust the source reasonably.
MEC India has bagged an award for the ‘Most Effective Location-based Service/Campaign’ at the recently concluded 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards ceremony held in London. MEC India received the award for one of its campaign designed for Colgate at Kumbh Mela. The firm has now become the only Indian agency to win this prestigious award.
Centered around the Maha Kumbh Mela held in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, the campaign was aimed at connecting with audiences at thef estival, that is one of the world’s largest religious gatheringswitnessing over 80 million people in attendance this year. MEC India partnered Red Fuse Communications, WPP’s full-service integrated global agency working on Colgate-Palmolive brands globally.
Shubha George
Speaking on the occasion, Shubha George, CEO, Red Fuse Communications said, “We feel honoured to be recognised on a renowned global platform like the 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. Executing and implementing the campaign was a challenging task for the team, especially for a mammoth project of the scale of the Maha Kumbh Mela. The prime objective at the Maha Mela was to attract and engage consumers in a highly competitive environment, which inspired us to think beyond traditional methods.The award encourages us to push further boundaries in the future.”
The mobile phone was selected as the medium to connect with the large audiences at the Maha Kumbh Mela. “This was the very first time in India that a brand had used location-based voice communication to convey the desired message and generate direct response from the audience,” said Ms George.
According to the latest Internet Economy Watch, published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and research firm IMRB, the number of uploads of matrimonial ads rose to 2.49 million in October 2013 as compared to 0.82 million in October 2012, registering a y-o-y growth of 202%. The number of resume uploads though has decreased to 1.50 million in October 2013 as compared to 1.60 million in October 2012.
Fig: 1
Source: IAMAI/ WAM Data October 2013
Online bookings of railway tickets registered a y-o-y growth of 90%. Railway tickets booked online in October 2013 were 8.94 million as compared to 4.72 million in the corresponding month last year. The online bookings of air tickets witnessed a marginal increase with 1.91 million online bookings in October 2013 as compared to 1.58 million bookings in October 2012.
Fig: 2
Source: IAMAI/ WAM Data October 2013
According to the data captured from major e-tailing sites online user visits to jewellery segment increased to 5.35 million in October 2013 as compared to 1.95 million in October 2012 registering a y-o-y growth of 174%. The mobile segment has registered a significant increase with 15.91 million online hits in October 2013 as compared to 6.15 million hits in October 2012.
Fig: 3
Source: IAMAI/ WAM Data October 2013
The monthly tracker further indicates 41.16 million people accessed various e-tailing sites. There were 2906.78 million page views in the category. The user reach for job and matrimonial websites is 20.59 million and 18.03 million respectively with 741.60 million and 777.16 million respective page views. Online travel segment has reach with 24.51 million reach and 1691.095 million page views.
Fig: 4
Source: IAMAI/ WAM Data October 2013
Sourced from all India active internet data, the monthly internet tracker is based on WAM data captured from various relevant sites, and encapsulates online usage for E-tailing, Online Travel and Vertical Classifieds.
Indian media companies will see ad revenues growing by +11.3% next year with the internet again leading the growth at +31.4%, according to Magna Global’s annual advertising forecast for the year 2014.
The growth in television adspends will be 10.4%, while that for newspapers will be 8.8%. Magazine adspend growth will 2.3% while OOH will be 12.1% and Radio at 11%. Cinema, given its lower base, will grow at 20%.
Last year, Magna Global had predicted an 8.7% growth for Indian adspends. This was revised mid-year to 7.8%. The growth for 2012-13, although based on its estimates, is 7.8 percent.
That level of economic activity is not particularly impressive by historical standards but confidence indices keep improving and we believe advertising spending will reflect and amplify that economic trend says Venkatesh S, EVP, Director Intelligence, Magna Global, India.
Look out for our detailed report on the Magna Global numbers on Tuesday, December 10
Caption: India advertising revenue by media category 2012-2014
Madison Media Group has been appointed as the media Agency on Record for leading shopping channel Homeshop18. The account will be handled by Platinum Media in Delhi. The account was previously handled by Mindshare and the estimated media spend is in the range of Rs 30 crore.
Vikrant Khanna
Commenting on this, Vikrant Khanna, Chief Marketing Officer, HomeShop18 said, “Homeshop18 is proud to be associated with Madison, which is the leading media planning agency in the country. I am confident they will be a strong partner in our journey to become India’s leading virtual commerce player. Having worked with Madison in the past I know that Madison is best equipped to help us reach our intended audience in the most economical and integrated way.”
Says Basabdatta Chowdhuri, CEO, Platinum Media, “We are delighted with this new win and are confident that we can add strategic value in building the HomeShop18 brand in the country.”
GroupM and Maxus have announced the new Managing Director for Maxus South Asia- Kartik Sharma. Mr Sharma takes over the reins from current Managing Director Ajit Varghese from January 2014, as Mr Varghese moves into a new regional role as CEO Maxus Asia-Pacific. Mr Sharma moves up from Managing Partner, Maxus and will report into CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia and Mr Varghese. He will also now be a part of the GroupM South Asia EXCO.
After completing his MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in 1995, Mr Sharma joined HTA as a Media Planner on the Unilever Business. He moved to Lintas as Channel Planning Director from 1997, where he continued to work on Unilever, in addition to clients like Bajaj Auto, Raymonds etc. In 2000, he joined Mindshare where he was Planning Director from 2000-03. He was in Madison from 2003-07, heading Madison Media Research Center. Mr Sharma has been a part of Maxus since 2007 and looked after the West region from Mumbai. He has been instrumental in the success of the agency and worked across key client relationships including Vodafone, L’oreal, Tata Sky, Shopper’s Stop to name a few.
Commenting on the appointment, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “Kartik has done a stellar job as Managing Partner, Maxus, working closely with Ajit in shaping the Maxus brand, creating client delight, winning several new businesses and helping Maxus dominate industry awards. I wish him the very best and also welcome him to the GroupM South Asia EXCO which will benefit immensely from his product knowledge and experience.”
Added Ajit Varghese, Managing Director, Maxus South Asia: “Kartik is an excellent choice for Maxus going forward especially considering his product strengths and client focus. A long standing employee of GroupM, he has the in-depth knowledge and insight of what is needed to take Maxus to the next level. Kartik has been the key architect in growing the Maxus Mumbai office 3 fold in the last 6 years and building up a collaborative culture of working across offices and between various teams inside GroupM.”
Speaking to the media about his appointment as Managing Director, Kartik Sharma said, “The last six years at Maxus has been very exciting. What I love most is the passion & collaborative culture where every team member works hard to deliver on our 10/10 vision of delighting clients. Our focus on constantly improving the product and the ability to develop a unique work culture has helped us deliver winning solutions for clients. I look forward to my new journey and am confident it will be equally exciting & fulfilling.”
Sony Six and TNA have announced that two of their global wrestling champions Kurt Angle and Gail Kim will conduct a variety of events to engage with audiences. Kurt Angle, the Olympic Gold Medalist and multiple time TNA World Heavyweight Champion along leading female wrestling superstar Gail Kim are in India on a promotional tour that will see them visit Mumbai, Lucknow and Delhi from December 9 to 13. The announcement was made in Mumbai in the present of Multi Screen Media bosses Man Jit Singh and NP Singh.
“Kurt is a wrestling superstar who not only garners critical following but is also a personality that attracts a huge fan base globally. With Kurt and Gail on TNA, fans will get to meet them up close and personal duringtheir visit to India,” said Prasana Krishnan, Business Head, Sony Six. Setting a different pace to the stars visit, SIX and TNA have taken an unconventional route to the tour by featuring the city of Lucknow as one of the pit stop.
Said TNA President Dixie Carter: “We have been so pleased with the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response fans in India have shown TNA, and we cannot wait to bring Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle and reigning Knockouts Champion Gail Kim for our first press tour.
From its India headquarters in a part-woody and part-concrete environ of North Mumbai, media conglomerate GroupM announced a new captain to steer Maxus South Asia on Monday. Kartik Sharma, currently Managing Partner, will be Managing Director for the media network’s India region from January 2014, taking charge from Ajit Varghese who has been appointed CEO Asia Pacific. There were rumours that the replacement for Mr Varghese could be brought in from the outside, but that evidently was due to the long wait since the transition for Mr Varghese was announced in September.
An alumnus of NMIMS Mumbai, Mr Sharma will report into CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia and Mr Varghese. In Maxus since 2007, Mr Sharma has been looking after the Western region and worked across key client relationships including Vodafone, L’oreal, Tata Sky, Shoppers Stop to name a few. He has earlier worked with HTA, Lintas, Mindshare and Madison.
Commenting on the appointment, Mr Varghese said, “Kartik is an excellent choice for Maxus considering his product strengths and client focus. He has the in-depth knowledge and insight of what is needed to take Maxus to the next level.” Added CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia, “Kartik has done a stellar job as Managing Partner, Maxus, working closely with Ajit in shaping the Maxus brand, creating client delight, winning several new businesses and helping Maxus dominate industry awards.”
Speaking on his elevation, Mr Sharma said, “The last six years at Maxus have been very exciting. Our focus on constantly improving the product and the ability to develop a unique work culture has helped us deliver winning solutions for clients. I look forward to my new journey and am confident it will be equally exciting and fulfilling.”
The current role and what he will helm post January will, according to Mr Sharma, be different given the overall leadership responsibility. When asked what Mr Varghese meant by taking Maxus to the next level, Mr Sharma said: Digital is the core of what we do. Given the pace at which data is hitting us is nothing that humankind has seen so far. The important thing is to understand what’s noise and what’s good. It’s important to use data intelligently,”
But doesn’t too much of technology convert a media agency into a tech firm? “Whether we call it a media or tech company is semantics,” said Mr Sharma underscoring the need to understand technology. The digital media is growing over 30 per cent year-on-year and this, the MD-designate said, requires significant attention.
On awards and Mr Varghese dream of the agency winning top honours at the Emvies, Mr Sharma said: “The Emvies are a mix of creativity and effectiveness and hence important. It’s very important to keep winning awards. But when we do work, it’s for the brand and not for awards. Awards though help in bringing the best in us.”
By A Correspondent
By A Correspondent
