We wish our readers a very Merry Christmas.
Given that many A&M offices are shut on Friday, the MxMIndia offices too will be closed on Friday, December 26. We’ll be back with our routine updates on Monday, December 29.
However, if there’s anything urgent, we’ll be around and spring back to action.
Until then: goodbye. And, yes, party responsibly.
PS:
Next week, we are shut only on January 1. We’ll be live on Friday, January 2
By A Correspondent
It lost its Group CEO last fortnight, but it’s got a Group CFO in superquick time. The ITV Network has got on board Arun Aggrawal as the Group CFO. This is Mr Aggarwal’s second stint with the network, after he took for a short stint overseas for the launch of a 24×7 English News Channel. Prior to his overseas assignment, he was holding the same portfolio at ITV Network, for almost two years and was actively involved during the takeover of ‘NewsX’.
As part of his mandate, he will be overseeing all aspects of financial operations for the network. The ITV Network has recently had many senior members of its top deck populated by former IBN Network CxOs.
Welcoming Mr Aggarwal back, Kartikeya Sharma – Managing Director, ITV Network said, “The decades of experience that Arun brings with him is invaluable for ITV Network. We are positive that Arun’s strong financial leadership in the media and entertainment sector, and his skills and relationships will surely help the network reach the next level.”
On re-joining the network, Arun Aggarwal, said, “It gives me immense pleasure to be back with ITV Network. I am looking forward to an enriching experience again and I am confident to contribute to the growth of the network.”
By A Correspondent
Leading car portal cardekho.com has come up with a follow-up campaign titled ‘Mr. I Know’. Conceived by Linen Lintas, this new campaign comes on the back of the portal’s TV campaign ever that was aired during Diwali – a period when car buying and selling is at its peak.
In the film, there’s a character who boasts about knowing almost everything under the sun. His knowledge is razor-sharp, but has an annoying habit that cuts every conversation midway. Cardekho.com calls him,’Mr. I Know’.
However ‘Mr. I Know’ is blind when it comes to buying a car. Cardekho.com comes to his rescue with facts about cars so that he can make a rational decision.
Says LK Gupta, CMO, CarDekho: “After our first hard-working TV commercial that successfully took CarDekho to a wider audience, our task was to refresh communication with a continuing brand thought and value proposition. ‘Mr. I Know’ does just that – presenting the same proposition in an entertaining and memorable manner,with a sharp consumer insight.”
This new Car Dekho campaign has not only given birth to an interesting character called ‘Mr. I Know’, but also takes forward the earlier story of ‘sunona hi dekho’.
The launch campaign (with the thought ‘sunona hi dekho’) was based on the fact that people get advice about cars from all quarters, and yet they remain confused when they have to make a decision. “This new campaign takes that thought a step forward in an interesting manner,” says Jaideep Mahajan, ECD Linen Lintas.
Pranav Harihar, GCD, Linen Lintas, and writer of the campaign elaborates, “You find characters like ‘Mr. I Know’all around you. Sub-consciously, we use the phrase ‘I know’ in our daily conversation too. In the film ‘Mr. I Know’ does just that–interrupting others and completes their sentences.”
Credits:
Client: Cardekho.com
Agency: Linen Lintas, Delhi
ECD: Jaideep Mahajan
GCD: Pranav Harihar
Client Servicing: Sirish Gudibande, Shubhi Pandey
Production:Film Farm, Mumbai
By A Correspondent
Hungama.com has entered into a strategic partnership with Snapdeal, India’s largest online marketplace to offer digital entertainment content to its shoppers. The tie-up between the two leading digital entities will begin with an offer wherein shoppers on Snapdeal’s mobile app will get access to Hungama’s Premium PRO service free for a period of nine (9) weeks.
Hungama PRO, which is a paid premium subscription service, offers users HD quality music videos with the lyrics of songs, and can be accessed offline without any internet charges. It is also an ad-free app, which further makes for a hassle-free experience. The mobile app is available for download from the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store. After the first nine weeks, the service will later be made available to the users at a price of Rs 120 per month.
Both Snapdeal and Hungama have been focusing on expanding their leadership position by tapping into developing Tier-II markets. The recent update that brought transliteration features to Hungama’s Android app, made it one of the first India apps to be available in five languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi – an ideal service for Snapdeal’s userbase that is spread across 5000 plus cities and towns in India.
Speaking on partnering with Snapdeal, Siddhartha Roy, CEO at Hungama.com, said: “With music and shopping being among the primary drivers of mobile internet consumption, our tie-up aims to offer users an enhanced value proposition. 2015 is likely to be a vital year for brands to out to Middle Bharat, and tie-ups like this will help our brands to attract a larger share of the consumer’s mind space.â€
“We at Snapdeal are focusing hugely on making sure our customers get a great shopping experience on our app. The partnership with Hungama brings shopping and music together, both are a way of life for Indian consumers. We want to encourage the growing love of apps by providing customers with what they love most –high quality uninterrupted music and awesome deals on the go,†commented Mr. Sandeep Komaravelly, SVP, Marketing at Snapdeal.com
By A Correspondent
Observing National Consumer’s Day on December 24, the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) launched a ‘Swachh Ads Abhiyan’ campaign with the purpose of combating misleading ads. This follows the government’s Department of Consumers Affairs asking ASCI to come up with an initiative to create awareness amongst consumers to action for misleading content. The campaign was initiated across various social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Said Narendra Ambwani, Chairman, of the advertising self-regulator: “It’s really important that consumers don’t blindly believe in advertisements and understand unethical and misleading claims. ASCI engaged with consumers through social media activities on Twitter, Facebook LinkedIn and YouTube which have massively driven consumer attention towards the campaign. We hope this initiative from ASCI will empower and encourage consumers to make the right decisions.â€
Added Sucheta Dalal – ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council Member: “As a member of the consumer complaints committee (CCC) I have seen the big leap in ASCI’s effort to track misleading advertisements across different media and languages on a nationwide basis. ASCI has also made it easy to file and track complaints online or engage with it through social media. All we need now is better consumer awareness and action by concerned citizens to keep ASCI on its toes by filing complaints and making themselves heard on the evolving issue of misleading advertisementsâ€.
By Saurabh Varma
Advertising agencies have been fantastic at creating daring destinations for their brands. Agencies are the harbingers of change for their brands. They seek unexplored territories for brands to differentiate from the over-crowded marketplace. They investigate the latest cultural trends for brands to ride on or oppose. Yet, a closer inspection of the agency model clearly indicates that agencies themselves have changed little.
Fifteen years back, we saw meaning in a print ad. Print ads were shared and celebrated. Beautiful, well-crafted copy was the benchmark of great communication. This changed with the emergence of television. A new kind of narrative emerged, which celebrated and connectedwith the Hindi heartland. Unfortunately, for the last 15 years, even though human beings have changed, our approach to communication has remained the same. We still have the same copy-art partnership to drive our creative product. Frankly, the level of innovation or change we have thrust on ourselves is close to zero.
Why is change needed? Change is needed because people have changed. We don’t have consumers anymore. The word consumer implies that there are people waiting at the end of a message waiting for a transaction. Messages today are likely to be received with cynicism rather than automatic receptiveness. Loyalty is over, opt-in is in. Obviously communication needs to change to connect with the new consumer. Also, a close reflection of the communication model indicates that we now have new unprecedented opportunities. In the past, we created the stimulus, and the response was the marketshare. Today, we can use response to create the new stimulus which itself can lead to a completely new response. We can create branded content. We can create branded utility. We can create new products and platforms. ‘Always on’ communication is a possibility. And yet, we refuse to change.
Why do we resist change? One, because, change comes with risk. And the larger agencies like us do not want to disrupt what works for us. Two, because, we don’t know better. Almost everyone is playing by the rules created, and curated by the leader. The benchmark is not global but Indian. Three, we have created too many silos. Today, we are the victims of our own greed. The challenge is our ability to get many specializations to work together to create a new symphony. And finally, we refuse to change because of our fascination with Bollywood. Almost everyone in advertising at some point in his or her life wants to create a Bollywood film. No wonder the natural evolution of the 30-second TVC is now the 3-minuter.
Personally, I think the agency world is ready for a disruption. And disrupt we must.
One, we need to re-define new benchmarks. I am personally happier with my agency creating an app for a food brand than creating a 30-second TVC which just creates awareness for the food brand. Once the benchmark is clear, we will then need to figure out the teams needed to deliver and solve client problems.
Two, we need to understand the difference between an idea and solving a client problem. The difference between the two, although subtle, is infinite. Clients want us to solve their problems not present them with ideas. We need to move from being solution providers, to actually problem hunters. We spend too much time thinking solutions, than defining the problem in the first place. Our belief is that the bigger the problem the bigger the solution.
Three, we need to understand the difference between the integration and 360-degree advertising. They are not the same. Making an idea travel across mediums is an outdated model, yet it is shocking to see so many portfolios pretend an idea is integrated when clearly it is not. We will also need to understand and appreciate that integration does not mean generalisation. Integration, sans specialisation is meaningless. We will need integration managers who understand specialisation. For example, how are the worlds of shopper and e-commerce collapsing into a continuum? Understanding specialisation will be the key to build a robust integrated solution.
Four, we will have to find a way to dissolve the silos. Individual P&Ls cannot come in the way of holistic storytelling. At the same time, specialisation thrives in a specialist atmosphere. Overcoming this complex paradox will be a key to true integration.
Five, we will need to re-define the people needed for the new kind of storytelling. It might not be copy-art partnerships. It could be a creative-technology partnership. We will need project managers who understand the creative idea and the technology needed to enable it. We might have T-shirt Designers and sound engineers being part of team if the problem deserves this kind of team.
Six, we will need to explore new revenue models to create the new kind of teams. Ultimately, integration of the true kind has to be monetised. If we don’t know the teams needed to solve the problem, how do you ask the client to pay for it in the first place?
Seven, we will need to be brave. Chances are anything new will be questioned. Change will be resisted by people who know better and believe in the current paradigm. It will be questioned by the existing status quo. We will need to experiment and explore new models. Chances are we will fail as much as we succeed. At least we would have tried.
Like Oliver Wendell Holmes said, I would not give a fig for simplicity this side of complexity but I would give my life for simplicity the other side of complexity. In 2015, we want to explore simplicity the other side of complexity.
Saurabh Varma is CEO, The Leo Group, India.
First appeared in ‘dna of brands’ issue dated December 29, 2014
By A Correspondent
Acknowledging their efforts and considering the thankless nature of the job, Google decided to celebrate the spirit of the delivery boys, the unsung heroes of the e-commerce ecosystem. A special gift in the form of a customised helmet with their name on it was delivered to the homes of these delivery boys.
Said NavinTalreja – President, Mumbai & Kolkata, Ogilvy India: “Brands with a social conscience and a sensitivity to the ecosystems that make them work are being preferred (loved) by consumers across the world. Google is one such brand which has led many such initiatives. #SpecialDelivery is a special gesture by Google for the delivery boys who bring parcels of happiness to homes in India.”
To encapsulate the entire activity, a short video which showcases the life of the delivery boy was commissioned.
The objective of this activity was to simply urge people to say, “Thank you”, to these heroes. And make it a #SpecialDelivery. The helmet was not just personalised but also visually designed to celebrate their journey.
Reasons Sandeep Menon, Director, Marketing, Google India: “The Great Online Shopping Festival (gosf) was a roaring success in 2014, with all partners seeing great engagements across product categories. We got a total of 1.4 crore visits to the site and the user engagement is up by 7 times compared to last year. All this was made possible due to collective efforts of all our partners. And this video is a small gesture to thank the unsung heroes who keep the wheels of this growing industry moving.
Added Sukesh Nayak, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy India: “Today, we all shop online and enjoy the comfort of it. But somewhere we forget to acknowledge the most important person in this – the delivery man. Our idea was to recognise them and thank these faceless people. The helmet was not just personalised but also designed to visually depict their amazing journey. The expression on their faces when we delivered this at their doorstep was just priceless. It made us realise, that a little thank you goes a long way.”
CREDITS
National Creative Director:Â Rajiv Rao
President, Mumbai & Kolkata:Â Navin Talreja
Executive Creative Director:Â Sukesh Nayak
Head of Planning, Mumbai:Â Kawal Shoor
Senior Creative Director: Talha Nazim, Manasi Kadne
Art Directors:Â Nobin Dutta, Noothan PR
Copywriter:Â Aratrika Rath
Business Head:Â Hitesh Patel
Account Management:Â Kunal Rasania, Madhavi Unni
Production House: @Asylum
Director:Â Raaj A Chakravarti
By A Correspondent
YuppTV has launched ‘Zee TV’ for the Singapore region.  With this move, YuppTV now delivers 200+ Indian TV Channels worldwide in 12 Indian languages, as Live TV, and 10 days of Catch-up TV along with unlimited movies from various production houses. The languages in the Singapore region include Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati and Kannada.
“Meeting the high demand for Indian television in Singapore, we are pleased to take Zee TV, one of India’s most popular channels to multitudes of TV viewers in the Singapore region. We are confident that the Indian diaspora in Singapore will be delighted to watch their favourite shows on Zee TV in the comfort of their home,” said Mr. Uday Reddy, CEO of YuppTV.
Sushruta Samanta, Zee TV’s Business Head – Asia Pacific, International Business  said, “With an aim to offer the finest entertainment to viewers in Singapore, we are excited to extend our partnership with YuppTV to offer Zee TV to subscribers in Singapore. We trust that viewers of South Asian content will enjoy the channels’ wide variety of offerings, created for different viewing segments.”
By A Correspondent
Mobile wallet firm MobiKwik has appointed Mrinal Sinha as Head of Strategy. Prior to this, Mr Sinha was Founder and Executive Director at Brattle Foods, a food supply chain solutions and logistics business. He was instrumental in raising $8 million in equity financing and growing revenues to $10 million. At MobiKwik, he will helm the strategic roadmap with the management, identifying key opportunities for talent and technology acquisition, fostering crucial alliances and kick starting new revenue lines within the company.
Said Bipin Preet Singh, Founder CEO, MobiKwik on the appointment: “Having established the MobiKwik brand as the leading mobile wallet in the country, we are now looking at strategic expansion and diversification. Mrinal will play a pivotal role in our further evolution thanks to his years of business development and corporate strategy experience across domains. We are pleased to have him on board.”
On his appointment, Mr Sinha said, “My objective will be to leverage my education and experience to chart out the expansion strategy for MobiKwik, form key partnerships with banks, device makers and other payments companies. I am also looking forward to identifying new business lines for MobiKwik and set the ball rolling for the same in the near future.”
Mr Sinha has a dual degree (Master’s and Bachelor’s in Technology) from the prestigious IIT-Madras. He also has an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He has worked with McKinsey & Company, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and EMC Corporation. The appointment comes soon after that of former MakeMyTrip Vice President, Technology, Virender Bisht as the Chief Technology Officer.
Interviews by Shruti Pushkarna
2015 is acid test year for our industry:
Pratap Bose, President, The Advertising Club
I don’t want to sound pessimistic but honestly I have spoken to a lot of people in the industry. It’s a view that everyone’s taking which is the whole thing of being very cautious. There is optimism but there’s cautious optimism. And therefore I think, 2015 is really the acid test year, both for the BJP as well as for our business. The promise is large, the delivery is yet to happen. The strain on the government to actually do something concrete, pivotal around strategy, around implementing, to make things happen is huge. People say it will happen, give us time… I understand that. So there’s a lot of optimism that things might happen but unfortunately we haven’t seen the fruits of that yet. I don’t want to sound like a pessimist but I think we have to take the wait and watch approach. Even if you see the Congress men talk about Narendra Modi right now, they are saying that we’ve heard a lot, he’s made the right impression, the mood is right, but we need to see real time action. To summarise what I said, 2015 is the acid test year for our industry. There’s a lot of hope but I’m still pessimistic about it because it needs to transpire into concrete decisions that grow the economy and move the economy forward. That’s not been seen yet. I tread very carefully.
Digital is finally kind-of becoming a strong reality:
Rohit Ohri, ‎Executive Chairman, Dentsu India & CEO, Dentsu Asia Pacific (South)
I think 2015 will be a promising year for everybody because I think a lot of the work that the new government has started, should show some results. And we are hoping that the positive sentiment will carry through to 2015 and 2016 as well. The other thing is, from the entire advertising and media industry I think digital is finally kind-of becoming a strong reality. It’s no longer just good to do, I think brands are realising that it’s an interesting part of their plans. And I think we are going to see a big change in the next two years in how brands actually communicate online. And what we have seen in 2014 was this big thing about brands creating content, which they did in a mini movie kind of format releasing online. I think that’s something we’ll see a lot more of going forward in 2015. All in all, from a creative perspective, and from a media spends perspective, I think the industry is looking up.
Government has great plans but they have to push it through:
Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands
I’m hoping and praying that the next year is good. I am hoping that Budget works out well for the government, whatever they decide, they implement because to me, that’s important. This government has great plans but they have to push it through. As we speak, currently GST is held up… so if they pull off a great Budget, life will be good. To me that’s vital. And not because it’s will be a great Budget but that will show their ability to push through and resolve things. But if they still get caught up in this religious thing that is happening, then there’s trouble. So we hope the government succeeds.
In terms of adspend growth, it’ll be pretty much similar to this year:
CVL Srinivas, CEO South Asia, GroupM
We see 2015 to be a good year. On an overall basis, I think in terms of adspend growth, it’ll be pretty much similar to this year. But one must remember that this was an election year so we had a bit of a bump up to growth because of elections. Next year, despite it not being an election year, we see the growth rates to be more or less similar. We see digital growing upwards to 35 per cent like it has been over the past two or three years. We also think television is going to continue its strong growth in healthy double digits and so will the regional print dailies. So, all in all, it looks like an interesting year. We have the ICC World Cup coming up next year so that will lead to spends at some level.
One of our top stories of last year’s yearender was this self-help guide to beat the New Year Eve hangover.
Guess it’s simply written, direct and had practical tips that didn’t require you to run to the dictionary (ok, ok, go to dictionary.com). So here we are with the same old stuff and one extra way to beat those headaches, nausea, wooziness, etc. Etc, etc.
1. Swear by H20: Drink gallons of water right through because alcohol dehyradates badly.
2. Exercise: Flex your muscles a bit towards evening to be in top form and trigger the good hormones.
3. Chomp a banana: Or any other fruit with high potassium to replace lost electrolytes.
4. Knock down fruit juices: Alternate alcohol with fruit juices (ideally fresh) to restore vitamins and other nutrients.
5. Grab a soda: Essentially to relieve dehydration.
6. Get high on cheese: This is the best time to have fatty food to buffer the stomach lining.
7. Dig on greasy Potatoes: This will keep you steady on your feet
8. Pop in a Vitamin C: Some say it provides additional arsenal to battle it out.
9. Wolf down a Meal: Never, never go empty stomach for the big night.
10. Pop-out for fresh air breaks… nothing like that (and avoid the cigarette. Also, if you must: do not inhale)
11. Some deep breathing will do you well.
12. Go easy: Consider it the best antidote, er, advice
13. Or just don’t drink. Or make a resolution, quit the drink from midnight onwards.
14.  Lastly, as the French, Spanish and Japanese would say respectively: Jouir, disfrutar, tanoshimu, in other words, Enjoy. All will be well!!!!!
Happy 2015.
Our offices will be closed from the afternoon of today (December 31) to the evening of January 1. Hence, there will be no edition tomorrow (on January 1, 2015.)
Have a great year ahead. And, yes, party responsibly.
Cheers!