MxMIndia

Category: Top Stories

  • Knowledge sessions and masterclasses dominate proceedings

    Day 2 @ Goafest: First Half Wrap-Up

    Day 2 of Goafest 2024 began began with a session hosted by the India chapter of IAA in collaboration with UNICEF. The theme was titled Gender-Sensitive Marketing: Navigating The New Consumer Landscape. Among the panellists were Chandni Shah, Chief Operating Officer of FCB Kinnect, Darshana Shah, Head of Marketing & Customer Experience at Aditya Birla Capital, Kailashnath Adhikari, Business Head of Sri Adhikari Brothers & Managing Director of GovernanceNow, Rajdeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Groupe South Asia & Chairman of Leo Burnett South Asia; and Ram Madhvani, Filmmaker, Producer, and Founder of Equinox Films and Ram Madhvani Films. Moderating the discussion was Kranti Gada, Founder of NeOwn.in.

    Post that, in a keynote address, Pulkit Trivedi, Managing Director of Snap Inc. India, revealed how Snapchat emerged as the preferred platform for young India. This was following by a session titled titled Media Agencies Panel – The Changing Expectations from a Media Client Leader, and the Challenges in Getting There, comprising prominent industry leaders. The panellists included Ajay Gupte, CEO, Wavemaker South Asia, Anita Kotwani, CEO – Media (South Asia) at Dentsu, Tanmay Mohanty, CEO of Publicis Media Services India and Vaishali Verma, CEO of Initiative India. Steering the discussion was Vikram Sakuja, Partner & Group CEO of Media & Out-of-Home at Madison Communications.

    The third knowledge seminar was titled, Trust or Bust: Thriving in the Digital World, with ASCI as partner. The panel of experts included were Amit Doshi, Chief Marketing Officer at Britannia, Falguni Vasavada, Professor at MICA and Digital Creator, Paras Sharma, Director of Global Partnerships at Meta and Sharan Hegde, Finance Content Creator and Co-founder and CEO of 1% Club. Manisha Kapoor, CEO & Secretary General of ASCI, moderated the session. We thought the session could be a tad longer.

    What followed was a fireside chat featuring Ankit Kapoor, Head of Marketing & International Business at Parle Agro, Mahesh Shetty, National Sales Head at Viacom18 and Navin Khemka, CEO – South Asia of Essence Mediacom. Conducting the conversation was anchor and marathoner Shibani Gharat.

    Day 2 also saw a series øf masterclasses. By WhatsApp on Agency Exclusive: Drive growth across the customer journey with WhatsApp, presented by Riddhika Sand. Then Ujaya Shakya, Founder and CEO of Outreach Nepal on Unlocking Market Potential: Open your eyes to Nepal. There was also the the D&AD masterclass presented by Lisa Evans and Paul Drake titled Unlocking Award Winning Ideas. Amazon miniTV also held a masterclass on Brand Integration with Vijay Iyer, Director, Amazon Ads India and Amogh Dusad, Head of Content, Amazon miniTV conducting the session. There was also a masterclass on Hall of Flame – The Olympics Masterclass presented by Chandan Roy.

  • Wavemaker is Media Agency oof the Year, ABP Publisher of the Year

    Wavemaker is Media Agency oof the Year, ABP Publisher of the Year

    It’s now become a winning habit for GroupM agency Wavemaker. On the first day of the Goafest 2024, Wavemaker India was crowned Media Agency of the Year at Abby Awards Powered by One Show. They bagged 16 metals. Earlier, ABP Ltd bagged the Publisher of the Year titled with five metals.

    The EssenceMediacom team winning the sole Grand Prix Media Abby for Airtel 5G Plus Ultimate Fans: Look Maa! I am on TV

    The Wavemaker tally include four golds, nine silvers and three bronzes. The sole Grand Prix presented was won by GroupM agency EssenceMediacom for Airtel 5G Plus campaign #LookMaImOnTV for innovative use of branded content – integration.

    While Wavemaker scored 98 points, the next best was less than half that at 48. That was Initiative Media. EssenceMedia secured 42 points.

    The ABP Pvt Ltd team winning the Publisher of the Year Abby

    Like last year’s edition, the Abby Awards are powered by One Show and have received a total of 3506 entries as against 3301 last year. As many as 73 entrants for the Media Abby as against 63 last year. In Creative, there are 198 entrants as against 181 last year. The total number of entries for Media Abby were 1258 this year (up from 1019 last year) and in the various categories under Creative, it’s been 2248 this year, as against 2282 last year. Digital, Mobile, and Technology, have collectively garnered 626 entries from 75 companies.

    The gates for receiving entries had to be shut as per deadline, we were told, else, the entries for Creative Abby would’ve crossed last year’s tally.

    There were 23 jury chairs and 204 jurors across 23 categories. Of these there were 53 new, young, award-winning judges. There were 68 women amongst the judges (nine jury chairs are women).

    Publisher Abby

    Media Abby

  • … and some entertainment and cricket as well

    Knowledge sessions, masterclasses & entertainers rule Day 3 of Goafest 2024…

    Ahead of a day of knowledge seminars and masterclasses, singer Harshdeep Kaur started the proceedings. This was followed by a session titled.

     

    Indian Women Harnessing the Power Of Identity. This panel discussion saw playback singer Shilpa Rao, film-maker Alankrita Shrivastava, actor Tamannaah Bhatia, content creator and Prajakta Koli. Ambika Muttoo, Editor-In-Chief of Femina, was moderator of the session.

     

    An interesting session titled Secrets of Longevity: Adapting our lifestyles to increase our ‘Healthspan’ saw Dr Marcus RannJey – Founder and CEO, Human Edge speaking with moderator – Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Groupe, South Asia.

     

    This was followed by a keynote by titled Do More With Conversations, delivered by Gaurav Jeet Singh, Head of Agency Business, India, at Meta.

     

    The first half also saw a WARC masterclass by Sujeet Kulkarni titled The Anatomy of Effectiveness. Another masterclass titled Meta Creative Shop x WhatsApp: Getting Creative with Conversations was presented by Varun Goswami. And then there was Jo Jackson, CEO of D&AD, delivering a masterclass on Unpacking Brand Iconicity.

     

    The second half of Day 3 started with a seminar titled Customer-Centric Adaptability; Meeting Shifting Expectations; Maintaining Customer Loyalty in a Dynamic Environment, focusing on meeting shifting expectations and maintaining customer loyalty in a dynamic environment. Leading the discussion was Tarun Puri, Senior Operating Partner at Lighthouse Funds, Asha Kharga, Chief Customer & Brand Officer at Mahindra Group, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Founder & MD at Roy Kapur Films, with senior journalist Anuradha SenGupta as moderator.

     

    The next session, titled The Art of Storytelling, was conducted by journalist and radio presenter Neelesh Misra. This was followed by a session titled Adaptability And Innovation: The Cornerstones Of A Future-Ready Agency featuring Anusha Shetty, Chairperson & Group CEO of Grey Group, India; Jitendra Dabas, Chief Operating Officer & CSO, India, Head of Effectiveness, APAC, McCann WorldGroup and Babita Baruah, Chief Executive Officer of VML India. Moderating the discussion was Dheeraj Sinha, Group CEO for India and South Asia at FCB Group India.

     

    Another panel titled Evolving Market Landscape: Navigating The New Normal saw Shashank Srivastava, Member of the Executive Committee at Maruti Suzuki, and Sunil Kataria, Chief Executive Officer of Raymond Lifestyle (India & International) as speakers with journalist Anuradha SenGupta moderating the session.

     

    OOH took centrestage with a session titled Adapting to be accountable featuring Darshana Shah, Head of Marketing & Customer Experience at Aditya Birla Capital, Pawan Bansal, COO of Jagran Engage & Chairman of IOAA (Indian Outdoor Advertising Association); Noomi Mehta, Chairman of the Board at Selvel One Group; and Jahan Mehta, Chief Growth Officer at Oap Mediatech. Sam Balsara, Founder, Chairman & MD of Madison World & Madison Communications, moderated the session.

     

    The next two sessions featured cricket and cinema. The session titled Embracing Change: Lessons from The Field to Life featured Sourav Ganguly alongside journalist Boria Majumdar who was moderator. And then a session titled The Art Of Adaptability: From Real Life to Reel Life featuring actor Manoj Bajpayee alongside Prasoon Joshi, CEO and CCO of McCann World Group India who was moderator.

     

    There were many masterclasses held as well. These being:

    by Yagnesh Ravi and Srivatsan Jayasankar on GenZ Marketing 101: The Snap Camera.

    by Ranjan Mishra and Rahul Singh on Elevating Your Digital Marketing Strategy with AI

    by Jayesh Moorjani on Youtube Shorts

    and lastly by Lisa Evans and Paul Drake on Unlocking Award Winning Ideas.

  • Delivers tangible ROI for brands

    Animeta forges strategic collaborations

    Creator tech company Animeta celebrates significant success through strategic collaborations with marquee brands, Amazon Fresh Delivery, Godrej Geeves, Bajaj Finserv Barbeque Nation, NMIMS and WetterOnline.

    Said Anish Mehta, Founder, Animeta: “We are glad to showcase our esteemed partnerships and the faith the brands have put in us. We are looking to change the game  by using smart tech to match brands with the perfect influencers and increase our reach across categories. We are focussed on delivering the story by creating meaningful relationships with the intended audience. In turn it is all about delivering real results, both in immediate and lasting value.”

  • Set to redefine excellence in Electrical Solutions Landscape

    L&T Switchgear unveils new identity

    L&T Switchgear (L&T Electrical and Automation), the electrical and automation brands major, has unveiled a new brand identity, ‘Lauritz Knudsen Electrical and Automation’.

    Speaking at the launch, Peter Herweck, Chief Executive Officer at Schneider Electric, underscored Lauritz Knudsen’s pivotal role in driving innovation while enhancing global competitiveness. “Lauritz Knudsen’s vision prioritizes innovation and excellence, aligning closely with India’s growth story. Lauritz Knudsen aims to strategically invest approximately INR 850 crores over the next three years, further establishing its role as a significant player in India’s rapid growth trajectory in the electrical sector.”

    Added Deepak Sharma, Zone President – Greater India, MD & CEO of Schneider Electric India: “As we embrace the ‘Two Brands Two Sales’ strategy in India with Schneider Electric & Lauritz Knudsen brands, our aim will be to make an even stronger contribution in the transformative journey of India by offering unparalleled choices for our customers. We will continue to Listen, Partner, and Innovate for a Viksit Bharat.”

  • Conceptualised and produced by DDB Mudra

    Dream11’s T20 World Cup launches campaign

    Dream11, the fantasy sports platform, has launched a new campaign for the T20 World Cup, titled ‘Yeh Sabka Dream Hai’. The campaign film has been conceptualised and produced by DDB Mudra.

    Commenting on the campaign, Vikrant Mudaliar, Chief Marketing Officer, Dream Sports said: “After an intense IPL season marked by team rivalries, the country now unites behind Team India for the World Cup. Our campaigns have consistently endeavoured to adopt a lighthearted approach, rooted in the love for sports which resonates with our users. ‘‘Yeh Sabka Dream Hai’ follows a similar treatment but has a flavour of its own. The campaign highlights the unwavering dedication and support of Indian mothers and the value of “ma ka aashirwad”. The talented Ayesha Raza beautifully captures the sentiments and hopes of our team lifting the cup. Above all, the campaign stays true to our ethos of pure passion for cricket, regardless of age or gender.”

  • To empower children with special needs

    Disney Star contributes to Different Art Centre, Kerala

    Disney Star is poised to collaborates with the Different Art Centre (DAC),  a project under the Kerala Social Security Mission to empower children with special needs through art. K Madhavan, Country Manager and President of Disney Star, visited the centre to explore opportunities to support this inspiring cause and announced a contribution of INR 1.8 crores from the Disney Star CSR Fund.

    During his visit, K Madhavan toured the facility, interacted with over a hundred children and engaged in meaningful discussions with Gopinath Muthukad, Founder and Executive Director of the Different Art Centre, and directors, including Mahesh Gupta, Shail Thomas, and Jaya Dali. They discussed potential collaborations to further enhance the impact of centre’s programmes.

    Notes a communique: “His visit underscores Disney Star’s commitment to social responsibility and its support for initiatives that make a positive impact on society. This contribution will aid in various welfare activities conducted by the Different Art Centre, furthering its mission in identifying, training, and refining the basic talents of differently abled children in various art forms.”

  • Partnered with Burman Sports & Kid Sport Media  & Squeezy Sports Inc

    Mumbai Indians launch new animation series

    Mumbai Indians announced the launch of ‘The Mighty Indians’, an animated mini-series, that combines the world of cricket, storytelling, and fan fiction for the next generation of global fans. The series has been created with strategic partners Burman Sports and Animation Media Partner Kid Sports Media Inc. and Squeezy Sports Inc.

    A spokesperson for Mumbai Indians said: “The Mumbai Indians have always embodied the values of teamwork, perseverance and hard work, and the ‘The Mighty Indians’ brings these values to life through a series of animated episodes and a captivating storyline. As a global brand, Mumbai Indians is always on the lookout to engage with their fans across geographies through innovative activations and content.”

    Said Shiv Burman, Founder, Burman Sports: “We identified a strategic opportunity to create an IP with immense potential to cultivate fandom amongst Mi’s next generation fans, via relevant and engaging content that both resonates with and entertains them. The Mighty Indians IP has the potential to grow into segments such as merchandise, experiences, community engagement and more, creating a comprehensive ecosystem that celebrates the spirit of cricket and heroism. We brought on board our partners Kid Sports Media to deliver world class content. Mumbai Indians has been the perfect partner for an IP like this given their large focus on kids and youth development. We are proud to partner with one of the biggest cricket franchises in the world to help develop their next generation of fans.”

    Added Massimo Marchese CMO of Kid Sport Media  & Squeezy Sports Inc.: “We’re thrilled to team up with the Mumbai Indians to bring cricket’s superstars to life as animated superheroes, blending the thrill of the game with epic adventures. Get ready for a boundary-breaking series that will captivate fans and inspire a new generation of cricket lovers!”

  • Celebrates MG 100-year Limited Edition

    Cheil India launches campaign for MG Motors

    Cheil India has launched a campaign for MG Motor India’s celebration of 100 years of the brand’s existence as it commemorates the milestone with a limited edition range of cars in green colour.

    Speaking about the campaign, Udit Malhotra, Head of Marketing, MG Motor India, said: “The launch of our 100-Year Limited Edition is a testament to our enduring legacy and passion for automotive excellence. MG pays homage to the British legacy and racing heritage by launching a range of vehicles in ‘Evergreen’ color.”

    Said Amit Nandwani, National Creative Director, Cheil India: “The brief was to launch the MG 100-year Limited Edition in spectacular fashion. We thought it would be a great opportunity to bring to life MG’s legacy and use it as a narrative to unveil the iconic range. That’s how ‘Drive the Legend’ was born. Shot on the picturesque white sands of Sambhar Lake, the campaign is an ode to MG’s glorious past and its ambitious plans for the future.”

    Talking about the film, Neeraj Bassi, Chief Growth Officer, Cheil India, said: “We take immense pride in working on a legacy brand like MG Motor. The film is a piece of work that celebrates the Britishness of MG Motor as it completes an iconic milestone of 100 years. We have infused a sense of panache and style into the film that elevates its tone to match the momentous occasion which the film is celebrating”.

  • Emphasises the importance of milk for growing children

    ITC’s Aashirvaad Svasti Milk launches campaign

    On the occasion of World Milk Day, Aashirvaad Svasti, a dairy brand from ITC, has unveiled a campaign titled #AajDoodhPiyaKya.

    Said Abhishek Mehrotra, Vice President & Head of Marketing – Dairy & Beverages ITC Ltd: “Milk has always been an integral part of our culture and daily lives, and the simple question ‘Aaj Doodh Piya Kya?’ is deeply rooted in the affection and care that our loved ones have shown us over the years. Through this campaign, we aim to celebrate and honour the countless caregivers – from mothers and grandparents to teachers and neighbours – who have ensured that we receive the goodness of milk every day.”

  • To connect with consumers across North India

    Kiara Advani is brand ambassador of Pond’s Skin Institute

    Pond’s Skin Institute ropes in Kiara Advani as its latest brand ambassador. She will feature in Pond’s new TVC that is set to take over traditional and digital platforms across the country soon.

    Elaborating on the association, Pratik Ved, Skincare Head, Beauty & Wellbeing, Hindustan Unilever Limited said:  “We are delighted to welcome Kiara to the Pond’s family, as we usher in a new era of Pond’s Skin Institute. Being a remarkable celebrity, she’s also renowned for her iconic beauty and style across the country. This strategic partnership underscores our dedication to merging innovation with aspirational beauty, ensuring Pond’s Skin Institute’s leadership in skincare.”

  • To boost company’s growth and innovation

    Liqvd Asia strengthens leadership team

    Sunil Gangras
    Sunil Gangras
    Monish-Sanghavi
    Monish Sanghavi

    Liqvd Asia advertising agency appoints Monish Sanghavi and Sunil Gangras as Directors – leveraging their expertise to drive further growth.

    Said Arnab Mitra, Founder of Liqvd Asia: “At our company, we have consistently embraced evolving trends and advancing technologies. While these changes present new challenges, they also provide us with opportunities for innovation and growth. We are also excited to introduce our new directors and look forward to the continued progress. To honour the invaluable contributions of our dedicated team members, we are proud to offer Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP) to those who have been with us for over five years. Their unwavering commitment and hard work have been crucial in driving our remarkable growth over the past fiscal year.”