MxMIndia

Blog

  • NBT goes hyper-local at Greater Noida

    By Akash Raha

     

    Navbharat Times (NBT) of The Times Group is going to launch a special eight-page local newspaper in Greater Noida today. The eight-pager will be distributed in Greater Noida along with the main NBT newspaper. There will be no change in the price point and the newspaper will be available with the added pages at the Rs 2.50. It is noteworthy that NBT has such hyper-localized content for other satellite-cities to Delhi, namely Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad.

    Speaking about the idea behind NBT’s strategy towards creating hyper local content for consumers, Aman Nayar, Brand Head, NBT said “While the main product Navbharat Times (NBT) has the pulse of overall Delhi-NCR (or as we see ‘Greater Delhi’) there is a need to cater to the needs of each of the 4 NCR cities, as each of these cities are rival state capitals in their consumption or economic activity. Hence, we built on the concept of a dedicated local newspaper with local hard news but the focus being on development and growth in these cities. In sheer quantity we would be more local than the competition in fact, but rather than being sensationalist in playing up petty crime or local politics, our focus is the growth opportunities and where there are gaps, to drive change in these boom towns. A lot of our campaigns in these cities have been ground-level connect and have yielded more than encouraging response.”

    After the success of the group’s English newspaper, The Times of India across India, NBT had scaled down its newspapers to two editions – Delhi and Mumbai. However, about four years back, with localized newspapers it began building strategic presence in Delhi and NCR. The move helped them to penetrate in tier two and tier three cities. According to Mr Nayar, it has gained good traction with the advertisers too. Moreover, with ‘NBT Greater Noida’, the company will certainly garner robust local advertising.

    “Greater Noida is a step towards creating meaningful and relevant content for Greater Noida. There has been a marked jump in economic activity centering around the Formula One race. At the same time, as the recent Noida Extension episode showed – The Greater Noida readership’s concerns and thinking may have variation from that in Noida. And so now we have launched Greater Noida’s own local newspaper ‘NBT Greater Noida’. In fact in Ghaziabad, we observed that it was a case of two cities co-existing – the trans-Hindon Area (closer in thinking to Delhi than UP) versus Old Ghaziabad. Therefore, we created two splits of NBT Ghaziabad, one for each city,” added Mr Nayar.

  • Okay, advertising is not full of stuffed shirts – but along with the fun, there’s plenty of hard work going on

    The Anchor: Satbir Singh on 7 reasons advtg is a serious business that allows much fun

    #1 Planning communication strategy requires serious thinking. Being entrusted with planning a communication strategy for a brand is no easy task and requires meticulous planning and perfect execution.

    #2 Creating campaigns requires seriously long hours and weekends in the office. Zeroing on the right idea and taking it to its final step takes time.

    #3 Executing ideas and shooting films amongst others requires travel sans any sightseeing. It might seem glamorous that one gets to travel to various exotic locations while shooting an ad, but the truth is that it’s all work and hardly any play.

    #4 On the other hand, working on different brands and different briefs on the same brands means no monotony.

    #5 It is a profession of very young people. The atmosphere is always exciting and never dull. The industry is full of youngsters who are brimming with fresh ideas and it’s always a learning experience to work with young people who often open up a new line of thinking.

    #6 For those who find it a draw, you could be working with top cricketers and Bollywood celebrities. Now that could be a perk of working with an advertising industry.

    #7 Seeing work that you’ve created on TV and around you is a massive pleasure. It is a deeply satisfying experience to see the idea that one has been working on finally taking shape and then reaching fruition.

     

    Satbir Singh is Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, EuroRSCG India

  • While I understand the desperate need for a lifestyle approach to paints advertising, there is a crying need for originality in this category.

    Anil Thakraney’s Debrief: Dulux lacks colour

    Dulux has come out with a bad copy of the Asian Paints idea. While I understand the desperate need for a lifestyle approach to paints advertising, since the functional route won’t work in this category, there is a crying need for originality in this category. Because that’s the only way to induce brand connect for paints.

     

    Dulux’s new commercial says ‘Apna Rang Chhalakne Do’. It features actors Shahid Kapur and Boman Irani. Irani is finicky about the red colour he wants, and is seen giving hell to his painter on the exact shade. Suddenly, Kapur waltzes into his house, with Irani’s daughter in his arms, wearing what is called a ‘Rascal red’ tee. This follows a sequence of some very trite banter between the characters, till we are told Kapur is a doctor! Wow, we are impressed!

     

    Not only does the ad immediately remind you of the Asian Paints ‘Mera wala blue’ campaign, the execution is so dull, boring and well, colourless, it puts you off despite the presence of movie actors. The conversation is forced, the humour contrived. In short, the commercial is a dud any which way you look at it.

     

    The least Dulux ought to have done was to come up with a more interesting tribute to Asian Paints.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): A BIG ZERO. In Rascal red.

     

     

    Anil Thakraney’s ad review column DeBrief will appear twice a week – Tuesdays and Thursdays.

  • Siemens Ltd and Medanta – The Medicity have joined forces to take affordable and quality healthcare to the remote corners around Gurgaon.

    Siemens, Medanta tie up for healthcare outreach

    By A Correspondent

    Siemens Ltd and Medanta – The Medicity, one of India’s largest multi-superspecialty institutes, located in Gurgaon and founded by eminent cardiac surgeon Dr Naresh Trehan, have come together to ensure that affordable and quality healthcare reaches the remote corners around Gurgaon.

    Sanjeevan is an indigenously-developed mobile concept from Siemens Ltd which is designed and equipped to operate as a mobile healthcare clinic and is fully-equipped with Siemens Healthcare technology. Medanta will be in charge of and operate the bus as well as provide qualified staff. The goal is to improve access to affordable healthcare to the many remote villages of Gurgaon.

    “Siemens worldwide strives to be an integral part of society, and our corporate citizenship initiatives promote social development by creating a viable future. The Siemens mobile healthcare clinic embodies this corporate value system as it delivers asustainable and self-sufficient solution to the locals’ need for healthcare”, said Mr Peter Loescher, President and CEO, Siemens AG.

    The keys of the mobile healthcare clinic were symbolically handed over to Dr Trehan by Mr Loescher.

    Even though the national capital region benefits from highly-advanced healthcare facilities, many rural areas around Gurgaon still lag far behind in basic healthcare services. Siemens’ mobile healthcare clinic will help to bridge the gap. In Dr Trehan’s own words: “The mobile clinic answers the needs of the Indian rural population. With facilities such as ultrasound, pathology, mammography, laboratory equipments and accessories, EGG and even a film development unit, it allows for advanced medical examination which will improve the lives of many individuals who find quality healthcare inaccessible.”

  • After getting the digital rights for Visa and Wrigley’s, BBDO Proximity has now attained the digital mandates for Nissan India.

    Proximity is digital creative agency for Nissan

    By A Correspondent

    Proximity will handle all digital initiatives including social media for Nissan X-Trail, Nissan Teana, Nissan370Z and the Nissan Brand initiatives including the Student Brand Manager program.

    Proximity India is the youngest agency of Proximity Worldwide, and is globally aligned to BBDO Worldwide. Proximity India offers talented communications experts with skills across the full range of relationship, digital and direct marketing services. The agency is focused on providing solutions and initiatives that are designed to change individual consumer behavior by creating “acts not ads”.

    Commenting on the win, Mr Ajai Jhala, CEO, BBDO / Proximity said, “Adding Nissan to our roster is a real privilege. The critical role of digital in this space will give us an opportunity to create some really impactful interactive ideas.”

    Mr Ranjeev Vij, VP & Head, Proximity India added, “Nissan is a fantastic global brand and in India they have ambitious plans. We are really excited that we can partner Nissan in challenging the market leaders and be a navigator in their journey to meet their ambitious business goals.”

    Proximity India has offices in Mumbai and Delhi and has worked on campaigns like Aviva’s “Great Wall of Education” initiative, which helped collect over one million books for the underprivileged children.

    Earlier this month, Proximity India won the digital mandate for the VISA brand in India. They also manage the digital duties for Nicorette.

  • PIX moves media mandate to MediaVest and Zoom advertising

    MediaVest grabs PIX media mandate

    By A Correspondent

    In what can be described as another note in its symphony of wins, Media Vest’s Mumbai office has bagged the media mandate of PIX, the leading English movie channel. Both the agencies will handle all the media planning activities for the channel. Media Vest will handle television and radio and Zoom Advertising will handle only print.

    MediaVest Worldwide is part of Starcom Media Vest Group. Starcom MediaVest being ranked one of the largest brand communications groups in the world. MediaVest will handle the operations for PIX in Mumbai.

    Commenting on the development, Mr Dinesh Rathore, VP MediaVest, Mumbai said, “Pix is one of the leading channels in India that provides excellent English content to the viewers. It has been broadcasting great content to the viewers consistently over the past few years. We intend to drive the channel to a leadership position in the English genre with our human experience strategy framework and hardnosed analytics, providing simple, real-time and meaningful solutions. We are excited to be working with the brand and believe that this partnership will translate into a success story for it.”

    Zoom Advertising became operational in 2004 and within a span of three years it managed to get INS accreditation. Delighted at their recent success,  Mr Chirag Barasia, Proprietor – Zoom Advertising commented, “Being an evolving agency we have established ourselves as a formidable agency in print action, so we take great pride in the way which PIX has put immense trust in us. We are also excited in bagging their print AOR & media buying duties which is a challenge and an opportunity for us to connect them to wider print options. We are extremely positive on our media buying capabilities and thus we will strive hard to ensure PIX achieves significant progress and success in their print portfolios. Similarly, PIX has given us a big boost to venture out in exploring and implementing other media opportunities for them and our other clients.”

  • Experiential marketing is here, it is growing, and marketers and advertisers are embracing it eagerly. How well will it work?

    The X in marketing

     

     

    By Ritu Midha

     

    Experiential marketing, or ExM, is not really a new phenomenon – even way back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was being used by a few savvy marketers. For instance, in 1996 HLL did a children’s connect programme in schools for Pepsodent, which led to high brand recall. In 1999, Reebok got people to try out its high-end DMX shoes – and converted nearly 10 percent of the people who tried the shoe into customers.

    However, back then, examples were far and few, and the growth rate sluggish. No one predicted that in approximately 10 years it would grow to the size it is today. It is no longer being looked at as a futuristic strategy. It is here and now – and growing. Marketers have separate ExM professionals, while agencies, both media and advertising, have experiential marketing arms and divisions.

     

    Understanding ExM

    The USP of ExM obviously is that it enables the brands to connect with consumers, and engage in a two-way interaction, unlike print and television – where it is by and large a one-way street. As is known, it has a right brain bias, and seeks to fulfil certain aspirations and feelings of consumers – it seeks to appeal to consumer’s senses… a rich cup of coffee, a quick drive in a luxury car, hair care by a well-known stylist, two days free stay at a resort – but would it work for a bad brand? Ideally, it should not!

     

    Global insights

    Global Experiential Marketing Research Industry Trend Report 2011 (Experiential Marketing Forum’s Global Research study conducted with IMI) indicates that ExM is getting attention from marketers the world over.

    A few insights from the study are:

    • Clients consider Experiential/Event agencies as ‘innovative, creative and engaging’
    • The client expectation, as per the study, is that experiential marketing agencies would provide better RoI and integration with overall marketing plan and strategy in times to come
    • Clients believe that Social Media, Digital Media and Experiential Marketing would see the largest market spend growth in the next two-years.

    (The study was conducted among marketing professionals across the globe.)

    ExM in India

    If experts are to be believed, the scenario is not very different in India, as far as percentage growth goes. As figures for experiential marketing (which, as per some experts, is no different from BTL) in isolation are not available, here is a quick look at Below the Line market size facilitated by Spatial Access. States Ms Geetanjali Bhattacharjii, CEO, Marketing Services, Spatial Access, “The 2007 annual report of The FICCI-PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated BTL spending in India to be at Rs 900cr, It was expected to grow to Rs 2000cr by 2011. Today’s estimates place BTL spends across events, retail, printing at Rs 9000cr.” She adds, “The ATL: BTL ratio is at 70:30 now with the BTL pie increasing to a 40 percent of marketing budgets.”

    Spatial Access is possibly one of the pioneering developers of The Activation Index.

     

    It is certainly an interesting phenomenon. Even today, while the slowdown is showing its impact on media spends, digital, social and experiential are expected to be the least affected. What is more, digital and ExM are expected to work together – online activities culminating in ground events is the buzz among youth brands.

    Experts believe that tradition media is not going anywhere, considering its reach, CPT and the place it already has in a consumer’s mind and household. But activity on it will increasingly be supplemented with ground activities to engage specific target groups.

     

    Positive outlook

    Mr Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison World, believes that pace at which EXM is growing is phenomenal, “More and more companies are now focusing on integrated marketing and engagement. So directionally, it is the way forward. Marketers now know that they need to engage their prospective target group in a more meaningful and deeper way in order to convert them into customers and retain them. You need to seduce the customer in variety of different ways. Marketing spends in experiential marketing are substantially increasing.”

    Mr Josy Paul, Chairman & NCD, BBDO India, endorses Balsara’s view wholeheartedly, remarking that a standalone TV commercial might not suffice in most cases now. As he puts it, “You need an action-oriented idea based on behaviour.” He adds, “We have proved the power of the action-oriented idea with campaigns like Women Against Lazy Stubble started on Facebook, Aviva Great Wall of Education that started as a wall on the road, Lemon Patalum in Tamil Nadu, which we did for 7up – a platform to invite kids to play light-hearted, lemony, rubber-ball cricket with their superstar CSK. Today you need to create multiple platforms.”

     

    A few advantages

    Consumer engagement is taking place at various touch points like colleges, housing societies, and events organised with the sole objective of providing customer with a brand experience. However, malls and organised retail outlets are the ones utilised to the maximum – be it sampling of a new tea, a shampoo or even a car. As there is less time between awareness and purchase here, the conversion ratio can be much higher.

    Retailers, of course, are leaving no stone unturned in engaging the customer, in activities co-crafted with brands, or in isolation. States Mr Devendra Chawla, President, FMCG & Food, “We follow a toolkit including a multi-sensorial engagement with the consumer in the retail theatre. In food categories, where taste and palate play an important role in buying decisions, experience in terms of sampling is very effective. In the non-food category, testers are provided to help customers with decision-making. Promoters play an important role as in the case of beauty products through demonstrations.”

    Another interesting fact that has come out in a few global experiential marketing studies is that an experience often leads to a lot of discussion – 90 percent of people, in fact, tell their family and friends about participating in the activity. Word-of-mouth does create a lot of buzz around the brand.

    Direct engagement with a brand leads to emotional engagement, which increases loyalty and brand recall.

     

    A few examples

    Marketers are today generating tools and channels to make an effect on all the senses of the consumer, in 360-degree sight, touch and smell. However, one does wonder whether experiential marketing works for all product categories, or is it not-so-good a bet for low involvement categories. Explains Ms Bhattacharjii, “The types of companies that utilize experiential marketing tactics are typically contemporary consumer brands which are youthful enough to create the experience. However, the potential for such campaigns is currently growing, with a whole host of companies and brands hoping to gain the benefits from engaging with their customer base.” She also gives a few examples of Experiential marketing activity:

    Pepsi organized an inter-school cricket event for 425 schools across 14 cities, which worked wonders for it. This was the exact age group they wanted to target. Mass advertising is more general in its appeal, whereas through BTL you can focus your efforts better, customize better.

    Samsung discovered that BTL activities like product demonstrations and cookery classes helped in making people familiar with the concept of its microwave ovens and eventually helped in sales too. BTL helps you reach the audience on a one-to-one basis.

    Vodafone and Fever 104 planned a “Vodafone Fever” contest where every 104 minutes, one had the chance to win Rs.104,000! Whenever the RJ called, the contestant was supposed to say “Vodafone Fever” instead of “Hello”. This way, both companies reached their target audience in a jiffy.

    Kaya Skin Clinic finds it profitable to organize workshops and events on skincare for its customers. This way it generates more business from its existing customers.

     

    Issues

    Experiential marketing is growing but not without hiccups. Identifying the specific target groups, and the right place and activity to reach them, is one issue. One size fits all is not a workable model. Another issue faced is that consumer usually wants to participate in the activities for the brands they are already familiar with courtesy traditional media. The third and bigger problem is the absence of measurability and metrics. The argument by ExM agencies is that RoI for EXM should not be cost per reach but cost per conversion.

    If current indications are anything to go by, ExM is set to grow. However, it can never be a substitute for traditional media. Brands will continue to build on traditional media, and will use ExM for better customer connect, and better sales – and they will do so more frequently now.

     

    Picture Credit : Fotocorp

  • Hindustan Times has been constantly building into the youth market with several initiatives and campaigns for the young.

    HT focuses campus appeal on youth

    By Akash Raha

    Hindustan Times has been constantly building into the youth market with several initiatives and campaigns for the young. HT draws a yearlong plan to activate all these events. MxM India spoke to Mr Diptakirti Chaudhuri, AVP – Marketing, Hindustan Times to learn more about this stress.

    The initiative follows the trajectory of a youth just out of school and entering the college. HT follows his/her campus journey all year round. It begins with Campus Calling where it tells the youth about the various opportunities to get into educational institutions and imparts counselling. Thereafter there are other initiatives like Fresh on Campus, Mission MBA, Youth Nexus, Study Abroad, Career Quotient and College Fests. Currently, Mission MBA is on, on full swing since the CAT exams are not too far away. In the coming months, there will be workshops and group discussions on how to crack the CAT. Also, Freshen Campus, which includes organising freshers’ parties across campuses, is currently on.

     

    Offerings for the young

    HT carries the more serious campus related issues in HT Education and the fun events in campus on HT City. Also, there is HT Edge a campus supplement especially designed for the youth. It is a 12-page newspaper which was launched a year back especially for especially for the youth. It is priced at Re 1 and is distributed across colleges and homes.

    Speaking about campuses Mr Chaudhuri said, “Campus is very important to us and we lay special thrust on doing well there as these are the people who write the future of our nation. We have observed that in the campus people don’t find the regular newspaper useful enough or cool enough. They are tired of reading about politics and corruption. Hence, we have revamped our content to give them exactly what they want to read.”

    He went on to say. “These days, our educational supplements include a lot of non-normative career options, such as those for RJs, VJs, chefs etc. We have done studies and surveys to get to know that the youth of today are moving away from the conventional professions of being a doctor, engineer, CA etc. We try to bridge such a gap.”

    Apart from the offering for college going students, HT also has HT Next for school going students. The newspaper is distributed to around 1,400 schools in Delhi region.

    When asked how they were leveraging their initiatives and campaigns on campuses further, Mr Chaudhuri said that online was their biggest medium to take the cause of the campus forward. The Facebook page (www.facebook.com/campuscalling) has over one lakh members and sees a lot of interaction amongst peers, where the monitoring (according to HT) is minimal.

    The initiative to help youth and students is a pan-India activity, with concepts and ideas developed in-house. Considering that India is only getting younger as a substantial part of the population is below the age of 25, the initiative is certainly going to reap rich dividends for HT for a sustained period of time.

  • Mindshare India strengthens Delhi operations, welcomes Sushanto Biswas as partner – client leadership.

    Sushanto Biswas to lead Ford team at Mindshare

    By A Correspondent

    Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM has recently appointed Mr Sushanto Biswas as Partner – Client Leadership. Based out of Delhi, Mr Biswas will be heading the Ford team at Mindshare India.

    Joining Mindshare from MPG, Mr Biswas has 13 years of rich experience in the media industry working with some of the top agencies. During this time, he has worked across a gamut of clients including HP, British Airways, Maruti, LVMH, Videocon, MTS and Reckitt Benkiser. He has also worked on the client side at LG and with Universal McCann on Gillette, Goodyear, Panasonic, MasterCard, GM and Microsoft.

    Commenting on his appointment, Mr Biswas said, “It is very exciting and at the same time very challenging to be part of the fastest growing agency in India. Auto as a category has always been a passion and I have had experience of the category, having worked on General Motors and Maruti previously. Ford has ambitious plans for the country over the next few years and I see this as a great challenge to craft media solutions in a hyper-competitive market place.”

    Welcoming Mr Biswas, Mr R Gowthaman, Leader, Mindshare South Asia, said, “Sushanto’s wealth of client and business experience makes him a vital asset to the Mindshare team. His in-depth understanding of behaviour and trends in the media industry will add incredible value to our clients.”

  • M&C Saatchi India has announced that Kamal Oberoi, its India Chairman and MD, has resigned to pursue other interests.

    Kamal Oberoi steps down as M&C Saatchi CMD

    M&C Saatchi, the Indian arm of the UK-based global advertising agency, has announced that its India Chairman & Managing Director Mr Kamal Oberoi is leaving to pursue other professional and academic interests. Mr Oberoi founded M&C Saatchi’s India operations in October 2005. Since then, the agency grew to become one of the top 20 best advertising agencies in the country. He leaves behind a team of highly seasoned professionals capable of taking the company forward.

    On his exit, Mr Oberoi said “It has been great challenging and rewarding experience. I am grateful for support from all colleagues and for clients for reposing their faith in us. The company is poised for the next stage of growth.”

    Mr Chris Jaques, CEO, M&C Saatchi Asia said, “Kamal Oberoi is a legend in the industry, and rightly so. He has been an amazing leader of M&C Saatchi since the day he launched our company in India in 2005. Thanks to Kamal, M&C Saatchi is privileged to have a blue-chip client list and a first-class management team – one that is ready to take the company into the next phase of its exciting development.”

    M&C Saatchi Communications has offices in 22 cities across 15 countries, including Mumbai and Delhi.

  • The Mirchi Kaan awards 2011 were announced yesterday, with McCann Worldgroup managing to dominate yet again.

    McCann wins Agency of the Year at Mirchi Kaan

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    The 8th Mirchi Kaan Awards  were announced yesterday in Mumbai. McCann Worldgroup continued its dominance this year as well, bagging the Agency of the Year award.

    Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman, McCann Worldgroup, said, “We are delighted to have won this award. McCann has outshined as a strong agency over the years in this award. This is also special for us as Radio is a difficult medium to write for, unlike television, hence the team is even happier to have won this.”

    Prashant Panday, CEO,Radio Mirchi said, “The Mirchi Kaan awards are a very emotional event for us. This is a night we spend with friends and recognize and reward their brilliance. For us, the benefit is when radio becomes as creative a medium as television or print. We are happy with the way the creative quality has improved over the past eight years. The pride for us is the quality of the jury, and we owe a debt of gratitude to them.”

    The 8th Mirchi Kaan Awards received about 250 entries across 16 categories. In addition there were special awards for the best writer, best voice and the crystal award for most outstanding radio commercial of the year.

    The jury this year consisted of Agnello Dias, chairman and co-founder, TapRoot, Deepa Krishnan, president, creative, Lowe Lintas, Prathap Suthan, chief creative officer, Iyogi, Rekha Nigam, managing director, Vihaan Communications, Sunil Thoppil, vice-president, McCann Erickson, Ashish Khazanchi, national creative director, Publicis ambience, Josy Paul, chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO India, Amit Akali, senior vice-president and national creative director, Grey, Ramanuj Shastry, chief creative officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, Malvika Mehra, national creative director and senior vice-president, Grey, Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and regional executive creative director, McCann Worldgroup, Meera Sharath Chandra, K S Chakravarthy, national creative director, Draftfcb Ulka and Manoj Shetty, senior creative director, Ogilvy India.

  • 3 leading TV channels, Star, Colors & Zee TV unite to support Saffolalife in a brand new TVC to celebrate “your heart’s birthday”. With this The Times of India will gifts readers in three cities a free copy as a birthday present for their heart, along with a surprise on the front page.

    Channels show heart for Saffolalife

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    This World Heart Day, Saffolalife, an initiative from Saffola, is bringing together the largest media houses to further the cause of preventive heart care in India.  For the first time in the history of Indian television, Saffola has united the favourite stars of competitors STAR Plus, Colors & Zee TV in a brand new TVC that urges everyone to find your heart’s age through the Saffolalife “Heart Age Finder” Tool and celebrate their heart’s birthday.

    In addition, with another pioneering initiative, Saffolalife and Times of India are gifting readers in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore a free copy of The Times of India as a gift for their heart. This special gift has a delightful and novel way of actually experiencing a birthday celebration and watching print come wonderfully alive on one’s mobile phone.

    With the launch of the new TVC, Saffolalife is taking your heart’s birthday celebrations to the silver screen. Bringing together our favorite Pratigya & Krishna, Priyanka & Shaili Bhabhi, Anandi & Simar and many more, the TVC raises awareness about the fact that even though we celebrate the birthday of our favorite stars, we often forget the one who is the most important: one’s own heart. These stars from the rival channels Star Plus, Colors and Zee TV have united with Saffolalife on a common platform for a common concern: to highlight the importance of preventive heart care in a light and heart-warming manner.

    Commenting on the TVCs, Mr Abhinav Tripathi, Senior Creative Director, McCann Erickson Mumbai, said, “Everybody loves a surprise. So when it comes to your heart’s birthday, what better way to wish it? Which is why on World Heart Day we decided to gift it a Times Of India. Absolutely free, loaded with wonderful presents, compliments of TOI and Saffolalife.  From the first page on, every page will hold a special surprise, including an ad that literally comes to life in front of your eyes. And the rest of the gifts, well, why don’t we let your heart decide”

    Sushma Jhaveri, COO, Madison Media Infinity, said, “The key to any Impactful innovation is extending the creative idea seamlessly in media.  Saffolalife’s World Heart Day partnership with leading TV channels and The Times of India, succeed in doing this effortlessly by breaking through clutter to increase noticeability and enhancing Impact for the cause.”

    As India’s young population faces the highest risk of cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs), Saffolalife continues to work on its mission to bring down the incidence of CVDs across India. This World Heart Day, these two path-breaking initiatives by Saffolalife have united the media fraternity on the serious cause of heart health. With the aim to raise tremendous awareness on the importance of preventive heart care, Saffolalife is conveying a serious message in a manner that people will embrace and engage with.