MxMIndia

Tag: 22feet

  • The 5-yr-old digital media firm will merge with Tribal and its core team will manage the joint entity + comments from an M&A consultant & Prasanth Mohanachandran

    Flying high! 22feet sells out to DDB Mudra [updated today]

    L-R 22feet co-founders Deepak Nair, Vineet Gupta, Brijesh Jacob and Vinod Moolacherry

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    One more Indian digital major gets gobbled up. Bangalore-headquartered 22feet has been acquired by media and marketing services conglomerate Omnicom Group.

     

    On Monday, Omnicom’s DDB Group announced the acquisition of 22feet. The five-year-old digital marketing firms in India will merge with nine-year-old Tribal Worldwide India creating a new entity known as 22feet Tribal Worldwide which will be a part of the DDB Mudra Group.  22feet has in its roster brands such as Café Coffee Day, Fastrack, Lenovo, Heineken, Kingfisher, Red Bull and Axe.

     

    Madhukar Kamath

    The new entity – 22feet Tribal Worldwide – will be spearheaded by the core team of 22feet and not that of Tribal. Vineet Gupta will be Managing Director, Brijesh Jacob is Joint Managing Director and Deepak Nair will be Chief Operating Officer. The three will report directly to Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO and Managing Director, DDB Mudra Group. They will also work closely with Tribal Worldwide network in APAC and across 42 countries.

     

    The fourth 22feet co-founder Vinod Moolacherry will take charge of White Canvas, the Bengaluru-based full-service agency set up by the foursome. White Canvas has not been acquired by Omnicom as part of the deal on 22feet. Meanwhile, Venkat Mallik, president of Tribal India and RAPP, the marketing and CRM agency, will now move to look after RAPP, with what a spokesperson told us is an expanded and new global vision for that business.

     

    Said Mr Kamath on the acquisition: “With digital at the heart of DDB Mudra Group’s agenda, we are extremely happy about joining forces with 22feet. In just five years, 22feet has grown leaps and bounds. With this energy and Tribal Worldwide’s global reputation and reach, I’m excited to see what this magic of mergers can create.”

     

    John Zeigler

    Added John Zeigler, Chairman and CEO, DDB Group Asia Pacific, India and Japan: “We see this as a strategic move to continue evolving our capabilities in the fast-moving Indian market. DDB Group has accelerated its capabilities to offer clients the best-in-class local digital expertise at 22feet, coupled with best-in-class global knowledge of the Tribal Worldwide network. I believe this is a game-changing event for the DDB Mudra Group in India.”

     

    According to a financial advisor to many media M&A deals who requested anonymity, the acquisition is a win-win for DDB and 22feet. For digital media entrepreneurs who have sold out to advertising majors, the scale of a large network and international clients is a huge pull. And for ad firms, who have not been very strong on digital, acquiring smaller firms and thereby talent, legacy and clients is a sureshot way of getting digital prowess that clients seek. The added advantage, said the M&A specialist, is that networks could also look at converting a part of these digital shops to delivery hubs for offices elsewhere in the world.

     

    According to Prasanth Mohanachandran, CEO of AgencyDigi, who sold his agency eDeltaC Communications to Ogilvy in 2001, the 22feet buy will do a world of good for Tribal in India. “It’s an excellent agency worldwide, and the acquisition will help leapfrog the operations here,” Mohanachandran said

     

    Meanwhile, there is excitement amongst the 22feet co-founders who will now steer 22feet Tribal. Said Vineet Gupta on the announcement: “We are extremely excited to be a part of the DDB Group family. At 22feet, we share DDB’s passion for innovation and technology and look forward to delivering best in class digital solutions to our clients across markets as 22feet Tribal Worldwide.”

     

    Brijesh Jacob and Deepak Nair echo similar sentiments. “We are extremely happy with this opportunity to operate on a global canvas,” said Nair.

     

  • Marketers talk about the large number of fans they have acquired on FB, so what do these number of fans mean to them and how are the marketers leveraging these fans?

    The Crucial Social Media Question: Have fans? Now what?

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    Every marketer worth his salt wants his brand to have a presence on social media. However, the truth is that the marketers are still trying to figure how to navigate this medium.

     

    Having heard that it’s a ‘cost effective medium, can be tracked and is ‘the’ medium’ where the customers hang out, the marketer obviously wants to be there too. But the social media still has a long way to go before it is seen as the ‘vehicle of choice’ and not just as an afterthought.

     

    Yes, one agrees that marketers are warming up to the medium but they are still testing waters barring a handful who have taken the medium wholeheartedly.

     

    Once a marketer decides to go on social media, the next move is to create a presence on Facebook and maybe on Twitter. We have often heard the marketers talking about the large number of fans they have acquired on FB, so what do these number of fans mean to them and how are the marketers leveraging these fans to engage effectively with consumers?

     

    Chhaya Balachandran Aiyer, Founder and Managing Director, BC Webwise agrees that there is peer pressure to acquire more fans and clients often bow to that demand: “The number of fans and likes is a visible number, hence one can’t write it off completely even though many of the numbers could be dormant fans. These numbers are an opportunity to engage those fans in a meaningful way to create brand loyalty and brand recall.”

     

    She added: “Two years back, the common demand of a client was to be on Facebook, but we have seen a shift now where they have realized that it’s not the ultimate answer but social media too needs a 360 degree approach.” So it’s clear that there are different kinds of marketers and the early adopters are clearly asking the right kind of questions.

     

    Some of the brands that have effectively used the communities on FB are Fastrack, Café Coffee Day, Sunsilk while more are getting on the engagement bandwagon. Explaining the significance of the numbers, Rajiv Dingra, CEO, WATConsult, said: “While all readers of an ad do not become buyers of the product, similarly with FB, the marketers become a publisher of its page to reach out to the consumers. The aim is not always conversion to transaction for all people on its FB page, but with a large fan base the number of potential buyers definitely increases.”

     

    Mr Dingra is clear that there is no replacement for good content. He added that the numbers might reflect various objectives of a brand at different points, but if the content is good, the engagement with brands will become only much more involved and meaningful.

     

    Vineet Gupta

    Vineet Gupta of 22feet has been relentlessly engaging with brands to enable them to use their social media tools effectively. He explained: “We have brought out exclusive sale for Fastrack fans on FB and the brand has been doing a lot of stuff exclusive to the community. Scale has its own benefit and one can’t deny that. With people becoming familiar with social media, there are lots of activities happening which take people beyond the likes and the fans.”

     

    The agency has recently done activation for Lee titled ‘Shadows of City’, where people were encouraged to present their photographs of the city and the shadows they create which would then be put up in the stores.

     

    CCD is another brand that has been using FB to listen to its customers and also engage them via the medium. Ramakrishnan K, President- Marketing at CCD elaborated: “At CCD, we not only have numbers, but also a high level of engagement. Our fan base is 2.6 million and our monthly engagement level is 60 per cent, i.e. 60 per cent of our fans interact in some form with our page every month.”

     

    He added: “At CCD, we use social media base for regular tailor-made communication on happenings in CCD. We have a direct consumer feedback on cafes across the country which gives us instant information that keeps us on our toes. Most importantly, we use the fan base for co-creating many of our offerings – be it new menu, suggestions for improvement, live tasting of new introductions, choice of music among others. We engage fans to co-create their brand. As a result, we drive a very high level of consumer engagement, which in turn helps us drive sales.”

     

    One concern is that many fans on FB might be dormant, so then do the numbers really mean anything? Sanjay Mehta, Joint CEO at Social Wavelength explained: “I think that the key is to deliver message to interested people. If people receive the message but not respond, that is not a concern, but if they do not get the message in the first place, then it’s a bigger challenge. I think one should not be dismissive of the dormant numbers, but focus more on getting the right kind of messages that will get them to engage.”

     

  • A digital presence is not something special any more – but it also does not mean brand should take digital for granted. Vineet Gupta outlines why and how this is an exciting medium that should be milked for all it's worth.

    The Anchor: 6 reasons why brands can’t ignore digital

    By Vineet Gupta

     

    #1 Digital is no more youth-centric or an urban phenomenon. It cuts across various age groups and touches a cross-section of society. For a brand it becomes imperative to be present in a medium that cut across geographies and age groups.

     

    #2 Digital is not an advertising medium but a medium of engagement. If earlier, it was brands that were sending out information to the consumers, now it’s a reversal of that game. Consumers seek information and are proactively engaging with brands on the digital platform, thus giving brands immense opportunity to engage with their consumers in a much more meaningful way.

     

    #3 Today, it is about mobility and being connected on the move. The consumer is engaging on a real-time basis with brands while being on the move. Access is via multiple screens and it doesn’t really matter where and how the consumer is connecting – but it’s important that he or she wants to be connected at all times with the brand.

     

    #4 The early adopters of the digital medium were brands that were looking for lead generation. Now many brands have gone beyond that and built an entire eco-system around the digital platform, including building communities or developing e-commerce platforms. This is the way forward for brands.

     

    #5 The future belongs to brands that have understood this medium and are using it not just for a brand building exercise. One has to realize that digital plays an important role in the purchase decision. Therefore there is a need to understand that it is much more than a marketing medium and all aspects like information, consumer feedback, sales and distribution should be built on this medium.

     

    #6 Lastly, digital is an important medium in the purchase funnel. Whether it is seeking information, desire to purchase or the action of purchasing, all can be done on this medium. Brands have to look at digital beyond just advertising.

     

    Vineet Gupta is the Managing Partner of 22feet.