MxMIndia

Tag: Aditya Birla Group

  • Under this partnership, the brands will co-produce premium original content for streaming services

    Applause Entertainment partners IN10’s Juggernaut Productions

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sameer Nair

    The Aditya Birla group-owned and Sameer Nair-headed Applause Entertainment has announced a partnership with IN10 Media Network. Under this, Juggernaut Productions, IN10 Media Network’s production arm, will combine forces with Applause to develop exclusive original IPs and meet the growing demand for qualitative entertainment in the market.

     

     

    Aditya Pittie

    Commenting about the co-production partnership with Applause, Aditya Pittie, Managing Director, IN10 Media Network said: “The evolution of the OTT platforms has seen a dramatic change in the manner in which content is made and consumed. The plurality of voices that this medium offers has opened up an exciting new world for all content creators. This partnership between Juggernaut Productions and Applause Entertainment is driven by the philosophy of bringing compelling Indian stories, backed with highest caliber production to the viewers. We look forward to working with Sameer and his team, and leverage the assets and strengths of both companies to bring engaging and binge-worthy stories to the audiences.”

     

    Added Nair: “The demand for quality content is at its peak and partnerships with like-minded content creators, widens the horizons for all the players out there. The current digital ecosystem is most vibrant and with the collaborative creative energies of both corporations, we’re looking forward to create exciting original stories for our viewers.”

     

     

  • It’s the first-ever campaign by the brand which will take the digital-first route

    Liva launches its digital-exclusive campaign, #LiveYourFlow

    By A Correspondent

     

    Liva, the ingredient brand from the Aditya Birla Group, launched its latest campaign #LiveYourFlow which features actor Kangana Ranaut. This is the first-time that the brand has taken the route of releasing the campaign first on digital platforms including social media.

     

    “It was a strategic decision to the digital-first route,” said Srishti Sawhney, President and Global Brand Head, Grasim Industries, Pulp & Fibre Business, and added: “Liva, being a new age natural fabric brand has always taken initiatives to connect with the end consumer in innovative and creative ways. There is a huge attitudinal and behavioral shift in consumption towards digital media. Therefore we too have evolved our marketing strategy to reach out to the customer more effectively.”

     

     

  • An initiative by Aditya Birla Health Insurance to encourage Healthy Living

    Aditya Birla group encourages healthy living with #JumpForHealth

    By A Correspondent

     

    Aditya Birla Health Insurance has launched the third edition of #JumpForHealth initiative to reinforce its belief in empowering people to live a healthy lifestyle.

     

    Through #JumpForHealth – a month long campaign, ABHICL is creating a movement that will get people to start their health journey through the power of jumping and help the differently abled walk again. For every 10,000 jumps collected, one prosthetic leg will be donated to the under-privileged.

     

    Said Mayank Bathwal, CEO, ABHICL: “We at Aditya Birla Health Insurance go beyond just providing health insurance to our customers. We are committed to ensure that people follow a healthy lifestyle and sustain it. For #JumpForHealth 2019, we have collaborated with India’s leading choreographer – Remo D’Souza where, he is leading the campaign by creating a #JumpForHealth themed dance and will nominate others to contribute by jumping for the movement.

     

    Added Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer – Aditya Birla Capital: “In today’s era we live a sedentary lifestyle which increases our chances of suffering from innumerous lifestyle diseases. We are launching the third edition of #JumpForHealth to reinforce the philosophy of adapting healthy lifestyle. With the #JumpForHealth campaign, we are also hoping to create an active generation that considers health as a priority.”

     

     

  • The IAA World Congress, we mean as it kicked off with 2000-odd attendees in God’s Own Country

    Thumbs up for Congress in Kochi

     

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The weather was typical of what one can expect from Kochi in February: warm and sweaty. But all that was left behind as one entered the Lulu Bolgatty Convention Centre which played host to the 44th IAA World Congress.

     

    Around 2000-odd attendees from 25 countries were present, set to witness the 40-odd speakers and partake in the entertainment cultural nights.

     

    The inauguration was marked by the lighting of the ceremonial lamp, albeit digitally. Reliance Industries CMD and Chairperson of the World Congress Mukesh Ambani couldn’t make it due to some other pressing engagement, but ensuring a packed house was the presence of actor Amitabh Bachchan and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Bachchan spoke at length and Sri Sri got the audience to meditate. Also present at the inaug were:. Srinivasan Swamy Chairman & World President, International Advertising Association, Punit Goenka , MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, IAA India President and Kaushik Roy , Vice President/Area Director, Asia Pacific, IAA Global and MV Shreyams Kumar, Joint MD of the Mathrubhumi group and Global VP of IAA were present for the inauguration ceremony.

     

    In his opening address, Goenka stressed on the ‘Brand Dharma’ theme of the World Congress, as the basic principle a brand should follow, to connect with its customers and society at large. “what matters at the end of the day is the deep connect a brand establishes with the audience and the language, dialects in which the brand speaks with the audience,” he said, adding: “Also, how purely and honestly does the brand believe in the culture and value system of the audience.”

     

    Bachchan spoke passionately on the topic of Brand Dharma. He mentioned that “Customer’s hard-earned money is Dharma, and a brand should sell their products accordingly, that should become brand’s Dharma.  He internalised the theme and said that “My face is present on over 24 product’s packaging. Not endorsing tobacco and alcohol products, that’s my Dharma.”

     

    Sri Sr Ravi Shankar said that If you believe in your product’s quality, it is Dharma. He spoke about the dangers of the virtual world that had resulted in personality disorders in young children. “Video games per say encourages violence in children. Too much of screen exposure to kids impacts their central nervous system and hence the screen usage shall be controlled,” Shankar said.

     

    One of the star sessions was that of Nandan Nilekeni, former Chairman, UIDAI and co-founder and Non-executive chairman Infosys. In the session titled “How India uses Digital Technology”, Nilekani spoke about how Aadhar has been essential to provide everyone a digital ID.  He also asserted Aadhar was not a data gathering instrument and rather uses minimal data to fulfil two key requirements of providing a basic and unique identity document as well as to ensure welfare benefits reach the right person.

     

    In other sessions, Hans Paul Burkner, Chairman BCG spoke on the topic ‘Tech for Good’ and how personalisation is possible and doable and is absolute must for most companies as new consumers are really expecting personalisation of information and now companies have the tech to make it work. He indicated the fact that in today’s society, privacy is dead but security is a big issue and both these are interlinked as there is need of respecting privacy and security needs of the customers. “There is an issue of collecting data stealthily and utilising for the benefit of select enterprise,” he said.

     

    Penny Baldwin, Senior VP and CMO, Qualcomm Technologies spoke about how Mobile is the world’s largest tech platform in the history of mankind and how Brand Dharma of Qualcomm is innovation.   According to Baldwin, mobile is the largest technology platform with 8 BN connections all over world and There’s a huge opportunity for marketers and advertisers to reach their audience even in remotest areas with the rise in data consumption.

     

    D Shivakumar, Group Executive President-Strategy & Business Development, Aditya Birla Group, introduced the audience to the DUCA (Digitally Unacceptable Content and Attitude) World. He mentioned that digital has become mainstream and in the digital world, consumers are more aware and more cynical and more distrusting. “In a digital world it is society not your stakeholder and not your board that matters. If you need to build trust you need to build that trust in society,” he said.

     

    Jonas Kjellberg, Lecturer, author, venture investor who was also associated with Skype, talked about three key gears building game changing companies and deploying capital. He spoke about customer acquisition, customer delight and zero cost innovation. Said Kjellberg: “what a customer loved before, today it has become commodity so there is need to spend time and energy on tomorrow ‘s delight through innovation and not only about today’s efficiency and functionality. Innovation in business model should be zero/ no cost innovation like Airbnb, Uber and Alibaba  as these businesses gained from innovating and not imitating.”

     

    Also part of the Congress Day 1 was a chat that PayTM’s Madhur Deora had with journalist-anchor Mini Menon and Boris Eremin, President, IAA Russia Chapter welcomed delegates to St Petersburg, Russia for the 45th IAA World Congress in 2020.

     

    The highlight of the second half was a fireside chat with media strongman, yet-again-entrepreneur with S4 Capital and former WPP CEO Martin Sorrell conducted by journalist Anant Rangaswami. “Transparency in data is important in India,” Sorrell said, adding: “

     

    The position of the media industry is much better than what it was 10 years back and it’s a good business to get into. Our biggest clients are tech. Our recruits are really excited about technology. We are more attractive to population than ever before.”

     

    The evening ended with a window to the local culture and cuisine curated and sponsored by the Mathrubhumi Group.

     

     

  • Liva from Aditya Birla Group group, has extended its contract for yet another year

    Liva extends its association with Kangana Ranaut

    By A Correspondent

     

    Liva from Aditya Birla Group, has extended its contract for yet another year with Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut.

     

    Said Manohar Samuel, President – Business Development & Marketing, Birla Cellulose: “Kangana Ranaut embodies the true values of Liva with her effortless style, dynamic personality. Today she is by far the face that is reckoned with style, fashion and dynamism. The brand and its ambassador have a lot in common. Today Kangana has carved a unique space for herself among her fans. We are delighted to have her as the face of our brand. Kangana Ranaut has come a long way with her talent and passion towards her work. She has the ability to easily fit into any character with tremendous fluidity, just like Liva fabrics. Fashion for her is about being oneself and having a sense of spontaneity.”

     

     

  • Appoints Moneka Khurana and Namita Ved to lead new phase of growth in India

    MMA gets a new Country Head

    By A Correspondent

     

    Moneka Khurana
    Namita Ved

    The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) announced two senior leadership appointments in India. Leading the way is the appointment of Moneka Khurana as Country Head in India, joined by Namita Ved as Head of Business Development and Operations, India.

     

    Said D Shivakumar, Chairman MMA India & Group Executive President – Corporate Strategy and Business Development, Aditya Birla Group: “We are excited to have both Moneka and Namita on board. Given their varied experiences we look forward to fueling MMA’s growth of limitless possibilities, agility, just like a start-up company. We look forward to continue to build and help brands target audiences across the emerging range of mobile media opportunities and physical environments across the country.”

     

    Said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, MMA, Asia Pacific: “Moneka’s vast experiences with some of the top brands in the industry alongside Namita’s marketing and communications expertise will propel MMA forward as the leading trade association for mobile marketing. We are delighted to have both Moneka and Namita represent us in the Indian market and accelerate the country’s mobile agenda.”

     

     

  • Launch first ever Plantable Filters this World Environment Day

    Tonic Worldwide & Aditya Birla Group roll out #FilterTheFuture

    By A Correspondent

     

    This World Environment Day, the Aditya Birla Group took a pledge towards doing its bit to ensuring a green environment with the introduction of the first ever plantable filters on Facebook. These filters are features that can recognise human faces in photos in order to suggest graphics, like borders or stickers, to accompany the posts. Under this concept, which is designed by Tonic Worldwide, with every plantable filter that’s used on Facebook, the Aditya Birla Group will plant a tree with a pledge to #FiltertheFuture.

     

    Talking about this innovative pledge, Chetan Asher, CEO, Tonic Worldwide, said: “#FilterTheFuture is an enabler for a bigger cause. Sometimes a simple interaction can drive a larger action and that’s the beauty of technology.”

     

     

  • The Pitch-Madison report notes that AdEx grew only 7.4% in 2017

    Adspends to grow 12% in 2018: Madison

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The agency that pushed the ‘Achche Din’ campaign for the BJP in 2014 indicated that it may well be the good times this year. For, what we had in 2017 was indeed ‘burre din’. The AdEx grew just 7.4 per cent last year. Compare the growth number in 2016… it was 12.5% and in 2010 it was 27.8%. Of course in 2012, it was just 5.2%.

     

    That’s enough to get a better view of the findings of the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2018 that was released by D Shivakumar, President, Aditya Birla Group on Thursday. MxMIndia was invited to the event.

     

    Key findings of the report:

    A. Overall:

    1. Growth in the Indian Advertising Market slowed down to 4% in 2017, thanks to the after-effects of demonisation and GST roll-out. Traditional Media during 2017 grew by only 4%, the lowest in half a decade while Digital Media grew by 27.2%, taking the overall growth to 7.4%. In absolute terms, the Indian Ad market grew by Rs3,658 crores to take the industry to Rs 53,138 crores in 2017.

    2. AdEx was slow to recover from the impact of demonetization and first quarter of 2017 saw a de-growth of 2% and a growth of mere 2% in second quarter. Just when we expected AdEx to gather steam, GST was announced in July and the market saw a drop of close to 20% in traditional media over June 2017 and a drop of 5% as compared to July 2016. Mercifully, the  festive period brought cheer to AdEx and it grew from August to December by 13%. But because of the slow start in the first half and a drop in July the whole year’s AdEx is estimated at Rs. 53,138 crores, a growth of mere 7.4%.

    3. With a growth rate of 7.4% the Indian market has lost its stellar position of being the fastest growing advertising market in the world and has conceded that position to Russia, going by WARC estimates of international markets.

    4. Television continues to be largest contributor to AdEx with 37% share, but grew by just 4.3%, closely followed by Print at 35% share but with even a lower growth of just 2.7%.

    5. Digital that grew by 27.2% now contributes to a whopping 18% of Indian AdEx. Digital gained 3% share points at the expense of Television and Print who lost 1% and 2% share points respectively.

    6. Radio, Cinema and Outdoor have all grown at a much faster pace than Television and Print and maintained their share in 2017. But share of Digital continues to be more than combined share of Radio + OOH + Cinema and we don’t expect this trend to change in near future.

    7. The categories that have contributed to growth in Print, Television and Radio (and accounted for 56% of growth of Rs. 3,658 crores) have been FMCG followed by Telecom and Automobiles. FMCG continues to be the most dominant sector with a 32% share followed by Auto at 10% and Telecom at 8%. E-commerce that had taken the media market by storm three years ago contributed only 4% to AdEx (compared to 10% in 2015). With implementation of Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA), Real Estate and Home Improvement category as a whole has registered a de-growth of -3%.

     

    B. Television:

    8. Television AdEx grew by a mere 4.3% and reached Rs. 19,650 crores. This is the lowest growth television has witnessed in the last 5 years. The growth is so low, despite the addition of 100 new channels including cable channels, which in turn contributed to an increase in FCT supply of 11% in 2017. Like-to-like channels shows an increased FCT supply of 7% leading one to conclude that on an average television rates were suppressed, but Advertisers could not reap the benefit of this because of lower ratings.

    9. HD emerged stronger during the year with the launch of 22 HD channels, now reaching 50 million homes split equally between Urban and Rural. Viewership of HD channels has also seen exponential growth and we estimate that HD is today Rs. 2,000 crore advertising market contributing over 10% to the television Adex.

    10. FMCG continues to rule the roost contributing 51% to the total Television spends followed by Telecom 12% and Auto 8%. It’s the same 3 categories that have mainly contributed to the growth of Rs. 820 crores in Television AdEx in 2017. E-Commerce maintained its contribution at 4%.

    11. Hindi GECs including FTA contribute 28% of overall television AdEx and Hindi is by far the largest contributor to television AdEx. FTAs channels have seen robust growth in viewership during the year and account for 19% of the Hindi GEC plus FTA genre.

     

    C. Print:

    12. Print grew by a mere 2.7% during the year. This is the lowest growth we have seen in 9 years. But it continues to be 2nd highest contributor after television with a share of 35%. It is significant to note that for the last 3 years, Print has been steadily losing share at a rate of 1% share point every year for last 3 years, but this year the decline accelerated and Print lost 2% share points. Dailies increased 3.4%, a bit higher than the total Print AdEx, because Magazines as a medium failed to gain advertiser interest for the 3rd year in succession.

    13. In terms of volume, Hindi publications continue to be ahead of English publications, contributing 34% of the total volume. English publications come close behind at 27%. Contrary to popular belief, volume in English publications has grown by 4% while volume in Hindi publications degrew by -4%. The degrowth in volume of Hindi publications has been observed for the first time in many years. Among other languages, Kannada and Gujarati publications have shown a substantial increase in volume, but Punjabi, Urdu and Tamil publications show a decline.

     

    D. Digital:

    14. Though there has been exponential growth in Video consumption over the past year, Display, Native and Programmatic have also picked up rather well with Mobile becoming the primary choice to consume content. Newer display advertising elements, Mobile, Online Video and Programmatic are all helping attract more advertising investment into Digital.

     

    E. Forecast:

    15. The forecast for 2018, is that Adex will grow by 12.03% taking the industry to Rs. 59,530 crores.Highest growth rate should be achieved by Digital (25%) followed by Cinema (14%), TV (13%), Radio & Outdoor (10% each) and Print (5%).

     

    Said Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World: “Demonetisation and GST have causedheadwinds resulting in a stunted AdEx. But you can’t keep advertising or for that matter the Indian economy down for too long. So we are cautiously optimistic about 2018 and project a growth rate of 12% for 2018 with digital again growing by 25%. To take advantage of the figures released by IRS which revealed dramatic growth in Total Readership, publishers will be well advised to offer incentives to advertisers for repeating the same ad in the same publication 2-3 times a month.”

    Pitch Madison Ad Outlook 2018 Published Report

     

  • Liva fabric has partnered with brands like W, Pantaloons, Biba, Solly, Van Huesen, Shoppers Stop, among others

    Liva executes BTL campaign in Mumbai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Liva, the fabric brand from the Aditya Birla Group, executed a unique campaign where a life size mannequin of the brand ambassador Kangana Ranaut dropped down in 10 key malls across 10 cities of the country.

     

    Liva fabric has partnered with brands like W, Pantaloons, Biba, Solly, Van Huesen, Shoppers Stop, among others. These brands have Liva fabric in their garment collections. Almost all of these brands have their presence in leading malls. Being visible as a reminder in the last leg of consumer journey, this innovative concepts not only catches attention but also delivers high footfalls for the partner brands

     

    Said Shardah Uniyal, Head – Branding & Communication, Birla Cellulose: “Being an ingredient it is imperative for the brand to get noticed and stand out in clutter. This innovation is aimed towards garnering maximum visibility and increasing foot falls for our partner brands in those malls.”

  • The campaign is titled "SehathaitohZindagiBehad Hai"

    Aditya Birla Health Insurance launches product campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Aditya Birla Health Insurance has entered the market with an aim to expand the category to wider customer segments with a campaign titled “SehathaitohZindagiBehad Hai”.

     

    Ajay Kakar

    Said Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group: “The health insurance industry is currently synonymous with Mediclaim and the reimbursement of hospitalisation expenses. Aditya Birla Health Insurance wishes to change that perception with its never-before products that promote health and health insurance, for all. Our campaign is designed to provoke mass India to self-realise the importance of health assurance and health insurance, while highlighting our very differentiated features that enable and encourage to do so”

     

     

    Agnello Dias

    Added Agnello Dias, Chief Creative Officer, Taproot Dentsu: “The Aditya Birla Health Insurance campaign followed an unusual process of not only casting real, non-actors but also shooting them live reacting to the stimulus for the first time in real time. Raw human truths may not always be overly dramatic but sometimes they can be unexpected due to being non-scripted, the attempt is to capture those realities.”

     

     

  • Digitisation to drive marketing strategies, says CII-KPMG Report

    Lo(w), but behold! Digital adsales is fastest growing in India

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    India is one of the fastest growing advertising markets globally with mobiles to continue delivering big gains with almost 220 million users accessing digital services through their smart phones. These were the highlights of the report unveiled by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and KPMG in India titled ‘Digital – The New Normal of Marketing’at the CII National Marketing Summit.

     

    The report estimates that, India is one of the fastest growing advertising markets globally with an estimated growth of 15.5 per cent in 2016, driven by a large consumer base and a burgeoning e-commerce industry. Although the share of digital advertising spend remains low at 12.7 percent in 2016, it is one of the fastest growing mediums at an expected CAGR of 33.5 percent (2015-2020) to cross INR 255 billion in 2020.

     

    Of the total digital advertisement spends, ‘search and display’ commands the largest share even though it is a relatively maturing segment.

     

    “The post-demonetisation days have clearly showed how the country is set to leapfrog a few stages to embrace the power of digital. Mobile is being rapidly adopted and marketers have an incredible opportunity to enhance the game of digital communication and deliver great customer experiences at each point of the journey,” said Thomas Varghese, Chairman, CII National Committee on Marketing and CEO-Textile Business, Aditya Birla Group.

     

    As per the report, connected devices, smarter devices and ‘hyper relevant rich content’ will drive consumption for the consumer. Marketers will be well served if they are able to ride the data wave and use technology to build in analytical models. The Digital marketer will be responsible to deliver a distinctive consumer experience using various channels – thus making the role a key contributor to the overall omni channel experience. The report also gives insights into nascent technologies like emotions analytics and predictive marketing.

     

    There have been silent and not so silent changes around us that are changing the way marketing will be done. With the internet becoming all pervasive, it has become so integral to our lives that it has literally disappeared. Singularity, connected systems, Cognitive and AI will create a world where the marketer will be marketing not only to humans but the ‘self-thinking’ machines,’ says Rachna Nath, Partner and Head, Digital Consulting, KPMG in India.

     

    “Digital marketing is more about big data and technology innovation rather than conventional marketing. Digital marketer today will have to look at the consumer as a living sensor which creates data. Insights on consumer behavior will drive the next big innovation on the campaign. Success will depend upon how the digital marketer is able to drive differentiated strategies for each digital channel and eventually converging on consumer experience” says Aditya Rath, Partner and Lead for Digital Customer

     

    Other key findings and suggestions presented in the report are:

    • Video is the new data format
    • The digital consumer’s attention span has now come down to 8 seconds, down from 12 seconds in 2007. Marketers are expected to direct their content strategists to curate short videos that create a greater impact on the consumer’s mind while holding their attention till the end. Live streaming videos are interactive, immersive and cost-effective.
    • Omni-channel experiences and touch points are essential in the digitally charged marketplace Healthcare, automotive, insurance, retail and manufacturing companies are experimenting on various IoT use cases to enhance the consumer experience.
    • Wearables provide a new dimension from a data perspective Through the galvanic skin sensors and gyroscopes that are in-built in these devices, marketers can continuously monitor the customer’s physiological and behavioural data.
    • Authenticity, relevance, and value are increasingly important parameters for content creation and distribution Customers trust user-generated content and give more weightage to peer recommendations and reviews than to professionally curated content.
    • Native ads are being used increasingly to combat mobile and desktop ad blocking They blend in and appear as content that would normally and deliver value and relevance to the consumer and do not hinder user experience of the website even while monetizing.
    KPMG and CII Joint Marketing Report – Digital – The new normal of Marketing
  • McCann Worldgroup, FP7/DXB Dubai, and Mastercard score #1 in the various Midas Rankings

    Midas Touch: Pi Communications wins gold & silver for Aditya Birla Financial Services

    By A Correspondent

    Mumbai-based marketing services agency Pi Communications has bagged a gold and silver award at the coveted 2016 Midas Awards, regarded the Oscars for financial services advertising. Both awards have been won for Aditya Birla Financial Services Group. The two metals bagged by Pi and ABFSG are the only metals won by India at the 2016 Midas Awards.

    While the Gold Midas has been bagged for Aditya Birla Housing Finance Limited for ‘The Incomplete Nameplate’ in the Use of Medium competition under the Direct Mail/Collateral category, the Silver Midas has gone to Birla Sun Life Insurance for ‘Salary Slip of 1985’ also in the Use of Medium competition under the Direct Mail/Collateral category.

    Rakhshin Patel
    Ajay Kakar

    Said Rakhshin Patel, Managing Director, Pi Communications: “We have had a fairly consistent track record at winning in the Midas Awards.Our clients at Aditya Birla Financial Services have always been encouraging and supportive of great traditional Direct Marketing ideas that deliver excellent results and ROI.What makes this win even more special is that this is our first Midas win since our name change to Pi Communications and the fact that we reign as leaders in the world in Direct Mail communication.”

    Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group was delighted with the news. “Across our Aditya Birla Financial Services Group businesses we aspire to do work that wins recognition of the industry and business.We are indeed humbled to have won consistently at the Midas Awards, New York. These awards are special because they are compared and rated against the best of best from within the financial services industry, from across the world,” he said adding: “This year having won a Gold and Silver, as also, being the only winners from India, is indeed recognition that makes us extremely proud. I am thankful to Pi Communications for bringing us this enviable recognition and for making us so proud.”

    Meanwhile, FP7 / DXB (a part of McCann Worldgroup) and MediaVest Spark earned the Midas Award for Innovation for “The AC Vests” for client Emirates NBD. This award honors the highest scoring entry that showcases a leading-edge idea or execution.McCann Worldgroup earned the number one ranking in the first annual Midas Network Report, cumulatively achieving the most points in this year’s competition. Publicis Worldwide, earned the number two slot, followed by R/GA, Wunderman and Havas Worldwide.

    Agencies from around the world competed for top spots in this year’s Midas Awards Agency Report; FP7/DXB Dubai (Part of McCann Worldgroup) was in the spotlight, ranking number one on the Midas Agency Report with a robust 190 points. McCann New York ranked number two this year with 90 points and the Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg earned the number three spot with 86 points.

    Also, for the third year running, Mastercard scored first place with a staggering total 229 points in the Midas Brand Rankings due to the combined creative efforts of the following global agencies: FP7/DXB; McCann Canada, McCann XBC, McCann Worldgroup. Absa/ Barclays ranked second place for the third year in a row, they received 89 points for their innovative work created by Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg.  Emirates NBD, whose award-winning campaigns were created by FP7/DXB (Part of McCann Worldgroup), ranked third place for third consecutive year.

    Founded in 2001, the Midas Awards recognises excellence in financial advertising and marketing on a global scale. Indian entrants have a good run in the awards except last year when they drew a blank.