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Tag: Advertising Agencies Association of India

  • The workshop to be conducted by Prakash Iyer will focus on practical advice, powerful tips and actionable strategies

    AAAI to organise day-long Leadership Workshop

    By A Correspondent

     

    Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announced that under the aegis of the AAAI Prowess brand, a one-day Leadership Workshop will be held on 15th October 2015 at AAAI’s Training Centre. This workshop has been titled ‘Unleash The Leader Within’ and is targeted at young managers with 5-10 years of experience and those who have moved to a leadership role managing teams of 3 to 10 people. The workshop to be conducted by Prakash Iyer will focus on practical advice, powerful tips and actionable strategies that can be put to use right away by participants and is designed to meet the following objectives:

    • Learn  what successful leaders do
    • Becoming a better coach, a builder of great talent
    • Communicate better
    • Get better at working with people
    • Leverage the power of story-telling and building your own leadership brand
    • Build winning teams and become an inspirational leader

     

    Commenting on the workshop, AAAI President Dr MG Parameswaran said, “We announced this workshop based on feedback we got after our first workshop on Negotiation Skills organised by AAAI recently. And when one talks of leadership, who better to conduct such a workshop than Prakash Iyer who has successfully helmed companies across various industry verticals in leadership roles including being CEO of the victorious Mumbai Indians franchise during the last IPL season.”

     

    Prakash Iyer has spent nearly three decades in various companies selling everything from soaps and colas to yellow pages and diapers before deciding in 2014 to step out of the corporate world to pursue his passion for writing, speaking and helping other people unleash the leader within. In his last role, he was the Managing Director of Kimberly Clark Lever in India. Apart from being a best-selling author and a leadership coach, Prakash is also an independent director on the board of Xerox India and an advisor to Multiples (a Private Equity fund).

     

  • This is the first of the newly created AAAI-Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture Series

    Shekhar Gupta to deliver the AAAI-Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announced that the renowned journalist Shekhar Gupta will speak on ‘Changing Role of Media in Today’s India’ at the AAAI-Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture 2015 on 9th October at ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai.

     

    This is the first of the newly created AAAI-Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture Series wherein notable personalities from the field of media and advertising will be invited to share their views on various topics of interest to the advertising, media and marketing fraternity.

     

    In the past, Subhas Ghosal Foundation had occasionally organized a Memorial Lecture on its own and past speakers included Dr. Prannoy Roy, Javed Akhtar, Dr Gurcharan Das, Shyam Benegal amongst others.

     

    Recently, the Foundation partnered with AAAI to create the AAAI-Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture. On the tie up, President of AAAI Dr Ambi M G Parameswaran said, “We at AAAI are constantly examining how the Association can play a more meaningful role in changing and shaping public opinion about advertising, media and marketing. The partnership with Subhas Ghosal Foundation gives us a great platform to invite thought leaders from various domains to share their perspectives on the changing discourse on media, advertising and society. Through this effort we will also remember one of the visionaries of Indian advertising.”

     

    Shekhar Gupta is chairperson of Mediascape. Mediascape is an exciting new start-up in Indian news media, and is currently under development. He is a prolific columnist, with his highly influential columns translated into Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati and Marathi. He is a senior prime-time anchor at NDTV. Over the past two decades, Shekhar’s weekly column, National Interest, has been regarded as the sharpest, most perceptive analysis of current events as they unfold. His columns were recently collected in the bestselling book, Anticipating India. Currently, National Interest appears in Business Standard every Saturday. He also writes a fortnightly column for India’s leading Hindi newspaper, DainikBhaskar.  Shekhar hosts “Walk the Talk” on NDTV 24×7 every week. A collection of his news-making interviews will be published soon. He has now started a second weekly show in Hindi, “Chalet Chalte”, telecast on NDTV India.

     

  • A special feature of this agreement is that the advertiser will not be allowed to shift their business to another agency until dues of the earlier agency are cleared.

    AAAI, IOAA sign agreement for better OOH business

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) have signed a joint agreement for the first time, AAAI President MG Parameswaran and IOAA Chairman N D Mehta announced recently.

     

    The overall objective of coming together is to help the outdoor advertising industry in India grow in an organised and regulated fashion, to ensure that proper systems and processes are followed and timelines adhered to, as well as commitments honoured on both sides, Parameswaran said. He added that a suitable mechanism will also be set up to penalise defaulters, with a view to preventing future defaults and bringing everybody in line with policies and good practices. Alongside all this the agreement will also focus on regulating and disciplining advertiser behaviour in matters concerning outdoor trade, agency remuneration, corporate governance and adherence to payment deadlines.

     

    A special feature of this agreement is that the advertiser will not be allowed to shift their business to another agency until dues of the earlier agency are cleared. Mehta mentioned that IOAA, on its part, has also embarked on an ambitious project to conduct viewership studies on OOH, initially in the major cities. Further, it will ensure 100 per cent listing of all sites with a unique ID number, in a scientific manner, for the benefit of all concerned. The AAAI is the official, national body of advertising agencies, which protects their interests by promoting professionalism and sound business practices between advertisers, agencies and various media.

     

    The IOAA, registered as a not-for-profit company, has been actively promoting legal media and ethical, best practices among outdoor media owners.

     

  • Nakul Chopra, CEO-South Asia, Publicis Communications Pvt Ltd, was re-elected Vice-President of the Association

    M G Parameswaran re-elected President of AAAI

    By A Correspondent

     

    M G Parameswaran
    Nakul Chopra

    Ambi M G Parameswaran, Executive Director, FCB Ulka Advertising Pvt Ltd, was re-elected President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2015-2016 at its Annual General Body Meeting held recently.

     

    Nakul Chopra, CEO-South Asia, Publicis Communications Pvt Ltd, was re-elected Vice-President of the Association.

     

    Other members of the Executive Committee in alphabetical order are:

     

    Ashish Bhasin – Aegis Media India Pvt Ltd

    C V L Srinivas – Group M Media India Pvt Ltd

    Ganesh Baliga – Fifth Estate Communications Pvt Ltd

    Jaideep Gandhi – Jaya Advertising Pvt Ltd

    Kunal Lalani – Crayons Advertising Ltd

    Nagesh Alai – Interface Communications Pvt Ltd

    Pranav Premnarayen – Prem Associates Advertising & Marketing

    R Sridhar – Matrix Publicities and Media India Pvt Ltd

    Rana Barua – Contract Advertising (India) Pvt Ltd

    Sam Balsara – Madison Communications Pvt Ltd

    Srinivasan K Swamy – R K SWAMY BBDO Pvt Ltd

    Tarun Rai – JWT

    Vivek Srivastava – Innocean Worldwide Communication Pvt Ltd

     

    Immediate Past President, Arvind Sharma will be the ex-officio member of the new AAAI Executive Committee.

     

  • Always committed to the growth of the Advertising profession and its image, Bobby Sista has held important offices in many industry bodies

    AAAI to present Lifetime Achievement Award to Bobby Sista

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India announced that this year’s AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Shambhu Venkatrao Sista popularly known as Bobby Sista. This Award is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry.

     

    Bobby Sista has been one of the stalwarts of Indian Advertising. Known for his professional integrity, he constantly fought to ensure ethical business practices in a fiercely competitive profession. In 1970, after brief stints in Suhrid-Geigy and Readers Digest, he took charge of Sista’s Private Ltd, an agency founded by his father, the late Venkatrao Sista, a pioneer of Indian Advertising and one of the first Indians to establish a full-fledged advertising agency, in 1934.

     

    Always committed to the growth of the Advertising profession and its image, Bobby Sista has held important offices in many industry bodies. He was Vice-President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for two terms. During his association with AAAI, Bobby played an important role in liaising with the government on numerous industry matters. He was also the founding member of Advertising Club Bombay!

     

    After his innings in the advertising industry, Bobby has been associated with a variety of social causes like ActionAid (an U.K. based Charity and the parent organisation of Partners in Change) , Sukhi Pariwar – an integrated Health Services and Family Planning Programme working successfully in Pune district, Citizens Council for a Better Tomorrow (CCBT), Mumbai. He is an Executive Committee Member of the Council for Fair Business Practices (CFBP), Mumbai. He also helped to set up the first Jaipur Foot Centre outside Jaipur. This was under the aegis of the Anga Karunya Kendra in Bangalore of which he is the Founder-Trustee. Currently as an Executive Trustee of Population First, he is actively pursuing the task of enhancing communications component of Government programmes and mobilizing the communication industry and media to create a people’s movement for social development and gender sensitization through his ‘Laadli’ initiative.

     

    Making the announcement, Dr. Ambi M G Parameswaran, President, AAAI, stated that “Bobby Sista is an industry veteran whose agency did some truly pioneering work in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. It is admirable that even after leaving the advertising business he has tirelessly worked for numerous worthy causes for social development. He is an inspiration to all of us!”

     

    The AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Mr Sista on 31st July 2015 in Mumbai.

     

  • The Workshop is scheduled for Friday, 26th June and would be facilitated by Ruma Biswas, Managing Partner (South Asia), Progress-U

    AAAI announces day-long workshop for ad professionals

    By A Correspondent

     

    Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announced its one-day workshop on Negotiation Skills, to be held at its new Secretariat and Training Center at Marathon Futurex, Mumbai. Designed for senior advertising industry professionals, the Workshop is scheduled for Friday, 26th June and would be facilitated by Ruma Biswas, Managing Partner (South Asia), Progress-U.

     

    This interactive and experiential workshop is designed to meet the key objectives viz. to develop an optimal negotiation mindset, to be able to build trust in the negotiation process by adjusting the verbal   and non-verbal communication style, to learn a systematic process for negotiations, to be able to develop effective negotiation strategies and to improve the approach in dealing with tough negotiations.

     

    Elaborating more on the workshop, Ruma Biswas stated: “Modern Negotiations” program is designed to help leaders with powerful strategies in order to navigate today’s tough business environment with win-win deals. Progress-U has been developing leaders, sales people and professional coaches in Asia for the past 12 years with a passion for care and progress. With operations in Hong Kong, India, Singapore, China and Japan, Progress-U is a pioneer in leadership development.”

     

    M G Parameswaran

    Dr M G Parameswaran, President of AAAI added:  “As an industry body AAAI is involved with many issues facing its member agencies. Helping agencies manage their services better, get better remunerated and improve their professional skills is a key item on the agenda of AAAI. We believe that sharing learnings and knowledge is the best way to prepare the agencies for the future.  This Workshop is just the beginning of a long list of seminars and knowledge sessions that we have planned at the new AAAI Training Centre”.

     

    Senior professionals from numerous large and small agencies have already enrolled for this workshop which has a very limited number of seats.

     

  • … and the Ad Club’s Abby which has seen a 35% hike in entries + interview with Nakul Chopra, chairman of Goafest Organising Commitee

    All set for the 10th Goafest…

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s that time of the year when advertising, media and marketing professionals head to the sunny climes of Goa for an annual dose of some knowledge, networking and winning awards. It’s also celebration time as this is the tenth edition of Goafest, the annual congregation organised by the Advertising Agencies Association of India and the Advertising Club.

     

    The latter brings to the party the Abby Awards which have been expanded since last year to include various members of the media ecosystem. What started as essentially a Creative Awards show now includes Media, Digital, Print, Film, Film Craft, Out of Home, Ambient Media and Design, Radio, Direct, Branded Content and Entertainment, Brand Activation and Promotion, Print Craft, Integrated Advertising, Public Relations, Broadcaster and Publisher. Awards will be presented category-wise on each day of Goafest – that’s starting today, April 9 through April 11.

     

    Yes, there are naysayers, but they’ve been silenced by the response that the event has generated.  After the inauguration today, the Industry Conclave will start mid-afternoon followed by the Media and Publishers Awards.

     

    Said Nakul Chopra, Chairman of Goafest 2015 organising committee: “It is our endeavour to make Goafest 2015 better and superior. We will bring together the best minds in the field of advertising, communications, marketing industry to discuss, debate, interact, offer thoughts and experiences, share ideas and questions on our industry.”

     

    Meanwhile, Ad Club president Bose is ecstatic about the number of entries he has received this year. While some of the leading agencies like Ogilvy, Lowe Lintas, McCann and Leo Burnett have not sent entries, Bose boasts of a near-35 per cent increase from 2014. “The fact that we followed a rigorous judging process last year brought back the faith in the system which had eroded in the previous Abby.”  The number of entries is up 900 to 3500 with participation from 200 creative and digital agencies. In the Media Abby, the number of entries has grown from 574 to 612 from across 53 agencies. “Agencies you thought weren’t participating are doing so,” Bose smiles. “Some clients have pushed their agencies to participate while many others have entered directly.” Talking of the new categories introduced last year, he said that Public Relations has shaped up well and so has the Broadcaster category.  When asked about efforts being taken to woo back the agencies which have boycotted the awards, he said: “We tried our best to persuade them.” Bose is of the view that agencies don’t gain by staying away. “For the sake of the young professionals who do some splendid work, they must enter.”

     

    At the time of writing, the final numbers of registered delegates at Goafest was not known.

     

    If there were no awards, you wouldn’t even have half the participation in Goa: Nakul Chopra
     

    This is the second year, Publicis’ CEO South Asia Nakul Chopra has helmed the Goafest Organising Committee. In an interview with Pradyuman Maheshwari, Chopra speaks on organising the festival and the controversies about some leading agencies staying away.

     

    Many sleepless nights because of Goafest?

     I never had sleepless nights because of GoaFest.

     

    But must be a thankless job?

    That’s why it must be done. I think you hit the nail on the head. To share an honest personal experience with you,  I got into Goafest actively because I was a vocal critic. I protested 2011 and was chairman of Goafest in 2013. It’s easy to sit and critique others. I’ve done both with a very cynical filter in how I saw things. Except, when you look at it from the perspective of what you said: It’s a thankless job. Somebody spends a lot of time and effort to make something happen and you don’t look at the stuff that worked or you could appreciate. Instead, you catch onto the three things that didn’t work or that personally pissed you off for some reason. It could be just the food or who got the awards…

     

    Last year you didn’t do it because the timing wasn’t right?

    Last year, the timing had to be changed, so, I thought it better if somebody else did it. This year, the AAAI President didn’t give me a choice. I think we all have to, turn by turn, take the responsibility. Either the association decides they don’t want to do it, so, they should parcel it off to some third party to do it. But, if the two associations want to continue to do it, somebody has got to take responsibility.

     

    Obviously, you run a network of agencies. Goafest is also more than a full-time job for a couple of months. It must be taking away from your time here at Publicis.

    It takes away from time at Publicis and at home. It does. I’m fortunate that we have a very strong team at Publicis. We have also a good team helping out with Goafest… many people pitching in to take on different responsibilities.

     

    You’ve done Goafest in the past, so you obviously know…

    But the grammar has changed from an organisation and logistics standpoint. There was the Beach GoaFest which was the first three or four years. Then there was the GoaFest at Zuri. When you do it on the same format with similar vendors, by Year 3, things become much simpler. You’ve learnt from the mistakes, you know what can go wrong. Last year was the first year at Grand Hyaat. Many of the things worked for us. From a sheer organisation standpoint, it wasn’t that well-organised, perhaps.

     

    What about the festival format? The general perception is Goafest is more about the beer than the knowledge or conclave or the people speaking…

     This is a little bit of an unfair pseudo comment to make. Firstly, is it fair to say Cannes Lions is more a corporate junket than it’s about people learning? If I’m not mistaken, there are maybe 8 to 10,000 delegates who register for Cannes. There isn’t even a room large enough to hold more than 1,500 of them and in most cases the rooms aren’t full. If you start seeing something in a uni-dimensional sense, are people studiously sitting in the knowledge seminars and listening? I don’t think that’s the only form of learning.  Second, Goafest, unlike really any other festival of its kind in the world, has an inverted participation where as much as 60 per cent or more people who attend are under-30. There are more people sitting in the room to listen and learn in Goafest than there are in any other such festival anywhere else in the world. Young people have something which is part of their nature. If you make Goafest an attendance-oriented class, the young people won’t come. They will learn in an atmosphere of fun and frolic. It’s an over-exaggerated view of the Goafest that it’s just about the booze and the beer. It’s not!

     

    Without getting into speakers are there one or two standout things this year that one could look forward to?

    I think Goafest is beyond that phase of being about one standout thing. We’ve consistently invested behind building some properties. And we amend or change or junk some of them basis the feedback we get. Last year was the first year we had three award nights and we are continuing with that.

     

    How critical is the Abby to Goafest? Last year, I remember, there was a statement made that the Goafest is not all about awards.

    It’s not all about awards, but it’s been around the awards as well. Goafest is not an awards fest, in which case it might as well have been in Mumbai. But it’s not fair to say, Goafest is more about the festival than it is about the awards either. I think it’s a balance of both. The celebration is more about the awards. The participation is more about the festival. At its peak, we have had more than 3000 people… Three thousand people don’t win awards.

     

    Ogilvy and Lowe have no issues participating in the Effie Awards. Obviously, there’s something wrong with the creative Abby  that stops them from coming there.

    I don’t think that would be a fair thing to say about the Creative Abby. There have always been some agencies, different ones in different years including Pubicis in one year that may have felt upset or slighted by something that happened and that’s understandable. In the case of the Effie, the points here are part of the global Effie agency rankings.

     

    If you had no Abby, you’d have Ogilvy and Lowe as part of fest?

    If that’s true, they can still send people to the Goafest. There’s no restriction on your coming and participating in the festival part if you’re not participating in the awards part. If there were no awards, you wouldn’t even have half the participation in Goa.

     

     

     

  • While creatives elsewhere will create a furore, Indian counterparts seem to grin and bear it

    Why do Indian agencies turn a blind idea to Idea Thiefs?

     

    By Shephali Bhatt

     

    Caution:The tone of this article is slightly harsh. In our defence, if you are in advertising you had it coming.

     

    Under ordinary circumstances, you empathise with a victim. Not with the Indian advertising industry, at least not this time. Why not? Because for the longest while now, agencies who claim to be problem solvers haven’t figured out how to prevent a basic issue that mars their existence: the theft of ideas at pitches.

     

    A few weeks ago, we had an anonymous senior adman pen a much discussed column about idea theft. It’s this convenient thing clients do as agencies present their most ‘groundbreaking’ work. They adopt (read: steal) ideas that catch their fancy without so much as a by your leave.

     

     

    The Legalese Simplified

    – Ideas cannot be protected under any law pertaining to intellectual property rights (IPR).

    – Copyrights protect expression of an idea. Patents protect inventions.

    – But, an agency can enter into an agreement with a client whereby he’d be bound to keep information given at the time of pitching confidential.

    – While industries like cinema, music, photography have strong unions safeguarding the creative folks rights, ideas are not protected under IPR anywhere. Only its embodiment in a tangible form can be protected.

    – The best way forward for a creative in any field is to be wise about their sales pitch.

    – If you’re a lyricist, share a stanza; a musician, share a tune; a scriptwriter, share a chapter.

    – And if you’re an adman, show your past work to the client or sign an NDA before showing speculative work.

    – If you are desperate, God save you.

     

    Inputs by Rahul Chaudhry, managing partner at Lall Lahiri & Salhotra, an Intellectual Property law firm)

     

    Some other agency gets to work on the campaign and soon Agency No 1 is staring at a YouTube video, now gone viral, that keeps clocking like after like. Leaving its staffers seething in impotent rage and the desire to scrawl ‘Hey, this was my idea’ in the comments thread.

     

    If this sounds distressingly familiar, look no further than the mirror while trying to find people to blame. First, agencies don’t do their homework. All clients aren’t cut from the same righteous cloth.

     

    There are Bermuda Triangles of the marketing world, who have a reputation for idea shopping. It was something a large Indian conglomerate was frequently accused off especially given its close ties with a particular agency. But typically, such clients opt for whoever quotes the lowest. And yet, pitch after pitch, ad shops go in all guns blazing, their finest creative minds working overtime, effectively delivering their best ideas free of charge.

     

    Mostly, the idea gets mutated by the time it comes to fruition so the original agency often finds its ownership hard to prove. To quote a few instances, the preorder strategy, a digital queue for the launch of a fast food chain in India was supposedly presented by an agency that didn’t get the account.

     

    A knit-wear brand is notorious for idea shopping. A creative head remembers writing a campaign for the Ministry of Tourism once. He didn’t win the account but one of his lines showed up in the final campaign. 8 out of 10 creative directors have been on the receiving end of this unabashed thievery of ideas.

     

    On the other hand, there are the rare cases of magnanimous clients like VIP who compensated an agency for using a modified version of its brand name suggestion for a new line of women’s bags – Caprese.

     

    Idea theft, like many advertising grievances, isn’t confined to India. Remember the #ShareACoke campaign? A veteran adwallah told us that when the original idea (by O&M, Sydney) was adapted by another agency in a different market, the Australian network agency created a mini uproar and got compensated. Good for them if that’s what actually happened. And what do their Indian counterparts do? Nothing. Actually, they discuss it grudgingly over a pint or few of beer.

     

    So, next to nothing would be more like it. The conversation brings about life-altering thoughts like – If the client can make us sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), why can’t we do the same? Legally, they can. But with agencies shying away from asking for a meagre fee hike, the chances of them demanding an NDA are slim to none.

     

    With undercutting and declining margins, agencies are under so much pressure to achieve topline, they can’t afford to say no to any fresh stream of revenue or upset a marketer by bringing up the NDA. The last thing anyone wants is the reputation of being a difficult agency.

     

    “The irony of it all is that despite being the biggest supplier of ideas, we have no command over our own product,” laments Anil Nair, CEO and managing partner of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi. The client knows agencies are desperate for new business. If he is unscrupulous, he will take advantage of the situation. It’s a sign of a shortsighted client though, says Ajay Kakar, CMO, Aditya Birla Group – financial services, to relinquish Lord Krishna for his army. We know how that panned out.

     

    Nonetheless, it’s the agency network that should boycott such clients. So, why haven’t the doyens of this industry done anything to check these defaulters? “It’s because most of our senior leaders are on extension and they don’t give a damn about where this industry is headed,” says Satbir Singh, managing partner and CCO of Havas Worldwide India.

     

    You have people who should’ve retired two years ago, getting paid a crore annually. Why would they risk anything? Rather why do they need to risk it for something that in most cases doesn’t even concern them? Celebrated creatives are typically insulated from this phenomenon; it’s mainly the mid-level creative who often ends up feeling violated. Ideas are likely to build his career and the stuff histories are made of.

     

    The agency ecosystem needs to safeguard these or run the risk of losing talent to another industry (a fad plaguing advertising but that’s for another edition). The AAAI (Advertising Agencies Association of India) says it’s working towards protecting ideas.

     

    While the call for a pitch fee went nowhere – rumour has it that agencies keen to pitch coughed up the fee themselves – in the last few years; they are looking to revisit pitch guidelines along with the ISA (Indian Society of Advertisers), shares MG Parameswaran, the association’s president and the advisor to FCB Ulka.

     

    The NDA clause will be a part of the revised guidelines, we’re told. So, when do we get this revised charter, we ask? In about three to four months, says Nagesh Alai, chairman of the legal wing. Until then, and maybe even after then, it’s open season on ideas.

     

  • Senior ad professional and advisor, FCB Ulka, Dr M G Parameswaran, was elected President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2014-2015 at its AGM held on Friday

    M G Parameswaran is new AAAI president

    M G Parameswaran

    By A Correspondent

     

    Senior advertising professional and advisor, FCB Ulka Advertising Pvt Ltd, Dr M G Parameswaran, was elected President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2014-2015 at its AGM held on Friday. Nakul Chopra, CEO South Asia, Publicis Communications was elected Vice-President.

     

    Other elected members of the Executive Committee are: Nagesh Alai (Interface), Sam Balsara (Madison), Rana Barua (Contract), Ashish Bhasin (Aegis Media), Kunal Lalani (Crayons), Rohit Ohri (Dentsu Creative Impact), Pranav Premnarayen (Prem Associates), CVL Srinivas (GroupM), Vivek Srivastava (Innocean) and Srinivasan K Swamy (RK Swamy BBDO). Arvind Sharma as the immediate past president will be ex-officio member of the new execom.

     

  • Advertising Agencies Association of India felicitates Ramesh Narayan with lifetime achievement award

    Adland Nice Man Ramesh Narayan given a fitting Salute

    Ramesh Narayan being felicitated by AAAI President Arvind Sharma. Photograph: Sakshi Kapoor/dna

     

     

    By Shobhana Nair

     

    Veteran ad and media personality Ramesh Narayan was felicitated by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) with the Lifetime Achievement Award last evening (Thursday, July 24) at an event attended by top ad and media trade professionals.

     

    Arvind Sharma

    Making his opening remarks, AAAI President Arvind Sharma said, “Everybody says do good to others but Ramesh is one guy who actually follows it. He practises it and has been doing it for over a quarter of a century. That’s why he has many admirers in the industry. He has made so much of a difference to the industry.”

     

    Mr Narayan started his career in the media in 1982 and established his agency Canco with no experience in advertising and without a client in hand. However, soon there were clients who came on despite having the bigger agencies empanelled and Canco had on its roster among the biggest advertisers in the country. Mr Narayan wound down his agency in 2006 even as there were some serious overtures for an acquisition.

     

    He has been active in all trade associations and instrumental in the organizing of the Ad Asia conventions in the country.

     

    Accepting the award from the AAAI, Mr Narayan thanked his friends and peers who had flown from all across the country on the occasion. He also remembered his father, the late CA Narayan, who had made the maximum impact on him.

     

    Said Nagesh G Alai, Group Chairman, FCBUlka: “Ramesh has been a long-time advertising veteran who believed in some ethical way of doing business. However, since the ethics were moving out of the business, he decided to move away rather than falling prey to it. Even after retirement, he has been quite active in terms of engagement with the industry like awards, recognition of young achievers so on and so forth.  He truly deserves the award because of his continuing engagement and professional approach to it. At a personal level, he is a good human being. I have known him for 25 years. He truly deserves it.”

     

    Summing up the sentiment of the fraternity, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, and Honorary Secretary, AAAI added: “A lot of credit for the work on policies and the strength of the AAAI goes to Ramesh. If one person deserves the Lifetime Achievement Award, it is him.”

     

    Some more comments and reactions to the felicitation of Mr Narayan:

    Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director of Madison World: I think it’s a very well-deserved award for Ramesh. It is really creditable that even after so many years of him closing down his agency, he is still involved with the industry and continues to contribute substantially for the overall well being of the industry which I think is very creditable.

     

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman and Managing Director, RK Swamy Hansa group: I nominated Ramesh Narayan for the AAAI Lifetime achievement award. The committee found him fit to honour him. I have known him for many decades and we have worked together for many years. It was thanks to Ramesh Narayan that we got the IBF and AAAI agreement signed. He is a very nice, humane, hospitable, caring and friendly guy. I have not come across any industry colleague who is as humane as him.

     

    Pradeep Guha, Managing Director, 9X Media: Truly anything that happens in this industry and certainly in the last 15 years, I can say Ramesh has had a role to play. The only thing is he is just too shy. He doesn’t take credit for anything. He’s the hidden hand in everything that happens in the industry and he continues to do so. Without him, our industry would have been a lot poorer. We are really blessed to have a person like him in our industry.

     

    K V Sridhar, Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro: Ramesh Narayan is a wonderful human being. You can’t find a human being who is better than him in advertising. He has done such selfless service to the industry through AAAI and now with IAA. He is one of those industry veterans who has stood for the industry and represented the industry across many forums in the world. He has held the image of the industry and took that forward everywhere. That’s the reason why he deserves it. There are very few industry spokespersons as people look into their own business, agenda and people. But he has nothing.

     

    Bharat Patel, ISA Member and Independent Director, Birla Sun Life Asset Management: Ramesh Narayan has been the backbone of the Indian advertising especially for the associations like AAAI and IAA. I have not seen anyone like that who has supported advertising in India like this. These are people who have been successful in advertising but there has been no Ramesh Narayan who really got the advertising community together and achieved so much.

     

    Shekhar Swamy, Group CEO, R K Swamy Hansa: Ramesh Narayan is a great guy who has done many things for the industry and he deserves the award for the amount of time that he has put. He has worked selflessly into the promotion of the industry. We are here to celebrate with him. Congratulations to Ramesh!

     

     

    Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC: Ramesh is one of the greatest guys that I’ve met. I am here to wish him for the rest of his life. At the peak of his career, he renounced everything. How many people can do that? It is an amazing thing to do. So many people aspire to do so but will not be able to achieve it.

     

     

    Madhukar Kamath, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, DDB Mudra: If ever there’s a person who truly deserves this award then it is Ramesh Narayan. Apart from the accomplished professional that he is which I am not qualified to talk abou, Ramesh is one of the nicest persons in the industry. We require more and more of Ramesh Narayans. A person with no agenda, clear heart,  and one who wears his heart on his sleeves. He never says no and importantly, a person who gets things done. Ramesh is an idol for me. Less talk, more action is Ramesh Narayan.

     

    Rana Barua, CEO, Contract Advertising: It’s absolutely an honour to be here. He is one of the most silent and hard working people in the industry. Though he is very silent but he goes about doing things meticulously. This is something which should have happened many years before.

     

     

    Paritosh Joshi, Principal, Provocateur Advisory: “Ramesh Narayan is somebody who has given so much for the development of the industry. He had his own agency which he exited it. He moved on after spending so many years. The profit motive was gone for him. He was not running his agency anymore but here’s a guy who genuinely believes in the development of the broader communication professions. There are very few people who do that with a genuine sense of selflessness. Hats off to him on all fronts.”

     

  • The Advertising Agencies Association of India will felicitate veteran adman Ramesh Narayan with the Lifetime Achievement Award on July 24 in Mumbai

    AAAI to felicitate Ramesh Narayan with Lifetime Achievement Award

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ramesh Narayan

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the apex organisation of advertising agencies in the country, will felicitate veteran adman Ramesh Narayan with the Lifetime Achievement Award this year.

     

    The felicitation will happen on Thursday, July 24 in Mumbai.

     

    Mr Narayan, who runs Canco Advertising, has led various industry bodies like the AAAI, the Advertising Club, the International Advertising Association India Chapter and the Federation of Advertising Association.  As a thought leader in the fraternity, Mr Narayan would also write for various periodicals including a column on advertising in Mid-Day some years back.

     

  • AAAI has announced the winners of its Young Lions Competitions in Creative (Print), Media and Marketers categories

    AAAI announces the winners of Young Lions Competitions

    By a correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) has announced the winners of its Young Lions Competitions in Creative (Print), Media and Marketers categories.

     

    The winning teams included: Young Lions Creative Competition that was won by Gaurav Joshi & Siddharth Joglekar from Publicis India, Mumbai for “Come forward and help crime and accident victims”; Young Lions Media Competition that was won by Chinmay Kelkar & Rohan Sood from MediaCom, Mumbai for “Don’t bribe and kill the nation”; and Young Lions Marketers Competition that was won by Samyukta Iyer & Janvi Parekh from Hindustan Unilever, Mumbai for “A premium brand enters a traditional Indian category of hair oil but Indians are not willing to pay the premium. What Ad strategy should they use?”

     

    The jury for Creative Competition comprised Josy Paul (Chairman and National Creative Director, BBDO India), K S Chakravarthy (National Creative Director, FCB Ulka), Bobby Pawar (Director, Chief Creative Officer – South Asia, Publicis India) in Phase-I and Haresh Moorjani (Creative Director, FCB Ulka), Bobby Pawar (Director, Chief Creative Officer – South Asia, Publicis India), Nandan Srinath (Director-Response, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd) and Vinod Nair (Managing Director, Network Advertising) in Phase-II.

     

    For Media, the jury comprised Dinesh Vyas (General Manager, India-Planning, MEC), Anand Chakravarthy (Head-West, Maxus), Sujata Dwibedy (Vice President, Starcom India), Deepak Netram (Vice President, Lodestar UM) in the Phase-I and Sam Balsara (Chairman & Managing Director, Madison Communications), Jasmin Sohrabji (Managing Director, Radeus Advertising) in the final phase.

     

    The jury of Marketers Competition comprised Ajay Kakar (Chief Marketing Officer-Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group), Deepali Naair (Chief Marketing Officer, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts), Rohit Srivastava (Core Consulting and National Head of Strategic Planning, Contract Advertising), Nandan Srinath (Director-Response, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd), Vinod Nair (Managing Director, Network Advertising) and the Marketers competition was conducted under the leadership of Dr M G Parameswaran, Advisor, FCB Ulka.

     

    These competitions conducted by AAAI, supported by The Times Group, had invited participation of young creative people, under 28 years of age, from Advertising Agencies (for Creative) young media professionals, under 28 years of age, from Advertising/Media Agencies (for Media) and young marketing professionals, under 30 years of age, from client organisations/Advertisers (for Marketers). In all 250 entries were received for these competitions.

     

    The winning teams will be flying to France in the month of June this year to participate in the prestigious Young Lions Competitions in Cannes Lions.