MxMIndia

Tag: creative agency

  • The India operations will be headed by Uday Vijayan and the creative team will be headed by Alistair Petrie

    London’s Imagination creative shop enters India

    By Preethi Chamikutty

     

    Imagination, a London based creative agency became the latest entrant in the Indian advertising landscape. With offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru, Imagination is currently in the process of building its team in India. The India operations will be headed by Uday Vijayan, who has worked in the past with agencies like JWT, Bozell and GPJ.

     

    Imagination’s creative team will be headed by Alistair Petrie, regional creative director who is based out of the agency’s Hong Kong office. Imagination started off as an experiential agency but now handles different creative needs that a client may have. At the Auto Expo 2012 held in New Delhi earlier this year, Imagination helped auto brands like Land Rover, Ford and Tata Motors showcase themselves in a distinctive manner.

     

    “This maybe our official entry into India, but we have been working with Indian clients over the last 15-20 years,” explained Mark Barrett, CEO, Asia Pacific, Imagination.

     

    Oberoi hotels, 360 restaurants, Hyatt New Delhi and Ritz Carlton Bengaluru are among the brands that Imagination has worked with. Imagination has also redesigned the Aston Martin showrooms for the car brand in India.

     

    Imagination has 16 offices spread across Qatar, Moscow, Seattle, Sao Paulo and has 9 offices in the APAC region alone. China was its last entry before India, and Barrett hopes to replicate the success of Chinese market in India as well.

     

    “Our past experience with Indian brands is helping us grow. Everybody thinks an international agency will be expensive, but we think globally and work locally,” said Mr Barrett. He also said Imagination will draw upon its resources across the globe to do the best work for its clients, irrespective of where the client is physically located.

     

    Imagination, said Mr Barrett, works with over 311 brands globally including Disney, Siemens, Aston Martin and The Body Shop among others. Talking about the Indian opportunity, he said there are a lot of luxury brands in India which he says is an area of opportunity for them.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • This is an industry where you don't concentrate on cost control to meet margins, but pitch to win creative accounts to meet margins, says Ajit Menon

    The Anchor: 5 ways an agency can retain talent

    By Ajit Menon

     

    Retaining talent is tough, but important, be it any industry. It’s acutely important for an agency because the only asset that agencies have are its ‘people’ and if good talent cannot be retained, especially in an agency, then the agency is at risk of loosing clients as well.

     

    So if you are a creative agency, the first step to retain talent is to:-

     

    1. Go pitch and win

    No NBD (new business development) No Stay. It’s but obvious that if you are not a winning agency, there is no life in the agency and employees will leave.

     

    2. Get the Gods home

    If you win great accounts, you get to do great work and get noticed. Great work attracts great talent and keeps them alive because agency employees get the adrenalin rush only when they get a chance to do brilliant creative work.

     

    3. Solution Givers

    If employees are trained to be solution givers rather than just be delivery boys, employees feel that their professional life is getting enriched and they want to stay. The entire training and development calendar should reflect only one thing, “Groom the employee for the future”. This gives the employee the feeling that this agency is developing his/her career.

     

    4. Einstein route

    Embrace experimentation in the agency. If you have a culture where you encourage people to experiment with new ideas, newer forms of communication and expression, out of the box thinking, the young minds find themselves comfortable in the environment and stay back, even if the lure of money is there.

     

    5. Money where your mouth is

    Pay peanuts and you surely will get monkeys which is yet another sure short way of loosing people and clients. Pay the people what they deserve. This is an industry where you don’t concentrate on cost control to meet margins (unless there is a global economy melt down and it’s affecting the country) but pitch to win creative accounts to meet margins. The more you win, the more you get to do good work which then leads to better revenues, so better infrastructure, great culture and of course better pay and handsome career progression. All this leads to employees being happy, and trust me no one wants to leave ‘happy’.

     

    Ajit Menon is executive director at DDB Mudra

     

  • An ideal balance between expenditure and investing on the future of your company is vital and rests on your vision, says Zubin Driver

    The Anchor: Zubin Driver on 5 things to keep in mind while launching a creative co

    By Zubin Driver

     

    Choose the right people!

    It is very important that every team member is hand-picked, because he or she should have exceptional qualities that compliment other team members. A strong team with diversified skills is of utmost important in a creative agency.

     

    Have a clear vision…

    It is essential to have a clear vision and make sure you live up to it every day in word and deed. Make sure your visions are clear, concise and specific. Your vision needs to be a clear message which has the ability of keeping you and your team inspired along with keeping you focused when you face obstacles and come across challenges.

     

    Practical and Reasonable Goals

    Make sure your business goals are practical and achievable. It’s better to be prudent and grow steadily than over promise and crash out of the game. Also keep in mind that your goals should be high enough to inspire you to push yourself even more but at the same time it should be grounded too.

     

    Value your people

    In a start up or in any creative agency, people are your biggest asset. The work force of a start up is its best resource. You have to keep them charged up and motivated to get the best out of them which in turn helps them grow as well.

     

    Think big, spend small and invest in the future

    One should keep an eye on the bottom line and the horizon line. An ideal balance between expenditure and investing on the future of your company is vital and rests on your vision. A profitable present will carry you into a fantastic future.

     

    Zubin Driver is the Founder & CEO of Pundalik

     

  • MAX launches a new brand campaign with a completely new channel packaging

    JWT crafts new ‘shuruaat’ for post-IPL Max

    By A Correspondent

     

    Television channel Max has announced its latest brand campaign with the theme ‘Shuruaat Yahin Se’ . Created and conceptualized by JWT, the creative agency for Max, the campaign comprises three films – featuring an old couple, a politician and an Olympic shooter.

     

    The campaign highlights the monotony in the lives of these characters and how certain movies that they watch on the channel change their life for the better. Directed by ad film maker Piyush Raghani of Old School Films, these will be released across television, social media and online forums.

     

    Meanwhile, the channel also sports an all-new packaging. Charlieco, a Los Angeles-based agency has brought about this new look-and-feel. The music score mirrors and accentuates the visual themes of the packaging and has been created by the musical duo Salim- Sulaiman.

     

    Speaking on the new initiatives, Neeraj Vyas, Executive Vice President and Business Head, Max said: “‘Shuruaat Yahin Se’ aptly brings alive the central communication theme that Max gives its viewers the power to change their life for the better by showcasing the best of inspiring and thought provoking Hindi cinema. I am sure we will be successful in further engaging loyal viewers while bringing in new audiences.”

     

  • Milestone Brandcom is slated to venture into the rural communication space with Milestone Rural, the digital space with Milestone Digital and aims to set up a creative agency too

    Coming soon: Milestone Digital and Milestone Rural

    By Robin Thomas

     

    In a bid to extend its services, out-of-home media agency, Milestone Brandcom has big plans and is all set to enter the rural communication and digital space and set up a creative agency, all within the next one year.

     

    Milestone Brandcom is slated to venture into the rural communication space with Milestone Rural in the next three to six months. The next six to twelve months will see Milestone Brandcom entering the digital space as well with Milestone Digital. In addition to these developments, in a year’s time, Milestone Brandcom aims to set up a creative agency under the brand name Milestone Brandcom. It will be a mainstream creative agency which will handle the entire creative communication programme, be it TVC, print or radio.

     

    Through Milestone Digital, brands will be able to explore social media campaigns, digital OOH innovations and various other digital initiatives and campaigns. Milestone Brandcom, therefore, is aiming to provide enormous opportunities for brands to extend their communication ambit in the digital space.

     

    “Digital and Out- of- Home works hand-in-hand and therefore it increases enormous possibilities for brands. Since the digital and social media space is unique and real time, it just scales up the opportunities. You will see us in the digital space in the next 6-12 months time,” said Mr Nabendu Bhattacharyya, Managing Director, Milestone Brandcom.

     

    Milestone Rural, on the other hand, aims to reach out to the rural consumers, particularly in those areas where television and print have limited or no access at all. “Milestone Rural is about communication in ruralIndiawhere television and press don’t reach all marketers and brands looking at next destination for their growth story. We would be launching Milestone Rural in next 3-6 months time” shared Mr Bhattacharyya.

     

    Today, Milestone Brandcom has an Out of Home media division – Milestone Out of Home, a retail division – Milestone Last Mile and an event promotion division – Milestone Connect. With the soon to be launched digital and rural communication initiatives, Milestone Brandcom aims to build an entire vertical which will provide complete integrated solutions to their clients.

     

    Milestone Brandcom is said to have over 70 established brands in its kitty. Tata Docomo, Colors, McDonalds, Binani Cement, Axis Bank, HDFC Mutual Fund, Dish TV and Franklyn Templeton to name a few. The recent additions to its client list are L’Oreal Paris and Garnier.

     

    Speaking about Milestone Brandcom in 2012, Mr Bhattacharyya observed: “In just two years we have reached a stage where we are one of the leading agencies in the country. We have already touched the Rs200 crore plus mark in turnover. In 2012, we will try and offer our existing clients more solutions and we will continue to expand our services. We have been growing 100 per cent since the last two years, and this year is going to be no different.”

     

    In the next three years Milestone Brandcom aims to plough back the profitability into the business with more investment on quality talent, manpower, on production set up, and technology.