MxMIndia

Tag: CVL Srinivas

  • Ad Club sets up new managing committee, Raj Nayak re-elected President, Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Media and OOH, Madison Communications Pvt. Ltd is vice-president

    Ad Club sets up new managing committee, Raj Nayak re-elected President

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club has elected Raj Nayak, CEO, COLORS, as its President for the second consecutive term.

     

    The new managing committee is as follows:

    • President: Raj Nayak, CEO, COLORS, Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd.

    • Vice President: Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Media and OOH, Madison Communications Pvt. Ltd.

    • Secretary: Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer, Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group

    • Jt. Secretary: Bhaskar Das, Group CEO, Zee Media Corporation Ltd.

    • Treasurer: Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands

    • Officebearer: Ashish Sehgal, COO, Zee Unimedia Ltd.

    • Member: Mitrajit Bhattacharya, President and Publisher, Chitralekha Group

    • Member: Partha Sinha, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, McCann

    Worldgroup

    • Member:Pradeep Dwivedi, Chief Corporate Sales & Marketing Officer, DainikBhaskar Group, DB Corp Ltd.

    • Member, Ramesh Narayan, Managing Director, Canco Advertising Pvt. Ltd.

    • Member, Vikas Khanchandani, Chief Business Officer, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited

    • Member, Viral Jani, Head TV Partnerships, Twitter India

    • Co-opted Member: Partho Dasgupta, CEO, Broadcast Audience Research Council

    • Co-opted Member: Punitha Arumugam, Director, Agency Business, India and South East Asia, Google India Pvt. Ltd.

    • Co-opted Member: Ajay Chandwani, Director, Percept Limited

    Immediate Past President: Pratap Bose, Founder, Social Street

     

    Special Invitees:

    :: Preeti Vyas, Founder & Chairwoman, Vyas Giannetti Creative.
    :: Namrata Tata, Head of Sales, Colors Infinity, VH1 & Comedy Central.
    :: Sapangeet Rajwant, Head of Marketing, Hindi Mass Entertainment, Viacom18
    :: Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications Ltd

     

    Expressing his pleasure at his re-election, Nayak said: “I am extremely honored and humbled at the love bestowed upon me by the industry. I hope to continue working even more vigorously to realise The Ad Club’s agenda of acting as a catalyst in developing our vibrant and dynamic industry.”

     

    Said Nakul Chopra, CEO South Asia, Publicis Worldwide and President, AAAI welcoming the announcement: “I am delighted that Raj has been elected President Ad Club for another term. A dear friend, a respected colleague – Raj has always worked for the good of the industry via various forums. I look forward to working closely with him to further the already strong relationship between The Ad Club and AAAI.”

     

    Commented Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee and President, IBF: “I am most certain that with his rich experience, acumen and industry knowledge, Raj will continue to take ‘The Advertising Club’ to greater heights. The very fact that he is re-elected, speaks abundantly about his contribution made to the club and to the industry. Over the last year, the club has certainly been a catalyst in developing the industry and with its interactive platforms and properties, it has served as a brilliant platform for industry professionals to interact and exchange thoughts. I wish Raj all the success in this role.”

     

    Expressing his excitement about the announcement, Srinivasan Swamy, Chairman and MD, R K Swamy BBDO and President IAA India Chapter and Senior Vice President IAA Global, said, “I was delighted to hear that Raj was reelected to lead The Advertising Club. His passion and energy levels are infective. He has brought in many senior names‎ to join the committee and I eagerly look forward to next phase of accelerated growth for the Club under his stewardship.”

     

    Industry stalwart Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World, also expressed his pleasure by saying, “I am delighted that Raj has agreed to continue as The Ad Club President. This augurs well for the members of the advertising, media and marketing community in general and members of The Ad Club in particular. Raj is everybody’s favorite person and is uniquely positioned to discharge this onerous responsibility which he has kindly agreed to, despite his hectic and I am sure taxing work schedule”.

     

    Industry veteran CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM, South Asia, commented, “Its great news for the industry that Raj Nayak has been re-elected President of The Advertising Club. Raj brings a lot of style and substance to whatever he does. His boundless energy, passion and commitment is so amazing. I wish him the very best and look forward to another great year with him at the helm”.

     

  • This is Essence's fifth APAC office and the India ops will be supported by Maxus

    GroupM digital agency Essence enters India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Essence, a global digital agency that was acquired by GroupM in November 2015, has announced the kickstart of operations in India with the opening of its office in New Delhi NCR. This will be the agency’s fifth office in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and the third to open its doors this year. Essence, billed as the largest buyer of digital media, is GroupM’s fifth global brand.

     

    To help ease its transition into India, Essence turned to Maxus, a GroupM agency in India.  The unified Essence-Maxus team will be based out of the GroupM Delhi office.  In addition to transferring several existing Essence and Maxus employees to fill relevant positions, the agency is actively recruiting to hire local, outside talent for roles across the account management, strategy and planning, advertising operations, biddable and performance disciplines. Kunal Guha, client partner and head of strategy, APAC, is serving as the Essence office lead, reporting into Kyoko Matsushita, CEO of APAC.

     

    “We are delighted to bring Essence into India at a time when more and more clients are looking at cutting edge digital media solutions for their brands. With their very focussed approach they have built deep client engagements globally. Our digital offering in India is further strengthened by their opening of an office here,” said CVL Srinivas, CEO, South Asia at GroupM.

     

    “Just over three years ago, Essence opened its first APAC office in Singapore,” said Matsushita.  “It’s incredible what we’ve been able to accomplish in such a short period of time.  Working with innovative clients has helped Essence unlock opportunities to bring digital innovation to the region.  We see even more opportunity in India and are excited to align with GroupM as we navigate this crucial market.”

     

  • Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network (Aegis Media India Pvt Ltd), was elected Vice-President of the Association

    Nakul Chopra elected President of AAAI

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nakul Chopra

    Nakul Chopra, CEO – South Asia, Publicis Communications India Pvt Ltd, was elected President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2016-2017 at its Annual General Body Meeting held recently.

     

    Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network (Aegis Media India Pvt Ltd), was elected Vice-President of the Association.

     

    Other members of the Executive Committee include CVL Srinivas from Group M Media India Pvt Ltd, Ganesh Baliga from Fifth Estate Communications Pvt Ltd, Kunal Lalani from Crayons Advertising Ltd, Pranav Premnarayen from Prem Associates Advertising & Marketing, Rana Barua from Contract Advertising, Srinivasan K Swamy from R K SWAMY BBDO, T Gangadhar from Mediaedge:Cia India and Vivek Srivastava from Innocean Worldwide Communication Pvt Ltd.

     

    Immediate Past President, Dr M G Parameswaran will be the ex-officio member of the new AAAI Executive Committee.

     

  • A 2-day festival for creativity & innovation in marketing and communications

    Kyoorius announces ZEE MELT 2016

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kyoorius announces ZEE MELT 2016, a unique festival that brings together advertising, digital, marketing, emerging technologies and the media & PR industry. MELT is a 2-day festival conceptualized in partnership with Zee Entertainment, Hindustan Times, GroupM, and D&AD.

     

    The festival is scheduled to be held on 11 and 12 March at Hotel Pullman Suites and Novotel, in Aerocity, New Delhi. Over the two days of MELT, Aerocity will transform into a buzzing zone of activity where 2000 people connecting creativity with marketing shall convene to discuss, inspire and learn through sharing and interaction.

     

    MELT 2016 will consist of a range of conferences, seminars, exhibitions, showcases, workshops and networking sessions for delegates from advertising, digital, media & PR, marketing and emerging technologies by industry experts, catering to all experience levels. To name a few, Ted Mellström (Art Director at Forsman&Bodenfors, Sweden); Mark van Iterson (Director Global at Heineken, Amsterdam); Mark Curtis (Founder & Chief Client Officer at Fjord Net, London); Tom Betts (Chief Data Officer at Financial Times, London); Gaurav Mishra (Digital Director at Conde Nast, Mumbai) for Media and PR and Darren David (CEO at Stimulant, San Francisco).

     

    The content for MELT 2016is divided across 4 key pillars:

    :: Learning – These events are based on imparting knowledge and provide inspiration in the form of vocational or skill workshops

     

    :: Showcase and Gallery – To excite visitors with newer experiences, with curated content from partners

     

    :: Networking – Encouraging new, meaningful and relevant interactions with people from the industry

     

    :: Celebration – No festival is complete without opportunities to have a good time with peers and friends

     

    Each of these pillars are being driven by content partners and participating brands at MELT 2016. Each of these will give delegates an opportunity to gain real insights into the creative communications industry from industry specialists.

     

    Punit Goenka

    Punit Goenka, MD & CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) said: “As we pursue our vision 2020 of being ranked amongst the leading global media companies, there has been a conscious effort invested in creating and partnering brand IP’s. ZEE MELT will enable stakeholders from Media, Marketing and Communications to meet at a common platform and exchange experiences, knowledge and insights. This is the second edition of MELT and I firmly believe that it grow and be accepted as a premier Industry event in the years to come.”

     

    Rajan Bhalla

    Rajan Bhalla, Chief Marketing Officer, HT Media Ltd said: “HT is delighted to associate with MELT, which bring together doyens from the world of branding, advertising & media, creating an excellent opportunity to interact and engage with them through intellectually stimulating sessions. I am especially excited about ‘HT Osmosis’ at MELT, which will provide creativity new wings.”

     

     

    CVL Srinivas

    Renewing their association with MELT 2016, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said: “We are delighted to continue our association with MELT. It is a platform where leaders from technology, content, data and digital interact with young talent to help shape the future of our industry. Like last year, GroupM agencies and specialist units will help curate content for the event in addition to holding workshops.”

     

     

    Rajesh Kejriwal

    Rajesh Kejriwal, CEO and founder of Kyoorius said: “We are delighted to announce the second edition of Zee MELT. This two day gathering of the best speakers and presenters from the industry with the addition of experience zones and workshops is definitely going to set us apart. It is heartening that our founder partners, Zee, Hindustan Times and GroupM, have increased their involvement, bringing more compelling content for delegates to enrich themselves.”

     

  • … after TV in terms of ad spends, says CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia in an interview

    Soon mobile will be 2nd biggest medium…

     

    With a surge in growth to 14.2 per cent last year and a prediction of 15.5 per cent for 2016, the good times are finally here for the A&M industry. FMCG and e-commerce have buoyed the sector by spending beyond expectations, while digital is another lucrative opportunity lurking just around the corner, says GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas as he talks about the This Year Next Year (TYNY) report for 2016 with Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    With a 15.5 per cent growth forecast for 2016, would you say it’s ‘achche din’ for the industry now?

    It’s definitely good; in fact it’s been good since last year. Last year, we grew at 14.2 per cent as an industry in 2015, over 2014. This year we are seeing it go up to 15.5 per cent.

     

    Your prediction at around this time last year, was 12.7 per cent. So what led to the 14.2 per cent growth?

    There were two or three sectors that spent much more than projected. The first was e-commerce. While most studies did predict that e-comm will be a top contributor to growth, across the board there was an underestimation of what the quantum of spend would be. The other was FMCG. Don’t forget, today,  FMCG is supposed to be 30 per cent of the adex, and an increase of a couple of points here or there, leads to quite a swing in terms of the overall number. Despite all the pressures we were going through in 2015, FMCG as a sector continued to invest overall in brand-building through the year.

     

    The adex percentage for e-commerce is just 8.1. Does that mean it wasn’t as much as we all thought it would be given the large number of jacket and television ads?

    But don’t forget an 8.1 per cent contribution from almost zero two or three years ago, is a phenomenal jump in the overall adspend. Today it is a number comparable to other established and mature categories like auto, In fact, e-commerce is probably the third biggest category today, after FMCG and auto, in terms of overall spend. Not counting the government sector, of course.

     

    The government and the media sector account for almost 20 per cent, so that’s significant…

    The government sector, we believe, is going to contribute quite a bit in 2016 because of all the schemes that are being announced, and a lot of activity is happening both at the Centre as well as the states. There are going to be five Assembly elections in 2016, with related advertising spend in the regional media, making the government a big contributor this year. With media companies, there is competition today, with new shows and players looking to build their brands in Tier II and III markets.

     

    While mobile advertising is what will be the future. But the real numbers are still not significant enough…

    We are still growing from a relatively smaller base when it comes to overall digital and mobile advertising. It was close to 10 per cent in the price area in 2015, and in 2016, overall digital will be close to 13 per cent, month-end onwards, but we believe a lion’s share of it is going to come from mobile. The base is smaller, but given that it is growing between 45 and 50 per cent year on year, very soon we will see mobile becoming the second-biggest medium after television in terms of ad spends.

     

    When do you expect that to happen?

    It will take a few years, because in terms of absolute amounts, print as a medium is still pretty big. It contributes about 20 per cent to growth in terms of adex. There is still a lot of headroom for growth in certain clusters, and among certain audiences and markets. There are categories that are undergoing a phase of evolution where they will need print. So while it’s not going to happen in the next one or two years, we are definitely headed in that direction. Also, all the media players – whether TV or print — are establishing their own mobile platforms and becoming content providers across multiple platforms. We will have to start looking at some of these studies a little differently, going forward.

     

    Are there anxieties about media segments or any other categories that you think people should watch out for?

    I think overall the mood is still cautiously optimistic although we think it is slightly more optimistic than cautious at the moment and at an overall levelI think every medium has challenges when it is going through an evolution in its measurement system — whether it’s expansion, or loss of viewership or leadership to digital — and I think it all depends on how each of the players’ deal with the challenges.

     

    The prediction is that magazines are going to de-grow 14.8 per cent. That’s huge…

    Magazines have been under pressure for a while, and we have seen advertising money shift from them to digital. I think this sends out a larger message that [if you have content that is] available on the go, 24×7, consumers would rather have it in a format or device they are comfortable with. There has been quite a shift in consumer behavior and consumption of content, and whomsoever we advise, we suggest they transform themselves into digital entities, because many of them are strong brands with loyal readership bases. They have great content so the sooner they transition, the better.

     

    What is your prediction about how the various genres of television will do?

    We don’t put up those numbers because these are estimates and projections. But within different genres, it’s going to be a good year for sports with the ICC World T20 to be played in India in February and March, and with the IPL coming in after that.

     

    I think regional language channels would do extremely well. Regional clusters and GEC channels are continuing to do well because it is like carbohydrate for any media plan; they provide stability to the mass brand which is present in the market. Generally speaking, across the board it will be a good year for TV. In fact, TV had close to a 19 per cent growth last year, and we see much the same in 2016.

     

    You are saying today that the growth is 15.5 per cent. Could it be more, a lot more?

    We will review this in the middle of the year, and take stock in July. We will have actual data from about three months [by then] so we will have a better idea.

     

    This interview first appeared in dna of brands dated January 25, 2016

     

  • … adspends grew 14.2 per cent in 2015 over the similar period 2014 as against the 12.7 predicted last year

    GroupM predicts adspends to grow 15.5% in 2016…

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Marketing services conglomerate GroupM says India’s adspends will grow 15.5 per cent in the year 2016. The media agency network also reported that adspends grew 14.2 per cent in 2015 over the similar period 2014.

     

    Said CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “India is the fastest growing ad market among all the major markets of the world. 2015 was the best year for ad spend growth we’ve had in the last five years. While global headwinds are building up in the new year, there are a number of positive factors that will help the Indian ad sector grow at higher levels in 2016. While FMCG, Auto and Ecommerce which have been the top sectors contributing to ad growth in 2015 will continue to invest, Telecom, BFSI and the Government sector will see a ramp up. Events like the T20 World Cup, IPL and many state assembly elections will give a further impetus to ad spends. India is one of the few large markets where all traditional media platforms will show positive growth.”

     

    FMCG remains the most dominant sector with a 28 per cent share of the AdEx. In 2016, e-commerce adspends are expected to be high on the back of increasing competition, market expansion and newer players entering the space. Many leading traditional retailers will be expanding their e-commerce presence in 2016 even as consolidation continues in the sector. Another exciting development is the opening up of e-commerce as a platform for advertising, which will see further traction in 2016.

     

    With the advent of 4G services in India, telecom service providers are expected to roll out extensive marketing campaigns across media. According to GroupM, another big contributor to the Indian AdEx this year will be the auto sector, on the back of multiple launches across both 4-wheelers and 2-wheelers.

     

    GroupM’s biannual advertising expenditure (AdEx) estimate report This Year Next Year (TYNY) has forecast India’s advertising investment to reach an estimated Rs 57,486 crore in 2016.  The last calendar year saw ad expenditure  closing at Rs 49,758 crore.

     

    Added Lakshmi Narashimhan, Chief Growth Officer, GroupM South Asia: “With a significant number of users accessing internet primarily from a mobile device, adspends on mobile will become as large as the digital AdEx from two years ago. With digital media achieving audience reach numbers that are next only to Television, multiscreen planning is the order of the day. We have seen focused targeting of digital and native advertising with programmatic buying over the last two years, and this momentum will continue in 2016, as automation increases”.

     

    GroupM estimates the Digital AdEx to grow by 47.5% in 2016 to Rs. 7,300 crore from the earlier Rs. 4,950 crores. A significant part of this growth is on the back of higher investments in cross-screen campaigns. The digital AdEx is estimated to take a 12.7% share of the total AdEx in 2016.

     

    The year 2016 is estimated to be a better year for newspapers than 2015, the report notes. The increase in adspends expected from print heavy sectors like Auto, BFSI and the government sector augurs well for newspapers. Regional advertising of telecom and FMCG brands will benefit language dailies. While print as a medium is facing a lot of pressure from digital there is still headroom for growth in certain pockets and amongst certain audience clusters.

     

     

    While radio is expected to grow at a little over 10%, there is scope for the medium to pick up towards end 2016 when most of the new stations (set up after Phase III licenses, round 1 were issued) are fully operational. Digital audio platforms are gaining in popularity, opening up a new format for radio.

     

  • Srini takes over from Hormusji Cama who was Chairman of RSCI for the past two years

    CVL Srinivas appointed Chairman of RSCI

    By A Correspondent

     

    CVL Srinivas

    Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI) announced that CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia has been nominated as Chairman for a period of two years with immediate effect. Srini takes over from Hormusji Cama who was Chairman of RSCI for the past two years.

     

    RSCI was set up when the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) and the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) agreed to undertake joint readership studies as equal partners. The RSCI is governed by a 20 member Managing Committee consisting of Publishers representing the print media, Advertising Agencies’ representatives and Advertisers. The managing committee of RSCI sets up the Technical Committee to work on the IRS. In a recent development N.P. Satyamurthy was made the head of the Technical Committee to work on the new IRS.

     

    Shashi Sinha

    Shashi Sinha Chairman of ABC said “From an ABC standpoint we are delighted that Srini has taken over as Chairman RSCI, as there can’t be better person with this stature to guide RSCI especially as we kickoff IRS 2016.”

     

    Commenting on this development, I. Venkat Chairman MRUC said, “Srini brings over two decades of rich and varied experience in media planning and buying having worked in some of the best known agencies. I am confident that Srini, ably assisted by N.P. Satyamurthy who has recently taken charge of the Technical Committee will help us bring out an improved IRS 2016 with a 3,30,000 sample the largest such study anywhere in the world.”

     

    Srini was till recently the Chairman MRUC, stepping in to complete the term of his colleague Ravi Rao who moved to Dubai in May 2015.

     

  • Other members include Ambi Parameswaran, Sam Balsara, Rana Barua, Ashish Bhasin, Jaideep Gandhi, CVL Srinivas

    Nakul Chopra named Chairman of Goafest Organizing Committee

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club and Advertising Agencies Association of India, announcedGoafest 2016 with Nakul Chopra, CEO, Publicis South Asia as the Chairman of Goafest Organizing Committee.The other members on the committee are:

    • President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) & Advisor, FCB Ulka Advertising | Ambi M G Parameshwaran
    • Founder, Chairman and MD at Madison World | Sam Balsara
    • Chief Executive Officer at Contract Advertising | Rana Barua
    • Chairman and CEO at Dentsu Aegis Network | Ashish Bhasin
    • Managing Director at Jaya Advertising | Jaideep Gandhi
    • CEO at Group M, South Asia | CVL Srinivas
    • CEO at LHAMPL | Shashi Sinha
    • CEO at JWT | Tarun Rai
    • Group CEO at Madison Media | Vikram Sakhuja
    • Group CEO at Zee Media Corporation | Bhaskar Das
    • Chief Corporate Sales and Marketing Officer at Dainik Bhaskar Group | Pradeep Dwivedi

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Ambi M G Parameshwaran – President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) said, “Nakul has been in this industry for over 30 years now. He has been leading Publicis in India through this last decade. I am very excited to see what plans he has in store for us this year!”

     

    Welcoming the announcement, Raj Nayak, President of The Advertising Club said, “This is wonderful news. Nakul has been instrumental in driving Goafest to success in the recent past. With his proven track record in managing high performing agencies, he is truly the best man for the job! I look forward to work with him to make Goafest 2016 a roaring success!”

     

    Nakul Chopra stated,” To have been given the opportunity to Chair the Goafest Organizing Committee is an honor. There’s still a lot of work to do in strengthening Goafest and together, I hope we can build upon the good work of the past years.”

     

  • Last year, the Grand Diwali Mela received over 5.5 million visitors in a course of 30 days. Over 150,000 samples were shipped across India, with 70 percent sample orders going to Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns

    GroupM brings back online Diwali mela with Google

    By A Correspondent

     

    Following the success of the 2014 edition, GroupM along with Google is bringing back India’s largest online Diwali celebration. This year, the online festival initiative has a new title sponsor in Askmebazaar.com. The other brands to come on board are Lakme, Horlicks, Kurkure and Hungama.com renewing their partnership with the Grand Diwali Mela and new partners Eno and Godrej Securities.

     

    Last year, the Grand Diwali Mela received over 5.5 million visitors in a course of 30 days. Over 150,000 samples were shipped across India, with 70 percent sample orders going to Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. The samples ranged from make-up, skincare and household products.

     

    On the second season of the Grand Diwali Mela, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “After the success of the ‘Grand Diwali Mela in year one, we are excited to bring the online festival back again this year. With a clear focus on taking the festival to not just metros, but also Tier 2 and 3 towns, where the mobile phone is their window to the world, GroupM and our partners are integrating traditional print, TV and radio with mobile and digital marketing.”

     

    Said Punitha Arumugam, Director Agency Business, Google SEA & India: “As more and more consumer products companies embrace the internet to drive sampling and consumer engagement, we’re delighted to partner Group M to scale this initiative further and help brands make the most of the opportunity online.”

     

  • Key officebearers I Venkat, N P Sathyamurthy & Radhesh Uchil have a task cut out for them: Save print measurement, the sector and MRUC itself

    Can these three save the MRUC (& print)?

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The deed was done in an AGM last month, but on Thursday, it was made official.

     

    The all-important Media Research Users Council announced the formation of a new top deck. It elected I Venkat, Director, Ushodaya Enterprises as Chairman for the next two years. It has also appointed Radhesh Uchil, formerly with Madison’s Platinum Media, as CEO.

     

    Venkat takes over from GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas, and Uchil comes in with the exit of Shaswati Saradar.

     

    To be fair to Srinivas, he took charge only in May 2015, taking over from Ravi Rao of Mindshare who had moved out. Rao helmed the MRUC from early 2014.

     

    The all-important position of Chairman of the Technical Committee, held by top media consultant Paritosh Joshi, will now be taken up by NP Sathyamurthy, Executive Director, DDB MUdra Group. Sathyamurthy, it may be remembered, successfully led the MRUC secretariat as Director General from March 2003 to September 2005. Nikhil Rangnekar, CEO, Spatial Access is the new Chairman of the Marketing Committee. Sanjay Tripathy, Senior EVP at HDFC Life is the new Vice Chairman of MRUC, taking over from Rohit Gupta of Multi Screen Media.

     

    Both Srinivas and Joshi will continue to mentor the Council, a statement added.

     

    Venkat and Uchil are seasoned players, but the MRUC job possibly requires the two to have the skills of a police commissioner and a High Court judge. Be just and tough.

     

    Given the rapid rise of the digital media and steady growth of all other media, print will surely not die, but advertisers could well lose faith in the reach. So even if you think this bit of ‘print is dying’ is bunkum given the large number of ads in The Times of India these days and the reliance of even big digital players on print, the growth of digital is decidedly going to impact print, especially in the all-important urban centres.

     

    But, as many professionals tell us, the enemy for the print sector, lies within. If print players do not invest in audience research and work towards growing the sector, these three men (and the various others) could be the last officebearers of the MRUC. Finito!

     

    Earlier this year, we saw The Times of India and Hindustan Times leaving no stone unturned in putting each other down. If better sense had not prevailed, they could well have been talking ill of their stakeholders. MxMIndia had taken a conscious decision then not to solicit any of these advertising as it wasn’t even worthy of cooler conversation.

     

    But if BCCL and HT Media got out in the open, there were others too who were flexing their muscles, if not in the open, at least in the trade.

     

    What now? There are only two ways the MRUC can go? Up or down. No status quo. In fact, may we advise the powers that be who have taken charge that if they do not wish to employ missionary zeal to cleanse the sytem, they should opt out.

     

    Yes, yes, we said that. You read it right.

     

    Since we are in Mumbai, let’s use a line inspired from Bollywood: agar dar gaya, toh print mar gaya!

     

    We are told that there are some big and bit players who have been playing bully. There is also this confusion about who is accountable for the readership study: the MRUC or the RSCI (the Readership Studies Council of India, which is formation of a group and not a legal entity).

     

    Thankfully, some of the officebearers at other key organisations like the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) are progressive in their outlook. Venkat himself is associated with the ABC, and has done his bit for almost every industry association.

     

    It’s time for all print players to bury their differences and save their own future. These three men have it in them to make the difference.  While the ball lies in their court, it’s also lies in each of ours too.

     

    Some lessons may be learnt from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) which had equally killers sharks amongst its stakeholders. It need a strong secretariat and a committed Board to effect the changes.  Print is lucky that the I&B ministry is too scared to take on the biggies. Had the same happened in news television, all hell would’ve broken loose.

     

    Can the printwallahs do it? Yes, they can. The question is: do they want to do it.

     

    In all of this, they shouldn’t forget the not-so-poor advertiser.  For, the stick is finally in her/his hands.

     

  • After having lost the Agency of the Year title last year, the now 9-time winner wins big. Madison was second in the rankings

    It’s Mindshare on the Top again.

    A jubilant Mindshare team. Picture by Abhinav Kocharekar, Courtesy DNA

     

     

    When Ravi Rao, Leader, Mindshare South Asia spoke to MxMIndia on the eve of his departure to Dubai as Chief Client Officer – MENA in April, we asked him if he considered the agency’s loss at the Emvies last year, as a low during his stint. He said it was just a “momentary despair in the longest winning streak of Mindshare; we will continue to haunt others, year after year”. At the Emvies 2015 on Friday, Mindshare grabbed the title of Agency of the Year with five Gold, eight Silver and 17 Bronze metals. The now nine-time winner had its entire team in attendance, including COO Mindshare Asia Pacific Gowthaman Ragothaman and Prasanth (‘PK’) Kumar, who took over from Rao in March this year and had earlier said he was confident of winning the Agency of the Year crown this time. “There’s been lots of great work in the last year that Mindshare has done across clients, and a lot of effort into bringing in diversified and other business categories,” he had said. Friday’s win, however, left him cheering out loud for his team. “The voice is gone, but the action is full on,”  he said. (See Emvies points tally table here)

     

    Even though Maxus lost its last year’s glory to older sibling Mindshare, MD, Kartik Sharma was unfazed. “Whenever we’ve won or lost, our focus has always been our clients,” he said. “We’re very happy with the quality of work we’ve done. We’ve got quite a lot of clients in last two or three years and we continue to do some interesting work with them. He added: “Our focus has been more digital and analytics for the last couple of years. And today, if you saw the kind of awards that we’ve won, they had a layer of either of the two. But there’s always scope for improvement, and we’ll work on that.” Maxus was third in the pecking order of agencies, while Lodestar UM was at No. 4.

     

    Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World, whose agency was the first runner-up for the title of Agency of the Year, also said he was happy with his agency’s performance which was their best so far at the Emvies. Madison took home six Gold, four Silver and nine Bronze metals.

     

    Meanwhile, Tata Sky was conferred with the Client of the Year award, with Procter & Gamble India the first runners-up and Marico, a close third.

     

    Emvies 2015 launched a new category too, Media Partner of the Year, which was conferred on partners across various media. While the award for TV was won by Pogo, The Times of India walked away with the award in the print category. In the cinema category, it was won by Rohit Shetty’s Film Production house, in radio it was Big FM, while Torrent Sites and Google Ecosystem received the award in the digital segment.

     

    This year’s edition was the 15th of the Emvies. And Punitha Arumugam, Chairperson of the Emvies’ Committee and a senior media specialist herself, said it was the best she had seen so far. “The highlight this year was the fact that we started the process of online entries,” she said. “Secondly, we started including media owners in the Emvies because earlier we had only media agencies; then moved to media agencies plus client, and now from client to media owners. It’s been very exciting for us.” Since she’s not a part of a media agency any more, we asked Arumugam to trend-spot and tell us what she thinks of the way the media business is going, given the Emvies showing this year. “What we see is that digital probably gets the highest number of entries, and also the highest growth in terms of the number of entries year-to-year,” she said. “You’re seeing a genuine shift to digital. Even in offline media entries, for example, you get to see a lot more digital as a part of the whole product.”

     

    Another change that has taken place over the years, according to her, is in the field of data analytics and research, as evidenced from the number of entries going up and the amount of focus that agencies are putting on this.

     

    Arumugam was bullish about the spends on digital increasing with time since all agencies are now incorporating digital in various ways and moving towards it, even if at a slow pace. “While clients may be spending 10-15 per cent [of their budget] on digital, when you walk into any office, 80 per cent of the conversation is about online. Hopefully, the budgets will follow the conversations very soon,” she said, as celebratory cheers, accompanied by the beating of dholaks, took over the venue to get the party going.

     

    A part of this report first appeared in dna of brands

     

  • We saw a rare public display of emotions from GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas in the Mindshare victory celebrations on Emvies 2015 night

    We are all winners: CVL Srinivas

    Your position would be like that of Serena and Venus Williams’ father – to have one daughter win and the other lose, isn’t it?

    For me, I think, we are all winners. All [the agencies have] done extremely well and at the end of the day, one agency has to come out as a winner, and it happened to be Mindshare. Maxus, I thought, put up a tough fight and ended up in the Top Three. What’s heartening to know is that we did well across agencies and across clients. Overall, it’s been a fabulous night and we’re going to party hard.

     

    What do you think led to Mindshare gaining the No 1 spot?

    Mindshare had a fabulous body of work, not just across clients, but also across all the different categories. They’ve really managed to institutionalise excellence across the entire agency. Mindshare is India’s No 1 standalone agency. But when you become No 1 and keep winning, it’s also challenging to keep the team motivated and continue to do well, year after year. That’s something that’s there in the DNA of Mindshare. They have a new leader in Prashant Kumar who took over the reins at Mindshare a few months ago, and I think that has brought in a lot more energy and passion. They’re growing from strength to strength.

     

    Madison gave a pretty good fight at the end?

    The Emvies night is really the big night for all of us in the media industry and it’s the most looked-forward-to event in the year for all the boys and girls who toil very hard in the office every day. There’s been a lot of build up and anticipation in the last few weeks. Of course, Mindshare had a lot of shortlists, so they were expecting to do well. But as we’ve seen in the past, it’s not necessary that the agency with a lot of shortlists will win the Agency of the Year title. But I think they managed to pull through in the end by quite a healthy margin. Madison also did pretty well. In fact, there was great work, not just from Madison, but some of the other agencies as well. So we need to ensure that we don’t get complacent. We have to come back next year and try to do even better.

     

    What were the trends that you could see from the results of this year?

    Winning an award has become important not just for agencies, but also clients. Today, we find a lot of our clients telling us to work hard and to actually get them fame as well. All the hype that goes into awards in our industry, is actually helping the fraternity raise the bar in terms of quality of work. And today, we’re getting a lot more support from our clients and partners. A good thing that was done this year was that there was a recognition for media partners too at the Emvies. So it’s good if all stakeholders are celebrated equally because all of us come together to create great work.

     

    What would be your message to the team at Maxus?

    Maxus has won many titles in the past and continues to do well in many other awards. I’m sure they’ll be a tad disappointed for having come close and still not winning the Agency of the Year title. But knowing Maxus, I’m sure they’re going to go back and put shoulder to the wheel and try and come out Number One next year.