The Indian advertising market is buoyant as growth prospects in the country remain high at +11.0% in 2015 and +12.0% in 2016, as per estimates released by leading media agency Carat, part of the Dentsu Aegis Network. Optimism continues to flood the Indian market as growth prospects in the country remain high, propelled by the election of a pro-business government in 2014 and the revival in investment.
“Carat’s latest estimate show that in India we should see a healthy growth of 11% in ad spends. We see the scenario improving even further next year and hence have revised the 2016 growth rates to 12%,†said Ashish Bhasin Chairman & CEO Dentsu Aegis Network – South Asia.
Click here for the PDF of the Carat Global Adspend Report
In a bid to attract well-thought-through investments into the growing out-of-home category of ambient media, Ambient OOH has designed and launched a new path breaking research tool to drive away the advertisers’ woes. Ambient OOH, the ambient media agency under Dentsu Aegis Network’s Posterscope umbrella, has invested a substantial amount toward the crafting and development of this new research matrix.
Ambient media is all about capturing captive audiences who spend considerable amount of their leisure time at various active locations such as gyms, coffee shops, multiplexes, clubs, salons and shopping malls. Therefore, in a bid to develop the new tool, Ambient OOH took the help of Dentsu Aegis Network’s proprietary research study – the Outdoor Consumer Survey (OCS) that aided in analysing the target audience touch-points.
Ambit Analyser, the new tool, is India’s only fool proof ambient media planning mechanism that helps craft a rationalized multi touch-point plan across more than 24 dwell time locations that house captive audiences. Also, given Ambit Analyser’s system design, the plans can be fashioned within much lesser time and with more accuracy.
As part of the development process of Ambit Analyser, Ambient OOH graded each property across the various touch points on multiple factors including footfalls, trade density, ticket pricing and thus, arrived at a visibility index. It is important to note here that the tool has been linked to the OCS, which has a sample size of 12,000 respondents. It has also incorporated the data for 24 touch-points across metros, mini metros and tier 2 cities.
Ashish Bhasin, ‎Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific said, “Posterscope’s Ambient OOH has done pioneering work in developing Ambient Analyser. Ambient media is becoming extremely important and has very little research and tools available. So, in keeping with Dentsu Aegis Network’s leadership status in OOH, we felt that the time was right to make this large investment in a proprietary tool, the only one of its kind in India.â€
Haresh Nayak, ‎Regional Director, Posterscope Asia Pacific. & Managing Director, Posterscope Group India said, “Ambient OOH is the future and, with the growth of digital and technology in this space, it will lead to accountable and engaging communication with the consumer in a relaxed mind frame. Ambit Analyser is one such initiative to give our clients a first of its kind, accountable and impactful campaign, leading to physical and digital engagement.â€
Deepak Kumar, Vice President, Ambient OOH, “Currently, ambient media in India is extremely fragmented and diverse in nature. And with no comparative data to fall back on, each media owner claims to be the best. Simultaneously, advertisers are constantly pressing on media effectiveness and efficient ROI. Hence, there was a need for transparency and accountability for advertisers to have trust on the ambient media touch-points.â€
Today, Bollywood has significantly emerged as an extensive marketing tool that can be used by brands, strategically, to talk to their respective consumers. Therefore, in a bid to exploit this growing trend, psLIVE assisted Sapat International to associate its fastest growing tea brand, ‘Parivar’ with the movie as the positioning of both the brand and the film exhibit an extremely seamless fit.
Observe: The promos from the ‘All Is Well’ stable clearly suggest that the movie directly targets family consumption – a coherent purpose that Sapat International’s premium tea brand ‘Parivar’ also desires to achieve.
As part of the tie-up, Sapat International has created a co-branded television commercial with ‘All Is Well’ in an attempt to capitalise on this psLIVE-helmed partnership. Says Dr. Nikhil Joshi, Group Managing Director, Sapat International, “It was an extremely important opportunity that was brought to us at the right time. The way it was presented to us by psLIVE, we knew instantly that the integration cannot be missed. The TVC gave us a chance to amplify the association and market Parivar on a massive scale.â€
To leverage the integration amongst maximum audience, the brand too is promoting the movie through the co-branded TVC in addition to a print campaign and ‘on-pack’ packaging. ‘All Is Well’ released on August 21. The family entertainer is directed by Umesh Shukla. It features Abhishek Bachchan, Asin, Rishi Kapoorand Supriya Pathak. It is produced by T-Series and Alchemy Productions.
Says Vinod Bhanushali, President – Marketing, Media & Publishing (TV), T-Series, “Umesh Shukla’s scripts are always backed with a certain dose of social consciousness. And with actors like Rishi Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Abhishek and Asin helming this family narrative, the tie-up between the film and Parivar comes as a natural association. The brand name very well blends with the concept of the film. The tag line created for TVC also speaks about family, values and togetherness which the film speaks about. The integration goes well which has increased the film’s visibility also.â€
Commenting on the association, Sidharth Ghosh, Vice President, psLIVE says, “All Is Well seemed to be a perfect fit for the tea brand ‘Parivar’ as both seamlessly blend with each other. This association will increase the brand recall.At psLive, we are extremely delighted having initiated this integration.â€
psLIVE, the experiential marketing division from the Dentsu Aegis Network, has facilitated a marketing tie-up of the tea brand ‘Parivar’ with Nishikant Kamat’s ‘Drishyam’.
When it comes to movies in India, the concept of co-branded product placements may seem like a much recent phenomenon in the Indian advertising space. The idea of formulating marketing strategies around Bollywood experiences, however, is surely arresting the attention of the brand owners at an accelerated speed. Therefore, in a bid to exploit this growing trend, psLIVE assisted Sapat International to associate its fastest growing tea brand, Â ‘Parivar’ with the up-coming movie as the positioning of both the brand and the film exhibit an extremely seamless fit.
The promos from the ‘Drishyam’ stable clearly suggest that the movie directly targets family consumption – a coherent purpose that Sapat International’s premium tea brand ‘Parivar’ also desires to achieve.
As part of the tie-up, Sapat International has created a co-branded television commercial with Drishyam in an attempt to capitalise on this psLIVE-helmed partnership.
Nikhil Joshi, Group Managing Director, Sapat International said, “It was an extremely important opportunity that was brought to us at the right time. The way it was presented to us by psLIVE, we knew instantly that the integration cannot be missed. The TVC gave us a chance to amplify the association and market Parivar on a massive scale.â€
To leverage the integration amongst maximum audience, the brand too is promoting the movie through the co-branded TVC in addition to a print and outdoor campaign. The thriller drama is directed by Nishikant Kamat. It features Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran and Tabu in the lead roles, and produced by Kumar Mangat Pathak, Ajit Andhare and Abhishek Pathak.
Commenting on the association, Rudrarup Datta, VP – Marketing, Viacom18 Motion Pictures said, “Drishyam introduces a brand new genre in the Indian film industry as a ‘family thriller’… The film is based on the tangled lives of two families and reaches out to the same target audience that Parivar tea reaches out to. This was therefore a natural association and we are delighted with this alliance.â€
Commenting on the association, Sidharth Ghosh, Vice President, psLIVE says, “Drishyam seemed to be a perfect fit for the tea brand ‘Parivar’ as both seamlessly blend with each other. This association will increase the brand recall.At psLive, we are extremely delighted having initiated this integration.â€
psLIVE, the experiential division from the Dentsu Aegis Network, has conceptualised and executed an on-ground event for Giovani – the premium fashion brand for men and women from Future Lifestyle Fashions – to help expand its brand reach.
Held in Mumbai, Giovani chose the Fall Winter collection launch event as the key platform to announce Fawad Khan as its brand ambassador.
Future Lifestyle Fashions relaunched the brand through a glamorous fashion show. Models walked the ramp wearing quintessential Giovani Fall Winter 15 Collection, which was then followed by unveiling of Fawad Khan as the brand ambassador of Giovani.
Talking about the association Rachna Aggarwal, CEO, Indus League, brand division of Future Lifestyle Fashions, added, “Fawad Khan is the perfect Giovani man. He is sophisticated and charming, with an inborn sense of effortless style. He is the one man I’ve seen who wears a Bandhgala like no one else can. He truly personifies the brand and we believe that this association with Fawad Khan will elevate the brand image and help Giovani to reach out to a wider customer base.â€
Added Sidharth Ghosh, Vice President, psLIVE, “We have had a long association with FLF (Future Lifestyle Fashion) and I am glad that we are part of the brand’s journey once more and at a time when it’s rearing up to launch a new story for itself with a new brand face.â€
The proposed suspension of Indian Premier League teams Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals following a betting scandal evoked mixed opinions about how the cricket tournament would be affected, although it is unlikely to financially hurt title sponsor PepsiCo or team sponsors such as Aircel and UltraTech.
In all probability, the Board of Control for Cricket in India will have to compensate sponsors financially for any loss of opportunity to market their brands, two people who deal with such negotiations said.
“Both teams have star players such as MS Dhoni and Shane Watson who are brands in their own right and the teams have been performing well. If BCCI chooses to go ahead without the two teams next year, then it will have to decide on how the sponsors would be compensated,” a source said.
The sponsors of CSK and Rajasthan Royals won’t take any hit, said Melroy D’Souza, chief operating officer at Professional Management Group, the sports marketing unit of Madison.
Media planners said suspension of two of the eight teams may be a problem for Sony, official broadcaster of the T20 cricket league. “Sony Max will not be able to match the ad sales revenue it raked in the previous IPL season because the number of matches will reduce,” a top media planner said.
“There will be a lot of challenges for the next edition of IPL,” said Santosh Desai, MD & CEO of Futurebrands India. “The immediate issue will be adjusting the format and one would imagine that the brand value will take a knock. And advertisers will be wary at least for the next season of IPL.”
According to Ashish Bhasin, chairman & CEO South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, “Both CSK and RR are very big teams and their suspension will impact the tournament in a big way. But I am sure BCCI will find ways to reorient the tournament.”
Bhasin added that the tournament is unviable with six teams and “financially it will be very difficult to sustain. If the number of matches get lesser there will be less advertising time. So we need to see how BCCI restructures IPL.”
Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Media brands, said that IPL is bigger than the teams and “people watch it more for its entertainment value than competitive cricket. So in my opinion, advertiser interest will remain.”
Vodafone, one of the three official IPL partners and one of the biggest advertisers, declined to comment.
PepsiCo India said it expects the issues surrounding IPL to be adequately and swiftly addressed. “The faith of cricket fans is important and needs to be restored in the interest of the game. With reference the ban on the two teams, we will discuss it with Board of Control for Cricket in India and are hopeful they will be able to find a solution, which is in the best interest of all stakeholders,” a PepsiCo spokesperson said.
Mobile wallet company, Paytm, which came on board as an IPL sponsor in 2015, will “wait and watch before signing another deal with IPL.” Shankar Nath, senior vice president at Paytm, said, “We are stunned by the news. But the good news is there is still a lot of time before the next season and maybe it will prove to be resilient.”
“IPL has emerged as a robust and endearing sporting event property, which has only grown stronger with record TV viewership and instadium attendance. We believe that the strengthened governance structure and enhanced image of the IPL will further build the popularity of the league and benefit all its stakeholders, including sponsors,” said Anindya Datta, chief marketing officer at Yes Bank, one of the official partners of the event.
Aircel, the oldest and biggest team sponsor of CSK, went into a huddle over the question of disassociating with a team found to have links with a betting scandal.
“The verdict has just been announced and we are reviewing our position in the matter,” Aircel said in a statement to CSK.
A leading media agency is of the opinion that both CSK and RR will play in the next season of IPL, probably under new owners, and therefore the tournament format will remain unaffected.
However, the agency said a number of big advertisers may not associate with IPL because the property is marred with the betting scandal and the matter is sub judice. No one would want to come under the scanner of the new government.
The agency said cricket as a property in India has become very expensive and a number of beverage and FMCG brands might use this as an excuse to get out of IPL.
The two are a study in contrasts. One, flamboyant, aggressive, very media-friendly, and the other a hardnosed planner, huge believer in research and statistics and understated.
S Yesudas, the marathon-runner and stylish outgoing CEO of Vizeum, is known to be among the most press-friendly media agency captains. The joke is that news on his account wins hit the media even before people in his organisation get to know about it. So even though it will never be known on how the news leaked to e4m, Bhasin, who was leaving for New Delhi on Wednesday evening, was reportedly livid.
Vizeum may have been winning accounts at steady intervals, but Bhasin and the Vizeum worldwide bosses wanted the agency to take a different course. And being an old Carat Chief Operating Officer (Carat is Dentsu Aegis’s flagship media arm), Shripad Kulkarni, who was looking to exit Percept Allied Media, was a natural choice for the India office of the London-headquartered agency. While Yesudas was offered special projects to look at content and analytics, it was clear that he was evaluating options outside the group, including investors if he doesn’t find the right suitor.
Kulkarni requested that he doesn’t want to be drawn into any conversation on the transition. “The sheer dynamism of Vizeum as a brand excites me,” said Kulkarni.
Both Kulkarni and Yesudas will report to Bhasin. Yesudas spoke to MxMIndia and indicated that he is considering options outside the group too. His Facebook post though said it all: “Friends, It has been an incredible 6 years with Vizeum India, starting the company from scratch with a laptop and 100 business cards, without any global clients or automatic alignments, we managed to carve out a niche for ourselves. ”
And it added: “After two decades of media planning and buying which included setting up successful/ profitable businesses both in India and overseas, all those organisations going on to winning many awards and accolades, helping move many brands up the ladder and touching the lives of many a talents, I thought it was time for me to jump and develop my wings on the way, on two areas which I feel will hold immense potential for the future of brand-consumer connect, CONTENT and ANALYTICS. For those closer to the media business, SoV in my definition is Share of Vision and SoE is Share of Empathy, the former being brand to consumer and later the other way. Wish me all the best and watch this space for more action.”
Kulkarni meanwhile has his work cut out for him. Vizeum may be doing well international as per RECMA ratings, but in India the qualitative assessement is in the negative. Â With more than 30 years of experience across various media specialisations, Kulkarni was until last week, CEO of Percept Allied Media which he founded in 2006. An MBA from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Mumbai, Kulkarni has worked in agencies like Contract, Clarion, Ogilvy and his own entrepreneurial venture called M:ideas. He serves on the Board of media research body MRUC.
Commenting on the appointment, Bhasin said: “With the wealth of experience that Shripad brings in and the thorough knowledge of the business that he has, I am sure Vizeum India will touch new heights under his leadership.”  Some of the clients that Vizeum handles in India include BMW, Lotus Herbals, TI Cycles, MTV, Hindware, Jet Airways, Allied Blenders and Distillers, Luxor and the recently won HDFC Bank  amongst others.
Vizeum India has roped in Shripad Kulkarni as the Managing Director. Shripad will report to Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO Dentsu Aegis Network, South Asia and will join the Dentsu Aegis Network India Executive Council.
Meanwhile, S.Yesudas will now focus on content and analytics, something that he is extremely passionate about, while continuing to report to Ashish Bhasin.
S Yesudas
With more than 25 years of experience across various media specializations, Shripad has worked in agencies such as Carat, Contract, Clarion and O&M. Prior to joining Vizeum, Shripad was CEO – Allied Media, a Percept Group company. Shripad, who serves on the Board of MRUC, was the founding CEO of Allied Media. An MBA from JBIMS, Shripad also holds a Master’s Degree in Statistics and a Diploma in Operations Research. He is also a well-known trainer and ran a media school prior to joining Allied Media.
Ashish Bhasin
Commenting on the appointment, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO Dentsu Aegis Network said, “I am very pleased to welcome Shripad as the MD of Vizeum India. With the wealth of experience that he brings in and the thorough knowledge of the business that he has, I am sure Vizeum India will touch new heights under his leadership.â€
“I also want to thank Yesudas for the great job that he has done in helping start Vizeum operations in India from the scratch and bringing the agency to the level, at which it is today. I have no doubts that he will equally excel in the new opportunities. Shripad now has a great platform to take Vizeum India to the next orbit because our ambitions for Vizeum India are tremendous,†he added.
Given the technological metamorphosis that out-of-home (OOH) is currently witnessing, it has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments in the Marketing Communications industry.
This is good news for the industry and also for the young job seeking community, for which, the sector has opened up lucrative career opportunities. Consequently, with much room to maneuver for ambitious youngsters, Dentsu Aegis Network and Northpoint have announced the launch of the ‘Post Graduate Program in Out Of Home Advertising (The PGP-OOHA) program. The PGP-OOHA program is being conducted by Northpoint Centre of Learning, a Management Resource Development Centre, located in Khandala, in collaboration with the leading out-of-home agencies – Posterscope India and Milestone Brandcom.
Designed to develop future managers, the Out of Home Advertising course is a 6-month fast-track post graduate career program. It is designed to give a thorough working knowledge of Out of Home Advertising & Communications including retail, rural and experiential and how they are all inter-related. The course comprises modules, research projects and workshops followed by an internship with Posterscope and Milestone Brandcom. A strong emphasis will be laid on student performance evaluation through projects and practical assignments and research done by the students. While the entire semester will provide a comprehensive perspective of Out Of Home Advertising and communications, the latter part will be project-based with hands-on production and execution experiences.
As part of the program, professionals from the industry will join senior executives from Posterscope and Milestone Brandcom to deliver the course to the students. This certificate program will run over six months and will include 90 days of campus study and 90 days of field and in-company internships.
Prem Mehta
Prem Mehta, Chairman, Northpoint Centre of Learning said, “The launch of this program is another step in keeping with Northpoint’s mission to prepare young graduates for careers in specialized areas of business. Once again, Northpoint has tied up with the leaders in the OOH industry to ensure relevance of training content, training by industry professionals and substantial field and on-job internships to prepare job-ready managers.â€
Ashish Bhasin
Talking about the career prospects, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific said, “Today, Dentsu Aegis Network is amongst the fastest growing communications groups in India and understand the need of trained talent that the industry currently needs. Therefore, we are committed to developing professional talent for the industry as a partner on this program.†Dentsu Aegis Network will consider all successful candidates for final placement.
L to R: ​​Prashant Singh, MD, Nielsen, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network ( South Asia), Tushar Vyas, Chief Strategy Officer – South Asia, GroupM, Ravi Dixit, Head – Market Insights, Google and Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India.​
By Dyanne Coelho
The eleventh edition of the Marketing Conclave organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) saw industry stalwarts from across platforms highlight key trends in the marketing world from the digital evolution, the changing role of the CMO, cross-platform marketing and the dawn of the mobile as the ‘first’ screen.
Day One kickstarted with a keynote address by Tushar Vyas, Chief Strategy Officer, South Asia, GroupM. “Today’s consumer doesn’t believe in the values of yesterday,†he began talking about how the mobile has taken over the internet and created a complexity in advertising.Rajesh Jain, Founder and Managing Director, netCORE Solutions emphasised that the trend of tracking consumer behaviour has grown mainly in the digital era. There is little or no data tracked in an offline world, like what a consumer goes and picks up in a grocery store, he said. “We ought to start thinking customer journeys,†Jain added. CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia delved into the challenges of marketing in the digital age.“There’s so much talk about digital, we forget that at the end of the day we’re in an ideas business,†he said, talking about how at times we get so overwhelmed with data that we lose focus of our core competency. “We ought to be able to change mindsets, not just technologies,†Srinivas added.
A panel discussion on the expanding roles of the CMO highlighted a study which said that by 2020, the CMO will be spending more on IT than the CIO. The speed at which the CMO needs to react is increasing, the panelists discussed.The argument of whether digital is being effectively integrated with other marketing media, or is just an extension, was the next hot topic of discussion. The panelists concluded that though the digital medium has taken the marketing world by storm, at the end of the day, it all boils down to how well you know and recognise your consumer and give them what they want, when they want it. The final session for Day One discussed whether we are ready for the transition from ‘mobile first’ to a ‘mobile only’ era. High value products like airplane tickets and high value electronic devices are likely to be purchased on the desktop rather than the mobile phone, the panelists discussed. Anurag Singh, Co-founder and ED – India (Ads Platform), Affle concluded by saying that there is no wrong and right, you have to decide what’s best for your consumer depending on what your product and service is.
Day Two saw industry captains like Kirthiga Reddy, MD Facebook, Satyan Gajwani, CEO Times Internet, Ashish Sahni, Head Digital Marketing Tata Motors, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network, Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC, among others. The bias of the internet towards the English language was discussed in depth, with panelists arguing that an increasing number of regional languages, especially Hindi are picking up and the internet needs to adapt, lest consumers feel choked by the pressure of being force fed English language content online. With availability of cheaper smartphones and accessibility to internet, vernacular content is going to drive growth in digital marketing. Gyan Gupta, COO, DB Digital said, “Hindi as a language is witnessing 40 percent penetration in the online space. With non-metros witnessing steady growth in internet penetration, the vernacular language is certainly the flavor of the day.â€
Ways and means of tracking consumer behaviour without being ‘creepy’ was the key point of discussion in the session entitled ‘Digital Footprints’ Data and Automation in Marketing: The modern marketers’ success mantra.’ How much is too much, was much talked about in the context of following consumer footprints in the digital space.
“The first thing advertisers ought to do if they want to undertake programmatic marketing is allocate 25 percent of the total marketing budget to it,†Reem Saied, Business Head, Cadreon India said while discussing ways and means of optimizing marketing efforts for an enhanced performance. The quality of talent that marketers need to hire have changed, Apurva Chamaria, AVP and Head of Global Brand and Digital Marketing, HCL Technologies said. “We now hire statisticians, technology experts and bring them into the marketing team. The pool we hire from has changed,†he explained.
“This is the age of technology where you can get hold of a specialised doctor on an app,†Rathin Lahiri, CMO, Meru Cabs said speaking at the session titled ‘Simplifying the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem’. The panelists discussed the advent of the digital evolution especially in the mobile space. Madan Mohapatra, Head Customer Strategy, Future Group, said, “If we are to look at the global advertising market, the industry around US $600 billion, with mobile advertising pegged at around US $100 billion. In India, mobile advertising is a fraction of global spends. The time has is ripe to increase mobile ad spend as growing captive consumers are found mobile.â€The mobile screen has forced the marketing ecosystem to evolve. “Digital is not something you can ignore. If you don’t speak for yourself, your consumers will take you down,†Akshay Sharma, Head – Marketing, Eros Digital exclaimed.
Kirthiga Reddy, Managing Director, Facebook India, highlighted how Facebook is attempting to innovate. “We are constantly and consistently integrating virtual reality. Innovations on the creative side of the real estate industry has provided enormous boost to virtual reality concept.†Talking about Digital Marketing, Satyan Gajwani, Chief Executive Officer, Times Internet, said, “Technology allows the platform of digital advertising to enhance and create advertisements targeted at certain consumers. Hence we are seeing the growth of native advertisement, which tears through the clutter.
Having an absolute, standard method for measurement of the attributes of all digital platforms is the need of the hour the panelists discussed at the session entitled ‘Establishing a common digital standard’. “Cross media measurement has been talked about for a while. We keep measuring the media, we forget to measure the consumer,†Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network (South Asia) stressed. India is still far behind in trying to understand the consumers’ buying behavior, Prashant Singh, Managing Director; Nielsen said adding that the next step is for BARC to look at digital. BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta said it may not be correct keep citing examples of progress of digital in the US and the UK because “they may not be the best one can haveâ€. “95 per cent of videos are still consumed on television sets in the UK,†he added.
Thoughts, ideas, statistics and case studies made the two-day conclave an insightful and informative event. The programme brought together some of the brightest minds in the marketing fraternity together on one platform and thus enabled an educative exchange of thoughts and ideas to light the path forward for marketing in India.
After adding various businesses like Hindware, Jet Privilege, VGP Universal Kingdom in quick succession over the last 2 months, Vizeum, the media agency from the Dentsu Aegis Network stable, has announced their appointment as the media AoR for HDFC Bank.
HDFC Bank has a comprehensive nationwide distribution network covering 2,464 towns and cities with 4,014 Branches and 11,633 ATMs. With its customer centric focus, HDFC Bank has been constantly innovating in many areas and is looking at many new offerings and future growth. The appointment of Vizeum is seen to be in line with this.
S Yesudas
Commenting on the win, S Yesudas, Managing Director Indian Subcontinent, Vizeum said, “We are delighted with this win.  In a market cluttered with many “big†names, we launched Vizeum 5 years ago. We work with our undying spirit, passion and commitment on each of our clients who trust us with their precious resources. This I believe attracts others to us. There cant be a better proof of our pudding.  Our clients are truly our ambassadors. We are delighted with our partnership with HDFC Bank and will strive to add them to that list within a very short span. This business will be handled out of our Mumbai office by Samarjit Rajkumar, EVP, Vizeum and his able teamâ€
Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the formation of an expanded Executive Council to drive the group’s business in India. The Executive Council comprise leaders of all the Dentsu Aegis Network companies and heads of key functions. This gives Dentsu Aegis Network in India an unparalleled advantage of being able to offer their clients world class specialist services under one umbrella.
Chaired by Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, the Executive Council includes Anand Bhadkamkar (Group Finance), Dimple Maheshwary (HR), Divya Karani (Dentsu Media), Simi Sabhaney (Dentsu Communications), Makato Nakao (Japanese International Clients), Kartik Iyer (Carat), Haresh Nayak (Posterscope), Sidharth Rao (Dentsu Webchutney), Narayan Devanathan (Dentsu Creative Impact), Shamsuddin Jasani (Isobar), Vivek Bhargava (iProspect), Nabendu Bhattacharyya (Milestone Brandcom), Rajiv Dingra (WAT Consult), Umesh Shrikhande (Taproot Dentsu), S. Yesudas (Vizeum) and R. Ravishankar (psLIVE). C.P Arora will be a special invitee.
“I am proud to say that we are the only media and advertising group in India to provide world-class specialist services with such depth under one umbrella,†said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network.
“We want to offer our clients all the benefits of specialization without the hassles of silos and our unique One P&L structure enables us to do so. Consequently, the Executive Council has the important role of capitalizing on this advantage. Since we have been the fastest growing agency group for two years in a row, we are now amongst the top 3 groups in India. By Dec 2017 we aim to be the top 2, which will be a mandate for this Council,†he added.
In order to effectively manage the group’s 1700 staff across 7 cities and 15 companies, the executive council members will be encouraged to think beyond their immediate roles for the larger benefit of Dentsu Aegis Network clients.
Today, Bollywood has significantly emerged as an extensive marketing tool that can be used by brands, strategically, to talk to their respective consumers. Therefore, in a bid to exploit this growing trend, psLIVE assisted Sapat International to associate its fastest growing tea brand, ‘Parivar’ with the movie as the positioning of both the brand and the film exhibit an extremely seamless fit.
psLIVE, the experiential marketing division from the Dentsu Aegis Network, has facilitated a marketing tie-up of the tea brand ‘Parivar’ with Nishikant Kamat’s ‘Drishyam’.
