MxMIndia

Tag: Dheeraj Sinha

  • When festivity joins hands with creativity, it usually makes for memorable ads. Check out the industry’s picks.

    The Diwali ads that crackle

     

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    Though the Diwali campaigns this season did not create much hype as they were fewer than in the past, going a little back in time we have seen some absolutely delightful campaigns, from Cadbury’s “Iss Diwali aap kise khush kar rahe hain?” and Coca-Cola to Samsung’s Diwali commercial or the latest Tanishq campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan.

    Which is the Diwali commercial that has been an all time favourite for the industry? MxM India asked the biggies themselves.

    Mr KV Sridhar aka Pops, NCD, Leo Burnett, said, “My favourite Diwali commercial would be ‘Iss Diwali aap kise khush kar rahe hain?’ by Cadbury, which was out almost a year ago. For me and I’m sure for everybody else, the best way to celebrate Diwali is to catch up with near and dear ones and make them happy. Hence I found the commercial very real.”

    Mr Dheeraj Sinha, Regional Planning Director, Bates, said, “The Diwali campaign that has appealed to me the most is the Fiat Festive season campaign done by Bates. The campaign goes a step beyond the Diwali promotional offers etc and talks about the philosophy of Fiat, therefore I find it more appealing.”

    Mr Rajiv Rao, NCD, Ogilvy & Mather, said, “I know it’s my own agency work but I can’t resist saying that it is Cadbury’s ‘Iss Diwali aap kise khush kar rahe hain?’ There is so much of humanity and it breaks the clichéd concept of just greeting only your family and close friends on Diwali. It is most definitely my favourite Diwali campaign.”

    Mr Bobby Pawar, COO, Mudra, however took a different tack, saying, “No ad campaign has been able to capture a place in my mind; I really cannot think of any Diwali campaign that has appealed to me so much as to be called my all-time favourite campaign.”

    Cadbury’s seems to be the brand and campaign to have captured minds and hearts, and the sweet taste of success is certainly well deserved. But with such a wealth of creativity on tap and such a rich diversity of cultural references available all over India, it is high time a new, iconic ad or campaign came forth.

    We’re waiting.

    [Link] Debrief: In the midst of the drought, the Diwali ads that caught Anil Thakraney’s eye.

  • 141 revamps itself; will henceforth be called Bates.

    Just Bates, now

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    WPP agency Bates 141 has dropped the ‘141’ from its name in its third rebranding employ. The agency is planning to adopt new attitude and corporate identity to underline its new agency model. With a new name and agency model, Bates now also has a new logo.

    The new logo features the Bates typeface in contemporary Helvetica and three speech balloons (in original Bates pumpkin, red and blue), replacing the former eye mnemonic.

    Bates has embarked on a new journey to become the changengage* people. Changengage* is the philosophy for the new Bates agency model.

    Changengage underscores a sea of change in the way the agency is structured to deliver better solutions to clients. It is a complete mindset and behavioural change.

    Dheeraj Sinha, Regional Planning Director, Bates, said, “All the previous rebrandings of Bates have happened due to acquisitions and mergers, Bates 141 was also a result of that. This time the rebranding is solely for the new prospective of a new world, the world is changing and so are we. Bates has not just been an advertising agency but we provide digital, rural marketing solutions as well, we will take this a step forward a continue our focus on new engagement-led strategy for the client where digital will definitely play a major role.”

     

    It may be recalled that the agency logo was refreshed in 2008 and represented Bates and 141 fully integrated as one company with one vision and an integration of their offering.

     

    The visual identity comprised repeating ‘eyes’ with one set facing the other direction, expressing Bates 141’s Change vision of ‘Change happens when you look at things differently.

     

    The name 141’s origins lie in the address of the division’s original London HQ, 141 Westbourne Terrace.

     

    Sonal Dabral, Regional Executive Creative Director and India Chairman, Bates, remarked, “In the new Bates we don’t think ATL and BTL, we think integrated and we believe all our ideas should lead to engagement for brands. We decided to drop 141 from the name Bates as 141 symbolizes our activation arm and therefore doesn’t find a place in our new agency model.The new logo has been designed by the Bates design team internally, mostly by the Kolkata and Mumbai teams. The added colours depict Bates as more vibrant, novel and youthful. The cluster of speech blurbs above the name is symbolic of vibrant conversations and debates we will aim to provoke through our work. The overlapping blurbs are also a subliminal reminder of tag clouds, the language of now and the future.”

    In terms of solutions, a large part of the agency’s revenue currently comes from engagement (eg, OOH, online, interactive, shopper marketing, activation, etc). Bates will continue to strengthen these pockets of expertise by enriching its talent mix with technologists, shopper marketing planners and designers to deliver more sparkling engagement solutions.
    It will also continue to bolster its cluster operating model (Greater China, India and Southeast Asia) which provide the means to leverage pockets of category and discipline expertise across markets/offices.
    Bates is a marketing communications network under the WPP Group.Located in 11 countries in Asia. They work with global and local brands including Accor, Café de Coral, Cheung Kong, Diageo, Disney, Fiat, Finnair, General Mills, HSBC, IDEA, Shanghai General Motors, Singapore Polytechnic, Unilever and Virgin Mobile.