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  • The Lowe Lintas big boss freewheels with Anil Thakraney about Bs big and small, talent, and why he won't participate in the Abby

    Awards have no relevance to advtertising: Balki

     

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    It’s always fun meeting the big boss of Lowe Lintas. Since we have worked together before and since Balki is always forthright and politically incorrect, one is assured of an exciting but meaningful exchange. Here is he, speaking his mind on various issues. Movies, advertising, the challenges facing the industry, the kind of people he’d like to hire, and yes, about his continuing allergy to advertising awards.

     

    You have to respect the man for the wonderful work he’s been doing on both, the small and the large screen. And more so for being that rare individual in the ad world who has the balls to stand up for something he believes in.

     

    Still around in advertising? Shouldn’t you be busy making big films with Big B?

    I am making a movie a day, it’s the same thing. An idea is an idea whether it’s three hours or thirty seconds. The day I stop tripping on getting the high when one gets an idea, that’s the day I will stop. In fact, I haven’t done a film in the last two years, I have been caught up with Lowe Lintas. I do have an idea for a film which I will work on towards the end of this year.

     

    And it will back to Bachchan, I suppose.

    Not back to, WITH Bachchan. I haven’t gone away from him.

     

    What’s with the Bachchan fetish?

    When you work with the ultimate guy it becomes difficult to work with somebody else. He’s phenomenal. Such hunger and greed for performing at the age of 70… it’s truly inspirational. I can keep on making films with him for the rest of my life.

     

    Are you a fan of Abhishek Bachchan too? His career isn’t going anywhere.

    Actually I found his performance in ‘Paa’ the best. It was the most difficult role. I think his problem is more the choice of films rather than the quality of his acting. He’s got his niche, he’s very good at certain things. He’s also a good friend.

     

    So that’s why you keep using him in the IDEA commercials, often when he’s not even needed.

    He’s a better friend of IDEA than he’s of mine. I didn’t choose him, IDEA chose Abhishek.

     

    What are the learnings from movies you’ve taken to advertising?

    The biggest thing that happens when you come back from cinema to advertising is that you are even more impatient. Because cinema takes so much time to execute, you want to make the ads even faster. That’s the reason I like making ads. You make them fast and you move on. There’s an idea a day, and that’s an addiction which is difficult to escape.

     

    Your wife’s directing ‘English Vinglish’. Are you the producer? And what’s it about?

    Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has co-produced it with me, along with another investor. It’s about the insecurities of a middle class woman who doesn’t know English in today’s context. It’s about how she overcomes the fear of English. It’s a very relevant issue to a lot of people in this country. In India, it’s money, fame and (knowledge of) English which determine the class and quality of a person.

     

    Let’s cut to Lowe. Are you still as hands-on as ever?

    I am. There’s so much of work, yaar. Today, Arun (Iyer) and Amer (Jaleel) have taken on a hell of a lot, they handle 50 percent of the business. My travel has come down but my ideation hasn’t. So yes, I am still involved in major things, I know what’s happening. This is not a profession where internal structures and motivations of the agency can dictate solutions for a client. The client comes to an agency for a solution and we have to get it, by hook or by crook. Gone are the days when creative directors would sit on a revolving chair and give motivational advice to people on how to crack things.

     

    Piyush Pandey said to me the reason he isn’t making movies is because he’s not bored of advertising.

    It’s about the number of things you can do, it has nothing to do with being bored of advertising. So maybe some people are capable of doing a lot more and some people are not.

     

    Significant changes you’ve observed in the ad world in recent times.

    It’s the same, in so far as it’s still a problem/solution business. What I find is that the clients today are hungrier for more interesting solutions. I find that clients don’t want to waste an idea. And because of the complexities of the marketing issues, the problem articulation is no longer simple. You can no longer say this is small, this is big or that is cheap. It’s about understanding the complexities and simplifying them. And I find that fewer and fewer people are able to do this. Therefore far more is expected of a creative person today than it ever was. The creative person is now seen as the solutions provider. Planning is now playing a big role in the articulation of the problem. Planners are now working more for the clients than for the agency. This shift is something I don’t quite agree with, but it’s happening. This situation requires more discipline, rigour and understanding from a creative person than ever before.

     

    And I guess this impacts your hiring policies.

    It impacts that hugely. The three Cannes Gold winners don’t make sense any more. Today a lot of senior creative people have to grow within the current system. So you hire junior people who are clever and intelligent and then groom them into the system of understanding problems. It’s very dangerous hiring very senior people from the outside. We went through a phase in advertising where we said we are losing our respect as an industry. That’s changed. Today the clients respect the advertising agency for providing solutions.

     

    Both, Prasoon Joshi and Piyush Pandey told me that the industry is losing talent. There seems to be too much pressure from clients, they no longer pamper creative people. And opportunities have opened up for agency personnel in other industries.

    I don’t agree with this. I actually think there’s never been a better time to be in advertising. You are no longer respected for your whacky ideas, being a maverick won’t get you any special respect. The problem isn’t that the industry is losing talent, the problem is it’s not attracting talent. It’s damn difficult to find talent to address today’s problems. In fact, today there are a lot of people in marketing who want to join advertising. Where we are not attracting the right talent is at the junior level. We as an industry haven’t been able to articulate what is the kind of people we want.

     

    As an old-world creative director, do you find yourself struggling with the new media?

    No. Clients want you do virals in the new media, but it’s still film. The video will never die, though the medium for broadcasting it may have changed. The production methodologies may also have changed. But the idea is the key to it all.

     

    You are not even on Twitter and Facebook. How will you ever understand the digital world?

    The reason I am not on it is that I don’t want the world to know what the fuck I am doing. That’s a personal choice, it has nothing to do with the new media. In fact, today if I am on Facebook, I am a fuddy duddy cock.

     

    The problem, Balki, is that all you uncles are obsessed with the TV commercial.

    I approach a problem very simply. There is a solution, and there is an idea. And if the solution demands a certain kind of medium, you use that. Nobody knew how to make films before or how to make a digital programme. So it’s all about expression. And you go into that particular medium and do it. I didn’t know how to shoot a film earlier, so I went to the experts to do it for me. I don’t watch television at all, but that doesn’t mean I am fuddy duddy on television.

     

    Small shops are springing up. People like Aggie are doing very well. Does that worry you?

    It’s always been happening. What do you think Mohammed Khan and Ravi Gupta did? If Ogilvy and JWT don’t worry me, then why should they? They are all competition. In fact, the more the merrier, it means more people are doing better ads, and that’s fantastic for the ad industry.

     

    Why are so many creative directors branching out on their own?

    In some cases they believe their talent is far superior to what a large agency can harness. The other reason is there are only so many people who can grow to a point in an agency. So it could be the frustration of not being able to grow beyond a point. They have to start their own thing to be what they want to be. The third thing of course is money. Some people want to be richer than what they are.

     

    Words of wisdom for young creative people.

    I think if you like sport, you should come to advertising. There is a hurdle to be crossed every day, there is a goal to be scored, there is a wicket to be taken, there are problems that come your way. It is like a game. The moment you start taking it too seriously, it’s very difficult to function in this business. A lot of things don’t make sense out here.

     

    Shashi Sinha tells me he’s cleaned up the GoaFest judging process. All the scams have been dealt with. But you still won’t take part.

    I believe the advertising industry needs credible awards. But how do you judge advertising? You say, ‘Haha, this is so funny! Oh, what a technique in this one!’ And based on that you award some ads. And two months later the agency loses the business. So obviously it doesn’t work. What the fuck are we doing in advertising? We are supposed to solve a problem interestingly. You are supposed to state the problem and the judges are supposed to ask if that ad could have solved that problem. I judged at Cannes once, and I refused to judge after that. I’ll give you an example of what happens: Those Coke print ads, where someone is sleeping under the shadow of Coca Cola bottles, has been hailed as the greatest piece of creativity. And then you have those great TVCs of Coke with Aamir Khan, which the nation loved, but which they (the Cannes jury) didn’t understand! This kind of judging has no relevance to what the purpose of advertising is. Basically the award show is a game and you play it. So it’s not about cleaning it up, I don’t value what you award.

     

    And you also have a problem with your peers doing the judging.

    Some of them I respect and some I don’t.

     

    So what sort of jury will satisfy you?

    Having some respected marketers on the jury would help. And some very good advertising people. Right now they ask anybody who’s free to come and judge, and that’s not the way to do it. You can’t choose people just because you want representation from various agencies. Thing is, before I give you a piece of work to be evaluated, before I give you the right to say if I am good or bad, I need to be assured you are a person who’s capable of telling me that. We need to first judge the judges.

     

    What disappoints you about the ad world?

    What pains me is the amount we try to market the barometers which decide who’s good and who’s bad in the Indian industry. The Gunn report, the Asian awards, etc, they tom-tom the barometers rather than the advertising itself. And all this has absolutely no relevance to what we do here. It’s time we found a barometer or an evaluation process that tells India which is a good agency. A method through which clients can credibly choose agencies beyond just the surveys and the awards. And this lack of a proper barometer has led to personality driven agencies. This propels a lot of false media management. PR for advertising people happens because of this.

     

    Why don’t YOU work on that barometer?

    Piyush Pandey and I have had many whiskies discussing this, but we only walk away promising that we should drink some more, and that’s about it. (Laughs.)

     

    Click here to view all Goafest 2012 stories

     

  • Far from being a casual youth-centric online hangout place, Facebook is increasingly becoming the focal point for all things digital, including businesses, writes Hareesh Tibrewala.

    Comment: Is Facebook the new centre of the digi universe?

    By Hareesh Tibrewala

     

    Legend has it that the digital universe, as we know of it today, evolved from ARPANeT. And a lot of websites, portals, directory sites and search engines lay claim to the ownership of this digital universe in its early days, until Google came along and put a method to the madness. It became the de-facto gate-keeper of this world. If Google did not know of you, for all practical purposes, you were just some digital litter in some corner of this universe!

     

    For the past few years, Facebook is challenging Google’s role as the gate-keeper of this universe. Already the total number of minutes spent on Facebook by netizens equals the number of minutes spent on Google. And Facebook’s understanding of relationships, and of likes and dislikes in the cyberworld is by far deeper than what Google can ever achieve.

     

    And now, with the launch of “Timeline” feature for brand pages, Facebook is signalling perhaps its strongest intent to move to the centre of this digital universe. Here are some interesting features that implementation of timeline gives to brands:

     

    Brand pages on Facebook are now no longer pages, they actually become a brand website anchored in Facebook.

     

    The new timeline feature gives huge real estate on the brand Facebook page, for a brand to communicate its message. Once upon the time, the only real estate that the brand had was a very small display picture (DP) and a small left hand aligned banner. Pretty much all Facebook pages looked the same!

     

    But now there is a complete masthead that stands out and fills almost 1/3rd of the screen, all of it screaming ‘brand’. We will see very creative uses of this real estate, in time to come, which will enable brands to communicate their differentiation to the audience.

     

    Brands can pin a story of their choice to the top of the fan page, thereby ensuring that page visitors definitely view that story. Again some more opportunity for brand communication Fans always had the facility to communicate with the brand using the wall. But this was a one-to-all kind of communication. Now a fan can send a message to the page and do a one-on-one communication, almost like a “contact us” kind of communication.

     

    With the entire tab navigation now moving prominently to the masthead, and with a compressed drop-down list, a brand can create a complete website with these tabs (with individual tabs for about us, products, services, testimonials etc).

     

    So now a brand can have its complete digital presence as well as its community… both at one place. And as more and more of us depend on ‘referral’ based inputs for our decision making process, rather than ‘information’ driven inputs (that Google offers), we might see both consumers and brands finding the Facebook eco-system more conducive than the current Google dominated ecosystem.

     

    So is www.mybusiness.com now passe and www.facebook.com/mybusiness the new norm? And is Facebook now going to be the new centre of the digital universe? What is your opinion?

     

    Hareesh Tibrewala is Joint CeO, Social Wavelength.

     

  • Mark Hollinger, Puneet Goenka and Carolyn Everson discussed the challenges and opportunities for media

    @FF12: Entertainment has become a revolution

     

    The second session of FICCI Frames had ‘industry doyens, including key enablers, shed light on challenges and opportunities for the times ahead’. The session was moderated by Vishnu Som, Editor, Documentaries and Senior Anchor, NDTV.

     

    The session was opened by Mr Som welcoming Mark Hollinger, President & CEO, Discovery Networks International (DNI), who took the stage to talk about DNI’s journey in India. From a single network launched in 1995, today DNI has grown to seven channels. Mr Hollinger gave the credit of this success to DNI’s advantage of being an early mover in the Indian market.

     

    While talking about the process of digitisation, Mr Hollinger said that it is a great opportunity for a truly interactive pay TV experience. He appreciated the investment  made by the C&S community (the set top boxes and the marketing for the same).

     

    Mr Hollinger was of the opinion that the viewers today prefer sophisticated technology and the same applied for TV too. He said that digitisation is a win-win situation for all. The consumer gets a better product with ‘wider choices’ and the broadcasters will get a better business model which allows ‘faster and broader penetration of HD channels’. He stated that embracing digitisation will push broadcasters to perform better.

     

    In the Q&A session with Mr Som, when he was asked about the benefits of producing content v/s revenue, Mr Hollinger said one-third of their operational revenue and profits is recovered from the market due to their early mover advantage. He revealed that they spend almost $1 billion on producing content.

     

    Being an international channel which enteredIndiain 1995, Mr Hollinger talked about howIndia, as a country, is more open to foreign content. He also said that even then they offer regionalised content created specially for the local viewers and also the option to view the international content in the local language. Mr Hollinger stated that their strategy worked as was evident from the Brand Trust Report which has named Discovery as the third most popular channel and TLC as the fifth.

     

    In the Q&A session, when Mr Som questioned him about the pros and cons of local v/s international content, Mr Hollinger said that the local staff keeps them appraised about how the content is received. He said that the mix of international and local content is almost 50-50.

     

    Mr Hollinger saved the best for the last. While closing his speech, he announced that DNI is launching Discovery Kids in India, which is the launch pad for theAsialaunch. The channel will also be launched inIndonesiaandPhilippines.

     

    He also revealed plans to expand DNI’s scope to DVDs, retail, publishing and merchandising in the “biggest satellite market today”.

     

    Next up was Puneet Goenka, CEO and MD, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL). Mr Goenka opened his address by stating entertainment is no longer an evolution but has become a revolution. He said that digitisation of content is a good move as the drivers of today’s content are “highly motivated youngsters who are high risk takers and have large disposable income”. They have the power to influence products to be customised and digitisation will help achieve just that.

     

    With the help of a powerpoint presentation, Mr Goenka listed out the pros and cons of digitisation. He listed the fact that the penetration of private channels is still low and there is a lot of scope to grow as a benefit. Citing the example of Ditto TV, he said that now new media is the media to go to.

     

    During the Q&A session, when asked about the benefits of digitisation, he said that the sheer choice that the consumer gets is the benefit which will also be beneficial to them as the number of channels being offered in HD will go up.

     

    While talking about self-regulation in media, Mr Goenka said that it is still early days, as the norms have just been laid out by the news and entertainment industry. Time is needed to let them evolve and make a difference.

     

    Next to address the audience was Carolyn Everson, VP, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook, whose address featured on how Facebook can benefit the media and entertainment industry. Giving the example of Open Graph, Ms Everson illustrated how Saavn in music, Zinga in gaming and films being released in theUSuse Open Graph by sharing stories built their brand on “top of Facebook”.

     

    Her ‘Aaha’ moment about Facebook came when, while talking to an anthropologist, she realised that communities and networks have always been around us but Facebook brings them to us at a scale never seen before due to the technology available.

     

    She said that Facebook is a reflection of the unique individual identity and the social graph is created using the information shared by the individual.

     

    Ms Everson also dealt with how Facebook is trying to take marketing from ads to stories. The thought behind the idea is that ads may be remembered once but stories are shared and remembered by millions. The best example of this is the Timeline pages for the brands which allow them to communicate one-on-one with their fans.

     

    During the Q&A session, Ms Everson faced some tough questions from Mr Som, when he asked her about how Facebook has been dealing with objectionable content. She answered that they work very hard to regulate content and address complaints regularly. When she was asked how and why do they decide what is unsafe or objectionable, she answered that the communities regulate the content and Facebook takes their input very seriously.

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp

  • The mood is upbeat at the three-day convention on media and entertainment that kicked off in Mumbai today

    Digital, growth mantras to drive agenda

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Asia’s largest convention in the business of entertainment, FICCI Frames 2012, will be held at The Renaissance, Powai in Mumbai from March 14 to 16. In its 13th year, Frames is a three-day global convention covering the entire gamut of media and entertainment ranging from films to broadcast, which includes television and radio, to digital entertainment, animation, gaming and visual effects.

     

    The Summitwill be inaugurated by Government of India’s Information & Broadcasting Secretary, Mr Uday Kumar Varma. Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman, Motion Picture Association of America will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural session. Japanis the partner country at FICCI Frames 2012 and will be present with a high-powered delegation comprising key stakeholders from the Japanese media and entertainment industry.

     

    Frames 2012 will present opportunities for business networking, lobbying, and creative and financial collaboration and partnerships. There will also be a series of workshops and master-classes that will be conducted by venerated global gurus who will be busy highlighting the way forward to the assembled delegates. Nearly 2,000 Indian and 800 foreign delegates are expected to attend the event.

     

    The Who’s Who of the Indian media and entertainment industry will join hands with the global industry leaders and experts to discuss and debate and to announce new initiatives at FICCI Frames 2012. Mark Hollinger, CEO, Discovery, Carolyn Everson, VP-Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook, Cameron Bailey, Co-Director Toronto International Film Festival, Bruce Beresford, Director of Oscar-winning movie Driving Miss Daisy, Silas Hickey, Regional Creative Director for Animation at Cartoon Network, Max Howard, Global Animation Consultant and Lecturer on Producing Independent Animated Feature Films for the International Markets, Oscar-winner Harvey Lowry, Hollywood’s Special Effects Guru, and John Bashford, Vice Principal, LAMDA (The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Arts) are some of the globally well-known names who will be delivering keynote addresses, conducting workshops and master classes, and joining the panel discussions in various sessions at Frames.

     

    Other eminent speakers from the world of television, radio and print that would be present include television czarina Ekta Kapoor, Barkha Dutt and Vikram Chandra of NDTV, Sunil Lulla of Times TV, and Puneet Goenka of ZEEL. Print will be represented by Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Express Group and T.N. Ninan, Editor of Business Standard.

     

    Bollywood too would be adequately represented through eminent faces such as Yash Chopra, Karan Johar, Vidya Balan, Kamal Haasan, Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Kashyap, Farah Khan and Zoya Akhtar.

     

    The theme of this year’s event is ‘Embracing the Digital World’. Dr J S Sarma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Mr Uday K Varma, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, will identify and address immediate areas for successful implementation of the digital switchover and also on what’s next in the regulatory and market framework to enable and sustain the transition.

     

    The move to embrace digitization in Cable and Satellite TV services has become imperative as such services have grown exponentially inIndiain the last 17 years. A separate session at FICCI Frames 2012 will deliberate on ways to maximize the power of digital distribution. Industry leaders will share their experiences with Frames delegates, their perspectives on how funding challenges have been overcome in other jurisdictions and the takeaways forIndia. The panelists include Vivek Couto, Founder, Media Partners Asia; Anshuman Mishra, MD, Turner International India; Vikram Chandra, CEO, NDTV; Jagi Mangat Panda, CEO, Ortel; Prof Jonathan Askin, Professor of Law, Brooklyn School of Law, Former Senior Legal Advisor, FCC; Anita Wallgren, US Department of Commerce.

     

    The FICCI-KPMG study on Indian Media & Entertainment for 2012 will also be released on the occasion. Strong growth in tier 2 cities, the continued march of regional media and the rapidly expanding new media business helped the media and entertainment industry log a 12 per cent increase in revenues to Rs729 billion in a troublesome 2011, according to the report. Overall, the industry is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent to Rs.1,457 billion by 2015.

     

    Further details on the event will be available at: http://ficci-frames.com/

     

     

  • Creativeland Asia creates a series of TVCs and a micro site www.appyfizz.com for Appy Fizz as part of the campaign, adding more fun and excitement to hanging out.

    Appy Fizz finds a new buddy in Saif Ali Khan

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    Appy Fizz, ‘the cool drink to hang out with’ has found Saif Ali Khan, a new and popular face as a pal. Popular amongst his gang of friends for his sparkling wit, one liners and tireless fizz, Appy Fizz, will now be seen hanging out with Saif Ali Khan, in a series of TVCs created by Creativeland Asia.

     

    In the films, we see Appy Fizz hanging out with Saif and friends during his shoots for films. In the first film from a campaign of three, we see Saif greet his friends as he enters his personal pad at the film studio right after pack up. Appy Fizz jumps out of the fridge eager to see his friend after his long hours at work, startling Saif. Saif then introduces Appy Fizz to his bunch of friends. And then there is no stopping Appy Fizz. In his typical witty style, Appy Fizz boasts to his new friends how Saif and he have done many films together, as even a confused Saif finds this unbelievable. Appy Fizz then explains how he was always present in the intervals at the popcorn-and-drinks counter. This funny banter continues and we see Appy Fizz win the hearts of his new friends with his light-hearted banter.

     

    Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & CMO, Parle Agro, said: “Saif Ali Khan is a great youth icon who loves his work as much as his life. The actor brings in the cool quotient to Appy Fizz’s friends circle, and both complement each other and make a very entertaining duo. We’re sure the two will make a winning pair.”

     

    She added: “Right from inception, Appy Fizz has been a runaway success. It is the creation of not just a successful brand but a successful category and we are the only players offering such a unique product in the market. We see huge potential in this brand and its massive acceptance has us led us to investing heavily in it. We see a very large growth contribution from Appy Fizz this year and in the years to come.”

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia, said: “I’m glad we have been able to design a campaign that preserves the sanctity of Appy Fizz communication over the years and yet build in a popularity factor through Saif Ali Khan as a celebrity cast. What makes it even cooler is the fact that it has been able to depict Saif Ali Khan as a hangout buddy and not necessarily a celebrity endorser in the campaign.”

     

    On this new association Saif Ali Khan said: “It gives me great pleasure to be associated with Appy Fizz and look forward to a long fruitful relationship with the brand. I believe brand endorsements are partnerships which go beyond what one sees on TV and Print. Appy Fizz came to me with really exciting concepts which got me interested. Many new ideas and innovations will be seen by the consumer shortly and I am confident that they will be loved.”

     

    As part of the campaign, Creativeland Asia has also designed and developed a microsite, www.appyfizz.com making hanging out even more fun and interesting and a lot simpler for friends. So, if someone wants to hang out with their friends all they have to do is visit the website, and choose one of the options for hanging out with friends either at a nightclub, a bar, a cafe, an entertainment or for a house party. Once they choose an option, Appy Fizz asks them a locality they are interested to hang out in and accordingly suggests to them suitable places they can go to in that specific area. If the visitor opts for a house party, Appy Fizz suggests places in the vicinity where they can buy drinks, food or any other supplies from. Friends can even create an event complete with details like time and place and automatically post it on Facebook and Twitter and invite friends for the same. Creativeland Asia has also developed aMobile application for those on the move.

     

    The website is designed like Saif Ali Khan’s personal pad at the film studio, complete with a music system that allows you to play your choice of sound track as you explore the website, and a Television that connects you to the Appy Fizz page on Youtube.

     

    The campaign has been conceptualised by Creativeland Asia and the films have been directed by Sajan Raj Kurup and have been co-produced by equinox and Crocodile films. The VFX and the animation has been done by Mfx inKuala Lumpur.

     

  • The Good Times Ambassador is the first brand inIndiato switch to the new Facebook guidelines

    Kingfisher set to recount its ‘Brand Journey’ with Facebook Brand Timeline

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kingfisher, one ofIndia’s top 10 brands on Facebook, has proved yet again that it is one of the most digital-savvy brands in the country. It is the first brand inIndia to adapt Facebook’s ‘Brand Timeline’, giving its consumers ample reasons for a qualitative interaction with the brand.

     

    The switch to Facebook Timeline comes not just as a new look but a strategic move to engage with its consumers more qualitatively while also highlighting the milestones and narrating the story of the brand that was never told before.

     

    The Kingfisher page has been positioned as a facilitator of ‘Good Times’ and strategically does not promote beer, considering the profile of the Facebook users. The Kingfisher Facebook fan page currently enjoys more than 3.3 million likes.

     

    Commenting on the new move, Samar Singh Sheikhawat, Senior Vice President, United Breweries Ltd said: “In the rapidly evolving world of digital communications, the changes might be multiple but the crux remains the same – finding innovative and instantaneous ways of touching the lives of consumers. At Kingfisher, we’ve always strived to set these benchmarks by moving on to new platforms swiftly and utilizing the inherent strengths of the medium to forge a deep, meaningful relationship with our consumers. In keeping with that philosophy, Kingfisher was the first Indian brand to adopt the recently launched Facebook Timeline on February 29. Our endeavour now will be to use the key features of the format in a uniquely creative manner and make the consumer interactions on Facebook richer and more memorable.”

     

    Facebook Timeline went online in September 2011. It offered Facebook users the joy of revisiting their lives with a collection of photos, posts and apps facilitating a digital autobiography! Facebook has now rolled out the Timeline for brands which will transform the way brands communicate and interact with consumers drastically. The latest format provides brands with new options for self expression, allowing them to narrate their corporate story with milestones, highlight the brand’s key campaigns and so on.

     

    Kingfisher made its entry into Facebook in April 2008 and has been successful in constantly engaging with its consumers for the last 4 years. The numbers of fans have been growing in leaps and bounds year after year, a clear indication of the ever increasing popularity on Facebook.

    Initiating, fuelling and sustaining conversations remains to be the key challenge any brand faces on social media – Kingfisher is perceived as the benchmark in this space with consistently high levels of interactivity. As a result, currently the brand’s Facebook page flaunts more than 3 million fans, making it one of the top 5 brands on Facebook inIndia. Incidentally, this also makes Kingfisher the second largest beer brand globally on Facebook.

     

    On the other hand on Twitter, Kingfisher has a fair presence with about 17,000 followers. Though Twitter is a fairly new channel in the social media universe of brands inIndia, Kingfisher is perceived as a thought leader and as a brand that listens to consumers, not just talk. This is reinforced by even some of the top global blogs on social media mentioning Kingfisher’s Facebook & Twitter presence individually as amongst the best uses of social media inIndiaby brands.

     

  • The campaign featuring Shekhar Suman is phased out in two parts; first teasers and then the launch of the TVC.

    Everest creates campaign for SAB TV’s Movers and Shakers

    By A Correspondent

     

    Movers & Shakers, arguably the biggest talk show India has ever seen, is returning on SAB TV, albeit with a whole new contemporary look and feel, but with Shekhar Suman at helm.

     

    Everest Brand Solutions has created the communication campaign for Movers and Shakers, which is phased out in two parts.

     

    Phase 1 kicked off the debate of what Shekhar would do the second time around. The teasers had Shekhar attempting, and miserably failing, at things like a hunger strike, boxing and cooking. Shekhar’s skills as an actor were fully exploited in the teasers.

     

    Next SAB TV’s Facebook fan page took things forward by asking people to suggest what Shekhar could do. Shekhar responded to each suggestion with witty takes.

     

    The final reveal (phase 2) happened with the launch of the TVC. Print and outdoor media are being used to support the launch exercise.

     

    Overall, the exercise generated tremendous engagement with responses pouring in.

     

    The ad films were shot in Mumbai and Chrome Pictures was commissioned to handle the production.

     

    Team Everest: Pramod Sharma, Bappaditya Shaha, Sandeep Sastikar, Sharif Sheikh, Nikhil Kapoor, Harish Shetty, Pooja Balani, Rahul Jauhari.

     

    Client Team: Anooj Kapoor, Harjeet Chhabra, Naranayan R.

     

  • The seventh edition of 'India's Buzziest Brands', a public polling initiative hosted by www.afaqs.com, ranks Airtel as the number one brand across the country.

    Airtel voted India’s ‘buzziest’ brand

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading marketing communications portal www.afaqs.com announced that Airtel is the number one in the results of its seventh edition of ‘India’s Buzziest Brands’ – a poll-based survey aimed at measuring the viral effect and customer conversations garnered by brands across India.

     

    Airtel, which has been accorded with the coveted “Buzzy Gold” title for emerging at the top, faced stiff competition from Facebook and Flipkart, which bagged the second and the third spot respectively. As per findings of this poll, Airtel is the only telecom operator to place in the top 10.

     

    The poll was carried out on the website from January 30 to February 7. A total of 60 brands were shortlisted for the poll. Voters were sent a link for voting on their email account to avoid digital ballot-stuffing. On visiting the Poll page on the website, the voters were asked to choose five brands that they felt had the greatest ‘buzz’ in the year gone by from the shortlist of 60.

     

    List of the 15 Buzziest Brands as per the India’s Buzziest Brand Poll 2012

     

    1 Airtel
    2 Facebook
    3 Flipkart
    4 Hero
    5 Samsung
    6 Google
    7 Snapdeal
    8 Cadbury
    9 iPhone
    10 Twitter
    11 Vodafone
    12 YouTube
    13 Blackberry
    14 Pepsi
    15 Nokia

     

     

  • PagalPanti appeared in the list of topics breaking globally.

    Red Digital creates the second successful TweetMob for Mirinda

    By A Correspondent

     

    Post the announcement of Mirinda signing up Red Digital for its social media duties and in the back drop of having successfully introduced and executed the concept of a TweetMob, Red Digital yet again created a TweetMob on February 24 for Mirinda. The result this time was even better. Twice in two weeks now, Mirinda TweetMob #tags were one of the most talked about topics on Twitter.

     

    With the hot Indian summer approaching fast, PepsiCo has launched a new campaign for its orange soft drink, Mirinda. The campaign, which orbits around the theme ‘Pagalpanti Bhi Zaroori Hai’, is based on the thought that drinking Mirinda, this summer, is an intense and inescapable experience that leaves one breathless.

     

    “We think of TweetMob as a flashmob on Twitter where our intention is to take over Twitter and engage the twitterati for a certain duration while plugging the brand connect. After the successful execution of the first TweetMob on February 14, it was a challenge for us to out-do ourselves with the benchmarks we set for Mirinda and, more importantly, prove to ourselves that it was not a one-off success by repeating it in a grander manner. It was great to taste success again and take over Twitter,” said Yashraj Vakil, Chief Operating Officer, Red Digital.

     

    The TweetMob started at 3pm on February 24 with a simple question asking people what they thought was crazy enough around them to be called #PagalPanti. The TweetMob lasted till midnight during which Red Digital created and managed conversation around the hashtag ‘#PagalPanti’. Through the TweetMob, Red Digital helped connect Twitter and Facebook users who tweeted about the topic with various Mirinda branded hash tags, creating a plethora of endorsements for the brand.

     

    It wasn’t long before #PagalPanti started trending inIndia. The activity saw 3,700 tweets in the span of 9 hours for @MirindaIndia. Every 50 tweets with #PagalPanti helped the brand reach 7,990 people generating close to 0.6 million views. The brand reach this time was 5 times of what the first TweetMob generated. #Pagalpanti featured among the topics breaking globally and trended in Mumbai,New Delhi,HyderabadandBangalore. @MirindaIndia also saw itself trending in Chennai andHyderabad.

     

    The TweetMob will happen again on March 2 and the following Friday after that.

     

    Commenting on the TweetMob and its success, Harsh Jain, Founder & Managing Director, Red Digital said, “Flashmobs are suppose to be innovative, rebellious and spontaneous. With every flashmob now being represented as a Bollywood song and dance activity, we wanted to showcase their true power in other forms. We chose Twitter because it has become a platform for people to share ideas, collaborate, aggregate and explore new things spontaneously. Twitter is both a place where like-minded people can interact as well as a place for rebels to express their views. We are proud to have created and introduced the concept of the TweetMob; success was just a corollary. The independence of ideating with a bold and social brand like Mirinda has given us this opportunity to explore and innovate. We are thankful as well as determined to create and execute many more path breaking ideas through our association with Mirinda.”

     

    Speaking on Mirinda’s partnership with Red Digital, Ruchira Jaitly, Executive Vice President – Marketing, Beverages (Flavours), PepsiCo India said, “As marketers, we continuously seek ways to engage with the consumers via innovative means. Mirinda’s TweetMobs is a unique innovation on the digital space that utilizes the strengths of the medium effectively to communicate with our consumers on our latest initiative. The idea is fun and youthful and helped to create awareness of our new flavour campaign in a never-before fashion. It is delightful to see the results of this path-breaking idea for the second time in a row.”

     

  • Red Digital will make use of consumer-centric platforms to help connect the online and offline worlds

    Red Digital bags social media duties for Mirinda

    By A Correspondent

     

    Red Digital has been awarded the social media mandate for PepsiCo’s Mirinda. Red Digital will build and execute social media strategies that will help Mirinda, as a brand, reach out to their audience on social media platforms. The agency will play a key role in creating online buzz about the brand’s new offerings along with launching various campaigns and building engagement across social networks.

     

    For Mirinda, Red Digital’s immediate mandate on social media is to create an impact for its latest breathless campaign, with which it has launched two new flavours, Mirinda Orange Masala and Mirinda Orange Mango, while continuing with the base Mirinda Orange flavour.

     

    The launch is supported by a robust 360-degree campaign called the Taste Twister Challenge, supported via Radio, Outdoor and On-Ground activities, along with social media.

     

    Red Digital will help in bringing the experience to Facebook and On-ground. The program requires consumers to call or SMS at 08800033333 to choose the Taste Twister of their favourite flavour and recite it repeatedly in one breath for as long as possible; longer the recording, greater are the chances of winning exciting prizes, including 10 MP3 players and 1 tablet PC every day. Red Digital has replicated this experience on Facebook and Android tablets for on-ground activation, making the programme truly 360-degree.

     

    Red Digital is also geared to exploit the new disruptive full sleeve packaging that captures the taste and fun experience of drinking Mirinda through applications on Facebook. These applications use the most prominent aspect of the packaging: the emoticons, to bring alive the new flavours. The applications range from allowing fans on the Mirinda India Facebook fan page to enter into an augmented reality world and play with the emoticons to classifying friends in various taste categories. The agency will also be creating an augmented reality iPhone and Android application.

     

    The campaign, for the first time ever, will also see Red Digital creating TweetMobs through the duration of this campaign. These will be high-impact subjects being tweeted by Mirinda and re-tweeted by a group of people within a specific time frame. Red Digital will connect with the Twitteratis and get as many people to tweet about the topic with various Mirinda branded hash tags creating a plethora of endorsements for Mirinda.

     

     

    Commenting on the development, Harsh Jain, Founder & Managing Director, Red Digital said: “Social media provides seamless opportunities to build interest groups. Digital is no longer just about showing banners and clicking on them. It’s about generating engagement, activation and creating convergence between the online and offline worlds. We are glad to have an innovative partner like Pepsi Co onboard and look forward to creating path-breaking innovations in new media in the near future. The new activities for Mirinda brand emphasize our continued focus on digital innovation aimed at bringing value to our clients.”

     

    Speaking on Mirinda’s partnership with Red Digital, Ruchira Jaitly, Executive Vice President – Marketing, Beverages (Flavours), PepsiCo India said: “Social Media has become a very important tool for engaging with consumers and having a dialogue with them on a constant basis. We are pleased to have Red Digital on board as our social media partner for this initiative. Their prior experience in handling leading brands coupled with a deep understanding of consumer behaviour in the digital space will ensure there is a high level of engagement and traction for Mirinda’s campaign on three flavours.”

     

  • E-shopping could get a major boost as familiar & friendly grocery stores come online

    Networking the neighbourhood kirana @ AaramShop

     

     

    Aaramshop, a venture that makes shopping for essentials in FMCG and CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) easy with just a click of the mouse, may be just about seven months old but has been making steady progress. As the name suggests, it is about shopping aaram se, the difference being that it has brought the local kiranas/ banias/ mom-n-pop store on its platform thus making possible for consumers to purchase their daily needs online and what better than it is delivered by your trusted neighbourhood shop that you have been visiting all this while. Aaramshop.com has partnered with1400 independent retailers across the country and plans to grow this number significantly by the end of the year.

    A concept that has not been tried before especially in the e-commerce where its largely dominated by players catering to travel, gifts and apparels and even when there are few who have ventured into selling grocery, fruits and vegetables, the AaramShop model is different as it is bringing into its fold the existing local shops into its domain. Vijay Singh, CEO & Managing Director, AaramShop, talks to MxMIndia’s Tuhina Anand in an exclusive interview and explains the concept behind his venture and the dynamics behind the ever-changing face of e-commerce in India.

     

    In the last few months that you have been running AaramShop, what has been some of the key learnings?

    It is always fantastic to see raw thoughts and ideas turning into reality – and that’s what being happening at AaramShop over the last 7 months. We launched the site in mid-June last year and it was the one of its kind of venture, anywhere in the world, so we did not really have clear benchmarks to follow.

     

    So far, almost all our thoughts and ideas have been reinforced and we are very positive about the future of what we have created. Every member of the brand marketing & retailing eco-system has embraced the idea of AaramShop with enthusiasm.

     

    How do you see the venture going further?

    Today, we are the commerce partner to over 1,400 independent retailers across the country and we will grow this number multi-fold by the end of the year to ensure that every household in the top 10 cities can order their preferred FMCG brands via their trusted independent neighbourhood retailer (AaramShops as we call them) and get it at their doorstep in a matter of a few hours. We intend to scale to approx 20,000 AaramShops.

     

    We are starting to see brands integrating the advantages of the AaramShop platform within their digital marketing assets. This will extend the integration to all marketing initiatives by brands, including print ads, social media, campaign sites, and so on, as it will enable to them to ensure a critical last mile connect.

     

    In a move to make the online shopping experience exciting, AaramShop has introduced its unique product listing option that envelops the shopper in a complete brand experience. The innovation would enable marketers across FMCG / CPG categories to take advantage of the proliferation of online videos and all other digital content and consumers’ increasing engagement with that content.

     

    You have said that AaramShop is just a platform and your revenue model is not dependent on it. Can you elaborate on the revenue model?

    We don’t believe that the typical e-commerce models would work for the FMCG/CPG brands, predominantly on account of absence of deep discounting by brands and the fact that FMCG brands are extremely well distributed across the country and widely available across 12 million plus stores across the country.

     

    At AaramShop, we believe there is no need for more shops (on-ground or online) – the opportunity, however, is in making the existing shops available on the web so that the consumers can do their shopping with added ease, without needing to trudge down to the market.

     

    AaramShop, therefore, has been created as a hybrid retail platform for sales and marketing of FMCG/CPG brands to busy urban consumers. The platform offers the consumers the convenience of selecting from thousands of FMCG brands and then leverages the strengths of neighbourhood retailers to ensure last mile fulfillment of the orders.

     

    AaramShop is a free-to-use platform, not just for the consumers, but also for the retailers and, therefore, it does not disrupt the financial arrangements that the brands have already put in place.

     

    We have created a number of premium opt-in services for brands to use to connect in a more meaningful manner with consumers. These premium services are predominantly built around analytics-driven marketing, advertising options online and offline, AaramShop centric opportunities, and so on. Our revenue model is centred on premium services and brands have started to use some of these services.

     

    Buying grocery online, what are some of the logistics nightmare that you have faced in the last few months?

    Since the last mile of our model is completely managed by independent retailer partners who undertake the warehousing and the fulfillment of orders within their stores’ normal footprint – we do not face any logistics related nightmares. This is the core strength of the retailers within their geographical footprint.

     

    How open have the local kiranas been of joining this platform?

    The ‘kirana’ (independent retailers) are extremely keen to join the platform. They see it as an opportunity to become more relevant to the modern consumers. AaramShop, as a free to use platform, is open not only to ‘kiranawalas’ but also to neighbourhood “pharmacies” as they tend to stock and sell a lot of personal & beauty products.

     

    The independent retailers realize that they are unable to ensure a great “shopper experience” within their small stores and hence tend to lose out on larger orders. However, when they merge the online convenience of AaramShop with its access to thousands of brands with the local distribution and delivery capabilities that they already have, they realize that the combo could be a possible winner.

     

    The digital readiness of a lot of these retailers is still low, but I believe these are quite easily addressable with some technology innovations – and that is when the number of partner retailers would shoot up.

     

    You have been venturing into new and innovative arenas. So what is it that an entrepreneur should keep in mind when going alone especially looking at long term sustainability solutions?

    I don’t believe there is any fun in trending a path that is well-walked.

     

    The environment around us has changed completely in the last five years and consumer behaviour has transformed, however we tend to keep throwing the same set of solutions for the marketing challenges that the brands face. It is important to reboot.

     

    My religion is still marketing; it is the rituals that have changed. This change is dictated by what I see as incredible changes that are happening all around us and, to stay relevant, one needs to change.

     

    We have created a solution which integrates Local + Social +Mobiletrends of the days and it enables the interlinking of the Zero Moment of Truth of brands with their First Moment of Truth.

     

    So long as we can continue to provide an important connect for the brands, consumers and retailers and creating value across the eco-system, we believe that our premium services would be much sort after.

     

    How have you been promoting AaramShop?

    We have not aggressively started to promote AaramShop yet, as the focus is still on building the channel and ensuring we get the technology right. However, in the past and also going forward, our promotion strategies are based on:

    • Extensive use of social media – for example we were the first grocery store on Facebook.
    • Micro-geographic marketing, using the excellent footprint of AaramShops.
    • High quality CRM – grocery buying is a done 20 times a year by an average household, and we want to reach out in a meaningful manner and based on past purchase behaviour to ensure repeat usage.

     

    What are two key goals for your venture this year?

    While we have already released our mobile apps for all platforms, our focus would stay on making AaramShop more easy to use on mobile devices. We believe that mobile is the future and we will release a number of apps that will address different needs of different users in the year ahead.

     

    The other big focus area is going to be the BrandEngagementCenter. The BEC (www.brandengagementcenter.com) enables brand owners and their agencies to seamlessly manage and monitor their brand/products performance on the AaramShop platform. It is also our ad & analytical centre and we would like to ensure more users to start trying their hands on it.

     

    Having said that, I think the list of priorities is very long and we will be fighting on a number of fronts.

     

  • Tweek can be accessed via iPad and will soon be launched for iPhone and Android devices. The application has been developed in partnership with GENWI

    Times Internet’s ‘Tweek’ hits the market

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tablet users can now discover a whole new world of information and entertainment at their fingertips, with the launch of India’s first tablet magazine, Tweek. Created by Times Internet Limited (TIL), Tweek can be accessed via iPad and will soon be launched for iPhone and Android devices. The application has been developed in partnership with GENWI, inventor and leader of cloud-based mobile publishing.

     

    The weekly magazine will offer content with an urban perspective. Keeping in mind people’s wide range of interests, Tweek will feature stories from around the world across business, entertainment, lifestyle and sport. Its interactive format will allow readers to not just instantly share stories through social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, but also share their feedback with the Tweek team. Tweek has also enabled the reader to not just read a story, but also to listen to and watch it and thus, experience the content.

     

    In a first-of-its-kind, readers will be able to actively shape a magazine. They will be able to connect directly with the writers of Tweek, and share their feedback about the stories they enjoyed, effectively ‘Tweek’ing the magazine to something they would look forward to reading every week.

     

    “Tweek offers its readers an unparalleled experience in terms of interactivity, customization and usability. Its content will be kept fresh and relevant by the large database of content available within the TIL network. With its launch, we intend to pioneer the tablet magazine space in India” said Rishi Khiani, CEO, Times Internet Limited.

     

    Mr Khiani also said that they are interested in experimenting with different ways to monetize the content beyond traditional web advertising. Taking advantage of this new medium which incorporates the rich engagement features of the web into a mobile touch experience on a larger screen they hope can deliver new advertising concepts.

     

    GENWI’s Cloud Publish solution enables has enabled Tweek to deliver contextual commerce, rich-media advertorials that are geo-location aware, and switch out advertisers or ad units on the fly.

     

    Given the flexibility of GENWI’s mobile content management system, the partnership with GENWI will allow TIL complete creative freedom and control to deliver a beautifully branded magazine-like experience on an app.

     

    PJ Gurumohan, Founder and CEO of GENWI said: “With the power of the cloud, Tweek will save time and production costs by reusing design layouts from week to week – all in standard web-based protocols such as HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. But, the most groundbreaking aspect of the application is the way it surfaces existing content and takes full advantage of the tablet experience to create higher levels of reader engagement and the flexibility to explore new monetization channels.”

     

    Times Internet Limited, (TIL), is the internet and mobile venture of India’s largest media house – the Times Group. Indiatimes.com, TIL’s flagship brand, commands more than one billion views per month. The other key properties in the TIL portfolio are Timesofindia.com and economictimes.com.

     

    GENWI ( www.genwi.com ) makes mobile publishing simple – in the cloud. As the inventor and leader of cloud-based mobile publishing, GENWI enables publishers and enterprises to easily manage content across mobile platforms, deliver an excellent brand experience, and find new monetization opportunities.

     

    Also read
    http://www.mxmindia.com/2011/11/inma-toi-launches-tweek/