Bikano, Bikanervala has decided to sponsor Team Dabang Delhi for Pro Kabaddi League Season 9. With this partnership, the Bikano logo will feature prominently on the right sleeves of Team Dabang Delhi’s competition t-shirts through the duration of this season. Also the logo will feature across all in-stadium branding collateral and across ATL-BTL and digital branding as well.
Said Manish Aggarwal, Director, Bikano: “This has been a blessed year for brand Bikano as markets are open and people are back to spend on snacking after two years of Lockdown. In order to consolidate these good times, as a leading FMCG company, we are looking to spread awareness about our brand and products via diverse, aggressive marketing campaigns. And what could be better than being associated with Pro Kabaddi League and, specifically, the defending champions of the previous season – Team Dabang Delhi. Kabaddi is a beloved sport of India, and the league has managed to win the hearts of millions of people across the world so we decided to sponsor the original sport of India.”
Flipkart unveiled its latest influencer campaign #FlipkartShoppingMela. The homegrown e-commerce marketplace aims to further expand its reach beyond Tier 2 regions.
Commenting on the campaign, Kanchan Mishra, Senior Director, Consumables (FMCG), General Merchandise and Home, Flipkart, said: “At Flipkart, we are committed to offering a high-value shopping experience to our customers by paying close attention to their dynamic needs. E-commerce shoppers in India, especially from Tier II and III markets look for quality, convenience, value-based, and reliable shopping experiences. We conceptualised the #FlipkartShoppingMela campaign ahead of the festive season, to strike a chord with Bharat and re-emphasise Flipkart as the quintessential value-driven shopping destination for everyone across the country.”
India is in fifth place of adspends, accounting for 4.6% of the growth this year, even though it is only the twelfth-largest ad market. India will be the fastest-growing market in percentage terms, expanding by 20.8%, driven by election advertising and the resumption of festivals that were cancelled at the height of the pandemic.
Jai Lala
Said Jai Lala, CEO, Zenith India: “India continues to have a robust AdEx growth on the back of Digital and TV. Key categories continue to be led by FMCG and the new app-based clients in the area of Fintech, Edutech, Foodtech amongst others.”
Global adspend is forecast to increase by US$58 billion in 2022, rising to US$781 billion from US$723 billion in 2021. Most of the new ad dollars will come from the US, which is forecast to expand by US$33 billion in 2022, driven by continued, rapid digital transformation, accounting for 57% of all the money added to the ad market this year. China, Japan, and the UK come next, supplying 9.1%, 6.2%, and 5.8% of new ad dollars, respectively.
Global advertising expenditure is forecast to grow 8.0% in 2022, according to Zenith’s latest Advertising Expenditure Forecasts report, published today (June 8). This represents a minor downgrade from the 9.1% growth rate Zenith published in December 2021. Growth will be supported by the Winter Olympics, mid-term US elections and soccer World Cup, which for the first time will take place in the most advertising-intensive period of the year in the run-up to Christmas. Faced with this tough comparison, growth will slow to 5.4% in 2023, before the Summer Olympics and US presidential elections help boost it to 7.6% in 2024.
Zenith’s forecasts for North America, MENA and Western Europe this year are unchanged at 12%, 7% and 6% growth respectively. Latin America was downgraded slightly from 9% to 8%, but Asia Pacific was upgraded from 6% to 7%, thanks to a very strong performance from India. Severe disruption in Russia and its closest trading partners after the invasion of Ukraine will lead to a 26% decline in adspend in Central & Eastern Europe, even though most other markets in the region will continue to grow.
Adspend has remained on track despite the macroeconomic headwinds that emerged this year. High inflation, concentrated in essentials like heating, petrol, and food, is forcing consumers to reprioritise their spending, particularly the less well-off, and has led to a drop in consumer confidence. But for now, consumer spending continues to grow, as consumers demonstrate their strong appetite for the travel and entertainment experiences that were denied to them over the pandemic. Business confidence is generally high, and corporate investment is rising, and there is little evidence of widespread cost-cutting.
Higher prices in traditional channels accelerate shift to digital alternatives
The sustained growth in demand from advertisers is pushing up media inflation, particularly in television, where the supply of audiences is falling steadily as viewers switch to alternatives. Price rises vary widely for different audiences in different countries, but the global average cost of television advertising across all audiences is expected to rise by 11%-13% this year. Online video prices are expected to increase by about 7%, although in this case the supply of audiences is rising. Other digital channels where supply is climbing and volumes are flexible are inflating only modestly, with 3% average price rises forecast for social media and other digital display. Out-of-home and radio prices will go up about 4% this year, while print prices will remain stable, because demand for advertising in printed publications is falling as rapidly as readership.
Brands that simply buy broad audiences to achieve reach targets will not be able to avoid having to spend more to reach the same audiences. But brands that use first-party data to identify their most profitable customers, and combine it with third-party data to target their best prospects in the most efficient channels, will be able to mitigate much of the effect of media inflation. The huge and growing volume of digital content consumption is making it more effective for brands to scale by aggregating digital audiences. Zenith predicts 62% of ad budgets will be spent on digital media in 2022, up from 59% in 2021, and that this proportion will reach 65% in 2024.
“In a world where trading is becoming dominated by auctions, competitive advantage is achieved not by scale, but by data,” said Ben Lukawski, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Zenith. “Inflation will hit cheap reach buyers hard, but brands that make smart use of their data will manage costs and grow their business at the same time.”
Online video overtakes social media as the fastest-growing channel for the first time in past decade
Online video is now predicted to be the fastest-growing channel over the next three years: Zenith forecasts it will grow 15.4% a year on average between 2021 and 2024, driven by the rapid development of connected TV, ad-funded video-on-demand, streaming and other video formats. Connected TV is now a mainstream video platform in the US, with a higher penetration than cable TV, and is becoming established in other markets, especially in Western Europe and Asia Pacific. The introduction of cheaper ad-funded tiers by SVOD services like Netflix and Disney+ will boost growth further by providing new high-quality environments for brand communication. Mixed video-on-demand models that combined subscriptions with advertising will also help online video audiences continue to grow across the world by recruiting consumers unwilling or unable to afford the growing roster of subscription-only services. Zenith expects online video adspend to rise from US$62 billion in 2021 to US$95 billion in 2024.
Online video will overtake social media, the fastest-growing channel for the previous nine years. Social media adspend (which includes video ads in social media feeds) is still forecast to grow at an average rate of 15.1% a year between 2021 and 2024, propelled by rising competition among platforms that is driving continued innovation on formats and closer integration with commerce. Meta’s share of social media adspend outside China has been falling steadily since it peaked at 89% in 2019, reaching 85% in 2021 as TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Pinterest gained market share. Zenith forecasts social media adspend will rise from US$153 billion in 2021 to US$187 billion in 2022, when it will account for 25% of expenditure on advertising across all media.
Cinema and out-of-home will take third and fourth place among the fastest-growing media, averaging 11.9% and 8.0% annual growth between 2021 and 2024 respectively. These are still recovering from the deep losses they suffered in 2020 and 2021 when cinemas were closed, and consumers were confined indoors. Cinema and out-of-home have a lot of ground to make up, however, and are taking their time to do so. Many brands that were forced to find alternatives, often digital, have found them effective, and see little need to shift their budgets back again. Zenith expects cinema adspend to reach US$3.9 billion in 2024, well below its pre-pandemic level of US$4.8 billion in 2019, while out-of-home will reach US$45.0 billion in 2024, exceeding the US$42.3 billion it achieved in 2019 for the first time.
Linear television advertising is forecast to grow by 1.1% a year on average between 2021 and 2024, from US$173.6 billion to US$179.2 billion, as price rises continue to compensate for loss of audiences. This ongoing decline in reach and efficiency will drive brands to digital channels, however, including online video. Television’s share of total adspend is forecast to fall from 24.6% in 2021 to 20.8% in 2024, while online video’s share increases from 8.8% to 11.1%.
“Online video is growing by creating new opportunities for building brand awareness, complemented by social media’s capacity for cost-effective targeting with low barriers to entry,” said Jonathan Barnard, Head of Forecasting, Zenith. “Online video is steadily narrowing the spending gap with television, and will be half as large as television by 2024.”
Madison Media has announced the appointment of Vinit Kumar as Vice President, Madison Media Plus, Based in Delhi. Kumar will report to Abhik Banerjee, COO, Madison Media Plus.
Said Banerjee: “We’re glad to have Vinit back on board. Having worked for various FMCG segments, he brings a wealth of experience to Madison. I am confident that we will be able to take our Delhi office to the next level with new business and continue to delight the existing clients.”
Added Kumar: “I am excited to be joining Madison Media back and look forward to contributing to the organization in my new role and responsibilities. My hopes and expectations are high as I look forward to the challenges and opportunities Madison Media and its clients will provide me and unlock our clients’ growth by leveraging data, tech and talent.”
The year 2020 was a subdued one for television advertising, leading to a decline in total Ad Volumes across the year despite the record stay-at-home rise in viewership. 2021 has bounced back with a substantial double-digit spike, delivering an all-time high of 1824 million seconds of Ad Volumes during the year. This translated into a 22% and 18% growth over 2020 and 2019, respectively. The Top 10 advertisers accounted for 780 million seconds of Ad Volumes, and the Next 40 accounted for 340 million seconds.
FMCG brands continued to lead in share across categories and Hindi channels continued to dominate across languages.
New advertisers and brands consistently jumped in throughout the year, thus playing an important role in the advertising volume growth witnessed throughout 2021.
Commenting on BARC India’s latest Think Report, 2021 – A Voluminous Year (Yearly Ad Volume Report 2021) that analyses television advertising volumes for the past year, Aaditya Pathak, Head – Client Partnership & Revenue Function, BARC India said: “2021 certainly brought in much needed cheer to the broadcast industry. The year started off on a positive note and also ended on a high with the festive quarter. Year on year, despite pandemic impediments, television has repeatedly proved effective for every penny spent for advertisers and brands. 2021 saw over 9000 advertisers turn to television with a significant number of new entrants. Overall, 2021 was a positive year for the industry as a whole that witnessed growing value for both advertisers and broadcasters.”
Here are highlights of the report:
Advertisers & Brands Count
TV had a total of 9239 advertisers and 14616 brands advertised on the medium in 2021, of which, 49% i.e., 4483 were either new advertisers or returning ones. Similarly, for brands, 51% i.e., 7470 were new or returning brands.
Categories
The FMCG category continued to lead with an enormous share of 1117 million seconds of Ad Volumes in 2021, followed by Ecommerce with 185 million seconds and Building, Industrial, & Land Materials/Equipments with 60 million seconds. Television also understandably continued to be an important medium for the Corporate Brand Image category which registered 2x growth over 2019 with 24 million seconds.
The Ecommerce category had a total of 587 advertisers in 2021 of which, 65% were new entrants or earlier advertisers returning to TV in 2021, registering a growth of 51% over 2020 and 26% over 2019. Media/Entertainment/Social Media, Education, Online Shopping, Matrimonials and Financial Services were the top 5 sub-categories within Ecommerce. Ad Volumes for Education grew by 461% and Financial Services by 153% over 2020.
Languages
While Hindi continues to play a dominant part of the language mix, regional language channels recorded strong growth as well across 2021. Ad Volumes for Bhojpuri language channels doubled over 2019 and Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and Assamese language channels posted over 40% growth over 2019. South language channels i.e., Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, grew by 26% over 2020.
2021 – Quarterly Analysis
Q1 2021 kickstarted on a positive note having registered 24% growth over 2020 and 21% growth over 2019. Despite the sporadic and partial lockdowns on account of the second wave of COVID-19, Ad Volumes for Q2’ 21 were relatively higher at 417 million seconds as compared to Q2’19 which recorded 399 million seconds. Q4’21 brought in cheer for broadcasters with a bumper festive season that recorded 489 million seconds of Ad Volumes, the highest quarter ever. New advertisers continued to flock to television for effective communication with Q4’21 welcoming 2156 new advertiser or earlier ones returning to the medium, the highest for the year.
After a marginal decline in Q2 2021 on account of the lockdowns, regional language channels experienced steady growth in Q3 and Q4.
SD & HD Channels
Ad Volumes for HD channels in 2021 grew by 11% over the previous year and SD channels grew by 22% in 2021 over 2020 and by 20% over 2019.
TV Commercials
TV commercials with an Average Commercial Duration of under 30 seconds, were most favoured by advertisers while spots more than 60 seconds were least preferred. The Average Commercial Duration has been reducing Y-O-Y. The Prime-Time band, i.e., 20:00 hours to 24:00 hours enjoyed the maximum share of Ad Volumes at 27%. The share of Ad Volumes for the four time bands, viz 08:00 – 12:00 hrs, 12:00-16:00 hrs, 16:00-20:00 hrs and 20:00-24:00 hrs, continued to stay the same since 2019. TV Commercials in local languages on regional channels are consistently increasing since 2019.
IPL 2021
IPL 2021 registered a total of 1680 thousand seconds of Ad Volumes with 119 advertisers and 228 brands in all. There were 59 new advertisers and 158 new brands for the season. The Top 10 advertisers for the season contributed 35% of the Ad Volumes.
Tokyo Olympics
With 466 thousand seconds, Ad Volumes for the Tokyo Olympics were almost at par with Rio Olympics that was held in 2016. There were 34 advertisers and 61 brands that advertised during Tokyo Olympics. Significantly, 31% of the Ad Volumes during Tokyo Olympics featured Olympians.
G2 Snacks, a new entrant in the FMCG sector from leading Marathi daily group, Lokmat announces the appointment of Agency09 as its creative agency. Agency09 will be responsible in defining the brand communication via print that reaches the entire Maharashtra and explore the new-age audience’s engagement possibilities in the digital ecosystem.
Speaking on the successful launch, Rishi Darda, Founder, Good 2 Great Industries Pvt. Ltd. said: “It is always thrilling to foray in a new territory and produce a world class product. With G2 Snacks, we are geared up to create a fantastic snacking experience, made with a combination of high quality standards and ethnic taste. And with a lot of integrity and honesty, we want to bring in the Dugni Goodness in the lives of people. We are excited to partner with AGENCY09 who displayed the right interest and expertise to bring this vision forward.”
Added Tushar Khakhar of Agency09: “The team Lokmat has always given us great liberty in all our creative collaborations. We have some interesting and innovative work lined up for G2 Snacks, and are confident of ensuring that G2 becomes a household name.”
FMCG company Empire Spices & Foods Limited (ESFL) has launched a new TVC to promote Ram Bandhu Pickle & Papad positioning its products for the big Indian wedding feast. Madhuri Dixit-Nene has been roped in as brand ambassador.
Said Umesh Rathi, Managing Director, ESFL: “The humble Indian pickle and papad is present in most Indian homes and has a very interesting story to tell about its origin, its variations, the significance of the ingredients used to make it and of course its quintessential presence in all Indian meals. This has inspired us to innovate in terms of product quality, variants and other aspects for our pickle and papad categories.”
Added Bhanudas Gundkar, Marketing Head of the company: “For years, we have established our brand, and now we are attaining new heights with the face of our brand Madhuri Dixit-Nene who has stood the test of time in the past 30 years just like us. Our presence is spreading across India and this campaign will help our brand connect better with the users in both urban and rural areas.”
Amazon, Asian Paints and Tata Tea emerge as the most purposeful leaders in India across technology, non-FMCG and FMCG categories respectively. This emerged as insights and consulting major Kantar released the 2021 edition of its annual BrandZ India report on Thursday. This year, the report has moved gears to offer a ranking of 2021’s Most Purposeful Brands in India. According to Kantar BrandZ data, consumers believe that these brands lead with a clear sense of purpose to make their everyday lives better.
The technology ranking has Amazon followed by Zomato, YouTube, Google and Swiggy jointly in fourth place, followed by Flipkart. The non-FMCG ranking is dominated by telecom brands, with Samsung and Jio jointly second, followed by MRF, Tata Housing and Airtel. The FMCG category ranks some of India’s biggest names: Tata Tea followed by Surf Excel, Taj Mahal, Parachute and Maggi both in fourth position and Britannia completing the list.
Kantar conducted an analysis of 418 brands across 30 categories and found that in India especially, perceptions of a brand’s purpose, its ability to ‘make people’s lives better,’ is crucial to establishing a brand’s Meaningful quotient and thus, boosting prospects for growth.
Said Deepender Rana, Executive Managing Director- South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar: “Brand Purpose provides an anchor amidst constant uncertainty, both as a North Star for brands, but also as reassurance to consumers. Purpose as a contributor to brand equity is 10 times more important in India, in comparison to globally. This shows that a larger societal purpose is even more critical to success for brands in India. Of course, vague slogans and one-off ‘corporate charity’ events do not work, and it is not about jumping on the bandwagon of the latest fashionable cause either. Instead, real Purpose flows from, and builds on, a brand’s existing core values and DNA. This reinforces the need to understand and measure if a brand’s Purpose is perceived as adding real meaning to consumers lives.”
Key Findings:
2021 Kantar BrandZ data for India, in conjunction with other Kantar consumer sentiment tracking, has revealed several patterns in what Indian consumers deemed ‘Purposeful’ in 2021. Some of the key highlights:
>> Amplifying or communicating purpose is critical.
>> Tech brands show how everyday convenience contributes to brand purpose. These brands have been able to scale-up and showcase a wide range of products plus enter new categories at a time when consumers were desperate for at-home & delivery solutions. Everyday convenience in turn made lives easier and fueled saliency for brands
>> FMCG brands are focusing on reducing their carbon footprint and taking a social stance. FMCG brands that score high on brand purpose have shown that purpose and profit can go hand-in-hand. They are working to reduce their environmental impact and promote social causes – which in turn attract customers, partners, and talent.
>> Non-FMCG brands are now adopting marketing strategies that promote the brand in ways that look beyond the function of product or service; the key is to do more than just meeting consumers’ immediate needs, adding new and potentially differentiating associations.
>> The Indian consumer, on a par with many of their Asian counterparts are actively engaging with sustainability; 77% are prepared to invest time and money in companies that try to do good
Speaking about Kantar BrandZ’s report in India, Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director- Client and Quantitative, Insights Division, Kantar added: “Purpose can work as a strategy for brands, when it’s based on the right consumer insights, and executed effectively. In India, Kantar BrandZ data suggest that a brand’s Purpose ranking has a direct impact on its Meaningfulness score – which in turn is one of the cores, proven building blocks of brand value growth.”
The Kantar BrandZ Spotlight on Brands in India 2021 Report, Rankings and extensive analysis are available online: https://www.kantar.com/campaigns/brandz/india
BL Agro Industries, a FMCG company, has launched the second television commercial of its signature brand, ‘Bail Kolhu’, mustard oil. It features ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ fame trio – Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Pankaj Tripathi. The TVC created by Leads Brand Connect, a multi-dimensional creative agency, is launched across the national television channels.
Said Ashish Khandelwal, Managing Director, BL Agro: “Bail Kolhu is our 50-year-old signature brand, which has become a household name over the years. We have always intended to deliver the best quality edible oil because we understand that food is a common factor amongst all of us. Be it any occasion, food is the ingredient which connects us all and makes the occasion a memorable one. With this TVC, we wish to highlight the trigger food gives us.”
Advertising volumes on Television continue to post a healthy growth, with the July-Sept quarter registering 461 million seconds of advertising – which is the highest this year – as per BARC India’s July – Sept 2021 Ad Volumes – Special Festival Edition Think Report.
Ad Volumes on TV in the Ganesh Chaturthi week, notes the report, grew 4% compared to the previous four-week average and posted a healthy 28% growth over 2019.
Speaking on the trend, Aaditya Pathak, Head of Client Partnership and Revenue, BARC India, said: “The momentum of more and more brands banking on television advertising continues to be visible with 3397 new brands entering the medium in the July-Sept quarter of 2021, and that too with a 51% share of total brands advertising. The number of advertisers on TV is also the highest for the quarter at 4226. As we have seen in earlier years, marketers are clearly leveraging the reach and power of TV to raise the visibility of their brands this festive season. The strong growth of Ad Volumes in Q3 – which is 40 million seconds higher than in Q2 – also points to the positive sentiment regarding the improving economic and business environment.”
Adds the report: “Ad Volumes on TV for September 2021 is the highest since 2019, registering a 15% growth over the same period in the previous year. While FMCG continued to maintain its leadership position with a 29% growth in Ad Volumes against the same period in 2019, the E-commerce sector has also shown a healthy 26% jump over 2020. While the strong upward trend in TV advertising is seen at the overall level as well as across all languages, the highest spurt was observed for Bhojpuri language channels, where ad volumes were more than double that of 2019, and 38% higher than in 2020. While Hindi language channels account for the largest share of TV advertising, Tamil & Telugu language channels witnessed a robust growth over the previous year, 2020.”
Marketing Agency Sociapa has bagged the brand mandate for La Americana, FMCG major Bonn Group’s gourmet product line. The agency will now be taking care of the PR and social activities for the brand. Currently, La Americana Gourmet has range of bread, bakery, cakes and cookies.
Dheeraj Raj
Said Dheeraj Raj, Founder of Sociapa: “We are certain that we will be successful in making the brand reach its target groups through effective communication and campaigns. Sociapa is the company that you can trust to help you promote your brand to the next level. We create real brand experiences that include and inspire audiences in every touch point using a full spectrum of creative skills with a cost-effective approach. With a passionate team, we strive to up the game by offering the best strategies including Brand Communication and Campaigns for the brands.”
M/Six, GroupM’s outcome-based agency, has bagged the digital media mandate for Parag Milk Foods. The account will be handled out of m/SIX’s Mumbai office.
Saket Sinha
Said Saket Sinha, Senior Vice President and Head of M/Six India: “We are delighted to partner with Parag Milk Foods. This win showcases m/SIX’s digital expertise and the client’s belief in us. With our proficiency and our DNA “Xcellerator”, our teams will further drive the brand’s success. The dairy FMCG space has seen phenomenal growth and evolution and with our business growth and consumer-centric approach, we will ensure to deliver successful brand and business results for Parag Milk Foods. We look forward to partnering with the brand in this exciting journey.”
Akshali Shah
Talking about the collaboration, Akshali Shah, Sr. VP – Strategy, Sales & Marketing, Parag Milk Foods added: “The Indian dairy industry is growing consistently and is transforming at a great pace. Keeping in mind the evolving consumer preferences, Parag Milk Foods is not only keeping up with this acceleration but emerging as a pioneer through its various product offerings. In the new normal, every brand needs to adopt a different approach to brand building and innovation, which is why we see M/Six as a strategic partner that understands our brand and our vision to further meet our marketing goals. We are confident that the m/SIX team will continue to drive our brand to newer heights.”
Bikano, Bikanervala has decided to sponsor Team Dabang Delhi for Pro Kabaddi League Season 9. With this partnership, the Bikano logo will feature prominently on the right sleeves of Team Dabang Delhi’s competition t-shirts through the duration of this season. Also the logo will feature across all in-stadium branding collateral and across ATL-BTL and digital branding as well.
G2 Snacks, a new entrant in the FMCG sector from leading Marathi daily group, Lokmat announces the appointment of Agency09 as its creative agency. Agency09 will be responsible in defining the brand communication via print that reaches the entire Maharashtra and explore the new-age audience’s engagement possibilities in the digital ecosystem.
