Wavemaker India celebrates its third anniversary on Monday, November 9, and we speak with Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia, Wavemaker, on the occasion.
Gupte took charge in January 2020, and we know of the tumultuous times across the world after that. A coincidence of course. The marketing services business was badly hit given the events and advertising spends going south post that.
But in this period, Wavemaker – part of WPP’s GroupM network – has managed to reinvent itself and forge ahead, says Gupte. There is a beefing up of the top deck. Some noteworthy work. And development of analytical tools that are now adopted within Wavemaker global framework.
In a freewheeling interview with MxMIndia Founder and Editor-in-Chief Pradyuman Maheshwari, Ajay Gupte speaks on a cross-section of issues around the business, around Wavemaker, his settling back into the country, the job, Gurugram versus Mumbai, the rivalry with sibling Mindshare. And more.
Leading digital-led creative agency The Glitch has joined forces with global experience agency VMLY&R. Earlier, it was part of GroupM, when it was acquired in February 2018.
The Glitch and VMLY&R India will continue to operate distinct brands and organisational structures while working together. This will allow clients to experience their combined proposition of marketing talent, capabilities, and experience, while maintaining the simplicity of their current communication cadence with each agency. In a sense a similar message was sent out in Feb 2018: “The Glitch will continue to operate as an independently positioned brand, while taking advantage of GroupM’s larger infrastructure and agency ecosystem.” We don’t know the reasons, but we now have a realignment.
The integration will see The Glitch become a part of the nearly $1 billion global VMLY&R network, which employs over 7,000 people across 75+ offices across the world. These include three offices in India, based in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.
The Glitch senior leaders, including CEO Pooja Jauhari, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Rohit Raj, and Co-Founder & Content Chief, Varun Duggirala will now report into Tripti Lochan, Co-CEO of VMLY&R Asia. In addition, the Glitch leadership team along with VMLY&R India CEO Anil Nair, will form an India leadership council to manage strategic decisions for both companies. The council will be headed by Anil Nair.
Said CVL Srinivas, Country Manager, India, WPP: “WPP’s aim is to provide clients with a simplified and integrated offer to help them grow their businesses holistically. The Glitch over the past 10 years has grown to become a digital and content powerhouse, and when combined with VMLY&R’s capabilities in digital transformation and customer experience, can help clients make an impact in their transformation journeys.”
On joining the VMLY&R Network, Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch, added:: “We have flourished alongside WPP in the past 3 years. The founders and I are delighted that we’ve now found a great permanent home for our brand, our company and most importantly, our people. The Glitch is a gender blind, inclusive and progressive high-performance workspace and with this marriage, we’ve found kindred spirits in VMLY&R when it comes to driving the same vision. We’re eager to explore our complementary capability sets for the benefit of our clients’ businesses. With this union, we believe we are in the best position to help our clients be more agile, sharper and ready for whatever the future may bring.”
Added Anil Nair, CEO, VMLY&R India: “This union spells great news for clients looking at building digital-first brands. In addition to cutting edge solutions such as customer experience (CX), commerce , technology, innovation, AI/ML, data, media innovations and good old culture impacting creativity, we will now be able to add new weaponry to our arsenal, including powerful capabilities in brand experience, new-age content, youth marketing, connections thinking, brand publishing, and live creativity amongst others. This makes us the most relevant agency group in the market with best possible capabilities to help our clients future-proof their businesses and succeed in the new paradigm.”
Xaxis, GroupM’s programmatic arm has announced the results of a national campaign for Nokia smartphones with Wavemaker South Asia. The goal of the campaign was to reach potential customers digitally to influence them to visit a Nokia phones retail store.
Said Ruchira Jaitly, Head of Marketing – India, HMD Global: “Xaxis and Wavemaker have delivered outstanding results that enable us to see the impact of digital ad targeting on real world actions. This campaign highlights the important connection between digital ads delivered to the right people at the right time and its impact on offline behaviour. We look forward to applying these insights to future campaigns.”
Added Bharat Khatri, Country Lead, Xaxis India: “The campaign proves the growing importance of an insight-driven approach in today’s marketplace. With Xaxis Places and our technology partners, we were able to demonstrate the positive influence that digital targeting can have on driving awareness, offline behaviour and overall value for the brand.”
And this is what Ajay Gupte, CEO, Wavemaker South Asia said: “There are many developments in digital that are changing the models of advertising in India, and our client HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, has been at the forefront of bringing fresh strategies to market,” “Our partnership with Xaxis underscores the power of mobile data and other digital insights and its impact on customers in the real world.”
ESP Properties, the entertainment and sports division of GroupM, has cited that the IPL 2020 sponsorship crossed the Rs 500 cr mark this season. Even though the pandemic has seen a direct impact on the sports sponsorship market, IPL continues to carve a niche for itself in India while also keeping its fans engaged, notes a communique, adding: “The current position at which IPL stands is quite strong considering how the pandemic has taken a toll in India. This year ESP properties, being at the forefront, helped multiple brands in different categories close deals for IPL, some of them include; Paytm, Colgate, Myntra, Lifebuoy, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Clear Shampoo, Acko Insurance, MPL, Center Fruit and Tata Tea – Chakra Gold amongst others. IPL 2020 has showcased that it is pandemic-proof with the number of brands coming on board for sponsorship. “
Said Vinit Karnik, Business Head, GroupM ESP Properties: “Sport is a universal language that connects everyone. While Cricket in the country returned with IPL – India welcomed it with a tremendous fervour despite the games being delayed and in a ‘no-live audience’ scenario. GroupM played a pivotal role in closing central and team sponsorships deals this year which goes to show that in a pandemic like this, brands have leveraged IPL to communicate their brand stories in the best way possible. With the heartfelt connection that our country has with the IPL phenomena, the fans made sure that they loyally and virtually welcome the games making sure that COVID-19 does not impact their vibe.”
Essence, GroupM’s data and measurement-driven media agency, has been awarded integrated media agency of record duties for jewellery brand Melorra in India. Led out of Bengaluru, Essence’s scope of work includes media planning, media activation and content innovation.
Said Saroja Yeramilli, Founder and CEO, Melorra: “Melorra is well-poised to address the growing demand in the daily wear and lightweight jewellery segment. Having built a strong foundation as we seek to expand our customer base, we were looking for a media agency partner who has a deep appreciation for data and key metrics that drive a direct-to-consumer business like ours. Essence was able to amply demonstrate this and more, and we are happy to have the team on board as a partner in our growth,”
Added Anand Chakravarthy, Managing Director, India, Essence: “Melorra is a progressive brand in an exciting category. The lightweight jewellery space is set for tremendous growth, as we see more women from across India opting for such jewellery. Melorra is at the forefront of maximising this opportunity with its wide range of fashionable jewellery for everyday wear. The smart use of data signals, analytics and creativity combined is essential to driving acquisition for Melorra – this is one of Essence’s key areas of expertise and we are looking forward to helping accelerate business growth for Melorra,”
GroupM’s Motion Content Group and Qyuki’s music show Jammin are back. Launching on October 10 on Colors facilitated by Banijay Asia, Jammin’s 3rd season brings together Bollywood singers and digital music stars.
The show includes leading lights like Bappi Lahiri, Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Suresh Wadkar, Javed Ali, Master Saleem, Armaan Malik, Jonita Gandhi, Sonu Kakkar, Shraddha Sharma, Antara Nandy, Nikita Gandhi, and others.
Commenting on the new season launch, Sudip Sanyal, Head, Motion Content Group India said: “We are delighted to announce the third season of Jammin. As marketers, there is a need to understand where to find untapped audiences and expand the reach by local content. Jammin has enjoyed great success with its platform-agnostic approach to reach out to large audiences across different demographic profiles and age groups. The association with Qyuki has helped develop content tailored to local audiences which we believe brands can leverage. This season is going to be exciting and refreshing for the audience as we are going to see top Bollywood musician paired with digital stars and emerging talent create beautiful and soulful music and we hope that the property will continue to enthral the Indian audience.”
Added Juhi Mehta, President, Qyuki: “From its very first edition, Jammin’, the first show of its kind in India, has brought together digital music sensations and legendary Bollywood composers on the same stage. Qyuki is at the forefront of creating interactive IPs on social media platforms with a deep understanding of digital content and creators. We’re happy to partner with Motion Content Group to bring Jammin’ to numerous screens nationwide as we debut the TV show on Colors. There has been a lack of original content on television due to the lockdown and we hope that a show as rich, fresh, and innovative as Jammin’ lifts spirits and inspires artists and music lovers across the country.”
GroupM’s MediaCom has been appointed as Uber’s global media agency of record. The agency, which currently holds the account in the US and Australia, will expand its remit into every operational market for Uber across North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia.
Effective January 1, 2021, MediaCom will oversee all digital and offline brand media in active markets. The account will be led by Ilana Nolte, MediaCom US Chief Transformation Officer, and Latha Sundaram, Group Business Lead, Executive Director at MediaCom US.
Said Travis Freeman, Global Head of Media at Uber: “Today requires a different approach to brand building and innovation, which is why we have consolidated our global media needs with MediaCom. The work they’ve done for Uber during perhaps one of the most disruptive times in our industry, has given us the confidence that our partnership will continue to thrive globally.”
Added Nick Lawson, Global CEO, MediaCom: “As one of the leaders of the new age of advertisers and one of the most cutting-edge brands around, we are proud to be part of Uber’s amazing global journey. To be appointed as their consolidated global agency of record is testament to the incredible work we see day-in-day-out across the business.”
Said Christian Juhl, GroupM’s Global CEO: “This appointment is fantastic news and the consolidation speaks volumes about the innovative ideas MediaCom and GroupM bring to the table every day. We’re excited to scale those ideas within a global framework and look forward to working in partnership with Uber to continue their growth and develop more impactful work globally.”
Essence, GroupM’s data and measurement-driven media agency, has announced the appointment of Monica Bhatia as the company’s Managing Director for Singapore. Bhatia will be responsible for driving continued client-centric innovation in data, analytics and technology, as well as business growth and company culture for Essence in Singapore. As part of Essence’s APAC leadership team, Bhatia will report to APAC CEO T. Gangadhar (Gangs).
Alongside her new position, Bhatia will continue in her current role as Essence’s Senior Vice President, Client Partner, APAC, leading the agency’s Google business across the region and reporting to Dave Marsey, Essence’s President, Global Client Partner. Prior to joining Essence in 2017, she headed the digital practice for GroupM’s Maxus in APAC, building its product proposition across 14 markets. With over 17 years of experience in the industry, Bhatia has worked on the brand side at L’Oréal and Godrej Group in India, and Dabur in Nepal. She has also held client services and strategic planning roles at creative and media agencies in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and India.
Said Gangs: “Monica’s impressive experience in marketing, advertising and media, and her deep understanding of Essence’s business, clients and culture, make her the best person to lead our Singapore office. A believer in true partnerships as well as diversity and inclusion in the workplace, she constantly strives to nurture strong collaborative relationships with both clients and employees. I am really excited about our next stage of growth with Monica’s steady strategic leadership and direction, as she continues to champion our clients, work and people in Singapore.”
“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to lead the highly talented, entrepreneurial and dedicated team at Essence in Singapore. Having worked closely with the team over the past three years, I am truly proud of the industry-leading capabilities we have built in data, analytics and technology. Brands today are increasingly looking to achieve transformational data-driven growth, and I am looking forward to leveraging our unified approach to media and creativity to deliver breakthrough work for our local, regional and global clients in Singapore,” said Bhatia.
Anupriya Acharya, CEO – South Asia, Publicis Groupe was elected President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2020-21 at its Annual General Body Meeting held in Mumbai on Monday. Ashish Bhasin, President of Advertising Agencies Association of India( AAAI), handed over charge to Acharya. Prasanth Kumar, CEO – South Asia, GroupM was unanimously elected Vice-President of the Association.
Other elected members of the Executive Committee in alphabetical order are:
Ashish Bhasin will be the ex-officio member of the AAAI Executive Committee for 2020-21 as its immediate past President.
Said Acharya: “It’s a tremendous honour and also an enormous responsibility to be elected as the President of such a prestigious organisation. I am acutely aware that our industry, like the rest of the world, has just witnessed the most unprecedented times and it’s a difficult time for most. The pandemic has only underscored the relevance of the collective thinking and the heightened role that AAAI can play. I will strive to do my best to further the interests of the advertising industry and take AAAI to greater heights as we emerge into the new normal. Many top advertising professionals have contributed very selflessly and relentlessly to the AAAI, both with and without executive positions. And that is what inspires me immensely as I take on this position. Many thanks to Ashish Bhasin for his leadership in the last two years as President – he has made great progress in making the association more inclusive, diverse and future-ready. Also, thanks to all the Executive committee members and the secretariat for all the learning they have given me in the past many years”.
Added Bhasin: “I have had the privilege to lead AAAI for two years as its president, I wish to thank all my fellow executive committee members for their wholehearted cooperation and valuable support. I would also like to congratulate Anupriya Acharya on her election as President. Anupriya has been a key member of the Indian media and advertising industry for a long time. I’m sure she will play a stellar role in taking forward the Association and its work. I wish her the very best for this role.”
Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency which is part of GroupM, has announced the appointment of T Gangadhar (better know as Gangs in the fraternity) as the company’s CEO for APAC. Succeeding Essence’s Global CEO Kyoko Matsushita, who previously served as APAC CEO, Gangadhar will be responsible for driving continued client-centric innovation in data, analytics, and technology, as well as business growth and company culture across the agency’s fastest-growing region. Based out of Mumbai, Gangadhar will work closely with Essence’s global and APAC leadership teams, and will continue to report to Matsushita.
Gangs most recently served as President, Growth and Strategy, APAC for Essence, incharge of the agency’s business strategy, development, and growth. He first joined Essence in 2018 as Chairman, India after having held the role of Managing Director, South Asia at MEC and Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing at Sony Entertainment Television.
Said Matsushita: “Gangs’ extensive experience in the industry, his knowledge of Essence’s culture and our clients, and his vision for our business in the region make him the ideal person to lead us into our next phase of growth and innovation in APAC. As the most senior member of our regional leadership team, Gangs has done an outstanding job in partnering with me to navigate our business through the challenges of 2020 and I am truly excited about what we will be able to achieve with him at the helm in APAC going forward,” .
Added Gangadhar: “I am honoured to have the opportunity to lead this truly special agency in APAC. Essence is pioneering the use of data, analytics, and technology at a time when more and more companies are looking to take advantage of data-driven media and creativity. I am excited about leveraging our best-in-class capabilities to discover new ways to add value for our clients, consumers, and employees – in these current times and in the post-Covid-19 future ahead of us.”
India has been under a full lockdown since March 24, 2020. After three subsequent extensions, a relatively unsuccessful Unlock 1.0 & 2.0 in June and July, spikes in positive cases are forcing many Indian cities to go under full lockdowns, again.
As the economy degrows, unemployment rises and sales decreases and every subsequent FY21 GDP forecast is worse than the previous one, the future seems bleak and unlikely to bounce back soon.
Basis a GroupM report released in June 2020, India’s GDP will contract by 3.7% and subsequently overall advertising spends will decline by more than 20% this year. This follows, as advertising in current scenarios is an after-thought, with most companies focused on reviving production and distribution. The drop in advertising has led to unprecedented job losses in the ad-dependent media industry, so much so that industry body International Advertising Association (IAA) has been running a campaign, ‘Let’s Advertise’ to spur advertising, since June 2020.
The campaign seems to have made some impact – brands in the Health & Hygiene categories or those that can pivot their messaging to sound Covid-wise have started advertising. However, this is a small portion of the market, and for the economy to revive, brands which can afford to, should, play a bigger role in recovery.
As Keynesian economics espouses, spending spurs consumption during times of economic downturns. If brands (which can) spend monies, this will spur demand, and the money will help the economy as a whole. In such pandemic times, the messaging of many brands is irrelevant, a great way to remain visible is by running Public Service Announcements (PSAs) campaigns.
While a decade ago, PSAs were issued by govt bodies, with the advent of social media, brands regularly run socially relevant campaigns because they help the brand earn respect and hence brand equity while also doing social good. Due to their affirming messages, PSAs also have higher than average trend-worthiness, i.e. audiences share these ads more because it helps them feel good about themselves to do something socially relevant.
With the notable exception of Mumbai Police PSAs, most PSAs released by government bodies in India, are pedagogical spiels, which are not engaging, even when starring celebrities.
In March 2020, just as the lockdown was announced, the Maharashtra government released a pedagogical PSA on Covid-19 headlined by the biggest stars of Bollywood including Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, Ayushmann Khurrana, Alia Bhatt, Akshay Kumar etc. A month later, Sony launched a PSA with a similar Bollywood lineup but a much better storyline. (The PSA can be viewed here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQk0VrL2I-w
Short film – ‘Family’, conceptualised and virtually directed by Prasoon Pandey for Sony Network starring celebs from across the country used storytelling creatively to communicate the importance of staying at home. It was telecast in April 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju7ku–S6F4
Hence, in Covid-stricken times, effective PSAs can help brands kill many birds with one stone – create brand equity, earn public goodwill, spur good behaviour, meet annual CSR target spends as mandated by Indian law and, most importantly, help the economy recover. Earned goodwill will also spur trials for those whose loyalties lie with competitors.
Budget-struck brands can collaborate with other brands; conduct digital-only campaigns to give the push to the economy to help its recovery.
As brands with diverse target audiences release PSAs, different strata of society will get targeted which will help in overall compliance. This is backed by research conducted by 2019 Nobel laureates in Economics, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. In a paper released last month, they have shown that frequent celebrity messaging, in addition to the existent large-scale government messaging on Covid-19, can positively impact behaviour by nudging people to follow best practices. The research also shows that there are spillovers of good behaviour in the entire community even when a few are targeted.
In a CSR initiative, waiting to be replicated by national dailies, Kashmir ‘s Urdu newspaper Roshni, affixed a mask on the front page of the paper on July 20 to drive home the message about mask usage. Kashmir was under complete lockdown from 22-27 July, due to a rise in Covid cases.
VIRALITY TO BEHAVIOURIAL CHANGE
The challenge even for good PSAs is translating virality to behavioural change. The ease of communication brought on by social media has made armchair activists of the majority of the population. However, while these activists enable knowledge-sharing with other people they don’t bother much with acting upon the gained knowledge before moving on to the next trending topic. Which is why, despite the dangers of inobedience, many who wear a face mask, style it as a chin-guard.
Hence, brands should be careful to create PSAs which are not just a retelling of facts, but facts communicated in way to appeal to their targeted audience, whether it is through high quality storytelling, a new ‘Hook Step’ or a ‘Challenge’ which is creative enough to warrant sharing. Basis the research by Banerjee and Duflo, leveraging brand ambassadors signed on for lavish multi-year contracts will also help to drive behavioural change. So brands, any takers?
Bhuvi Gupta is a marketer with over 10 years across industries, of which the last six have been in Media & Entertainment. She has been a part of many launch marketing campaigns – specifically at the Times of India group, Republic TV and the latest in marketing a Bollywood film. She will write on A&M (mostly marketing, but often on advertising too). Her views here are personal. She tweets at @bhuvigupta3
A new brand safety report has been released by GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, offering new category-specific recommendations for marketers on the future of brand safety.
The report reveals how brand safety may evolve into the future within the context of political, social and technological shifts impacting brand safety at a high level. Then looks to specific challenges in five categories currently undergoing rapid transformation: Connected TV, Digital Out-of-Home, Location Data, Audio and Gaming.
Said John Montgomery, GroupM Global EVP, Brand Safety: “In the first six months of 2020 alone, CCPA has taken effect, Google announced they would be phasing out third cookies, the home stretch of the 2020 presidential campaign has come into full focus – increasing the attention on fake news – the world has been hit with a global pandemic and most recently protests related to racial inequality,” adding: “Each of these events marks a unique opportunity to continue to challenge our brand safety practices. And, as people continue to evolve in how they consume content, there is always opportunity to push the envelope to create an even safer, more trustworthy online world. We look forward to continuing to do that for our clients and partners.”
Some of the key items to consider in the evolution of brand safety:
• Policy shifts such as GDPR and CCPA, among many others around the world, have created a seismic ripple throughout the industry, the full effects of which are yet to be felt. As old measurement methodologies such as third-party cookies fall away, the industry has an opportunity to collectively create better standards.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has established a ‘new normal’ ‘digital first’ lifestyle for the majority of the global population. Consumption habits have changed (more news, gaming and streaming content). Where consumers go, advertising follows and, with it, new opportunities to strengthen brand safety measures arise. Aggressive keyword avoidance demonetizes online news, especially so during the Covid crisis, as the audiences increase and at a time when the public needs reliable information. Local news faces an existential crisis.
Fake news and technologies that create deepfake videos are growing more sophisticated and threaten to further erode institutional trust. Brands must be more proactive than ever in preserving their core assets and demand transparency in all transactions.
• Connected TV promises to command a larger share of budget in the coming years. However, measurement is fragmented across devices and publishers. Brands should demand greater transparency and interoperability among key players.
• Digital Out-of-Home is set to grow more advanced and complex as programmatic buying becomes more commonplace. While out-of-home has long been used for broad awareness, it remains an open question as to whether brands will have—or need—access to more granular targeting and measurement solutions.
• Gaming presents a huge opportunity in terms of audience, but brands must navigate a vast landscape of platforms, titles, player personalities and publisher relationships. Esports continues to grow in popularity, but brands must be aware of adjacency risks (violence and language, particularly). If people continue to stay home in the aftermath of the coronavirus, gaming audiences will retain some of the recent, rapid growth.
Added Christian Juhl, GroupM Global CEO: “Consumers and brands use technology to access media in new and interesting ways. As behaviours, habits and preferences shift with social factors, responsible brand safety requires a constant assessment of these changes and their impact on how brands continually earn consumer trust. GroupM has long acted as an industry advocate in shaping how we manage brand safety across new and established media partners. It’s never been more important than it is now, and we stand by our commitment with this latest guidance.”
Anupriya Acharya, CEO – South Asia, Publicis Groupe was elected President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2020-21 at its Annual General Body Meeting held in Mumbai on Monday. Ashish Bhasin, President of Advertising Agencies Association of India( AAAI), handed over charge to Acharya. Prasanth Kumar, CEO – South Asia, GroupM was unanimously elected Vice-President of the Association.
Added Bhasin: “I have had the privilege to lead AAAI for two years as its president, I wish to thank all my fellow executive committee members for their wholehearted cooperation and valuable support. I would also like to congratulate Anupriya Acharya on her election as President. Anupriya has been a key member of the Indian media and advertising industry for a long time. I’m sure she will play a stellar role in taking forward the Association and its work. I wish her the very best for this role.”
India has been under a full lockdown since March 24, 2020. After three subsequent extensions, a relatively unsuccessful Unlock 1.0 & 2.0 in June and July, spikes in positive cases are forcing many Indian cities to go under full lockdowns, again.
