Voltas has entrusted its media planning and buying responsibilities to the newly rebranded Havas Media, with digital at the core, in a multi-agency pitch including GroupM, Madison, Aegis and IPG.
Speaking on the appointment, Pradeep Bakshi, Chief Operating Officer, UBBG, Voltas, said, “We are happy to announce that Havas Media has been appointed as our Media Agency for our Room AC and other Unitary Products business. During the multi-agency pitch we were impressed by their capability to look beyond seasonality and traditional media. Their understanding of the category from a regional perspective was also very accurate. We look forward to working closely with them in our next phase of growth in the coming years.”
Anita Nayyar
“We are delighted to have Voltas as a part of our portfolio yet once again. It was a very tough but a ‘well-organized’ pitch with practically all the leading agencies in the fray. I am delighted that we have been able to demonstrate our capabilities through our insights and category understanding. I believe our extremely focused and well integrated effort made us win the business. While it is a great brand to be associated with, more importantly, they are a wonderful client to work with. This prestigious win is yet another very important milestone in Havas Media India’s ambitious growth plans,” said Anita Nayyar, CEO Havas Media, India and South Asia.
(L-R) Michel Sibony, Alfonso Rodes, Dominique Delport and Jordi Ustrell
Havas has announced another step forward with its integration strategy, simplifying its brands and structure.
The newly created ‘Havas Media Group’ will include all of Havas’s media agencies, consisting of Havas Media (operating in 126 markets, India included), within which its media brand MPG and its digital brand Media Contacts, also in India, will be fully incorporated and rebranded, and Arena Media (operating in 13 markets). The rebrand is supported by a new simplified structure that places its digital expertise and content marketing at the core of its operations. This move brings the media side of the business in line with the structure of Havas’s creative division, Havas Creative Group (composed of the Havas Worldwide global network and Arnold Worldwide micro-network).
Alfonso Rodes, Havas Media Group’s CEO, commented, “The explosion of digital media means that no one can afford to deliver a siloed approach to communications. This new media model integrates our digital expertise “at the core” of our organisation, promoting greater agility between all our teams and disciplines. It’s a simple yet progressive move that enables us to harness the digital transformation that has hit all types of media. By reorganising our teams, changing the lines of reporting and investing in building company-wide digital fluency, we put ourselves in a unique position in the industry. Our scale and simplicity allows us to present clients with a shared vision that meets consumer demand for more meaningful connections.”
The new media organisation allows Havas to continue its strategy to be the first major communications holding company to invest in establishing digital excellence at the centre of all its agencies around the world. The new structure will place its specialised units such as Artemis (the group’s global data management network), Mobext (mobile network), Socialyse (social media), and Affiperf (Havas’s global trading desk) so that they are more accessible to the teams from both Havas Media Group and Havas Creative Group.
On the content marketing side, Havas Sports & Entertainment will support this structure with its 36 international offices, India included. To support this move the Havas Media brand will be relaunched on January 24 with a new identity to reflect the tighter, more integrated organisational structure.
To manage this new organisation the group has formed a new executive committee managed by Mr Rodes. Dominique Delport, CEO of Havas Media France, is appointed as Global Managing Director Havas Media Group. Reporting to Mr Rodes, he will be in charge of the commercial activity for all countries and all brands, strategy, new business, digital integration and intelligence. Michel Sibony, “Global Head of Middle Office”, will manage all global planning and buying operations as well as the group’s digital and specialist offers. Jordi Ustrell, “Global Head of Back Office”, will oversee the global support services such as IT, HR, legal and finance
Mr Sibony said, “We need to guarantee our clients more consistency in every market and more speed in the delivery of this change to provide greater effectiveness and more efficiency when leveraging the new technological given by data management and technological platforms.”
Mr Delport explained, “Our clients need change and innovation more than ever because beyond media, digital affects any business with great opportunities but also potential disruption. Understanding the relationship between brands and consumers, especially for the growing digital generation, is essential. Our aim is to form a new company that lies at the intersection of the traditional international holding groups and the new style of innovative, digital companies. It’s an exciting challenge for our clients and our teams.”
Vishnu Mohan
Vishnu Mohan, CEO, Havas Media, Asia Pacific, added, “This rebranding couldn’t have been initiated at a better time from the Asia Pacific perspective. Clients in the region are looking for simplicity in agency structures and an integrated offering. The objective of our current rebranding is aligned to that expectation. The simplification of brands within our group furthers our aspiration of being the most agile and integrated agency group with digital at its core”.
Commenting on the development, Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media India, observed, “Media is today an evolving ecosystem where only change is constant. Digital is fluid across every platform from traditional to new age, so the concept of ‘digital at core’ is vital. It is not ‘only’ specialization but the dynamics of integration and knowledge synergies that will exploit it to advantage. Brands are asking for integrated communications to differentiate themselves; they need responsive and analytical services. In India, digital is a reality or aspiration for every Indian. Our integrated service offerings of media, outdoor, digital and mobile with the new platform will be better leveraged to the benefit and delight of our customers.”
Tensions of other sorts are usually forgotten when India and Pakistan meet on the cricket pitch. This time it is a battle of one-upmanship as the two countries are clashing after a gap of five years.
While the Indo-Pak series of three ODIs and two T20s is a short tour, it is creating enough ripples among cricket-crazy fans. What makes it more enthralling is the fact that India had beaten Pakistan in both formats of the game the last time they landed here during the 2007-08 tour. Of the three Tests that the two played against each other, India won the series 1-0, having drawn the remaining two. As for the ODIs, it was a 3-2 victory in favour of India that did the country proud.
While it was Saurav Ganguly who was at his superlative best in the Test series that enabled India to take the lead, it was the young Yuvraj Singh who shone with the bat in the ODI format, making him earn the prestigious man-of-the-series award.
Going by speculation doing the rounds, for broadcaster ESPN-Star the tournament was a success even before it took off. According to some reports, the channel has managed to sell out maximum inventory at two to three times (totalling more than Rs 1.5 billion) the rate compared to the just concluded India-England series. This augurs well for the network given that it has to pay Rs 322.5 million per match for the five match series.
Sanjay Kailash
To a query from MxMIndia, Sanjay Kailash, EVP, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, said, “We are delighted with the response from advertisers to the India-Pakistan series. India-Pakistan is always extremely sought after and the series therefore was sold at a premium. We have monetised India-Pakistan ODIs at a rate which is double as compared to the historical industry average. Even rates for India-Pakistan T20 are double than the most sought after T20 tournament in the country.”
Anilkumar Sathiraju
Sharing his excitement about the series, Anilkumar Sathiraju, AVP & Head, DDB MudraMax, Media, said that on the ratings front he expects the series to be a big hit. “It will be quite good. I am expecting it to be a positive and a good series. Ratings will definitely see a spike as it is India-Pakistan at the end of the day. The fact that a few advertisers are quite gung-ho about it makes it more exciting.”
Divya Gupta
Divya Gupta, CEO, Dentsu Media, too had some words of praise for the series irrespective of the fact that India had put up a drab performance in the recent past. She said,“An India-Pakistan series is in a realm of its own; evokes emotions, fervour and fever like none else. It doesn’t matter whatever Team India has achieved /not achieved in the recent past. It is a marquee game, event, media property that viewers and marketers and broadcasters are betting on; and deliver it will.”
Anita Nayyar
Giving a more detailed outlook on the series, Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media India & South Asia, said the fact that the series is taking place after many years is in itself a great pull. “From a viewing perspective three of the five matches are scheduled on holidays which will help the cause of viewing. Also the ODIs start at 8pm-primetime making viewers more available. In fact, most India-Pakistan matches have delivered ratings in the range of 5-6. This series should do similar numbers; however, with TAM data not being available the deliveries will be guess estimates.”
Ms Nayyar’s summation of the series is probably what will matter at the end of this historical sporting tie-up. “Ratings or no ratings, the competition between India and Pakistan has always generated huge interest for both viewers and advertisers, and is considered a safe investment. It is a good way to bid adieu to a tough year and a fine beginning to a new one.”
If the first T20 encounter between the India and Pakistan in Bengaluru last evening (Dec 25) was any indication, the contest on field is going to be tough. While every match going down to the wire may not be good news for weak hearts, it’s sure to see ratings soar. And advertisers and broadcasters happy.
Havas Media Asia Pacific has announced its appointment as the global media AOR of luxury hotel group Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. The agency has been tasked with handling the media planning and buying for the Hong Kong based hotel group, across all its markets and properties.
The agency won the business after a pitch process, which involved several media agencies including Starcom and OMD.
Pitch consultancy R3 managed the pitch process.
Havas Media was selected for its ability to deliver media innovations and strong integrated solutions. The hotel account will be led out of the agency’s Hong Kong operations.
Deryk Tang, Managing Director of MPG Hong Kong said: “This is an extremely exciting win for us and a testament to our extensive experience in the luxury and hospitality sector. We have a great synergy with the marketing team from Shangri–La.”
Stuart Clark, Managing Director of Havas Media International APAC, said: “Shangri-La Hotels is a brand synonymous with Asian luxury and hospitality. They have produced some really interesting campaigns over the last few years, taking the brand into a unique territory within the category. We will leverage all our specialist resources in International and Luxury marketing to help them build on that platform in 2013 and beyond.”
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts currently has 76 hotels and resorts throughout Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East and Europe and a room inventory of over 30,000. New hotels are under development in mainland China, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Turkey and United Kingdom.
Representational photograph (Kids participating in laughter therapy session in in Mumbai… Photograph by Fotocorp)
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By Ananya Saha
There was a time, not so long ago in the 1990’s, when the Sunday slot of Mahabharata and animated series meant family viewing or kids genre. Kids were allowed to watch TV with parental permission. And today, kids genre in television media is the third largest after Hindi GECs at 27.6 per cent and Hindi movies at 11.9 per cent according to the FICCI-KPMG 2012 report.
Anita Nayyar
Acoording to Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media, India & South Asia, the advent of Discovery Channel in 1999 saw a segment of kids watch it for education or interest. “Star World in 2004 had programmes like ‘Full House’ starring kids, but it was really post-2006 when kids became dominant. Their growing viewing needs and dedicated channels for them were addressed by various slots on various channels and some dedicated channels like Cartoon Network, Pogo, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Hungama, etc,” she points out. However, there is no denying the fact that there is not enough programming and print magazines for the young adult making them an underserved audience.
Nina Elavia Jaipuria, EVP and Business Head, Sonic and Nickelodeon India concurs, adding, “In terms of getting their daily dose of entertainment, this TG needs to flirt with options available across multiple platforms – be it TV, online or print.”
Sashwati Banerjee
Apart from television content, on the print content, Sashwati Banerjee, Managing Director, Sesame Workshop Initiatives India PLC added, “Books / print is another matter. This is not a generation that is growing up with print awareness and it is reflected by the recent ASeR report which showcases that children in Grade 5 are reading at Grade 2 level. There is a serious crisis in education, and reading, comprehending and fluency are critical indicators to children’s lifelong learning. There is a large number of publishers in India, but very few publish children’s books and a still smaller number specialize in publishing children’s books. Recent reports have indicated that ebooks have a higher growth potential. However, wider access is still an issue as these books require high end mobile devices (cell phones and tablets) to access and use.”
Nina Elavia Jaipuria
Catering to infants to kids upto eight-years, Galli Galli Sim Sim has evolved in multiple ways since it’s inception in 2006. It evolved the format from the classicSesame Streetmagazine style to a more narrative ‘block style’ based on research that children in India are more used to stories or narration. Considering that access to television is limited, Galli Galli Sim Sim produced a radio programme, that is being aired by 10 community radio stations to reach populations with critical messages around health, hygiene, literacy and girl child education.
Talking about Nicklodean and Sonic, Ms Jaipuria, said that Nickelodeon reaches out to 11 million kids pan India. “With media spends on kids channels approximately in the range of Rs 270cr, It is slated to grow further due to a slew of new channel launches in FY 13, she asserted. She also said that with the launch of Sonic in 2011, the investments in the kids genre has grown.
According to a recent E&Y study the children’s genre has emerged as the largest viewership segment after India’s general entertainment channel (GEC) sector. The segment comprised 18.3 per cent of the viewership among 4-14 year olds in 2011, as compared to 16.9 per cent in 2010. The study also states that advertising revenue generated by the children’s genre totalled Rs 2.4 billion in 2011, up from Rs 2 billion in 2010. This is attributed to the growth in the viewership in the children’s genre from 43 million in 2010 to 48 million in 2011. This segment focuses on its target audience through a total of 14 channels in the age groups of 2-4 years and 4-14 years, comprising the majority of the market, as well as 14-18 years.
The market for kids programming is huge, and the audience in this segment is growing. No wonder then that this November Zee launched ZeeQ, a 24×7 edutainment channel for kids aged 4-to-14-years. There are talks and suggestions of a DD Kids given Doordarshan’s reach. Kids seem to be pampered in the true sense and it is positive pampering.
Even as the category sees more entrants trying to woo the young audience, in terms of advertising pie, this genre ranks after general entertainment and sports. “We’ve seen a range of products and services making the kid the hero – from financial like insurance say an ICICI Smart Kids with the kid at the dinosaur museum or Bank of India with the kid putting his piggy bank in the locker to a flipkart.com with kid avatars of the elders contemplating a buy; simply because they are either targets or influencers and their starring role has the potential for breaking clutter. We’d estimate the kids ad-market between Rs.200crores to Rs.260crores. The pioneer in using kids to demonstrate pester power was Maruti Suzuki’s Esteem report card commercial,” elaborated Ms Nayyar.
With evolving societal structure as well as keenness on kid’s development for the future, Ms Nayyar predicts that “edutainment” will be the biggest driver in the category growth. Kids today are also more exposed .They are more amenable to instruction through entertainment. According to her, the vehicles that will drive the growth will be television, print and online, with online gaining lead.
“Word-of-mouth in this category has really been underestimated but here is a core audience for this marketing phenomenon,” said Ms Nayyar.
Challenges
Content creators and television channels for kids are increasingly experimenting with applications for cellphones and low-cost tablets and migrating content from a traditional linear medium such as TV to non-linear mediums to expand access to populations that need it the most as well as to enhance and enrich learning experiences for children. Notwithstanding the fact that the advent of digitization in India will be a key driver to the growth of the genre in the near future, mobile devices rather than the television set will be the primary driver to engage children in the future. “We’re seeing this change in theUSas well,” said Banerjee.
But the genre is facing very many challenges even as it looks at growth. As Ms Jaipuria points out:
– The kid’s category is still hugely under-indexed despite the category contributing 8% to viewership on an All India Level at 4+ age group. TV adsales are under 2% for this genre. Hence investments in the business are under pressure.
– The fragmentation in the kid’s category is increasing by the day with over a dozen players existing currently. This makes it possible for the broadcasters to offer differentiated content across genres and platforms.
– Kids as an audience are a tough bunch to target. They do not consume print and outdoor as primary consumers. A large chunk of the marketing investment is on BTL activities such as School Contact Programmes, Retail activation, direct consumer contact using multiple on-round vehicles which have an extremely high cost per contact.
– Distribution and carriage remains a challenge for this category.
Also, as Ms Banerjee explains, children today are “exposed to all kinds of programming especially in single TV homes. There is also extremely low awareness amongst parents on what children should view and what they should not. There is an imperative need to provide rating guidelines as well as awareness on how media affects children.”
While the experts believe that the greatest challenge is the creation of original content, or even good adaptation, quality is a major issue. There needs to be a very clear understanding of the sub-slice segment categories to contain the spill to international programmes, CDs and the online world as also increase the share of viewership of the media vehicle.
Says Ms Nayyar: “A lot of content and marketing is done and created for the Sec A and B but we miss a whole other India which invests heavily to educate its kids to give them another destiny. Here, affordable print with in-school promotions with reach beyond the creamy layer would create a whole new bottomline. Also, regional is a huge emerging market; again content with localization and language are opportunities and challenges. Content as always will be both the game player and game changer!”
The growth might also come from other content and entertainment avenues such as gaming. The only challenge is to tap into the potential with the right content.
MPG India, the media planning and buying network of Havas Media, has announced the appointment of Kavita Vohra as Associate Vice President Investments, MPG India.
Ms Vohra’s mandate will include heading buying for MPG Delhi with additional responsibility of Bangalore and Kolkatta. She joins with an experience of over 10 years in media planning and buying, having worked with several key accounts across categories.
Commenting on the appointment Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media, India & South Asia said, “MPG India has always been a growth leader in the region as we continue to expand our footprint and offerings to our clients. Kavita’s appointment will further strengthen our buying offering.”
Mohit Joshi, Managing Director, MPG India said, “We are very happy to have Kavita with us. Her strong understanding of the planning function makes her an ideal candidate for heading the buying function.”
“We are confident that with her wide and varied experience she will be able to bring in significant value to all our clients”, added Uday Mohan, Executive Director-North, MPG India, whom she will report into.
Starting her career at Lodestar working on Whirlpool, Ms Vohra moved to Cheil Communications and handled Hyundai and Samsung. Thereafter, her role involved TV buying for Nokia Mobiles at Group M, followed by buying for Nestle and a host of other clients at Zenith Optimedia. Commenting on her move, she said, “Heading the buying arm of MPG Delhi is a natural progression towards handling a bigger and more challenging portfolio of clients. I look forward to working with the team as the journey ahead surely looks very exciting.”
Havas Media Asia Pacific has announced the appointment of Gaetano Squillante as Head of Digital Strategy for the region. Based out of Singapore, Mr Squillante’s mandate includes leading the digital practices and platform led solutions for Havas Media in Asia Pacific.
Mr Squillante joins the agency with several years of experience in the digital marketing industry, having worked with well-known agencies and brands.
Prior to joining Havas Media, he was the Global Head of Social and Digital Media at adidas, responsible for building global digital ecosystem and platforms through partnerships and developing adidas’ global social media strategy. In his role at adidas, he was a key figure in the success of the brand’s 2010 World Cup campaign and has driven the development of the global social media team.
Commenting on his appointment, SK Biswas, Head of Strategy, Havas Media APAC, said: “Gaetano is a very welcome addition to the regional strategy team. He brings in a unique skill set of understanding not just the digital ecosystem but also what really delivers for a brand. He is a cool head and brings in “walk-the-talk” philosophy and approach.”
Gaetano started his career with Havas Digital (Media Contacts) London office. Prior to working with adidas he was with OMD Digital as an Account Director and MEC as Director of Integration. Outside adidas, he has worked on Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft, Peugeot, Intel & Accenture.
After a fabulous five-year stint at Havas Media, Anita Nayyar is returning to the agency post a four-month stint at Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL). The news of her joining BCCL as Director, Customer Strategy was seen as a big leap and an opportunity for her to be on the other side of the table. Her decision to come back and reclaim her old role as the CEO for Havas Media for India and South Asia hence came as a surprise. The fact that post has been vacant ever since she left in April this year evidently made it easier.
On her part, Ms Nayyar maintains that she was missing the pace of her agency life; after all she has been with media agencies for more than two-and-a-half decades. “There was nothing wrong at BCCL. In fact, it was an interesting assignment and BCCL is a fantastic organization and they took good care of me. However, I have realized that my heart lies in being on the other side of the table and that is on the agency side,” she told MxMIndia.
“In fact, the stint made me understand the issues from a publication point of view which often we fail to see as we have not been a part of it. It gave me an opportunity to see a new side of business and will surely help me in the way ahead,” she added.
CVL Srinivas
CVL Srinivas, Chairman, SMG India and MD, LiquidThread, APAC, moved to Private Treaties at BCCL after Maxus and now with SMG. Talking about his moves, Mr Srinivas said: “I moved at a time when I was to head to Singapore to run Maxus Asia-Pacific. I had chosen a successor to head Maxus India and completed the handover, so it was a good time to sit and evaluate career options. Having worked in media agencies for 13 years on the trot, I felt it was time to get out of my comfort zone and explore the world outside. I had always done roles that involved scaling up businesses, building teams, so I thought working with or for start-ups would be a good way to build on my strengths and yet do something different.
On the stint at Private Treaties (now called Brand Capital) ending soon, Mr Srinivas commented, “I consulted for a few start-ups before joining Times Treaties where I had a two year stint. In all, I was outside of media agencies for a good four years. I chose to come back because of the role that was offered to me by SMG. It seemed to have all the right ingredients at that stage of my career.”
It is not uncommon of an advertising person to move to the client side of the business but only few switch to the media side of the business (print and broadcast primarily) and more importantly even rarer come back to the agency once again. However, as we understand that it’s not the case of sour grapes for comebacks.
Karthik Lakshminarayan
Karthik Lakshminarayan, COO at Crest (Madison Media) re-joinedMadisonwhere he had worked for close to eight years post his foray into broadcast and production when he was with Colors, FoodFood and Fremantle Media. For him the decision to join broadcast was, as he puts it: “A challenge thrown to be a part of a launch and do something completely different and radical from Media Planning and Buying which I was doing for over 14 years and was adept at.”
However, the decision to come back was, “purely because it was Madison as it was a home-coming. Any other agency would not have been the same or felt the same.”
A senior industry person who had been in a similar situation pointed that while hiring an agency person is desirable for media houses as they come with multiple experience of working on various brands, but the difficulty begins once you are inside the publication or broadcast company. There is a huge cultural difference, because the kind of monies the media houses deal with is humongous as compared to what the agencies deal with. In his words: “The agency people are bound by certain set of responsibilities, it’s like a relay race where you do your work and then hand the baton to the next yet at the same time be part of a team, however the media house is huge and set of responsibilities diverse hence making the transition becomes difficult. Also, one could be a CEO of the agency and be well recognized but the same person will get lost in the media house where there are many biggies ruling the roost.”
Suresh Balakrishnan
Talking of the scale of business being different, Suresh Balakrishna who joined back LMG as CEO of Brand Programming Network after a decade of being with print explained, “The media houses definitely means operating on much bigger canvas and the scale of monies involved being huge. You learn to be a business man as there are hard trade-offs and you need to take hard calls on driving the bottom line as well as the top line. So the pressure involved in definitely higher. ”
While that’s the view of people who have made a comeback, the recruiters have a different take. An advertising industry recruiter on anonymity said: “I can’t really think of many who have made a transition and then come back to the media agency. Yes for us, those willing to come back especially at senior level are good prospects for recruitment considering the dearth of talent besides they are value for money. There is comfort in coming back to your old set up.”
However she added: “I do think that people who are willing to come back are usually those who are having a tough time in their current set up.”
On the other hand, those who made the switch and then came back to agency feel that the experience only helped them in their career. As Mr Srinivas puts it: “I learnt a lot at BCCL. Firstly, to get a first-hand experience of being on the media owner side was very helpful. Secondly, I worked with some very fine minds at Private Treaties and got a much better understanding of how businesses are built and brands created from scratch. And being part of India’s largest media company (when one is not used to such scale on the agency side) was a huge learning in itself.”
Mr Balakrishna too added, “The learnings at media houses have been immense as I had joined HT around 2001 which was a time when media houses were just getting professional in their approach and this was an aggressive phase of growth. Mint and DNA were challenger brands as they were not the leaders so one had to be literally on our toes thinking all the time to take away whatever possible from competition to establish ourselves.”
However he added that his decision to join back was primarily because he felt that while he had acquired depth of learning he was missing the width of learning that an agency offers. One gets to work on different categories and with market becoming increasingly competitive and clients keeping a vigil on ROI the media agency business has become only more organized and scientific in their approach.
MPG Media Contacts, Singapore, the flagship brand of Havas Media, have won the global media planning and buying duties of investment company Temasek Holdings. The agency won the business after a closed door pitch with incumbent OMD.
MPG Media Contacts currently handles the regional media business of one of Temasek’s portfolio company in Singapore – DBS Bank. The agency’s experience on DBS business in particular and financial category in general played an important role in this appointment.
Melvin Lim, CEO of Havas Media Singapore said: “We are elated to be given the opportunity to manage the strategic media services of Temasek Holdings and, by extension, to propagate the success of one of our globally renowned national wealth management organisations. We found a common ground to synergistically contribute to Temasek’s marketing outreach goals because of the deep-set experience we already have in the financial and business sectors.”
Mr Lim attributed the win to “a team which understands the media consumption from the person-on-the-street up to the upper strata, captains of industries. We demonstrated our ability to apply our strategies to good effect for Temasek.”
Incorporated in 1974, and based inSingapore, Temasek is supported by 11 affiliates and offices in Asia and Latin America.
Havas Media, the world’s fastest growing media group has announced its majority stake in Zurich based media group, Mediaxis MPG. The move follows a relationship fostered by the group’s MPG brand over the past nine years and places Havas Media as one of the top ranking media operations in the Swiss market. Mediaxis MPG will remain as the group’s main operational brand.
“The Swiss market is a key market for Havas Media and I am delighted that following a prosperous 9-year relationship, the management team have decided to further commit to the group and officially join our other 122 markets worldwide,” said Alfonso Rodes, CEO Havas Media.
Mediaxis MPG, a leading qualitative media agency within the Swiss market, has a roster of clients including Reckitt Benckiser, Danone, Lindt, Barclays and Hermes who will continue to benefit from Havas Media’s respected tools, methodologies and thought leadership programmes. The founder, Peter Hofstetter will remain as Chairman, and member of the Executive Committee. The management of the company will remain on-board as key elements on the new long-term joint expansion plan.
“We have all prospered as a result of our partnership and joining the Havas Media team is a natural step in further strengthening the group’s operations in the Swiss market. The existing management team have committed to driving this group forward and look forward to continuing to benefit from Havas Media’s tools and wider thought leadership activity such as its Meaningful Brands framework,” said Peter Hofstetter, Chairman of Mediaxis MPG.
Havas Digital, the umbrella group that manages all of Havas Media’s digital assets, including interactive media group Media Contacts, mobile marketing specialist Mobext, and creative interactive network Archibald Ingall Stretton, amongst others, announced that ex-Google advertising Search expert, Alan Boughen has been named SVP, Global Search Director, effective immediately.
Based in London, and reporting directly to Rob Griffin, EVP Global Director of Product Development, Mr Boughen is charged with managing and developing the Search product within the agency. Mr Boughen will be managing Havas Digital’s search partners and building stronger relationships with the agency’s global clients, with a strong focus on continued development of search services and teams.
Mr Boughen joins Havas Digital from Google where he was a Global Agency Business Leader. He was responsible for managing Google’s strategy and relationships with some of the world’s largest media and advertising agency networks.
Prior to joining Google in March 2008, Mr Boughen spent over 7 years in senior search marketing roles at WPP companies in the UK and US. Mr Boughen launched and led the US operations of NeoSearch@Ogilvy, the search marketing division of Ogilvy’s digital and direct media global network, where he managed a large team of search marketing experts running SEM campaigns for Ogilvy’s Fortune 1000 clients.
Before working in search marketing, Mr Boughen held positions with AIG and Whirlpool where he gained a background in information technology, business analysis and project management.
“The search landscape is evolving at an extremely fast pace and advertisers are demanding more sophisticated solutions in order to stay relevant. In order to meet the needs and requirements of our clients, we need best in class tools and the most knowledgeable professionals. We have known Alan for a long time, and we are convinced he will add a new level of strategic leadership to the team, and will help define our Search capabilities going forward,” said Mr Griffin.
Mr Boughen added: “I look forward to becoming a part of the Havas Digital team. By combining my search experience with the advanced search capabilities of Havas Digital, I will ensure all of our clients get the results they’ve come to expect.”
The media has been agog with news of the two looking at options beyond the relationship, only for them to dodge the belief. But all doubts were put to rest on Monday when media giant Ananda Bazaar Patrika (ABP) finally announced it was shedding the Star branding from its slew of channels.
Star India and ABP agreed to discontinue the Star brand affiliation with Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS). Of the many reasons that were doing the rounds, the one that was loud was discontent over editorial content, leading to the two calling it quits. Star had reportedly served notice in January 2012 (see Mediaah!).
As a result of this decision, Hindi news channel, STAR News will now be rechristened ABP News, while Bengali news channel STAR Ananda will become ABP Ananda and Marathi news channel STAR Majha will be called ABP Majha. The three 24-hour news channels are owned by the Media Content and Communications Pvt Ltd (MCCS) – a joint venture between the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group and STAR India Pvt Ltd. MCCS, formed in March 2003, is a 74:26 joint venture between ABP TV and STAR News Broadcasting.
While the move will enable ABP to venture out in the news broadcast space on its own as it wishes to promote and establish its own brands through its subsidiary company – MCCS, for Star the focus will be on building their brand on their core business, i.e. general entertainment. A release issued on behalf of Star Group read: Given the current regulatory environment and structural issues ailing the Indian cable and satellite television market and the news genre in particular, Star took this extremely difficult decision to withdraw its brand from the genre.”
According to the release, the discontinuation will come in effect in phases from a period of 2-4 months and the partners will work together to ensure a smooth transition during this period.
Speaking to MxMIndia Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, MCCS, said, “No, it’s not a set back at all. With the Marathi and Bengali channels, Majha and Ananda as suffixes are unique and have grown in popularity and acceptance. Of course, that’s not the case with Hindi where the suffix is ‘News’ and hence generic. So, yes, Hindi is a challenge on a relative scale, but not so with Marathi and Bengali. (see interview)”
But while the three channels have identified a name for themselves in the respective markets and have been engraved in the minds of the viewers for a long time, it will be interesting to see how a name change exercise will impact the course for the network over a period of time.
“The first 180 days of a brand name change are the most crucial and critical days. It is in these frenetic days of frenetic brand activity that a name change can be made successful or not,” writes note brank expert and consultant Harish Bijoor in an exclusive analysis on the name change for MxMIndia. “No wonder then that you see a flurry of advertising activity that goes in to establish a new name solidly in the mind of the consumer.”
Drawing implications over the new announcement, Anita Nayyar, CEO India & SouthAsia, Havas Media said that the popularity of the channels may take a beating if they toy around with the content and if the change is not expressed loudly and clearly to the viewers. “One will have to assess the extent to which the two have called a split in partnership. But if you see the association, Star, as such is a name that has been engraved in the minds of the people for a long time, and therefore it will be tough for the viewers to overnight respond to the change in a positive way. If they announce the change in a big way and do tremendous activity and promotions around it and create awareness levels, then only will the audience respond to the change. Otherwise past examples have shown that no matter how big a brand or name, if the change in name is not relayed properly to the masses, it will see a decline in popularity and fortunes.”
On the impact it would have on the advertisers, she said: “It will be a wait-and-watch game for the advertisers. I feel the current deals will go on as scheduled but new deals will depend on what the change will hold in store for the brand.”
Mona Jain, CEO, Vivaki Exchange, said: “I don’t see the change having any impact on the popularity or the ratings as such. First, one will have to see what is the exact nature of the deal? If the team and other infrastructure related activity remains the same then there wouldn’t be an impact as such. Also, what is important is the quality of content that is played on these channels. If there is no change from the previous deal, then the viewer will continue to stick to the channels the way they used to earlier. We will have to see how it pans out over the course of time.”
According to Tarun Nigam, Executive Director, India North, Starcom Worldwide, this could be an opportune time for ABP to make a name for itself in this arena. “I don’t see this development having any impact on what is currently being offered. If the content remains the same, if there is no breakdown in team and so on, then it shouldn’t matter at all. In fact I think this is a perfect opportunity for ABP to finally make a name for themselves in the news broadcast space, as they already are a big name in the print space. They, anyways, are a very strong and deep-rooted organization and have sustained themselves as a commendable force to reckon with.”
According to Nigam, in a market like Kolkata where ABP are a dominant force, this deal will enable ABP to showcase more regional offerings that they specialize in, which will only catapult the interests of the viewers at large. “One will have to wait and see what will be effects of the change in other markets like Maharashtra,Delhiand others. For all you know, ABP might just emerge a stronger player in these markets as well.”
The ball, for now, seems to be in ABP’s court as they finally get to pursue their dream of going solo and 360-degree in the news space. With healthy ratings and a roster of loyal advertisers willing to cling on to them, the priority for ABP is now to endorse an enduring message to one and all and go loud with their promotional activities announcing the new shift. Till then it is wait-and-watch.
Havas Media Asia Pacific has announced its appointment as the global media AOR of luxury hotel group Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. The agency has been tasked with handling the media planning and buying for the Hong Kong based hotel group, across all its markets and properties.
Havas Media was selected for its ability to deliver media innovations and strong integrated solutions. The hotel account will be led out of the agency’s Hong Kong operations.
By A Correspondent
By A Correspondent