Tag: Idea

  • Debrief: Idea: Dil khush ho gaya, Sirji!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Nice, heart-warming Diwali ad from Idea. And the idea is so pleasing, this commercial can run long after the festival is over. That’s because it promotes communal harmony, which is very refreshing to see in desi advertising; this task is usually left to Bollywood films.

     

    In the TVC, a Muslim man likes a ladies watch he spots inside a shop window. But his excitement turns to sadness when he discovers the hefty price. The dealer points out that it’s Diwali and therefore there’s a 50 percent discount on offer. The chap is elated. He purchases the watch and quickly sends a pic to his beloved through the cell phone.

     

    Good idea, Sirji! This is a lovely public service ad, and therefore the brand benefits in more ways than one. Tremendous goodwill generated for Idea. Superb example of how to lift an otherwise ordinary Diwali discount ad. In fact, I think Idea should make this concept their own, and run similar ads during various fests. Aside from the brand gaining in the process, any attempt to bridge religious divide in this nation must be whole-heartedly supported.

     

    As a Diwali bonus, I did not spot Small B in this commercial, hope they’ve dumped him. Tells you when you have a powerful idea, you don’t need these pseudo celebs.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgZm9z3PgEg[/youtube]

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 4.5 Warm, endearing treatment. And a powerful idea.

     

  • Sony rolls out 360-deg campaign for KBC’s Sept launch

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kaun Banega Crorepati is back, and with the tagline – ‘Sirf Gyaan Hi Aapko Aapka Haq Dilata Hai’. This year’s theme revolves around the power of knowledge. The campaign which has been conceptualized by Leo Burnett will have four TVCs, each of which have a different story to tell. Two of the commercials are already on air, the second TVC was aired on July 26, the third TVC will be aired by next week and the fourth TVC will be aired around August 10.

     

    This year’s campaign is said to be an extension of KBC’s previous two seasons, namely, ‘Koi Bhi Sawaal Chhota Nahi Hota’ and ‘Koi Bhi Insaan Chhota Nahin Hota’. The idea is about giving the audience a hope irrespective of their circumstances and the discrimination they faced, and that through KBC they will be able to get their due.

     

    A 360 degree campaign will be rolled out wherein nearly 40 per cent of the marketing budget would be skewed towards cinema and television; 30 per cent will be spent on Out-of-Home and Print campaigns and the remaining 30 per cent will be spent on Digital, Radio and other BTL activities.

     

    Following the television commercials, by mid-August, digital and other media campaigns will also be aired. The details of the campaigns were not known at the time of filing the report; however it is learnt that Sony wants to create a different user experience for the online users through its digital campaigns.

     

    While the execution of the digital campaign is said to be completely different from television commercials, the story and the theme of the campaign will continue to be the same across media vehicles. OOH campaign for KBC also promises to be highly innovative and engaging to the audience. WhileMedia Circleis the OOH creative agency, Leo Burnett is the creative agency and OMD is the media agency for Sony Entertainment Television.

     

    The latest season of KBC is expected to commence by the end of August or beginning September with nearly 52 episodes and duration of 1.5 hours. In addition to this, KBC 2012 is said to have witnessed a record 1.5 crore registration in the phase I of the campaign as compared to 46 lakh registrations last year. In fact, last season KBC is said to have received an average TVR of 4.8 per cent. Cadbury is the presenting sponsor of KBC 2012, powered by Idea.

     

    Danish Khan, Senior Vice President and Marketing Head, SET said: “This year’s KBC campaign celebrates the power of knowledge. Our brief to Leo Burnett was to bring this thought alive with real people in real context. The campaign’s philosophy is a common man’s philosophy and is relevant to today’sIndia. The campaign thought captures the value of the show. We aim to reach out to a larger set of audience and provide common man a unique chance to change his destiny.”

     

    Nitesh Tiwari, National Creative Resource, Leo Burnett, Mumbai said: “Having done two successful campaigns in the past – ‘Koi Bhi Sawaal Chhota Nahi Hota’ and ‘Koi Bhi Insaan Chhota Nahin Hota’, it wasn’t an easy task for me and my team to come up with something equally interesting, if not better.  The thought is delivered in its characteristic style, will pan out with four films each with a distinct story talking about the biases of gender, lineage and language, showcasing different characters and their situations in life that will engage, entertain and bring alive the core thought of this season.”

     

    Mr Anup Vishwanathan, Executive Vice President, Leo Burnett, Mumbai said: “The KBC campaign identifies with the hope that people have in them. And that’s the factor we wanted to leverage in our campaign. This also in sync with brand SET that is all about positive emotions.”

     

     

  • Wow Awards 2012 ends on a high note

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Gitanjali WOW Awards 2012 were held on April 26 at Bhavan’s College Ground in Andheri, Mumbai. The WOW Awards were instituted in 2009 by Eventfaqs to celebrate excellence in events, entertainment and live experience creation.

     

    The fourth edition of the WOW Awards witnessed awards being presented in a total of 27 categories. The title sponsor for the WOW Awards 2012 was Gitanjali, while Giftyaar.com and Wings Group of Cos. were the co-sponsors. The awards show was powered by Idea.

     

    The awards ceremony opened with Sachin Gupta performing the WOW anthem. Hemant Malik, COO – Trade and Distribution, ITC Ltd. and EEMA President Brian Tellis took to the stage to address the audience in the inaugural segment.

     

    There were performances by Pakistani band Junoon, Sophie Choudhry with Sumit Vinod’s dance troupe, a special percussion act by DJ King, Terrence Lewis along with the Terrence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company and the finale act was by Bollywood actor Chitrangada Singh also backed by Sumit Vinod’s dance troupe.

     

    At the event, Gitanjali launched The Great Indian Wedding Carnival, a mega shopping festival dedicated to the wedding season. Actor Aditi Rao Hydari made a glamorous entry on stage with a doli. Aditi Rao Hydari and Gitanjali Gems CFO Kaushik Shah unveiled the The Great Indian Wedding Carnival logo on stage.

     

    Kaushik Shah, along with Raj Naik, CEO of Colors, Viacom 18 and Shri Krishna Hegde, MLA, Vileparle presented the WOW LIVE Film Personality award to Ayushman Khurana.

     

    Television personality Mini Mathur and actress Tisca Chopra were the hosts of the ceremony which also saw a special segment hosted by Roshan Abbas and Brian Tellis and another by RJ Malishka.

     

  • Border War Face Off gets one million downloads on Nokia

    By A Correspondent

     

    Border War Face-off, an arcade game made on patriotic lines by Jump Games (a part of Reliance Entertainment Digital and a leading developer and distributor of mobile games) was released in October 2011 across all leading operators like Vodafone, Docomo, Reliance, Idea, and others.

     

    The game is to save Mother India from enemies’ invasion by playing a courageous soldier defending our borders from an enemy invasion. This game is Jump’s own IP and is extremely popular among the youth gamers. The figures have been good from the very beginning but in mid-February Jump decided to ad wrap this game and put it up on Nokia OVS stores and by mid-March the game had over one million downloads.

     

    Since then Jump’s social website pages have been flooded with user requests to add innovations to the game. After the over whelming success of Border War Face Off and persistent user request Jump has now come up with the sequel called Border War-LOC.

     

    Border War Line of Control is the modern day rendition of an arcade classic. The gamer, as an Indian soldier, will have to protect the Indian borders with a new age weapon, Super Cannon.

     

    The various features of the game are:

    • A classic arcade game with very vivid and crystal clear graphics
    • A huge diversity in the type of enemies
    • Easy to use controls

     

    Speaking about this particular launch of the game, Chaitanya Prabhu, Business Head India, Jump Games said: “The game ideation started around august last year. We wanted to create games which are suitable for Indian audience and tap the Indian mentality, sensitivity and lifestyle. The game Border war, as the name suggests is based on patriotic lines with some great visual graphics. Jump has always believed in the motto of Think Global – Play Local. Now seeing the over whelming response of Border War -Face Off we have made a sequel to the same called Border War -LOC. It has a very engaging game play and we are expecting a similar or better response for the same.”

     

    The game, priced at Rs 50, will be available on all leading operators like Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, Docomo.

     

    Jump Games is a leading International developer and publisher of mobile games, apps and content. It is an integral part of Reliance Entertainment (Digital Business). Jump’s foray and expertise lies into the media and entertainment space.

     

    Jump’s experience and expertise in creating innovative and cutting-edge gaming content reflects in its client roster, which sports some of the best brands from across the world – Codemasters, GLU, Playboy Hands On / Connect 2 Media, Honest Entertainment (Fido Dido), Coca-Cola, Cartoon Network, and Konami to name a few.

     

    The company develops content across leading wireless platforms and its catalogue includes leading titles like Ben 10: Battle of the Omnitrix, Bloons, Putt-Putt Golf 3D, ICC World Cup, Ashes Cricket.

     

    Distributed across the US, Europe, South Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia, Jump’s content can be accessed through 80 leading networks across 40 countries as well as global AppStores.

  • IPL 5: Online ticket sales picking up pace

    By Ameya Chumbhale

     

    If ticket sales of the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League are anything to go by, India is certainly not cricket fatigued.

     

    Mumbai Indians, which began its online sales on March 1, claims to have sold close to a third of its tickets already. Some of these tickets are priced as high as Rs40,000 – the most expensive among all teams.

     

    Pune Warriors (PWI) and IPL winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK), as well as Delhi Daredevils are also doing good business, said bookmyshow’s chief executive officer Ashish Hemrajani. Bookmyshow is the online agent for five IPL teams, including Mumbai Indians (MI).

     

    Online sales are critical to the success of the IPL as stadium sales usually commence only a few days before the match. “Last year, we sold close to 60per cent of our ticket inventory online through thermal printing which enables us not to have restriction on quota for online sales. This means the system allows us to print tickets similar to international practices and also allows the Mumbai Indians fans to choose their own seats,” said an MI spokesperson.

     

    Hemrajani says bookmyshow has already sold 50,000 tickets this year. “Mumbai and Pune are doing really well, while ticket sales of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab have picked up over the last two days,” he added.

     

    The inaugural match on April 4, between the CSK and MI in Chennai, is sold out. Chandrabhan, general manager, marketing at Chennai SuperKings said online tickets for the second and third matches are also sold out. CSK has kept 60 per cent tickets for on-ground sales as “Chennai is known for fans queuing up to buy (movie and cricket match) tickets,” he added.

     

    Since the first IPL season, on-ground ticket sales and television viewership have moved in tandem, say media planners. “Both went up for the first three years of IPL, and both came down last year. The link is very strong between the two,” said Ajit Varghese, managing director (South Asia), media agency Maxus and Motivator.

     

    Multi Screen Media, the company that operates Sony Max, which broadcasts IPL matches, has signed six sponsors till date. Among them are Vodafone, Pepsi, Hyundai, Idea and Tata Photon. It had nine sponsors last year. MSM, according to sources who did not want to be named, has sold only about 50-60 per cent of the ad inventory until now as against 75-80 per cent around the same time in 2011.

     

    According to industry sources, MSM is charging around Rs5 lakh per 10 seconds and they expect it to rise if television viewership goes up in the first seven to eight matches.

    MSM president Rohit Gupta confirmed that the company had signed six to seven sponsors and some of them have come on board for deals valued at over Rs40 crore.

    “We have sold nearly 70 per cent of the ad inventory and expect it to reach 80 per cent before going into the tournament,” said Mr Gupta who is confident of filling up the ad spots, as it will take only a sponsor or two more to do so.

    Generally, associate sponsors get a certain percentage of the ad inventory as a part of the deal.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Has IPL become too expensive for advertisers?

    By Rishi Vora

     

    After Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international cricket on March 9, senior journalists, fellow cricketers and fans pondered over the future ofIndiaas far as test cricket was concerned. While that’s an issue selectors for the Indian cricket team have to sort out soon, officials from IPL and Multi Screen Pvt Ltd have to come up with real quick ideas to woo key advertisers, so that they remain invested in the property, especially after the 10 per cent hike in the ad rates for Season 5.

     

    The 10 per cent hike in ad rates means that advertisers will have to pay upwards of Rs5 lakh per 10 second spot. Last year, afterIndia’s fabulous performance in the World Cup, MSM hiked ad rates by about 25 per cent.  The season delivered an average rating of 3.91, lowest ever in four seasons.

     

    So season 5 was always going to be a challenge considering the slowdown andIndia’s continued poor run inAustralia. However, despite these challenges, MSM has managed to rope in a few sponsors already. Pepsi, Vodafone, Tata Photon and Idea have been signed on as sponsors and, furthermore, the broadcast partner is in process of finalising a few more deals.

     

    But, as a matter of fact, there are a few advertisers who have raised concerns over low returns against large investments on IPL and two amongst those – LG Electronics India and Godrej that have been sponsors from the start of the tournament have decided to pull out this year. They don’t think it’s worth the money anymore.

     

    LG Electronics India’s Chief Marketing Officer, L K Gupta told MxMIndia: “It is true that we’ve opted out of IPL this year. While it is the single largest property on TV, the fact of the matter is that there is only a certain level to commit marketing funds and the return we get in terms of TRPs does not really justify the high level of spending. Last year we felt the pinch, so we decided to stay out this year.”

     

    Godrej too is said to have opted out on similar grounds.

     

    Maruti Suzuki, which as a policy spends about 23 per cent on sports every year, of which cricket commands a reasonable share, has always restrained from being associated with IPL. Shashank Srivastava, Chief Marketing Officer explained his stance: “We invested in the World Cup last year. We don’t invest in IPL because for a company like ours, one needs to put in a lot of spike. IPL gives you good reach. In terms of viewership, it gives you good returns for 5-6 weeks which is something ideal for new launches or new product offering. So the money which goes in on buying IPL, and in return what you get for a brand like Maruti is not much.”

     

    A senior media professional who requested anonymity said that India’s richest league commands nothing less than Rs65 crore for presenting rights and Rs45 crore for being an associate sponsor. He said: “This is serious money you’re talking about. They (MSM) have increased by 10 per cent on ad rates, and they are under tremendous pressure to cut down further.”

     

    Nitin Jain, Co-Founder, DoMor Communications said the broadcast partner will eventually have to come down to last year’s price which was around Rs4.5 to 4.75 lakh per 10-second spot. “I’m sure the broadcaster is in talks with many clients, but from what I understand, it is going to be a game of who blinks first.”

     

    Buying his point is Nimbus sports COO Yannick Colaco who said: “I think advertisers are just waiting to see if the rates can be brought down. It’s pretty usual for advertisers to do this as a practice to get better deals out of the broadcaster.  IPL is a big tournament and advertisers will eventually look to advertise on a property of that scale, so I think it’s just a matter of time before they (MSM) sell out and a formal announcement is made.”

     

    It is learnt that MSM has initiated talks with Cadbury, but it is not entirely clear if the chocolate brand has signed the deal officially. On-ground sponsors for season 5 are DLF, Hero Motocorp, Karbonn Mobiles and Volkswagen.

     

    Set Max officials could not be reached but it is said that this year the attempt is also to sell smaller packages of 20-25 matches to cash in on advertisers with limited budgets. Also, it is not leaving any stone unturned in promoting the mega event. It is believed that a whopping Rs45 crore is being spent to bring the IPL fever back among viewers.

     

    It will be interesting to see how things turn out to be for all stakeholders of the mega property.