Visa has launched its new brand campaign ‘Reimagine India’. Crafted by BBDO, the ad is based on the platform for Visa in India- “You reimagine India. We reimagine payments’. The campaign is driven through a robust 360-degree approach that spans TV, OOH, social and digital mediums.
Said CMO Manmeet Vohra: “In this new age digital India, consumers, especially millennials, do not recognise barriers and want to use technology to lead a friction-less life. As a brand, Visa is an enabler. It is an enabler of dreams, promises and aspirations as it seamlessly moulds into the unbound lives of progressive Indians and making them feel free, unencumbered and in total control by providing them reimagined payment experiences as they #ReimagineIndia.
Added Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Office, BBDO India: “Visa is creating a friction-less world of digital money so that people can go about their lives smoothly and without everyday payment interruptions. Our work dramatises the brand’s mission in the context of a new India that is re-imagining itself as it evolves and breaks from the past. The campaign is inspired by transformational stories of ageless progressive Indians today who are reimagining every aspect of life. Visa, embodies this ‘unbound’ spirit that’s leading today’s India Reimagined. So, while you reimagine India, Visa continues to reimagine payments,â€
Quaker’s new ‘Fuel for the Real Fit’ campaign celebrates young Indians doing regular jobs like a teacher or a doctor, who effortlessly multi-task each day, and establishes Quaker as the fuel that empowers them to find the energy to keep doing more.
Speaking about the new campaign, Deepika Warrier, ‎Vice President – Nutrition Category, PepsiCo India said, “The new Quaker ‘Fuel for the Real Fit’ campaign celebrates the spirit of ‘real fit’ ordinary individuals who lead extraordinary lives. They have the passion and determination to go above and beyond each day, and Quaker is the perfect morning fuel to provide them the energy to do more each day. We feel the campaign is powerful in its simplicity, and will connect with all consumers who manage to do so much each day, and yet seek to do more.â€
Added Neeraj Ghaywan of SeeOn Films: “For the Quaker Fuel for the Real Fit films, we chose to tell the stories of an ER doctor and a play-school teacher, someone everybody can relate with. Apart from showing sincerity and passion towards their work, they show dogged commitment. And in these films, we set our everyday heroes in their natural environment, as they are. For me, it is about acknowledging the dignity that we all seek. It is truly fulfilling to go an extra mile at work when you feel happy about it. Real fitness helps us in going at it.â€
Speaking about the films, Josy Paul, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, BBDO said: “We are building on the growing emotional equity of Quaker Oats in India with a new campaign called ‘Fuel for the real fit’. ‘Real fit’ is not about superficial fitness or fancy six pack abs. ‘Real fit’ is about the boundless purposeful energy and the inner resilience of everyday people, not just sportspersons. It’s about today’s tireless youth who drum up the strength and determination to outperform themselves. In our films – part of a series – we salute the spirit of teachers and doctors who go through intense physical strain and mental stress – more than most sportspeople – so that they can do more for society.  The films convey the ‘real fit’ philosophy and showcase Quaker Oats as the fuel that keeps them going.â€
BBDO India chairman and chief creative officer Josy Paul will head the outdoor advertising jury as Jury Foreman at the 2017 D&AD Professional Awards. This was unveiled along with names of other jury foremen and women and the announcement that the 55th annual D&AD Professional Awards are now open for entry.  Although there haven’t been any new category additions, there are some notable changes within sub-categories that will celebrate the latest innovations. For the first time D&AD will now award innovations and fresh new work that comes to the market in Beta or as prototypes. New websites, products and new iterations of existing platforms will get the chance to submit their work to be judged and win a Pencil. This work will be eligible for a Wood Pencil.
The Established Campaigns sub-category will recognise integrated campaigns that have lasted the test of time whilst entries into Collaborative (part of the Integrated & Collaborative Category) will be rewarded for the relationship between agency and client in producing great creative campaigns for three years and over.
Said D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay: “D&AD evolves and changes to reflect the landscape of commercial creativity, which is why every year you’ll find us listening to feedback and making changes to our categories. 2017 will be the year of awarding the established and the very new. Innovation is at the heart of every great creative idea, it is how we measure creative excellence every year. With this in mind, awarding work that has nailed that initial concept but hasn’t necessarily gone into full production was a natural next move for us. At the same time, it isn’t all about the new, there is much to be learned from rewarding successful creative relationships and ideas that have survived the test of time which is why we will be looking at both ends of the spectrum this year. As ever we wait with growing excitement to see what great creative work is entered in the next weeks and months.â€
With the launch of D&AD Impact earlier this year, the White Pencil is no longer part of the awards line up, however as one of the most popular categories, Creativity For Good continues to develop with the addition of Product and Service Design subcategories which reflect the growing trend for these as part of creatively worthy campaigns.
Also, the following categories have notable changes: Branded Film Content has been changed to Branded Content to reflect the changing media in this space and now live-streamed, audio or user generated content can be entered into this category as well as films. Branding has also had some re-organisation with Logos moving over from Graphic Design and the addition of Campaign Branding & Identity which will give design agencies the opportunity to enter specific branding and identities of campaign projects. Finally, D&AD has retired Mobile Marketing as a category as it plays a key role in most campaigns and is no longer briefed in isolation, moving instead as a sub-category to other design and marketing categories.
Meanwhile, D&AD has also announced a list of senior professionals as Jury Foremen and Women. This includes BBDO India chairman Josy Paul. Commented Awards Director, Donal Keenan: “At D&AD we strongly believe in championing equality in the creative industry and aim to lead by example. This year we are pleased to announce that our line-up of Jury Foremen and Women are equally split by gender for the first time, a trend that we will work to ensure continues into the future.â€
– Art Direction: Margaret Keene, Executive Creative Director, MullenLowe, USA
– Book Design: Coralie Bickford-Smith, Designer, Penguin Books, UK
– Product Design: Victoria Slaker, VP, Product Design, Ammunition , USA
– Radio & Audio: Jenny Glover, ECD, TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris, South Africa
– Spatial & Experiential Design: Douglas Broadley, Group CEO/Creative Director, Imagination, UK
– Writing for Advertising: Susan Treacy, EVP, Executive Creative Director, FCB Chicago, USA
– Writing for Design: Elise Valmorbida, Founder/Creative director, word-design, UK
Jury announcements will be made later in the year, full information on categories, pricing and dates can be found athttp://www.dandad.org/en/professional-awards/. The D&AD Festival will be held from April 25-27, 2017 in London. Work entered into the 2017 D&AD Awards must have been commercially released between January 1, 2016 and March 18, 2017.
Wrigley’s Doublemint has released a new ad that depicts a love story of a young boy Adi and his new neighbour Niara. The advertisement is based on the fresh and beautiful cover of “Ek ajnabee hasina se†originally sung by the legendary Kishore Da. Reiterating the recently launched Doublemint Mints freshness proposition, the love story around the quintessential romantic Indian couple encourages us to ‘start something fresh’ whilst making ‘long lasting connections’.
Commenting on the campaign, MV Natarajan, Managing Director, Wrigley India said, “The ad weaves in the essence of connections that Doublemint stands for. It is seen enabling the young couple falling in love. We are very excited about this launch and are confident that the audience will connect well with our new TVC.â€
Said Josy Paul, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India: “The role of Doublemint is to help create new connections and start something fresh. When I saw the offline of the film, I was moved to tears. I called Shoojit way past midnight bawling like a teenager. It took me back to the purity of love. It’s not advertising, it’s the sound of a world looking for a more meaningful relationship. We are not just selling chewing gum or mints; we are spreading the hope of better connections.â€
The Ad Club hosted its annual Ad Review on Wednesday with the theme ‘Who cares? Vs Who cares’
The highlights of the event included engaging and insightful presentations by Agnello Dias, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Taproot India, and Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India. Shubhajit Sen, Chief Marketing Officer, Micromax Informatics, moderated the event.
Dias named his presentation – Everybody cares and no one gives a damn! The name had the audience in splits and made an interesting start for the event. He explained the reason for the name by saying, “We live in paradoxical times. Times, when the whole world seems to be hell bent on saving the whole world from the whole world, because every creative is cause and every person is a vigilante in a mission.â€
The focus of his presentation was on the target group aspect, basically, ‘Who’s watching?’ According to Dias, earlier there used to be a dialogue between the audience and the marketer in the form of communication, till the target audience understood what was being conveyed everyone else did not matter. But the communication now has become a ‘trialouge’; there is another party who is intervening between the above mentioned parties. So, now, there is this large group of people who are listening what the consumer is being told and they are adding their two bits to that which the consumer is listening to as well. Now, they are doing it the other way round, by adding their opinion on what the consumer is saying and conveying it to the marketers. The marketers cannot ignore this group since the audience is also listening to these communicators who act as middlemen.
He explained how the audience has changed and it is about the product consumer vs. the communication consumer, where the latter influences the former. Dias gave the example of Lifebuoy’s Chamki campaign- which created awareness about using hand wash soap after child birth to avoid any kind of infection for the baby, through an experiment in a village, Ariel’s ‘Share the load’ campaign and Fortune oil’s ‘Mother exchange’ campaign to put across his point about the power of relevance today. “Content without relevance is art and content with relevance is advertisement,†he said. He concluded by saying, “So, what does this mean for brands? Welcome to a world where every ad is a corporate ad and there are no product ads anymore.â€
Paul started his presentation by showing an amalgamation of the ads which he thought made an impact and chose to call it ‘artistic stupid impression’. While the earlier presentation was more about content, this presentation highlighted the relevance of context in advertisement.
“People care about context and not advertisement. Nothing matters unless there is context,†said Paul. He stressed that while everyone focuses on the content, it is equally important to focus on the context. “People respond to something that is deep within us, as the world gets more complicated, people want more roots. Contexts are about roots. They are seeking those collective roots so that they can make sense of this chaos that is happening. Contexts give reference to these roots,†he added.
Paul stated that the consumer reacts to context which starts and grows the conversation. The authentication of content is through context. According him, while context is remembered, context is fleeting. Throughout the presentation he showed various national and international ads to explain it further. He lauded Truly Madly’s ‘Creep Qawwali’ as a good social context example in conveying the menace faced by many women. He ended it by saying that “Everybody cares,†as an answer to the topic of the evening.
Josy Paul, Chairman and CCO, BBDO India has been named on the 2016 London International Awards jury for the Branded Entertainment category. Rob Reilly, Global Creative Chairman of McCann Worldgroup, will be Jury President for the category.
Branded Entertainment encompasses any piece of content that is made with a brand’s personality, positioning and marketing objectives in mind. Its primary intention is delivering an enjoyable and engaging experience to consumers.
The LIA 2016 Entry System is now accepting entries. The initial Entry Deadline is June 10. Judging will take place in Las Vegas from October 6-14, 2016. The shortlists will be announced as each judging session concludes, with winners being announced on November 8.
2016 Branded Entertainment Jury:
Rob Reilly – Jury President – Global Creative Chairman, McCann Worldgroup
BBDO India has appointed Ritu Sharda as the new Senior Executive Creative Director – Delhi. Sharda joins the leadership as part of the reputed team behind the globally acclaimed ideas such as Ariel ‘Share the Load’ and Whisper ‘Touch the Pickle’.
Josy Paul, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India, commented, “We are thrilled to have Ritu Sharda leading the creative culture and product of BBDO in Delhi. Ritu is a transformational artist, poet, writer, social observer, and an internationally recognized builder of big brands. Her sensitivity to the truth and power of advertising as a change agent in society is what makes her super special. Our highly talented Delhi team will benefit greatly from her creative energy and inspired leadership.â€
Sharda has worked with an impressive array of brands through her career so far. Prior to joining BBDO India, Sharda led the creative work on brands such as Sony Bravia and HCL in her role as Executive Creative Director at ITSA Brand Innovations. She also marked her directorial debut with films for Sony Bravia.
Her creative influence spans agencies such as McCann, Publicis India, DDB Mudra and Contract. Her compelling work and ideas have contributed significantly to brands like Aviva, Coke, HP, Microsoft, MasterCard, Dabur, Samsung, Maggi, HBO, McDonald’s, Nestle to name a few. Her immensely popular campaigns for Maggi and Coke have earned her major acclaim and recognition in the industry. And her diversity of ideas have won major metals and honour at Cannes, GoaFest, Effies and One Show.
On joining BBDO India, Sharda says, “I am super excited. I met Josy a couple of months back and it was an absolute delight and things have clicked beautifully from there on. I love the kind of work BBDO is doing. The time, the place, everything feels just right.â€
In her new role at BBDO India, Sharda will be looking to lead a strong creative team and bring in her creative flavour to existing accounts such as 7 Up, Quaker Oats, Mirinda, Zandu, Wrigley’s, SC Johnson and Exxon Mobil. She will also be responsible for leading the creative standards for new businesses based out of Delhi
BBDO India’s much acclaimed work P&G’s Ariel and Whisper brands have won the agency multiple awards at Adfest 2016. The widely appreciated Ariel ‘Share the Load’ and Whisper ‘Touch The Pickle’ Campaigns for P&G have won BBDO India the Grand Prix (Grande’), a Gold, four Silvers and three Bronze awards – making it the most awarded Indian agency at AdFest 2016. BBDO was also named Agency Network of the Year.
Josy Paul
Said Josy Paul, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India said, “We are thrilled that our work for P&G is making a big impact in shows that celebrate marketing effectiveness and advertising creativity. Winning the Grand Prix (the Grande’) and being the most awarded Indian agency at AdFest is a sign that we are contributing to the industry’s standards across all categories. We thank the awesome team at P&G and all our partners for this recognition.”
Meanwhile Taproot Dentsu’s ‘radio works best in outdoor’ ad from the campaign created for the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) bagged a Gold Lotus in Press Craft. The campaign took away three Silver Lotuses in the Outdoor Lotus, Press and Print Craft departments. Taproot also bagged two Bronze Lotuses for Dulux Paint in the Press and Outdoor categories. McCann campaign for Gastrina won three Silver Lotuses and three Bronze Lotuses across Design, Print Craft, Outdoor and Press categories.
JWT won a Bronze Direct Lotus and a Bronze Print Craft Lotus for its Night Kills Day campaign while Contract bagged a Bronze Press Lotus.
The Ariel Share the Load campaign has become a voice to empower women at home. Last year the campaign, brought to light the debate of whether laundry is only a woman’s job, and built a social movement inviting men to #ShareTheLoad. Taking a step further, this year Ariel will strive to empower the Indian woman of today and more importantly, the woman of tomorrow, to ensure that men set the right example that is getting carried from generation to generation declaring a clarion call for Dads to #ShareTheLoad.
Campaign by BBDO encourages men to help their wives do the laundry has gone viral online and has been trending social media platform. Within four days of its release, the video has managed to get more than 3 million views.
The difference between the video last year and now is that the first one emphasized gender inequality as seen by two women but in the current video it shows the perspective of a man, a father.
Josy Paul – Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India – said, “Share the Load is not just a campaign, it’s a movement for change. By raising a mirror to society, the brand is seeking a better world where there’s equality in household chores, specially laundry. We were looking for a deeper message. We felt there’s a need for a bigger story of self-examination, realization and reconciliation. We were looking for something with greater empathy and authenticity… something that more people could relate to. That was our big thing… to create greater understanding and genuine change. The movement going forward will have more elements to help drive behavioural change in the area of laundry. It’s all very exciting.â€
ADFEST has announced Josy Paul as Jury President, Media Lotus and Branded Content & Entertainment Lotus.
As Chairman and Chief Creative Officer at BBDO India, Paul is ranked among the 10 most influential people in Indian advertising, according to a nationwide survey conducted by The Economic Times.
He set up BBDO India from the backseat of his car in 2008, but since then has built the agency into one of the region’s most impactful creative businesses, pioneering the rise of brand movements in the belief that India needs more “acts, not adsâ€.
“It is a huge privilege to be selected to lead this prestigious Jury, working alongside the industry’s most respected and awarded creatives. There are agencies in Asia and the Middle East that are leading the world when it comes to producing brave, impactful media concepts and branded content. I live by the mantra ‘Think like the navy, deliver like pirates’, which means I’ll be looking for work that is both strategic and powerfully executed. It’s going to be a lot of fun debating the industry’s best ideas,†says Paul.
Paul’s commitment to working with brands to positively influence life for Indian audiences led him to being named Campaign’s ‘Creative Person of the Year’ for India and South Asia in 2012, and again in 2015. Last year, Paul and his team won the inaugural Glass Lion Grand Prix at Cannes, as well as a Gold Glass Lion for P&G’s Ariel. He also won the inaugural Black Lion at Cannes for Creative Effectiveness in 2011.
“Josy has led the way in India as a creative professional who is determined to make the world a better place through impactful branded content and creativity. It will be an honor to welcome him to Thailand in March,†says Jimmy Lam, ADFEST President.
Before founding BBDO India, Paul was the National Creative Director of JWT. In 2000, he also created and set up an agency called ‘David’ for Ogilvy.
ADFEST 2016 runs from 16th – 19th March at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand.
BBDO India has promoted Rajesh Sikroria, formally EVP BBDO India to President BBDO India, effective immediately.
Working alongside Josy Paul, BBDO India Chairman and CCO, and Ajai Jhala, BBDO India CEO, Sikroria has been part of the core team that has helped shape BBDO India’s philosophy of ‘Create Acts and not Ads.’
Ajai Jhala, CEO BBDO India, said of Sikroria’s promotion: ” We built BBDO from scratch 7 years ago starting with 7 UP. Rajesh has grown from being the first employee to President of BBDO India by leading from the front and growing into one of the industry’s best all-rounders with an ability to move fluidly between business, strategy and creative. Josy Paul and I are delighted to have him as a partner as we continue to create big ideas for big brands on big themes like gender equality through the lens of social movements.â€
“Rajesh was with us when we set up BBDO India from the back seat of my car. He knows what it takes to create a culture that nurtures, grows and influences. He is a leader, builder and maker of better work. He is the best of the best.” says Josy Paul, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India, about Sikroria.
Says Sikroria, President: “2015 has been a phenomenal year for us, we have set the bar really high. Going forward, the challenge is to outdo ourselves. In my new national role, I am looking forward to work with more brands and scaling newer heights with our mantra of creating acts not adsâ€.
General Mills’ Parampara, a brand which was operating in the ready-to-cook category has launched a range of Masala mix(es) which includes the first-of-its-kind Omelette Masala with a ‘Masala Masti’ twist. This new product has been introduced along with an exciting campaign #MenInKitchen, which highlights how the Parampara Expert Masala Mix makes it so easy to prepare a complicated dish that even men can take over the kitchen and make it perfect every time.
MenInKitchen is a progressive thought and can be seen as a new tradition. Gender roles in India are changing. Women entrepreneurs and workforce have registered good growths and there is an increase in dual income homes. This also means that the load of household chores and cooking is equally shared. Cooking is no longer seen as a woman’s responsibility – almost 40 per cent of young brides on matrimonial sites expect their husbands to know to cook and help with household chores.
Speaking about this initiative, Salil Murthy, Marketing Director, General Mills India said, “Parampara is a brand that promises authentic, delicious taste for the modern Indian family. We started by putting the consumer first and learnt that while she loves dishes like Paneer Butter Masala and Butter Chicken, she was never sure of exactly how it would turn out because there’s just so much ‘andaaz’ involved in cooking the perfect dish. Parampara takes this uncertainty out of the equation. It has the exact blend of masalas pre mixed that guarantees her the perfect taste for the dish that she’s making. The advertising takes it a step further – these dishes are now so simple to make that we are inviting the men of the house to try and make it – #MeninKitchen. And that’s the brand philosophy of progressive, modern thought – why should the woman be charged with cooking all the time? There are literally no excuses for the man now to not share a hand in the kitchen!â€
Josy Paul
Elaborating on the nuances of the campaign, Josy Paul, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO said, “#MenInKitchen challenges the existing stereotype of only women doing all the cooking at home. The idea was born from the brand’s unique offering – expert masala mixes where you don’t need to add any extra masalas. So, now even men can cook. That’s so liberating!! ‘Men in Kitchen’ questions traditional thinking and kickstarts a new ‘Parampara’ – a new world order. It’s encouraging to see the brand taking sides – and going all out and aligning itself with a more progressive social agenda. It is about leading consumers to a higher plane.â€
The Ad Club hosted its annual Ad Review on Wednesday with the theme ‘Who cares? Vs Who cares’