The Story Lab (TSL), the specialist content agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has roped in Kumar Deb Sinha as the new country head for its India operations. Based out of Mumbai, Sinha will report to Kartik Iyer, President Media Brands and Amplifi – Dentsu Aegis Network India and the Executive Sponsor for TSL in India.Prior to this, Sinha was National Director – Content at Wavemaker India, a GroupM Company.
Commenting on Sinha’s appointment, Iyer said, “We are very happy to have Kumar Deb Sinha on board. The StoryLab aims to be a significant player in the burgeoning content ecosystem of India with a clear positioning. And we are confident that Kumar, with his experience and expertise, will help us take this ambition forward.â€
Mercedes-Benz India along with Wavemaker Content have unveiled an original web series – Rushesthat introduces six path-breakers embarking on adventures fuelled by an insatiable hunger for extreme sports.
On the association Michael Jopp, VP, Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz said: “India is a country of diversity not only in the form of different landscapes that you can visit across the country but also from the varied pool of talent that it houses. Our association with TheVibe and creating Rushes was with the idea of celebrating these beautiful people and places of India. The content features a very emotional story wherein passion and dedication of these local heroes are showcased with their abundant talent and vigour towards one dedicated adventure sport. The same passion and dedication is what we strive to put in our cars and give our best to the customers.â€
Added Kumar Deb Sinha, National Director – Content, Wavemaker: “We at Wavemaker believe that the role of content is to drive relevant conversations for a brand. It’s not a one-time engagement through a piece of content, but provoking sustained conversations through multiple pieces of content. Rushes is not a just web series, it is like igniting a fire to drive passionate conversations through multiple pieces of interesting content in various formats across media platforms.One of the biggest challenge for us was to bring alive the exhilaration through the content and hence, the quality was of utmost important. That is where, Motion Content Group (part of GroupM) played a vital role in creating premium quality content to match up to the global standard of Mercedes-Benz.â€
The first webisode of the series can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjop6R49C7o
Britannia Good Day in partnership with MEC Wavemaker, a content arm of MEC India, conceptualisedwhat is being biIndia’s first brand owned campus digital radio station in an attempt to get young Indians to smile more.
Commenting on the launch, VP, Marketing, Britannia Industries Limited, Ali Harris Shere said:“Good Day is an iconic brand and enjoys immense love and equity amongst the consumers. The brand holds the baton for making Indians smile more and we know that youth with their innate optimism and cheer will do this better than any other demographic. By establishing ‘India’s 1st aural social network’, Good Day aims to connect deeper with its younger consumers. The digital radio station has been curated with a keen focus on today’s youth and their passions, and the content will reflect what’s current & trending in the country’s pop culture”.
On curating the platform for the youth, Kumar Deb Sinha, Head – India, MEC Wavemaker said:“The content space is now witnessing a change as brands prefer to own unique platforms to connect and persuade their target audience. Our task at hand was to target Gen Z, who are interested in what’s new, trending and adapts to the latest trends. To focus on this specific audience, MEC had conducted an in-depth study in understanding Gen Z through customized research and consumer behavior tracking tools, which helped to create customized and engaging audio platform called ‘Campus Radio’, a combination of preferred online (radio) and content (music) medium.â€
He added, “MEC Wavemaker always believes in creating unique content ideas that goes beyond traditional marketing activities that enables to strengthen the equity of the brand.â€
Celebrating the launch, Rahul Balyan, Head of Digital Initiatives, at Radio Mirchi said,“Radio Mirchi, in partnership with Gaana, is happy to create an online platform for Britannia that helps them engage with the College students. We have created a unique listening experience that re-invents radio for the internet-savvy youth. We are also helping Britannia connect with college students across the country through on-ground activation as well. Radio Mirchi already operates sixteen online radio stations in partnership with Gaana, and hopes to make Campus Radio the flagship online radio station of the youth of India. The challenge in digital marketing is to build meaningful engagement with consumers, and Radio Mirchi with its content creation capabilities, its iconic Rjs, and multi-media solutions is helping build that engagement for brands across digital platforms.â€
MEC India announced the launch of their specialist content offer – Wavemaker. MEC Wavemaker is a unique content offering, which will bring together content strategy, social, partnerships and experiences, SEO and creative services expertise in one place at scale.
The objective of MEC Wavemaker is to improve a brand’s performance by embedding content into the consumer purchase journey, driving maximum exposure through optimum distribution and measuring effectiveness of content through the lens of clients’ business goal. They will create excitement; generate momentum and build client’s confidence, by providing the world’s best data, technology and trading in the content space.
MEC Wavemaker is being launched simultaneously in 10 countries (including India) with over 750 highly talented and motivated people. In India, MEC Wavemaker will be led by Kumar Deb Sinha who will report to T Gangadhar, Managing Director, MEC South Asia. Kumar has an experience of more than 13 years in content marketing & branded content solutions for brands
T Gangadhar
Gangadhar said, “Our creative restlessness is embodied in our philosophy: Don’t Just Live, Thrive. For us, an idea is brilliant if and only if the right audience responds to it and behaves in ways that lead to the right outcomes for our clients. Wavemaker is not an agency, but a specialist content solution provider. We at MEC take pride in our efforts to build winning brands to drive their business growth.â€
Kumar Deb Sinha
At the launch of MEC Wavemaker, Kumar Deb Sinha, Head – MEC Wavemaker said, “In my experience, clients today realize that effective content can make a big difference to their business, but they struggle to know exactly what type of content is right for them and the right partner to guide them. Our objective is to help them see the role content can play in their customer’s lives which will have a direct impact on brand performance. It will give them the confidence to invest in content knowing clearly how it is taking their brand forward
We will bring together all the resources that client needs to create content designed specifically to achieve measurable business goals. MEC Wavemaker will, thus, allow brands to look at “content†in a different way as it gives a powerful and commercial role in transforming brand performance.â€, added Sinha.
Honda India is all set to launch their new premium 7-seater, the Honda Mobilio in July. Before the launch of its TVC, the car is generating a lot of buzz around the web with a series of four videos with India’s favourite comedian – Kapil Sharma. The concept and execution of this web series has been done by Mash Up, a part of GroupM India. The digital campaign is being executed by Blazar, the digital marketing agency of GroupM India.
This is the first time Honda has taken the route of a celebrity association and branded original content to launch a car. The videos are not product videos, but are designed to announce the launch of the car, touch upon its features and give the audiences a dose of entertainment. Kapil plays a Honda car salesman in the web series.
GroupM released the campaign on YouTube on June 24th 2014 at 6pm. Since then the video has garnered over three lakh organic views and over 1.5 lakh likes. This is also the first time Kapil Sharma has associated with any brand. GroupM specifically chose Kapil, keeping in mind his popularity across digital media and his fan engagement on social media.
Shakeel Anjum, Head – Brand Communications, Honda said, “Unlike the traditional advertising, digital is a pull medium. And we for sure wanted to leverage the medium to its best. All the four Honda Mobilio films are buzz worthy content. The first film has already gained social chatter and consumer engagement organically, within just hours of launch. Kapil Sharma is definitely the new benchmark of Family Entertainment. His humour cuts across genres and age groups. Kapil is one of the most searched celebrities on digital with a massive fan following on social media. We believed he was the best fit to launch this Family car on digital media”
Kumar Deb Sinha, head, Digital Content, Mash Up said, “We are extremely thrilled to take Blazar’s long standing partnership with Honda Motors to next level by creating a brand association with Kapil Sharma. The objective is to unleash the full value of digital media and branded content to engage consumers, inducing high sharability amongst users.
Britannia Good Day in partnership with MEC Wavemaker, a content arm of MEC India, conceptualisedwhat is being biIndia’s first brand owned campus digital radio station in an attempt to get young Indians to smile more.
