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Tag: Lodestar UM

  • For seventh global Impact Day

    Lodestar UM collaborates with LGBTQIA+ Owned Businesses

    Lodestar UM announced its participation in the seventh global Impact Day, under the theme, “One Day, One UM, One Better World.” Launched in 2016 under UM’s corporate social responsibility unit, Better World, Impact Day reflects the agency’s commitment to its core values of community, curiosity and courage.

    In India, Lodestar UM has collaborated with LGBTQIA+-owned businesses such as Kai By Mangi, Dopamore, Arttitty, Sabarshh, Ash.Co, Embarque.co, Queergaon, Astitva Jewelry, Podi Nan Maga, and Scoby Labs.

    Said Aditi Mishra, CEO, Lodestar UM: “Our idea for Impact Day goes beyond commerce; we aim to foster enriching connections and meaningful experiences that positively impact the community,” adding: “By supporting LGBTQIA+ businesses, we are not only contributing to economic empowerment but also celebrating diversity and inclusion in a tangible way. Impact Day is a powerful reminder of how our collective efforts can drive meaningful change and create a better world for everyone.”

    “UMers from all over the globe look forward every year to volunteering as one connected team for our beloved Impact Day tradition,” added Andrea Suarez, Global CEO, UM. “Our theme this year, ‘One Day, One UM, One Better World’ highlights the incredible impact we can have when we harness the power of our collective action to give back to the communities in which we live, serve and flourish.”

  • To leverage its expertise to help the fintech giant deepen market penetration

    Lodestar retains PhonePe’s integrated media mandate

    By Our Staff

     

    Lodestar, media agencies, announced that it will continue to drive PhonePe’s integrated media strategy for the third consecutive year. As a part of the extended partnership, Lodestar will leverage its extensive experience and expertise to develop media campaigns that will help the fintech giant deepen its market penetration and reach new audiences. Lodestar’s mandate for PhonePe spans the entire media spectrum across mainline, digital, out of home, and special projects. The account will continue to be led out of the agency’s Bengaluru office.

     

    Commenting on the extended partnership, Aditi Mishra, CEO, Lodestar UM said: “We are thrilled to continue our association with PhonePe and support their growth trajectory. Our team is committed to delivering innovative and effective media campaigns that will help PhonePe consolidate its position as a leader in the fintech space. We look forward to driving the brand’s success and achieving our shared goals together.”

     

    Ramesh Srinivasan, Director & Head – Brand Marketing, PhonePe added: “Over the last two years, Lodestar has been a great media partner for us, and it gives us immense pleasure to continue our partnership. We aim to leverage the IPG group’s expertise to further our growth ambitions on the marketing side, as we expand our footprint from payments and financial services to shopping, wealth management as well. Looking forward to a successful partnership for both organizations this coming year.”

     

    Speaking about the important development, Hema Malik, Chief Investment Officer, Mediabrands India said, “We appreciate PhonePe’s continued trust in us as their business partners and are committed to providing innovative media partnerships that will help them achieve their business goals. We look forward to continuing our successful collaboration with PhonePe and contributing to their growth and success in the fintech industry.”

     

  • Agency retains media duties of the auto major for 5 more years

    Lodestar UM wins media mandate of BMW India

    By Our Staff

     

    Lodestar UM has successfully retained auto giant BMW India’s integrated media duties. The win came on the heels of a multi-agency pitch held through March to October. The account will continue to be led out of the agency’s Gurugram office.

     

    Speaking about the momentous development, Aditi Mishra, CEO, Lodestar UM, said: “We are thrilled to be chosen as the integrated media partner for an iconic global brand like BMW. The continuation of our five-year old journey speaks volumes of how successful the partnership has been in making BMW one of the most desirable brands in the country. The premium auto market in India has witnessed stellar growth in 2022, and there is a growing opportunity to welcome newer customers to this segment. The adoption of our proprietary Futureproof planning process will continue to unleash maximum value by connecting BMW to its audiences through seamless journeys across touchpoints.”

     

  • Both will be based out of Delhi NCR

    Aditi Mishra to be CEO, Lodestar UM. Hema Malik is CIO, Mediabrands

    By Our Staff

     

    Mediabrands announces two top leadership appointments. Aditi Mishra has become the new CEO of Lodestar UM and Hema Malik has been elevated to the new position of Chief Investment Officer, Mediabrands India. Both Mishra and Malik will now be part of the Mediabrands India Leadership Team and based out of Delhi NCR. Mishra takes over from Nandini Dias who has announced her moving on and will be in the organisation till around mid-April.

     

    Said Shashi Sinha, CEO, Mediabrands India: “I am a firm believer of leadership from inside; success with and around people for winning together. Both Aditi and Hema have been with the organisation for over two decades and have done us proud in their multiple roles over the years. Nothing makes me prouder than to see our own people grow. I am thrilled and view these appointments as a giant leap forward. I am confident that both Aditi and Hema will embrace their new roles successfully and champion good growth.”

     

    On her appointment, Mishra said: “I am excited and honoured to be taking on the role of CEO of Lodestar UM. As I think about what is next for us in the challenging environment of today, I am energized by the vision of building an agency resilient and agile to partner with clients and the community for the future. A team that will not just ride the waves of digital transformation but fosters media as a growth driver for business. I recognise that I have big shoes to fill and with the support of the incredible teams across Mediabrands India, I look forward to stewarding this journey for Lodestar UM.”

     

    Added Malik: “We at Mediabrands India have always ensured that all our clients get full advantage of the opportunities in the marketplace. With the setting up of Mediabrands Investments, we are not only strengthening our obsession for performance and accountability but are equally energized to explore transformative partnerships and set new trading norms beyond the obvious. I am honored and excited to be the first CIO of Mediabrands India. So much to look forward to as we build the new.”

     

     

  • Her last day at work is April 18

    Nandini Dias, the Constant @ Lodestar UM moves on

     

     

    By Our Staff

     

    Nandini Dias, CEO of Lodestar UM, has decided to move on. After being the agency’s CEO for nearly a decade, Dias joined the agency a little less than three decades back. Her last day with the IPG Mediabrands agency is April 18.

     

    Said Dias: “I leave Lodestar UM in the hands of a strong, capable, and empowered team that has stayed vested and bonded with me for a long time. In fact, almost all of the top 30 have been with me throughout my tenure as CEO – something that I am particularly proud of. So it was with a heavy heart that I had to break the news to them about my decision to move on. It is rare that one gets the opportunity to hand over the reins after an organisation’s best years, but this year was one of Lodestar UM’s finest. Over a dozen new businesses, over 20 international awards, Campaign’s Agency Of The Year – Silver, RECMA recognized it as the agency with highest Vitality and personally, my being recognised as the Media Agency CEO Leader Of The Year by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and feted by the Governor of Maharashtra. I couldn’t choose a greater milestone year in which to hand over the baton and go out on a high.”

     

    So what next? No decisions yet, she said. “I started out with a fledgling agency and am handing over the Media Agency of the Year as I move on. So I am looking forward to taking a well-earned break for the first time in my life and am excited to see how things will unfurl.”

     

    Added Shashi Sinha, CEO, Mediabrands India:  “Nandini has been my partner, ally, and friend for 27 years. She has led from the front to build Lodestar UM ground up to make it what it is today. A dynamic, vibrant top three agency in the country. Passion is what defines Nandini, whether it is creating business solutions, building strong media properties for her clients or making a difference to our society and communities or just bringing her teams together to celebrate a festival or a win, Nandini did it all with remarkable fervor. At a personal level, I will miss her terribly. But I have always believed that a good leader is defined not by what has been built but by what is left behind. Nandini leaves her indelible mark on Lodestar UM in the solid and hugely capable leadership team that she has nurtured and I can say with all confidence that they will only continue to build on her legacy.”

     

    Over the years, Dias has been recognised with numerous honours by several bodies – starting with being the Media Planner of the Year in 1998 to going on to be the Media CEO of the Year on various platforms in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021. In 2018, she piloted a pan-industry citizens’ initiative – WorkToLiveToWork – that pushed a radical solution to save commuter lives on their way to work, for which she was awarded the prestigious ‘Gamechanger Of The Year’ award. She’s won over 100 awards at Asia-Pacific Spikes, Festival Of Media Global and APAC, Creative Media Award, several Cannes Lions and many, many local awards.

     

  • Calls for best practice considerations in dealing with one another

    IAA appeals to the industry for Covid sensitivity

    By Our Staff

     

    The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) is appealing to all segments of the industry to take a deep breath in this hour of crisis. The campaign was created by the Madison BMB team of Rohan Joseph CD Copy, Vallabh Yeolekar CD Art, Raj Nair, CEO and CCO.

     

    Megha Tata
    Megha Tata

    Said Megha Tata, President IAA India and Managing Director – South Asia Discovery Communications India: “Yes, we are passing through an unprecedented crisis. There is pain and grief all around us. But as they say, extraordinary times need extraordinary responses. Corporates have responded with alacrity and fortitude to the call of the nation. Money and material is being raised to help those in need. Communication is being used, and will be used, to strike a chord of positivity. And this time around, as a responsible industry Association with a unique mix of members including leaders from the world of marketing advertising and the media, we are appealing to all stakeholders in our industry to deal with one another with a degree of sensitivity, understanding, empathy and kindness. It’s as simple as that. And as important. I thank Raj Nair and his team at Madison BMB for immediately responding to our appeal to prepare a communication campaign that will convey this message to our community.

     

    Nandini Dias

    Added Nandini Dias, Chairperson IAA Leadership Awards Committee and CEO Lodestar UM, India:  “For three years now IAA through a well-managed campaign has been urging industry leaders to save lives by adopting flexi-timings. It evoked a very positive response. This time the challenges are different. We need to rebuild lives and livelihoods irrespective of where you work from or whether you belong to a local or global organization. Our industry members at every level of the corporate ladder are facing unique challenges. And we believe this is the time to introspect, look within, and dip into the reserves of goodness that exist in all of us and create strong foundations for long term renewal.”

     

  • The International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter has launched its second edition of what is well known as the Work to Live Campaign

    Work to Live 2.0 from IAA

    By A Correspondent

     

    The International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter has launched its second edition of what is well known as the Work to Live Campaign.

     

    Punit Goenka

    Said Punit Goenka, President, IAA India Chapter: “The concept of flexi-timings for a city like Mumbai was always a good idea. Now it assumes even more importance. In fact our campaign stresses the points that while flexi-timings are a win-win situation, it must be implemented with a sense of discipline.”

     

     

    Nandini Dias

    Added Nandini Dias, IAA Mancom member and CEO, Lodestar UM, India, who conceived this idea: “After a personal tragedy, I initiated WorkToLiveToWork with the hope that decongestion of the rush hour through flexi-timing will ensure that commuting becomes less fatal. Over the last two years, many corporate leaders and trade bodies have seen the concept working and adopted it. The pandemic has made social distancing a must. But with limited space, overburdened transport network, the need for flexi-timing or time distancing is an absolute must, and workplaces that adopt it will keep their workforce safer.“

     

     

  • DSM’s Nu-Shakti feeds 5,000 Chennaites with Iron and Vitamins fortified lemon rice

    Nu-Shakti partners Lodestar UM&  Suryan FM to highlight iron deficiency problems

    By A Correspondent

     

    On the occasion of Iron Deficiency Day, Nu-Shakti launched a day-long campaign in Chennai, in partnership with Lodestar UM and Suryan FM.

     

    As part of the campaign, radio talk shows were held with doctors and nutritionists, educating and empowering listeners to take charge of their health, and guiding them on how to make their daily food rich in micronutrients including iron through a balanced diet. Additionally, 5,000 people across Chennai were served lemon rice fortified with Nu-Shakti Powermix for Rice.

     

    Said Alok Kohli, Business Director, DSM India: “As per the National Family Health Survey data, during the period 1998–2016, over 50 per cent of women aged 15–49 years had iron deficiency anemia. Nu-Shakti is committed to building a sustainable food system for the Indian population by enabling easier access and convenience to nutritious food intake. The Iron Deficiency Day communications campaign is aimed at tackling India’s rising major health issues triggered by malnutrition and imbalanced dietary habits, especially anaemia.”

     

    Added Anindya Ray, Senior Vice President, Lodestar UM: “This is a completely new category of nutrition fortifiers added with staples like rice, atta and dal and hence we have a huge challenge in getting across to the target audience in making them comprehend not only the product but its usage. It is not enough to showcase the product, but extremely important to drive on ground usage in terms of proof. Our team devised this unique experiential activity by aptly leveraging the World Iron Deficiency Day – November 26, 2019, which immediately places the product in its right context. Radio led activation helped us to deliver the product on ground which is far beyond only vanilla advertising and yes there is measurability to it also with 5000 women being reached out with this unique activation”.

     

     

  • This year from educating destitute women on menstrual hygiene to helping children in government aided schools

    Lodestar UM concludes another chapter of Impact Day

    By A Correspondent

     

    Every year, Lodestar UM shuts its offices on a work day and each employee engages in philanthropic work across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

     

    This year from educating destitute women on menstrual hygiene to helping children in government-aided schools to make the right career choices, the Lodestar UM teams came together to make a difference in their own small way to the theme of Better World.

     

    Said Nandini Dias, CEO, Lodestar UM: “For us, this single day marks the beginning of a whole new year of commitment. Being conscious of what’s happening around us and finding solutions to create a better world is at the heart of our philosophy as an agency. I want to thank each one of my colleagues for the collective passion and goodwill they bring to this initiative. Their enthusiasm was heartwarming. Therefore, every year Impact Day turns out to be a day of fulfillment and achievement of a very different kind.”

     

     

  • July 19 was celebrated as Impact Day by the agency network. It was a day when emails were turned off and offices shut to come together to help surrounding communities

    Lodestar UM strides for a clean and better world

    By A Correspondent

     

    Lodestar UM celebrated Impact Day on July 19. It was a day when the agency network turned off emails and shut the office to come together to help our surrounding communities.

     

    Notes a communique: “Plastic has been a huge point of discussion in the country. We adopted the theme of “Say No to Plastic” across all offices except Mumbai. We roped in a client, Borosil, who has very nice glass water bottles costing roughly Rs 300.  We created a vibrant ‘save marine life’ series of glass water bottles that could be customised for individuals with their names. Our employees approached their client partners to participate in our initiative by replacing the plastic water bottles on their tables with our specially designed glass ones. Large corporates across two cities Delhi and Bengaluru participated in our programme – Whirlpool, IndusInd, Viacom , BMW, Times of India , SAIL , IOCL , McCann,  Cheil, FCB, Wipro, Exide Life Insurance, Air Asia , Duroflex, Amante. In fact, individuals were even willing to pay for the bottles!  The enthusiasm was unbelievable. The demand for our glass bottles was way beyond what we had anticipated. We ended up ordering three times the original quantity of glass bottles, all bought by individuals. The creative and art was done by FCB Interface.”

     

    And in Mumbai, there was a very different activity. Adds the communique: “Saki Naka in Andheri is an industrial area and generates a lot of garbage. And every little stretch of road has a garbage dump. We moved into the area about a year back. Initially, we tried very hard to get the landlord of our building to remove a large garbage dump outside our premises and clean up the surrounding area. It’s an uphill task given the multiple stakeholders that are involved, permissions required and the sheer staff that would be needed to take on an activity of this scale. Since it didn’t happen for many months we decided to make it our UM Impact Day theme and execute the whole project from start to finish ourselves. But the cleaning up would be just the beginning… since this was a public road it required a lot more than just cleaning up. It meant changing the behaviour of people from all the offices, restaurants, hospitals, housing societies etc in the locality to sustain the clean-up. It meant that the whole community had to think different and act differently. For a cleaner, greener surrounding.  We had to not only ensure that we provided an alternative method for garbage collection but we also had to align everybody who was dumping garbage on the street to the new way. We reached out to the authorities, restaurants, other commercial buildings, hospitals and housing societies and enrolled them in our plan. We then distributed dustbins to individual organisations and worked with the authorities on method, timings, location etc. on how the garbage will get collected.  All this took months of effort.  July 19 was the culmination of all the hard work. While the initiative was being driven by Lodestar UM, seeing the energy and enthusiasm around this mission all the other offices in the building including FCB Ulka, FCB Interface, Initiative, Rapport wanted to be part of it. Yesterday, we had over 200 employees of Lodestar UM and all the other companies come together, on the street, to transform the area.  They swept the roads, scraped the walls of fungus and painted them with paint provided by our client Nerolac Paints who also became our beautification partner. And we didn’t just paint the walls, we made it a learning opportunity. An open classroom! While at one end of the wall we had the Marathi alphabets painted in bold vibrant colours on the other end we created a large blackboard where people could doodle to learn and play. The final brushstroke was green – 120 plants in colourful pots.  The creative and art done by FCB Ulka.”

     

    Lodestar employees had a field day, literally and figuratively, adds the release. “They picked up different tools to clean up the area – sweeping, picking up the garbage, covering drains, putting paver blocks, cementing the road, painting, gardening, watering the plants… And the highpoint of the day was a pledge that they took individually and collectively by passing a sapling in a recycled Nerolac can “I pledge to keep the environment clean and plant more trees”.  This for us was not just one day, it was a whole new beginning. And a fulfilment of a very different kind.”

     

     

  • Prior to joining Lodestar UM, Mookerjee was the Managing Director of Mediacom Indonesia

    Lodestar UM appoints Anita Mookerjeeto head South India ops

    By A Correspondent

     

    Lodestar UM has announced the appointment of Anita Devraj Mookerjee as Head South.

     

    Mookerjee will lead the entire South India operations of LUM, including the agency’s Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi operations. Mookerjee will lead the agency’s continued focus on strategic media planning, technology, data, content and ROI driven solutions.

     

    Prior to joining Lodestar UM, Mookerjee was Managing Director of Mediacom Indonesia.

     

    “Our success as a network has been driven by the strength of our people, product and leadership. A comprehensive search for the right leader, led us to Anita, who is the perfect candidate to spearhead the next phase of development in these critical markets,” said Nandini Dias, CEO, Lodestar UM.

     

    Talking about her new role, Mookerjee said: “I spent my formative years in media in Lintas Media Group (now Initiative) where I used to handle ITC. So this is a homecoming for me.Lodestar UM as an agency has always focussed extensively on its product and people. I am excited and looking forward to reflecting on all my learnings and experiences in India and South East Asia. And of course collaborating with some of the sharpest minds in the business is an added privilege.”

     

     

  • The IT and FMCG major has appointed Interactive Avenues as ​the d​igital ​a​gency for all brands…

    Wipro consolidates media duties with Lodestar UM

    By A Correspondent​

     

    Indian IT and FMCG ​major Wipro has shifted​ a major part of its Consumer Care media business to Lodestar UM. The decision comes on the heels of an extensive and exhaustive multi-agency pitch. Under the new arrangement, in addition to Santoor that consists over 70% of Wipro’s media spends, Lodestar UM will also handle Chandrika and Enchanteur range of products.

     

    Talking about the business win, Nandini Dias, CEO, Lodestar UM said, “Wipro is one of our oldest clients and we have been handling the business for the last 25 years. We are truly delighted that in this next phase of growth Wipro has chosen us to be its media partner​,” adding: “In the last decade, Wipro’s business has grown over 16 times. The company made two significant acquisitions in the last two years L D Waxson Singapore and Yardley UK business have considerably added to the global footprint. Lodestar UM has been instrumental in making Santoor the number 1 brand in AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat through our differentiated strategic thinking. And over the years LUM has become integral part of overall Wipro marketing team and the collaboration extends beyond media responsibilities.”