MxMIndia

Tag: McCann

  • With over 16 years of experience in advertising, Lahiri has worked with agencies like Contract Advertising, McCann, Ogilvy & Mather and Creativeland Asia

    Havas appoints Manas Lahiri as GM for Gurugram office

    By A Correspondent

     

    Havas Group India has appointed Manas Lahiri as General Manager Havas Gurugram. Lahiri’s mandate includes bringing in new business and managing overall operations of the Delhi branch, leveraging Havas Group’s integrated capabilities.

     

    With over 16 years of experience in advertising, Lahiri has worked with agencies like Contract Advertising, McCann, Ogilvy & Mather and Creativeland Asia.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India said: “For Havas India Advertising operations in North, we needed a driven and capable leader who is not only aligned with our vision of exponential growth in terms of winning new clients, attracting versatile talent, and demonstrating our integrated strength but is equally comfortable leading a strong Havas team and our partnership with Reckitt Benckiser. In Manas we have the perfect leader who will help me drive both mandates and make our operations stronger, more relevant both externally and internally”.

     

    Added Lahiri: “I am very excited to be part of the Havas India team. The concept of Better Together truly comes to life here with our various offerings from Havas and our partnering companies from Vivendi Group. We now need to strengthen our communication solutions to local and global clients.  My focus will be on driving on aggressive business growth, creating exciting work for our clients and building a team that lives up to Havas’s global standards of creativity.”

     

     

  • Chakravarty will report to Prasoon Joshi, Chairman McCann Asia Pacific and CEO & CCO McCann Worldgroup India

    Ashish Chakravarty joins McCann as ED & Head of Creative, India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ashish Chakravarty has moved on from Contract and to join McCann as Executive Director and Head of Creative, India. He was till recently Chief Creative Officer of the WPP agency, overseeing creative output of Contract Advertising, iContract, Designsutra, and Core Consulting.

     

    Chakravarty will report to Prasoon Joshi, Chairman McCann Asia Pacific and CEO & CCO McCann Worldgroup India. Said Joshi on the appointment: “Ashish is a rare breed of creative talent who is backed by solid strategic thinking. He’s constantly rediscovering himself and genuinely interested in creating work with depth and effervescence at the same time. Moreover, he is a great team builder , am really looking forward to Ashish joining McCann back.” In his earlier stint at McCann, Chakravarty worked with Prasoon Joshi and helped build McCann Delhi as one of the top leading operations in Delhi market, notes a communique.

     

    Said Chakravarty on his joining McCann: “There is a certain degree of familiarity, and fondness that I have for McCann, having spent over a decade there. I enjoyed a fabulous run in my last stint, and it always felt good to see it continue from strength to strength. On a personal note, I have a huge regard for Prasoon, both as a creative leader, and for the person that he is. Our bond runs deep, and we have a quirky chemistry of sorts; one that is maddening, and magical at the same time. And almost always results in some very good work. So, when the opportunity came to get back into the thick of it, and also in a more substantial way than before, I found it hard to resist.”

     

     

  • The Executive Committee is headed by three time Past President R T Kumar, Managing Director of Oysters Advertising

    Ad Club Bangalore announces new mancom

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club Bangalore has announced a new Managing Committee and list of office bearers ahead of the Big Bang Awards 2018. The Executive Committee is headed by three time Past President R T Kumar, Managing Director of Oysters Advertising.

     

    The new office bearers are Laeeq Ali, Director of Origami Creative who is named Vice President to take over as President of the Ad Club in 2019. Malavika Harita, CEO of Saatchi Focus continues as the Treasurer and Chair Person of the Big Bang Awards Committee. Akshar Peerbhoy, Director & CEO of MAA Communications and Southern Regional representative of AAAI, will be the Secretary with Navin Nair, a PR professional, as Joint Secretary.

     

    Akshar Peerbhoy heads the Good Practices vertical of the club while the Programmes vertical is headed by Kishankumar Shyamalan, Managing Partner, Wavemaker. The Knowledge vertical is headed by Maya Chandra, a film-maker and founder of Maya, Bengaluru as Tina Manuskhani Garg, Founder and CEO of Pink Lemonade, heads the Image and Membership Management vertical and Arunava Seal, Chief & Creative Director of Bleu, the Sports vertical.

     

    The other eminent members of the committee include Dilip Ashoka, Head of McCann, Bengaluru; Bindusara Ramachandra, a digital education professional from Unwebd.com; Ganga Ganapathi Pooviah, Vice President, Epsilon Bangalore; Sonia Serrao, Global Media Lead, Tata Global Beverages and Sneha Walke, Vice President South – Exchange4Media Group. Sanchayeeta Verma, Sr Vice President, Wavemaker Bangalore and Immediate Past President of Ad Club Bangalore continues as an active ex-officio member of the Executive Committee.

     

     

  • The ‘Blink to Speak’ campaign bagged a Grand Prix for Good along with a host of other awards at Cannes Lions 2018

    Grand Prix for TBWA heralds Good News on Day 2 @ Cannes

     

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    TBWA\India ‘Blink to Speak’ campaign bagged a Grand Prix for Good for the second consecutive year for India on Day 2 of the Cannes Lions festival for creativity.

     

    Blink to Speak has been created by TBWA\India for the Asha Ek Hope Foundation and the Neuro Gen Brain & Spine Institute. Said TBWA India CEO Govind Pandey to The Economic Times: “We believe in the power of disruptively simple ideas to make a difference to humanity. This was not done for awards. This was a heartfelt intervention from a team that genuinely wanted to help and make a difference.”  (Link: https://tbwacannes.com/blink-to-speak-asha-ek-hope-foundation-and-neurogen-brain-spine-institute-tbwaindia)

     

    Meanwhile, India had a fair day with awards. TBWA also bagged a Gold in Pharma. Meanwhile, DDB Mudra and Grey bagged Silvers fro Stayfree and Mahindra Rise and McCann Health bagged a Bronze for Kwality.

     

    Last year, McCann had bagged the Healthcare Grand Prix for Good for “Immunity Charm” for the Ministry of Public Health, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

     

    India has sent a total of 979 entries this year. Last year, the number of entries was 1227, which if one excludes entries from the Publicis Group and those categories that been deleted/ merged is 953.

     

     

  • The Media Agency, not the Consultancy now threatens the Creative Agency, writes Prabhakar Mundkur in his AdBuzz column

    Will Media Agencies ‘Kill’ the Creative…?

     

    By Prabhakar Mundkur

     

    I remember that back in 1996 when I was with JWT South Africa, Burt Manning the then global CEO of JWT made a trip to meet us.  In his informal speech at the office pub, he said that he would like to see a day when the traditional ad agency presentation started with a media presentation rather than a creative presentation.  If that is not already happening I am sure it will happen soon.  So, Mr. Manning might have just predicted the future very early on.

     

    Ever since media and creative separated, it’s the media agency that has made large strides forward.  I was lucky to be working at JWT Shanghai where the second Mindshare in the world was formed in 1998, thanks to Kelly Clark, the now Global CEO of GroupM who entirely supervised the transition. The media agency has embraced digital, activation, events, sponsorships, content distribution, sports and entertainment, and the rest of the integrated marketing puzzle. Making it far more attractive and qualified compared to the creative agency. Whereas the creative agency has remained what it always was… largely the producer of TV commercials and print ads.

     

    The acquisition of a digital agency called Glitch by GroupM may be a signal of where the future lies. After all there is nothing to stop the media agency from also acquiring a creative agency save the obvious conflict at a group level.  In fact, acquisition of a creative agency might well bring us full circle to the integrated agency of the future.  Today’s media agency has the Big Data, has the client relationships, has the research, is making large investments, unlike the creative agency that is just bumbling along trying hard to survive. I know creative freelancers who already work with GroupM.  I am sure it saves GroupM the bother of having to ask their WPP creative agencies for help.  And the informality of relationships with these creative shops prevents any obvious conflict of interest at a corporate level.

     

    But the press release did make GroupM look a like a bunch of bean counters.  Because the Glitch CEO said they were bringing right-brained thinking to the left-brained GroupM.  That is certainly not how GroupM should see itself in the future.

     

    McCann vilified on Social Media

    When McCann put a self-congratulatory ad in The Times of India last week, suddenly the professional side of the advertising business woke up almost like Rasputin awakening from his slumber.  As the saying goes, professionals typically don’t advertise themselves and professionals generally means chartered accountant, lawyers etc. An old code of conduct says that professionals shouldn’t advertise, but I guess that is long forgotten.  After all we see plenty of ads for doctors and clinics these days.  When it suits the ad industry folks,they like to think of themselves as professionals.  So, the industry took to social media to denigrate McCann. The taunts included the creativity of the ad.

     

    But I am sure it is Prasoon Joshi, the CEO of McCann, who is having the last laugh.  In the just released Gunn Report 2017, McCann was named the No 1 agency in India.  Leaving behind the likes of Taproot Dentsu, BBDO, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, L & Saatchi & Saatchi and Weiden+Kennedy.

     

     

    Advertising catches up with the Indian parent’s obsession for children’s studies

    While there may be no formal research to validate this, the Indian’s parent’s obsession with children’s studies is well-known.  We are the only country that indulges our children in the extra classes, the private tuitions, and other academic additions to regular school.  This either poorly reflects on our education systems, our children or our parents, I am not sure which.  But the insight triggered a few commercials both from Mirinda and Horlicks.

     

     

    What is questionable of course, in spite of trying very hard, is the rather loose connection between the product and exam time which has little to do with each other. The Horlicks claim of ‘emotional nutrition’ remained largely emotional with no real ‘reason why’. But with children’s nutrition categories being threatened by serious pharma companies like Abbott with products like Pediasure, its exam time for Horlicks as well which has seen its market share take a beating in recent years.

     

     

    But in balance, advertisers might have hit upon a good thing. After all Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing 10 crore students on February 16, on how to deal with the stress of exam time. Besides our PM has also written a book on the subject, which was released on February 3.

     

    It’s time to add Exam Time as another special day along with Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  I am sure the theme will attract more advertisers in 2019.

     

     

  • PayTM was Client of the Year and Ogilvy bagged the Grand Effie for Star Plus Nayi Soch at Ad Club's Big Night for Effectiveness

    McCann wins big at Effies 2018

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It was the Big Night for Effectiveness in advertising. The Advertising Club’s premier event for rewarding advertising effectiveness was held on Friday, January 5 in Mumbai. The venue was the usual – the lawns of the Taj Lands End, except this time there was lesser noise and hooting given the absence of the Mullen Lowe Lintas group. The agency did not officially enter the awards officially though some of its work did find its way.

     

    But it would be unfair to say that Lowe’s absence saw IPG group sibling McCann rise. The agency did have some good work to showcase and although its tough to say what the final roster would’ve looked like had Lowe and all the Publicis Communications agencies participated – especially Leo Burnett which had bagged the Grand Effie last year.

     

    Also, the margin with which McCann won over runner-up Ogilvy was significant.

     

    Other than being runner-up in the final rankings, the agency also bagged the Grand Effie for work done on Star Plus’ NayiSoch campaign.

     

    One 97 Communication Limited (PayTM) was adjudged as the Effie Client of the Year with long-time winner Hindustan Unilever coming second. Here the margin of win for the top rank was just 10

     

    Speaking  about winning the  Effies, Vikram Sakhuja, President of The Advertising Club and Chairperson, EFFIEs  said: “With the bar raised higher year on year,  winning an Effie has become more competitive and rewarding. This year we are seeing a new Client of the Year and a new Agency of the Year. My congratulations to them and all the 93 winners.” Adding: “The four pillars of effectiveness are Strategy, Idea, Execution and Results. To win an Effie we are finding that Effectiveness in Advertising is getting increasingly medium agnostic. Accordingly, ideas are being brought to scale in a remarkable number of ways. The one area I would like to further challenge us all is in the description of results.”

     

    Elaborating on the entries. Mitrajit Bhattacharya, Co-chairperson, Effies 2018 said: “The Effies 2018 once again witnessed  patronage from industry veterans and category leaders , establishing its eminence  as a  coveted industry award that recognizes great ideas and superior execution. Effies2018 saw  the entire fraternity come together to laud and celebrate successful campaign stories that are  ahead of the curve on innovation and engagement.”

     

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    EFFIE-2018-CLIENT-OF-THE-YEAR

    EFFIE-2018-RESULTS

  • McCann also won 3 Golds, 2 Silvers, 2 bronzes and 1 finalist place at the Clio Awards

    McCann wins a Grand Clio for Afghan campaign

    McCann Worldgroup India became the only agency ever to win a Grand Clio from India at the Clio awards presented last night. This was awarded for the campaign titled Immunity Charm done for Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health in the category Product Design. Other than this, McCann also won 3 Golds, 2 Silvers, 2 bronzes and 1 finalist place.

     

    Commenting on the win, Prasoon Joshi Chief Creative Officer McCann India said, “Winning at Clio is always special. This is a great honor to win a GRAND. On behalf of McCann Worldgroup India my Congratulations to the entire team. Specially to Prateek Bhardwaj, Harshit Jain, Soumya Nagabhushan  Dr. Daniel J Carucci, Kamya lawadhi,  Andrew Schirmer, Urvashi Das and Vaibhava Bhatnagar.”

     

    Added Harshit Jain, Marketing Director APAC & Country Head McCann Health India: “It feels so good to see that our work on Immunity Charm is getting recognised with the highest awards at these prestigious award shows. It’s a true testament of our culture of idea centricity and practice of integration for producing extraordinary work”.

  • Treat is Britannia’s largest selling sandwich creams brand, and it is back with a new product range, with crunchier, tastier, shells, and super soft cream in between

    Britannia assures consumers where to find the real treat for its biscuit brand

    By A Correspondent

     

    Britannia has unveiled a new campaign for its sandwich brand – Britannia Treat.

     

    The TVC, titled ‘Asli-Treat-is-in-The-Middle’, was the coinage that the brand felt best captures what the product delivers.

     

    Puneet Kapoor, Executive Creative Director, McCann had this to say, “It’s rare that the main product design idea and the human insight converge the way it did with this brief. Keeping it simple, elegant and a lot of fun was the way to go. But simplicity in communication is what you arrive at eventually if you keep at it. We’re glad that McCann and Britannia teams stuck to it with a beautiful delivery from the Hungry Films team.”

  • The previously-launched ad in the series has managed to garner more than 25 million views on digital channels till now

    Coca-Cola expands its ‘elevator’ experience in Punjabi

    By A Correspondent

     

    Coca-Cola India launched the ‘Elevator’ commercial with DiljitDosanjhin a vibrant Punjabi flavour. The ad is a follow-up to the elevator themed ad with DeepikaPadukone under “Taste the Feeling” campaign which highlights the role of Coke in setting off camaraderie between a celeb and their fan. The previously-launched adin the series has managed to garner more than 25 million views on digital channels till now.

     

    The narrative opens with Diljit being followed by photographers outside a hotel. To escape, Diljit quickly rushes into an elevator and notices a housekeeping attendant with a service trolley inside the elevator. Suddenly there is a glitch and the elevator stops in between the floors. To lighten up the environment, the housekeeper offers a chilled bottle of Coca-Cola to Diljit. Diljit looks pleased with the gesture. He really needed a Coca-Cola right now. This is followed by great camaraderie and cheerful dancing by the two. The popular Punjabi music in the story lifts the feeling and adds to the entertainment quotient. Coke is at the centre of the advertisement which is designed to spread the message of breaking social barriers to foster a strong connect with each other and the carefree spirit within us.

     

    The campaignwill be launched on digital platforms with the exciting teasers featuring DiljitDosanjh, followed by a pilot run of the on-ground consumer engagement activities leveraging augmented reality. The consumers may also get a chance to meet Diljit by participating in many contests and activities that the company is planning to organize.

     

    Explaining the thought behind the campaign, Debabrata Mukherjee, Vice President- Marketing, Coca-Cola India, added,“Diljit is an inspiration to millions of youth in the country and we really value his association with the brand that stands for positivity and youthfulness. The commercial brings out the message of optimism, happiness and making regular moments special with the simple act of sharing a Coke. We hope the commercial will find favour with our audience that loves lively Punjabi music, spirited dancing, and a beautiful story with Coca-Cola in the centre.”

     

    Highlighting the thought behind the campaign, Prasoon Joshi, Chairman Asia Pacific, CEO & Chief Creative Officer – India, McCann, who supervised the creativesof the campaign said “The new Coca-Cola Elevator campaign captures a tale of togetherness between total strangers. The light-hearted film features DiljitDosanjh as himself, where a fan bumps into his heart-throb in an elevator. Coca-Cola breaks the ice and makes the connection between the celebrity and the awe-struck fan special. The choice of music and dance make the film truly enjoyable.”

     

    Sharing his experience, Diljitsaid, “The ad was so much fun to do. It is a beautiful paradox that two strangers inside an elevator warm up to each other because of Chilled Coke. I had a great time with my elevator buddy while enacting the script. And it goes without saying that Coke is truly refreshing and I love drinking it.”

     

  • Nycil is popularly known for its anti-bacterial properties and its efficacy in curing and preventing prickly heat problems

    Nycil back with a new brand proposition for summer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nycil, the prickly heat powder from the Kraft Heinz Company is back with a refreshing campaign this year establishing its new proposition. Focusing on five summer problems of the skin such as sweat, body odor, rashes, itching and prickly heat, the brand advocates enjoying summers without any tension, with the protection of Nycil. With a heritage of more than 50 years, Nycil is popularly known for its anti-bacterial properties and its efficacy in curing and preventing prickly heat problems.

     

    Creatively conceptualized and executed by McCann, the campaign advocates the use of Nycil to fight against common skin problems caused during summer. The film starts with a young boy reluctant to play out in the sun fearing it would cause skin problems like sweat, stickiness, odour, rashes and prickly heat. Just then his friend’s mother intervenes to explain to the kids how the right powder can prevent skin problems during summer.

     

    Commenting on the new campaign, Vikramjeet Singh, CMO, Kraft Heinz India said, “Nycil enjoys the position of a market leader across the country and it is the most preferred powder in the PHC (prickly heat & cooling) category. Through this new campaign, we aim to educate the consumers on using Nycil for the 5 common summer skin problems; which no other PHP can effectively claim to cure. This was a natural progression since the brand is clinically proven to fight the bacteria that cause skin problems led by summer”.

     

    Speaking from a creative perspective, Suraja Kishore, National Planning Head, McCann said, “Nycil is a heritage brand with very strong associations on prickly heat. The challenge was to reinforce Nycil as the expert solution for summers. We are happy to bring to life the proposition in an engaging set up of kids’ banter.”

     

  • The campaign communicates Glucon-D superiority in providing instant relief from exhaustion compared to plain water

    Glucon-D’s new campaign joins forces with water this summer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Glucon-D from the Kraft Heinz Company has unveiled its new campaign ‘SirfPaanNahi, Glucon-D walaPaani.’ The campaign communicates Glucon-D superiority in providing instant relief from exhaustion compared to plain water. The ad film created by McCann shows a group of kids playing Kabaddi in the scorching heat. After winning the match, the protagonist of the film, a school kid, returns home after the game and approaches the refrigerator to fetch a bottle of water. The mother stops him saying “Don’t just drink water, add Glucon-D to the water” to get instant energy. The film ends with a refreshing reminder “SirfPaaniNahi, Glucon-D walaPaani” to reinforce the importance of consuming Glucon-D with water to beat exhaustion caused due to harsh summer.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Vikramjeet Singh, CMO of Kraft Heinz India said: “In summers, heat and high humidity lead to exhaustion. Glucon-Daims to educate the consumers about the benefits of adding Glucon-D to water to quickly restore the lost glucose, minerals and vitamin levels in the body after spending long hours in the sun.”

     

    Added Suraja Kishore, National Planning Head, McCann: “Being the market leader, Glucon-D’s task is to grow the category and we went single-mindedly towards that end to chase ‘only water’ consumption occasions in summers. Through the campaign ‘SirfPaaniNahi, Glucon-D walaPaani’, we wanted to highlight the superiority of Glucon-D in recharging the body and providing instant energy.”

     

     

  • McCann India bagged a Grande for its entry Dead Hours by Nescafe in the Promo Lotus category

    McCann wins big at Adfest, bags sole Grande for Nescafe

    By A Correspondent

     

    McCann Worldgroup India dominates Adfest 2017 with a Grande Lotus, two golds, one silver and four bronze at the Adfest 2017 Awards held in Pattaya Thailand. McCann is the only agency from India to win a Grande in 2017.

     

    Adfest announced the winners for all the categories and McCann India bagged a Grande for its entry Dead Hours by Nescafe in the Promo Lotus category, the same campaign won a Gold in Radio and Silver in Direct Lotus category. The campaign for Dettol titled Germbursters won a Gold in the Media category.

     

    The Dancing Letters campaign done for Maharashtra Dyslexia Association won a Bronze in Design Lotus category and Pet Adoption campaign titled Cat, Dog & Rabbit for World for All won two bronze in Outdoor and Press Lotus. The campaign titled Paresh for Ixigo won a bronze in the radio category.

     

    Commenting on the win, Prasoon Joshi CEO and Chief Creative Officer McCann India said: “We at McCann have a worldwide culture of great creative work and we are really proud of the work we have done on Dettol and Nescafe. This was only possible because of great team work and the trust our client partners have in us.”