MxMIndia

Tag: Mindshare

  • Sports team of GroupM ESP worked closely with Mindshare in this initiative that helped Bridgestone secure title sponsorship

    Mindshare & GroupM ESP help Bridgestone secure title sponsorship of WS Hockey

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bridgestone, the world’s largest tyre company, has come on board as the ‘Title Sponsor’ of World Series Hockey (WSH), the biggest hockey league in the world. Mindshare is Bridgestone’s media agency and brings on board strategic approach to Bridgestone’s brand communication objectives. GroupM ESP (Entertainment, Sports and Partnership) is a specialist unit of GroupM offering consultancy in the business of Entertainment and Sports. Sports team of GroupM ESP worked closely with Mindshare in this initiative that helped Bridgestone secure title sponsorship of the prestigious and one of its kind ‘Bridgestone World Series Hockey’.

     

    The Bridgestone World Series Hockey tournament will be held from February 29 to April 2 and will involve 200 leading Indian and International players who will showcase their talent in 59 matches and vie for the biggest prize money hockey tournament in the world. The 8 venues for the inaugural edition of the league are Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Jalandhar, Mumbai and Pune.

     

    Commenting on this association Vaibhav Saraf – Bridgestone India’s General Manager Marketing & Sales said: “We have a legacy of associating with sports; we have been associating with various sports from Ice-Hockey to Formula 1 to the Moto-GP and Rugby in some nations. We started advertising in India last year and tied up with Mumbai Indians to begin with. Mindshare and GroupM ESP recommended WSH as an opportunity to us and helped us understand the media deliveries and valuation of the league”.

     

    “The sports genre has been integral to Bridgestone’s target audience and we needed a platform that would help build saliency for the brand”, said Anita Kotwani, Principal Partner – Client leadership Mindshare.

     

    Very bullish on Hockey as India’s National sport, Vinit Karnik, National Director, Entertainment, Sports & Live Events said: “Mindshare – GroupM ESP strategically approached the sponsorship of World Series Hockey by bringing alive Bridgestone’s brand objectives. We are hoping ‘Bridgestone World Series Hockey’ delivers high impact for the brand by increasing Bridgestone’s visibility and share of voice.

     

    Ms Kotwani added: “With this sponsorship Mindshare takes another small step in forging a partnership with hockey, but in fact a giant leap in propagating something other than cricket, yet getting entire focus, drive and visibility for our client. We are glad that by this sponsorship Bridgestone is reinforcing its commitment to its growth in India”.

     

    Bridgestone India Pvt. Ltd started its operations in 1996. In March 1998 with the setup of its manufacturing facility in Kheda, Madhya Pradesh, Bridgestone achieved its objective of running Indian manufactured Bridgestone tyres on Indian Roads.

     

    Mindshare is a global media and marketing services network with billings in excess of $27.8 billion (source: RECMA). The network consists of 114 offices in 82 countries throughout the North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Mindshare is a member of WPP, the world’s leading communications service group with $84.2bn in billings (source: RECMA), and is part of GroupM, the world’s leading full service media investment management operation, which was created by WPP Group to oversee its assets in this sector.

     

  • Hosted on Youtube on the February 8, sung by the latest rage, Dhanush of the Kolaveri Di fame, the anthem video now boasts of a Gold Trending Medal from YouTube, with over 4 million views as on February 22

    Mindshare’s YouTube record with ‘Boost Sachin Anthem’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare, India’s leading media services agency has recently created a unique milestone for itself on the back of a powerful digital media strategy. A record breaking 1 million hits were clocked for the ‘Boost Sachin Anthem’ in just under 2 days, making it the fastest video on Youtube to have reached a million views.

     

    Hosted on Youtube on the February 8, sung by the latest rage, Dhanush of the Kolaveri Di fame, the anthem video now boasts of a Gold Trending Medal from YouTube, with over 4 million views as on February 22.

     

    The challenge for Mindshare was to create buzz around the brand and noteworthy 23 year long association with Sachin Tendulkar as their brand ambassador. Therefore, there could not have been a better proposition than creating a dedicated anthem in the honour of the little master.

     

    The task was twofold – first, bringing the idea to life. This involved creating a powerful piece of content with carefully thought out celebrity recommendation, to scripting and final production, all of it mandated to the in-house content experts within Mindshare ESP.

     

    Two, tactfully seeding the content, where “people” would make it viral. To accelerate this, the Search and Social Media Experts at Mindshare went onto ingeniously seeding the content through contextual search and social media platforms of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

     

    Alok Sinha

    “The purpose of strategy at Mindshare is very simply to try and turn our brands into currencies of popular culture. Cultural currencies that fuel consumer conversations are far more valuable in today’s wired world than passive opportunities to see. The Sachin anthem is a great example of this belief. The team spotted an existing cultural meme in Dhanush and then went on to leverage it via executional excellence across content production, brand integration and social seeding. The Boost case also highlights the necessity of jugalbandis between strategy and the content & digital technology teams to create meaningful brand led cultural currencies,” said Alok Sinha, Leader Strategy – South Asia at Mindshare.

     

    Leading the mantle, the Mindshare strategy team required not just meticulous, but dynamic planning on a real time basis. By putting the brand’s content in the hands of the consumers it was a calculated risk and a bold strategic stance by the team. But today, Mindshare stands tall as GSK’s proud partners, while history is being written.

     

    Jayant K Singh

    “As a part of our marketing efforts on Boost, this time around, we wanted to celebrate Sachin’s long standing ‘Stamina’ association with the brand. A Sachin anthem, that people would resonate and rise with, was our instinctive choice. While we were certain that Dhanush’s popularity would help accelerate talk ability around Boost, our partner agency Mindshare’s contribution, through a well thought out strategy and execution in making it a “first” on many accounts for GSK, has successfully brought our intent to life,” said Jayant K Singh, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Health Care.

     

    Mindshare is a global media and marketing services network with billings in excess of $27.8 billion (source: RECMA). The network consists of 114 offices in 82 countries throughout the North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, each dedicated to forging competitive marketing advantage for businesses and their brands.

     

  • It's the season for predicting spends, and even as there are varying numbers from Mindshare, Madison & MPA, the industry appears cautious yet optimistic

    So will media spends grow at 12 or 8%?

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    A lot could be said about how the year 2011 has shaped up for the media industry in India. From a growth perspective, it possibly has shaped up the way brand marketers and industry observers had predicted it to be – a mixed year with its usual set of highs and lows. But despite the rise and fall, the enthusiastic performance displayed by the industry year-on-year is giving players from the space, as also research bodies, enough scope to track down this domain exclusively and come up with studies that predict the trajectory and also crystal-gaze into its performance for the forthcoming year.

     

    In pace with its observations on the growth witnessed by the media industry in India, a couple of media (agency) firms have rolled out reports citing healthy growth numbers for 2011 and a cautious-yet-optimistic trend for next year. After Mindshare India released its annual report titled ‘This Year, Next Year: Indian Media Forecast’, it was the turn of Pitch-Madison to reveal its report last week. Joining the above two reports was another finding from research firm Media Partners Asia that unveiled its study tracking the performance of media in 2011-12. (Disclosure: MxMIndia partnered with Mindshare to publish the report digitally and in print form as ‘The Mindshare Indian Media Forecast 2012’)

     

    2011 (cr) 2012 (cr) YOY % growth
    Mindshare 33,388 37,397 12
    Pitch-Madison 25,594 28,013 9
    Media Partners Asia 31,400 34,100 8.7

     

    While most studies have predicted a healthy growth trend what is noteworthy is the optimism in numbers that have been expressed through the various reports which range from a modest 8 per cent to a high of 13 per cent. This translates into adspend monies ranging from Rs 25,594 crore to Rs 33,388 crore approximately. As part of the ‘Mindshare Indian Media Forecast 2012’ published by MxMIndia, Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia, Mindshare had expressed how predicting adspends has become more complex now than ever was. “The economic outlook is something that one can never get the handle right, with most studies not agreeing on one number. But this is what makes it exciting to look and estimate the Adex growth in India. Group M does yeoman’s service of providing some startling numbers based on science rather than gut, even though India tends to buck the trend away from global predictions.”

     

    When analysed further, the Mindshare study predicts an AdEx growth of 12.8 per cent in 2011 with net revenue totalling INR 33,388 crore. This was driven largely by the medium of television that contributed 18 per cent to the growth followed by Print at 7 per cent and Digital at 30 per cent. In fact for 2012, Mindshare predicts an overall growth rate of 12 per cent that will be led by spends on television – 15 per cent, print – 8 per cent and digital – 30 per cent.

     

    As for the insights by MPA, ad revenues in India for 2012 are expected to clock a growth rate of 8.7 per cent. According to MPA, this growth will be primarily driven by MNCs investing in India and stronger MCG sector, and if there are revisions carried out in 2H 2012. As for the advertising growth across key categories, MPA expects robust growth from the FMCG sector, which is the largest advertising category, contributing 30-35 per cent to total ad spend. The study predicts that MNCs are expected to report robust numbers while a few large MNC accounts are looking to increase spends by 50-70 per cent for the coming year. The other sectors that will see heightened activity include Auto – while traditional companies such as Maruti and Hyundai have reduced spends, global car manufacturers investing in India are driving the overall growth for the sector, Telecom and Life Insurance.

     

    On its part, the Pitch-Madison study (published by Pitch magazine, conducted by Madison) predicts a sluggish growth rate of 8 per cent due to slowdown worries in the second half of 2011. It predicts a cautious trend for 2012 which is expected to pick momentum only in the second half. It predicts a growth a 9 per cent with revenues totalling Rs 28,013 crore.

     

    The industry, on its part, seems undeterred with the varying figures being thrown up and appear comfortable with the current state of affairs so far. Divya Gupta, CEO, Dentsu Media India said, “The estimated adspend growth according to us stands at approx 9 per cent. Also, the growth trajectory may have slowed down versus what was reported in the last few years, but it is still very healthy!”

     

    According to Shubha George, Chief Operating Officer, South Asia – MEC, “Our estimate of 2011 closing numbers is close to 13 per cent. When analysed further, the mediums of TV, Digital and Cinema have outperformed vis-a-vis the overall 13 per cent whereas Print and Radio have been below par. As for 2012, our estimates are a percent lower than 2011 at 12 per cent.”

     

    Admitting that the so-called slowdown may have cast its effect on the growth of the industry, Anita Nayyar, Chief Executive Officer – India and South Asia, Havas Media said that “the actual rate that was predicted was in the range of 11-12 per cent but given the slowdown scare and also the volatility that was witnessed in the markets, the rate was revised to be in the region of 9-10 per cent.” Going forward, Nayyar feels that marketers will tread with a cautious approach as they are yet to see signs of recovery – a phenomenon that will start taking place in the second half of 2012. “Large clients like P&G and other FMCG units have announced a slash in the adspend rates. This indicates a cautious approach that’s being taken by the marketers. Even category-wise, sectors like FMCG, finance etc that used to spend heavily have taken a backseat for the moment. But what is surprising is the marketing drive that has been taken out by sectors such as education, real estate and to certain extent even auto, which are continuing to hike their adspend budgets.”

     

    Presenting a rather comprehensive outlook, S Yesudas, Managing Director – Indian sub-continent, Vizeum India stated that while the industry will grow at 10 per cent, growth will come in largely from three areas. “At a broad level it will come from investments in newer markets with the definition of India changing for many categories and consequent expansions. Share of voice reduction by certain categories will be balanced with increase by certain others which will include new launches particularly in the financial, automobile, IT and healthcare segment. Growth will also come from increased investments in the digital as well as out-of-home space and will be further boosted by changes in the audience buying-selling structure of traditional TV medium,” he asserted.

     

    While some clients may have decided to plug the unwarranted spends in advertising there are others who are jumping into the bandwagon to explore opportunities not found before. But slowdown or no slowdown, the industry appears to be keeping pace with its growth story the way it has been since the past few years and would continue to focus on ensuring that clients get maximum ROI for the monies spent.

     

  • In this role she will lead Team Unilever overseeing India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lankaat Mindshare Fulcrum

    Anupriya Acharya to head Unilever biz @ Mindshare

    Anupriya Acharya
    Ravi Rao

    By A Correspondent

     

    After the elevation of Mr Ravi Rao to lead Mindshare India, the media agency has appointed Ms Anupriya Acharya Leader – Team Unilever:South Asia, a position held by Mr Rao until he took over the agency’s reins (from Mr Gowthaman Ragothaman). She takes charge today.

    Ms Acharya has relocated from Singapore where she was CEO, Aegis Media.Her responsibility at Mindshare requires her to oversee business in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

     

    Announcing the appointment, Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia, Mindshare, said: “Anupriya moves into this role fromSingapore where she was CEO, Aegis Media Singapore and is credited with doubling the operation in just over two years. Prior to Aegis Media, she was President TME (The Media Edge) from 2005-2008. She is also no newbie at Group M. She set up mConsult under Vikram Sakhuja in 2004 and has been an integral part of Fulcrum from 2000-2003. So we welcome her back. ”

     

    Commenting on her new role in Mindshare, Ms Acharya said: “I am most excited about this role. I have always had very fond memories of Fulcrum. Aegis Media Singapore position helped me gain an international and regional perspective and honed my intercultural management skills, while TME taught me handling extremely diverse set of clients and their different requirements. CP, Parle AOR, Indian Oil, Viacom 18’s Colors and Citibank were some of the key clients then. Now I was looking to get back to scale and lo! this assignment was so timely and perfect.”

     

    “I look forward to working closely with Ravi, Roy Sudipto, who heads the team Unilever for APAC and David Pullan, Global Head of Team Unilever at Mindshare London, and to drive the aggressive Unilever agenda forward acrossSouth Asia. The scale is truly exciting and humbling at the same time. I am raring to go!,” she added.

     

    Ms Acharya has also worked at McCann Erickson and Ogilvy in her earlier years. A Post Graduate in Analytical Chemistry from IIT-Roorkee, she has over 16 years of experience in Communication solutions. Her interests are adventure sports, photography and travelling for leisure.

     

     

  • The mandate involves handling the media strategy as well as planning and buying across all mediums.

    Mindshare Chennai bags media duties for SPR&RG Constructions

    By A Correspondent

     

    After recently bagging the media duties of The Hindu,Mindshare,India’s leading media agency has added another new business to its client portfolio – Tamil Nadu based real estate developer SPR&RG Constructions Private Limited. The mandate involves handling the media strategy as well as planning and buying across all mediums. The account will be handled out of the Chennai office.

     

    Commenting on the win, Ravi Rao, Leader,South Asia, Mindshare, said: “This win is great news following Mindshare’s recent growing focus on strengthening our South operations. We are really excited to have the opportunity to serve SPR&RG Constructions Private Limited. They have a great vision for the category and we believe we can do some game-changing work for the brand and look forward to doing it well.”

     

    SPR&RG Constructions Private Limited is engaged in the acquisition and development of residential and commercial properties, besides executing turnkey infrastructure projects in Tamil Nadu. The company is coming up with their second large scale project in Chennai – Osian Chlorophyll where they bring on board the social conscience that ensures they contribute to the societies they are operating in.

     

    This is a unique property with 42 gardens and sky bridges that connects all the 10 blocks which have gardens lining it and thereby enhancing healthy living within the city limits.

     

    “With two upcoming projects in Chennai at Porur and Vepery, we were in consideration to partner with an agency that has expertise in local media and has ability to put to use global knowledge at local level for all our forthcoming projects,” says Sandeep Pantvaidya, VP – Marketing and Sales, SPR&RG.

     

    “We are glad to have Mindshare, one of the finest media buying agencies in the country today, on board to handle brand SPRRG and Chlorophyll. We look forward to a lengthy and profitable partnership with Mindshare in the years to come,” he added.

     

    Mindshare is a global media and marketing services network with billings in excess of $27.8 billion (source: RECMA). The network consists of 114 offices in 82 countries throughout the North America, Latin America, Europe,Middle East, and Asia Pacific, each dedicated to forging competitive marketing advantage for businesses and their brands.  Mindshare is a member of WPP, the world’s leading communications service group with $84.2bn in billings (source: RECMA), and is part of GroupM, the world’s leading full service media investment management operation, which was created by WPP Group to oversee its assets in this sector.

     

  • It's all in 'The Mindshare Indian Media Forecast 2012' presented by UTV Bindass, published by MxM India

    Exclusive: Mindshare forecasts 12% media spends growth in 2012; it was 13% in 2011

    By Johnson Napier

     

    For all the doleful talk of the economy heading south and brands slamming their ad-spend doors on media, sceptics are in for disappointment as the industry managed a commendable growth story for Calendar Year (CY) 2011, clocking a growth rate of 13 percent. Further, with net revenues totalling Rs 33,388 crore, the media confirmed its status as being ‘unstoppable’ and guaranteeing advertisers a good bang for their buck. The results were the finding of a study put together by GroupM, led specifically by the team at Mindshare. Titled ‘This Year, Next Year: Indian Media Forecast’, the study highlights the positive growth story that was witnessed by the industry, especially in the first half of CY 2011.

     

    Continuing with its strong projections and putting aside fears of a financial downturn, the study hints at 2012 to deliver growth numbers in the range of 12 percent and net revenue to the tune of Rs 37,397 crore. This will be driven largely by the advertisers’ willingness to deploy budgets around the media of television, print, radio and digital, the study notes.

     

    Throwing light on the report and its findings, Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia, Mindshare commented, “The economic outlook is something that one can never get the handle right, with most studies not agreeing on one number. But this is what makes it exciting to look and estimate the Adex growth in India. GroupM does yeoman’s service of providing some startling numbers based on science than the gut, even though India tends to buck the trend away from global predictions.”

     

    The detailed forecast and sector-wise spend analysis are part of ‘The Mindshare Indian Media Forecast 2012’ report published by MxMIndia and presented by UTV Bindass (Details on how you can get your copy at the end of this report)

     

    On the growth pattern to be expected by the industry in 2012, Mr Rao affirmed that since October of 2011, the moment the Eurozone market failure triggered a downslide the thoughts are very much soft where advertising budgets are concerned. “But if you look at the growth driver – every media is expected to grow in double digits with the exception of print and out of home. Every broadcaster and publisher is trying ways and means to cut down input costs while trying to extract the maximum. The first four months of this year will show the trend for the year, but the challenges are aplenty for media,” he asserts.

     

    On the performance of several domains in 2011, Jai Lala, Principal Partner – Exchange, Mindshare said that in terms of Adex, one of the media that stole the thunder last year was television. “In the first half of the Calendar Year (CY) 2011, the medium of television grew as high as 26 percent, which then slowed down to a rate of 16 percent in the second half. So while the average growth for 2011 for television hovers around 20 per cent, 2012 is anticipated to put up numbers in the range of 16 percent. But unlike last year, we expect the first half of CY 2012 to show a slow growth while the second half will manage to show a sudden spurt in growth numbers.”

     

    According to Mr Lala, the properties that will be churning out the numbers for television in 2012 includes cricket – led largely by IPL, reality shows, regionalisation and digitisation. They will be backed by increasing advertiser interest particularly from the sectors of auto, FMCG, finance, IT & ITES, retail, etc.

     

    As for the performance of the other big contributor to Adex – Print, the study envisages a growth of 8-9 percent for 2012. “This is due to the fact that there is going to be a certain amount of demand through elections and the possible bounce-back of certain sectors like auto, real estate, etc who will continue to look at print as a viable advertising option,” states Amin Lakhani, Principal Partner – Exchange, Mindshare. Another factor that will drive the fortunes for Print will be speciality magazines. “Being subscription-based and catering to niche audiences, these magazines will continue to attract the attention of the advertisers as well,” states Mr Lakhani.

     

    Continuing with its solid growth story in 2012 as well, digital is pegged to achieve a growth rate of 30 percent. Apart from servicing the many needs of the online and mobile worlds, marketers are expected to increase their focus on people during the ongoing year. Affirms Mr Ashok Lalla, Leader – Digital, South Asia, Mindshare, “In 2012, the most important media channel that smart marketers will increasingly focus on will not be specific Social websites, TV channels, print publications or radio stations, but it will be People. All the rest of the media mix will be oriented around activating a brand’s audience (People) to be the key driver and proponent of a brand’s communications.”

     

    As for radio, the biggest event that will change the fortunes of the radio industry in 2012 will be Phase 3. According to the study, Phase 3 will help radio owners to drive some incremental revenues. The only stumbling block, the study notes, would be measurement that will have to pan itself to include other cities and towns as well. A growth rate of 11 percent is what is expected out of the medium for 2012, the study notes.

     

    With Out-of-Home, the study notes that the formation of the IOA would lead to standardisation of rates and other operational modalities that will help push for more research into the medium. This effort by the industry would be recognised by clients who will go all out and invest in the medium, it states. “Marketers want to use outdoor as they provide good imagery and high visibility. It has even allowed for newer and better innovations to help advance the sector. Also, outdoor panels, screens, LEDs are now shaping up a new revenue stream which is now getting separately classified as retail. So the medium has come into its own and will continue to grow at a healthy rate in 2012 as well,” notes Mr Lakhani.

     

    Contributing silently but significantly, Cinema will continue to put up good numbers in 2012. The growth projections for this medium would be in the range of 14-15 percent for 2012, the study notes. Sector wise, a large range of advertisers would continue to pursue the medium as an effective advertising option.

     

    ‘The Mindshare Indian Media Forecast 2012’ report is presented by UTV Bindass and being distributed to select marketing and media professionals across the country starting today. If you want to make sure you get a copy, please write to us at editor@mxmindia.com writing MIMF2012 in the subject line. And, yes, while we are sure you’ll find it priceless, it’s not a priced report.

     

  • Mr Gotlieb will focus on the overall strategic direction of GroupM; Mr Proctor will oversee management of GroupM’s agencies worldwide

    Change time @ Group M. Irwin Gotlieb is chairman, Dominic Proctor is prez. Nick Emery is new Mindshare CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Media agency major GroupM has announced that Mr Dominic Proctor, long-time CEO of Mindshare Worldwide, will be President of GroupM. The position is newly created.

     

    The announcement was made by GroupM Global CEO Mr Irwin Gotlieb, who said the move is designed to strengthen the company’s senior management team in order to successfully meet today’s marketplace challenges and opportunities.

     

    In his new role, Mr Proctor will continue to report to Mr Gotlieb, who officially becomes GroupM Chairman as part of the reorganization. Mr Proctor will be succeeded as Mindshare Worldwide CEO by Mr Nick Emery, currently the London-based Chief Strategy Officer for Mindshare.

     

    “These changes represent a logical and important progression for us, and we’re confident that our clients and staff will prosper as a consequence,” Mr Gotlieb said, making the announcement. “Our rate of growth and the complexity of our business require that we constantly evolve. Media investment management sits at the crossroads of media, data and technology and we must be positioned to capture the significant opportunities that are on the horizon.”

     

    Under the new structure, Mr Gotlieb will focus on the overall strategic direction of GroupM and ensure that the company deploys data and technology to drive change for the benefit of GroupM clients and stakeholders. Mr Proctor will oversee management of GroupM’s agencies worldwide, which in addition to Mindshare include Maxus, MEC, and MediaCom. GroupM’s regional heads, as well as the CEOs of the company’s four major media agencies, will report to him.

     

    “I’m especially pleased that Dominic, who has been so instrumental in the long-term success of Mindshare, has agreed to move into this new and important role in GroupM and concentrate on the global management of our company,” Mr Gotlieb said.

     

    Mr Proctor has deep experience in managing media agencies. He launched Mindshare Worldwide in September 1997 as WPP’s first media investment management agency and led the company over the ensuing years to its current position as one of the leading media shops in the world. He started his career in 1979 and worked in various advertising agencies before joining JWT in London, where he became Media Director in 1989, Managing Director in 1991, and Chief Executive in December 1992. He held this position for five years, during which time he also had a seat on the board of JWT Worldwide.

     

    “GroupM has become a large and complicated company requiring more hands on the wheel than in previous years,” Mr Proctor said. “We have many more moving parts and we need more operational management to maximize the opportunities across our agencies. I’m delighted to step into this role, and equally pleased that Nick has accepted the CEO role at Mindshare. He has been a great partner since the start, and Mindshare will go from strength to strength under his leadership.”

     

    Mr Emery, a Mindshare veteran who joined the company when it was founded in 1997 and has worked closely with Mr Proctor ever since, said: “Mindshare is a great global network with fantastic, market leading talent and clients. I’m honoured and privileged to be able to take over from Dominic.”

     

  • Fueled by great ideas, intelligence and analytics, the focus will be on growing our existing clients behind a strong strategy and thrust in digital, says Ravi Rao, Leader – Mindshare South Asia

    @GroupM: M Suku to join ESP, Mindshare restructures

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s change time at Group M too. The media major’s Mindshare arm had announced a series of changes on Wednesday , the leading media agency of the country, announced on Wednesday a series of management changes and key appointments to strengthen the company and position it for long-term success.

     

    In what may not necessarily be a related development, MxMIndia learns that veteran media specialist Mr Suku Murti who is currently with Aidem Ventures is also moving to Group M. Mr Suku has been with GroupM in the past, having set up Broadmind which later transformed to the entertainment, sports and promotions practice (GroupM ESP). He headed ESP for the entire Asia Pacific region. Mr Suku has worked with Unilever, Colgate, Lintas, JWT, ABCL, Eenadu other than Group M and Aidem.

     

    Mr Suku will continue to be associated with Aidem for a few months even as his association with Group M ESP begins.

     

    Meanwhile, the rest of the restructuring news @ Mindshare: Mr M Parthasarathy or MAPS currently the Leader-Business Planning will head the Client Leadership team. Mr Alok Sinha will now oversee Strategy, enabling ‘no-line’ thinking across India. Mr Sandeep Pandey will spearhead Consulting & Intelligence which involves analytics and modelling for better ROMI (Return on Marketing investment). Ms Anita Karnik will continue to handle Branded Entertainment and Activation. Messrs Jai Lala and Ashok Lalla will continue in their current roles managing Exchange and Digital.

     

    Speaking on the restructuring, Mr Ravi Rao, Leader – Mindshare South Asia said in a communique: “With this infusion of senior talent and expertise, I am looking forward to beginning the year with the Mindshare mantra: Original thinking that brings in thought leadership, innovation that aids in brand growth. Fueled by great ideas, intelligence and analytics, the focus will be on growing our existing clients behind a strong strategy and thrust in digital. We have competent teams and the changes will ensure continuity in each role, while enabling us to broaden our team’s experience and capabilities – something that will be important as we continue to drive new business and grow our market share.”

     

    The new appointments also include Mr Rahul Thappa (as reported by MxMIndia on Wednesday), who has come in to manage North and rest of Mindshare South Asia. He has been entrusted with business operations in Pakistan,Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

     

  • The idea behind the campaign is to make the masses aware that their life, dreams and future are not necessarily in their control.

    Radio Mirchi and Birla Sun Life’s campaign to protect families

    By a Correspondent

     

    After a TVC and launch of an independent microsite, Birla Sun Life Insurance roped in Mindshare and Radio Mirchi to spread the message of their campaign, Protection Solutions. The idea behind the campaign is to make the masses aware that their life, dreams and future are not necessarily in their control. There is always an element of the unexpected – fate – and it is best that they don’t leave dreams to fate. The objective of the campaign is to inspire people to secure their families, and not to leave their dreams to fate.

     

    Mr. Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer, Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group, said: “As a brand, we believe in identifying unarticulated needs of our customers and contextualizing the role that we can play to meet these needs. It is important to play a role of a facilitator to sensitize the customer to the uncertainties of life and empower him with solutions that protect his priceless dreams. In order to communicate and effectively engage the customers, it was important for us to select an appropriate activation and media planning partner and our association with Mirchi and Mindshare best helped us to reach out to the masses.”

     

    The campaign is spread over three weeks, across eight markets and encompasses the theme of ‘safety, security and protection. Mindshare and Radio Mirchi urged people to come forward and share their stories of luck and survival.

     

    Abhishek Ray, of ‘Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster’ and ‘I am Kalam’ fame and Kavita Krishnamoorthi, the versatile singer and former actress, are said to have come together to create a song that will inspire the listeners to take the necessary steps and protect their families.

     

    Radio Mirchi also organized a massive on-ground activity in 64 housing societies across 8 metros. The activity, ‘Birla Sun Life Insurance presents My Family Day’, mixed a lot of fun activities while giving an opportunity for families to bond together. This gave most family members to display various strengths to protect their families.

     

    Birla Sun Life Insurance also gave away a maroon coloured band to individuals who pledged to protect their families. The idea behind the activities was to get the audiences to take a pledge to protect their families.

     

  • Mr Thappa, who recently left Mail Today, will be working at Mindshare as Leader – Client Leadership, South Asia.

    Rahul Thappa is back @ Mindshare

    By Akash Raha

     

    After his stint at Mail Today, Rahul Thappa has once again joined Mindshare. Mr Thappa will be working at Mindshare as Leader – Client Leadership, South Asia, reporting directly to Mindshare CEO Ravi Rao.

     

    In his last stint with Mail Today, the compact Delhi daily which is a joint venture between India Today Group and Associated Newspapers (ANL), publisher of Daily Mail, UK, he was the COO of the organization. He had joined the newspaper in May 2011, taking over from the then-COO, Mr Suresh Balakrishnan.

     

    Mr Thappa’s earlier stints include working as the Managing Director at Mindshare Malaysia; Business Director, Entertainment Sports & Partnerships at Group M Malaysia; Business Director at Mindshare Malaysia; and Planning & Buying Director, Team Unilever at Mindshare, Malaysia.

     

    MxM had received no official confirmation from Mindshare at the time of this report.

     

  • Mindshare appoints Ashok Lalla as Leader, Digital, South Asia

    Lalla on board with Mindshare

    By A Correspondent

    Strengthening its senior leadership team, Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM has appointed Ashok Lalla as Leader, Digital for Mindshare, South Asia. Mr Lalla takes over a world class operation that has won Mindshare a large number of awards over the last 3 years, and was also Digital Agency of the Year in 2010. Based out of Mumbai, Mr Lalla will report to Ravi Rao, Leader, Mindshare South Asia.

    Mr Lalla is an award-winning Digital, Brand and Social Media Marketing leader with over 18 years of agency and client business experience on brands that cut across the spectrum from one-cent candies to million dollar hotel stays. He moves from Euro RSCG, where he was President – Digital, and worked with several blue-chip clients including Unilever and IBM. Earlier, he was Director of Internet Marketing at Taj Hotels where he led worldwide Digital strategy and Ecommerce for the hotel chain for 9 years.

    Welcoming Mr Lalla, R Gowthaman, Leader, Mindshare South Asia, said, “Ashok Lalla, joins Mindshare at a time when our digital businesses is well poised to grow manifold, not only on the basic services, but also across Search, Social, Mobile, Creative and Performance Marketing. We are delighted to have him on board to take Mindshare to greater heights in the Digital Marketing space.”

    On his move to Mindshare, Mr Lalla said, “I am excited to join Mindshare, an agency with a mouthwatering array of clients, a great Digital team and a fantastic track record of doing breakthrough digital work. I look forward to taking Digital to the next level for our clients, and growing our team into an even stronger unit that does even more spectacular Digital work, and sets new industry benchmarks.”

    Mr Lalla is a compelling presenter and a visionary keynote speaker on Digital Marketing, Social Media and Brands at leading events and B-schools. He is also the Author  and  curator  of  “The  Future  of  Digital for  Brands”,  a  highly  regarded  online global community of over 1900 Digital, Marketing and Brand experts and enthusiasts from 38 countries.

    Mindshare is a global media and marketing services network with billings in excess of $27.8 billion (source: RECMA). The network consists of 114 offices in 82 countries throughout the North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific.  Mindshare is a member of WPP, the world’s leading communications service group, and is part of GroupM, the world’s leading full service media investment management operation.

  • Mindshare's ‘Team ABG’ struck Gold for its work on Idea Cellular in the 'Best use of Radio in a Campaign ' category

    Mindshare strikes gold at the Mirchi Kaan Awards

    By A Correspondent

    Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM won a Gold metal for its exceptional radio campaign for Idea Cellular at the ceremony for the eighth Mirchi Kaan Awards. Held at the Comedy Store in Mumbai on September 28, this year, the awards saw participation from over 20 agencies, receiving more than 220 entries from all over India. The entries were judged across 15 categories.

    Mindshare’s ‘Team ABG’ struck Gold for its work on Idea Cellular in the ‘Best use of Radio in a Campaign ‘ category. Titled Ajab Premki…On-Air Kahaani….in true Bollywood style, Mindshare along with Red FM scripted the story of a lovelorn outsider – Muthuswamy, a young man from Madurai who’s travelled to Mumbai in search of a girl who he’s fallen in love with. Muthu doesn’t know a word of Hindi, Marathi or English and yet, he braves the big city to try and find this girl he’s lost his heart to. Muthuswamy’s story unfolded over a week on Red FM – and all the RJs got the city involved in helping Muthu with the local language.

    Following the success of the campaign in Mumbai, Muthu’s story was also executed across the cities of Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, where Muthuswamy morphed into the Marathi manoos Godbole (for Delhi) and the Malayali Joby Matthew (in Bangalore).

    Mr R Gowthaman, Leader, Mindshare South Asia, said “I am extremely delighted with this win. It reaffirms my faith in the collaborative work that Mindshare Exchange and Invention teams have been doing with media partners for delivering great communication solutions that build our clients’ business, especially in a difficult medium like Radio.”

     

    Mr Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular, said “The radio idea and activity put together by Mindshare was able to successfully amplify the campaign and help establish Idea’s theme campaign “Break the Language Barrier”. This demonstrated Mindshare’s ability to work out and deliver creative communication solutions that engage consumers. This also leveraged the power of the medium and helped bring the campaign alive.”