By A Correspondent
Devendra Deshpande, until recently Head Of Content Plus at Mindshare, has joined multi-media production house, Friday Filmworks as head of digital content and IP.
In his new role, Deshpande will create and monetise sustainable and scalable IPs for the ever growing digital/OTT space for domestic and international markets. He will also create new monetisation models around content, including franchising and l&M for Friday Filmworks.
By A Correspondent
Mindshare has announced two major leadership appointments to its leadership structure in Asia Pacific. The first is the elevation of Prashant Modi to become Asia Pacific Chief Operating Officer. Modi, who was previously Chief Commercial Officer for Mindshare in Asia Pacific, will take on the broader responsibility of managing the Singapore hub and working with Mindshare Asia Pacific CEO Amrita Randhawa on future-proofing the overall company structure and offering.
Modi has been with the agency and GroupM for over 16 years working across both GroupM and Mindshare in its India and regional office in Singapore. Commenting on the appointment Randhawa said: “There are few people who care about our people and our company as much as Prashant. He is the beating heart of Mindshare and one of our absolutely finest minds. I am delighted that this role is going to give him the canvas he deserves to make an even bigger impact on our organization and on our people.â€
Speaking on his elevation, Modi said: “16 years with Mindshare and it still is a dream place to work with great colleagues and clients. Mindshare has always provided a very open atmosphere to fuel personal growth and I am looking forward to continuing to contribute to our achievements and growing our business furtherâ€
The second appointment is that of Rohan Lightfoot as Chief Growth Officer of Mindshare Asia Pacific. His role is focused on developing high growth opportunities for new and existing clients with an emphasis on new products, innovation and digitisation.
Speaking on Lightfoot’s appointment, Randhawa said: “Rohan’s been on my must-hire list for years! He is uniquely placed having spent solid time in China, having a blend of creative, media and digital craft experience as well as working on some of the region’s biggest accounts. He understands the changes that the agency needs to deliver in order to continue to be a valued partner for our clients.â€
Added Lightfoot: “I am so excited to be taking on this new role. It’s a perfect fit for my experiences and passions in my career. The breadth and depth of capability at Mindshare is staggering. The challenge of keeping the world’s leading media agency always ahead was impossible to turn down. I’m already loving being part of the team that Amrita is building.â€
Both roles are based in the agency’s Regional Singapore Office and effective immediately.
By A Correspondent
It was the night of Wavemaker and its prized client Vodafone. At the 18th edition of the Emvie Awards held on on Friday, October 5 in Mumbai, GroupM agency Wavemaker and Vodafone bagged the Media Agency of the Year and Client of the Year titles respectively.
This year 996 entries were received by The Advertising Club and 31 agencies participated in the competition. As many as 21 Gold & 36 Silver Emvie Trophies were presented while 54 Bronze Winner names rolled on the screen.
Wavemaker with 400 points was “The Media Agency of the Yearâ€. Mindshare India with 305 points stood second and Lodestar UM with 85 points stood third. Lodestar UM bagged the Grand Emvie for Times Of India – #Noconditionsapply: Sindoor Khela.
The Best Implementation Team of the Year went to Lodestar UM for Samsung – Samsung NDTV Camera Partnership in Best Media Innovation – Television Category who shared it jointly with Wavemaker for Vodafone India Pvt. Ltd. – Vodafone helps reunite lost children with their parents using technology in Best Media Innovation – Ambient Media Category.
The Advertising Club post the inputs obtained from the fraternity at the EMVIES Town Hall Meeting introduced the following categories:
1. Best Digital Strategy
Wavemaker bagged the SILVER for Aquaguard – We helped India drink healthy water – Pincode by Pincode.
There was no Gold and Bronze awarded in this category.
2. Best use of Emerging Technology for Media Solutions
Wavemaker bagged the GOLD for Vodafone India Pvt. Ltd. – Vodafone helps reunite lost children with their parents using technology
Mindshare India bagged the SILVER for Lifebuoy – Activating Infection Alert System In Rural India
Wavemaker bagged the BRONZE for Vodafone India Pvt. Ltd. – How Vodafone inspired farmers to choose life over suicide who shared it jointly with Essence for Google Maps – How Google Maps helped consumers “Weather†the Monsoons
3. Best use of Influencer Marketing for a brand
WATConsult bagged the GOLD for Project Nanhi Kali – #PowerlessQueen
Wavemaker bagged the SILVER for Tata Tea – Alarm Bajne Se Pehle – Jaago Re!
Mindshare India bagged the BRONZE for Kissan – Kissan Tiffin Time Table who shared it jointly with Wavemaker for HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd. – Is youth of today “Reckless” or “Responsible”?
4. Best Buying Team of the Year
Wavemaker (Team – Ashwin Salian, Silky Seth, Shikha Saket) bagged the GOLD for Vodafone India Pvt. Ltd. in DIGITAL who shared it jointly with Mindshare India (Team – Samrat Kakkar, Vikram, Kishore, Disha, Iti Kaul, Pankaj Nagpal) for PepsiCo India.
Mediacom Communications (Team – Rachana Monteiro, Debankur Kashyap & Hardik Senjalia) bagged the GOLD for P&G India in PRINT and they also bagged the GOLD for P&G India in TELEVISION (Team – Rachana Monteiro, Debankur Kashyap, Kalpesh Thakkar, Hardik Senjalia, Swapnil Birla, Priyanka Shrivastava, Vrushali Joshi & Amey)
The Emvies this year saw 159 media professionals on the Round 1 Judging Panel. The newly introduced category ‘Buying Team of the Year’ was judged by 20 Specialist jury members. The Final Round judging took the shape of Case Study Presentations wherein 57 senior marketing professionals and 3 Industry Stalwarts from the Creative Agencies judged the 189 shortlisted entries.
EMVIES 2018 AGENCY OF THE YEAR TALLY FINAL
EMVIES 2018 Client of the year Tally final
EMVIES 2018 RESULTS
By A Correspondent
The 23rd edition of the Big Bang Awards by Ad Club Bangalore, brought to fore the rising talent poll in advertising industry. Mindshare bagged four out of the top nine most coveted awards while The Social Street bagged the ‘Creative Agency of the Year’ award.
The Big Bang Awards for Excellence in Communication and Media were given away in a grand function on Friday September 28 in Bengaluru.
Said Hemant Mallik, Chief Executive, ITC Foods, in his keynote: “The advertising agencies have a bigger responsibility now, in the internet era. The challenges posed by social media can undo a great ad campaign. The agencies have to learn to respond to such challenges, quickly and aggressively.â€
Added Malavika Harita, Chairperson – Big Bang Awards Committee: “We have made every effort to recognise talent and acknowledge it. The fact that the jury had a tough task at hand was evident from several new faces amongst the winners. Keeping in line with the #For the Love Of Advertising, the participants displayed it’s not merely a profession but a creative platform.â€
Hindustan Lever Limited won the Client of the Year Award, winning across several categories.
By A Correspondent
SBI Life in its effort to establish a deeper connect with its consumers has appointed Mullen Lintas as creative agency and Mindshare as its media agency, following a closely contested multi agency pitch.
Said Ravindra Sharma, SVP & Chief of Brand & Corporate Communication, SBI Life: “In today’s landscape where new marketing tools and techniques are launched every other day, staying imprinted on the minds of consumers is a continuous challenge. As a brand SBI Life is building a culture to connect with consumers emotional motivations, which are deep-rooted in their need for protection. In this context the strategic thought process and approach presented by Mullen Lintas and Mindshare aligned with our brand ethos reinforcing our confidence to bring them on board.†He further added. “We look forward to see both agencies jointly deliver on developing a unique refreshed communication for SBI Life, which will create a deeper emotional connect with our consumersâ€.
Said Amer Jaleel, Chairman at Mullen Lintas: “The (SBI Life) brand has created some really memorable work in the past which we hope we can build on to take the brand higher. I am personally excited at coming back into the life insurance space again. I have a lot of fond memories of working at Lowe with Balki on the category and am really excited for this new journey,â€
Commenting on the win, Prasanth Kumar, CEO, Mindshare, South Asia, MENA and Africa noted: “Being one of our esteemed client partners, this is a joyous moment for us that SBI Life is continuing our relationship. We appreciate the renewed opportunity by SBI Life as we now look forward to strengthening our delivery across brand strategy coupled with insightful data, engaging content and innovations to contribute to the brand’s success.”
By A Correspondent
Mindshare, the global media agency network from WPP’s GroupM stable, has today announced two major leadership changes.
Amrita Randhawa is promoted to Asia Pacific CEO. Randhawa, who was previously the CEO for Mindshare Greater China will remain based in Shanghai, where she will continue to manage Mindshare China as its Executive Chairperson, in addition to her overall Asia Pacific duties.Prasanth Kumar (PK) is promoted to the position of CEO for MENA and Africa in addition to his current role as the CEO for South Asia. It may be recalled that Ravi Rao, earlier CEO South Asia, held the role of CEO, Mindshare MENA. Although we do not have any official word on this, according to the information we’ve received, Rao will take charge of a new cluster.
Randhawa has been with the agency for over 12 years working across elhi, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai and APAC Regional office in Singapore. During her time, as Greater China CEO she oversaw the elevation of the agency to its current dominant position in China topping every league in the market including the RECMA qualitative and quantitative leagues, R3 AgencyScope and making the China office the global lead contributor to Mindshare’s new business wins. She has also since taking on the remit of Greater China last year worked with the leadership in both Taiwan and Hong Kong to transform both markets. Randhawa’s leadership has been recognized at several forums including the inaugural Women Leading Change Awards, Campaign 40 under 40, Ad Age China’s Women to Watch and Campaign’s Greater China Agency Leader of the Year.
In her new role she will focus on the agency’s product, especially delivering the balance of brand and demand services for marketers and ensuring that Mindshare adapts and evolves in line with client’s needs first and not agency agendas.
Commenting on the appointment Randhawa said: “We often say Mindshare has an Asian heart with our first office being in Taiwan. Asia is the star of our network and I take this responsibility with an incredible sense of humility. Sitting at the crossroads of data, content, technology and analytics, this is the time for the media agency. Working with the incredible leadership team we have in each of the APAC clusters especially in Himanshu, Katie and PK, our focus will be to ensure that Mindshare is ahead of the pack and charts the path for what is possible for media agencies today and tomorrow. The media landscape is changing in every corner of Asia at an incredible speed and working with the amazing breadth of talent we have in this region to create our future is a phenomenal opportunity.â€
PK has been CEO for South Asia, where he oversaw rapid expansion in the market bringing the agency to a dominant position according to RECMA.  During his time as the Mindshare India CEO he developed a record for not just the most number of new business wins by a single market, but also a tradition of external accolades, which included such highlights as a Glass Lion at Canes and an average of over 250 external awards per year.
Commenting on his appointment, PK said: “This recognition in the context of the strong talent profile we have built in the purple family means a lot to me as it reflects our commitment to focus, serve and collaborate with our clients fueling their business growth. Marketing is morphing and so are we in terms of how we think, act and behave for our clients and their business outcomes. This expanded role gives me the opportunity to widen my perspectives and cross-pollinate our learning and initiatives for smarter, faster, better practices for our clients and our purple talent. I am thrilled and excited to be working with the new markets – Middle East and Africa, as these markets along with India and South Asia are probably the fastest growing economies on the planet. I am very proud and confident of my team. Together we will make the purple flag fly newer heights!â€
Randhawa and PK in their new role will continue to work with Ashutosh Srivastava, the Executive Chairperson & CEO for Growth Markets, comprising of APAC, MENA, Africa & Russia/CIS.’
Commenting on the appointments, Srivastava said, “Amrita and PK represent the very best of Mindshare. They have both been transformative in their leadership approach to two of our biggest markets and have made Mindshare the dominant force it is today. These two represent the future of Mindshare for some of our most important markets globally. I look forward to them continuing to transform Mindshare’s vast network of offices in this region to stay relevant and highly valued business partners to their clients.
Both roles are effective immediately.
By A Correspondent
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) announced the winners of its 2017 Smarties India Awards, held in Gurugram last week. As many as 42 awards were presented for mobile strategy in industry-focused categories celebrating innovation, creativity, and success across the mobile marketing ecosystem. Diageo was crowned ‘Marketer of the Year’, while Mindshare was recognised as ‘Agency of the Year’.
Mindshare received 19 awards over 11 categories, ranging from Brand Awareness, Mobile Native and Programmatic, amongst others.Sony Entertainment Channel’s ‘Waltzing across TV: How 300,000 people switched channels to Super Dancer’ by Zapr Media Labs was recognised as ‘Best in Show’.
Said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, MMA Asia-Pacific:“All our winners have demonstrated the ability to communicate their brand’s story with mobile using creative concepts and innovative technology that lead to real business impact. The Smarties India Awards are our way of recognising outstanding key players in the industry, and we hope that through sharing their campaigns, we can inspire marketers across India to harness the power packed in this tiny device. We’re optimistic about where the industry is headed in India, and look forward to seeing what next year’s Smarties India Awards has in store for all of us,â€
In an ongoing partnership with Knowledge Partner, Kantar Millward Brown, the research-based consultancy presented industry trends and characteristics of the winning campaigns.
Commenting on the winners, Shaveta Bhardwaj, Senior Executive Director, Kantar Millward Brown said: “We saw very interesting entries in comparison to last year; scale stood out for winning campaigns. Measuring brand outcomes is critical to success. It is important to think what ‘mobile’ can do for your ‘brand’ rather than what ‘brand’ can do on mobile.â€
This year, MMA partnered Gunn Report and WARC to launch the first-ever Business Impact Index.
By A Correspondent
The 17th edition of the coveted Emvies 2017 saw Mindshare bagging the top honour – the coveted Agency of the Year trophy. Wavemaker, the new agency born out of the merger of Maxus and MEC, came a close second.
As for Client of the Year, the honour was shared by Vodafone and Star India. The Grand Emvie was bagged by Madison and Asian Paints for Best Media Innovation – Media – Digital Search.
Speaking about the changing dynamics of campaigns and the importance of being relevant, Punitha Arumugam, 2017 Awards Chairman for Emvies, said, “India has been at the forefront of many ingenious campaigns that showcase high effectiveness and the EMVIEs remain committed to recognising such outstanding communication stories. Being one of the most trusted and coveted awards in the category, the Emvies continue to scale with increased participation and representation from across industry stakeholders.â€
Elaborating on the scale and the entries, Partha Sinha, 2017 Awards Co-Chairman for Emvies said, “The Emvies 2017 has successfully contributed towards recognising high impact media campaigns that have made a difference. It continues to be one of the most coveted awards within the industry.â€
In his welcome address, Vikram Sakhuja, President of The Advertising Club said: “In its 17th year now, the Emvies has continued to grow in scale and strength, emerging as the gold standard amongst media awards. With a jury consisting of over 211 distinguished industry leaders from across the country, this has been a transparent process to select transformational work. We are engaging with some top global content sites to showcase the best of our archives to the world.
By A Correspondent5
PepsiCo’s snack brand Kurkure has partnered with Mindshare Content+ and digital entertainment company Pocket Aces to create a new web series, “2By3â€. This is the first of its kind bespoke series created on Kurkure’s brand philosophy- “Khul Jaaye Toh Family Bann Jaayeâ€. The four-episode series will release on Dice Media, Pocket Aces’ long-form content channel.
Commenting on this initiative, Devendra Deshpande, Head Content+ said, “To partner with Pocket Aces and Kurkure for this new initiative is indeed an exciting new endeavour for us. The team at Content+ had a lot of fun working with Pocket Aces, who conceptualised and wrote this web series. Such content that connects with the mood of the moment results in a ripple effect. 2by3 will engage with the audience and bring out the sentiment of ’Kurkure khul jaaye toh family bann jaaye.â€
Added Aditi Shrivastava, Co-founder of Pocket Aces: “It is very exciting to have a brand like Kurkure partner with us. They are a large, mass-focused brand that have been advertising on mediums like TV and print for ages. By supporting a digital web series, they are making a statement that even traditional advertisers now understand the huge advantage that digital has to offer – high quality innovative content coupled with transparency of data in terms of seeing exactly who the content reached, who viewed it, getting audience feedback instantaneously, and being able to talk to them directly. This makes digital a highly engaged 2-way medium, which is invaluable. At Pocket Aces, we are reaching over 40 million people weekly in this manner, and are confident that Kurkure will see the benefit of this from “2By3â€â€.
Said Vani Gupta Dandia, Marketing Director, Indian Snacks, Foods at PepsiCo: â€2By3 will show the audience that Kurkure as a brand is very similar to them – quirky and whacky, yet rooted in family. Unlike other creators, the team at Dice Media hasn’t focused only on product placement, but has tailored the series around the brand’s core philosophy in a new age context which is relevant to the youth of today. The characters hence become ambassadors who embody the messaging of the brand – they are regular people just like you and me, and hence can be much more effective in making a place for the brand in the hearts of our consumers.”