MxMIndia

Tag: Mindshare

  • After having lost the Agency of the Year title last year, the now 9-time winner wins big. Madison was second in the rankings

    It’s Mindshare on the Top again.

    A jubilant Mindshare team. Picture by Abhinav Kocharekar, Courtesy DNA

     

     

    When Ravi Rao, Leader, Mindshare South Asia spoke to MxMIndia on the eve of his departure to Dubai as Chief Client Officer – MENA in April, we asked him if he considered the agency’s loss at the Emvies last year, as a low during his stint. He said it was just a “momentary despair in the longest winning streak of Mindshare; we will continue to haunt others, year after year”. At the Emvies 2015 on Friday, Mindshare grabbed the title of Agency of the Year with five Gold, eight Silver and 17 Bronze metals. The now nine-time winner had its entire team in attendance, including COO Mindshare Asia Pacific Gowthaman Ragothaman and Prasanth (‘PK’) Kumar, who took over from Rao in March this year and had earlier said he was confident of winning the Agency of the Year crown this time. “There’s been lots of great work in the last year that Mindshare has done across clients, and a lot of effort into bringing in diversified and other business categories,” he had said. Friday’s win, however, left him cheering out loud for his team. “The voice is gone, but the action is full on,”  he said. (See Emvies points tally table here)

     

    Even though Maxus lost its last year’s glory to older sibling Mindshare, MD, Kartik Sharma was unfazed. “Whenever we’ve won or lost, our focus has always been our clients,” he said. “We’re very happy with the quality of work we’ve done. We’ve got quite a lot of clients in last two or three years and we continue to do some interesting work with them. He added: “Our focus has been more digital and analytics for the last couple of years. And today, if you saw the kind of awards that we’ve won, they had a layer of either of the two. But there’s always scope for improvement, and we’ll work on that.” Maxus was third in the pecking order of agencies, while Lodestar UM was at No. 4.

     

    Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World, whose agency was the first runner-up for the title of Agency of the Year, also said he was happy with his agency’s performance which was their best so far at the Emvies. Madison took home six Gold, four Silver and nine Bronze metals.

     

    Meanwhile, Tata Sky was conferred with the Client of the Year award, with Procter & Gamble India the first runners-up and Marico, a close third.

     

    Emvies 2015 launched a new category too, Media Partner of the Year, which was conferred on partners across various media. While the award for TV was won by Pogo, The Times of India walked away with the award in the print category. In the cinema category, it was won by Rohit Shetty’s Film Production house, in radio it was Big FM, while Torrent Sites and Google Ecosystem received the award in the digital segment.

     

    This year’s edition was the 15th of the Emvies. And Punitha Arumugam, Chairperson of the Emvies’ Committee and a senior media specialist herself, said it was the best she had seen so far. “The highlight this year was the fact that we started the process of online entries,” she said. “Secondly, we started including media owners in the Emvies because earlier we had only media agencies; then moved to media agencies plus client, and now from client to media owners. It’s been very exciting for us.” Since she’s not a part of a media agency any more, we asked Arumugam to trend-spot and tell us what she thinks of the way the media business is going, given the Emvies showing this year. “What we see is that digital probably gets the highest number of entries, and also the highest growth in terms of the number of entries year-to-year,” she said. “You’re seeing a genuine shift to digital. Even in offline media entries, for example, you get to see a lot more digital as a part of the whole product.”

     

    Another change that has taken place over the years, according to her, is in the field of data analytics and research, as evidenced from the number of entries going up and the amount of focus that agencies are putting on this.

     

    Arumugam was bullish about the spends on digital increasing with time since all agencies are now incorporating digital in various ways and moving towards it, even if at a slow pace. “While clients may be spending 10-15 per cent [of their budget] on digital, when you walk into any office, 80 per cent of the conversation is about online. Hopefully, the budgets will follow the conversations very soon,” she said, as celebratory cheers, accompanied by the beating of dholaks, took over the venue to get the party going.

     

    A part of this report first appeared in dna of brands

     

  • Anita Kotwani on how the book 'Four Disciplines of Execution' inspired Mindshare West to success

    4 ways to turn great strategy into effective execution

     

    By Anita Kotwani

     

    Strategy without Execution is Hallucination. In today’s competitive environment staying ahead of the curve is a challenge that is faced by most companies. And when you are one of the top ones, you have to be that much more nimble. As organisations, we tend to focus on crafting strategies for the year; what we also need to really balance, is ensuring that we execute those strategies. At Mindshare West, we have been inspired by the book, ‘Four Disciplines of Execution’ by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling, to imbibe this learning. The results have been astounding, changed the way we need to think as an organisation and, most importantly, has helped us institutionalise excellence.

     

    The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) is a simple, repeatable, and proven formula for executing on your most important strategic priorities in the midst of the ‘Whirlwind’. By following the 4 Disciplines, leaders can produce breakthrough results. But while 4DX represents a new way of thinking and working that is essential to thriving in today’s competitive climate, at the heart of this is a behavioral change that also requires a commitment from the team, despite the daily grind.

     

    The real enemy of execution is the massive amount of energy that’s necessary just to keep your operation going on a day-to-day basis. The 4 Disciplines aren’t designed for managing your whirlwind, but for executing your most critical strategy in the midst of the whirlwind. Here’s what the book says about each of the 4 Disciplines –

     

    Discipline #1: Focus on the Wildly Important Goal (WIG)

    Focus your finest efforts on one or two goals that will make all the difference to your businesses. Execution starts with focus. The idea is to spend disproportionate energy on the WIG — the one area where the change would have the greatest impact. This needs to be ensured across the organisation, across disciplines and also across teams.

     

    Discipline #2: Act on the Lead Measures

    While a lag measure tells you if you’ve achieved the goal, a lead measure tells you if you are likely to achieve the goal. We call them lag measures because by the time you get the data, the result has already happened. A lead measure is predictive, meaning that if the lead measure changes, you can predict that the lag measure will also change.

     

    Discipline #3: Keep a compelling scorecard

    The third discipline is to make sure everyone knows the score at all times, so that they can tell whether or not they’re winning. This is the discipline of engagement. If the lead and lag measures are not captured on a visual scoreboard and updated regularly, they will disappear into the whirlwind. People disengage when they don’t know the score. And a ticking scoreboard keeps the momentum going within the team.

     

    Discipline #2: Create a cadence of accountability

    The fourth discipline is to create a cadence of accountability, a frequently recurring cycle of accounting for past performance and action planning to move the score forward. Discipline 4 is where execution happens. Disciplines 1, 2 and 3 set up the game; but until you apply Discipline 4, your team isn’t in the game. This is the discipline that brings the team members all together. In Discipline 4, your team meets at least once a week in a WIG session. This meeting lasts no longer than 20 to 30 minutes, has a set agenda and goes quickly, establishing your weekly rhythm of accountability for driving progress toward the WIG.

     

    We at Mindshare West have started on this journey as a team and are truly inspired and motivated with the results and goals that it has help drive as a team. It has seen results that have been astounding, changed the way we need to think as an organization and most importantly it has helped us institutionalize excellence.  To us as a team, 4DX represents a new way of thinking and working that is essential to thriving in today’s competitive world.

     

    Anita Kotwani is Leader, Client Leadership at Mindshare

     

  • In his new role, Sriram will be responsible for all the media and digital mandates for the Mindshare clients in the Southern region

    Sriram Sharma to head South @ Mindshare

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare has announced the appointment of Sriram Sharma as Leader – South, Mindshare.

     

    In his new role, Sriram will be responsible for all the media and digital mandates for the Mindshare clients in the Southern region. He will be operating out of the Bangalore office and will be directly reporting in to Prasanth Kumar, CEO South Asia, Mindshare.

     

    Sriram brings to Mindshare a rich experience of over 18 years, having worked across multiple industries like advertising, mobile marketing and branding. He has also worked on several blue chip clients like Britannia, TITAN, Samsung, Dell, Sab Miller, Himalaya Drug Co. Currently with MediaCom, Sriram looks after the business in the Bangalore and Chennai office.

     

    Prasanth Kumar, CEO South Asia said, “We are glad to welcome Sriram into the Mindshare family. His motivation and wealth of experience across industries and markets makes him the right person to assist in driving the growth of the agency. For us, South is a very important market and I am confident he will be able to lead the south division to even greater heights.”

     

  • The change comes as Helen McRae is appointed Mindshare UK CEO

    Mindshare expands emerging markets group under Ashutosh Srivastava

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman Asia / CEO Emerging Markets Group Mindshare, has added the Middle East and Africa to his remit.

     

    The change comes as Helen McRae is appointed Mindshare UK CEO, a role she will combine with her responsibility as Chair of Mindshare Western Europe, representing Europe on the GroupM Europe board. Helen’s Africa responsibilities will now pass to Srivastava, who’s extended remit will cover APAC, Russia, the Middle East and Africa.

     

    Nick Emery, Global CEO, Mindshare said: “Ashutosh continues to broaden his scope and influence as all our best people do.  I’m delighted that his influence will now have a direct effect on Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We will be all the richer for it.”

     

    Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman Asia / CEO Emerging Markets Group Mindshare, said: “The intent of this is to more strongly connect the growth markets together in the same way that many of our clients have organised themselves and so helping them unlock that growth through a strong, joined up network of resources.”

     

    At the same time, Christof Baron will take on the role CEO of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to drive Mindshare growth in the region and oversee the international development of German based clients. Christof will also continue his role as non-executive Chairman of Mindshare Germany.

     

  • The account moves out from Mindshare who have been handling it for more than a decade

    Lodestar UM wins Media AoR of Century Ply

    By A Correspondent

     

    Century Ply, one of India’s leading and most trusted name in branded plywood, laminates and veneer category has moved its entire media AoR to Lodestar UM. The account moves out from Mindshare who have been handling it for more than a decade.

     

    The current mandate for Lodestar UM spans across all products of Century Ply.

     

    Talking about this shift Amit Kumar Gope – Group Marketing Head, Century Ply said, “It was not an easy decision to part ways with our existing agency. However Lodestar UM opened a whole new chapter in front of us through their understanding of the plywood market. Their media solution was focused on an alloy of strategy, basis sound consumer insight and portfolio management. We are confident with this partnership looking at our massive expansion in the near future.”

     

    Nandini Dias

    Nandini Dias – CEO, Lodestar UM added, “We went ahead with a simple yet compelling strategy rooted in consumer insight. Lodestar UM always believes that strategy lies at the heart of understanding the consumer and that solutions should connect with the audience being media agnostic.”

     

    Century Plyboards in a very short span has created a niche for itself and is the market leader in this sector. CPIL today manufactures the entire range of commercial, marine, shuttering and decorative plywood. It has also started manufacturing and marketing laminates under the brand name ‘Century Laminates’ and pre-lam particle boards named as ‘Century Prelam’.

     

  • Mindshare scored high on Vitality and Structure. All GroupM agencies made it to the list of the Top 10 agencies in India

    Mindshare is #1 as per latest RECMA ratings

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading marketing services agency Mindshare emerged as the No 1 media agency in India as per RECMA’s latest qualitative assessment for all leading media agencies in India. Mindshare has scored high on the parameters of Client Profile, Momentum, Competitive Pitches and Resources to emerge as the leading agency in India.

     

    Said Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman, Emerging Markets at Mindshare: “I’m pleased to see this endorsement from RECMA for the agency’s position in India. Mindshare continues to be at the leading edge there – in harnessing data to power more creativity and innovative use of media platforms for marketers, and bringing to life its proposition of Adaptive Marketing”.

     

    Gowthaman Ragothaman, Chief Operating Officer, Mindshare Asia Pacific added, “I am particularly satisfied with the recognition on structure and vitality. We continuously re-engineer our teams in line with the changing demands from our clients as well as the media and marketing landscape. Our suite of services now reflect a full-fledged marketing communications company”

     

    Speaking on the new ratings by RECMA, Prasanth Kumar, CEO, Mindshare South Asia said, “This is a win for each and every member of the Mindshare team. Mindshare has always been the leader in innovation, and we believe it is extremely vital for us to prepare ourselves and our clients for a relevant tomorrow. With our adaptive marketing philosophy, we have ensured our clients have the competitive advantage, and their communication is superlative. We are grateful for their belief in us, to deliver on our common goals of brand building. We are proud of the fact that our clients continue to work with us on initiatives that are continuously pushing the boundaries of media investment and communication, as we successfully redefine the media industry in India.”

     

    The RECMA country Qualitative Evaluations offer an extensive and up-to-date assessment of the media agencies based on a set of performances indicators.

     

  • The executives had a gala time unwinding with a game of foosball, beer pong and beer chugging competitions

    HT celebrate leadership status at GroupM in Delhi NCR

    By A Correspondent

     

    Even as there is an advertising war between The Hindustan Times (HT) and The Times of India (TOI) on readership supremacy,  HT organised a celebration party for “being the No.1 newspaper in Delhi NCR for the fourteenth time in a row” at the GroupM office at Cybercity, Gurgaon last week. The celebrations saw executives unwinding with a game of footfall, beer pong and beer chugging competitions.

     

    Saket Sinha, Principal Partner, Mindshare, GroupM, said, “I congratulate Hindustan Times, everyone is really happy. Thank you for giving us a wonderful Friday evening.”

     

    Gopal Krishan, Senior Director-The Exchange, Mindshare, GroupM, said, “The event was really nice. The party really brought two big media giants-GroupM and Hindustan Times together. Everyone enjoyed getting together, engaging in fun games.”

     

    The evening of celebration was enjoyed by people from most of the Group M agencies including Maxus, Mindshare, and Motivators among others and they all came together to congratulate HT for its win.

     

    Next, do we see a TOI party at GroupM’s Delhi office?

  • Madison Media will now be the Media Agency of Snapdeal effective July 1, 2015 but work on the account will start almost immediately, informs a communique

    Madison Media snaps up Snapdeal wef July 1

    By A Correspondent [updated]

     

    Madison Media Plus, a part of Madison Media Group, has just announced the win of Snapdeal. The account – run by OMD – was won after a multi agency pitch. The account will be handled out of the agency’s Delhi office. Madison Media will now be the Media Agency of Snapdeal effective July 1, 2015 but work on the account will start almost immediately, informs a communiqué.

     

    Said Srinivas Murthy, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Snapdeal.com on selecting Madison Media, “We are very happy to have Madison partner with us on media going forward. They bring tremendous experience across categories, with learnings across multiple growth industries that can be leveraged for us. Madison is known for the high quality of media professionals and we look forward to them helping us drive our business to new heights.”

     

    Sam Balsara

    Added Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, “I am delighted that Snapdeal after an exhaustive competitive review has found Madison Media to be worthy of handling this large and demanding account. Today Madison Media offers an unparalleled depth of leadership, with unmatched experience and expertise and this will be further strengthened with the joining of VikramSakhuja in a few months as Group CEO of Madison Media and OOH.”

     

    Madison Media Group has won a host of new businesses in 2015including Viber, Lenskart.com, Zivame.com, Metro Cash & Carry, Gaana.com, Cricbuzz.com, Amul Hosiery, DHFL, Bandhan Bank, amongst others. The gross billing of Madison Media Group is about Rs 3750 crore, adds the communiqué.

    As reported earlier, the digital mandate for Snapdeal has been bagged by GroupM arm Mindshare.

     

  • Agency wins Snapdeal digital mandate, PayU, Practo among others

    Mindshare on a roll, nets new biz of over Rs 700cr

    By A Correspondent

     

    You read about this in The Economic Times already, now read it here. Mindshare India has bagged accounts aggregating over Rs 700 crore in new business for the agency in the last four months. The new accounts include the digital mandate for Snapdeal, media mandate for PayU, Saavn, Practo, Housing.com, NewsHunt, Novi Digital Entertainment, TTK Skore to name a few.

     

    Speaking on the new account wins, Prasanth Kumar, CEO, Mindshare South Asia said in a statement, “We begin 2015 on a very promising note as Mindshare consolidates its leadership position in the market by adding several blue-chip clients especially in the ecommerce and digital industry. We are channelising our services and talent towards frameworks and tools that include adaptive and real- time marketing, giving our clients the edge in an ever evolving media market- The Loop at Mindshare is one such example. Mindshare also includes a full-service digital and social media agency to ensure seamless planning across all media for brand campaigns.” Mr Kumar took charge as CEO of Mindshare South Asia on March 1 from Ravi Rao who was designated Leader, South Asia.

     

  • Up, Close and Personal with the former Leader of Mindshare, South Asia who moves in as Chief Client Officer at Mindshare Mena

    Getting set for Mindshare Mena: Ravi Rao

     

    As you read this, Ravi Rao, until recently Leader of Mindshare, South Asia is gearing up for his role as Chief Client Officer, of the group’s Middle East operations which he takes up next month. As he readies for it, Mr Rao tells Pradyuman Maheshwari about the things he is sad to leave behind – a great team, some good clients and the street food of Mumbai.

     

    Your thoughts as you take on the assignment of Chief Client Office-MENA…

    I’m excited to be back in MENA in the run-up to the 2020 Expo and of course the 2022 World Cup. The role enables me to uplift the Mindshare product and go on to become the trusted advisor to all our clients in the region.

     

    Will it be a homecoming of sorts? We’ve heard that you enjoy Dubai more than Mumbai. You can tell us the truth – we won’t lynch you for it!

    Though my real love is Mumbai — with Old Monk, the Jehangir Art Gallery, Colaba Causeway, the monsoons, and mouth-watering street food every Sunday after a two-hour session of badminton — Dubai has its share of eateries from over 100 countries, great shopping, Zaatar, clean beaches, a mix of the West and the East. The truth is, I always miss the ‘other side’. It is only a three-hour plane ride away, so I will continue to make frequent trips back.

     

    On a serious note, what would you say were the highs and lows of your stint as head of Mindshare South Asia?

    The biggest high was my Fulcrum stint. There is nothing like Unilever and – in my second avatar – winning pitches. The amount of adrenaline and high energy that I see in the team, is fantastic and allows up to keep raising the thinking and learning quotients. I hit my all-time-low in the last few weeks, when I knew it was time for me to wind up and that I would leave behind some great clients and team members who were far better than me in several aspects but made me shine.

     

    Did you have a happy relationship with you clients?

    Yes, with all of them. Some were easy to deal with; some made us really happy. But there were a few tough ones, too, that exasperated the team. But never once did this lead to any animosity.

     

    You’ve always been busy – lots of travel, clients meetings etc. And just when you should be enjoying the fruits of your labour, you’re moving. Shouldn’t you have chosen to stay on in India?

    Who isn’t busy in our industry now? This is a place where you get a lot of nibbles as you go along, never a big, fat feast at the end, to savour, relish and relax. I have had my share of wonderful nibbles. Why not get onto the other side of table now – not necessarily another table –for a new set of highs?

     

    Any lows? What has been you lowest moment?

    When the competition won a battle, once in a while, I felt a momentary low. But then you bounce back and say, “What the heck; Mindshare always wins the war”.

     

    Any regrets?

    None.

     

    What about the Emvies last year?

    [That was] a momentary despair in the longest winning streak of Mindshare. We will continue to haunt others, year after year.
    The last year-odd has also seen you as Chairman of the Media Research Users Council (MRUC).  How has your tenure been… a thankless job?

    Despite the acrimonious and inaccurate comments that made the gossip columns, I don’t take anything personally. The IRS is a fantastic product, designed and implemented by all the three stakeholders. But sometimes, there may be some bad losers. I am pretty confident that the industry needs a robust measurement metric, and the IRS is one such currency. It is here to stay.

     

    But the IRS has just not taken off and has been mired in much controversy. Your thoughts?

    The one for 2014 has just been released. Controversy is created by a few people who have time on their hands. This has only helped in realising that the IRS product is good. Everyone wants an increased sample, yet the same people who want the increase, do not want to pay for it. But I see that everyone will have to pay, in the near future.

     

    South Asia versus MENA – what are the key differentiators?

    The challenges remain the same – diversity and complexity. A robust quantitative research is still an issue in the Middle East, but the digital [space] is far ahead of South Asia. The heterogeneous mix of nationalities in an agency really adds to great learnings, both at a professional and a personal level.

     

    What would make you return to India? Any plans?  It’s too early for retirement plans for you, but any thoughts on the next 10 years?

    No plans, I make them as the need arises. But one thing is for sure, there is nothing called a retirement plan and I will continue to work, learn and teach. In 10 years, will it be anything to do with advertising or media? The answer is no.

     

    If you had the opportunity to relive the last three years as Leader, Mindshare South Asia, is there anything you would do differently?

    I would have celebrated every single month with my team for so many wins, successes and milestones. Lucky to have had a great team.

     

    This interview first appeared in ‘dna of brands’ dated April 6, 2015

     

  • He was Marketing Head and part of the start-up team for Danone India and also spent nearly 15 years with JWT India at its flagship Mumbai office working with Unilever and other key clients

    Varun Channa is MD, Mindshare Malaysia

    Varun Channa

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare APAC, the global media agency network part of WPP, has appointed Varun Channa, to the role of Managing Director, Mindshare Malaysia.  He joins Mindshare after six years with Danone Indonesia, where he helped to turn around their fresh dairy business and developed the roadmap for their Isotonics. Prior to that, he was Marketing Head and part of the start-up team for Danone India and also spent nearly 15 years with JWT India at its flagship Mumbai office working with Unilever and other key clients.

     

    Gowthaman Ragothaman

    Commenting on the appointment, Gowthaman Ragothaman, COO of Mindshare Asia Pacific, said:  “We are totally delighted to welcome Varun on board, who brings a wealth of experience across industries and markets. This is the beginning of a new chapter in the whole new world of connected media, where content, creativity and consumer data in the Malaysian market is at the centre of all activities and importance. “ Adding on to this, Girish Menon, CEO, GroupM Malaysia said: “With Varun, we have hit upon a fantastic combination – with JWT, he honed his skills in developing communications solutions for some iconic global brands and then as a tech-savvy marketer with Danone in tree different fast-growing, competitive markets, he got his hands dirty developing marketing solutions to deliver strong business results. I believe these are the combination of skills and experiences that our clients increasingly expect from the head of their agency, so I am confident that Varun will lead Mindshare to even greater success!”

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Mr Channa said: “It’s a pleasure to be part of Mindshare Malaysia in these exciting times when media is playing a even greater role in growing our clients’ business. Seeing the pipeline of innovative digital solutions we have, I look forward to us adding greater value to our clients’ business.” Mr Channa takes over the role from Gerald Wittenberger, who returned to Europe at the end of 2014.

     

  • WPP-owned global communications company, Tenthavenue, has today announced the appointment of Sudipto Roy as the CEO of Emerging Markets, covering Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey

    Sudipto Roy to drive WPP’s ‘tenthavenue’ as CEO, Emerging Markets

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sudipto Roy

    The WPP-owned global communications company Tenthavenue has announced the appointment of Sudipto Roy as CEO Emerging Markets, covering Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey.

     

    Established in 2011, Tenthavenue (spelt by the company with the t lowercased) helps build products and services that enable advertisers to create connected brand experiences. As parent to WPP’s ‘Connected Consumer’ agencies, the Tenthavenue agency family consists of market leaders and rising stars in their respective fields, including Kinetic, Aviator, Joule, Spafax, Candyspace, Forward and TMARC.

     

    Mr Roy will lead Tenthavenue across China, South East Asia, Hong Kong, South Africa and drive the network’s expansion into new markets, including Turkey, Middle East and Japan.

     

    Mr Roy has held leadership roles within Mindshare across India, APAC and Africa.  Said Rupert Day, founder and CEO of Tenthavenue: “This appointment comes at a time when we are refocusing our vision for the future. We have had a fantastic start over the last four years, and we want to remain nimble, agile and focused for the next five. In recruiting Roy, we are continuing the energy and direction Tenthavenue requires to keep growing, and to keep building winning propositions.”

     

    Said Mr Roy: “Tenthavenue is poised to create a highly differentiated marketing services model for the future. The company has an inherent strength in out of home experiences, on-the-go experiences and mobility. That’s the perfect combination for a new age services model as consumers spend less time in front of the TV and desktop and become mobile.”

     

    Mr Roy will be based out of Singapore and will begin his new tenure in mid-April.