MxMIndia

Tag: Mindshare

  • Media major Mindshare provides a peek into the future of Indian entertainment in a new report published to coincide with the 90th anniversary celebration of the Walt Disney Company

    10 cultural trends that will define entertainment in future: Mindshare report

    By A Correspondent

     

    The future of entertainment will follow 10 cultural trends, according to a report by media agency network Mindshare. The report, “Culture Vulture, Entertainment – inspiring original thinking through a deeper understanding of cultural trends”, was released this week to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company.

     

    The report, which details the ten cultural drivers of change within the entertainment industry, includes a scout report from Mumbai, detailing its addiction to Electronic Dance Music (EDM). From the numerous dance events popping up all over the city, such as the Sunburn Festival in nearby Goa and Submerge; toTenzi FM, the EDM-dedicated internet radio station, featuring over 200 international DJs and broadcasting all genres to listeners world-wide, Mumbai is cementing India’s place as a premier destination for EDM.

     

    Predictions from the paper include continued demand for real-life experience despite availability of virtual and artificial entertainment and an increase in snacking – consuming small pieces of entertainment, often delivered on the move.

     

    Ten Cultural trends:

     

    1. Collective Curation, Helping consumers navigate entertainment. (Me Nation)

    2. Press Play, The spread of gaming to new audiences and to new activities. (Power Play)

    3. Immersive Layered Entertainment, Entertainment in multiple environments. (Maximising Moments)
    4. Feast for the Eyes, Visual images that simplify stories and immerse our senses. (Visualization)
    5. Real Deal, Craving credible talent & live experiences in the face of the artificial and the virtual (Seeking Authenticity)
    6. Unplugged/Plugged In, Uncluttering the entertainment world, both by turning off technology and by turning it on. (Simplification)
    7. Social Entertainment, From group fun to group decision making. (New Networking)
    8. Snacking & Bingeing, Snacking or indulging in moments to be entertained. (Snacking)
    9. Local Talent, Celebrating and consuming locally grown talent. (National Celebration)
    10. There’s New Business Like Show Business, Traditional models broken, new rules abound (New World Order)

     

    Experts from global entertainment brands including YouTube, VEVO, Parlophone/Warner, Microsoft and Spotify were also interviewed on the trends they are seeing in the market, which included the move from a passive viewing audience to a creating audience enabled by global content platforms.

     

    The report includes a breakdown of each cultural trend and what it means to brands, plus “Scout Reports” from twenty cities in the Mindshare network, providing insight into local trends in entertainment and how they map against the research. City reports include “Big vs Small” in London, “Dance in Trance” in Mumbai and “Youth Power” in Toronto.

     

    Said Catherine Williams, Partner – Strategy at Mindshare Asia Pacific said, “Entertainment in Asia is now an always-on customised experience. People have power to adapt their entertainment instantly by choosing to curate, binge, turn off or collect. Content now has competition and it’s consumer control. If brands want to continue to play in this space they need to be on their A game because the consumer is spoilt for choice.”

     

    Ravi Rao, Leader – South Asia,added: “We already know from our studies – like Mindreader – that music is one of the most loved entertainment indulgences. EDM in fact is second only to Bollywood film music in terms of popularity with GenNext in India. The city specific ‘Dance in Trance’ culture vulture report takes a deep dive into this phenomenon of EMD with an eye on being able to craft culturally adaptive entertainment experiences for consumers. This is just one of the many initiatives that Mindshare is driving in pursuit of providing our clients’ customers, experiences in media which will have a remarkable resonance.”

     

    The report, “Culture Vulture, Entertainment – inspiring original thinking through a deeper understanding of cultural trends” can be downloaded from: http://www.mindshareworld.com/s/CultureVulture

     

     

  • … as Hindustan Unilever is Media Client of the Year followed by Cadbury India and Tata Docomo

    Mindshare emerges victorious in a closely-fought Emvies 2013

    The victorious Mindshare team winning the Best Media Agency of the Year 2013

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    When an award show in the dynamic world of advertising returns with its next edition, one always expects an element of newness or surprise to come along with it. In keeping with the tradition, Emvies, the annual awards property honouring the best works coming out from media agencies, managed to do just that. The Ballroom at Taj Lands End, Mumbai was a house under deafening noise attack last Friday (September 6) as The Advertising Club hosted the thirteenth edition of its popular awards show. *See Disclaimer

     

     

    It is teamwork that matters: Atit Mehta

     

    It’s a different feeling to see your brand being felicitated at an awards stage that is meant to be dominated by another industry in limelight. But it’s become a habit now for Hindustan Unilever Ltd. that won the Media Client of the Year award at Emvies 2013, a platform that felicitates good work done by media agencies in the year gone by.

     

    Atit Mehta, Head of Media Services - South Asia for Unilever South Asia opens up on his excitement on winning the top prize at the Emvies and what makes HUL an organisation to vie for. Excerpts…

     

    Like your Agency of Record (AoR), winning the Client of the Year award at Emvies has become a habit of sorts for you too. Your comments.

    Rather than a habit, the good work getting appreciated is a very satisfying feeling. This year has been great; HUL has again won the Best Media Client of the Year award and our agency has also won the Agency of the Year award so it’s double excitement for us.

     

    What is the extent to which HUL associates itself with your AoR in reaching out the brand’s message to the masses?

    It’s teamwork that matters; they are our agency partners and whatever work comes out is a collaborative effort.

     

    What is the thrust that HUL lays on ad spends for its products under various categories?

    We are quite a large advertiser but more than that it is the hard work and sweat put in by the agency members that has resulted in us attaining the top spot this year too.

     

    How easy or difficult is it to get the desired work done by your agency year after year?

    It’s always a challenge but we push ourselves ahead with the belief that we need to excel and work hard every single day.

     

    Were you disappointed that some of the entries did not win any awards?

    No, there is no disappointment as such.

     

    What has been your emphasis on digital as a medium for advertising? How do you see it growing going forward?

    Digital is and will remain an important medium as we go forward.

     

    While those in attendance will vouch for the extent of euphoria that descended upon the venue, what was more unnerving was the neck-and-neck battle that was on between the Top 3 players every stage of the way. But at the end there had to be a single winner and it was no different this year as that honour was bestowed upon Mindshare, the WPP-owned agency that’s part of the Group M stable. With 165 points and 18 metals under its belt, including 3 Golds, 9 Silvers and 6 Bronzes, the agency just about marched past the others to emerge Agency of the Year for the sixth year in a row. Also, retaining its place as the best of the lot was Hindustan Unilever Ltd. that emerged the Client of the Year for 2013 as well. With 4 Golds, 4 Silvers and 4 Bronze metals to its credit HUL ended at the top of the client list tally with 120 points.

     

    But while Mindshare proved its dominance yet again what many would like to remember of the night was the manner in which it was challenged by surprise runner-up Lodestar UM. From the fifth position last year, the agency proved that it was right up there when it came to being the best as it finished a close second this year. With the most number of Golds (5) to its credit, the agency closed its tally at 150 points including 7 Silvers and a single Bronze metal. At No 3 was another regular Maxus, which ended its tally this year at 120 points that included 3 Golds, 6 Silvers, and 3 Bronze metals.  Maxus, also part of the Group M stable, was numero uno in the leaderboards for a good part of the awards ceremony.

     

    In keeping with the surprise element this year, what was also noteworthy was the emergence of another minnow (in terms of awards competence) ‘ibs’ that walked away with the Grand Emvie for work on its client Tata Docomo – Hyper personalization: The world’s first CRM-powered campaign on Social Media. With 65 points, including 3 Golds, it occupied the No 7 spot overall on the leaderboard. Also noteworthy, and surprising, was the presence of creative agency Ogilvy, which gave the big media agencies a run for their prowess, as it occupied the fourth spot with 85 points. It included 4 Golds, 2 Silvers and a single Bronze award with its work on Lifebuoy Roti Reminder and Akanksha Foundation – Classroom Mumbai being awarded across multiple categories.

     

    A total of 90 metals were handed out to agencies this year that had submitted the highest number of entries in 2013 at 742.

     

    As for the gold winners, Mindshare won two golds for work on ‘5.2 years of digital content viewed in just six months!’ campaign for Axe Deodorant in the Best Media Innovation – Digital (social media) category while its work on ‘Cholchhe Na Aar Cholbe Na: “Can’t Happen”, Won’t Happen Anymore!’ for ABP Ananda in the Best Integrated Campaign – Media/ Media Property category accounted for the third gold for the agency. As for Lodestar UM, its work on ‘National Headache Reliever’ campaign for Saridon (Best Media Strategy – Consumer Products) was one of the most appreciated and also won it a gold alongwith its work on ‘Making Milk Exciting – The Olympics’ campaign for Amul Milk (Best Media Innovation – Sponsorship), ‘Unfinished Stories’ campaign for Tata Docomo (Best Media Innovation – Print, dailies) and ‘Coke Studio: One with youth’ campaign for Coke Studio (Best Integrated Campaign – Consumer Products). Maxus bagged three golds for work on ‘The Advantage and Disadvantage’ for Fiat that won two golds in Best Media Strategy – Consumer Durables and Best Media Innovation – Digital (Search) categories, while the third gold came from ‘Your Wish is My App’ campaign for Nokia Lumia (Best Media Innovation – TV – Media/ Media Property).

     

    Hindustan Unilever awarded Media Client of the Year

     

     

    It’s not been that easy this year: Ravi Rao

     

    Emvies 2013 could be summed up as the closest contest ever fought between the Top 3 medai agencies in recent years. But it was business as usual for Mindshare as they bagged the Agency of the Year award for the sixth year in a row.

     

    In conversation with MxMIndia, Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia at Mindshare shares his excitement of repeating the feat year after year, and, what to expect from the awards going forward.

     

    Lodestar UM and Maxus nearly toppled you from the top spot but in the end you prevailed and won the Media Agency of the Year title yet again. Did you expect the kind of contest that was witnessed at the Emvies this year?

    It has not been that easy this year. Two agencies Lodestar and Maxus almost gave me a heart attack with many of their works being appreciated. But this year was the sixth year in a row that we managed to win this title. The way the contest was fought this year only means that it is going to be a tough race again next year but I can assure you that we are going to give our best shot next year as well.

     

    Did you expect such a tough challenge from them?

    I did expect a close race from Lodestar UM and Maxus. I had seen some of their presentations and they were really up there. But all I want to say is that we want to continue to excel and keep giving the others a stiff competition. We will keep doing that all the time.

     

    Are you disappointed that a few entries did not make the cut and that the Grand Emvie did not come to you?

    There were a couple of shortlists that did not make the mark, so, yes, I am a bit disappointed over there. But that’s life; we’ve got to keep moving forward.

     

    Any entries or agencies that managed to spring up a surprise this year?

    I think the entry by ibs on Tata Docomo was brilliant. It was an agency that one had not heard of much before but the kind of work that they put up and the awards that they bagged this year makes them worthy of an admiration.

     

    How has Emvies as an award evolved this year? Are you happy with the way things panned out on this platform?

    I think this is one of the best media awards that you’ll see. Over here, the clients also decide on the calibre of work to be rewarded and for me that’s a huge compliment for the media agencies.

     

    Any words of advice to your sibling-cum-competitor Ajit Varghese?

    I’d like to say ‘hats off to you Ajit Varghese!’. It was such a close touch-and-go contest all the way. I know they are going to keep coming stronger… and I am prepared for that!

     

    What do you anticipate for the year 2014 on the awards front?

    I cannot say about 2014 right now but I wish and insist that it is us only.

     

    The other two big winners from the client’s end were Cadbury India Ltd that bagged a total of 3 Golds, 3 Silvers and 2 Bronze awards while Tata Docomo was third with 1 Grand Emvie and 3 Golds to its credit. Also noteworthy was the Young Emvie of the Year award that was bagged by Farah Siddiqui of Mindshare.

     

    As for the awards tally, the other winners include MediaCom Communications and ibs that secured sixth and seventh places with 80 and 65 points while DDB Mudra Max with 50 points, MEC with 30 points and OMD India with 20 points finished the tally in the eighth, ninth and tenth positions respectively.

     

    The awards presentation was interspersed with media professionals performing and competing for team and solo Indian and Western categories of the Band Baja Award.

     

    *MxMIndia was a Media Partner of Emvies 2013

    Photographs by Puneet Chandok. Courtesy: DNA

     

  • MEC India appoints Ajit Gurnani as Head – West

    Mindshare’s Ajit Gurnani to head west @ MEC India

    MEC India has announced the appointment of Ajit Gurnani as Head of MEC West. He was earlier with MindShare as Principal Partner – Client Leadership on the Aditya Birla Group AOR. Mr Gurnani will report to T Gangadhar, Managing   Director, MEC India.

     

    Speaking about the appointment, Mr Gangadhar, said, “Mumbai is our biggest office by far and I am    pleased that we have found a quality leader like Ajit to head our operations here. Given his rich vein of experience, I have no doubt that Ajit will make valuable contributions – to clients and staff alike”.

     

    A postgraduate from the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad, Mr Gurnani has over 16 years of experience in the field of media and marketing. He was part of the Internet task force at HTA and was involved with the exciting early years of the Internet in India. His Internet experience continued with stints at www.jagran.com and Starcom Digital where he was an Internet business solution specialist. His brand management and marketing exposure has been with Marico as Brand Manager and as Head – Marketing with IFFCO, the UAE-based food giant.

     

    About his appointment, Mr Gurnani said “I look forward to working with the passionate team and with MEC’s “active engagement” philosophy, and help create business building work that wins accolades and recognition. The attempt will be to have my feet on the ground, but leap for the stars!”

     

  • India takes fifth place in online motivation according to new ground-breaking research by global media agency network Mindshare

    India 5th best in online motivation as per Mindshare Digital Normalness Index

    By A Correspondent

     

    India leads the way with entertainment and information gathering online, but lags behind in the areas of motivation to transact and self-express. This was revealed as part of a report entitled, Are you Digitally Normal? by media agency Mindshare. China is #1 in the study and the US is a low #20.

     

    The 2013 Mindshare Digital Normalness Index (MDNI) research challenges some of the world’s widest held preconceptions about the motivations for the use of digital media by 33 nations across the globe, from Australia to the US and includes India – helping to reveal what really drives us to go online and in which ‘mode’ we are in when we are there.

     

    The methodology of the research saw the motivations behind online behaviour (self -expression / entertainment / information gathering / transacting) matched against a ‘normal’ benchmark created by looking at the quality of digital infrastructure ( penetration and quality of connection) available in the country, Mindshare also has revealed:

    • The US is among the least motivated (31st) for using digital media for self-expression, being beaten by neighbour Canada at 17th. Instead, things traditionally associated with self-expression (e.g. blogging) are driven by a desire to be entertained.
    • South Korea, one of the most advanced digital nations in the world, lays only 23rd globally when it comes to being motivated to search for information, whilst scoring highly on all other motivations.
    • The UK is below ‘normal’ in its motivation to use digital communications across the four areas (17th) when compared to the quality of its infrastructure, as are the USA (20th) and Japan (28th)
    • The BRIC countries are all above ‘normal’ in their use of digital communications across the four motivational areas when compared to the quality of their infrastructure (Brazil  14th, Russia 12th, India 5th, China 1st)
    • Chile is the most advanced (ahead of ‘normal’) Latin American country (11th) beating  Brazil (14th), Venezuela (18th), Colombia (19th), Mexico (21st), Peru (26th) and Argentina (29th)
    • Portugal is the most advanced European country (2nd), beating Sweden (6th), Spain (9th), Poland (10th), Germany (13th) and the UK (17th)

     

     

    Of the 33 countries, only 14 were above ‘normal’ in their use of digital communications across the four motivation areas when compared to the quality of their infrastructure – leaving the rest, which includes the UK, US, Australia and Japan lagging behind ‘normal’.

     

    Said Norm Johnston, Global Digital Leader at Mindshare: ‘This new research is a fresh way of looking at online national audiences and shows the importance of understanding that every group is motivated by different reasons when they go online – and when in these different ‘modes’ they need to be communicated with in bespoke ways, making the use of Adaptive Marketing techniques vital. The research also challenges our pre-conceptions; for example the USA is the world’s richest nation, but with people who are less motivated to go online for transaction (26th) than almost every other nation on the planet!-

     

    MxMIndia View: While the overall rank (#5) is good, but transaction and communication/expression ranks (#19) are too low! Cholbe naa!

     

    Country Communication /
    Self Expression
    Rank    		 Entertainment
    Rank    		 Information
    Rank    		 Transaction
    Rank    		 Overall Rank
    Argentina 15 32 27 14 29
    Australia 32 11 17 20 22
    Belgium 7 20 20 30 23
    Brazil 4 28 14 16 14
    Canada 17 15 18 17 16
    Chile 2 18 32 4 11
    China 1 16 8 1 1
    Colombia 21 24 19 9 19
    France 22 33 33 12 33
    Germany 12 27 9 10 13
    Hungary 33 25 15 31 32
    India 19 3 4 19 5
    Indonesia 14 21 29 13 25
    Italy 30 12 2 33 27
    Japan 26 31 11 29 28
    Malaysia 8 9 12 32 15
    Mexico 13 26 22 15 21
    Netherlands 18 29 30 23 31
    Peru 25 19 24 21 26
    Philippines 27 4 3 28 8
    Poland 20 13 16 8 10
    Portugal 3 17 1 7 2
    Russia 24 2 31 18 12
    Singapore 9 1 21 6 3
    SouthAfrica 29 22 28 25 30
    SouthKorea 6 8 23 3 7
    Spain 11 6 5 22 9
    Sweden 16 5 7 11 6
    Switzerland 10 30 10 27 24
    Thailand 5 14 25 2 4
    UK 28 7 26 5 17
    USA 31 10 13 26 20
    Venezuela 23 23 6 24 18

     

    MDNI Methodology:

    1. The research focuses on the motivation of online consumers falling into four areas (self -expression / entertainment / information gathering / transacting). A sample of 33,000 respondents were questioned about whether, and how often, they undertook a range of online behaviours, from blogging to online banking. Statistical analysis was then used to group these behaviours by country and by motivation.

    2. In parallel an ‘infrastructure score’ was created for each country by looking at internet availability and the average speed of connection.

    3. The two ‘scores’ were then cross-referenced, producing a trendline to map the relationship between the two. This line demonstrated what was typical at any given level of infrastructure, and showed whether a country’s motivation score was above or below ‘normal’ based on the available infrastructure.

     

  • The lead pair of the movie also announced the launch of a unique 'closeup with stars' augmented reality application.

    Mindshare facilitates Closeup’s ‘Yeh Jawaani…’ packs

    By A Correspondent

     

    Closeup, the toothpaste brand from Hindustan Unilever Ltd, has announced its collaboration with Dharma Production’s film ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ by launching limited edition Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani toothpaste packs. Each pack includes a Closeup Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani friendship band autographed by Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone.

     

    Highlighting this unique collaboration, Archana Jhangiani, Partner Invention, Mindshare Fulcrum, the media agency of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, said, “We thrive in coming up with unique media opportunities that connect a brand to its target consumers’ passion points. Movies are no doubt the biggest passion in our country and we actively leverage their power to strengthen and differentiate the brand conversations. Therefore, movies for us, is a priority media platform and intrinsic to the brand’s communication strategy.”

     

    Speaking on the tie-up, Atul Sinha, Category Head – Oral Care at Hindustan Unilever Ltd, said, “We are very excited to associate with Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, the most-awaited movie of the year. Closeup has always been synonymous with ‘Freshness’ that gives you the confidence in social situations and is aimed at every person who is young at heart. This movie is a perfect fit for us since it truly embodies what our brand stands for. Our intention is to offer multiple engagement opportunities to our consumers – from the special pack with friendship bands to technology engagement. We are confident that this partnership will bring more excitement for our consumers.”

     

    Commenting on the association, Apoorva Mehta, CEO- Dharma Productions said, “Closeup & Dharma Productions are two huge brands that exemplify wholesome products! We couldn’t have found a better fit than Closeup to tie up with for a film like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. It also helps that the lead pair Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone both wear very attractive smiles! So Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Closeup is an apt coming together of two quality brands!”

     

  • Under the partnership, Mindshare will be responsible for strategy and OgilvyAction will work on activation

    Mindshare & OgilvyAction partner for rural marketing solutions

    By A Correspondent

     

    Media conglomerate WPP’s Mindshare and OgilvyAction have come together to create the first full suite of communication solutions aimed at rural and low-income consumers across Asian markets. Operations are being carried out across India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Under this partnership, Mindshare will be responsible for strategy and OgilvyAction will work on activation.

     

    In India, Mindshare and OgilvyAction presently partner with Dialogue Factory (the experiential marketing division of GroupM) to provide a full suite of communication solutions targeted at rural and low-income consumers. This includes strategy, ideas and activation through customized communication programmes.

     

    The framework for approaching this large-scale communications plan is mapped out in six steps. The first four steps cover groundwork and rural research using Mindshare proprietary tools. These tools include task maps, ethnographic studies, brand health parameters and 3D Rural. 3D is a proprietary Mindshare tool – it is a comprehensive quantitative study that covers brand relationships, consumer demographics and media consumption.

     

    The last two steps focus on activation and campaign tracking. Mindshare has developed tools including Rural GRPs (a system that captures rural TV viewership as opposed to the popularly used Peoplemeter in urban areas), mAllocator (allocates budgets based on campaign KPIs), Mindware (measures brand awareness) will be used to closely monitor the campaign.

     

    Said Ashutosh Srivastava, chairman, Asia Pacific and CEO for Emerging Markets of Mindshare, “This is an extension of our partnership with Ogilvy into one of the most promising growth engines. It is relevant to all our stakeholders who want to leverage insights on low income consumers and deliver breakthrough media innovation and activation.”

     

    John Goodman, President of OgilvyAction Asia Pacific said, “We know low-tier consumers are an increasingly important segment for our clients and we are thrilled to partner with Mindshare on this endeavour.”

     

    This partnership has been launched across ASEAN with activation and planning solutions being provided for select clients already. This includes fully realized rural specific research expected to be available in the next six months across all ASEAN markets.

     

  • Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM, further spread its wings in India with the opening of its branch office in Kochi, Kerala, headed by KT Haridas

    Mindshare expands presence, opens Kochi office

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM, further spread its wings in India with the opening of its branch office in Kochi, Kerala, headed by KT Haridas.

     

    “Mindshare has been committed to providing leading media and marketing services pan India. The opening of a Kochi office is a natural outgrowth of the strong customer and partner base that we already enjoy in Kerala. We are well positioned and look forward to growing this further”, said Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia, Mindshare.

     

  • With Facebook Home, Mark Zuckerberg may have taken a shortcut to rule the mobile web, notes a Mindshare's 'Original Thinker Series' analysis

    Into the all-new world of Facebook Home

     

    Mindshare’s “Original Thinker Series” is a series of thought pieces and PoVs from Mindshare on a range of subjects. These cover topics like digital trends, innovation and new platforms and products in the media and technology, to name a few. To subscribe or find out more, please mail Shruti Dixit at Mindshare (shruti.dixit@mindshareworld.com). Republished with permission.

     

    By Ciaran Norris

     

    After years of rumour, we finally saw the release of the Facebook phone a couple of weeks ago. Except it wasn’t a phone at all, rather a phone running Facebook Home, an application which changes many aspects of how the phone operates. Rather than get involved in a lengthy, and costly manufacturing and development battle with the likes of Apple, Android and all of the device manufacturers, Facebook has decided to take a shortcut in its attempt to rule the mobile web.

     

    Details

    The elements of Home that have generated the most comment are the Cover Feed and Chat Heads. The first swaps out a phone’s lock and home screens for live versions of the owner’s News Feed. Chat Heads allows people to use Facebook’s messaging services even when using another app. Both of these highlight how tightly integrated Facebook is in the new system, replacing or overlaying on top of previously core functions.

     

    Whilst the new system was previewed on a mid-priced new HTC Android phone, it will be released through Google Play and available on a wider variety of handsets overtime. Facebook clearly have designs on the hundreds of millions of Android handsets worldwide. There will be no Apple equivalent, as Apple would never allow such tinkering with its core products.

     

    Implications

    Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has claimed that Home will help sell more Android phones. However the fact that it was launched on a phone retailing at $99 suggests that in fact Facebook is using Android’s mass-market dominance as a Trojan Horse; this isn’t something aimed at the early-adopters – it’s for those for whom Facebook essentially is the Internet.

     

    This is a clear play by Facebook to try to replicate its dominance of the desktop web on mobile devices – many put its disappointing IPO down to the fact that it wasn’t adapting to mobile quickly enough. It’s certainly an ambitious and aggressive move, potentially building up its already massive data pools, and enabling it to create truly personalised ad opportunities with mobility at their core. Some have suggested that Apple will be forced to start to mimic the flexibility of the Android platform in order to allow people to download Facebook Home, but it could equally have the entirely opposite effect.

     

    The recent move to align Android and Chrome under one team, following the departure of founder Andy Rubin, could have many reasons. But one could be that it is starting to become hard to see how Android materially benefits Google’s bottom line. Samsung & Amazon barely mention Android anymore, China’s fastest growing mobile company uses it, yet most of Google’s services are banned or limited in that country, and now one of Google’s biggest competitors has launched a product that could well cut Google’s products out of the picture.

     

    Summary

    Facebook’s mobile strategy is now clear to see: try to dominate the platforms, rather than replicate or compete with them. For advertisers who have invested heavily in Facebook up till now, this could well offer opportunities to start to take their messages to everyday phone-owners as they go about their day-to-day.

     

    But equally Facebook’s ambitious attempt to take over the main parts of the mobile experience could well back-fire, whether due to consumer concerns about the amount of data Facebook will now have access to, or because Google decides it is no longer interested in building its competitors’ businesses as well as its own.

     

     

    Ciaran Norris is @ Digital Nation, Mindshare

     

    Photograph source: https://www.facebook.com/home

     

  • Mindshare continues dominance in awards with 10 metals at the Media Abby Goafest 2013

    Mindshare tops in Media Abby 2013

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    >It was the first day of awards at Goafest and media major Mindshare was flying high being ahead of the pack. The Group M agency continued its domination of the media advertising agency awards scene in recent times by bagging 10 metals in all, three of these being golds.
    While there were no Grand Prix awarded in the Media Abby, the highest level of awards in each category, Starcom Mediavest, Interface Business Solutions and Milestone Brandcom bagged a gold each. Although in terms of number of metals, Maxus was #2 with a tally of six, the bulk of its metals were bronze. Lodestar UM and BBDO Proximity bagged two silvers each.

     

    Crediting his team’s hunger for effective work and also awards, Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia, Mindshare said that his clients also active encourage them to “break through the norms and come up with unique and different but also be effective in the process”.

     

    And how does Rao expect to carry on the winning spree into the next awards season? “Well, continue to do disruptive ideas that can really come alive, implementation is key but at the end it should be effective on the brands.”

     

    As many as 660 entries were received in the Media Abby category from 50 agencies. Of these, 16 agencies bagged 46 awards.

     

    Other than the Media Abby, awards for three award categories from the Creative Abby were also given away. These being from the Design, Direct and Digital domains. The highlight here was that Interface Business Solution won a Grand Prix for Tata Docomo.

     

    The Abby, which is organized by the Advertising Club at Goafest each year, is regarded as India’s most recognized award for the advertising fraternity.

    Sr No Name of the Agency Grand Prix Gold Silver Bronze

    Total

    1

    Mindshare

    		  

    3

    6

    1

    10

    2

    Starcom Mediavest Group

    		  

    1

    1

    2

    4

    3

    Interface Business Solutions (I) Pvt.Ltd

    		  

    1

     

    2

    3

    4

    Milestone Brandcom

    		  

    1

     

     

    1

    5

    Lodestar UM

    		  

     

    2

    3

    5

    6

    BBDO Proximity India

    		  

     

    2

     

    2

    7

    Maxus

    		  

     

    1

    5

    6

    8

    Madison Media -Pinnacle

    		  

     

    1

    4

    5

    9

    Interactive Avenues Pvt. Ltd

    		  

     

    1

    1

    2

    10

    McCann Worldgroup

    		  

     

    1

     

    1

    11

    Mediacom Communications Pvt. Ltd

    		  

     

    1

     

    1

    Source: Goafest/Media Abby. Note: the ranking, done in the Olympic style with metal type being the yardstick, is not provided by the organizers.

     

  • India ranked #4 in the pecking order of shortlists, albeit a distant one as UK, US and Australia saw 51, 38 and 25 shortlists respectively at the Festival of Media Global scheduled to be held in Montreux, Switzerland from April 28 to 30

    Mindshare gets 7 shortlists at Festival of Media Global

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare shines with seven shortlists from among the 11 entries that Indian media agencies find themselves for the big metals at The Festival of Media Global scheduled to be held in Montreux, Switzerland from April 28 to 30.

     

    India ranked #4 in the pecking order of shortlists, albeit a distant one as UK, US and Australia saw 51, 38 and 25 shortlists respectively. Interestingly, the India flag is flying ahead of Spain (8), New Zealand (7), Thailand (7) and Germany (6).  Brazil and China had two shortlist each.

     

     

  • Mindshare has announced the appointment of Rajit Desai as Partner, Mindshare Consulting

    Mindshare Appoints Rajit Desai as Partner – Consulting

    Mindshare, the flagship GroupM media agency, has further strengthened its consulting and analytics discipline in the west with the appointment of Rajit Desai as Partner, Mindshare Consulting.

     

    In his new role, Mr Desai would actively contribute towards developing and restructuring Mindshare’s business consulting offering for clients in west region. He will be reporting to the Sandeep Pandey who is the head of practice.

     

    In his last role, Mr Desai served as the Vice President and Head of Lab Centre (research and strategy hub) at Lodestar UM. Having worked in the marketing vertical and as media consultant for various leading companies such as HTA, Sony, Times Now, Loadstar, Media e2e and Turner Broadcasting, Mr Desai comes with 16 years of work experience in the media function.

     

    Said Mr Pandey on the appointment, “Our nature of work requires people from strong consulting and business strategy profile and Rajit has a combination of both. It is part of our larger talent restructuring within consulting discipline and you will hear soon about many senior profiles joining from different industries.”

     

    On his move to Mindshare, Mr Desai said, “This exciting role is a logical next step for me. I see this as a big opportunity and I look forward to help address client’s marketing and business problems and grow the practice along with the high quality team at Mindshare.”

     

  • Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM today announced the appointment of Siddharth Sethi as Leader, Digital for Mindshare India

    Mindshare announces Siddharth Sethi as Digital Leader

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare, the flagship media agency of GroupM today announced the appointment of Siddharth Sethi as Leader, Digital for Mindshare India. In his new role, Mr Sethi will be responsible for boosting the agency’s full-service digital offerings geared towards actively pushing Adaptive Planning, Performance and Digital Analytics to the fore. Based out of Mumbai, Mr Sethi will report to Ravi Rao, Leader, Mindshare South Asia.

     

    Mr Sethi’s last stint was as Director, India for Xaxis, another GroupM company. As Director, he successfully started and built up the company operations in India.Xaxis is today delivering targeted digital media products that allow advertisers to reach and better understand their audiences at massive scale. Xaxis delivers these products through the expert use of consumer data, advertising technology and media relationships.

     

    Mr Sethi has over 12 years of experience in Media management, Marketing and Product Management. He has spent the last 7 years focused on helping digital start-up’s create products and revenue streams.

     

    An alumnus of Mudra Institute of Communications (Ahmedabad), Mr Sethi has also been through Nasper’s Harvard Program in Strategic Marketing. He began his career as a Media Planner at Madison, a Brand Manager at BenQ, and was last with IBIBO as VP.

     

    Welcoming Mr Sethi, Ravi Rao, Leader, Mindshare South Asia, said, “We are very fortunate to have someone with such integrated expertise at the helm of our digital offerings. Sid’s experience of having led Xaxis in India will be another factor in enhancing the overall digital offering as well his entrepreneurial culture will take Mindshare into a league of its own, well within the Original Thinking Framework for all brands. He is technologically savvy, understands the brand space and is performance driven.”

     

    On his move to Mindshare, Mr Sethi said, “I am delighted to be joining an agency with such an impressive digital portfolio. Over recent years Mindshare has really built a strong digital team with some really impressive digital and social media campaigns under its belt. I am really looking forward to building on this reputation.”