MxMIndia

Tag: O&M

  • A quirky campaign supports the launch of PVMI's dual-flavoured chewing gum

    O&M mingles with Center Fruit

    By A Correspondent

     

    Perfetti Van Melle India (PVMI) has launched a new product: dual-coloured, dual-flavoured liquid-filled gum – Center Fruit Mingle. Center Fruit Mingle comes with dual flavours of pineapple and green apple in one gum. Commenting on the launch Mandar Keskar, Category Head, Perfetti Van Melle India said, “We at Perfetti have always emphasized on getting more and more innovations in the market, to surprise and delight our consumers. Our latest offering provides not only a taste, but also a visual differentiation, never seen before.” The launch will be supported with an extensive television campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather.

     

    The insight for this TVC came from the fact that two flavours are together ‘miley hue’ in one gum. The TVC shows a serious cricket match in progress. The batsman hits the ball into the air and to his surprise,the non-striker dives and catches it. The batsman turns desperately to the umpire to seek resolution and is aghast to see the umpire himself celebrating with the non-striker. The commentator exclaims ‘Ye dono miley hue hain’ (these two are in it together)’.

     

    Anurag Agnihotri, Group Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather said, “We wanted to create an advertisement that breaks all the common norms adopted for two-in-one commercials. This ad is both funny and crazy, a combination that has always worked wonderfully for us.”

     

    Positioned as a lip-smacking, rib-tickling chewing gum, Center Fruit has a number of memorable campaigns with wagging tongues like theATM Commercial (teller dispensing money from his mouth), Jugalbandi (a musical face-off) and the recent Guide TVC with tagline ‘Kaisi Jeebh Laplapayee’.

     

    Client: Perfetti Van Melle India Pvt. Ltd.

    Agency: Ogilvy & Mather

    Creative team: Anurag Agnihotri

    Account management team: Antara Suri

    Production house: Tubelight Films

    Director: Prashant Issar

     

  • O&M Mumbai creates CSR initiative for Mattel Toys India along with a pub and a driver service

    Hot Wheels takes ‘Don’t Drink & Drive’ message to pub door

    By A Correspondent

     

    While Hot Wheels is known for epitomizing ‘thrilling vehicle experiences’, it wanted to also impart the message of ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’. O&M Mumbai studied the views and opinions of drinkers and from their discussions drew an insight – almost every drinker believes that it is absolutely safe to drive after a drink or even two drinks. However, the medical reality is that even a single drink can impair the senses of the driver and this fact is dismissed by most as trivial.

     

    Abhijit Avasthi, National Creative Director, said, “Drinking & driving messages can get too preachy. This is a fun way of reminding us of the consequences of drinking and driving. A simple idea with a strong message. Hot Wheels along with ‘The Little Door’ (a pub) and ‘Party Club Drivers’ (an after-party driver service) decided to do something unique to spread the social message  ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’. We wanted to impress this fact upon people but when they were least expecting it – this was the idea. So on a Friday evening with the support of our partner pub, The Little Door, we laid emphasis on this social message to people who were most likely to be casual about driving back after a few drinks.”

     

    When car owners arriving at the pub handed over their car keys for the valet to park, we attached specially designed key chains to the owners’ car keys. The key chain we attached had a damaged Hot Wheels car (depicting a car that’s recently been in an accident) with a message that read, “Even a Small Drink Is Enough”.  Attached with the keychain was a tag that had the phone numbers of the Party Club Drivers. When the car owners were exiting, they were handed out their keys with the attached Hot Wheels key chain that carried the social message.  This shocked and alarmed the drivers as the visual impact was powerful. “But most importantly, the reaction was positive. Many decided to call the driver service to drive them home and some called friends and family to pick them up,” Mr Avasthi shared.

     

    The Hot Wheels message was driven home: Drinking, no matter how less, should never be mixed with driving.

     

    Rahul Bhowmik, Director-Marketing, Mattel Toys India, said, “With this unique initiative we wanted to reinforce that pushing the envelope can be exhilarating, but it never pays to ignore the #1 rule of road safety: don’t drink and drive.”

     

  • The media plan went beyond print and included a Tweeple-powered launch in Bangalore and a unique website launch through 52 Friday Dos

    Allen Solly dons Friday Dressing by O&M

    By A Correspondent

     

    Allen Solly, apparel brand has been known for having redefined workwear through its ‘Friday Dressing’ concept in 1990s and early 2000s. It created a new category of Work Casuals. The brand’s core USP of Friday Dressing has held it in good stead over the last many years.

     

    The brand had a very clear challenge in front of it. How to infuse a sense of style and fashion back into Fridays?

     

    Sooraj Bhat, Brand Head, Allen Solly, said, “While speaking to consumers we realised a desire they had to dress up, dress well on Fridays. But they were not doing so as the code was to be very relaxed on Fridays. Relaxed to the extent of almost not bothering about what was being worn on Fridays. Interestingly though, for these consumers, Friday was the most exciting day of the week (start of the weekend) and hence at least they were most open to experimentation.”

     

    “Working on the insight that Friday is a day of possibilities, a day when fun and play does a perfect tango with work, a day of celebrations, bonding at work and outside of work, parties and so on, our agency Ogilvy & Mather created a campaign to provide a new meaning to Fridays through how we should Dress-Up and not Dress-Down on the most important day of the week. The new campaign hence is aptly titled ‘Hot Fridays’,” he said.

     

    The campaign was released nationally in leading dailies on a Friday. The media plan went beyond print and included two initiatives – Tweeple powered launch inBangaloreand unique website launch through 52 Friday Dos. The brand initiated a first-ever Tweeple powered collection launch; a live hoarding where tweets unveiled the collection and unravelled the launch campaign as more and more tweets happened. The idea extended on Allen Solly’s Facebook page, which has over half a million fans, where fans play the Friday Card game with each card in the deck of 365 with 52 representing Fridays. When flipped, the card unveiled a part of the new brand campaign.

     

    “It was important to tell the young office goer that Friday is the most exciting day of the week at work and that they can’t possibly let go off a Friday, dressed in their coded casuals of jeans andTees. They need to ‘dress up’ and grab all that the action packed Friday offers”, said Simi Sabhaney, President – Ogilvy & Mather Advertising,Bangalore.

     

    The brand is aggressively growing its retail. It has been opening around 40 stores every year- including this year. “We expect to close this year with over 170 exclusive stores. The last few months have seen several flagship stores come up including in New Delhi and Bangalore. We sense a fresh impetus on the brand – new identity, logo, aggressive investments into brand building, merchandise…they are all coming together’, said Mr Bhat.

     

  • Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Mumbai, became the first Indian agency to win Gold at the IPA Effectiveness Awards in London, for the Cadbury Dairy Milk 'Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye' campaign.

    Sweet win for O&M at IPA Effectiveness Awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Mumbai, became the first Indian agency to win Gold at the IPA Effectiveness Awards in London. The award was won for Cadbury Dairy Milk’s 7-year-long ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’ campaign in India. Launched in 2005, this campaign has led to Cadbury Dairy Milk increasing its business manifold, and has also contributed to increased revenues and profits for the company, Cadbury India Limited. This case also won a special award for ‘Best Use of Insight’.

     

    The IPA, organiser of the IPA Effectiveness Awards, is the professional body for advertising, media and marketing communication agencies in the United Kingdom. Since their launch in the UK in 1980, the IPA Effectiveness Awards are recognized by agencies and clients as the industry’s most rigorous award scheme, because entrants have to prove their communications strategies have worked in hard business terms.

     

    The rigorous judging process includes each entry being judged by two panels before it is considered worthy of an award – an industry panel and a client panel. The Industry panel decides the shortlist (by making sure that each shortlisted paper fulfils the requirement of clearly demonstrating a return on marketing investment). The Client panel then attributes each shortlisted paper a Gold, Silver or Bronze Award and allocates the special prizes.

     

    The year 2012 has seen a total of 65 entries for the awards of which 35 entries made it to the shortlist. Ogilvy’s winning entry was India’s only shortlisted entry at the awards.

     

    Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather South Asia, and also the brain behind the ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’ campaign, said, “I am totally delighted that we have won India’s first ever Gold at one of the most rigorous effectiveness awards in the world – the IPA. And that too for Cadbury. As I have always said in the past, great work comes out of great partnerships. A big salute to you, Cadbury India. And heartiest, heartiest congratulations to my young colleagues at Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai.”

     

    Chandramouli Venkatesan, Director, India Snacking & AP Developing Markets – Chocolate Lead, said, “It is a matter of great pride that Cadbury Dairy Milk is the first ever gold winner from India. It is a testimony to the exceptional advertising the brand has done over a long time. Special kudos to our partners Ogilvy India for being such an outstanding brand steward.”

     

    Kawal Shoor, Head of Planning for Ogilvy Advertising Mumbai, and also co-author of the entry, was present at the gala ceremony held at the London Hilton Park Lane Hotel. Beaming with joy, he said, “This is unprecedented. Only time will tell what this means for us, and Indian advertising, but right now we’re over the moon. We have always loved and stood by our work, and knew it was world class, but to now get acknowledged as that, by arguably the most renowned and sceptical set of judges, ahead of other strong campaigns from around the world… across categories… Wow! And then to win another one for insights… perfect!”

     

    Navin Talreja, Head of Ogilvy & Mather – Mumbai, had said, “This is absolutely fantastic! We strongly believe that our wins happen only because of the faith that clients show in us, and are invariably a result of a process of co-creation with clients. Cadbury has been one such relationship that we have enjoyed for over 60 years.”

     

  • The cut-throat rivalry between DTH players and cable operators intensifies in the countdown to the first phase of compulsory digitisation in the top four metros by June 30

    Tata Sky gears up for digitization with new ads

    By A Correspondent

     

    “Drop cable, upgrade to Tata Sky,” reads the latest ad of the direct-to-home (DTH) service provider, as the cut-throat rivalry between DTH players and cable operators intensifies in the countdown to the first phase of compulsory digitisation in the top four metros by June 30.

     

    “Your TV will continue to run on your inverter even during a power cut…isn’t this a reason enough to choose Tata Sky over cable,” said another advertisement, as the DTH major unleashes its third phase of print and out-of-home (OOH) ad blitzkrieg to lure millions of cable users in the top four cities to its services.

     

    Vikram Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer of Tata Sky, said the campaign is directed at educating consumers so that they can make an informed choice. “Our latest print campaign tells subscribers to do their homework before they buy a set-top box (STB) so that they chose Tata Sky and not just some dabba (box),” said Mehra. It’s not targeting any cable operator, he added.

     

    With over 9 million subscribers, Tata Sky is the second-largest DTH service provider in the country, after Dish TV.

     

    Last December, Lok Sabha passed the Cable Television Networks (Regulation)

    Amendment Bill, 2011, which makes it compulsory for cable companies to convert their analogue system to digital in a phased manner from June 2012.

     

    Consequently, in the first phase of digitisation, India’s top four metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata – will have to replace all analog television networks with digital transmission from July 1, 2012.

     

    This means that all cable subscribers would need to get digital STBs in order to ensure that their TVs don’t go blank. By March next year, as many as 38 cities across the country would be brought into the digital fold.

     

    While phase 1 has around 10 million TV homes in the four metros, over 90 million analogue cable TV homes are estimated to convert to digital by the end of fourth phase in December 2014.

     

    Stakes are indeed high for DTH players who have a ready, captive base of millions of analogue cable TV customers, who just need to install a digital set top box in their homes.

     

    “DTH is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR of 20 per cent for the next 5-7 years,” said Abhishek Chauhan, Senior Consultant, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East. DTH contribution would increase to more than 30 per cent to overall the pay TV market, reducing the cable providers’ contribution to less than 65 per cent, he says. While the number of DTH households in the country is set to go up from 37 million in 2011 to 86 million by 2016, digital cable would see its subscriber base jump from a mere 6 million to 75 million, according to a recent FICCI-KPMG report.

     

    The number of cable and satellite (C&S) households is estimated to reach approximately 176 million by 2016, of which paid C&S households is estimated at 168 million, representing 89 per cent of total TV households. In 2011,146 million households in India had television sets; 119 million of which used cable or satellite services, says the report.

     

    While Tata Sky has been relentless in its campaign against cable, Dish TV has a different strategy. “Direct attack on cable operators is a short-lived approach,” said Salil Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, Dish TV. Differentiated offerings and emotional connect with users is a sustainable strategy, he added. Dish TV has, in fact, tied up with neighbourhood operators to push its own set-top boxes and install connections.

     

    Meanwhile, Tata Sky has been running a campaign to shed its premium image and spread awareness about the impending digitisation and the value-added services that it offers.

     

    Perceptions on pricing in multiple television households, vacation time charges, relocation charges and prices about offerings are some of the issues that ‘Poochne mein kya jaata hain’ campaign started to address since last September. Created by O&M, the commercials urge consumers to ask while underlining the range of offerings.

     

    “Poochne mein kya jaata hai campaign was our way of telling customers that it’s possible to get a world-class service at an affordable price,” said Mr Mehra of Tata Sky. The latest campaign in this series informs one about the affordability of DTH services.

     

    Sonu & Cookie (characters from the last campaign), try to find items which are cheaper than Tata Sky. But every time they bring one to the shop, the shopkeeper surprises them by informing them that Tata Sky’s package is even cheaper.

     

    ‘Get the quality of DTH at the price of cable,’ says a print commercial of Den Networks, one of the largest multi-system operators having presence in a number of states, just a few months back. And a subsequent radio ad raised the pitch by mocking at DTH players – ‘DTH stands for Don’t Try at Home.’

     

    Tata Sky was quick to come up with a tit-for-tat print advertisement – “World-class digital box or any other dabba. What will you choose?”

     

    “Den has been the first cable TV MSO in India to launch a nationwide brand campaign, created by Bates,” said a Den Networks spokesperson, adding that different players will experiment with different types of messages and campaigns to attract subscribers.

     

    Digital cable has some inherent advantages such as weather-proof services that are not interrupted by rain, service through the local cable operator who is known to the household for years and is just a phone call away, to address any technical or service queries, the spokesperson says.

     

    While such kinds of advertisements may be attention-grabbing tactics, they also help consumers in making a better choice, say advertising and brand experts.

     

    “These are attention-grabbing tactics as consumers are in the process of making up their minds,” said Jehil Thakkar, Head, Media and Entertainment, KPMG. While now there is an opportunity for DTH players to acquire analogue subscribers from cable, the latter would obviously try its best to keep users under its fold, he added.

     

    Most advertising that we see around are intra-category fights, driven on the shoulders of brands such as Pepsi vs Coke, Rin vs Surf, Bajaj vs Hero. However, it’s the category versus category fight, for example GSM Vs CDMA, which is the game changer, say brand experts.

     

    In a fight like this, end consumers stand to gain, said Prathap Suthan, Chief Creative Officer of Bang in the Middle, an independent ad agency. “And this is exactly what is expected when it gets into a category versus category fight.”

     

    Tata Sky is clearly and visibly a better constructed and sustained brand among DTH players, feels Suthan. “When you stand for a category, and you represent a category (just as Tata Sky has done), other brands will look small or will be made to look small.”

     

    The other DTH brands, it seems, have sort of abdicated the position of category leadership to Tata Sky, he added.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Competition organized to encourage self regulation in advertising huge success

    ASCI, Goafest announce winners of ‘ASCI Mobile Movie Challenge’

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) announced the winners of the ‘ASCI Mobile Movie Challenge’ during the closing event of Goafest 2012, the Creative Abbys. The competition, conducted to promote responsible creativity, and to encourage self regulation in Advertising, under the theme of ‘Creativity with a conscience’, garnered huge public support during the 3 day ad-fest.

     

    The winning entries came from team Leo Burnett consisting of Nikhil Pai, Abhineet Agarwal & Almas Ahmed and team O&M consisting of Parth Gadhiya, Harshad Salian, Aishik Sengupta. All the six winners received an iPad sponsored by media house, Rajasthan Patrika.

     

    The competition received a total of 120 registered entries through 41 mobile movies, from across the country. Of all the movies registered, 8 were shortlisted by a jury of eminent ad-makers and 2 were chosen as winners.

     

    As per the contest, teams of 3 young professionals, under the age of 30 years, were asked to create a short film (between 30 and 60 seconds), using their mobile handsets. Each team was assigned a mentor film maker who guided the team members on the nuances of film making. The teams were asked to create the art forms on one of the four briefs provided by ASCI which were based on the four tenets of ASCI’s code of self regulation: Honesty & truthfulness in advertising; Decency in advertising as per generally accepted societal norms; Safety & avoiding exploitation of vulnerable sections of society, especially children and Fairness in competition

     

    Mr Subhash Kamath, ASCI Board Member, said: “Through this competition, we wanted to inspire young professionals to abide by the guidelines set by ASCI and implement the same in their work. We’re extremely happy with the kind of response we’ve received and thankful for all the support. Next year, we hope to make this initiative larger and stronger by reaching out to many more media, advertising professionals.”

     

    The films were showcased at Goafest 2012 and uploaded on youtube.com and select online portals, so as to inspire professionals to understand the importance of self-regulation in advertising. The entries were judged by a jury of top creative directors and film makes of the industry.

     

    Advertising Standards Council of India is a self regulatory voluntary organization of the advertising industry. The Role and Functioning of the ASCI & its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) is in dealing with Complaints received from Consumers and Industry, against Advertisements which are considered as False, Misleading, Indecent, Illegal, leading to Unsafe practices, or Unfair to competition, and consequently in contravention of the ASCI Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising.

     

     

     

  • Created by O&M, the campaign proposition is of "internet is fun" to be substantiated by products that make internet fun to use on Vodafone network

    Vodafone pushes to access net via phone

    By A Correspondent

     

    Looking at growth opportunity in using internet on phones, Vodafone is pushing for this aggressively. Data shows that a sizable proportion of internet enabled phone owners do not use internet or have very low minutes of usage. To tackle this issue, Vodafone has come out with a campaign to drive usage and penetration of internet among Vodafone customers by simplifying usage experience and showing the fun possibilities of internet.

     

    Created by O&M, the campaign proposition is of “internet is fun” to be substantiated by products that make internet fun to use on Vodafone network.

     

    The brief given to the agency for the campaign is based on the core idea that internet and the mobile phone are ubiquitous in today’s world. The message communicated is to ensure that consumers get easier access to the internet and experience it in a simple and fun manner, on their Vodafone mobile phones. In short – The Internet is fun on Vodafone.

     

    “This also meant creating services, products and offerings that substantiate our proposition, which you will see unveiled over the IPL. We will be staring the campaign with an execution on the Opera Mini browser available on Vodafone that facilitates faster internet browsing as an added caveat – this campaign was for the IPL. Hence the creative execution needed to be different and have scale to break clutter and standout during IPL 5,” stated an official communique from Vodafone.

     

    “To deliver the ‘internet is fun on Vodafone’ promise we brought alive the Vodafone internet world in the form of huge, larger than life real games in a setting reminiscent of the Tele Matches. These games are set in a timeless space, with real people playing ridiculous games and generally getting together to have a fun time. And that provided the best metaphor for our proposition.”

     

    “each offering explains how Vodafone makes the mobile internet experience more fun and was brought to life with its own unique and absolutely fun game played between two teams. To bring out authenticity in the execution, the TVCs are set in a small village nearPragueinCzechoslovakiaand all the props are real and have been constructed for the films. And because the drama is happening in Czech, and english commentator explains the proceedings to the audience,” stated the communique.

     

    This is an 8 week long campaign. The campaign started with 3 teaser films on April 4 followed by the first TVC which aired on April 8. This is part of the 8 TVC’s on different products from Vodafone that make the internet experience on Vodafone fun. The campaign will be supported with a high decibel 360 media plan using TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, on Ground and a digital and online plan.

     

  • It's literally 'aisa mauka aur kahaan milega' as stakeholders go all out to promote IPL 5 starting next week

    Five days to return of IPL mega-carnival

     

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    The annual IPL event is no less than a carnival or a circus and the TVC featuring the two kids with the Eena Meena Deeka song playing in the background aptly sums it. As the countdown begins for the circus to visit our cities or beam in to our TV sets, we take a look at the various marketing activities planned around the IPL.

     

    Once touted as the biggest property for marketers, the game lost some sheen because of the negative coverage it got in its last avatar. Fully aware of the situation, those involved with the IPL have now gone all out to woo audience and it’s no surprise that lately, especially in the last two weeks, one has seen and heard a lot about IPL on various medium.

     

    Eena Meena Deeka- Carnival- Ye IPL Hai Boss
    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lDDabuGLs[/youtube]

    Rohit Gupta, President, Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of DLF IPL, talking about the inventory sold on MAX said: “We are in the process of closing deals and it’s been a regular sellout process. The start was a bit slow, but once our marketing campaign kicked off we have managed to rope in most of the key brands. In fact, we have not dropped our rate which is Rs5.5 lakh for a 10-second spot.”

     

    Mr Gupta, in fact, is confident that the rates will go up once the game begins and more audience comes in to watch the matches.

     

    Talking about the campaign, Gaurav Seth, Senior VP, Marketing and Communications, MAX, said: “We have reached the end phase of a very long campaign that was kickstarted on February 23 with Aisa Mauka Aur Kaha Milega and April 4 will see the culmination of all the activities we had undertaken as the IPL begins. As for sustenance, we will take a call on the basis of the viewership and address the issue accordingly.”

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXQsIgN_530[/youtube]

    Some of the activities that MAX has undertaken include a partnership with Radio Mirchi for 40 stations across India which will include radio spots, RJ mentions, and IPL contests. For OOH, they have taken over 700 units across 70 towns including billboards, bus shelters and various other innovative OOH panels. The print engagement includes both English and vernacular newspapers. They are also engaging the audience through mobile and FB along with BTL activation. It is learnt that the budget earmarked for IPL 5 is almost Rs30 crore.

     

    Mr Seth said: “We are reaching out to our audience with one million printed schedules which will be distributed through multiple outlets. We have planned flash mobs across 10 IPL towns. The mobs will give info on IPL by disruption and the sequences will be uploaded on YouTube which we hope will go the viral route.”

     

    “This is the 5th year of IPL so people know what it is. The challenge is to create something that is innovative and appeals to the consumers. Aisa Mauka is perfect as it talks about IPL being an opportunity to bond with family and friends. It invites people to enjoy the IPL experience,” he added, on marketing IPL which has definitely been a mega exercise.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkBVlfisg88[/youtube]

    Extraaa Innings T20 2012 on MAX has also come out with a special video featuring its presenters on the theme of Aisa Mauka Aur Kaha Milega.

     

    Here’s a look at some of the marketing initiatives taken by various IPL teams:

     

    Mumbai Indians

    Mumbai Indians has taken the digital route to connect with its close to 2.5 million fans. The unique marketing campaign by O&M is being digitally driven on Facebook’s MI fan page ‘MIPaltan’. The campaign ‘Players become Friends’ is aimed at increasing the interactivity quotient between the players and the fans in the digital space. The fans can get to be friends with Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel and other team players and know about their real lives, practice sessions and much more.

    https://www.facebook.com/mumbaiindians?sk=app_358303457535779

     

    MI has also unveiled its new website www.mumbaiindians.com, which offers a fresh view for the fans to know more about the team. The new website presents dynamic online tools, easy navigation and is rich in its contents. The fresh look and feel of the website, designed in keeping with international standards, echoes the value which best epitomizes the team – ‘Play Like One’.

     

    Mumbai Indians has recently signed a brand alliance with Walt Disney India, which marks the first time Mickey Mouse will be associated with cricket. The Mumbai Indians Disney merchandise is available for sale in India.

     

    Delhi Daredevils

    Delhi Daredevils, in its bid to engage its fans, signed four remarkable flagbearers of daredevilry as Delhi Daredevils Superfans. These include India’s only IronMan athlete, Anuradha Vaidyanathan; the youngest Indian climber to summit three peaks beyond 8000m, including Mount Everest, Arjun Vajpai; India’s only ultramarathon runner Arun Bhardwaj and the only Indian woman to ski her way to South Pole, Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu.

     

    It also launched the team’s Hindi website, making it the first IPL franchise to create an online destination for cricket fans who would like to follow the game in the language. The English website too had been redesigned. Also on anvil is the launch of mobile version of the website. Smartphone users can download a mobile App to get scores and updates. DD also launched its new official song titled ‘Munday Dilli Ke’ to herald the coming season of DLF Indian Premier League.

     

    Chennai Super Kings

    CSK took its ‘Whistle podu’ further by launching a brand new participative cheer video. Titled ‘Chennai Super Kings ku Raise Your Hands’ this video too is a tribute to the unwavering fan support that the team enjoys. The one-minute video captures a fan formation that gathers momentum, with supporters joining in to form a Mexican wave cheering their favourite team. The video was uploaded on YouTube late evening on March 25, and in less than 12 hours it had already generated over 10,000 views.

     

    In another unique initiative, Washington Apple have partnered with CSK as ‘Official Fruit’ for the upcoming IPL season. South India is India’s largest market for Washington Apples and Chennai, in particular, is the key port of entry and distribution hub and also a key market for the company, hence the association.

     

    Kolkata Knight Riders

    Venky Mysore, MD & CEO of KKR on the marketing initiatives said: “KKR recently unveiled its new marketing campaign, ‘New Dawn, New Knights’. The campaign is about the new team that we have formed and its new attitude and intensity. It signifies the new winning spirit that has been brought in by our new players and the new coach. All of these go a long way in ensuring a new beginning.”

     

    He also said that their digital community exceeds 700,000 and before the start of the latest season of IPL, they are confident of reaching a million. The marketing would be mostly done through merchandising on the digital platform as well as through ticketing. “Contrary to public perception, we don’t go out and buy media, because we don’t need to. We have a brand that we constantly work on. Part of how we do that is to ensure the team is doing well, and we also try to be a part of mutually beneficial associations that can be leveraged. Hence, we develop marketing programmes that allow brands associated with us to activate themselves. For instance, we created a lot of content with our sponsors on digital and electronic media last year which they utilized advantageously,” Mr Mysore said.

     

    KKR is working to create new revenue streams like merchandising and licensing. Since various third party reports indicate that KKR is the most valuable brand franchise, they are looking at ways to strike licensing agreements to monetize on the same. As a result of multiple merchandising deals, they have made available a number of branded KKR merchandise like T-shirts, hats, head bands, fridge magnets, pens, ties and so on.

     

    “The market segment that IPL attracts is very different from that of a Test and One Day format of the game. I think it depends on the product. If you look at toothpaste today, you have hundreds of brands, but it all depends on how you package it and how you market it. So the challenge for us is to keep working on the product, its packaging and delivery, and if we do a good job, then we would be successful as a franchise,” he added.

     

    Rajasthan Royals

    Rajasthan Royals has again tied up with Sanskar School for their annual inter-school Kanni Thahryamal Tournament to develop, nurture and motivate young talent at the grassroots level. Various Rajasthan Royals players, including Rahul Dravid, scouted for talent at the tournament and. RR also supported the Ambuja Jaipur Marathon 2012 as Official Fitness Partner.

     

    They recently unveiled the pink-coloured training jersey dedicated to the city of Jaipur, the team’s home. On the digital front, the focus is on interactivity and their fan zone on the website encourages fans to express themselves through content, videos, images, forums or polls. Points are awarded based on interactivity on the website which can be redeemed for exclusive memorabilia and merchandise.

     

    UltraTech Cement Limited is the team’s Principal Sponsor for IPL 5. The cement brand has been associated with the squad since 2008.

     

    Kings XI Punjab

    This IPL team hosts the Kings XI Punjab Cup, a tournament organized to provide a platform for young guns to showcase their talent. Through this annual tournament, KXIP aims to nurture talent at the grass root level by giving them an opportunity to display their talent.

     

    Kings XI Punjab has initiated an activity with Institute of Fashion technology at Punjab University. As a part of the initiative, the aspirants were given an opportunity to design their favourite local team’s merchandise. The chosen designs have been used in the merchandising of Kings XI Punjab.

     

    The team associated with Indraprastha All India Sports Foundation to launch the one-of-a-kind reality show ‘Cricket Champs’. This reality show is being powered by Kings XI Punjab and a number of players from the franchisee are also part of the proceedings. This pan-India initiative is featuring on UTV.

     

    Deccan Chargers

    Emirates International has come on board as the Team Sponsor for Deccan Chargers. DC also kick-started its Blue Campaign in Hyderabad with ‘its gotta be blue’ line celebrating food, music and cricket. Some Tollywood films have also associated with Deccan Chargers for promotional campaigns. DC is also taking the digital route to connect and interact with its fans in a better way.

     

    Royal Challengers Bangalore

    RCB launched its new website earlier this month, which is aimed at making navigation easier for its fans. The site has new collection of photos, videos and other downloads for its followers. Most of the initiatives are on the RCB site.

     

    Pune Warriors

    This IPL team has been focusing on interacting with its fans with its website. In keeping with the name, the site has sections like ‘Our Warriors’ which give information about the players, War news and Warrior Club Updates. The Bhartiya Nrityanganas or the cheer queens with the Indian flavour will be encouraging the team on field. The team has also associated with Bookmyshow for buying tickets for the games.

     

  • Under the platform of 'Creating Happiness', the campaign combines a film competition along with social media and traditional media outreach

    Vedanta unveils first ever national corporate campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Vedanta Group, a globally diversified natural resources major with interests in aluminum, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron ore and oil & gas, has unveiled its first ever national corporate campaign under the platform of ‘Creating Happiness’.

     

    The integrated campaign combines a unique first-of-its-kind film competition forIndia’s next-gen filmmakers along with social media and traditional media outreach. As a part of the campaign, Vedanta is releasing 39 films – a 90 seconds film by Piyush Pandey of O&M and 38 three minute films made by student film-makers from across the country.

     

    Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal’s vision of contributing to building sustainable communities and integrating sustainability as a core part of the business is at the heart of this campaign.

     

    114 students from top media and film schools in the country including FTII, Whistling Woods, Symbiosis, School of Convergence, MGR FTI, IIMC, Assam University, Xavier’s, Christ University, AAFT, ZIMA, Tezpur University, IP College and Ravenshaw have produced 38 short films that tell the stories of the people and communities whose lives have been changed by Vedanta’s community initiatives, creating happiness in the process. Each film was made by a group of three students.

     

    The students travelled to the interiors of Rajasthan, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh to meet with an Indiathat is full of inspiring stories and came back with their experiences and films. The films are open for public voting on YouTube till 20th March, 2012. The films will also be judged by the jury that includes Piyush Pandey, Shyam Benegal and Gul Panag.

     

    The face of the campaign is ‘Binno’, a little girl who was chosen from one of Vedanta’s community initiatives in rural Rajasthan. The television ad film, which has been conceived and scripted by veteran adman Piyush Pandey takes a real slice out of Binno’s life, with her parents, friends, doctors and school teachers playing their parts.

     

    It shows how her life is different from that of her earlier generations, in the process, highlighting the many changes that have come about over the years.

     

    The film has been shot on location in Rajasthan by award-winning director Shivendra Dungarpur of Dungarpur Films and the music has been composed by Rajat Dholakia, who has won two national awards as best music director for ‘Dharavi’ and ‘Sunday’.

     

    The television campaign, with the Binno film, will go on air from January 30 and student films are available for public voting on youtube.com/Vedanta group.

     

    Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman, O&M said: “The Vedanta ‘Creating Happiness’ campaign is extremely close to my heart for it’s all about enablingIndia. I have worked on this campaign along with my team as an excited young copywriter and I look forward to the people ofIndianot just appreciating Vedanta’s efforts, but getting inspired to do something on their own to makeIndiaa happier place.”

     

    Senjam Raj Sekhar, Director – Communications & Brand, Vedanta group said: “Vedanta has several compelling stories to tell about the work that is being done in community and sustainability. Our aim is to tell the world the Vedanta story under the platform of ‘Creating Happiness’. With the film competition, we opened up all our projects and locations to budding independent film makers. The idea was to enable them to experience it first hand and make films on impact that the projects were having on the community. The results are tremendous – we have got 38 heartwarming stories capturing hope, change and empowerment in rural India”

     

    Vedanta Resources plc (“Vedanta”) is aLondonlisted FTSE 100 diversified global natural resources major. The group produces aluminum, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron ore, oil & gas and commercial power. Vedanta has presence in India, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Ireland, Liberia, Australia and Sri Lanka.

     

  • Ogilvy & Mather announced that it has acquired a 33.3% position in STW's leading digital communications firm, DTDigital.

    Ogilvy expands in Australia with 33.3% stake in DTDigital

    By A Correspondent

     

    DTDigital, one of Australia’s largest and most successful digital agencies joined STW Group in 2003 and during the next eight years grew revenues from $1 million per annum to forecast revenue for 2012 of $14 million. Clients include Bunnings, Myer and NAB.

     

    For the past four years, DTDigital has been working alongside Ogilvy in Melbourne. Today DTDigital has more than 110 full-time staff in its Melbourne office.

     

    STW Group CEO Mike Connaghan said, “It’s not in our nature to sell parts of our prized assets but the logic in this instance was overwhelming. DTDigital already partners closely with Ogilvy Group Melbourne, and there are intentions to expand this partnership with Ogilvy to other markets. The integrated nature of many of our client campaigns makes it absolutely right for Ogilvy that we have DTDigital even further aligned with that business. It’s a good deal for all stakeholders.”

     

    STW Group owns 66.7 percent of Ogilvy Group Australia, with WPP holding the remaining 33.3 percent. The investment by WPP in DTDigital brings its ownership in line with that of Ogilvy Australia.

     

    “Ogilvy knows brand, social and CRM while DTDigital provides great digital, channel and technology skills making the combination a winning formula. We have worked in partnership for the past four years and acquiring part of DTDigital cements that relationship, allowing us to offer first class integrated digital to clients inside Australia and across Asia,” said Paul Heath, CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific.

     

    DTDigital is an award-winning digital marketing design and technology company that has been a pioneer in the industry for more than 15 years.  Founded by STW Group’s Chief Digital Officer David Trewern in 1996, DTDigital evolved from a multimedia design studio into a business that’s helped transform some of Australia’s leading brands in the digital age.

     

    Success has come through a unique, full-service offering, which includes deep specialization in high-growth areas that are not typically part of an ‘advertising agency’ offer. DTDigital has developed capabilities in specialist areas beyond strategy, creative and production such as user experience, design and consulting, advanced web application engineering, e-commerce, email marketing, data and analytics, social media and social business strategy, mobile marketing and application development, and immersive ‘beyond the browser’ digital experiences.

     

    This breadth of specialist capabilities allow DTDigital to focus on innovation, conceptualizing, developing and connecting the entire digital ‘ecosystem’ for sophisticated clients that increasingly connect and transact with consumers via digital channels.

     

    “This deal accelerates DTDigital’s launch to the Sydney market. Andrew Baxter, David Trewern and Brian Vella were instrumental in bringing the businesses together in Melbourne and the same team will ensure it is an instant success in Sydney,” Mr Connaghan said.

     

  • Ogilvy & Cadbury were Client & Agency of the Year respectively @ Effies 2011. Vodafone & JWT were runner-up. Taproot bagged Grand Effie for Pepsi

    Cadbury & O&M top Effies 2011 honours

     

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    On an exhilarating race day, at a place where horses would be galloping and competing their way for a finish to the top, yesterday it was the turn of the advertising fraternity to trot the turf and vie for their prized silverware. Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai was host to Effies 2011, the only awards show of its kind that recognizes effective advertising by creative agencies.

     

    Having finished as the agency with the highest number of shortlists, Ogilvy & Mather didn’t disappoint as it swooped a bagful of awards – 19 metals in all – leading it to be pronounced the Effie Agency of the Year for 2011. With a tally of 195 points – 7 Golds, 6 Silvers and 6 Bronzes, Ogilvy thumped its nearest rival JWT by almost thrice the number of metals, a milestone that has been a regular affair at the awards. JWT came a distant second with 65 points – 3 Golds, 1 Silver, 2 Bronzes, while DDB Mudra and Lowe Lintas were tied for the third spot with 45 points each.

     

    The icing on the cake for O&M was when its coveted client Cadbury was declared the Effie Client of the Year. With 4 Golds and 2 Silvers, Cadbury edged out Vodafone India – an Ogilvy client as well – which occupied the second spot with 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze. HUL came third with a single Gold and 4 Bronzes.

     

    Flagging off the awards ceremony, Shashi Sinha, President of the Bombay Ad Club welcomed the gathering by stating that it had been a stellar an experience for the organising committee and the judges who managed to sieve and rummage through a bundle of noteworthy entries. Apart from the big number of entries and new additions the event managed to attract, Sinha said that the awards was different from the others, as it was run on international guidelines and was importantly, controversy-free.

     

    Lavishing praises on the event, Chairperson – Effie Committee and fellow-member, Ajay Kakar began by citing an anecdote. “During my early days as an executive in an ad agency, I used to often hear marketers say that half the money I spent on advertising is wasted and the trouble is, which half was wasted was not known. But with the instituting of the Effies, that perception has changed. In fact, it is the only awards show where both the client and the ad agency walk together to collect the awards.”

     

    According to Kakar, it was truly a remarkable experience for the organising committee this year as there were more categories – 12 in all, which saw around 300 entries and the 80 judges had the arduous task of shortlisting the best.

     

    Winning stance

    Elated with another super showing, Abhijit Avasthi, NCD, Ogilvy India remarked: “We are absolutely thrilled, given that Effies is a culmination of the year’s efforts and that it is the right balance between creativity and effectiveness in the marketplace. What’s more reassuring and satisfying is that the wins are across a lot of categories and clients.”

     

    When asked to comment on his client bagging the Client of the Year award Avasthi said: “Though we are happy that Cadbury has bagged the Client of the Year award, we have been supported phenomenally well by our other clients too.”

     

    Not disheartened by the performance of his agency, Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT India, which came in second, said: “Every year, around this time, we review the works that we do for our clients and given our standing at the Effies this year, we hope to start 2012 with a brand new team so as to compete closely with the No 1.”

     

    On Effies being a great creative platform for agencies, Colvyn said: “I think Effies is a great platform for one to showcase their work, because finally, creativity may be everything but this is as important, if not more important, from a client’s point of view. If you are not successful in the marketplace, then nothing else matters. So my ambition is obviously to do well at the Effies and back that up with a good creative showing as well.”

     

    It was a night of thrilling proportions for Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi from Taproot India as they bagged the envious Grand Effie award. Sharing his initial reaction on the win, Agnello Dias, co-founder, Taproot India said: “It keeps getting better. When I won for Lead India, I thought this is it; I won’t get another Grand Effie. Then Teach India happened and this year I won a Grand Effie again. So it keeps getting better. It’s even more satisfying that we are doing it outside of a large network agency and we are doing it on our own.” On the hopes for next year, Aggie said that he aimed to continue the feat with Airtel and maybe also Pepsi.

     

    Enumerating on their win, Santosh Padhi, co-founder of Taproot India said: “We had sent four entries, of which three were shortlisted, while two bagged awards. So I guess it was a pretty good showing. Considering the size of our agency – we have around 30 people, versus other big agencies that have 3,000 people, or more. Competing with them and coming fifth is an outstanding achievement for us. This shows that it is not numbers that matter but the power of an idea that is important.”

     

    Joseph George, CEO, Lowe Lintas, which tied for the third spot, said: “I think we could have done much better because Effies are the only awards that we seriously participate in. Actually, we were a bit disappointed with the shortlist itself considering we had sent more than 20 entries. But no worries, we will try harder and do better next year. What is important is that the No 1 tag is never to be taken for granted and the same goes for No 2 and 3. So we hope to be back next year, bigger and stronger.”

     

    The other commendable awards for the night included Marico Uncommon Sense Award that was bagged by O&M for Vodafone’s ‘Blackberry for Everyone’ and Brand Equity Bravery Award that was bagged by BBDO India for Gillette Mach3 Turbo – Shavesutra.

     

    Tally:

     

    Effie Client tally:

  • Anil Thakraney buttons the Bates boss for a free-n-frank talk about agencies, people & the work they do.

    We’ve bn inconsistent in r work: Sonal Dabral

     

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Sonal Dabral’s career has been nothing short of fantastic. In the nineties he partnered Piyush Pandey and together they turned around the fortunes of O&M. He later flew to Malaysia and then Singapore, and did ditto with O&M’s offices there. A few years ago he took on another challenge: To recreate the magic at Bates, where he is Regional Creative Director, Asia Pacific & Chairman for their Indian operations. While he has been over-seeing India, Sonal physically moved here only a few months ago. And though a few cartons still remain to be unpacked, the man is very clear about the way forward for his agency.

     

    In a rare, frank and a very insightful interview, the 49-year-old reveals his ideologies, his plans for India and his opinions on the ad industry. We also take a trip down his memorable career journey.

     

    What struck me most is how clued in Sonal is about the key challenges that face brands in contemporary times. I don’t always find that in Indian ad agency leaders.

     

    Q: There’s a buzz about you joining Mudra.
    No truth in it at all. But I can understand why the rumours must have started. Balki is the face of Lowe, Prasoon is the face of McCann and Piyush, of course, is the face of O&M. So for somebody of stature to walk into a big agency like Mudra… that just leaves me.

     

    Q: But if they approached you, you would talk to them?
    I won’t be interested. Lots of things to be done out here at Bates.

     

    Q: What motivated you to shift to India after all these years?
    When I joined Bates about three years ago, the agenda as the regional creative head was to improve the creative health of the agency through the right kind of hiring, inspiration and hands-on involvement. Bates, historically, has had some big clients and pockets of excellence with sporadic good stuff coming out. But overall the network’s creative health has not been good. My additional role is that of Chairman, Bates India, and it was the duality of the role that attracted me to this job. Which is to get back in touch with India and yet have a bigger role than what I was doing at O&M Singapore. So my first job was to ensure that we had the right kind of creative leadership in every place. Once that got done in the last three years, we started looking at India as a very important market for us. And India is a place where I can make a visible difference because of my equity out here, because of all the years I have spent here. And that’s why I decided to locate here.

     

    Q: Cut to the past. Why did you leave India in the first place? You were Piyush’s blue-eyed boy at O&M. Doing phenomenally well in the agency.
    In the latter part of the nineties, Neil French had taken over as the regional creative director for Asia. On his first trip to India he saw some print work I had done for Cadbury Perk and he was pretty impressed. He cancelled a lunch meet with Ranjan Kapur and Piyush Pandey and took me out for lunch instead! (Smiles.) And he asked that I move to O&M Malaysia. The agency was going down, and they desperately needed a creative head to come and build the place.

     

    Q: Am sure Piyush must have been upset with your decision to move.
    Neil spoke to Piyush and Ranjan about this. And they called me for a morning cup of tea on a Sunday. They said Neil sees this as a good opportunity for me. They said they wouldn’t like me to go, but wouldn’t stand in the way either. I thought about it for a long time because I was heading O&M Bombay which was 50 percent of the agency’s business, we were riding high. Anyway, I did a recce trip to Malaysia, and the O&M office turned out to be a small one, though they gave me a red carpet welcome. I came back and thought I would never join such a small place. Then they started writing to me, saying they wanted me out there. You know Anil, I believe in destiny, I believe things happen for a reason. Also, the charm of the unknown has always enticed and fascinated me. The discomfort of going to a new place, that too to a place that has nothing to offer, appealed to me. The same thing happened when I left Lintas to join Ogilvy in 1991. Ogilvy was nothing at that time and the only remarkable thing they had done was the ‘Mile Sur’ film.

     

    Q: But then you eventually left Ogilvy and joined Bates.
    Again, for the same reasons. Helping a place to shape up has always excited me. Maybe it’s to do with a big creative ego, though otherwise I don’t have an ego at all.

     

    Q: The key difference between working in an international market and working in India…
    In India we work a lot on the individual, friendship level. It’s like if I know Thakraney really well, and he is the agency and I am Unilever, then Thakraney and Dabral will work together and create a campaign. Things happen on a very personal level here. In the international markets… and you can call it professionalism or stuck-up-ness… there are still a lot of procedures and processes that get followed. I prefer a combination of the two methods. We are a very chaotic, free-for-all nation and at times that free-for-all-ness helps creativity. But it also brings with it a sense of indiscipline. And this affects the execution of work, that’s where we fall flat. Obviously, in the last 12 years, I have learnt something that’s different from India. And I am trying to get some systems in place in the way we work out here at Bates.

     

    Q: When you first came to Bates India, the good and the bad things you noticed…
    (Thinks carefully.) Creatively we have not been consistent. There is potential but the realisation is not happening. We need to correct that so that our number of hits increases.

     

    Q: The significant changes you’ve made in the last few months.
    I want to make this an agency of people who are not just creative but are intelligent, aware and knowledgeable creative people. True creativity needs you to be curious. The curiosity bit I want to feed as much as possible. Last weekend I invited a film chief from the National Institute of Design to conduct a film appreciation workshop. And it had nothing to do with advertising. Sometime later we’ll have another kind of workshop. Basically, I want to tell people that advertising is the only profession where you don’t learn things from the inside, it will all come from the outside.

     

    Q: What do you look for when you hire creative people?
    Besides obviously the work, I look for a certain amount of authenticity. It might be difficult to get that in a meeting, but you do get a sense of it. It’s very important for any creative person to let his or her guard down.

     

    Q: As a client, why should I choose Bates?
    We are the ‘change’ agency. It’s about making strategies that are based on the shifts that are happening within the product category or within the target audiences. And based on the cultural shifts that are happening within the society. We call that positioning ‘Change Engage’. It means a changed thinking which leads to work that has a two-way communication with the consumers. For example, you saw what happened during the Anna Hazare movement. It was about the power of people coming together really fast and having an opinion about something. Or for example what happened with the Kolaveri video. It’s the power of tech that consumers now have. This means advertising has to change in the way we approach things. We need to make an impact on a consumer for him to start conversing or debating about our brands. The other thing is we are an Asia-only network, so we are still small when compared to a JWT or an Ogilvy. So there’s a certain amount of nimbleness and spontaneity that we have. Also, on a personal front, the wealth of experience I bring with my Indian and global experience.

     

    Q: Why hasn’t Bates really taken off in India?
    It’s to do with the fast changes that have taken place. It’s been only about four years since it has emerged as Bates. Before that all the mergers were taking place. First it was Enterprise, then came David. Also there have been personnel changes. Subhash Kamath left for BBH, I have come now, Sandeep Pathak has taken over as CEO. It’s been going through a churn. It’s only now that we have begun to feel settled.

     

    Q: What’s all this about Smashing Pumpkins and Cabbage Curry?
    Smashing Pumpkins is something I coined for our annual creative conference. We would smash pumpkins at the event. Bates’s earlier colour was pumpkin yellow. And I said we need to be doing smashing work, so that’s how it got coined. Cabbage Curry Fridays I had started in Malaysia and Singapore. Every Friday we would have a chat session or a presentation which had to do with the culture of curiosity I was talking about earlier. I want to tell people that if you don’t have a passion beyond advertising, then your mind will become like a cabbage. (Laughs.)

     

    Q: What’s happening on your movie script?
    There are a couple of ideas in my head. I have started working on it but it’s been going very slowly. I have a story in mind that’s solid and substantial. It will not be a time-pass flick.

     

    Q: I last met you in the late nineties when you were a young, happy creative director. I have a feeling you have become a tough guy since.
    I have changed over the years to an extent which is required to run a place. But otherwise I am not as tough as I should be. Laughter to me is the biggest asset an ad agency can have.

     

    Q: I think in India you’ll have to kick ass at times.
    I totally agree with you.

     

    Q: Would it be right to call Piyush Pandey your mentor?
    He is one of the people. There would be others too like Neil French.

     

    Q: Do you at times feel you should never have left India? Bates is a small player, and had you stuck on, you could have been the captain of a very large ship.
    Not at all. I am extremely happy and I feel very lucky. That I did go and work in Malaysia and Singapore. The exposure that gave me towards communications, advertising, work, etc, couldn’t have happened in India. Also when I was abroad there were offers to head a large organisation here, and those offers won’t run away anywhere. I totally believe in destiny, I wasn’t meant to be here for those 12 years.

     

    Q: One creative chief of a large Indian agency you most admire.
    (Thinks for a long time.) I like the way Aggie (Agnello Dias) and Padhi (Santosh Padhi) have gone about their work. The way they have approached business, the kind of work they are doing. Their small size has not held them back. In terms of the large agency Chairmen, is there anyone I envy or admire? Well, no, not really.