MxMIndia

Tag: Quasar

  • The campaign featured five graphics – all depicting five different people in their usual jobs, but when you tap on the image, it turns into the person’s other side

    Quasar develops unique campaign for John Player Jeans

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital marketing agency Quasar has developed a unique digital campaign – #JPJFlipographs using the simple twitter image enlarging protocol to ingrain the idea of being multifaceted. The creative digital team of Quasar created a record by publishing the world’s first ever Flipograph on twitter for its client John Player Jeans. This campaign blends in beautifully with the brand’s thought which encourages the concept of being multi faceted that today’s generation is so well adept at.

     

    The campaign featured five graphics – all depicting five different people in their usual jobs, but when you tap on the image, it turns into the person’s other side. So a banker working on his computer changes to a DJ spinning a track, a scientist studying on a microscope transforms into an explorer looking for the perfect shot from his camera, a lawyer changes to a choir conductor etc. The campaign managed to grab eyeballs as the Twitter verse connected with the ideas instantly.

     

    Saugata Bagchi

    Commenting on the campaign, Saugata Bagchi, India Head, Quasar said, “It’s seldom that a story is portrayed so beautifully with the help of technology, and this campaign is one such brilliant instance. We are happy that our creative work made an impact.”

     

     

     

    Atul Chand

    Speaking about the campaign, Atul Chand, divisional chief executive, ITC’s Lifestyle retailing business division, says, “JPJFlipographs created by the very efficient digital team at Quasar is another initiative by John Players to bring technology and fashion together in a meaningful way. The campaign beautifully integrates the brand message with digital innovation creating multi-fold conversations. John Players Jeans has been pushing the envelope to be cutting edge in terms of products portfolio as well as using newer engagement platform to connect with the youth.”

     

  • She will be in charge of scaling up new business initiatives and to strengthen existing relationships in the region

    Rasika Bamba joins Quasar as head of Digital Media

    By A Correspondent

     

    Quasar has announced the appointment of Rasika Bamba as the new Regional Head, North & East. She will be in charge of scaling up new business initiatives and to strengthen existing relationships in the region. She will additionally be responsible for the media practice at Quasar. Rasika will report into Gaurav Nabh, Business Head, Quasar and will be based out of New Delhi.

     

    With over 10 years of digital experience, Rasika joins the Quasar team from Hungama Digital Services (HDS) where she was heading business development and servicing – defining the digital roadmap for several key clients at the agency. She spearheaded client relationships like Hindustan Unilever, Microsoft, Mahindra, ACC, SBI MF and was also in-charge of the Media Practice. Prior to Hungama, she has been associated with brands like Yahoo India, Affle & Afaqs.

     

    Gaurav Nabh, Business Head, Quasar said, “Rasika is a thorough digital professional, with experience across various industries. Over the years she has handled some tough clients and mastered her skills in managing tough situations. With her a deep understanding of the medium, she has been instrumental in convincing brands to venture into the digital medium. We look forward to Rasika’s invaluable inputs as she leads our client relationships and grows our specialised media practice.”

     

    Rasika brings to the table a vast domain knowledge, a keen understanding of integrated media requirements and enjoys working with various facets of digital media to ensure thorough execution of the core business strategy to deliver results.

     

  • The account will be handled by the Quasar Mumbai office

    Quasar wins digital mandate for Philips TV

    Quasar has won the digital duties for leading television brand Philips from PE Electronics Ltd. The full service mandate encompasses creating the digital strategy encompassing owned media assets, social media and digital media planning and buying. The account will be handled by the Quasar Mumbai office.

     

    Speaking on the announcement, Neeraj Sethi, CEO, PE Electronics said, “We are extremely glad to welcome Quasar on board to help us manage our digital mandate. TV is a dynamic industry and we needed a disruptive agency with a unique approach, which Quasar was able to demonstrate. We are impressed with Quasar’s capability as an all-rounder in the digital industry, their thought leadership and above all their passion and enthusiasm to partner with us made them an obvious choice as our digital partner.”

     

    Commenting on the win, Gaurav Nabh, Head, Quasar said, “We are excited about working with PE Electronics on the Philips LED TV digital mandate. Quasar will manage a 360 degree digital marketing campaign, encompassing paid, owned and earned media initiatives. Our task includes setting up a digital ecosystem encompassing Philips television and its consumers to facilitate positive engagements and build strong brand association.”

     

  • Saugata will report into Gaurav Nabh, Business Head, Quasar and will be based out of Mumbai

    Saugata Bagchi joins Quasar as Reg Head, West & South

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital agency Quasar has announced the appointment of Saugata Bagchi as the new Regional Head, West & South. Saugata will report into Gaurav Nabh, Business Head, Quasar and will be based out of Mumbai.

     

    Prior to joining Quasar, Saugata was head of Mumbai and Bangalore offices at Tribal Worldwide, India. He was responsible for driving business for the two regional offices and also manage the agency’s national mandate. He was instrumental in establishing the agency as the digital agency of record for prestigious clients including Hindustan Unilever, Emirates, McDonalds and developing the agency’s technology, social media & digital analytics skill sets.

     

    Gaurav Nabh, Business Head, Quasar said, “Saugata is a born leader, taking on challenges head on, something that he has demonstrated repeatedly across all his assignments. He brings with him a lot of experience and knowledge of consumers, and the ability to engage and delight them online, something that our clients will benefit from immensely.  I am looking forward to working with Saugata in bringing great new ideas for our customers and growing our client base in Mumbai and Bangalore.”

     

  • While email marketing may be a cost-effective medium enabling larger reach, the challenges that accompany it are also large

    Email Marketing: Vast opportunities make it a favourite with brands

    By Robin Thomas

     

    Easily the most preferred medium for a brand or marketer to get close to his consumer, digital has never seen such a fervent chase being put up by its users. While it was mostly search and display advertisements that advertisers flocked to, much of digital advertising is still unexplored territory. The importance of engaging the youth through social media marketing has only just been realized, while video marketing and mobile advertising are also gaining traction among marketers.

     

    According to a recent IAMAI-IMRB report on Digital Advertising (as on March 2012), the total advertising spends including classifieds was valued at Rs2,850 crore.  It is expected that by FY2013 the digital advertisement spends will be about Rs4,391 crore.

     

    The March 2012 report on digital advertising points out that search advertising constitutes about 20 per cent of the total online advertising spend or about Rs570 crore.  The report also states that advertisements on social media, email and video over the Internet constitutes about 3 per cent (Rs94 crore), 5 per cent (Rs144 crore) and 2 per cent (Rs59 crore) respectively. What is noteworthy is that a major proportion, around 53 per cent, of the overall digital advertising spends come from classifieds listing (Rs1,496 crore).

     

    With such infinite possibilities continuing to emerge on a frequent basis around the medium, one tool that has been a favourite with the marketers in the recent past is email advertising. With just a handful of players that operate in the realm of providing email services, it becomes all the more challenging for owners to come up ideas that catch the attention of the advertisers. The question is whether there is enough being done around the vertical or if companies are missing out on the edge that this medium can possibly offer.

     

    The IAMAI – IMRB Digital Advertising report already states that email advertising is worth 5 per cent of the overall digital advertising spends. According to industry estimates, email advertising is expected to grow from the current Rs144 crore to Rs250 crore in the next year or two. The role or purpose of email marketing is said to be about delivering the message and inviting consumers into brand engagement. Further, with mobile internet being touted to take internet inIndiato new heights, email marketing is expected to also thrive in the long run.

     

    Mr Prasanth Mohanachandran, Co founder, AgencyDigi stated: “email marketing is very relevant and important today, it is cost-effective and reaches to wide range of audience. While it is already witnessing growth, mobile will only further grow email marketing as nearly 27 per cent of mails received by consumers are on handheld devices. The challenge, however, is to find newer ways to reach out to the consumers’ inbox and not their spam. Segmentation in email marketing will also help brands reach their relevant consumers.”

     

    Mr Gaurav Nabh, Business Head, Quasar was of the view that since email is the most used platform for internet users in India, it is absolutely important and critical for any brand as a medium for reaching out to its consumer. “It is a communication medium, much like print, radio or TV. What you do with this platform and how you are able to maximize its effectiveness depends on the idea and approach,” he said.

     

    What is noteworthy about email marketing is that it acts as a reach building medium by allowing brands to segment the audience as per their demographics and profile, and thus directly targeting them. While email marketing may be a cost-effective medium enabling larger reach, the challenges that accompany it are also large. Most email advertisements tend to be unsolicited mails and thus enter the spam mail. Lack of creative email advertisements could be another challenge for this business and hence it must not only get more creative but, also innovative in terms of rich media and interactivity and so on.

     

    “A lot has been done with email marketing as a platform – from embedding previews of videos to lead generation, polls and voting. The limitations of the platform are based on poor bandwidth and technology limitation of most email clients and platforms. email marketing has been most successful for finance and real estate sector – helping them in generating leads. email marketing is here to stay as it has a role and purpose and the fact that it is cost effective. Email marketing will over time be seen not as a reach builder, but that of targeted awareness, and a medium to initiate and enable dialogue rather than just spread the message,” affirmed Mr Nabh of Quasar.

     

    Mr Saurav Patnaik, VP-Marketing, Kenscio Digital Marketing Pvt Ltd was of the view that email marketing or digital direct marketing does not lack innovation, but to a great extent, is lacking creativity. “The agency’s focus has been on producing beautiful communication, but not much attention has been given to this channel. The road ahead is bright for this channel of marketing. We are very positive about the future and India as a market is growing and more the penetration of the internet happens the bigger it will get in the next few years,” he said.

     

    Mr Gupta of DGM India noted: “Spam is a big issue, due to which it faces similar issues as SMS marketing. Like SMS, email marketing is also being done by loads of small/unorganized players. Due to this the larger players with opted-in databases are not getting their due pricing and share. Because of its nature, email marketing is being predominantly used for activation/ response oriented campaigns rather than branding campaigns. It is, in fact, very cost effective for these objectives. Also it is very effective in lead generation campaigns for BFSI, travel packages, auto, online listing businesses etc. It also works very well for highly niche products.”

     

    While industry players are of the opinion that email marketing is here to stay and will grow over the years there is a need to be innovative and creative in delivering the message to the audience. E-marketing must be used to send relevant information and brands must start a meaningful dialogue with their consumers through email marketing. In order to escape spam and reach their consumers directly, email marketing could be used as a perfect tool for permission marketing. As internet consumption through mobile or smart phones grow, and consumers are given unique experience on mobile, email marketing could possibly witness a whole new chapter in the way it gets consumed.

     

  • This new arrangement comes into effect from July and will leverage global expertise from across the many markets where Reprisemedia handles Microsoft's Search business

    Microsoft moves digital biz to Reprisemedia

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reprisemedia India will now handle the Digital Media AOR for Microsoft India across Display and Search. The business has been transitioned from WPP-owned Quasar and Publicis’s Performics.  Reprisemedia India will now work as an extension of Lodestar UM who has been the lead media AOR for Microsoft India for the past 10 years.

     

    “This shift aligns India with Microsoft’s global move to consolidate digital media buying and search with UM. 2012 will be a game-changing year for Microsoft with the impending launch of Windows 8, coupled with exciting developments across our entire product portfolio. We look forward to working with Reprisemedia and deepening our partnership with UM,” said Shafalika Saxena, CMO of Microsoft India.

     

    Anjali Hegde, CEO Reprisemedia India, added: “This is the most significant thing that has happened to Reprisemedia and we are really excited about the opportunity to work with Microsoft. It considers digital as a core and mainstream medium and that mindset allows a digital agency to push its boundaries of innovation and creativity – in short, a dream client to work for.”

     

    This new arrangement comes into effect from July and will leverage global expertise from across the many markets where Reprisemedia handles Microsoft’s Search business.

     

    “However, Reprisemedia India comes with an added advantage,” added Anamika Mehta, COO Lodestar UM. ” As a full-service digital agency, its offering extends far beyond Search, into the realm of Digital Display, Content and Application.  Reprisemedia will complement the unique strength of Lodestar UM within the Content space.”