MxMIndia

Tag: Rage Communications

  • Tributes from Venu Srinivasan, Srinivasan K Swamy and Karthik Kumar

    A&M captains pay tributes to the late CM

    By Santosh Jangid

     

    Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, leader to many Tamilians and Amma to millions, 68 years old Jayalalitha died on Monday, 5th after undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital In Chennai for 73 days. She was hospitalised on 22nd September and suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday post which she was put on life support.

     

    Jayalalitha was credited with various water projects, launched several people friendly welfare schemes to safeguard the poor from high prices of basic amenities and several other projects for people welfare.

     

    Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company paying his tribute to the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said, “We at TVS Motor Company along with millions of citizens of India, are deeply saddened at the demise of our Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Selvi J Jayalalithaa. Our heartfelt condolences to her family and supporters. She promoted industry and commerce in order to generate employment and for economic progress and prosperity of the State.  She will always be remembered for her relentless efforts towards the welfare of the people of Tamil Nadu.”

     

    And will it impact business in Tamil Nadu? Said Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman, R K Swamy Hansa group on how the demise of Jayalalitha will impact the business in Tamil Nadu: “It is sad that Chief Minister passed away yesterday. I don’t think it will impact the business in Tamil Nadu. People who are depending on the Tamil Nadu government will probably have some loss. Many people don’t depend on that. The media would have a small setback because the spending will go down a little before they start again. Things will be normal otherwise.”

     

    Meanwhile, Karthik Kumar, Director, Rage Communications, the Chennai-based digital agency, expressed his condolences. : “The Honourable Chief Minster was an exceptional human and an excellent administrator. In the commerce field she will be remembered for her creation of the auto hub in Chennai’s outskirts which houses the factories of Hyundai, Ford, BMW among others. A key element of her contribution appears to be the multiplier effect her decisions had in commerce or social benefits. For example, her development of the Sriperumbudur industrial area led to the economic activity spreading beyond Chennai to other districts such as Vellore and at the same time improving the commerce network in terms of ports and interstate transport. Similarly, her social welfare projects whether the free distribution of laptops to students or creating of low cost services such as the Amma canteens carried the benefits beyond the obvious. Her passing away will certainly by missed. However, the edifice of administration will likely endure.”

     

  • Rage had earlier built the Hong Kong site for Monexo also

    P2P lending marketplace Monexo takes off in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rage Communications has launched an online peer-to-peer lending marketplace for Monexo in India. While P2P lending is innovating financial services globally, Monexo has brought this model to India, assisted by Rage’s online expertise.

     

    Launched in India on September 19, Monexo is tapping into the traditional lending market by providing a new avenue of investment that is relatively less volatile and also provides opportunity to diversify investments for monthly returns. Rage was entrusted with this task of reaching out to Indian money lenders and borrowers through multiple digital channels.

     

    Says Neville Medhora, Vice President and Head of India Business, Rage Communications, “The challenge was to bring two very different sets of relationship sets (lenders and borrowers) on one platform and address all their user journeys seamlessly”. Rage provided superior customer experience and removed the friction in the borrowing process with the use of robust technology.

     

    The idea was carried forward on social media too, with the theme of freedom and independence – being able to access affordable loans.

     

  • Rage Communications has been mandated with creating the entire online marketing ecosystem for VitBits!

    Rage Communications to handle digital mandate for Brand Vitbits

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rage Communications, a full service digital communications agency, has bagged the digital business of Wallace Pharma’s OTC vitamins. Branded VitBits, the chewable multi-vitamin jelly is aimed at children.

     

    Rage Communications has been mandated with creating the entire online marketing ecosystem for VitBits! beginning with an intuitive website followed by a social media presence that will sustain marketing efforts. Rage will also work on building and sustaining the VitBits! website’s organic search performance with search engine optimization.

     

    Neville Medhora, Vice President, Rage Communications says “It’s not just about selling a jelly vitamin but helping mothers nurture their kids via advise, a mothers community and access to information that she is actively seeking. We want to be a part of her journey in bringing up her kids.”

     

    Said Vinay Pinto, Executive Director, Wallace Pharmaceuticals: “VitBits! will further strengthen our strong paediatric franchise. With VitBits!, we enter the emerging market of paediatric nutrition. VitBits! is not just about marketing a product, it is partnering with the mothers in the upbringing of their children.”

     

     

  • Rage Communications will also work on improving Sun Estates organic search performance as well as provide an interactive web experience

    Sun Estates entrusts digital mandate to Rage

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rage Communications has bagged the digital communications mandate which involves creating their new website, social media management and online marketing initiatives for Sun Estates, a premium brand of luxury homes in North Goa.

     

    Rage Communications has been entrusted with the responsibility of creating and managing a social media presence that is in tune with the exclusive clientele that Sun Estates caters to. Besides the online marketing efforts, Rage Communications will also work on improving Sun Estates organic search performance as well as provide an interactive web experience.

     

    Neville Medhora

    Said Neville Medhora, Vice President, Rage Communications: “Our partnership with Sun Estates is a huge opportunity to showcase what digital tools and intuitive online interactions can do for a luxury brand.”

     

  • Recognizing its inherent weaknesses, he took a sabbatical to learn the intricacies of the digital world

    Rage appoints Neville Medhora as Head of India Business

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rage Communications has appointed Neville Medhora as its Head of India Business. Neville, till recently, the head of Rediffusion-Y&R’s Mumbai office joins Rage Communications after a twenty-year journey that traversed across most of the leading advertising agencies in India.

     

    Apart from Rediffusion-Y&R, Neville has had substantial stints with Equus, Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA and JWT. In his extensive advertising stint, Neville has worked with some of the largest and most successful brands in India across many categories.

     

    Karthik Kumar, Director, Rage Communications commented, “Neville’s joining  Rage will add significant depth to Rage’s overall offerings in India and bring fresh thinking in the way digital will contribute to its clients building strong and sustainable engagements with their consumers.”

     

    Commenting on his role, Neville Medhora, India Head, Rage Communications said, “Indian marketing is on the cusp of change with respect to digital.  Marketers are beginning to realize that digital can no longer be an esoteric activity on the margins, but has to be a key ingredient in the marketing playbook of any serious activity. As they realize this, they also discover that digital is not just ‘shoot-and-scoot’ advertising, but a completely new form of engaging with consumers that requires developing deep roots and sustaining it for meaningful impact.”

     

    Neville caught the digital bug about six years ago and spearheaded key digital initiatives of clients within the boundaries of the traditional off-line format. Recognizing its inherent weaknesses, he took a sabbatical to learn the intricacies of the digital world. Neville joins Rage Communications fresh from this sabbatical.

     

  • Their current roster of clients in Sydney includes Citibank, AMP, BT Financial, and Adara Group

    Rage Communications awarded digital mandate of Unilever Food Solutions

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Sydney office of India headquartered, Rage Communications, a full service digital communications agency, has been awarded the digital marketing mandate for Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). The mandate involves the brands under the UFS umbrella including Knorr, Hellmann’s and Colman’s among others.

     

    Rage Communications won the account in a competitive pitch between four agencies. Speaking on the win, Rishi Sahgal, Digital and Trade Marketing Manager, Unilever Food Services said, “We were looking for an agency that had the breadth of capabilities to deliver innovative digital solutions across all our brands and help us make a step change in our ability to connect with foodservice operators. Rage Communications demonstrated that they were the right fit for UFS and we are confident they have the capability and passion to be our digital partners moving forward.”

     

    As the agency-of-record, Rage Communications will provide full-service digital marketing support for UFS, supporting their digital marketing programs and campaigns. Their current roster of clients in Sydney includes Citibank, AMP, BT Financial, and Adara Group.

     

    Commenting on the new win, Karthik Kumar, Director, Rage Communications said, “We are thrilled to be working with Unilever and look forward to delivering great campaigns for the brands under the UFS umbrella. We won this mandate on the back of our strong digital experience and our depth of expertise in developing robust digital solutions for marketing needs.”

     

    Some of the critical work will include moving the website to a new platform, plan and deliver some specific digital marketing activities that aims at consolidating the digital business gains for UFS in ANZ.

     

    Rage Communications will closely work with UFS’ global partners to strengthen and stabilize its digital footprint in ANZ as it plans to make digital one of the core marketing platforms of its B2B business.

     

  • While the early birds are already in, it is still not too late to get some piece of the action, writes Karthik Kumar

    Four ways to navigate uncharted digital waters

     

    By Karthik Kumar

     

    Digital is here to stay. And while the early birds are already in, it is still not too late to get some piece of the action. Here are four ways to navigate your way successfully through digital marketing waters:

     

    1. A tipping point in penetration: Internet users make up nearly a third of India’s population. Confoundingly, the likelihood of the Internet becoming mainstay, rapidly, will take longer because of the environment and the seemingly-lopsided input-output relationship.

     

    Here’s why: About 69 per cent of users claim daily usage, but only 27 per cent actually use the Internet several times in a day. Thus, usage continues to be tactical (that is, when seeking specific information or action), and not a default habit. So while the Internet is good for a score update, the preferred mode for viewing the game is still the TV.

     

    To marketers, used to getting big bang for their buck, this leads to the perceived inability of the Internet to generate the same scale as mass media. This may, however, be a shortsighted way of looking at things. Smart money on the Internet has always been on incremental accretion, rather than big bang. Amazon, for example, does not sell one product to millions of customers, but hundreds of products to thousands every minute.

     

    Will things change if the Internet becomes mainstay? Unlikely. Usage in mature markets shows that over 50 per cent of the Internet’s usage is on activities that are individually too small to be classified into groups – in other words, a very high level of fragmented usage.

     

    2. Content in India languages required: Indians’ understanding of English does not always lead to a comfortable interaction in the language. The answer? Content in Indian languages. This does not mean just narrative content that makes up a large part of the web ecosystem, but also interactive content such as forms, demonstrations and such.

     

    This alone, though, will not be enough. Local content should also be searchable – the default web behaviour. The reason Internet probably has greater traction in China is Baidu, a browser that enables searches in the local language. Thus, to complement content in Indian languages, enabling search in Indian languages would be a necessary condition.

     

    3. Relevance of desktops will continue: The demise of the desktop that was proclaimed by some, has not really come to pass. That’s not surprising. Screen choice would be dictated by accessibility, convenience and the task. Internet usage is now multi- screen rather than single screen. Data from mature markets shows that multi-screen usage is more than 70 per cent.

     

    Conversion rates on mobiles are lower compared to desktops and laptops. However, given that search and discovery is happening more on mobile devices, it will be critical that the transaction process needs to seamlessly move from a mobile device to a desktop or tablet so that the transaction can be monetised.

     

    4. App strategy is critical for serious players: In the US, mobile users spend 89 per cent of their time on apps and only 11 per cent of their time on mobile web. While data for India is not readily available, usage patterns here are likely to be similar.

     

    Thus, an app strategy will become critical, not only for online players, but anybody who hopes to reach the mobile Internet user.

     

    Karthik Kumar is Director, Rage Communications. This article first appeared in dna of brands on February 8, 2016