MxMIndia

Tag: RK Swamy

  • The Chairman and World President of the International Advertising Association (IAA) speaks on the mega-event and his plans for IAA

    India can be proud of staging IAA World Congress: Srinivasan K Swamy

     

    Impossible is not a word that you’ll ever find in the books of Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman and World President of the International Advertising Association (IAA). Hardly had the IAA World Congress at Kochi got over, he was busy working on plans for the next few projects. And of course achieving his dreams for IAA across the world.

    The Chairman of the RK Swamy Hansa Group, Swamy took on the global charge in October. A quick chat with

    Srinivasan K Swamy on the success of the IAA World Congress and what’s next on the IAA calendar. A slightly shorter variant of this interview appeared as part of a pull-out published with Business Standard today, March 12. Compiled by MxMIndia. Published and conceived by The Resource 24×7

     

    You had set yourself near-impossible targets for the IAA World Congress. Now that the Congress is over, and the feedback received indicates that it was very successful, what are your own thoughts? Are you happy with what you set out to achieve?

    Frankly, during the last few days prior to the Congress, it all came together. Of course the speakers were done and dusted well in advance. A few cancellations in speakers were always expected and we had some options that we exercised, without compromising on what we set out to do. The only reason we settled for Grand Hyatt Lulu Convention Centre in Kochi was because only this venue could host a capacity of 2500 delegates in India, that too in style. Our target for participation at the Congress was set at 2500, the full capacity, and we exceeded that too thanks to the enormous support we received from Kerala delegates.  We also felt the evenings is what would make the event memorable and these were executed to perfection. All our international delegates were overawed by the scale and the grandeur of the event, and India can certainly be proud of staging this spectacular international event in India.

     

    And we now hear that the next IAA World Congress is in St Petersburg, Russia next year. How will you better the really high benchmark that you’ve set with Kochi?

    St Petersburg is a beautiful city with many palaces and historical monuments. It  starts off with that advantage straightaway. The event is going to be conducted in late May 2020, when the sun never sets. It will be a new experience for many delegates during these ‘white nights’. Further, it will be more easily accessible from many European cities, so more international delegates will be a natural consequence. And last but not the least, the Governor of St Petersburg, the City Administration and the Federal Russian Government are fully backing the Congress and are very keen to ensure that the event will be a world-beater in both content and entertainment. We have already formed a committee of experienced people to finalise all details and I am sure the St Petersburg Congress will in no way fall short of the benchmark we have set for ourselves in Kochi.

     

    Pre-event, you had mentioned that the real work on the Congress happened only in the last six-odd months. Given that all of you amongst the key organisers have other businesses to look into, what were the challenges that you faced?

    The actual work for the Congress started well over 18 months ago. Many of the speakers were finalised well in advance. As is always the case, the momentum builds in the last few months when strong marketing efforts are put in for delegates to sign up. When we are organising an important event like the World Congress, our business demands do take the backseat. And fortunately, none of the core committee members complained in this regard and tirelessly plugged along.

     

    The IAA World Congress in India is just a one-off event. Do you have plans to harness the momentum that the IAA franchise gained in India over the next few months?

    We have many good global events coming up. We will have the Africa Rising conference taking place in May 2019 at Accra, Ghana. In June, we will be in Cannes, France having our own leadership sessions. In October, we plan on our third edition of the IAA Global Conference in Bucharest on Creativity4Better. There are couple of other things on the anvil which will be announced once the plans/dates are finalised. Events apart, we are putting enormous emphasis on Education. We have already accredited 44 institutions on marketing/ advertising courses and we want to provide active support to them, apart from expanding our accredited institutions base to twice that large over the next two years.

     

    The IAA is of course a lot more than the World Congress, and in your presentation at the opening ceremony, you spoke about the work that you intend undertaking in the field of digital privacy? It’s a huge ask given the extent of intrusion that has taken place. What are your specific plans?

    Privacy in the digital world is a matter of concern for everyone. No wonder the governments of various countries are stepping in to protect their Citizens. IAA believes that over-regulation may not necessarily be in the interest of the consumer, because it could impair on the efficacy of well-targeted communication. As a strong promoter and defender of advertising self-regulation, IAA is of the view that a strong data privacy regulation would actually act against the interest of the consumers. Advertising after all is a major source for economic growth. It promotes competition, thereby innovation, improves product quality, promotes choice, reduces prices. Excessive privacy laws would make targeted advertising difficult making the cost of advertising very high impacting on all the benefits of advertising listed.  With 43% of the global advertising budget going to digital, regressive privacy laws will change the business of advertising as we know it. IAA is therefore trying to speak to all the stakeholders – advertisers, agencies, media, digital companies, technology companies etc – to hopefully arrive at a self-regulation code we all can subscribe to and also develop a mechanism to oversee this. The response from the people I have reached out to has been overwhelming and I am sure many of what we need to do, will be based on further consultation with multiple stakeholders. As they say, watch this space!

     

    The India chapter has been super-active ever since you helmed it. Do we see you inspire other country chapters to also become as active as the India chapter?

    IAA Chapters are only as active as the leaders leading them. And another ingredient that is needed for this is the quantity of members. Our focus at IAA will be on both these fronts. We have already made some changes in our by-laws which will aid in membership-building. We have put in place some guidelines to check the health of the Chapters. And we do want to get Chapters to adopt certain common events from the vast repertoire of events we have in many of our Chapters. We have some distance to cover in this but I can say the journey has begun!

     

    A slightly shorter variant of this interview appeared as part of a pull-out published with Business Standard today, March 12. Compiled by MxMIndia. Published and conceived by The Resource 24×7

     

     

  • The TVC has been crafted by Curry Nation, RK Swamy is the media agency and Tonic is the digital agency with research by Ormax and overall strategy by Intradia

    Dinshaw unveils new look & campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nagpur-based Dinshaw’s Dairy Foods has unveiled a new brand architecture for all its products as well as an all-new campaign. Intradia World and Lokus Design have worked on the brand architecture for all products and the new packaging is based on research conducted by Ormax.

     

    Said Zervin Rana and Jamashp Bapuna of Dinshaw’s Dairy Foods: “The pre-packed cone format is one of the largest contributing formats in ice-creams and we selected brand ‘Dil-Hi-Toh’ as our offering in the segment to spearhead our consumer communication. The packaging re-design banked on interesting insight delivered by Ormax (Mumbai) and creative strategy came by triangulating mother Brand Dinshaw’s long-term vision, Brand Dil-Hi-Toh format specific consumer insights and the real-time consumer expectations.”

     

    Speaking on the strategy, Sanjeev Kotnala, founder, Intradia World said, “While developing their Summer 2017 strategy for ice-creams, Dinshaw’s looked at getting back to consumer celebration of togetherness moments with ice cream and to basics of ice-cream fundamentals. We decided to stay away from over-saturated use of seduction, overt enacted happiness and took on ‘Heartfelt Togetherness’ as the foundation. We were cautious of the fact that the name may overtly suggest romance, which is not the intention and hence believe that the creative agency, Curry Nation has done a great job”.

     

    Said Priti Nair, founder, Curry Nation: “We were very happy to get a decently focused brief that was not another ice-cream seduction or happiness approach. It allowed us to connect the brand in the real terms and work with the youth segment and connect with them in an emotional & engaging manner. The tag line ‘Dil Ki Dosti Pighalti Nahi’ works at multiple levels. Truly, truly happy to be associated with a brand that has been so much a part of our growing years. I still hum the Dinshaw’s ice cream yum yum…”

     

    RK Swamy is entrusted with the traditional media planning and buying focusing in it core markets of Maharashtra, Madhya Paradesh, Chattisgarh and AP / Telengana, where the brand enjoys high emotional connect and preference. Tonic Media is implementing the digital part of the activity

     

  • Rahul Gupta, CEO of the Percept arm, speaks on the winning the big Reliance account

    It’s Only IBD for Only Vimal

     

    For a generation that grew up in the early years of television advertising, Only Vimal is a campaign that’s etched deep in memory.  While India was always known for its textiles industry, it was Only Vimal – created by Reliance Group founder Dhirubhai Ambani – that became its most iconic brand.

     

    Last week we reported that IBD, a Percept company, had bagged the strategic and creative mandate for ‘Only Vimal’. And, the road to the finish line was not at all easy. IBD was in the race with some of the biggest names in the industry.

     

    “In the final round, we were fighting with RK Swamy. For a very long time, it had handled the biggest textile brand Raymonds and obviously would have been the prime contender to handled this account too. For us, to be able to upstage them and win this brand was a matter of great pride and satisfaction. I believe, the strategy and all was very bang-on but our edge was the differentiated positioning we talked about, the technological positioning and the creative execution we brought in to place. That is where things went in our favour,” said Rahul Gupta, Managing Director, IBD.

     

    The rechristened Vimal – ‘Only Vimal’,  was one of the first textile brands to make a massive consumer impact pan-India. A Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries’ (Reliance) textile division, Only Vimal is also one of the first major retail chain of stores to be set up across the country. IBD will be responsible for repositioning and revitalising the brand image.

     

    One of the most important things while preparing a pitch is the brief that is given to an agency by a client. Speaking to us on the brief, Gupta said, “The whole essence of Vimal was that- it was one of the most prized brands once upon a time. Over a period of time, Reliance moved on to bigger and better things and different areas of business. So, to a certain extent the textile division of Reliance Industries’ was kind-of put on the backburner. But it continued to do decent business for a period of time.”

     

    “Obviously, it lost the lustre of a brand it was in the 80s. So, very clearly, the task in hand was to re-stage this brand and make it relevant for the new India, for the younger India. The young India does not know the value of the Vimal brand. Our task is to re-stage the brand, so that today it is seen as a premium brand. The youth of today should understand the iconic status of this brand.” Gupta added.

     

    MxMIndia previewed the television campaign which will be launched today (Aug 16). In the commercial, the focus has been given more on the fabric and the qualities of the clothing material. But since the brand’s target is the youth of India, why shoot the film in a foreign location? “We did a lot of research and psychographic studies and we realised that the youth of today though rooted in India have a very global aspiration. Today’s market is all about the youth. We wanted to focus on the youth and the youth of today is all about action. Yes, there aesthetic and creative reasons why it is important to shoot the film in an international setting. It allows you a nice backdrop; ultimately it is a fashion brand and aesthetics, style etc. do play a big role in communicating the style quotient of the brand. But apart from that it is also to give a global value to this brand,” explained Gupta.

     

    When it comes to fashion brands, more often than not we see the clichéd concept of how wearing the brand can make one a winner or achieve the impossible in life. “Everybody followed conventional wisdom in terms of advertising where you talked more about achievement or being good-looking, it was all focused on personality. It was us who took these fabrics and decided to position the brand of fabrics as a brand which offers technologically superior fabrics that will aide people in their lives, especially the man of action. The youth of today is on-the-go and need something which will help them. It was time for change and today everything has changed. If Vimal needs to come back and become a market leader, it needs to have its own voice,” said the Gupta.

     

    On the marketing front, a 360-degree strategy has been agreed upon but is there any special plan was the most used and enquired about platform ‘Digital’? “We already are working very extensively on social media platform. We have taken a lot inventory on YouTube, so we are doing all those standard digital efforts as it is. But we are also planning a lot of engagement activities which you will see and is very effective in getting across this new position and new fabrics to work on innovative little digital program,” added Gupta.

     

  • Exclusive to MxM: Shekar Swamy on industry veteran Srinivasan (Sundar) Swamy who will be recognised by the AAAI with its highest accolade this evening

    So my brother gets the AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award

     

    By Shekar Swamy

     

    Sundar told me about it casually, like he usually does. He could well have been telling me “I am going to get a cup of coffee”. I accepted the news casually, mumbling something like “Good, congratulations”. I can’t recall if I shook his hand. No theatrics from either side. Both of us were there when our father accepted the same award 22 years ago. May be both of us knew this was going to happen.

     

    Enough will be said and written about his various activities in the industry, so I am not going there. In my mind, no one else deserves it more. He has been tireless, period. The only thing about this news was that I didn’t hear about it from the driver, who somehow always seems to know more about Sundar’s whereabouts, and happenings relating to him, than I do.

     

    Our growing up years in Chennai were pretty unremarkable and middle-class to the core. Busy father. Housewife mother. Grandmother and an aunt always at home. Six siblings, who as I think about it, were all pretty well-behaved, perhaps even boring. Lots of cousins and family around. Home was a place to be shared. The front door was hardly ever shut, except at night. One day in the ’70s there was a lot of hushed talk. My father and his elder brother, and the wives, were in a huddle. I later learnt that my dad had quit his job, which was his life. He was to do something on his own. The import of it hardly made a dent to my teenage senses. Over the next few months, lots of people kept coming and going. There was a sense of urgency and preparation. The puja happened, and R K Swamy opened shop in his brother’s house, I suspect because he could delay rents as much as he wanted.

     

    A vintage pic of the Swamy brothers: Shekar (left) with Srinivasan Swamy

    The rest of it was a whirl. So many people working so hard to meet so many unreasonable deadlines. Sundar finished his MBA, and went into the business, five years after it started. Comments were heard. “He is looking after his father’s business” was a common refrain, like he was literally sitting in the shop. Little did people know.

     

    R K SWAMY the agency was never meant to be another shop. The DNA from ever was to build a lasting institution. The ambition stretched beyond the Chennai roots, which in itself was unusual. In this, Sundar played a strong role, running around from city to city, often trailing behind Mr Swamy. As one of our colleagues put it, if Mr Swamy was the Account Director, then Sundar was the Account Supervisor carrying artworks around. Clients always came first, people always had to be respected and family interests came thereafter.

     

    BBDO joined hands in the mid-80s. We kept building the core advertising business. We recast the Research activity. We created a Television programming game. We expanded into diversified marketing services. We pioneered the Analytics and Customer Marketing space, embracing marketing technology. We ventured to build a US presence, on our own.

     

    All of this underpins Sundar’s ability to take that risk, and continue with the DNA of building the institution. He is a serial entrepreneur – no angel investor or VC here – on his own dime. He has been in the lead, helping fashion the foremost Indian-owned and controlled advertising and marketing services group, by itself a serious contribution to the industry.

     

    Sundar no doubt grew up in the business. But his participation stretches way beyond to very many social causes. He gives, more than he takes, again and again and again. There is a lesson there, somewhere. Perhaps awards come when one does this without nary a thought.

     

    Shekar Swamy is Group CEO, R K SWAMY HANSA

     

  • The film depicts the simple joy of babies when they see the impact of the breeze from Polycab Fans in different households

    Polycab’s latest campaign captures true joy as experienced by infants

    By A Correspondent

     

    To launch the Polycab range of ceiling, pedestal, wall and exhaust fans, RK Swamy BBDO has unveiled its latest campaign keeping in mind the extreme parity in the Fan category.

     

    The film depicts the simple joy of babies when they see the impact of the breeze from Polycab Fans in different households. It leaves them chuckling which is heart-warming, making for the line “Hawa jo dil ko chuu le”. The TVC ends with the brand promise ‘Connection Zindagi Ka’.

     

    Shashank Pore, the Chief Marketing Officer, Polycab says “Today, the fans category is cluttered with over eight players fighting in a mature fans category with very little technological change. About four of those players are more than five decades old. Polycab being a new entrant. Last year Polycab had set forth on a new path in its communication journey with launch of the mother brand campaign and promise. Later it was followed with a product led wires tvc. Beginning this year, we launched a new communication in the fans category. The space today is filled fan TVCs having quirky humour, loaded social messages or expertise platform etc.”

     

    “We wanted to go back to those simple, light hearted moments of joy generated when we just switch on a fan like Polycab, in the sweltering and tiring heat of summer.  We also need the payoff to be consistent with our mother brand promise of Connection Zindagi Ka and it does a good job of aligning along with lending newness to the Polycab Fans brand.”

     

    Sangeetha N of RK Swamy commented: “A fan is a parity product. So execution would be strategy. We needed something that would make an instant connection and also stand the test of time.   Thus we depicted babies thoroughly enjoying the simple joys of a good breeze. The nice breeze sets off some action around like a paper wind mill rotating, newspaper flying or a mobile swinging all of which results in chuckling, happy babies who touch the heart with their open enjoyment. And what sets off the lovely breeze – Polycab Fans of course. This  gentle, soft approach ensures that nobody will be tired of seeing the commercial again and again, thus helping build brand equity.”

     

  • The new TVC has been developed to communicate the product concept of Camel Oil Pastel

    RK Swamy unveils new campaign for Camlin

    By A Correspondent

     

    RK Swamy BBDO has unveiled its new TVC for Camlin. Camlin is the leader in colouring products and one such product is the Camel Oil Pastel. This can be used in the same way as crayons but offer a unique product benefit not available with crayons –the ability to mix two colours to get a completely new colour and shades that enables more lifelike drawing. The objective of the commercial is to bring home these benefits.

     

    The TVC shows a group of students in an art class who are amazed to discover that the painting made by one of their classmates is rich and very life like. On enquiring how this was done, their classmate makes use of this opportunity to get them do his project as the price for the answer. Once the deal is struck, he reveals that he has the ‘Mixing ka Magic’ using Camel Oil Pastels that offer the advantage of mixing two colours and creating a third one to make lifelike paintings. In the end, we see that the kids have using the oil pastel to create a drawing, which looked so real that it almost jumps off the page, startling the teacher who had come down to check on the commotion.

     

    Gautam Pandit, Sr. Partner & Executive Creative Director said, “With Camel Oil Pastels, the challenge was to create a compelling film based on very strong differentiator – that of the ability to a create a new colour with two or more different coloured oil pastels thereby making drawings more  lifelike. To communicate this effectively to kids, we coined the phrase ‘mixing ka magic’ and wove it into an engaging storyline which stayed true to the insight that children are overjoyed with the ability to create new things.”

     

    Saumitra Prasad, CMO-Kokuyo Camlin said, “The new TVC  has been developed to communicate the product concept of Camel Oil Pastel that this is a superior crayon which gives children the power to create new Colours by intermixing Colours, and hence create rich and true to life painting. This communication is in synergy with the brand positioning of making learning fun for children.”

     

     

    RK Swamy BBDO

  • Video Branch is a first-of-its-kind service in India and the right communication is key to its success in India

    RK Swamy unveils new campaign for IndusInd Bank

     

     

    RK SWAMY BBDO has unveiled another campaign for IndusInd Bank that focusses on its new innovation – Video Branch. Video Branch is a first-of-its-kind service in India and the right communication is key to its success in India.

     

    Sunil Kukreti, Senior Partner, R K SWAMY BBDO said, “IndusInd Bank is credited with setting benchmarks in the banking industry and over the last few years, R K SWAMY BBDO has been consistently churning out clutter-breaking communication for IndusInd Bank. The current TVCs explains how one can use Video Banking instead of the visiting the branch or phone banking. Farhan Akhtar is the protagonist, who explains the benefits of a Video Branch and retains the ‘slice-of-life humour’ that IndusInd campaigns are now known for.”

     

    The campaign has been extended to all other medium including Radio, OOH, Print, BTL and Digital.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Mohit Ganju, Head, Marketing & Communications, IndusInd Bank said, “The latest ad campaign incorporates strong consumer insights and humorous situations to deliver the service message. Our association with Farhan as a brand endorser is set to strengthen the Bank’s communication towards its core philosophy of ‘Responsive Innovation’, reinforcing our brand statement ‘You desire, We Deliver’. Farhan personifies sincerity, new-age thinking and dynamism and is a great fit to the brand.”

     

  • Mars ropes in Rekha for Snickers to challenge Kraft Cadbury's hold on Rs 3,000-cr Indian chocolate market

    Some meetha ho jaye for Rekha with Snickers

    By Ratna Bhushan  and Chaitali Chakravarty

     

    Rekha

    Mars Inc has roped in veteran Bollywood diva Rekha to endorse its Snickers brand in India as the world’s top chocolate maker looks to challenge Kraft Cadbury’s hold on the country’s Rs 3,000-crore chocolate market.

     

    This is the first time the $30 billion-plus American chocolate and pet food giant hires a celebrity to endorse its brands in India, and it marks the debut of Rekha, 58, in the world of advertisements. “Rekha came as the first choice when we thought of making a TV commercial portraying a diva-type behaviour,” a Mars India spokesperson said.

     

    RK Swamy/ BBDO will create the advertisement campaign for Snickers, the world’s largest-selling chocolate brand.

     

    Rekha, who ruled the silver screen in the 1980s with hits like Umrao Jaan and Silsila, is an unusual choice for endorsing a chocolate brand, but some experts say the move will get the brand noticed. “It’s interesting and should be clutter-breaking at least in the short term,” Anirban Das Blah, MD of celebrity management firm Kwan CAA, said. “How the ads help the brand would of course depend on the script,” he added.

     

    Interestingly, in her new role, Rekha will be taking on one of her closest contemporaries, Amitabh Bachchan, who has been endorsing rival chocolate brand Cadbury for several years. Though Snickers was advertised in 2008 and earlier this year, the new campaign will be its biggest so far in the country.

     

    “We need certain scale and distribution for a brand to optimise our media spends. We feel now is the opportune time to invest behind Snickers consistently,” the company spokesperson said.

     

    All Mars chocolate brands in India, including Mars, Snickers, Galaxy and Bounty, are currently imported. Being sold at two price points of Rs 15 and 30, Snickers competes with other global names such as Kraft’s Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5-Star and Toblerone, and Nestle’s KitKat.

     

    Mars is making this attempt at a time when US chocolate major Hershey has announced plans to launch its global brands in India through its own arm. In September, Hershey exited its five-year alliance with industrialist Adi Godrej-led Godrej Group.

     

    Hershey’s intends to launch some of its global brands such as Kisses and Reese’s over the next few months. India’s chocolate market, meanwhile, has started slowing as consumers are checking discretionary spends due to slowing economy and rising prices. According to data from Nielsen, chocolate consumption growth halved in the first six months of the year to 18% from 37% a year earlier in value terms. The largest player Cadbury Kraft’s sales grew 20% in January-June 2012, down from over 40% in same period last year.

     

    Mars Chocolate’s global brands include M&Ms, Galaxy, Milky Way and Twix besides Snickers.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp

     

  • R K Swamy BBDO's 'Adoption Drive' Campaign done for Pedigree has won a place in the Communication Arts' Advertising Annual 2012

    RK Swamy BBDO ‘Adoption Drive’ campaign enters Communication Arts’ ad annual

    By A Correspodent

     

    R K Swamy BBDO’s work has made its way to the Communication Arts’ Advertising Annual 2012. The ‘Adoption Drive’ Campaign done for Pedigree won in the Consumer Magazine Ads campaign category.

     

    A distinguished panel of jurors selected 142 winning projects from 4423 entries representing the work of 82 countries for the Communication Arts’ 53rd Advertising Annual and online gallery. Said Navneet Virk, Executive Creative Director, R K Swamy BBDO, “It’s indeed a great honor for us. Communication Arts is one of the most prestigious advertising awards in the world and is very tough to get into. The idea is based on a universal insight that ‘a dog is a man’s best friend’. Our approach was radical.”

     

    The visuals are scenes in history and mythology where betrayal is the main theme. This provides a strong context illustrating the universal insight that dogs are known for their loyalty and selflessness, and adopting a dog ensures you have a friend for life.