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Tag: Sonia Huria

  • Viacom18 veteran Sonia Huria to join Amazon Prime Video to head India comms

    Sonia Huria
    Sonia Huria

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sonia Huria, Head of Corporate Marketing, Communications and Sustainability for Viacom18, will move to Amazon Prime Video to lead all communication efforts for its India business. Huria will be a part of the global communications team – leading PR and Communications for Amazon Prime Video in India. She will report to Tobias Tringali – Head of Amazon Prime Video PR Asia Pacific & Canada who is based in Seattle.

    Widely regarded as one of the most influential PR heads in the M&E space, Huria has moved up the ladder at Viacom18 from heading PR for Colors in 2008 to the entire Viacom18 brand portfolio including corporate and then the key roles of corporate marketing and sustainability.

    In the areas of sustainability, Huria successfully created a model of multi-partner-funded behaviour change communication content at Viacom18… from the Navrangi Re! series to the more recent MTV Nishedh. In addition to managing internal and external communication, she also spearheaded trade marketing and digital media for the organisation.

    Huria serves as a managing committee member at The Advertising Club. Under her leadership, Viacom18 has won several awards on the global and India stage. She has been featured in Impact magazine’s Top 50 Women Leaders in Advertising, Media & Marketing for four years in a row.

     

  • ‘The Red Abby’ awards have been instituted to acknowledge the best creative works that address the issue of violence against women in society

    Goafest announces jury for Red Abby

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club and the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announced the names of the jury for ‘The Red Abby’ award which will be presented as a part of Goafest 2020.  ‘The Red Abby’ awards have been instituted to acknowledge the best creative works that address the issue of violence against women in society.

     

    The jury for the Red Abby Awards include some of the foremost leaders from across the FMCG, advertising, media, creative and entertainment industry.

     

    The jury list for ‘The Red Abby’ 2020 (in alphabetical order)

    1. Anupriya Acharya- CEO, Publicis Groupe, South Asia

    2. Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, GTB India

    3. Deepika Warrier, CEO, Nourishco Beverages (a joint venture between Pepsico and Tata Global Beverages)

    4. Lara Balsara Wajifdar, Executive Director at Madison World

    5. Megha Tata, MD- South Asia, Discovery Communications India

    6. Mini Mathur, Acclaimed Actor and Television Host

    7. Raj Nayak, Founder, House of Cheer

    8. Tarun Katial, CEO, Zee5, India

     

    The jury meet is scheduled for March 17 in Mumbai where the jurors will test creativity and impact of the communication campaigns.

     

    Speaking about the judging process, Partho Dasgupta, President- The Advertising Club President said: “Women’s safety is a cause that needs a loud and clear voice. The esteemed jury of ‘The Red Abby’ comes from a diverse background with rich experience in their respective industries. Their collective experience will make the evaluation process robust and fair, while adjudging the works’ impact.”

     

    Speaking about the jury, Sonia Huria, Managing Committee Member of The Advertising Club and Evangelist – ‘The Red Abby’ added: “At the heart of a successful campaign is the impact it made. In case of ‘The Red Abby’ the impact will be basis the effectiveness of the behaviour change messaging of the campaign. With such an esteemed jury for its maiden edition, we are sure that the best-in-class works will find their right place in the Abby Awards Hall of Fame.”

    To nominate communications campaigns focused towards stopping violence against women click here.

     

     

  • Viacom18 and MTV Staying Alive Foundation partner with CIFF, UNICEF, BMGF, Ashoka University, Packard Foundation and Johnson & Johnson as funders for the campaign

    Viacom18 to roll out ‘MTV Nishedh’

    By A Correspondent

     

    The MTV Staying Alive Foundation has partnered with Viacom18 to launch a new campaign titled ‘MTV Nishedh’ that will focus on fostering healthier attitudes and behaviours and removing the stigma surrounding several health-related issues, including sexual reproductive health and wellbeing, contraceptive care, tuberculosis (TB) and nutrition. Other funded partners include: Through the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and The Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Johnson & Johnson.

     

    MTV Nishedh, produced by Mumbai-based production company Victor Tango, will premiere on MTV India starting January 25 every Saturday and Sunday at 8pm and on Colors Rishtey starting February 1, every Saturday and Sunday at 10:30pm. MTV Nishedh will also be available on Voot.

     

    Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO and MD, Viacom18: “I’ve always believed that doing good is good for business. We have, since inception, created content on social causes and built a successful broadcast business around it – from Balika Vadhu to Shakti to Laado – we have covered a gamut of socially sensitive issues through our TV content. Furthermore, through our youth brand MTV, we continue to create multimedia campaigns, over and above our TV shows, that highlight various social themes. We have explored issues as diverse as women’s empowerment to sanitation through our films like Queen and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. This business philosophy of doing good was underscored last year when BMGF worked with us to bring forth a behaviour change content series called Navrangi Re! on the issue of Fecal Sludge Management. The sheer number of social organisations and like-minded corporate who are partnering us to launch MTV Nishedh bears testimony to its scale.”

     

    Added Georgia Arnold, Executive Director of The MTV Staying Alive Foundation and Executive Producer of MTV Nishedh: “MTV Nishedh marks an exciting point in The MTV Staying Alive Foundation’s journey. Bringing the highly successful MTV Shuga model to India facilitates young Indians to take up more space on issues affecting their everyday lives. The power of MTV Nishedh is in its reflection of real life – we engage young people in all stages of its development to ensure the stories are relatable, entertaining, and highly engaging. Crucially, all of our content drives the audience to health services where they can receive valuable help. We believe MTV Nishedh has the potential to be a genuinely relevant cultural asset, as well as a successful public health campaign.”

     

    Said Sonia Huria, Head – Corporate Marketing, Communications & Sustainability, Viacom18: “Well, more than a conscious strategy, I think it is an ingrained thought process at Viacom18. Allow me to explain in some more detail. Our mission is to connect every story to its audience and every audience to its story. And over the last 12 years, we have created stories that resonate with our audience across platforms. Interestingly, some of our biggest successes have been stories that speak of societal issues or regressive societal norms – be it Balika Vadhu, Its Not That Simple, Angels of Rock, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha…the list goes on. Projects like Navrangi Re! and MTV Nishedh are natural extensions of this philosophy of using content to amplify social change. What encourages me is how more partners are recognising the relevance of this approach and reaching out to us to use entertainment to bring forth such stories of social impact.”

     

     

  • The rendition of the brand philosophy in the title track has been sung by celebrated singer Jubin Nautiyal

    Leo Burnett Orchard creates Viacom18’s ‘Open New Worlds’ film

    By A Correspondent

     

    Here’s more on the corporate brand film created for the tenth anniversary of Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. Titled ‘Open New Worlds’ and conceptualised by Leo Burnett Orchard, the network’s creative agency, the film captures the entertainment network’s decade=long engagement with over 500 Mn+ Indians across 80 countries.

     

     

    Sonia Huria

    Said Sonia Huria, Head – Communications & CSR, Viacom18: “From rank newcomers to India’s fastest growing full-play media organisation, Viacom18’s journey, in this industry dominated by legacy players, has been a chronicle of disruptive innovation. While deliberating on the singular theme that would best describe the corporate brand salience, the one thought that kept resurfacing throughout our varied businesses and brands was how Viacom18 has been encouraging everyday Indians to explore possibilities, push their own boundaries, embrace opportunities and challenge norms. This was the genesis to the brand promise of Open New Worlds,” and added: “I’m thankful to Leo Burnett Orchard for helping us conceptualise and execute this film. I’d also like to thank Jubin Nautiyal for the amazing rendition of our song.”

     

    Amod Dani

    Speaking about the creative thought behind the campaign, Amod Dani, Executive Creative Director – Leo Burnett Orchard, said: “This project has been an interesting challenge right from the start. How do you introduce a decade-old media company, with immensely famous brands in its fold that defines entertainment across genres, platforms and cultures, with a film that is more than just a corporate statement? The inspiring brand ethos that reflects the belief of the company helped us outline how each of Viacom18’s individual brands change lives of Indians every day. And how unlikely audiences connect with content, merchandise and derive inspiration and joy. Creating Open New Worlds has been a highlight of our journey with the group, one that will live with us for a long time.”

     

    The corporate brand film will have an integrated reach and will find presence on outdoor and digital media in addition to the Viacom18 network.

     

     

  • The initiative was organised as a part of Viacom18’s ‘Chakachak Mumbai’ campaign that aims to bring about behavioral change around cleanliness and sanitation habits of citizens

    Viacom18 and CMCA join hands for a clean Mumbaipost Ganapati Visarjan

    By A Correspondent

     

    Aiming to be a change agent that engages communities to keep their surroundings clean, Viacom18 and young volunteers of Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) took up brooms and cleaned the major Ganesh Visarjan sites in Mumbai at Girgaum, Juhu and Aksa beaches. This is the second consecutive year of the partnership between Viacom18 and CMCA and is part of the former’s flagship CSR programme Chakachak Mumbai.

     

    As a part of the beach clean-up drive, Nickelodeon-toon Shiva and popular artist of Colors Marathi show ‘Comedychi GST Express’  Avdhoot Gupte joined over 500 students, to collect the waste that got washed back ashore after Ganesh immersions.

     

    Speaking about the initiative Sonia Huria,Head Communications & CSR, Viacom18 said: “Viacom18 is glad to be partnering with CMCA for the second consecutive year for the beach clean up drive. Children have the potential to bring about positive behaviour change around cleanliness and influence communities to make ‘Swacchta’ a way of life. With this initiative we hope to create a longstanding awareness about keeping our surrounding clean and maintain a sustainable lifestyle.”

     

    Sharing her thoughts about the cleanup drive Vinodini Lulla, Trustee at CMCA said: “CMCA has always been an advocate of responsibly celebrating festivals to minimize its impact on our surroundings. The cleanup is a life changing experience for our students every year. We are delighted to have found a partner in Viacom18 for the second-year in a row who have been actively involved in cleanliness and sanitation awareness in Mumbai. With this beach cleanup drive, we are sure that we will be able to bring about a behavioural change towards cleanliness and environment protection amongst children.”

     

  • A quick chat with Sonia Huria, Head of Corporate Communications and CSR at Viacom18, on her group’s recently launched CSR initiatives

    Jaldi 5 with Sonia Huria: Chakachak Mumbai as an initiative is the anti-thesis of preachy

    By Sonia Huria

     

    The Viacom18 group announced with much contentment a twin CSR drive to bring in hygiene in a section of Mumbai city as well as an attempt to cleanse the mind. We spoke to Sonia Huria, Head – Corporate Communications of the group who is now also heading the Viacom18’s CSR initiative for a quick Q&A

     

    We know it’s mandatory for all corporates to get into CSR, but one thought Viacom18 as an entertainment network would do some more stuff that’s in line with what it’s doing? So getting down to cleaning neighbourhoods?

     We believe that the dream of a Clean India can only be achieved through both on-ground and in-mind campaigning – address the physical availability of cleanliness paraphernalia (toilets, dustbins etc.) and articulate why they need to be used. The thing with our CSR campaign is that it is manifold in both its target audience and communication ethos. While the ground work is currently focused on 4 slum clusters in Andheri East and a pavement stretch near our office premises in Ville Parle, the larger cause is aligned with the national Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. While the primary target audience is the residents of the slums, people like us form the secondary target audience. We have the power and the means to espouse the cause of a clean India. It follows that to address these diverse audiences, the communication too needs to be differentiated.

     

    And the mind?

    Hygiene cannot be viewed in just its physical manifestation. The moment you start thinking clean, you act to be clean.So while Chakachak Mumbai is the mass targeted campaign that cuts across both the audiences, we launched the #GetAngry Project as a social experiment that talks about cleanliness of both your physical and psychological realms.

     

    Essentially we at Viacom18 are great storytellers. And cleaning up India needs a strong storyboard – one that is multilayered and appeals both to the heart and mind. That is what we have chalked out for ourselves.

     

    How come the name ‘Chakachak’ which is kinda flip, and not something more serious like a Swachh Viacom Abhiyaan?

    The nomenclature stems from the philosophy that governs the organization. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is the all-encompassing vision that has been launched by the Government of India. Viacom18 wants to humanise the vision into a relatable story with multiple touchpoints, cutting across socio-cultural divides. Yes it is flip and hence it is the anti-thesis of preachy. We want to act as agent provocateurs bringing in behavioural change in the way we look at cleanliness. To be able to do justice to that role, it is important to build a brand that motivates without being dogmatic.

     

    The Get Angry project is interesting, but it will take a long time to change mindsets. What are the next steps on it?

     We’d purposefully stayed away from drawing conclusions based on our social experiment. The idea was to do it, release it for the connected Indians and let them decide. With more than 2.5 million views on FB, becoming a trending topic on Twitter and rich thought provoking conversations all around, a lot of insights have come in. While the sentiment of encouragement has been the primary takeaway, we would like to build upon this momentum to carry forward the overarching Chakachak Mumbai campaign and its underlying thought of “the road to prosperity lies through cleanliness”.

     

    A personal question: Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility are very divergent roles. How do you switch gears?

    The beauty of being a communication leader for a brand like Viacom 18 is that you inculcate the varied individual brand ethos into your professional work ethics. Since ours is a centralised unit, I also work closely with various departments within the individual brands– whether it is pushing out a HR initiative, communicating a sales innovation, amplifying product and marketing launches. To authenticate the communication I need to understand the finer nuances of these various functions.

     

    Now consider the fact that, under our CSR initiative, we want to use our storytelling finesse to amplify the behaviour change communication to realize the dream of a Swachh India – both in mind and body! I see more synergies in the different hats I wear, feeding off a centralised ecosystem of learnings from my multiple roles.