MxMIndia

Tag: Srinivasan Swamy

  • This will be the second edition of the awards instituted by the India chapter of the International Advertising Association

    IndIAA Awards set for September 16

    By A Correspondent

     

    The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA), launched the IndIAA awards “for real creative advertising that was backed by real budgets” last year. Nominations for the second edition were invited and unprecedented number of nominations was received and reviewed.

     

    D Shivakumar, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo India, chaired a jury of senior business leaders, which included Shantanu Khosla, VL Rajesh, GeetuVerma, Sanjay Behl and Amit Syngle.

     

    Said Shivakumar: “We just finished seeing over 100 shortlisted commercials from 19-20 categories. We spend about four-and-a-half hours reviewing some outstanding and some average work. We judged the commercials and the whole campaign under three parameters: 1) does it make us think on the brand and the category in a fresh way 2) Is the benefit visualised brilliantly as a lot of it is in the audio visual medium 3) How campaignable is this. I must say that the whole process has been outstanding and the results have been pretty simple and clear. I wish all the winners the very best and for those who haven’t won, best of luck for the next time”

     

    Pradeep Guha

    Added Pradeep Guha, Chairman, IndIAA Awards: “In our second edition, advertising campaigns that were released between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 will be honoured in multiple product and service categories. To qualify for the Award, the campaign should have film (TV or Digital) as one of its elements. In each product or service category, no more than an overall winner was awarded. The awards ceremony is slated for September 16 at the ITC Maratha, near Sahar Airport in Mumbai.”

     

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Said Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter and SVP, IAA Global: “At the IndIAA Awards event, you will see campaigns that have been watched and loved, and went on to impress our stellar jury. Therefore, we will invite on stage all the co-creators of the campaign to accept the award. This will include the marketing team, the agency creative team, the media team and other agencies that contributed to the success of the campaign. A special website www.indiaa-awards.org now hosts all the nominees of the campaigns across 20 categories. Advertising and Marketing professionals can review the work and indicate their choices by clicking on the ‘like’ button.”

     

  • 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

     

  • Nielsen India and Campaign India has joined hands with IAA as Knowledge Partners for this event

    Entries invited for second edition of IndIAA awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) is inviting entries for the second edition of its coveted IndIAA awards. Launched last year, and positioned as the awards for real hard working creative advertising, the awards will have an all-star jury of CEO’s who have judged advertising in the real world. Nielsen India and Campaign India has joined hands with IAA as Knowledge Partners for this event.

     

    Pradeep Guha

    Pradeep Guha, Chairman IndIAA awards said “Advertising campaigns that were released between 1st July 2014 and 30th June 2016 will be honored in multiple product and service categories. To qualify for the Award the campaign should have film (TV or Digital) as one of its elements. In each product or service category no more than an overall winner and a challenger brand (a newcomer) would be awarded. The awards ceremony would be in Mumbai in late September 2016 This is an initiative to reward truly creative advertising and I am confident it will build on the respect and popularity it received on its debut last year. There will be no entry fee”.

     

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Srinivasan Swamy, President IAA India Chapter and Senior Vice President IAA Global, said “At the IndIAA awards event, just like last year, you will see campaigns that have been watched and loved, and have gone on to impress our stellar jury, being awarded. Therefore, we will invite on stage all the co-creators of the campaign to accept the award. This will include the marketing team, the Agency creative team, the media team and other agencies who contributed to the success of the campaign”.

     

  • The International Advertising Association (IAA) elected its team for the coming two years during its annual Board of Directors meeting

    Sundar Swamy, Kaushik Roy in IAA global leadership team

    By A Correspondent

     

    IAA India President Srinivasan (Sundar) Swamy and APAC head (and former President) Kaushik Roy are part of the global body’s leadership for 2016-18. The International Advertising Association (IAA) elected its team for the coming two years during its annual Board of Directors meeting.

     

    “Felix Tătaru at 42 is the youngest IAA Chairman in our history,” commented Michael Lee, IAA Managing Director, adding:  “We have an ambitious agenda for the next two years and our exciting mission continues today”

     

    Said Tataru: “We are very excited to assemble our leadership at such an exciting and challenging time in our industry. The IAA, representing all areas of  marketing communications – advertisers, agencies, media and educators is committed to inspire the industry and society. Everyone in our industry is empowered to contribute in their own way and the IAA looks forward to harnessing the resources and energy of our members around the world”

     

    Among the current industry issues for the IAA include the continued importance of best practices and integrity; the defense of unwarranted bans and interference with brands and advertising and the development of talent within our industry

     

    The following is the list of IAA Officers for 2016-2018:

     

    Felix Tătaru 

    Chairman and World President,

    GMP Group, Romania

     

    Faris Abouhamad

    Immediate Past Chairman and World President,

    CEO, InterOne Resonance, UAE

     

    Srinivasan Swamy

    Senior Vice President,

    CMD, RK SWAMY BBDO Pvt Ltd, India

     

    Diane Slade 

    General Secretary,

    Head of Advertising Edith Cowan University,Perth, Western Australia

     

    Venanzio Camarra

    Treasurer,

    Managing Partner and Chief Consultant of Studio Aldabra<, Italy

     

    Carla Michelotti

    Vice President Corporate Members and Government Affairs,

    President, Carla Michelotti LLC, USA

     

    Kaushik Roy

    Vice President Area Director Asia Pacific,

    President – Brand Strategy & Marketing Communication, Reliance Industries Ltd, India

     

    Tom Brookbanks

    Vice President Area Director USA/Canada,

    Senior Vice President, Starcom Mediavest, USA

     

    Kyra Roest

    Vice President Are Director Europe

    Business & People connector, /UM’GE:BUN/, Netherlands

     

    Saad El Zein

    Vice President Area Director Middle East Africa

    Saad El Zein Company, UAE

     

    Michael Lee

    Managing Director IAA, USA

     

  • Anish Shah, Group President (Strategy) for Mahindra Group in conversation with Charulata Ravi Kumar, CEO, Razorfish

    IAA Mentorship Webinar Series to be held in Mumbai

    By A Correspondent

     

    International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter has invited Anish Shah, Group President (Strategy) for the Mahindra Group for its next webinar on Google Hangout on 17th December 2015 between 3 and 4 pm. Anish Shah’s key focus areas are strategy development with focus on digitisation and analytics, driving international growth especially in the US and Africa. The Group Strategy office also enables synergies across Group companies. Anish was earlier President and CEO of GE Capital and has had a stint with Bank of America, Bain & Company, and Citibank. Anish is a PhD from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and is alumni of IIM–A.

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter & Vice President-Development, IAA Asia Pacific said, “With the changes in technology and growth in digital, major business houses have to adopt and evolve rapidly. This webinar series will have Indian and international experts take us through their brand/company journeys and offer insights for others to learn and adapt from”.

     

     

    Abhishek Karnani

    Abhishek Karnani, Director, Free Press Journal said, “Creativity and storytelling must now be paired with algorithms to capture the attention of consumers in the era of high decibel digital communication. Navigating this landscape can be daunting. Anish’s experience with global digital initiatives will explain the omnichannel approach needed to win and retain consumers. This is the first mentorship webinar we have added to the IAA platform.”

     

    Charulata Ravikumar, CEO, Razorfish  said, “True Business Transformation happens when the organization changes itself from the core with a vision to always lead the path of Innovation for life impact. The IAA has always carried out initiatives to bring such Transformation to the forefront so that the larger audience can be inspired by it”

     

    You can also submit questions for Anish Shah through the IAA India Chapter facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/IAA.IndiaChapter/

     

    The hangout will be broadcast live on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/IAAIndiaChapter on 17th December, 3pm IST.

     

    The webinar series has already hosted industry stalwarts like Sanjeev Kapoor, CMO, Citi (India); Ashish Hemrajani, Founder and CEO, Bookmyshow.com; Rajan Anandan, MD, Google (India); Nishant Rao MD, Linkedin (India); Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder, Rediff.com and Julie Roehm, Chief Story Teller, SAP; Tushar Vyas, Managing Partner, GroupM South Asia; Sanjay Mehta & Mr Hareesh Tibrewala Joint CEOs, Social Wavelength et. al.

     

  • 17 categories, 500 entries, 76 nominees, 16 winners, star-studded jury… need we say more?

    IndIAA brings all stakeholders together to collect awards

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The first edition of IndIAA Awards happened on Tuesday, October 13 evening with leading advertising, media and marketing professionals in attendance. Of the 500 entries received for 17 categories, the final shortlist had 76 nominees with 16 winners.  The IndIAA Awards were received by the Advertisers along with all the co-creators of the campaign, across Creative and Media Agencies and also included other agency partners from Digital, Events, PR, Activation etc.

     

    Also present were Jury Chairman Harish Manwani, COO Unilever and Non-Executive Chairman, Hindustan Unilever and Jury members – Bhaskar Bhat (Titan), Sangeeta Pendurkar (Kellogg’s India), B. Sriram (State Bank of India), and Sanjeeb Chaudhuri (Standard Chartered Bank).

     

    Said Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter “We attempted IndIAA awards as an experiment; we wanted to create a different way of awarding creativity. At the IAA Conversations preceding the awards, Dr. Subhash Chandra and Shankkar Aiyar, as expected, brought fresh perspective and deep insights around News Neutrality through the engaging session.”

     

    Pradeep Guha, Chairman, IndIAA Awards Committee said, “The IndIAA Award format ensured that ‘ads for awards only’ didn’t come through and this itself was the differentiator.”

     

    Earlier in the day, Dr Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group and Zee spoke to Shankkar Aiyar, author and journalist, on News Neutrality. The conversation ranged from the basic concept of neutrality; the solution to compulsion of revenue versus competition; regulation of news gathering and vagueness of media ownership in India. Dr. Chandra also mentioned a new technological engine being put into place in Zee, which will track stories right from filing, so that there is control over biases.

     

    Dr Bhaskar Das, Chairman, IAA Conversations said, “Going against the grain, if need be, to deep dive into the most relevant industry topics has been the objective of IAA Conversations. The topic on News Neutrality follows the same trend.”

     

    Winners of the first IndIAA Awards:

     

     

  • The theme of Dr Subhash Chandra's discussion will be 'News Neutrality'

    IAA gets set for maiden IndIAA Awards and ‘Conversations’ with Subhash Chandra

    Tuesday, October 13, sees the India chapter of the International Advertising Association playing host to two events – one, as part of its regular series IAA Conversations, Essel group and Zee chairman Dr Subhash Chandra will be in conversation with senior journalist V Shankkar Aiyar.  The theme of the discussion is ‘News Neutrality’. This is on between 5.45 and 6.45pm.

     

    At 7pm, the first edition of the IndIAA Awards happen.

     

    Both events will be held at St Regis Hotel in Parel (what was earlier Palladium Hotel and even earlier Hotel Shangri La).

     

    Said Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter: “News Neutrality is a controversial hot button topic. Given Zee’s global footprint and experience in various markets, Subhash Chandra in conversation with Shankkar will bring deep insights to the subject. We have decided to have the IAA Conversation and the IndIAA Awards on the same day, so that the people attending will have the opportunity to engage on two very different topics.”

     

    Said Dr Bhaskar Das, Chairman, IAA Conversations said, “Most often, the News Neutrality debate is around objectivity and ideology.  Now with accelerated online news delivery and wider television reporting, the conflict is even more apparent. This session of IAA Conversations will definitely bring a new perspective to the existing narrative.”

     

    Pradeep Guha, Chairman, IndIAA Awards Committee said, “Since the advertiser and the agencies that co-created the winning campaign are honoured on the same stage, this award format promises to be different.”

     

  • The R K Swamy Hansa Group Chairman and Vice President-Development of IAA Asia Pacific has been elected for the fourth consecutive term as IAA India Chapter President

    Srinivasan Swamy re-elected IAA India President

    By A Correspondent

     

    The India Chapter of International Advertising Association elected Srinivasan Swamy, Chairman of R K Swamy Hansa Group and Vice President-Development of IAA Asia Pacific, for the fourth consecutive term as its President. “I am humbled by the confidence shown by the members in choosing me to head this international body in India. The last three years have been exciting in that we demonstrated to the marketing and advertising community through the initiatives and events we held that IAA is a thought leader in many respects. Further the awards that we have instituted were both relevant and meaningful,” said Swamy.

     

    Neeraj Roy, Managing Director and CEO of Hungama.com was re-elected as the Vice President for the third term. Monica Tata former MD of HBO India was re-elected as Hon. Secretary. Janak Sarda, Joint MD of Deshdoot publications was elected as the Honorary Treasurer.

     

    In addition, the following five members were elected as members of the Managing Committee: Abhishek Karnani, Vishakha Singh, Jaideep Gandhi, Anand Sankeshwar and Manish Advani. Kaushik Roy continues on the Committee as the Immediate Past President.

     

    Pradeep Guha, Area Director, IAA Asia Pacific said “the last few years have seen considerable momentum in terms of the activities IAA has been involved in. This has been reflected in the World Board recognizing the India Chapter as the Best Chapter twice consecutively. I am delighted that Srinivasan Swamy will be steering the India Chapter of the IAA this year as well. It could be a period of continued growth as well as consolidation. The presence of young leaders on the Managing Committee augurs well for the future of the IAA”.

     

    At the first Managing Committee meeting immediately after the AGM, five additional members were co-opted as per IAA Constitution. These were: M V Shreyams Kumar, Dr Bhaskar Das, Ashok Venkatramani, C V L Srinivas and Pradeep Dwivedi.

     

    In addition, the following senior professionals were invited to be part of the Committee: Pradeep Guha, Ramesh Narayan, Sam Balsara, M.G.Parameswaran, Raj Nayak, Atit Mehta, Vikram Sakhuja and Kunal Lalani. More members are likely to be inducted in the next few weeks.

     

  • The AAAI and IAA India Presidents welcome the new Ad Club prez and offer support and cooperation

    Raj Nayak, mancom take charge at Ad Club

    By A Correspondent

     

    Among the first things he did in public after getting his team in place was to set up a Twitter handle for the Club. And it’s evident, that the Club’s outreach will increase manifold.

     

    MxMIndia was the first to report that senior industryperson and Colors CEO Raj Nayak was elected President of the Advertising Club. This was held at the Club’s Annual General Meeting  in Mumbai last week.

     

    The new officebearers elected are: Vice President: Dr Bhaskar Das, Group CEO, Zee Media Corporation; Secretary: Vikram Sakhuja, Senior Media & Marketing Professional; Joint Secretary: Ajay Kakkar, Chief Marketing Officer, Aditya Birla Group-Financial Services;  Treasurer: Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands India. Pratap Bose, Chairman & Co-founder, The Social Street will be Immediate Past President.

     

    The other members elected to the Managing Committee are: Rohit Gupta (Multi Screen Media), Punitha Arumugam (Google India), Namrata Tata (Viacom18), Ajay Chandwani (Percept, Strategic Brand Consultant), Pradeep Dwivedi (Dainik Bhaskar group), Vikas Khanchandani (Aidem) and Viral Jani (Twitter). Senior industryperson Ramesh Narayan has been co-opted to the Managing Committee. Prasoon Joshi, CEO, McCann World Group India and Chairman (Asia Pacific) has been inducted as Special Invitee and Creative Advisor. Satyaki Ghosh, Director-Consumer Product Division L’Oreal India has also been inducted as a Special Invitee.

     

    As someone who has followed Ad Club mancom compositions closely said, the composition this year is interesting and has some new faces.

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Raj Nayak, said in a communique, “I am humbled by the faith and trust that my friends and well wishers in the Industry have bestowed on me. It will be my sincere endeavor to work towards strengthening and building upon the foundation on which the club has been built over the last six decades.”

     

    In a significant departure from the past, the press release formally announcing the election of Nayak and the constituting of the new managing committee was welcomed with statements from the Presidents of the Advertising Agencies Association of India and the International Advertising Association. Welcoming the announcement M G Parameswaran said “ Ad Club is a wonderful institution with a great legacy of achievements. I am delighted to hear that Raj Nayak is taking over as its next President. I am sure he will bring his own brand of energy, excitement and innovation to take The Ad Club to greater heights. We at AAAI look forward to a great partnership with the Ad Club in all our joint industry efforts.” Ambi, as Parameswaran, is known in the industry is a former Ad Club president.

     

    Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter and VP-Development, IAA Asia Pacific said: “With Raj Nayak as President, we can expect to see a new phase in Ad Club’s history – which will be more vibrant, more purposeful, more relevant, more classy. IAA India, if invited, would be happy to partner with Ad Club on initiatives that build the competencies of the industry at various levels. There are a few events/properties that are exclusive to Ad Club or IAA, but clearly there are opportunities where cooperation between the two will be synergistic. IAA looks forward to this interesting phase with great enthusiasm”.

     

    Meanwhile, the Ad Club Twitter handle is: @TheAdClub_India. We’re following it J

     

     

  • IndIAA Awards Night to be held on 13th October 2015 at the Palladium Hotel, Mumbai

    Nominations for IndIAA Awards announced

    By A Correspondent

     

    The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) announced the campaigns which were shortlisted and placed before the elite jury for the first ever IndIAA awards. The shortlist can be viewed on www.indiaa-awards.org.

     

    Pradeep Guha

    Pradeep Guha, Chairman, IndIAA Awards Committee said, “Based on nominations received from agencies and brand teams, and a larger scan of all the key campaigns in a category in the evaluation period, the team created a shortlist based on pre-set criteria. Around 500 campaigns were posted on the awards website, which kept getting populated as the process continued. These were then placed before our jury. Jury Chairman Harish Manwani, COO Unilever and Non-Executive Chairman, Hindustan Unilever and members of the jury, Bhaskar Bhat (Titan), Sangeeta Pendurkar (Kellogg’s India), B Sriram (State Bank of India), Sanjeeb Chaudhuri (Standard Chartered Bank) and Mayank Pareek (Tata Motors) spent considerable time examining the process before viewing the shortlist, and were very satisfied with the way things were turning out.”

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy

    Srinivasan Swamy, President, IAA India Chapter said, “These awards for creative excellence are aimed at saluting great campaigns that have gone through the rigor of client evaluation and have had adequate budgets backing them. We wanted to ensure that work created only for awards does not reach the jury at all. However in the interest of transparency and fair play, the long list, or the complete list of work that were nominated and put up in our website www.indiaa-awards.org, was kept ready for the jury to see. They did in fact refer to this list on a few occasions. The Jury meeting took place on 2nd September in Mumbai when the members picked the winners across 17 major advertising categories”.

     

    IndIAA Awards will be received by the Advertiser along with all the co-creators of the campaign, particularly from the Creative and Media Agencies and may include other agency partners from Digital, Events, PR, Activation etc. “This is the first such award when all the co-creators of an ad campaign will be honored and celebrated on a single stage” said Guha.

     

    On the response to the new awards introduced, Swamy said, “We are very pleased to have the initial positive feedback from the industry, both from advertisers and agencies alike. I look forward to welcoming the fraternity at the IndIAA Awards Night on 13th October 2015 at the Palladium Hotel, Mumbai”.

     

  • IAA India President Srinivasan K Swamy speaks on the industry association and the Summit starting tomorrow

    No usual suspects at IAA Silver Jubilee Summit

     

    President Srinivasan Swamy talks about the IAA India Silver Jubilee Summit coming up in Kochi from September 3-5 with a handpicked line-up of speakers and experts from around the globe, and the soon-to-be-held IndIAA Awards. Excerpts from an interview with Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Twenty-five years of IAA India and we didn’t really know about it. A silver jubilee is a huge milestone for any industry body.

    IAA is 25 from when we incorporated ourselves as a company. But technically, IAA was formed 10 years earlier, in 1981, so we’re actually 35. The early stages are not very well-recorded. So we celebrate 25 years as a company, taking it from 1991. But it has been an amazing journey. We are the only organisation which is truly international, and we’ve had all the big leaders passing through the IAA platform, both in India and globally.

     

    Does an industry like advertising need so many associations? There are quite a few already.

    Actually, there are specific associations for specific lobbies. We have an ISA for advertisers, INS for the print media, IBF for television broadcasters and the AAAI for the agency’s interests. It is the interest of advertising which is at the heart, for us, not lobbying. Therein lies a big difference.

     

    So it’s more of a club then, right?

    We don’t see ourselves as a club but as an international body which used to be involved in important aspects of advertising. The records will show that we were behind the formation of the Advertising Standard Council of India. We are actually focused on issues which are taken care of, not just by private agencies, advertisers or media, but all of them together, and make sure advertising is protected and nurtured.

     

    What is it that gets IAA to be so active and the others are not?

    I think it is probably in my DNA. In whichever body I’ve been involved in, I try and give my best. I can’t see the reason why anybody else can’t do it. It’s just that they are not passionate about doing what is required to be done on these jobs.

     

    Coming to the Silver Jubilee summit, which is obviously a big landmark. You say it’s in the same league as Ad Asia…

    It is. I don’t think we’ve seen a line-up of speakers of the kind we have [for the summit]. The president of the Global IAA, Faris Abouhamad, is coming down — not just for the inauguration, on September 3, but for all three days of the summit. The Kerala tourism minister will be there at the inauguration, as well as Amitabh Kant, who was behind the God’s Own Country, Incredible India and Make in India campaigns. He will deliver the keynote address. We have a lot of international speakers as well.

     

    You also have people like Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan and Jaggi Vasudev to provide colour…

    Sachin has been a brand ambassador and advertising icon. He is not there as a cricketer. We also have Arnab Goswami, who is another brand. We find today that at any conference, a spiritual leader connects very well with the audience. Jaggi Vasudev is going to talk about the miracle of being a good human.

     

    Are you happy with the line-up?

    We avoided the usual suspects. We could’ve approached the Chairman of IPG, Omnicom or WPP, but those are easy options to chase. The names we have are actually going to talk about newer things. Our theme is ‘What’s coming next?’ We have Cindy Gallop, founder of BBH in the US, who has done some excellent work with the websites ‘If We Ran The World’ and ‘Make love not Porn’. She is also Cannes Chairman of the Jury for The Glass Lion. We have Paul McCarthy, who has written a book called ‘Online Gravity’, a runaway success about how online impacts different aspects of our lives. Jeffery Cole will speak about the future of digital, while mobile expert Ralph Simon will talk about how mobile is going to transform the world. You won’t get these perspectives from the usual suspects.

     

    Are you going to use your popular debate format here?

    No, we will have only keynote sessions because we find people don’t come prepared for panel discussions. They answer questions put to them, which is not a structured way of taking you through your problem. So we have 18 keynote sessions and only two subjects which will have a discussion – the first, with Prasoon Joshi, after Sachin makes his presentation, and one with Sam Balsara after Darshanbhai Patel makes his opening remarks. All the presentations are of 25 minutes by the keynote speaker, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A.

     

    Since this is a large-format event, it is obviously well sponsored…

    It is sponsored. We are on track to fulfilling our obligations in terms of money. Our friends from various media support us. And we have got all the support from Kerala, like from Mathrubhumi, a Kerala publication. Different TV channels from across India are also supporting us.

     

    Your tickets are priced very low. Would people in India value an event with low-priced compared to one that has higher priced tickets?

    We deliberately kept it low because we want more people to come. For members it is Rs 4,500 while non-members pay Rs 9,000. I also want members to come with their spouses, who comes for free. Non-members pay an additional Rs 4,500 rupees for an accompanying person. I think Rs 9,000 is not low. Attendees also have to spend on air travel and hotel stay.

     

    Kochi is an unusual venue. These events are mostly held in Goa, Delhi or Mumbai.

    IAA is an unusual institution. With programmes in Bombay and Delhi, people come for one session, leave for meetings and come back for cocktails and dinner. In Kochi, there’ll be very little of such distraction, so one can focus on the content and observe as much one can. Delhi, Mumbai and Goa have been done to death.

     

    A part of this interview first appeared in dna of brands dated August 31, 2015

     

    See also on Zee Business at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2Y054u7t50

     

     

  • The winners will be picked by a high-powered jury chaired by Harish Manwani, chief operating officer of Unilever

    Now, award for ‘real advertising’ from IAA

    By A Correspondent

     

    A new advertising award is set to debut in India – and this one promises to reward “real, hard-working advertising.” It’s the brainchild of the India chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA), and will be called the IndIAA awards.

     

    The inaugural round of awards will be held in Mumbai in October 2015. The winners will be picked by a high-powered jury chaired by Harish Manwani, chief operating officer of Unilever, and featuring D Shivakumar, chairman of PepsiCo India; Bhaskar Bhatt, managing director, Titan; Mayank Pareek, president, Tata Motors; Sangeeta Pendurkar, managing director, Kellogg India; Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, global chief marketing officer Standard Chartered Bank and B Sriram, managing director, State Bank of India.

     

    Manwani said, “Effective advertising implies the existence of deep consumer insights, the rigour of a repeatable process between the client and agency and optimal levels of media spends. Only then does a great creative idea get transformed into effective advertising.”

     

    Pradeep Guha, chairman IndIAA awards, explained that ad campaigns released between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015, are eligible for the inaugural awards, but the campaign must have a film component – whether it’s been released on TV or digitally.

     

    “This is an initiative to reward truly creative advertising and I am confident it will win great respect for its objectives,” he said. Srinivasan Swamy president IAA said, “At the IndIAA awards event, you will see campaigns that have been watched and loved, being awarded. Therefore, we will invite on stage all the co-creators of the campaign to accept the award.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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