MxMIndia

Tag: Sunil Kataria

  • Reducing agency fees to win/retain clinets can ring the death knell for ad agencies, say a cross-section of professionals

    Silent Killer: Undercutting Agency Fees

    By Shephali Bhatt

     

    What used to be an alarming event two decades ago, has become a routine affair in the agency business now and it’s nothing to be proud of, dear agency folk. You pitch for a client. Agree to work on a price significantly lower than the previous agency.

     

     

    Agency Rate Card

    Havas’s Satbir Singh points out how advertising’s allied industries that comprise of filmmakers, music directors and photographers have their unions and guilds that have their rules regarding pricing that no client fl outs lest he be blacklisted.

     

    So, it’s not that the client is unruly. Only the agency bodies have remained toothless all this while.

     

    What does it take for all the luminaries who keep clinking beer and rum glasses at every other industry event to come together and sort this issue once and for all? Why can’t ad agencies have a rate card for basic creative service, advanced offerings, category wise rates et al? File under: easier said than done.

     

    Contract Killer

    Of the agencies accused of undercutting, Contract tops the list. Its admittedly impressive new business track record is said to be because of its ability to go lower than the already low prevailing industry standards. Genuine complaint or a large industry wide case of sour grapes?

     

    Rana Barua, the agency’s CEO, finds the conjectures funny: “We’ve won around 19-20 businesses since I came on board. There have been hires at senior levels from reputed agencies. You can’t sustain such a model at a reduced cost. Not if you’re running a WPP agency. If only money was the deciding factor, pitches would’ve been done over phone calls. It’s the work that differentiates you from the rest.”

     

    As for the competition: they are banking on a situation where the axe falls once WPP’s global bean counters discover the agency’s margins are not up to scratch. Except by then, they fear, the low rates allegedly offered by the agency may well have become the new normal.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

    Sometimes significantly lower than what’s required to run the business well. Soon, the good talent makes tracks out of the agency. Mediocre talent is shipped in and results in average to bad work, and ultimately an unhappy client who opts for a pitch. Lather, rinse, repeat. There was a time when agencies would get a 15 per cent commission of the total marketing budget.

     

    The split between the creative and media units was the beginning of the end of that model. Clients started negotiating the agency fee. For some agencies, it’s down to an abysmal 2 per cent-3 per cent now. The Tata Docomo account was moved at almost one-third the price from FCB Ulka to Contract, says the grapevine.

     

    Another overheard titbit suggests that the Uninor telecom account went from Leo Burnett to Bates CHI & Partners at one-sixth the fee. From Rs 80 lakh to Rs 20 lakh/year, if we were to believe the ad chat mongers.

     

    It’s ironic how both media and advertising spends continue to grow year-on-year but agency fees continue to diminish. In the rush to report an account win, agencies often forget that while news in trade media is good to keep one in the industry’s memory for a brief while, it doesn’t ensure profitability – both in the short and the long run.

     

    “It’s a self-defeating exercise once you realise it’ll take forever to reach last year’s fee level,” rues Satbir Singh, managing partner and CCO of Havas Worldwide, India. Undercutting also rings a death knell for agency’s favourite culprit for everything that’s wrong. Yes, the client.

     

    Sunil Kataria, COO -sales, marketing and SAARC at Godrej Consumer Products, explains: Say you’re paying an agency a retainer of Rs 1.5 crore per annum. A good campaign that’s to run for 45 days will cost you about Rs 5 crore (because good creative costs money). If the agency goofs up, the loss to you is bigger than what you’re paying them over three years. And then shifting agencies is another critical decision for the client, he states.

     

    You never know whether the new shop will understand your brand that well or whether you’d have the time and bandwidth to take them through the brand journey again. It’s a lose-lose situation for both the client and the agency, says Ravi Deshpande, who’s recently turned an entrepreneur with Whyness Worldwide.

     

    While trying to hold his own against ridiculous price demands, he admits there were situations during his days at Contract when they had to accept businesses at not so justifiable rates. It wasn’t a ridiculously low price though, he adds. But large agencies claim they are compelled to work on incomes they’d principally be opposed to purely because there are too many small shops willing to work on those terms.

     

    Not necessarily, retorts Kurien Mathews, chairman and founder of Metal Communications (an independent agency). “The indies that undercut, never grow too big and remain staffed by the founders plus a few very junior people -and there are many of them around.”

     

    They don’t necessarily affect the business, he says, adding there are enough clients who want to pay for demonstrable creative value. Also, to the argument that network agencies have more overheads than indies, Mr Kataria asserts that the clients pay the amount required to service a brand. He pays for a team; not the entire agency.

     

    A marketer has to justify his numbers to his CEO. It’s in his nature to negotiate numbers with you, the Agency. You need to figure out a way to professionally and methodically explain how you arrive at a price point and why it makes sense for him to bet his money on it.

     

    “We give a large amount of our time for very little money. Which is why we aren’t able to invest in better people and tech,” laments Mr Deshpande. There was a time when students from IIMs wanted to join the likes of HTA (now JWT) and Lintas (now Lowe Lintas).

     

    Now, even the MICAns prefer brand management to advertising, says Sandip Tarkas, president – consumer strategy at Future Group. In a scenario where there are specialists for every service, undercutting only weakens the position of the mainline agency.

     

    You are the people who build brands. At least value yourself right, so the world can give you the respect that’s duly yours. Or failing that, enough money to keep yourself in the black.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The latest campaign, created by Creativeland Asia, is released digitally and on television to spread the spirit of conquering fear and germs

    Creativeland Asia unveils campaign for Cinthol Confidence+

    By A Correspondent

     

    Cinthol Confidence+ has unveiled a new campaign for the soap that assures 99.9 per cent germ protection with an ‘insta-deo’ fragrance feature. The campaign has been conceptualized and created by Creativeland Asia.

     

    While the Cinthol Confidence+ kick-started their digital campaign on Independence Day, the television campaign has just been unveiled and is an inspiring video that captures the spirit of young and dynamic India. Be it professionals in the armed forces, health camps, heritage sites or mega infrastructure development sites, they go about their job confidently, undaunted by dust, grime and germs. The campaign puts the young inspiring professionals under the lens of ‘Alive is Awesome’, Cinthol’s brand promise.

     

    Sunil Kataria, Chief Operating Officer, Sales, Marketing and SAARC, GCPL shared, “Currently, the health soap market is focused mainly on kids. However, it is not just children, but even youth who need protection as they battle dirt and grime while following their passion. However, current health soaps are incomplete without great sensorials. Cinthol Confidence+ soap, breaks the norm of the regular health soap by offering 99.9 per cent germ protection while being infused with great insta-deo fragrance. Cinthol Confidence+ is a “complete health soap” which perfectly fits the youth expectation, being an aid to their aspirations.”

     

    Sajan Raj Kurup

    Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia, said, “The communication comes from a simple insight that dirt, crowd and germs are fundamental obstacles that come in the way of every Indian’s journey to success. The campaign idea is symbolic of people’s confidence, which empowers them to go on in their daily lives despite the tough conditions in their external environment. The messaging in the health-soap category is largely restricted to protection from germs. We have gone beyond touching upon this functional need of the product and addressed the attitude with which people fight the on-going battle of dirt, crowd and germs.”

     

  • The key challenge for any digital campaign is to identify the right target audience and to creatively engage with them, says Sunil Kataria, Executive VP, Marketing and Sales, Godrej Consumer Products

    Godrej aims for digital connect with consumers

    By Meghna Sharma

     

    As more and more brands enter the already cluttered market today, the challenge for any brand is not only to reinvent itself but also to gain and retain new customers.

     

    Companies are invading the digital space as they see a lot of potential in the medium to tap their audiences. Selling the brand or product is no longer paramount – the aim is to develop and sustain a relationship over a period of time. And as youth are increasingly spending more time on social media, promoting a brand/product/service digitally serves the purpose of attracting and sustaining.

     

    #InViratsHead, #MakesMeAlive, #colouryourfriends and #firsteverfragranceapp are just a few hashtags of the various digital campaigns Godrej has launched lately. The company re-invented itself and has been implementing innovative techniques on various forms of media to drive awareness and establish brand tonality and brand connect with urban TG.

     

    The aer Twitter campaign #colouryourfriends and #firsteverfragranceapp garnered more than 12,500 tweets, reaching out to 6.7 million people and creating more than 47 million impressions in a span of three days.

     

    MxMIndia spoke to Sunil Kataria, Executive VP, Marketing and Sales, Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) on the insight behind their latest campaigns.

     

    Lately, Godrej has launched a lot of campaigns digitally. What has been the thought process behind them?

    Godrej as a brand believes in building a connect with the consumers at every step across platforms. Companies across sectors are leveraging social media to connect with consumers to get instant feedback. For companies it has not only been to sell a brand/product to the consumers but to develop and sustain a relationship over a period of time. The youth are increasingly being spending more time on social media and a lot of their conversations on this medium influence their shopper decisions. Promoting a brand/product/service digitally serves the purpose of attracting and sustaining interest among their consumers and it could be done in innovate and engaging ways. The Godrej campaigns for Cinthol and aer have been the most trending on Twitter lately.

     

    How do you see the digital platform help the brand to rebrand itself in the market?

    With the growth of internet and rising popularity of social media among younger audience it is imperative for brands to create a very significant presence in the digital space. Also, the increasing use of smart phones has significantly reduced consumer consumption of traditional mediums of TV and paper. The digital medium is an exciting platform for brands as they communicate with the consumer directly and the consumer can share his experience with the brand. Apart from that, key influencers/celebrities who are a part of a campaign also help to reach out to a larger pool of audience since the fan following of these influencers get acquainted with the brand through the campaign. For example, fans of Virat got acquainted with the Cinthol brand through the #InViratsHead campaign.

     

    How much is the budget for the digital platform?

    The budget is 2 percent of total ATL budget for digital media.

     

    Apart from digital, what is the marketing mix of the brand?

    Godrej aer is promoted through a 360-degree marketing media. The media vehicles used are TV, Print, Radio & Digital media. Brand has been doing innovations in all the media vehicles planned. Olfactory marketing experience generating initiatives are planned at important touch points like car accessory stores, modern trade stores, petrol pumps and lifestyle-oriented touch points like a gym etc.

     

    With competitors too exploring the digital platform, how can one deal with it to stay ahead in the clutter?

    With the growing popularity of social media and increasing use of digital medium by consumers it is imperative for brands to have an active presence on the digital platform. Consumer conversation on social media influence shoppers’ preferences and hence brands needs to be a part of these conversations to gain new potential customers and sustaining the existing ones. The key challenge for any digital campaign is to identify the right target audience and to creatively engage with them which has been the key focus area for the campaigns by Godrej #InViratsHeadwas trending for three days and # firsteverfragranceapp was trending for two days, which is a clear indication of huge consumer response that the campaign received.

     

    And lastly, where do you see the digital platform in the next five years?

    Increasing internet penetration and demand for smart phones will only increase the engagement of consumers on social media. We could probably see new social media apps being developed to cater to custom made requirements. Consumer would also find new platforms of communications similar to Facebook, Twitter etc which would further accentuate the brand engagement with consumers. Digital will definitely be the pivotal focus of most marketing campaigns and will be the new battlefield for brands to fight for consumer attention.

     

  • Behind every great commercial is super strategy. Every week, MxMIndia will bring you the brief and the strat as given by the client and whatever else that went into creating a winning ad

    AdStrat: Cinthol’s awesome approach

    Sunil Kataria, EVP, Marketing and Sales, GCPL

     

    Name of the campaign/ad – Cinthol digital campaign

    The Brief

    – To drive preference for Cinthol deo spray fragrance for Cinthol

    – The objective of the campaign was to create a strong connect for the brand with the people who relishes challenge and are ready to push themselves no matter what the intensity

    – TVC should be creative, engaging and build a strong connect with the youth, hence the use of Virat Kohli as the face for the campaign

    – Campaign should create a buzz value before its launch and hence social media was utilized

     

    Research insights

    – We wanted to connect with young India and their motivation and aspirations in their life

    – They aren’t in a rat race and aren’t driven by competition; their motivation is more intrinsic and is centered on making their lives interesting

    – Taking on intense stimulating experiences makes them look forward to life and feel intensely alive

     

    The thought process behind the creative

    – Through this campaign we wanted to address the people who are intensely alive and to those that get inspired with such kind of people

    – Virat is one of India’s brightest and most promising cricketing talent and was the perfect fit for the brand as both resembles being young, energetic, passionate, intense

    – Through our products, communication and digital activations Cinthol will showcase and inspire us to be “intensely alive”

     

    Media vehicles chosen

    – We have followed an integrated approach where social media was used to create buzz about the whole campaign before the unveiling of final TVC

    – We created a twitter campaign #InViratsHead prior to the launch and has received tremendous response through it

    – The campaign has just started and has a very positive response. We will continue our media presence in all other mediums like print and radio as well

     

    Key issues kept in mind while executing the ad –

    – While the focus of the campaign was on TVC, the main idea was to create a buzz for the new campaign before the final unveiling of the TVC

    – Key challenge in hand was: To make #InViratsHead trend within a couple of hours, so that buzz could be created and sustained for three days till the launch of the commercial

     

    What is the differentiating factor about the ad?

    – It’s an attitude driven ad. It talks to people who are really passionate about their life and are ready to push their limits

    – The TVC was catchy due to the emotional spin depicted with Virat from being tensed to relish the challenge, looking into the camera menacingly, presumably calling out to the bowler

    – Building the excitement before the launch of the TVC through the social media platform

    -Facebook, Twitter, you tube was something different that was tried. Our strategy was to seed #InViratsHead by encouraging different flows of conversation. In this was we were able to involve parallel conversations about Virat, India, Cricket and youth. We have developed customized responses of Virat to few consumers to give the personalized touch to interaction. The response was phenomenal. Within 5 hours of its launch on Twitter, #InViratsHead was trending worldwide, including in India and all cities of India

    – We have broken the reveal part of our twitter campaign #MakesMeAlive, which basically asked users to contribute with their personal stories and moments

    – Together, #InViratsHead and #MakesMeAlive have now garnered more than 30,000 tweets reaching out to 2.5 million people and creating more than 10 million impressions (and counting) in a span of 6 days, giving the campaign more reach and popularity than #WhyThisKolaveri, a hashtag and viral video that had taken not just the nation but the world by storm

     

    Agency comment: “The campaign stays within the ‘Alive is awesome’ realm, but we’ve adopted a slightly different take for deos. Cinthol Deo is about intense fragrances, and Virat fit the bill very well being a passionate, intense competitor on the field. So we said we’d take a peek into his head and see what’s going on inside. And that intensity is something we did not try and put into words, but showed in action,” said Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia.

     

    Client comment: Sunil Kataria, EVP, Marketing and Sales, GCPL, said, “Our new Alive is awesome campaign has been successful in building the desired awareness of our newly revamped product range and packaging identity of the brand. The launch of our new intense range of deo fragrances is sure to surprise and build a strong connect with the young audience.”

     

  • Creativeland Asia has been mandated to revamp the advertising of Cinthol

    Creativeland Asia to revamp Cinthol

    From the MxM Infodesk

     

    Creativeland Asia has bagged the creative mandate to revamp Cinthol, one of legendary personal care brands in India. As part of the mandate, Creativeland is required to approach Cinthol with their fresh new thinking while making it relevant for today’s consumer and their needs.

     

    Commenting on this development, Sajan RaJ Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia said, “Godrej has shown immense faith in Creativeland Asia. Working on Godrej Expert was an interesting challenge and the response from our client-partners has been very encouraging. Taking this partnership ahead, I am excited to work on Cinthol. Right from the 1980s, Cinthol has been an iconic brand. We all remember the days when popular celebrities such as Vinod Khanna endorsed the brand. We need to simply recreate the magic and the stature Cinthol enjoyed in the past.”

     

    Commenting on this development, Sunil Kataria, Head Sales and Marketing Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. said “Creativeland Asia has a fresh and creatively unique approach to brands. Cinthol is an iconic brand with a huge potential. We look forward to a strong association with Creativeland Asia as we work towards unlocking Cinthol’s immense potential.”