MxMIndia

Tag: Taproot

  • The Taproot co-founder speaks to Anil Thakraney on his story so far, awards & stake sale rumours

    Disappointed at not winning the Grand Prix: Agnello Dias

     

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Taproot’s Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi ‘changed the game’ for Pepsi. And they’ve done ditto with the Indian ad world. Their huge, rapid success has prompted many creative directors to sit up and seriously consider starting their own little shops. Some have already branched out.

     

    Creative hotshops aren’t a new phenomenon in this country. Ravi Gupta, elsie Nanji and Mohammed Khan opened their boutiques many years ago. What’s different with Taproot is that they have been doing stunning work for large clients. Like Pepsi, TOI and Airtel.

     

    This makes the agency path breaking and special. In just three years they have won more Abbies than the number of people in their office. Including peons.

     

    I meet Agnello Dias for some steaming Southie fare at King Circle’s Mysore Cafe. As India’s most happening creative director shares his mantras and his plans for the future. Aggie is that rare advertising individual who listens more than he speaks. And that perhaps is one of the key reasons behind his enviable success.

     

    The last time we met was three years ago. You were running around buying computers and aircons for your new agency which had still to be named. How’s the journey been?

    It’s been like mounting a tiger you can’t get off because things have moved so fast in so many different ways. In terms of the actual structure of the agency and in terms of the actual advertising work.

     

    Did you expect to scale such heights?

    No. I had an idea where I would be and it was much lower than this. I thought we’d be a little quieter and much less in the spotlight. But things have happened and not in the way I thought they would.

     

    Runner-up agency at Goafest. That is something you would never have imagined three years ago.

    (Smiles). No! We knew we’d do well, we knew we had a couple of good campaigns. But statistical superiority was something we never expected.

     

    You must be a proud man.

    (Thinks.) Yeah. It was quite a pleasant surprise. I am proud but it’s also slightly unnerving because I wouldn’t like us to be measured against this every year. Though we are cognizant of the fact that it’s any given Sunday, and that the same jury judging the same work again today may have a different result.

     

    Disappointed that your ‘Har ek Friend’ work (Airtel) didn’t win the Grand Prix?

    Yes. It would be a lie to say that we weren’t disappointed. Because one was always given to believe that a Grand Prix isn’t just about good work, but also about work that has serious impact. And we felt it did have that impact, but the jury thought otherwise. (Shrugs.)

     

    Any major improvement needed in the Goafest judging process?

    I think we, as an industry, stretch ourselves too thin to find hundred judges. And so we end up having, to a certain extent, judges who are not yet ready for judging. One way to solve that would be to have two categories entirely judged by one set of judges. That itself would bring down the number of judges to fifty. That way we will have a far more concentrated, mature bunch of judges. I judged at the ‘One Show’ and it is the exact opposite out there. One jury judges everything. It’s a nightmare but it can be done.

     

    Don’t you at times miss the comfort of a large agency?

    I am not sure comfort is the right word, but definitely the conveniences. Figuring out your own airline tickets, talking to directors and producers about edit commissions, rates, etc because we don’t have a secretary and a films department. But one doesn’t really miss the conveniences because one is so engrossed in what one’s doing.

     

    Do you have a client servicing team and account planners? Are you following the structural format of traditional agencies?

    We don’t have pure strategic planners. We have servicing guys but the ratio would be the opposite of a large agency. It is 5:1 in favour of creative people. We have a managing partner, his name is Manan Mehta. He’s just about 28 years old and he’s the senior most servicing guy we have.

     

    Are you looking to expand into other cities?

    The only option we talk about is Delhi. We are looking at it, though it may not happen.

     

    How many clients do you have?

    Maximum ten.

     

    Want more or are you happy with that?

    If we have to do more than this we will have to hire more staff.

     

    When you started out you said to me that you guys don’t want to be a large agency. That the day you feel you aren’t able to give personal attention to clients you’ll shut down. Has that view changed?

    (Thinks.) It may be on the cusp of changing. Because so far we have been giving personal attention and therefore we aren’t taking on more clients. We are putting them on to other agencies. We are currently contemplating within the office on where we want to be. If we take on more people, they will be one step removed from Paddy (Santosh Padhi) and me. But we haven’t decided that as yet.

     

    What does your own heart say?

    I think one level removed is still fine. But no further than that. We don’t want a large reporting structure.

     

    Does money spoil?

    Yes, it does.

     

    Rumours have it that Aggie and Paddy are looking for investors to sell the agency and cash in.

    When the multinational networks come to town, they do meet us. We do meet them and talk about exactly this. But in this industry you can’t just sell and go away because no one will buy that. So even after an equity sale we will have to be around for at least five years.

     

    But you will still make a killing. Find that tempting?

    Yes, it is tempting. We have been talking to various people but it’s not worked out inside our heads.

     

    Basically they aren’t making offers you can’t refuse.

    Yeah, possibly.

     

    Okay, enough corporate talk. Let’s move to more interesting stuff. Like creativity. How do you go about creating an ad? Any mantras up your sleeve?

    The process is the same. But within that process there are a few quirks I personally have. We try to push a little more even after we’ve cracked it. We try not to go home early. It’s good old fashioned hard work.

     

    One campaign you’ve done at Taproot that you are most proud of.

    The ‘TeachIndia’ campaign (Times ofIndia). It was good creative and it’s also something I identify with.

     

    With ‘Har ek Friend’ I felt you guys have a good understanding of Young India. Did you hang out with the kids, or was that gut feel work? Do you research before starting out?

    Yes, I do. I try to walk the streets, I walk from Matunga (home) to Mahim (office) many times. I stop at all kinds of shops and observe. I once ordered from the teleshopping network just to see how the packet arrives. And I do these things even when there’s no brief. Also, what’s worked for me is that I get fascinated by people who disagree with me. I like to spend more time with them. I think it’s important for all young people in advertising, or anywhere else, to create a persona where people feel comfortable enough to give them negative feedback.

     

    When you hire, what is the one thing you look for in a young creative person?

    First, I look for resilience. Creative stamina. Because unless you come back as equally strongly as the last time, you will not have a long, successful career. Another thing is keen observation. People who notice things in a room which others don’t. And they should be good listeners.

     

    The biggest challenge facing the creative director of today.

    I think most national creative directors in large agencies are good. But the structure has turned on itself in such a horrible manner that they have no choice but to be so thinly spread that they are not able to do justice to a particular brand. And the reason for that is the accumulation of overheads by large agencies. So instead of one, you have to focus on eight other accounts because there are eighty other guys sponging off that account. See the number of designations going around. So the agencies should free their creative directors from having to do so much.

     

    What will the ad agency look like ten years from now?

    I can’t say ten or fifteen years, but the business will become craft agnostic. For example, there are some people who are creative thinkers or planners. And there are some who are not thinkers but craftsmen. Now these guys, because of their high level of craft, become indispensable. And they are given designations or titles which is actually a function of creative thinking. So good art directors become creative directors and attend research briefings though that’s not their core competency. In the future I see press ad shops, where you can get a press ad made. Or film scripting shops. And the ad agency would be a bunch of free thinkers. I think the unbundling of advertising will move to the unbundling of creative.

     

    Having said all this, is there one senior creative director you do admire?

    (Thinks for a long time.) I like Rajiv Rao (O&M). I think he has a naturally keen eye for aesthetics. He has the ability to boil complex problems down and come up with simplest solutions. And that’s visible in the Vodafone work.

     

    Didn’t you admire the way The Hindu hit back at your campaign for TOI, Chennai? even though it’s a rival brand.

    Yes, their response was very good. It’s a good contest. They could have done the crafting a little better, but otherwise it was very good.

     

    Was there any self-doubt when you started out? During the beginning period?

    Yes, there was a lot of self doubt. In fact, apart from The Times, for some time we had very little business. So we just decided to lie low and consolidate. We were open to the fact that we may have to find jobs again. even now if it doesn’t work out we’ll go and apply for jobs in creative agencies.

     

    One thing about the ad world you don’t like.

    The irrational level of competitiveness. I think it’s great to want to do better, but I wouldn’t applaud somebody else’s mistakes. For example, take the case of hard boiled sweets. Now every client wants to do wacky work in this category because someone started doing it. That’s great news for the whole category. The same thing is happening with electricals. Because of Havells we can’t do a normal ad anymore. We should applaud the people who started it, those who belled the cat. So what I am talking about is the difference between healthy and ruthless competition. The ruthlessness is what I don’t like. The attitude that ‘I didn’t do better so I will pull the other guy down’.

     

  • In Mediaah!, Pradyuman Maheshwari recounts a story on how some marketers had once wanted to shift the Mother's Day date and comments on Siddharth Varadarajan's outburst in The Hindu, Hoshie Ghaswalla’s advice to his editors and how Taproot ought to have won the Grand Prix at Goafest for Airtel.

    Mediaah! The business of Akshaya Tritiya & the plot to shift Mother’s Day to make money!

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Many years ago, the CEO and promoter of a well-known consumer product company came to meet me at my office at Mid-Day. He brought with him a large volume and said he wanted to seek my advice.

     

    He said that a group of varied Indian organisations had got together to find a solution to a problem: find an appropriate ‘day’ for mothers. While Diwali and Christmas-New Year were good occasions for gifting,  Valentine’s Day had become a great success thanks to “their collective efforts”. There ws a long gap between Feb 14 and Diwali which falls in October and November. Now, the study conducted by a well-known market research firm said the person whom Indians love the most is the mother. So, what’s the problem, I asked.

     

    Well, he said, the issue is that Mother’s Day falls in May in India and that’s when most schools and colleges are shut. And then he dropped the bombshell. So, we were wondering if we can shift the Mother’s Day to sometime when educational institutions are open as kids pick up the maximum of cards and soft toys etc?

     

    I must confess I was struck by the ingenuity of the idea and how some of the most discerning names in Indian industry had got together to consider this.

    The CEO-businessman wanted my views on the issue, and whether the media would pan the move. They had even looked at alternative dates and were considering August 28 since it coincided with Mother Teresa’s birthday.

     

    This meeting happened sometime in June and I wondered how it could be done since we had already had a Mother’s Day that year? No problem, he said. We’ll have two this year, and told me that the group spearheading the move had considered this and didn’t think it would have any problem. We then spoke of how Shivaji Jayanti was observed on two different dates in Maharashtra and it didn’t bother people.

     

    After this meeting, I kept waiting for a fresh date for Mother’s Day that year and in the next, but figured that wider sense had prevailed and the companies didn’t change the date.

     

    A few years later, when I had relocated to Pune, I discovered that Akshaya Tritiya was being celebrated in a big way.  I was told that it was the next auspicious festival after Gudi Padwa for Maharashtrians, and thought it was essentially Pune thingie. Two years later, when I was back in Mumbai, I found that the day had taken roots here too. And now we have most of the country celebrating it. A festival had come out of nowhere.

     

    I have been somewhat radical with some of my religious beliefs, and had faced some heat from colleagues. I think Karva Chauth is regressive and since this occurred to me a decade-and-a-half back, I have ensure that all the publications that I have worked with didn’t carry any pictures of the celebrations. But I was quite pleasantly surprised to read this outburst by Hindu editor Siddharth Varadarajan (courtesy Sans Serif).

     

     Read this carefully:

    “We carried a ‘jacket’ on Monday in our Tamil Nadu editions that featured a message – laid out in the form of an in-house advertisement – to readers on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya on behalf of “The Hindu”.

     

    “Neither I, as Editor of The Hindu, nor anyone from the editorial side, was involved in the drafting of this message. Nor did we know of, let alone approve, its contents.”

     

    Makes sense, you would say. But the clincher is Para 3:

    “For the record, it is not The Hindu’s editorial position that Akshaya Tritiya, an occasion that has risen to prominence only relatively recently, is one of “the most auspicious days in the Hindu religion.” Nor can we possibly endorse this statement – “The belief that buying gold on this day would make you prosperous throughout the year is shared by one and all” – or others contained in that message.”

     

    One doesn’t have to dream much to figure what Siddharth Varadarajan’s sentiments are on Akshaya Tritiya. And I don’t think he’s incorrect. I don’t read Hindu since I don’t get it in Mumbai, but am surprised that this announcement was carried. So while it would be interesting to know what CEO Arun Anant has to say on his editor’s comment on what his marketing team would’ve done, there’s no denying that the festival has become as big as it has today thanks only to the collective zeal of some marketers.

     

    **

     

    I am delighted to inform that not all business-to-business publications are giving in to the demands and diktats of advertisers. Especially when it comes to editorial content.

     

    Hoshie Ghaswalla

    My friend Hoshie Ghaswalla, recently appointed CEO of the Cybermedia group (publishers of Dataquest, PC Quest, CIOl etc) has now issued an advisory to all his editors that they oughtn’t worry about the whims of large corporations who love bullying trade media. Note: these are my words, not his.

     

    Hoshie and his editor noticed some misgivings among employees of a laaaarge software corporation on salary raises even as the company had declared huge dividends to shareholders. CIOL went to town on the issue a fortnight back, and if the corp hasn’t done it already, it will soon announce wage revisions.

     

    Hoshie tells me that he has advised his editor on a similar story with a large international computer hardware company. “The problem,” he confesses is “that journalists have for far too long been not wanting to upset large companies who are also big advertisers”.

     

    I jumped to defend his editors and said this must be because of his editors who’ve worked in the past would’ve on their own or were told by his predecessors on not damning the big advertisers. Puff pieces only.

     

    Hoshie didn’t agree. I didn’t complain at all. It’s good to see a sales-driven CEO ask his editors to screw erring companies (who may be existing or potential advertisers). This especially in the trade media where there are many who are known to compromise on editorial integrity and ethics.

     

    ***

     

    Agnello Dias

    It’s been over a week since Goafest happened. While I am happy that the Abby went through peacefully, I was surprised that Taproot didn’t win the Grand Prix for the Airtel ad. It deserved every bit of it, and although the Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi were pretty cool about it when my colleague spoke to him soon after the awards (see link), he has shared his disappointment in an interview with Anil Thakraney (see link). Though not in so many words.

     

    I sincerely hope that Taproot continues to bring us great advertising, attracts some $$$s (okay, let’s make it $$$$$$$$$$$$$s!) from the Big networks and is always rooted to the real world.

     

     

    Buzz me if you have a story to tell. Confidentiality assured. There are various ways you can reach me: pradyumanm[at]mxmindia.com, BBM 23050B5D, Gtalk pradyumanm@gmail.com, Twitter @pmahesh and of course the mobile: 98338 76278.

     

    Disclaimer: Although he is CEO and Editor-in-Chief of this site, Pradyuman Maheshwari’s views in Mediaah! are not necessarily those of the rest of the team and MxMIndia.com. And decidedly not those of the sales team 🙂

     

  • The theme of YCC 2012 was 'Role of Youth: Transforming Dialogue to Action.'

    Young changemakers talk about Change

    By Insiyah Rangwala

     

    The Young Changemakers Conclave (YCC) 2012 was held on April 14 at the US Consulate, Mumbai. Organized by Samyak Chakrabarty, Managing Director, Youth Media Group and team for the United Nations Information Centre forIndia and Bhutan (UNIC), in collaboration with the US Consulate General, and presented by UTV Bindaas, the Conclave which is in its second year, was being hosted in Mumbai for the first time. The key focus point of the Conclave was ‘Role of Youth: Transforming Dialogue To Action’.

     

    The Conclave was attended by 200 young individuals between the ages of 18 to 35 who were selected from diverse backgrounds of the 5000 who applied, to attend this near-day-long event to discuss, deliberate and confer on a wide array of topics while engaging with current day leaders and started off with an address by Mr Peter Haas, US Consul General, who talked about how change wasn’t meant to be easy.

     

    Thereafter a diverse and interesting list of dignitaries addressed the gathering:

    > Mr Suhel Sheth, Managing Partner, Counselage who talked about change being internal and about understanding yourself and changing yourself before the world.

    > Mr Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-chief, Times Now, spoke about how the fear of exposure is what leads to making people want to control the media and how that is a change that should be stopped

    > Mr Agnello Dias, Founder, Taproot spoke about creativity in finance and business.

     

    Other speakers included Mr Sanjay Nirupam and Mr Anurag Singh Thakur, both Members of Parliament who spoke about the importance of educating the youth about politics, and a mix of celebrities from the arts and cinema, sports, advocacy and hospitality. Masaba Gupta, Leander Paes, Rahul Akerkar, Rajeev Samant, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Asin Thottumkal, and Awista Ayub, Director, South Asia Program for Seeds of Peace, all of who spoke about their respective journeys to make a change in their own way. Musicians like Vishal Dadlani spoke about using music as an instrument for social change and how it is easier to sneak in a message through music. The event ended with a vote of thanks by Mr Keith Alphonso, Business Head, UTV Bindaas.

     

     

    Keith Alphonso, Business Head – UTV Bindass, talks to MxMIndia about what he defines as a changemaker, the channel’s new look and plans for Bindass

    The word change maker is used a lot nowadays. What do you, and the company, think is a change maker?

    Well, Bindass has always been about change. If you look at the brand, it has changed. This country is on the threshold of an immense amount of change across a variety of levels. I really think that for young people, success is a religion and achievers are their gods. Those who have taken the plunge beyond what society told them, they are the heroes for the kids today. Their achievement is what has identified them as a hero.

     

    Who do you believe are the three top Indian changemakers?

    A: I think it would be a gross injustice to name just three. The only thing that comes to my mind isIndiaitself, and the fact that there is a majority of young people today who are heroes. These are the kids who are going to drive the change, so there maybe 3,000 heroes in small towns who actually go out and do something to make a significant difference to the big guys you see on stage. I think it is the spirit of change that exists among the kids today that will be the changemaker.

     

    Bindass has changed their logo, so any comments about the new look.

    This is the third change we are going through because the audience changes at a supersonic level, there is no such thing as a steady state, especially when dealing with young people. The new look is about the change, so the new tag line- Restless – is about change. It’s about the fact that there is so much opportunity out there, that if you get up and do it now you will succeed and that is the message we want to take across.

     

    Future plans for Bindass…

    To start with the idea behind the new logo is that we celebrate the fact that ‘If you rest less rather than sitting ideal you will be successful and you will achieve’. We want to empower that transformation. We have several platforms through which we want to do it – we have two blockbuster shows coming up: Live Out Loud and Fearless. The brand is all about helping you change, helping you make that move to the better life. On ground we have got a whole string of activities- there is Campus, we’ve got something called the Bindass Buddies, a contact program which helps people get admission to college because that’s a huge problem for a lot of people. We’ve got a 5 city music tour that we are doing. So, the idea is not to do a couple of shows and just be happy. We are looking at the Young India and where we can make a difference.

     

     

  • Bindass will present itself in a new and refined avatar to the world with a focus that’ll be even more skewed towards the youth of today. The new change would read: Bindass – Rest Less

    Bindass goes Rest Less, for good

    By A correspondent

     

    It’s perhaps a brand that’s far ahead of its time and is known for taking generational leaps to adapt to new market dynamics. It was thus natural on its part to undergo a makeover exercise once again what with the youth of today having undergone a radical transformation in their habits.

     

    Being the third such makeover for the company, youth brand Bindass has announced yet another repositioning exercise that’ll see them don a new garb in everything that they do. Effective April 16, Bindass will present itself in a new and refined avatar to the world with a focus that’ll be even more skewed towards the youth of today. The new change would read: Bindass – Rest Less.

     

    Elaborating on the proposed switchover, Keith Alphonso, Business Head, Bindass said: “April 16 is the switch-on date where you’ll see Bindass in a new packaging, new promos, new music, new logos & graphics, new shows and every other touchpoint as well.”

     

    Delving into the specifics of the makeover exercise, Mr Alphonso said that the entire exercise kicked off in October 2011 where a few important points were taken up for analysis. “The first was we took a long hard look at our business and committed to our stated business intent that we wanted to broadbase Bindass into a youth brand and not just exist as a television channel. The idea was to get Bindass to a position where it was relevant to young people and fulfil a very visible need-gap. We thus went back to the market and for three months did a fair amount of research with Ormax and MarketGate and we zeroed in on a position which we are going to craft Bindass as a brand to occupy.”

     

    Explaining the positioning that the brand sought to occupy, Mr Alphonso said: “The position is something that celebrates success and was based on two trends that we observed over a period of time. One trend was the super-confidence that the Indian youth of today boast about where they see opportunity in everything that they do. But if you scratch a little below the surface, you will notice a certain amount of fragility as well. That’s because of the kind of competition that has been created in the marketplace. As we put it, it’s called ‘fragile invincibility’ – as confident and invincible as they seem they are also plagued with problems and they look for a brand as a touchstone. So what we are doing now is to craft Bindass as the brand that gets you there. The brand that holds your hand on that journey and not to be confused with a career and competition brand, so to speak. That’s because for the young person, success has many connotations. This was the value proposition that we latched on to.”

     

    Having shortlisted on the value proposition, the next move was to get help on the communications front and search for options on how to sell the concept to the desirable TG. That’s where they approached Taproot co-founder Agnello Dias, who has been associated with the brand in its previous makeover exercise as well. Mr Alphonso affirmed: “We got Agnello Dias of Taproot onboard who suggested the tagline Bindass -Rest Less. The idea was that it celebrates constant perpetual energy of the youth of today. So the brand value is about celebrating the people who rest less and succeed. As for the communication, it will happen across multiple mediums, including mass media, print, and so on, but importantly, however we are perceived we will ensure that the spirit of Bindass – Rest less will be embedded there.”

     

    Mr Agnello Dias, Chairman and Co-founder, Taproot India, added: “A key trait that marks youth behaviour today is a sense of constant motion; everyone is either going somewhere or doing something all the time. This non-stop motion, well-channelized is the new objective ideal. Settling down is fast going down the priority list. The bubbling undercurrents of discovery, exploration, invention, challenge, action seem to top that list. The new brand campaign for Bindass captures precisely this, that the youth today are ‘Rest Less’ and actually rest even lesser. We had earlier worked on Bindass’ immensely successful ‘What I am’ campaign as well which really caught on with the youth and this time around with Rest Less we hope to continue connecting with them yet again.”

     

    On how these changes would be reflected on the channel and other properties,  Mr Alphonso stated: “We will be launching two new shows – Live out Loud and Fear Less – in April and July, which will reflect the new change that we are talking about. LOL will let individuals say the one thing they always wanted to say with 250 people from Bindass supporting them in their stance. Fear Less is a gang of friends coming together to help one of their own overcome a debilitating fear. With these shows and more we are moving to a stage where we want to aid in transformation.”

     

    In fact that’s not all, as part of its efforts to be seen as an integrated brand Bindass would be tapping the medium of YouTube in a big way. “We would be launching a new channel on YouTube where we will be releasing short-form programmes only for that space. That medium has its own unique consumption patterns and parameters. We will be creating exclusive content for users on YouTube and not rehash content from somewhere else. Even our Facebook page will go under a radical new layout where you’ll have newsletters giving you information on movie deals, contests, tickets for matches, and so on. The idea is everything that we do is going to be about helping young kids get to their goal faster,” assured Mr Alphonso.

     

    When asked on the need for undertaking continuous makeover exercises, Alphonso reverted: “It has been a deliberate move to undergo repositioning again. When we launched in 2007 we were about Bindass – TV, Web,Mobile- that was a time when other channels were yet to discover multiple content. From there to 2010, we came out with a very attitude-based positioning which was Bindass – What I Am. There was a prevalent thought among young people at that point in time that they just wanted to be themselves. We reflected this non-judgmental spirit of theirs by saying it is an attitude. That was successful for us because it pushed us into a branded play. As of today, because we wanted to broad base our brand, because we wanted to be seen as more than a television channel, to become a new touchstone so that new business opportunities can be explored – for that to happen, brand Bindass had to have a call to action. And, therefore, the new positioning of Rest Less.”

     

    While the first two repositioning exercises did wonders for Bindass in terms of acceptability and attracting GRPs, the idea going forward would be to move beyond being just a channel and move into a space where it could become a huge brand by itself. Affirmed Mr Alphonso: “Probably in a year or two, I could launch Bindass range of jeans and get into doing other such activities; that is what our focus would be going forward. At the end of 18-odd months, you will see the emergence of umbrella youth brand Bindass that will also have a television channel, an events division, branded services, digital, and so on.”

     

  • Online viewers of the new HFZ videos can earn points on the leaderboard and upload their own video to stand a chance to win gadgets or a trip to Spain.

    Airtel’s HFZ campaign goes viral

    Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, after the success of its ‘Har Friend Zaroori Hai, Yaar’ (HFZ) campaign, has extended this brand idea with the launch of an all new online viral campaign on its YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/airtel).

     

    Created by Taproot, these 20 videos are inspired by interesting ‘friend types’ or tags created by the online audience on Facebook (www.facebook.com/airtelindia) during an outreach programme which had been initiated by Airtel earlier.

     

    Over the coming weeks, the company will periodically release a total of 20 videos on the web and use the concept of ‘Gamification’ to excite viewers to unlock, access and share them.

     

    An interesting trend that depicts the way the current generation consumes and accesses information, Gamification is an infusion of gaming techniques and unique story telling that makes discovery content more fun and engaging. As part of this Gamification-led initiative by Airtel, everyone keen on watching these videos will need to visit www.youtube.com/airtel and will be provided interesting cues, by responding correctly to which they will be able to ‘unlock’ video levels and gradually move ahead.

     

    Commenting on the launch of the new HFZ viral campaign, Bharat Bambawale, Director – Global Brand, Bharti Airtel, said, “The youthful rendition of Airtel’s ‘Har Friend Zaroori Hai, Yaar’ campaign and its accompanying foot-tapping friendship anthem have resonated well with people of all age groups and backgrounds – much like the brand itself. Given the theme itself, focusing on the discerning online audience was a natural choice for us. With this in mind, Airtel launched an online campaign that encouraged everyone to create unique friend types on Facebook which received 65,000 entries in a span of days. We have now chosen the most interesting friend tags like ‘Status Update fried, Activist Friend, Dhinchak friend’, ‘Filmi Friend’, ‘Chipkoo Friend’ and ‘Proxy Friend’ to create new HFZ online viral videos. These videos will follow the increasingly popular global trend of ‘Gamification’ to encourage viewers to spread the word on these evocative videos that bring alive ways in which friends touch different aspect of our lives.”

     

    Tagging others and sharing these videos on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ will allow viewers to gather points on the leaderboard. And then finally one can upload their own friend type video in order to win a Nokia Lumia 800 and a trip toIbiza,Spainas the grand prize.

     

    A complete deviation from traditional media strategy, Airtel will release these videos on the web starting January 4.

     

    The original HFZ soundtrack is now also available through new interpretations in laavni, bhangra, hip-hop, folk etc.

     

  • The agency has come out with a compelling campaign for Mumbai Mirror which showcases the newspaper on a crusade giving voice to the unheard stories

    Taproot India gives voice to the Mumbaikars

    By A Correspondent

     

    TaprootIndiahas come out with its campaign for Mumbai Mirror. The newspaper had first come out with a campaign in the year 2005 during its launch. This is the paper’s first campaign after that initial launch campaign.

     

    The focus of the campaign is to showcase the newspaper as the voice of the Mumbaikars and brings to its readers umpteen, untold stories.

     

    Talking about the campaign, Rahul Kansal, Chief Marketing Officer, Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd, said: “Mumbai Mirror is a strong newspaper that looks out for its readers. In a city where the ordinary guy can feel rather helpless as he is always at the receiving end of an insensitive system, the paper empowers the reader and gives him a voice.”

     

    The campaign which is out in print, television, cinema, digital and outdoor takes four real stories from Mumbai: burning of Rohinton Mistry’s book, the milk adulteration scam, the case of remand home for children and political posters and then creates fictionalized accounts of how these affected the Mumbaikars.

     

    The objective of the campaign is to underline the fact that every citizen, rich or poor, oppressed or cheated has a voice that reaches the city every morning.

     

    Mumbai Mirror has been bringing to the forefront its readers’ unheard voices through a relentless series of exposes.

     

    Talking about what it is with TOI that has made Agnello Dias and his team come up with the countless powerful campaigns, he said: “Its trust that TOI has in us and I am scared to let them down.”

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Mr Dias said: “Mumbai has many faces. Some that evoke, others provoke. But if we were to look every one of them in the eye, we will find that all of them are the face of Mumbai. Many stories make this city and some need to be told.”

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVb01vfbVEw[/youtube]

    Credits:

    Agency: TaprootIndia

    Client: Bennet & Coleman

    Brand Team: Rahul Kansal/Priya Gupta

    Creative Directors: Santosh Padhi/Agnello Dias

    Media Agency: Lodestar UM

    Copy: Agnello Dias

    Account Management: Mandar Sawant

    Production House: RDP

    Director: Abhinay Deo

    Music: Ram Sampath

    Executive Producer: Apurba Sengupta

     

    Mumbai Mirror – I am Mumbai

  • Ogilvy & Cadbury were Client & Agency of the Year respectively @ Effies 2011. Vodafone & JWT were runner-up. Taproot bagged Grand Effie for Pepsi

    Cadbury & O&M top Effies 2011 honours

     

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    On an exhilarating race day, at a place where horses would be galloping and competing their way for a finish to the top, yesterday it was the turn of the advertising fraternity to trot the turf and vie for their prized silverware. Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai was host to Effies 2011, the only awards show of its kind that recognizes effective advertising by creative agencies.

     

    Having finished as the agency with the highest number of shortlists, Ogilvy & Mather didn’t disappoint as it swooped a bagful of awards – 19 metals in all – leading it to be pronounced the Effie Agency of the Year for 2011. With a tally of 195 points – 7 Golds, 6 Silvers and 6 Bronzes, Ogilvy thumped its nearest rival JWT by almost thrice the number of metals, a milestone that has been a regular affair at the awards. JWT came a distant second with 65 points – 3 Golds, 1 Silver, 2 Bronzes, while DDB Mudra and Lowe Lintas were tied for the third spot with 45 points each.

     

    The icing on the cake for O&M was when its coveted client Cadbury was declared the Effie Client of the Year. With 4 Golds and 2 Silvers, Cadbury edged out Vodafone India – an Ogilvy client as well – which occupied the second spot with 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze. HUL came third with a single Gold and 4 Bronzes.

     

    Flagging off the awards ceremony, Shashi Sinha, President of the Bombay Ad Club welcomed the gathering by stating that it had been a stellar an experience for the organising committee and the judges who managed to sieve and rummage through a bundle of noteworthy entries. Apart from the big number of entries and new additions the event managed to attract, Sinha said that the awards was different from the others, as it was run on international guidelines and was importantly, controversy-free.

     

    Lavishing praises on the event, Chairperson – Effie Committee and fellow-member, Ajay Kakar began by citing an anecdote. “During my early days as an executive in an ad agency, I used to often hear marketers say that half the money I spent on advertising is wasted and the trouble is, which half was wasted was not known. But with the instituting of the Effies, that perception has changed. In fact, it is the only awards show where both the client and the ad agency walk together to collect the awards.”

     

    According to Kakar, it was truly a remarkable experience for the organising committee this year as there were more categories – 12 in all, which saw around 300 entries and the 80 judges had the arduous task of shortlisting the best.

     

    Winning stance

    Elated with another super showing, Abhijit Avasthi, NCD, Ogilvy India remarked: “We are absolutely thrilled, given that Effies is a culmination of the year’s efforts and that it is the right balance between creativity and effectiveness in the marketplace. What’s more reassuring and satisfying is that the wins are across a lot of categories and clients.”

     

    When asked to comment on his client bagging the Client of the Year award Avasthi said: “Though we are happy that Cadbury has bagged the Client of the Year award, we have been supported phenomenally well by our other clients too.”

     

    Not disheartened by the performance of his agency, Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT India, which came in second, said: “Every year, around this time, we review the works that we do for our clients and given our standing at the Effies this year, we hope to start 2012 with a brand new team so as to compete closely with the No 1.”

     

    On Effies being a great creative platform for agencies, Colvyn said: “I think Effies is a great platform for one to showcase their work, because finally, creativity may be everything but this is as important, if not more important, from a client’s point of view. If you are not successful in the marketplace, then nothing else matters. So my ambition is obviously to do well at the Effies and back that up with a good creative showing as well.”

     

    It was a night of thrilling proportions for Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi from Taproot India as they bagged the envious Grand Effie award. Sharing his initial reaction on the win, Agnello Dias, co-founder, Taproot India said: “It keeps getting better. When I won for Lead India, I thought this is it; I won’t get another Grand Effie. Then Teach India happened and this year I won a Grand Effie again. So it keeps getting better. It’s even more satisfying that we are doing it outside of a large network agency and we are doing it on our own.” On the hopes for next year, Aggie said that he aimed to continue the feat with Airtel and maybe also Pepsi.

     

    Enumerating on their win, Santosh Padhi, co-founder of Taproot India said: “We had sent four entries, of which three were shortlisted, while two bagged awards. So I guess it was a pretty good showing. Considering the size of our agency – we have around 30 people, versus other big agencies that have 3,000 people, or more. Competing with them and coming fifth is an outstanding achievement for us. This shows that it is not numbers that matter but the power of an idea that is important.”

     

    Joseph George, CEO, Lowe Lintas, which tied for the third spot, said: “I think we could have done much better because Effies are the only awards that we seriously participate in. Actually, we were a bit disappointed with the shortlist itself considering we had sent more than 20 entries. But no worries, we will try harder and do better next year. What is important is that the No 1 tag is never to be taken for granted and the same goes for No 2 and 3. So we hope to be back next year, bigger and stronger.”

     

    The other commendable awards for the night included Marico Uncommon Sense Award that was bagged by O&M for Vodafone’s ‘Blackberry for Everyone’ and Brand Equity Bravery Award that was bagged by BBDO India for Gillette Mach3 Turbo – Shavesutra.

     

    Tally:

     

    Effie Client tally: