MxMIndia

Tag: Vandana Das

  • The account will be led by DDB Mudra North

    Paras Dairy appoints DDB Mudra as creative partners

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dairy brand Paras Dairy has entrusted the DDB Mudra Group with its creative duties. As a part of the mandate, the agency will be responsible for the brand’s creative strategy and execution.

     

    At DDB Mudra, Paras will be managed by DDB Mudra North and will be led by its President & Managing Partner Vandana Das.

     

    Commenting on the partnership, Aldrin Joseph, General Manager, Marketing, Paras said:“We are delighted to have DDB Mudra as our new creative partners. They are rated amongst the best and we believe they can produce some outstanding work, while building our brand. At Paras, we are constantly working towards creating greater value for our consumers with our unique and meaningful product offerings and are looking towards an exponential growth of our business over the coming years. We are sure that we will be ably supported in this endeavor by DDB Mudra.”

     

    Added Vandana Das, President & Managing Partner, DDB Mudra North:“We are excited to add Paras Dairy to our growing brand roster. Paras is a legacy brand in its own right and we are confident that our partnership will lead to not just some great, defining work but will also contribute towards Paras’s growth in this highly challenging market.”

     

     

  • The campaign attempts to inspire its listeners to look at the brighter side of things

    My FM extends ‘Jiyo Dil Se’ proposition further in latest brand campaign

     

     

    My FM, the radio arm of DB Corp, has launched a new brand campaign with the punchline ‘Chalo Aaj Kuch Achcha Sunte Hai”, which stems from the brand proposition of ‘Jiyo Dil Se’. The idea takes form through a print and outdoor campaign supported by the station jingle. DDB Mudra is the creative agency.

     

    Said Harrish M Bhatia, CEO My FM: “My FM believes that it has larger role to play in people’s life than just entertainment, our attempt is to bring back the unadulterated entertainment, light hearted purposeful listening that radio promises. The current campaign is a huge reflection of that.”

     

    Commenting on the launch of the new campaign, Rohit Mehrotra, Brand Head, My FM, added: “We want to take the brand to the next level. The idea is to position ourselves as a complete “family listening radio station”. Chalo Aaj Kuch Achcha Sunte Hai’, is in sync with the product promise of providing content that’s meaningful, positive and energetic, the attempt is to inspire listeners to look at the brighter side of things.”

     

    Speaking on the campaign, Vandana Das, President & Management Partner, DDB Mudra North said: “My FM is a pioneering radio brand and it needed a campaign that was personal and had a connect with the listeners; a connect which will help evoke a sense of pride and ownership towards the radio station. This campaign does exactly that.”

     

  • The film has been crafted by DDB Mudra North

    Vijender Singh promotes benefits of Power Vita in latest film for Patanjali

    By A Correspondent

     

    Banking on its recent successes, Patanjali has recently launched a new drink in the health food category (HFD) – Power Vita. For this new product, DDB Mudra North, the came up with the tag line- ‘Poore Parivaar Ke Prakritik Poshan Ke Liye’. The agency was tasked to create a distinct identity for the product in the well-established, brown, health drink category.

     

    To reinforce the Indian origin of the product, celebrity boxer and Olympian Vijender Singh was roped in as the brand ambassador.

     

    Commenting on the campaign strategy, Avinash Kumar, CGM- Marketing & Media, Patanjali Ayurved said:”With Patanjali Herbal Power Vita, we intend to provide consumers the ultimate and natural powerhouse of their family’s daily nutrition. Featuring Vijender Singh for the film has been great since he is the face of Indian boxing today and epitomizes hard work and perseverance; the apt quotient for our product.”

     

    Vandana Das

    Added Vandana Das, President & Managing Partner, DDB Mudra North, said: “Patanjali’s Power Vita is a unique health drink that’s aimed at the entire family and not just kids. While the campaigns for other malt based health drinks are focused on the nutritional needs of growing kids, we wanted to create a distinct space for Power Vita. Vijender Singh is a champion sportsman and Olympian, and his image is that of a grounded and dedicated athlete. He fits in naturally with our campaign idea, ‘Poore Parivaar Ke Prakritik Poshan Ke Liye’.”

     

  • The agency was chosen following a multi-agency pitch involving major Indian advertising players such as Dentsu Marcom and McVitie's India's incumbent agency Publicis Capital

    DDB Mudra North wins the creative mandate for McVitie’s Biscuits

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB Mudra North has won the creative mandate for McVitie’s Biscuits, the flagship brand of United Biscuits in India.

     

    McVitie’s is a global brand present in over 100 countries with a strong heritage in the UK. McVitie’s Digestive is the flagship product of the parent brand in India.

     

    The agency was chosen following a multi-agency pitch involving major Indian advertising players such as Dentsu Marcom and McVitie’s India’s incumbent agency Publicis Capital.

     

    Sonal Dabral
    Vandana Das

    Commenting on the account win, Sonal Dabral, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group said, “McVities is a much loved brand across the world. Having been a fan for the last 14 years, it’s my favourite brand of biscuits and cookies too. We are looking forward to creating some fresh and exciting work on this brand.”

     

    Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra North said, “We are delighted to be associated with McVitie’s, an interesting brand in the FMCG Sector. We look forward to take this brand on a growth path with a communication package that would certainly grab a lot of attention.”

     

  • The launch of Pan Bahar Crystal gave the company a great opportunity to reposition their flagship brand

    DDB Mudra unveils new multimedia campaign for Pan Bahar

    By A Correspondent

     

    Pan Bahar, the pioneers and the primary manufacturers of pan masala, are known to the world as the ‘Heritage Pan Masala’. The company recently ventured in the ultra-premium segment with the launch of ‘Pan Bahar Crystal’, the world’s most expensive Pan Masala.

     

    The launch of Pan Bahar Crystal gave the company a great opportunity to reposition their flagship brand. Thus, a multi-media campaign with the new positioning ‘Pehchan Kaamyabi Ki’ (Identity of Success) was launched with none other than Saif Ali Khan as the brand ambassador.

     

    Spread across print, television and digital, the brand has come up with interesting strategies to promote the campaign and to introduce Pan Bahar Crystal to its loyalists. The recently launched ad film featuring Bollywood superstar Saif Ali Khan is being publicized on the brand’s social pages. Pan Bahar also ran an online contest in connection to the ad film which one could participate in by watching the film, visiting the brand’s website and correctly answering the three questions.

     

    Vandana Das
    Sambit Mohanty

    Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra North, said, “The objective of the campaign was to establish Pan Bahar as a brand with a unique and aspirational identity that consumers could easily symbolize with success. The brand category to which Pan Bahar belongs to is largely driven by loyalty and hence great emphasis has been laid on using success and achievement- aspirational tone of communication.”

    Sambit Mohanty, Creative Head, DDB Mudra North quoted, “In challenging times, a person needs anchors that help him take a unique identity and make a personality statement. But for some people, their achievements are their identity – they don’t need to shout out loud that they’ve ‘arrived’. Their achievements do it for them. This is the thought that we used while crafting this campaign.”

     

    Akhil Jain, CEO, Pan Bahaar said, “Pan Bahar as a brand has continually set benchmarks in the industry by delivering excellence through innovation of process and uniformity of taste, in our product offerings. The campaign has given a great emphasis on having arrived in life, success & achievement- aspirational tonality. It’s all about making a life-style statement.”

     

     

     

  • Shri Lal Mahal Group is one of the largest exporters of Basmati and non-Basmati rice from India

    DDB Mudra North partners with Shri Lal Mahal Group

    By A Correspondent

     

    Post a multi-agency pitch, DDB Mudra North has been entrusted with the creative mandate of Shri Lal Mahal Group.

     

    With a legacy spanning over a century, Shri Lal Mahal Group is one of the largest exporters of Basmati and non-Basmati rice from India. In addition, the Group holds the credit of being the first Exporter to have exported 5000 MT of Basmati Rice for the first time from India to Europe, in 1978.

     

    Dev Garg, Director & Uday Nayak, Business Head, Domestic Market of Shri Lal Mahal Group said, “From its modest beginnings as a small business house, the company has grown into a large multinational conglomerate with a steadily rising annual turnover. Shri Lal Mahal is a Star Trading House and one of the biggest exporters of rice from India, exporting Basmati rice to Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, South East Asia and the Middle East. Our need of the hour is a complete revamp of the brand in order to further strengthen our presence in both national and international markets. In this interesting phase of our brand journey we needed a partner to deliver not just creative excellence but business solutions to us. In DDB Mudra, we’ve found that able partner.”

     

    Vandana Das

    Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra North, said, “It’s a delight to be partnering Shri Lal Mahal, a client with a rich legacy. We look forward to partnering them into taking this brand on a growth path with a communication package that would be much noticed.”

     

  • DDB Mudra gets in Arun Sharma from Contract to head planning in Delhi

    DDB Mudra appoints Arun Sharma as Head of Planning, Delhi

    Arun Sharma

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB Mudra has roped in Arun Sharma as Head of Planning, DDB Mudra Delhi. He will work on clients including Wrigley’s, Bata, Carrier Midea, India Yamaha Motors and Dabur among others and will report in to Aditya Kanthy, Senior VP, DDB Mudra.

     

    Mr Sharma joins DDB Mudra Delhi from Contract Advertising where he was VP, Strategic Planning.

     

    Vandana Das

    On joining DDB Mudra, he said: “DDB Mudra has a well-known culture of planning and it’s an opportunity for me to partner Vandana and Aditya in implementing the bold planning vision for the agency.”

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra Group, Delhi, said. “I welcome Arun to the DDB Mudra Group family. He has vast experience across categories and I’m sure with his experience, he would be able to add value to all our current businesses and also towards our new business initiatives.”

     

    Aditya Kanthy

    Adding to this, Aditya Kanthy, Senior VP, Planning, DDB Mudra, said, “Arun is a bright, ambitious and full of energy – just the kind of person we were looking for to lead our terrific young planners in Delhi. His experience is a good match for our client profile. He should have no trouble easing into our culture. I’m sure he’ll enjoy it.”

     

  • Given the clouds over the Indian Premier League, MxMIndia spoke to industry professionals to find out what brands can do in such a scenario

    Is negative publicity a positive for brands?

     

    By Meghna Sharma and Ananya Saha

     

    The Indian Premier League had more than its share of negative publicity this season. Did the brands associated with IPL get affected too? And is it possible for brands associated with an event to avoid negative publicity around the event? Or is any publicity good publicity? MxMIndia spoke to industry professionals to find out what brands can do in such a negative scenario.

     

    Harish Bijoor, Marketing & Brand strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc

    Brands are like human beings; they are born, they live, they thrive and then they die. In this entire life-cycle, if a brand has a slur cast onto it, this slur lasts as long or as short as the memory of the brand-audience. A controversy is both good and bad for the brand. It is good as it keeps the brand in public mindsets longer, it is bad because it is a canker that affects the image of the brand at large.

     

    Brands that are active, dynamic, have large mind-shares and market shares alike, cannot really stay away from controversy. The silver lining is the fact that public memory is proverbially short. Very short. Irreverent brands love all kinds of publicity. Possibly IPL is on the cusp of being an irreverent brand. All controversy is good for such brands.

     

    Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra Group, Delhi

    I do not think that any brand associated with IPL got affected with the recent controversies. Brands have their own long-standing equity. Controversy is the pivot, but not necessarily everything in the periphery will get affected. What is important to note is that controversies are short-lived and brands have a longer life than a controversy. While one can say that IPL is in trouble, one cannot say that the brands are in trouble. It is not that the brands knowingly get into controversy. Brands do not have the control or have influence over such controversies. The brands tend to tide over it. At that particular moment, controversies seem big but brands tide over it.

     

    But this in no way means that any publicity is good publicity. At the end of the day, even short-lived negative publicity can affect a brand. And if a brand is not strong enough, it can even dilute its equity. Just like people, brands also need to avoid any negative publicity around them.

     

    Sachin Kapur, Chief Marketing Officer, Groupon India

    I particularly do not think that brands associated with IPL will get affected by negative publicity, primarily because it is not in the brand’s or brand manager’s hands. Yes, there are brands riding on the popularity of the event, the association is more to do with individual team or player. The overall interest in the IPL might go down, and while brands might have associated with the event to gain from it, it is still a long shot to say that it might have affect on the brands.

     

    Today, with active social media, even one negative blog post or tweet spreads like wildfire. It will reach your customer.

     

    There are times when there are situations, negative situations, surround a brand. These are times that challenges or reactions from the brand do not go down well with the consumer or audience. But no brand, whether six-sigma complaint or not, can stay down for long. The strategy of every brand should be to focus on customer.

     

    Amitabh Khona, Communication Consultant

    Today, crisis management is very important. Everyone knows about the Cadbury and Coke controversies, but have people stopped eating or drinking them? No. It depends on how a brand strikes back. For instance, Cadbury changed its packaging after worms were found in one batch. Also, another factor is the short memory of people. We will talk about something for a few days or months, but forget about all of it later and move on with our lives. Same can be said about IPL, although the recent events are all over the news channels and newspapers, people haven’t stopped watching the matches.

     

    Also, today where there are too many brands, one can say that any publicity is good publicity. No one will go out of business because of negative publicity or controversies. Such things keep happening and will continue to happen, everywhere in the world.

     

  • DDB Mudra Delhi has won the Rs 40 crore business of Marico's Livon brand

    DDB Mudra Delhi bags Marico’s Livon

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB Mudra Delhi has added Marico’s Livon brand to its slew of accounts. The size of the account is pegged at Rs 40 crore. The incumbent on the account ‘Cut the Crap’ had been working on the brand before Marico acquired the brand from Reckitt Benckiser earlier this year. DDB Mudra Group won this mandate after a rigorous multi-agency evaluation process.

     

    Sonal Dabral

    Sonal Dabral, Chairman & CCO, DDB Mudra Group, said, “Livon presents us with a wonderful opportunity to take the DDB ideology of social creativity forward. A brand that talks to audiences that live in a connected world, we look forward to creating ideas that have an inherent ‘talk value’ that drives the brand forward. Besides, with Marico, we are really excited about partnering with one of the most professional Indian multinationals.”

     

     

    Vandana Das

    Commenting on this big win, Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra Group, Delhi, says, “It’s a great starting point and very encouraging for all of us to be associated with a brand from Marico’s stable. Having won Livon, we are all really delighted and geared to have a long innings together. We look forward to doing some path-breaking and exciting work on the business in months ahead.”

     

  • Putting the spice into the edible oil landscape, Dhara's new campaign comes after a six-year break and addresses the health concerns of the new generation

    Dhara offers healthy variety to its TG

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    Dhara, which has in the past come up with successful taglines including ‘Dhara Dhara Shudh Dhara’ and ‘My Daddy Strongest’, has now after a gap of almost six years come out with a new campaign.

     

    India Ka Tadka is how Dhara has positioned itself in its current communication, which is about celebrating the fondness of food that Indians are known for and various emotions that come with food.  It also talks of the role that edible oil plays in daily Indian cooking, which also involve frying. Hence, Dhara offering guilt-free consumption of all things that are seen as sinful by switching to the brand that offers healthy variants of oil to choose from, thus also championing the rotating of different oils which is seen as a healthy choice.

     

    Offering an insight into the reason for the six-year gap before this campaign, Amit Kumar Taneja, Senior Brand Manager, Dhara, Mother Dairy, said, “In the year 2009, we revamped the entire packaging for the brand and then post that we have been doing a lot of work like creating a new brand identity based on its equity and heritage, introducing new variants and simultaneously focusing on distribution in regions with tactical media exposure. Taking a step ahead we thought that it is the right time to also introduce a national campaign now. Incidentally, Dhara has just entered its 25th year too.”

     

    The campaign tries to bring about an emotional connect, along with being relevant, to the consumers. Mr Taneja explained, “Edible oil is like salt which is a necessary ingredient for the everyday kitchen. Now there are certain reserves regarding consuming oil. So what we are essentially saying that research recommends changing oil variants frequently for healthy lifestyle, and we have taken the responsible route and provide those variants under the Dhara umbrella thus providing consumers reassurance that we are taking care of their health needs.”

     

    He added, “The message is being reinforced on Dhara packaging as well, which reads as ‘For optimum health benefits Dhara recommends consumption of more than one variant to get balanced quantity of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) along with a variety of micro nutrients present in different oils’. ”

     

    India ka Tadka essentially means that we have grown up hearing the crackling sound of tadka, and whenever we hear it, subconsciously we know that food is going to be served. Tadka is that wafting aroma of spices in oil which turns an ordinary meal into the most exquisite treat. It’s also a metaphor for the joie de vivre, the spice of life. The positioning tries to capture the significance of food even in our smallest of celebrations.

     

    The campaign is developed by DDB Mudra and shot by Thumbnail Pictures. It’s been launched pan-India with Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Bengali edits. The OOH too is being tapped in different cities across India.

     

    Commenting on the TVC, Vandana Das, President, DDB Mudra, said, “We take a lot of pride in this campaign and our association with Dhara for so many years. With past campaigns like ‘Jalebi’ and ‘My Daddy Strongest’ done for Dhara, the benchmark was already set very high. What’s great and delights us is that we managed to partner the client in creating yet another campaign that not just breaks the category clutter but also captures a strong insight. India ka Tadka for sure depicts each one of us in some way or the other.”

     

  • She will be responsible for building both the DDB Mudra and Mudra brands in Delhi.

    Vandana Das to join DDB Mudra, Delhi as President

    By A Correspondent

     

    Vandana Das, President and Branch head at Brand David, a sister agency of Ogilvy, is all set to come on board the DDB Mudra Group as President. She will be responsible for building, both, the DDB Mudra and Mudra brands in Delhi.  She brings with her more than two decades of experience including more than fifteen years at Ogilvy.

     

    A post graduate in Psychology and Business Administration, Ms Das is credited with the significant growth that Ogilvy Delhi has enjoyed in the last few years. Besides successfully turning around many Dabur brands across the hair care, skin care, oral care and home care categories, she launched the hugely successful Maruti Zen Estillo Little box campaign, a completely integrated effort that spanned television, print, OOH, digital as well as rural marketing.

     

    She played a significant role in transforming Limca from an uninspiring brand to a very refreshing drink for the youth. She has also worked on Costa Coffee, Hindustan Times and Four Square Cigarettes. At Ogilvy Delhi, Vandana also served as a training leader.

     

    Speaking on the new development, Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO and MD of the DDB Mudra Group said: “I am glad that Vandana is coming on board. I look forward to working closely with her. In the Group, we are keen on building our Delhi operations around her. I was impressed with not just her dynamic leadership capabilities, but also her boundless energy and lively people skills. Both, in terms of culture and mindset, she will be a great fit and asset within the DDB Mudra Group.”

     

    Vandana Das said; “It has been great working with Ogilvy for the past 17 years and my time spent has been very enriching and will always be cherished. It is now time to explore other opportunities and I am excited. DDB Mudra is poised for even greater growth and I am looking forward to being part of the team that will steer it.”