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Tag: Vikram Sakhuja

  • Hindustan Unilever is Client of the Year as Ogilvy bags the Grand Effie for Fevikwick

    McCann is #1 at Effies, again

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It was the night when the McCann Worldgroup flag was flying high. Yet again. McCann took home the Agency of the Year title by a comfortable 34 points. Ogilvy was runner-up, but a big consolation for theme would be the winning of the coveted Grand Effie for Fevikwick. Hindustan Unilever was Client of the Year. Interestingly, Saregama was runner-up in the Client of the Year roster albeit at nearly half the points as HUL. Vodafone was #3 and last year’s Client of the Year, Paytm (One97 Communication) was #4.

     

    Interestingly, Hindustan Unilever was #6 on the Agency of the Year roster, having had to send in the entries since its creative agency chose to stay away.

     

    The evening saw a record attendance, and was run efficiently. Like Advertising Club events are. However, many agency biggies – including some from runner-up Ogilvy – were conspicuous by their absence.

     

    Speaking about winning at the Effies, Vikram Sakhuja, President of The Advertising Club and Chairperson, Effies said: “Effies continues to have a place off pride and eminence in the life of every marketeer and advertiser. Winning an Effie is a career milestone and is reflective of the campaign’s innovation, execution efficiency and communication impact. The focus for us at the Effies is to reward and recognize brand stories that have strength of idea and have showcased effectiveness, scalability and contributed significantly to brand and the categories communication and growth agenda.”

     

     

    Added Mitrajit Bhattacharya, Co-chairperson, Effies 2019, said: “The Effies 2019 has continued to witness significant representation and support from industry leaders and media mavens. The awards this year saw as many as 283 leaders, including 137 Clients, 105 Planning/ Agency Heads, 15 Media Professionals and 26 Specialists who adjudged the awards across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, ensuring inclusivity and substantial category representation. The awards have year on year evolved to include new categories and represent new genres basis changing industry ecosystems, ensuring that the awards continue to stay relevant and pertinent.”

     

    Speaking on McCann’s success, Chairman McCann Asia Pacific and CEO and CCO McCann Worldgroup India said: “I am extremely delighted and proud of McCann winning the Agency of the Year second year in a row at the Effies. These awards reflect the strategic prowess based on our belief of creating meaningful work for the brands which we have been doing for our clients across all our offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Congratulations to the entire team and specially that of our strategic planners led by Jitender Dabas, and hard work of Suraja Kishore, Rajesh Sharma, Prateek Bhardwaj, Kapil Batra, Abhinav Tripathi and leadership support from Alok Lall, Mandeep Sharma and visionary guidance from Partha Sinha.”

     

    Effie 2019 RESULTS FINAL FINAL

  • It’s India Shining at Ogilvy Worldwide. India chief Pandey is Global Creative Big Boss

    Mera Bharat Mahaan. Mera Piyush Mahaan!

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Who would you think is the boss of the Indian cricket team? Ravi Shastri, the chief coach and hence the off-the-field boss or Virat Kohli, the onground captain?

    Okay, the analogy isn’t possibly correct, but still it wouldn’t be inappropriate to say that the real Big Boss of a Creative Agency is the Chief Creative Officer. Just as it’s the on-the-field cricket-playing captain who is the real boss of the unit.

    Now there is enough reason for every Indian to be proud of this development. Piyush Pandey, Chairman of Ogilvy India, is the agency’s next Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide effective January 1, 2019. There aren’t too many Resident Indian global bosses.

    In advertising, we’ve had Vikram Sakhuja turning Global CEO of Maxus (now part of Wavemaker). We’ve had Indian assume the office of the International Cricket Council, but then cricket doesn’t have a truly global footprint.

    In the case of Ogilvy, which is located across 131 offices in 83 countries and a company it creates experiences, design and communications that shape every aspect of a brand’s needs through six core capabilities: Brand Strategy, Advertising, Customer Engagement and Commerce, PR and Influence, Digital Transformation, and Partnerships.

    To be the CCO for Ogilvy Worldwide is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge. It is a matter of great pride for India and Indians, and not just in advertising and marketing, but also across all sectors and strata of society.

    And given the kind of advertising and marketing orientation that Pandey stands for, it’s a global realisation of the rise of India and Indianness.

    Meanwhile, Ogilvy has also announced that it will expand its Worldwide Creative Council from 12 members to 20; the 20 members—of which half will comprise female creative leaders—will be announced in January of 2019.

    Said John Seifert, Chief Executive, Worldwide on the Pandey appointment: “We could not be more thrilled that Piyush will be serving as our Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide and my creative partner. Piyush is a true industry icon who is uniquely suited to lead our global creative efforts. Creativity has and will always be at the heart of the Ogilvy brand and culture. Piyush is the perfect leader to shepherd that legacy as we continue to focus on making brands matter as the leading creative network in the world.”

    Meanwile, Joe Sciarrotta will be the new Deputy Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide, reporting to Pandey and Seifert. Sciarrott will continue to lead creative work assignments for several of the agency’s top 50 clients while taking on new duties at the worldwide creative level. Leslie Sims also will join Ogilvy as Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy USA, reporting to Lou Aversano, Chief Executive, USA.

    PS: Are we gushing a wee bit much about this news? Yes, we are. But – as a publication catering to the advertising, media and marketing services fraternity, indulge us this luxury. There’s enough reason to gush. As the message we sent out with our newsletter today: Garv Se Kaho Ki Hum Indian Media Se Hain! (Say it with pride that we belong to the Indian media!)

     

  • Nakul Chopra, elected Chairman, Goafest 2019 to lead the apex industry event

    Nakul Chopra to chair Goafest 2019, Shashi Sinha will helm Awards Governing Council

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India and The Advertising Club have started getting set for the 2019 edition of Goafest. The three-day event will be held in Goa in the summer of 2019.

     

    For starters, both organisations have announced the leaders for the coveted posts of Goafest Organising Committee and the Awards Governing Council. Nakul Chopra, Chairman Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India, and Immediate Past President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) who has been elected as the Chairman of Goafest 2019 organizing Committee. Shashi Sinha, CEO – IPG Mediabrands and Secretary, The Advertising Club has been elected Chairman of the Awards Governing Council for Abby 2019.

     

    Speaking about the 14th edition of the Goafeset, Ashish Bhasin, President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) said: “Goafest has continuously been championing the category’s growth agenda. Our continued endeavour through the festival is to facilitate an enriched festival experience that is immersive, transformational and allows us to contribute to the learning enrichment of the Advertising, Media and Entertainment industry,” adding: “Nakul is an industry veteran and we are sure that his past experience with Goafest and his vision for the industry is sure to translate into an engaging and inclusive festival experience for all.”

     

    On being elected Chairman for the festival, Chopra said: “Goafest is a premiere representation of the Indian Advertising and Media industry. Year on year we have focused on increasing scale, driving inclusivity and ensuring that the festival emerges as a leading knowledge platform.  This year too our focus at Goafest will be to curate a great panel of thought leaders and provide a world view of the evolving Adverting and Media industry trends.”

     

    Speaking about the focus of the 2019 edition of Vikram Sakhuja, President, The Advertising Club said: “Goafest is an idea exchange forum that over the years has emerged into an opportunity where the entire media and advertising fraternity comes together to engage, innovate and share their best work. We are already geared up to bring another immersive edition of this landmark event, promising to up the ante even higher,” adding: “Abby has always been recognised as a gold standard in creative awards and we are sure that Shashi with his deep understanding of the industry and global view will ensure that the awards follow highest standards of due diligence and hold a place of eminence in the advertising, media and entertainment industry.”

     

    Speaking on being elected as Chairman of the AGC, Sinha said “Receiving an Abby has always been a career milestone and held a pace of pride in the life of every advertising and media professional. We will continue to ensure that Abby, that stands for creative excellence, continues to inspire game changing brand campaigns, scale in eminence and emerge as a beacon of inspiration for the new generation of marketers of and brand custodians.”

     

     

  • To highlight to consumers the importance of Iodine in their nutrition, the letter ‘I’ was removed from editorial content and logos in leading newspapers

    Madison executes a multi-media innovation for Tata Salt

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madison Media executed a multimedia innovation for its client Tata Salt on the occasion of World Iodine Day which was on October 21, 2018.  Building on the thought of the Missing I conceptualised by Tata Salt and its creative agency Ogilvy, Madison Media got media partners across TV, print and digital to come together and make editorial changes to make the campaign a huge success. To highlight to consumers the importance of Iodine in their nutrition, the letter ‘I’ was removed from editorial content and logos in leading newspapers, e-papers, TV news channels and social media.

     

    Said Sagar Boke, Marketing Head, Consumer Products Business, Tata Chemicals: “In 1983, Tata Salt played a key role in the iodisation movement in the country by launching India’s first branded iodised salt. On Global Iodine Deficiency Day, we wanted to emphasise the importance of Iodine in daily diet, in an engaging manner. The “#MissingI” campaign communicated the health benefits of Iodine through innovative media touch points.  We are committed towards catalysing the nation free of Iodine deficiency disorders, and making India healthy. Tata Salt’s genesis was in serving a national need, and we are proud that we continue to stay true to our motto of ‘Desh ki Sehat, Desh ka Namak’.”

     

    Added Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Madison Media and OOH:“Tata Salt has championed the cause of iodine deficiency for decades with its iodised salt, and its commitment towards Desh Ki Sehat with its Desh Ka namak. In its latest initiative this World Iodine day on Oct 21, the critical issue of iodine deficiency has been raised through a multimedia campaign for #MissingI across Newspapers, TV, Online Display and Social. In this campaign consumers are exposed to text with the letter i missing, and then reminded to check if the “I” is missing from their body too. It was exciting to execute this campaign across Media in record time.”

     

     

  • The other leadership positions too remained unchanged from the previous year

    Vikram Sakhuja re-elected President of Ad Club

    By A Correspondent

     

    Vikram Sakhuja

    The Advertising Club announced the list of its Managing Committee members for the year 201819. Vikram Sakhuja, Group Chief Executive Officer, Media and OOH, Madison Communications was re-elected as President of the Ad Club. The other leadership positions remained unchanged from the previous year with Ajay Kakar, CMO-Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group as Vice President; Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Media Brands as Secretary; Mitrajit Bhattacharya, Founder & President, The Horologists, Former President & Publisher, Chitralekha Group as Jt. Secretary and Dr. Bhaskar Das, Executive President, Dainik Bhaskar Group as Treasurer.

     

    Speaking on his re-election as the President of The Advertising Club, Sakhuja said: “Leading an industry body with such rich legacy as that of the Ad Club has been an enriching experience. Over the past one year, we have focused all our initiatives towards recognizing excellence, driving thought leadership, being a repository for marketing & advertising and attracting young talent into the industry.”

     

     

  • The agency will handle the duties across media – print, TV, radio, cinema and OOH

    Madison to manage media duties of Aakash Education

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madison Media has announced that it has been appointed as the agency-on-record for Aakash Education Services Ltd in Delhi. The agency won the account in a multi agency pitch and will handle the duties across media – print, TV, radio, cinema and OOH.

     

    Said Aakash Chaudhry, CEO and Whole-Time Director, Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL): “We are excited to have Madison Media come on board as our partner and are looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership.  We have 30 years of operational experience in the test preparatory industry, we have built a scalable and asset-light business model that we can expand and replicate while maintaining quality in content and coaching.”

     

    Added Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Media and OOH, Madison: “Aakash offers student training and coaching through as many as 170 centres across 103 cities in India. It is a true privilege to partner with a builder of young medical and engineering talent that has served the country well.”

     

     

  • The account is estimated to be Rs. 100 crores per annum across all media

    Madison Media wins mandate of Bajaj Electricals

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madison Media has announced that it has been appointed as the media agency for Bajaj Electricals. The account size is estimated to be Rs 100 crore per annum across all media.

     

    Said Hemal Vadera, Head – Advertising, Digital & Branding, Bajaj Electricals: “We are delighted to have Madison Media on board as our media partner. We deal in a competitive market and we needed an agency that understands our business and has the expertise to help us drive huge efficiencies into our media planning and buying. Madison Media had excellent credentials on this front. We are looking forward to this journey ahead.”

     

    Added Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Media and OOH, Madison: “We are very proud and excited to have won the Bajaj Electrical Account and look forward to using Media with impact to grow the brand and category”.

     

     

  • The second edition of the Advertising Club awards held on Wednesday saw 17 brands being recognised

    Ad Club salutes best brands at Marquees 2018

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club presented winners of Marquees 2018 on Wednesday evening in the presence of some of the biggest marketers and A&M industrypersons. Interestingly the jury for the second edition was the same as last year. It was headed by Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and MD, Hindustan Unilever Limited & Executive Vice President, Unilever South Asia, and with CVL Srinivas, Country Manager, WPP India; Harsh Goenka, Chairman, RPG Enterprises; Agnello Dias, Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Taproot Dentsu; Naveen Chopra, Senior Advisor, TPG Capital and Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom 18.

     

    Said Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Media and OOH, Madison Communications & President, The Advertising Club said: “I would like to congratulate each Marquee winner and thank them for setting standards that inspire us.”

     

    This is the list of the winners in the 12 categories:

    Auto:4-Wheeler Maruti Suzuki
    Auto: 2-Wheeler Honda Motorcycles and Scooters
    Telecom Service Provider Reliance Jio
    Durables LG
    Life Insurance HDFC Life
    Banking State Bank of India
    E-commerce Paytm mall
    Handsets Xiaomi
    FMCG: Foods Parle
    FMCG: Beverages Brooke Bond
    FMCG: Household Care Surf Excel
    FMCG: Personal Care Colgate

     

    Said Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India and Chairman, Marquee Awards:  “I hope these awards are a stepping stone for creating transparent and credible marketing initiatives that will reinforce the brand values of your company and connect deeper with your stakeholders.”

     

    Like last year, Marquees 2018 paid a special tribute to the marketing efforts of these brands who turned the tide in the face of an adversity through the special awards category.

     

    The five winners of the special category were:

    Breathing New Life into a Category AMFI
    Creating a Global Impact IPL
    Reimagining for the Better Carvaan by Saregama
    Carving out a Niche Nykaa.com
    Digital Media Property Hotstar

     

    The event was presented by Zee and powered by Colors and Republic TV in partnership with One India.

     

     

  • The Advertising Club has announced 16 awards categories including five special categories for Marquees 2018

    Marquees 2018 to return on Aug 29

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club has announced various sector and special category awards for Marquees 2018. Brand performance will be evaluated with data from Kantar / IMRB. This year’s edition of the Marquees is presented by Zee and powered by Colors and Republic TV.

    Brands from sectors in auto (both 2 wheelers and 4 wheelers), Durables, Life Insurance, Banking, E-commerce, Handsets, FMCG (Foods, beverages, household and personal care) and Telecom Service Providers will compete for Marquees 2018, an award that recognises creativity, effectiveness and excellence in marketing.

    Speaking about the special categories of awards, Vikram Sakhuja, President, The Advertising Club said: “Brands have the power to influence and lead conversations however as we all know that with power comes responsibilities. We were very clear from the beginning that the various categories of special awards that we finally choose should be able to directly impact people and their lives positively. The Ad Club has been a catalyst in not only guiding the advertising industry but also creating the ecosystem for positive marketing.”

    Added Partho Dasgupta, Chairman, Marquee Awards: “In a world full of brands, we see very few marketing initiatives that create ripples and actually change behaviour. Data and insights drive me, and I am looking forward to the analysis on how the contenders of the five special categories this time have provided a fresh lease of life in their respective sectors. The Ad Club recognises the hard work of these marketers and this award is an acknowledgement and appreciation of that body of work.”

    Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and MD, Hindustan Unilever Limited & Executive Vice President, Unilever South Asia is Jury Chairman for Marquees 2018 like last year. The other jury members are: CVL Srinivas, Country Manager, WPP India; Harsh Goenka, Chairman, RPG Enterprises; Agnello Dias, Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Taproot Dentsu; Naveen Chopra, Sr. Advisor, TPG Capital and Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom 18. The event will be held on August 29 in Mumbai.

     

     

  • Sakhuja takes over from NP Sathyamurthy

    Vikram Sakhuja to Chair IRS TechCom

    By A Correspondent

     

    MRUC has announced the appointment of Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Madison Media and OOH, as Chairman of the IRS Technical Committee (TechCom). Sakhuja takes over from NP Sathyamurthy, Executive Director, DDB Mudra, and President, OMD Max.

     

    Commenting on the development, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman, MRUC, said: “We are very excited at the prospect of Vikram leading the IRS TechCom as we take stronger strides in the direction of further improving the study and making it more robust.  IRS surely is in excellent hands. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Sathya for his excellent tenure”

     

    Added Sakhuja: “IRS has been the definitive baseline study for readership and other media measurement for the advertising and marketing industry for decades. It is an honour to chair the Technical Committee of this body. Will be my endeavour to ensure the data is valid, reliable and beyond reproach.”

     

     

  • Yes, the Annual Digital Review 2018 on Wednesday, The Advertising Club conducted a winner of an event

    D-Code, D-Cool!

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Okay, we know the headline looks very pluggy, but hey we aren’t xxxx or yyyy and we don’t get influenced by anything at all. The inaugural annual digital review conducted by The Advertising Club on Wednesday evening in Mumbai was a winner of an event. If anyone complained of event fatigue in the A&M fraternity given the hundred thousand  events and awards conducted by all and now even sundry, this was super. Started not too late – just 45 minutes, and many thought it will be at least twice that. In fact as we told someone this morning: we were touched by the response.

     

    There was no entertainment dhinchak. And those of thought we would starve of F&B given the 150-min sitting, well, the drinks were flowing liberally, as were the chaknas. And, heck, they were even serving Hoegaarden!

     

    But before we go further, let’s look at the downers: One, we thought there was at least one of the speakers went pretty off the brief though tried to offer tips at the end. Two, we missed Agnello Dias. He is an impactful speaker and behind his understated demeanour, there’s a lot of ‘dum’. Aggie is down with conjunctivitis, and wanted to spare us of the infection.  Three, the food was superb, but there were loooong queues. Guess no one expected such a full house, and more importantly, people staying back till the end.

     

    So the brief to the speakers was: share an example of your own work, one work you admire and three learnings you would want to share with the audience.

     

    On the stage were: Ajit Mohan- CEO, Hotstar, Anupriya Acharya- CEO Publicis Media, Anuradha Aggarwal- CMO, Marico, Arun Iyer- Chairman & CCO, Lowe Lintas, Juhi Kalia- Head of India & Anthology APAC for Creative Shop, Facebook, Rahul Johri- CEO, BCCI, Mohit Kapoor- VP Advertising, Reliance JIO, Sam Singh- CEO- South Asia, GroupM, Sapna Chadha- Head of Marketing, India and SEA, Google, Siddharth Banerjee- EVP, Marketing, Vodafone and Tanmay Bhat- Co-Founder, AIB.

     

    Said Vikram Sakhuja, President, The Advertising Club: “The Advertising Club has been at the forefront of driving the A&M industry’s excellence agenda. We are constantly creating forums that enhance the learning curve of the fraternity. With D-Code we have created another engaging property that bring together the industry to debate and deliberate on the stimulating issues of the digital ecosystem.”

     

    Added Aditya Swamy – Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club: “I have always believed in the power of colabs. Inspire and be inspired was the theme of D-Code and bringing together key stakeholders across the industry to crack the digital code was an exciting idea. From my days at MTV where we looked to marry pop culture and brands to now at Google where we unlock the power of digital and tech to deliver value to advertisers, this is a journey that only throws up more and more interesting opportunities. I look forward to being in the centre of this equation as we build centres of excellence.”

     

    And this is what Punitha Arumugam – Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club said: “Our endeavour while curating D-Code was to create a platform that would showcase pioneering work on digital and facilitate ideas exchange within the fraternity.  We have tried to bring representation of all facets of digital with the versatile panel of stalwarts from across the M&E industry.”

    The five key learnings that the advertising, digital and marketing mavens agreed upon were:

    1. Digital is a medium that everyone is experimenting with and no one exactly knows how to ‘crack-it’. The need of the hour is to approach it with an open mind, keep experimenting and learning from one’s own and each other’s strategies.

    2. Digital as a medium does not exist in a silo. All that media needs are great ideas, beautiful craft and creative people who can utilize the right tools to gain success.

    3. One needs to invest in the right marketing technology, tools, talent and partnerships.

    4 .To execute successful digital campaigns, one needs to fully leverage digital signals, customise messaging, employ data and have performance-oriented goals.

    5 .Partnerships are critical in making digital campaigns effective. Scale for both a campaign and digital as a medium of marketing can be amplified when the power of partnerships is harnessed.

    And one last cool thing about the event: Save Rahul Johri, who we are sure is crazily busy, everyone stayed on till The End. Now which A&M gyaan conference do you find speakers not scooting off after their sessions (and those nine minutes more)?!

    If you want to get an idea of what the three tips each that everyone offered, we recommend a scan of the Twitter timeline of The Ad Club (at https://twitter.com/adclub_in).

  • Upadhyay will handle Viacom 18, Asian Paints and other key clients for the agency

    Girish Upadhyay joins Madison Media Infinity as COO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madison Media has just announced another senior level appointment of Girish Upadhyay as Chief Operating Officer, Madison Media Infinity based in Mumbai. He will handle Viacom 18, Asian Paints and other key clients for the agency.

     

    Upadhyay joins the agency from Tata Motors where he was Head of Marketing Services responsible for Media Planning and Buying, Digital and Market Research.  He worked to develop a multimedia communication strategy with special focus on large scale impact, analytics and digital excellence for its brands.

     

    Said Vikram Sakhuja, Partner & Group CEO Madison Media & OOH on the appointment: “We are delighted to welcome back Girish to head Madison Media Infinity. He is a great combination of planning and deal making. And having been at the helm of Tata Motors Media for some years, he brings a great Advertiser perspective which our Clients will value.”

     

    Added Upadhyay: “I am super excited to be back in the Madison team embarking on a new journey, and I look forward to bring to the table, my experiences built at Tata Motors, as a Marketer, working across different functions. Today, communication reaches consumers at light speed, disseminating information and competing for attention at a pace we have never seen before and Madison with its vision to be the best communication agency is rightly navigating this space for its clients. I look forward to driving business results for clients and adding to the Madison culture of a balanced outlook and a client first approach.”