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Tag: Vikram Sakhuja

  • A quick chat with Ad Club president VIkram Sakhuja on the eve of the inaugural Digital Review which he will moderate

    ‘Digital is a must-have for most businesses’

     

     

    The Advertising Club will host its inaugural India Digital Review in Mumbai this evening, that’s Wednesday, August 1. We got Vikram Sakhuja, President, Advertising Club, Group CEO, Madison Media and OOH and moderator of the event – interestingly called D-Code to take a few questions – on the digital review event and on the digital media in general in India. Read on…

     

    Does the fact that The Advertising Club is organising the India Digital Review or D-Code for the first ever time indicate that digital has finally arrived and is being considered as serious field of activity by even the Big Boys and Girls of Advertising in India?

    Digital is of course a serious field of activity. Anybody who thinks otherwise is not a very big boy or girl in advertising.

     

    While the growth of adspends on digital has been highest on digital (vis-a-vis other media domains), spends in absolute terms are still very low in comparison to budgets on television and even print? When (and how) do you see these rising?

    The momentum for digital over the past four years has been that of a juggernaut. So not right to say it is small. That said there will be a phase where this growth will stabilise as adoption makes way for understanding and optimising of the media mix. In my book, role of digital in the awareness phase is supportive but not leading, in engagement it gains in prominence, and in sharing and performance, it takes on a lion’s share. So, long story short, I see some stabilisation of digital growth in awareness phase, but huge increases in lower funnel activities

     

    Would you say that the relatively low budgets have impacted the spends on digital craft? As in would you say the best brains still work on traditional media because the bucks are there?

    That is somewhat true as far as production budgets are concerned, not media budgets. But it’s getting better.

     

    In the backdrop of the last two questions, would you say “digital is a good-to-have, but, well, not a must-have”?

    I think it is a must-have for most businesses

     

    Back to D-Code: Your brief to the speakers is very precise: speaking about one great campaign of yours, one campaign done by someone else and three lessons for marketers… that’s 26 showcasing breakthrough digital work done in India and 39 tips for the year ahead. And all this in 150 minutes – that’s two-and-a-half hours. And will there be a Q&A at all or just back-to-back presentations?

    Awesome isn’t it? Promises to be hell of a ride. I’m hoping we can squeeze a few questions. Will depend on how much adrenalin is flowing in the room

     

    Did you deliberately not have any one from the digital agencies?

    Not at all. We have some very credible agency faces who arguably handle the largest body of digital work. Specialist Digital Agencies vs Creative & Media Agencies who do digital is an artificial construct that some people have. I’m not one of those

     

    How have registrations been for the event? And a word to those who are unsure about coming?

    The reaction has been phenomenal. My advice is do get your ticket fast before the event is sold out.

     

     

  • Jain will perform a national role but will be based in New Delhi

    Shan Jain joins Madison as Chief Strategy Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madison Media has just announced the appointment of Shan Jain as its Chief Strategy Officer. Jain will perform a national role but will be based in New Delhi.

     

    Jain comes with more than 25 years of diverse experience across Media, Account Planning, Strategy and Account management and has worked with Mindshare, RK Swamy BBDO, The Media Edge, FCB Ulka, Lowe, McCann and Ogilvy. Her last stint was with Publicis as Managing Partner – Business Transformation Practice. Some of the key clients she has led and contributed to are Unilever Personal Care, Unilever Foods and Beverage, GSK, Nestle, Sun Pharma, ITC, Maruti and Gillette.

     

    Said Vikram Sakhuja, Partner & Group CEO Madison Media & OOH on the appointment: “We are excited to have Shan join us as CSO. She is just the right person to help Clients navigate their way through a complex media environment that straddles legacy media with digital and manage the realm of data and technology.”

     

    Added Jain: “We are in the beginning of the fourth revolution. Industry 4.0 is altering the way in which people live, work, and connect with one another unlike any other revolution before it. It is the times of exponential change, fuelled by the way people are connected almost 24×7. Change is occurring in every industry and this is creating a seismic shift in the lives of consumers and businesses alike. Marketers need a new model for success. My endeavour will be to craft frameworks and processes that enable short and long term strategies for Change and Transformation to cater to this connected- consumer times.”

     

     

  • The review will be moderated by President, The Advertising Club – Vikram Sakhuja

    Ad Club announces inaugural digital event – D-CODE

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club has announced the debut edition of its India Digital Review – D-CODE. The review will be held on August 1 in Mumbai.

     

    Thirteen industry leaders will speak for 10 minutes each on a piece of work that they are proud of, a piece of work another brand has done that inspires them and three pieces of advice for marketers for winning in digital

     

    The advertising stalwarts speaking at the review include: Agnello Dias, Chairman & Co-Founder, Taproot; Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar; Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Media; Anuradha Aggarwal, CMO, Marico; Arun Iyer, Chairman & CCO, Lowe Lintas; Juhi Kalia, Head of Creative Shop – India & Indonesia, Facebook; Rahul Johri, CEO, BCCI; Ravi Desai, Marketing Director, Amazon; Sam Singh, CEO – South Asia, GroupM; Sapna Chadha, Marketing Director – India & SEA, Google; Shoumyan Biswas, Vice President, Marketing, Flipkart; Siddharth Banerjee, EVP Marketing, Vodafone; Tanmay Bhat, Co-Founder, AIB. The review will be moderated by President, The Advertising Club – Vikram Sakhuja.

     

    Speaking about the maiden edition of the review Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, media and OOH, Madison Communications & President, The Advertising Club said: “Brands are today operating in a globally competitive landscape making it imperative to ensure clutter breaking conversation and presence across dynamic digital mediums. With knowledge platforms like the Digital review, The Advertising Club endeavours to create awareness, facilitate ideas exchange and enable the Indian media and advertising fraternity to stay ahead of the curve on digital innovation and engagement.”

     

     

  • Other jury members include 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; Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom18 and Dilip Cherian, Founding Partner & Group Chairman, Perfect Relations.

    Ad Club’s Marquees 2018 on Aug 29. Sanjiv Mehta to head jury

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club has announced the second edition of ‘Marquees’, the now-annual award that awards brands for excellence in marketing and brand-building. Sanjiv Mehta, CEO & MD, Hindustan Unilever Limited & Executive Vice President, Unilever South Asia, will continue to be Jury President for Marquees 2018. The awards event will be held in Mumbai on August 29.

     

    The other jury members include 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; Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom18 and Dilip Cherian, Founding Partner & Group Chairman, Perfect Relations.

     

    Vikram Sakhuja

    Speaking about the awards, Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, media and OOH, Madison Communications & President, The Advertising Club said: “The Ad Club launched the Marquees in 2017 to celebrate Excellence in Marketing. In its second year, we are happy to have the same stellar jury chaired by Unilever’s Sanjiv Mehta deciding on this year’s laurels. The Ad Club sets the gold standard for excellence in Creativity through Abbys, Effectiveness through EFFIES, Media through EMVIES and now Marketers through Marquees. Stay tuned to see the winners in each category and the Special Awards on August 29.”

     

    Partho Dasgupta

    Added Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India and Chairman, Marquees 2018: “Marquees has been able to carve out a niche for itself and I am glad to be a part of this journey. After a successful debut edition last year, I am looking forward to some great entries this year. As they say, an award is as good as its Jury and in this case the Jury can’t get better than this. The Jury with its years of experience and wisdom will be able to recognise the extra-ordinary work done by marketers over the past one year,”

     

     

  • The account is estimated to be Rs. 25 crores per annum across all media

    Madison Media bags media mandate of Continental Coffee

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madison Media announced that it has been appointed as the Agency-on-Record for Continental Coffee. The account is estimated to be Rs 25 crores per annum across all media.

     

    Said Praveen Jaipuriar, CEO, Continental Coffee: “We are in an exciting phase right now where a lot of work is happening around building the brand. We are confident that the collaboration with Madison would help the brand grow to the next level.”

     

    Added Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Media and OOH, Madison: “We are extremely pleased and proud to be appointed as the Media AOR for Continental Coffee. This is a category with very few truly large players and the opportunity to help create a strong and loved brand with Continental is an exciting one”.

     

    Said Dinesh Rathod, Chief Operating Officer, Madison Media Omega: “We are delighted to be associated with Continental Coffee at this stage of the brand’s evolution. Consumers today are seeking international quality and premium experiences in the category and Continental Coffee is uniquely poised to deliver those with decades of experience in creating the perfect blends. We look forward to exciting work on the account and partnering the brand on its growth journey.”

     

     

  • The IPG Mediabrands agency was #1 followed by DentsuWebchutney at #2. Jagran was #1 in Publisher Abby

    Lodestar is Media Agency of the Year 2018

     

    By A Corrrespondent

     

    Lodestar UM was numerouno at the Media Abby Awards presented on Day 1 of Goafest 2018. The agency bagged four Golds, three each of Silver and Bronze metals. Dentsu Webchutney came second with four metals. Followed by Wavemaker and Mindshare India. A total of 38 metals were awarded in the Media Abby.

     

    Earlier on Thursday, Goafest 2018 kicked off with a packed hall at the industry conclave. The thirteenth edition of Goafest also sees the conduct of the 50th edition of the Abby Awards.

     

    Also presented were the Publisher Abby where Jagran Prakashan was numerouno with five metals, followed by Times Of India with two metals.

     

    Speaking about Abby Awards, Vikram Sakhuja, President – The Advertising Club said: “It’s been 50 years since the first Abby Awards were handed out. That is 50 years of unfaltering dedication to identifying, shortlisting and felicitating creative excellence in the industry. Over the years the awards went through a lot of changes. So, we spoke to heads of agencies, to industry leaders and more importantly, to the young creative workforce out there are came up with two key changes to the awards this year. The changes include the rationalization of categories to stay relevant to today’s young and dynamic creative geniuses and the formation of a Master Jury made up of industry masters to guarantee effectiveness. And it gives me immense pleasure to see the industry not only embracing these changes with open arms but also supporting us in our endeavor to keep improving the quality of the awards being handed out.”

     

    Added Ajay Kakar, Vice President of The Advertising Club and Chairman – Awards Governing Council said, “For Abby Awards 2018, it was our mission to co-create the awards with the help, inputs and participation of our industry; starting from the stalwarts but not forgetting the youngsters. And what we see today is an outcome of that courtesy the participation of stalwarts who inspire and set the standards of creativity for our industry.”

     

    Goafest 2018 has attracted a registration of over 2000 delegates. At the Abby Awards, a total of 3033 entries came in. In the Media Abby, there were a total of 660 entries from 57 agencies. The number of entries was down from 1100 that came in last year.

     

    Said Sam Balsara, who chaired the Media Abby: “The entries highlighted ability to co-create solution with clients and work in tandem with multi-media context and campaigns – jointly with Radio, Outdoors and Digital, even TV in certain instances.A lot of entries showcased the significant efforts of publishers towards CSR, Societal connect and social impact in the their work. As many as 57 agencies entered 660 pieces of work of which a total of 38 awards have been given across 32 distinct pieces of work.”

     

    On what worked for the winners, Balsara said: “Most award winning work looks at Strategy, Idea, Execution and Results. I dare say that at the Abbys which celebrates creativity there is relatively more focus given on the Idea. The ideas that stood out included using the brand very cleverly in content (three cases), using the medium innovatively (Display, Cinema), Use of Technology in Traditional Mediums (OOH Ambient and Print), Clever integration of Content with Social, Actionable use of Big data, and just some simple cute ideas that work.”

     

    And this is what Pradeep Dwivedi, who chaired the Publisher Abby said: “For the Publisher’s awards, the experience was very interesting as we had almost the same number of entries as last year, while the categories had reduced. This led to an engaging screening by an eminent jury balanced across geography, language and industry leadership. The merits of entries and the creative quotient of the campaign became supreme criterion almost naturally.The entries clearly showcased the vibrancy of print medium and its endeavour to evolve with time.For me, one of the things that stood out was the quality of work and clear recognition that many other publishers are also doing great work on the ground, but somehow don’t pitch it at Abbys. A few of the like-minded jurors have agreed to take up this cause and help build an even more widespread entrant base for next year via roadshows, and celebrate the print industry in India which is growing and thriving, clearly bucking the global trend.”

     

     

  • PayTM was Client of the Year and Ogilvy bagged the Grand Effie for Star Plus Nayi Soch at Ad Club's Big Night for Effectiveness

    McCann wins big at Effies 2018

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It was the Big Night for Effectiveness in advertising. The Advertising Club’s premier event for rewarding advertising effectiveness was held on Friday, January 5 in Mumbai. The venue was the usual – the lawns of the Taj Lands End, except this time there was lesser noise and hooting given the absence of the Mullen Lowe Lintas group. The agency did not officially enter the awards officially though some of its work did find its way.

     

    But it would be unfair to say that Lowe’s absence saw IPG group sibling McCann rise. The agency did have some good work to showcase and although its tough to say what the final roster would’ve looked like had Lowe and all the Publicis Communications agencies participated – especially Leo Burnett which had bagged the Grand Effie last year.

     

    Also, the margin with which McCann won over runner-up Ogilvy was significant.

     

    Other than being runner-up in the final rankings, the agency also bagged the Grand Effie for work done on Star Plus’ NayiSoch campaign.

     

    One 97 Communication Limited (PayTM) was adjudged as the Effie Client of the Year with long-time winner Hindustan Unilever coming second. Here the margin of win for the top rank was just 10

     

    Speaking  about winning the  Effies, Vikram Sakhuja, President of The Advertising Club and Chairperson, EFFIEs  said: “With the bar raised higher year on year,  winning an Effie has become more competitive and rewarding. This year we are seeing a new Client of the Year and a new Agency of the Year. My congratulations to them and all the 93 winners.” Adding: “The four pillars of effectiveness are Strategy, Idea, Execution and Results. To win an Effie we are finding that Effectiveness in Advertising is getting increasingly medium agnostic. Accordingly, ideas are being brought to scale in a remarkable number of ways. The one area I would like to further challenge us all is in the description of results.”

     

    Elaborating on the entries. Mitrajit Bhattacharya, Co-chairperson, Effies 2018 said: “The Effies 2018 once again witnessed  patronage from industry veterans and category leaders , establishing its eminence  as a  coveted industry award that recognizes great ideas and superior execution. Effies2018 saw  the entire fraternity come together to laud and celebrate successful campaign stories that are  ahead of the curve on innovation and engagement.”

     

    EFFIE-2018-AGENCY-OF-THE-YEAR

    EFFIE-2018-CLIENT-OF-THE-YEAR

    EFFIE-2018-RESULTS

  • Ashish Bhasin, Vice President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI)to chair the apex media and entertainment industry event while Ajay Kakar to head the Awards Governing Council

    Goafest 2018 on April 5-7

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India and The Advertising Club have announced the dates for the 2018 edition of Goafest. It is scheduled for April 5 to 7 to be held in Goa.

     

    The event will be helmed by Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network and Vice President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), who has been elected as the Chairman of Goafest 2018. Ajay Kakar, CMO Aditya Birla Capital and Vice President of The Advertising Club will be Chairman of the Awards Governing Council.

     

    Speaking about the focus of the 2018 edition of Goafest, Vikram Sakhuja: President, The Advertising Club said: Goafest is a landmark event that is marked in every brand and media professional’s calendar. The festival is the definitive platform for industry to engage, network and celebrate the pioneering creative work done through the year. At Goafest 2018 we will continue to up the ante on lifting the standard of creative brilliance. Watch this space.”

     

    Speaking on Bhasin’s appointment as Chairman of Goafest 2018, Nakul Chopra President AAAI said: “Ashish is an industry veteran with indepth understanding of the global media and entertainment industry dynamic. He played a decisive role in ensuring that Goafest 2017 was a grand affair that saw many pioneering initiatives. Goafest 2017 under his aegis is sure so see many more interesting and groundbreaking initiatives that will further up the bar on engagement.”

     

    Added Bhasin who had also chaired the organising committee at Goafest 2017: “Goafest has been at the center of celebrating transformational brand stories and fostering the media and entertainment industry’s growth agenda.  Our endeavour continues to be create a festival experience that is inclusive, inspiring and delivers an immersive ideas exchange platform to all festival goers.  Goafest, 2018 is sure to provide learning enrichment and facilitate synergies, thereby providing significant value to all festival goers.”

     

    And this is what Ajay Kakar, Chair of the all-important Awards Governing Council said: “The Abbys have,historically, been both aspirational and inspirational beacons for the advertising, media and marketing industries. This year we intend to bring about exciting changes that will remind people why they have always loved the Abbys. And also remind them why the Abbys have always been regarded and recognised as the gold standard in creativity.”

     

    Other members of the Awards Governing Council include:

    • VikramSakhuja: President, The Advertising Club & Group CEO – Madison Media & OOH – ‎Madison World
    • Nakul Chopra; President AAAI and Senior Advisor, Publicis Communications
    • Ashish Bhasin: Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network – ‎Aegis Group plc
    • CVL Srinivas, Country Head – India, WPP & CEO, GroupM South Asia
    • M G Parameswaran: Founder, Brand-Building.com
    • PunithaArumugam: Entrepreneur and Digital Evangelist
    • Ramesh Narayan: Founder – ‎Canco Advertising Pvt. Ltd.
    • Partha Sinha: Vice Chairman and Managing Director, McCann Worldgroup
    • Shashi Sinha: CEO, IPG MediabrandsIndia.
    • Nagesh Alai: Founder, Independent Business Advisory

     

     

  • Madison Media will now be handling the media planning and buying duties for the entire range of brands of​ Viacom18

    Madison Media bags Viacom18 Media AOR

    By A Correspondent​

     

    Madison Media has been announced the Agency-on-Record for Viacom18. Madison Media will now be handling the media planning and buying duties for the entire range of brands of ​Viacom18.

     

    Sudhanshu Vats

    ​Said Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18:

    “Our constant endeavor to build a portfolio of brands and leverage synergies therein, has been one of the guiding philosophies that has facilitated our tremendous growth over the first decade. As we step into our next decade, this consolidation of our media duties under one agency will allow us to effectively influence economies of scale for the entire network, thereby uniting the diversified brands under one umbrella. With their rich lineage and varied body of work across industries, Madison Media is the apt partner to journey with us on this next growth phase.”

     

    Vikram Sakhuja

    ​Added ​Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Media and OOH, Madison​:

    “It is particularly exciting to be chosen as Viacom18’s consolidated media AOR at a point in time when it has successfully celebrated its first decade and is poised to develop segmented offerings for 130 Crore Indians. Viacom18 is the country’s foremost storyteller with leading brands in almost every broadcast genre it operates in. Add to that the allied businesses the network has invested in –merchandi​s​ing and live events – and for an agency nothing can be headier and more dynamic than be a partner in the marketing of such varied content.”

     

     

  • Star India and Vodafone crowned Client of the Year as Madison-Asian Paints win Grand Emvies

    GroupM agencies top Emvies leaderboard

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It was what one would call a Kodak moment. As the leaderboards were being announced by emcee Brian Tellis, it was evident that the crown of the Agency of the Year could well rest on the all-new head of the recently established Wavemaker agency, set up by the merging of Maxus and MEC. Or of course the good oi’ Mindshare, winner of the crown for some 10 times thus far. The suspense grew when it was Madison that bagged the Grand Emvie, and not the two GroupM agencies.

     

    On the stage when the winner was being announced were Sam Balsara, Shashi Sinha, Vikram Sakhuja and CVL Srinivas. For Srinivas, as CEO, GroupM South Asia, it’s never an easy task when one sibling is  pitted against the other. It’s like the Williams sisters competing with each other on centre court.

     

     

    Srinivas put his hand on his eyes, as Tellis was set to unveil the Agency of the Year winner. Mindshare is the old warhorse and hence deserved to win, but for the all-new player Wavemaker, it would’ve been the perfect beginning.

     

    Adjudged by a jury of around 211 industry leaders through intensive judging sessions across the country, Emvies 2017 saw over 816 entries. Note the entire Publicis Groupe’s media and digital agencies stayed away from the awards given the global decision to be off all awards for a year.

     

    The Client of the Year which has seen Hindustan Unilever bagging the title comfortably over the last few years saw joint winners in Star India and Vodafone. Interestingly Star India works with Mindshare and Vodafone is with Wavemaker. The marketing heads of both commended the excellent partnership with their agencies as a contributor to their winning the title.

     

    Meanwhile, there was much happiness for both Prasanth Kumar, CEO of Mindshare and Kartik Sharma, CEO of Wavemaker.  For, even though Sharma’s team did not clinch the title, it went back home with a clear indicator to the world that it’s a significant force to reckon wit.

     

    Speaking about the changing dynamics of campaigns and the importance of being relevant, Punitha Arumugam, 2017 Awards Chairman for EMVIEs, said, “India has been at the forefront of many ingenious campaigns that showcase high effectiveness and the Emvies remain committed to recognising such outstanding communication stories. Being one of the most trusted and coveted awards in the category, the Emvies continue to scale with increased participation and representation from across industry stakeholders.” Arumugam has been spearheading the Emvies for five years now.

     

    Elaborating on the scale and the entries, Partha Sinha, 2017 Awards Co-Chairman for Emvies said, “The Emvies 2017 has successfully contributed towards recognizing high impact media campaigns that have made a difference. It continues to be one of the most coveted awards within the industry.”   For Sinha, who confessed that he wasn’t exposed to the Emvies much thus far because the awards event is out of bounds for creative agencies, co-chairing Emvies 2017 has been an enriching experience.

     

    In his welcome address on Emvies night (Friday, October 13), Vikram Sakhuja, President of The Advertising Club said: “In its 17th year now, the EMVIEs has continued to grow in scale and strength, emerging as the gold standard amongst media awards. With a jury consisting of over 211 distinguished industry leaders from across the country, this has been a transparent process to select transformational work.  We are engaging with some top global content sites to showcase the best of our archives to the world.

     

    Colors was presenting sponsor yet again for Emvies 2017, as MTV, Rishtey Cineplex and Republic TV powered the event.

     

    EMVIE 2017 CLIENT OF THE YEAR TALLY

    EMVIE 2017 RESULTS

  • Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani & RK Swamy group CMD Srinivasan Swamy receive top honours at fifth edition

    IAA Leadership Awards presented

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It was the big night of the International Advertising Association India Chapter. The fifth edition of the IAA Leadership Awards took place in Mumbai with Reliance Industries Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani and Deputy Minister of the diplomacy, PM’s office, Government of Israel, Dr Michael Oren in attendance

     

    Former IAA India president and Chairman and Managing Director, RK Swamy BBDO Srinivasan Swamy was inducted into the IAA Hall of Fame Award.  The IAA Media Agency Leader and Creative Agency Leader Award went to Vikram Sakhuja, Madison Communications Pvt. Ltd. and Sonal Dabral, DDB Mudra Group, India respectively.  The IAA Media Leader Award went to Rajan Anandan, Google while Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & MD of Reliance Industries, was adjudged as the IAA Business Leader of the Year.

     

    Rahul Joshi of  Network18 News was awarded the IAA Editorial Leader award and Shereen Bhan, CNBC-TV18 received the IAA Leader – TV Anchor of the year.  The Brand Endorsement Leader awards went to Amitabh Bachchan and Alia Bhatt.

     

    On being awarded the Business Leader of the Year award, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & MD of Reliance Industries said, “On behalf of all of us at Reliance Industries, we would like to thank the jury and IAA for this recognition. I believe leadership is about setting new standards as demonstrated by our team at Jio. India was 155th in mobile broadband rankings in the world when we launched Jio but in a year, it became number 1 in the world. India is becoming a mobile first country and this is the future of our young nation.”

     

    Commenting on the occasion, Ramesh Narayan, newly elected President of IAA said, “We are privileged to have Shri Mukesh Ambani and Dy. Minister of Diplomacy, PM’s Office, Government of Israel Michael Orren with us. IAA Leadership Awards 2017 has been a memorable event thanks to the distinguished guests, esteemed jury and an exhaustive list of quantitative and qualitative parameters that have helped recognise outstanding campaigns and we have cherished our partnership with Colors.”

     

    Speaking of his maiden visit to India, Deputy Minister of the Diplomacy, PM’s office, Government of Israel, Dr. Michael Oren, said “India is revered, respected and loved by the people of Israel.  Both countries are the cradle of great civilisations and religions. I can think of no two countries in the world that have had a greater impact on history and art. I would like to extend an invite to every Indian to visit Israel and experience our love for India and our hospitality.”

     

    Speaking about Colors association with the awards, Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd said, “We have been associated with the IAA Leadership Awards since inception and are happy to see it grow in size and stature year after year. As a leader in the media and entertainment space, we feel privileged to partner with The International Advertising Association in recognising and rewarding leaders in our country.”

     

  • These being Raj Jain, Rajiv Varma, Girish Agarwal, Vikram Sakhuja, Sandeep Sharma, and Sameer Satpathy

    MRUC appoints six new Board Members

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Media Research Users Council has announced the changes in its Board post its Annual General Meeting held in Mumbai earlier this month.

     

    As was reported Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, is the new MRUC Chairman. The new MRUC Board consists of six new members, namely Raj Jain, CEO, Bennett Coleman & Company; Rajiv Varma, CEO, HT Media; Girish Agarwal, Director, DB Corp; Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Madison World; Sandeep Sharma, President, RK Swamy Media Group; and Sameer Satpathy, Chief Executive – Personal Care, ITC.

     

    Other members of the Board include Inderjeet Singh, Brand Leader – Consumer and Market Knowledge, Procter & Gamble India;  Pratap Pawar, Chairman, Sakaal Media Group;  Ravindra Kumar, Editor and Managing Director, The Statesman; Satvir S Kataria, President, Marketing, Hari Bhoomi; Siddharth Kothari, Director, Rajasthan Patrika, Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, South Asia, Maxus; Anupriya Acharya, CEO,  Publicis Media India; NP Sathyamurthy, Executive Director, DDB Mudra Group and President, OMD Max; Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Media Brands; Rohit Gupta, President, Sony Pictures Network India, I Venkat, Director, Eenadu, Shailesh Gupta, Director, Jagran Prakashan; Punit Misra, CEO – Domestic Broadcast,  Zee Entertainment Enterprises; and Rajeev Singh, Member (Finance), Prasar Bharti.

     

    Commenting on his appointment as an MRUC Board Member, Vikram Sakhuja said, “It is a privilege to serve on the MRUC Board. In an era of burgeoning multiple media, the need to have a single credible media baseline is important. It is also critical to have a good fix on print readership to support and give confidence to one of the few markets where print continues to grow. The IRS has played this role all these years, and is now coming back after a gap. Inevitably there will be some gainers and losers. The challenge lies in holding all constituents together in this cause irrespective of how they fare. I see an opportunity in building robustness of data by collating both readership and circulation data under the aegis of RSCI.”

     

    On being elected as a Board Member, Girish Agarwal, said, “I am very excited to join the MRUC Board as I strongly believe that this is the most opportune time for the industry to provide relevant data to the stakeholders. MRUC has contributed a lot for the industry. In the given changed scenario, under the leadership of a new chairman, the high energy board will certainly do a lot going forward in terms of helping the stakeholders get the required and much awaited knowledge and information from research.”

     

    Added Sameer Satpathy: “The Indian media industry is witnessing a radical change in the way it is consumed. In an always-on social world, media and marketing research is set to become more dynamic. I am happy to be a part of the MRUC Governing Board and look forward to working closely with the Board to help create a robust research framework,”

     

    Said Sandeep Sharma commented on his appointment: “MRUC is a premier industry body and I am happy to be part of the Board. I look forward to encouraging multi-media research measuring “efficacy and impact” to aid better ROI driven decisions by the industry. Secondly MRUC should leverage new age media and technology to enhance the research process and offer new research products incorporating real time data.”