ITV

Category: MAM

  • UTV Stars assigns creative duties to Rickshaw

    UTV Stars assigns creative duties to Rickshaw

    MUMBAI: UTV Stars, the recently launched Bollywood entertainment channel, has appointed Rickshaw to manage the brand’s creative duties.


    Rickshaw is taking on the creative mandate of UTV Stars starting with the campaign of the channels two driver shows – Live My Life and Up, Close and Personal with PZ.


    UTV Broadcasting marketing head Kunal Mukherjee said: “To communicate this effectively, it was critical that we have a very strong creative communications strategy in place. Given the strong team and impressive track record, we believe Rickshaw is the right partner for the brand.”


    Rickshaw partner Shormishtha Mukherjee added, “Rickshaw is proud to partner UTV Stars. Apart from the fact that the channel is distinctly different from the run of the mill Bollywood channels in the sense that this is the definitive authority on Bollywood, it‘s also a great opportunity to work with the UTV Group. And a new launch is always ‘super exciting’; giving you a chance to do work that‘ll set the tone for time to come.”

  • Tata Chemicals, HUL in ad row

    Tata Chemicals, HUL in ad row

    MUMBAI: Tata Chemicals has said that advertising industry watchdog, ASCI, has upheld its complaint against leaflets circulated by Hindustan Unilever (HUL), said to be denigrating its water purifier brand Tata Swach.


    “Violating the professional code of business, Pureit, the water
    purifier brand from Hindustan Unilever, had been misleading consumers through persistent smear campaigns against Tata Swach, the water purifier from the house of Tatas,” the communiqué said.


    The company said the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) through Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) directed HUL to pull out leaflets from the market.


    HUL retaliated by saying, “Tata Swach makes the ambiguous claim of ‘Tested for bacteria as per US EPA standards’ which can mislead consumers to believe that Tata Swach meets US EPA standards on safe drinking water.”


    Suggesting a ‘safety challenge’ in Tata Swach, the leaflets claimed that Tata Swach does not protect against viruses and bacteria; neither does it have auto shut-off, nor has a sales and service network. Moreover, among other claims, the leaftet said that Tata Swach’s per-litre running cost is higher than PureIt.


    “The CCC considered the technical data submitted by Tata Swach and concluded that the statement made in the leaflet circulated by Pureit denigrates Tata Swach,” Tata said.


    Since launching Pureit in 2008, HUL has been openly challenging rivals and consumers that its water purifier is one of a kind in offering matchless germkill water protection.


    It challenges to give away Rs 100 million to any consumer who finds any other domestic water purifier meeting the safety standards of Pureit.


    “Pureit meets the stringent US EPA standards for germ kill and we have made the various laboratory test results available for consumers to access easily and at all times on the Pureit website. We wish to also clarify that the promotional leaflets of Pureit against which the complaint has been made are not in use since July 2010,” HUL’s
    statement added.


    It further added: “We wish to also clarify that the promotional leaflets of Pureit against which the complaint has been made are not in use since July 2010.”


    HUL exports the Pureit brand to markets such as Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and Bangladesh.

  • Mindshare wins best agency of the year award at EMVIES 2011

    Mindshare wins best agency of the year award at EMVIES 2011

    MUMBAI: Mindshare India has swept EMVIES 2011 with metals including three gold, eight silver and seven bronze awards collecting 160 points, and becoming the ‘Best Media Agency of the Year’.


    The agency has achieved this feat for the fourth consecutive year.


    Mindshare’s gold-winning campaigns were ‘Your Trusted Beauty Companion‘ for Be Beautiful in the category of Best Media Innovation — Digital; sub-category — Mobile; ‘India Bleeds Blue!‘ for Nike in the category of Best Media Innovation — Digital; sub-category — Web; and the ‘Changing the Game…for Youth, Cricket and Pepsi‘ campaign
    for Pepsi in the category of Best Integrated Campaign.


    Lodestar UM came second with 110 points winning two gold, two silver and 12 bronze metals. The agency won both the gold awards for its work on Amul.


    ‘Amul takes the road less travelled‘ campaign in the Best Media Strategy — Consumer Products category, and ‘Tasty Dish Verna Game Finish‘ campaign for Amul MasterChef India in the Best Media Innovation — Branded/Scripted Content category — were the worthy ones.


    Maxus had a close shave with MediaCom Communications that fetched just five points lesser to miss the third rank.


    The next two ranks saw agencies coming too close for comfort, as far as points were concerned.


    Maxus had a close shave with MediaCom Communications that fetched just five points lesser to miss the third rank.


    Maxus secured the third position accounting 70 points with four silver and six bronze awards. The agency’s ‘We Mixed India‘ campaign done for Tata Sky fetched three silvers and a bronze.


    MediaCom Communications’ Grand EMVIE win for their Talking Newspaper for Volkswagen Vento earned a mammoth 25 points, which propelled them to the fourth position. The agency took home 65 points and one gold, one silver and three bronze awards.


    Madison Media Infinity was ranked fifth as it bagged two gold one silver and four bronzes to finish their run with 60 points – just five points behind MediaCom.


    Mudra Max occupied the sixth position with its tally of 45 points.


    GroupM-Dialogue Factory came seventh and Madison Media Plus eighth with 15 points each, while Interface Business Solutions was positioned ninth and earned 10 points.


    JWT took the 10th place, followed by MEC and ZenithOptimedia India.

  • Cricket after World Cup and IPL

    Cricket after World Cup and IPL

    MUMBAI: After the World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL), the value of the residual cricketing properties in the year could fall due to India‘s poor performance and an economic slowdown.

    Media analysts had forecast the cricket television broadcasting economy to earn an advertising revenue of Rs 20 billion this year. While the World Cup fetched Rs 5 billion, the IPL took home Rs 10 billion.

    “As the India-West Indies series was just after the two marquee events, there was a level of fatigue. The India-England series was a disappointment and could cast an influence on the other remaining properties in the year,” says a media analyst.

    The upcoming events include the Champions League Twenty20, the India-Australia series and the India-England ODIs.

    A media buyer says that one has to wait for the five ODI matches between India and England before valuing the other properties. “Only then we can say to what extent ad revenue will be affected. If India does well and the ratings are good, then things will be on track. If it doesn’t, then advertiser interest will fall.”

    The other issue concerning sports broadcasters is the slowdown that seems to be hitting the economy. While the effect is hard to quantify, the buyer says that the good thing about the upcoming series is that they are taking place before and during the festive season.

    Lodestar Universal CEO Shashi Sinha feels that cricket outside the World Cup and IPL will still manage at least Rs.5 billion. “Despite the performance of the Indian team, I still get inquiries from clients about cricket,” he says.

    Multi Screen Media (MSM) president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta doesn’t think that the slowdown will hurt cricket. “Revenues will depend more on how each series is hyped up, promoted and the kind of teams India is playing against. So far television has not been affected by the slowdown,” he says.

  • Tupperware associates with Salman’s Bodyguard for brand promotion

    Tupperware associates with Salman’s Bodyguard for brand promotion

    NEW DELHI: Tupperware India has teamed up with the Salman Khan-Kareena Kapoor starrer ‘Bodyguard’ and will promote a 30-second co-branded TVC showcasing Tupperware’s product lineage with the scenes from the movie across channels.

    Tupperware will also showcase its products in the movie along with brand placements in some parts of movie.

    Tupperware India marketing head Anshu Bagai said, “Tupperware’s association with the film ‘Bodyguard’ is a unique way of spreading brand awareness as the film directly appeals to our customers. We have always received good response from our consumers and consultants after associating with bollywood movies and hence, we always look forward for co-promotion with select movies to reach out to our potential consumers. Tupperware products safeguard the freshness and hygiene of the meals like a bodyguard making you healthier. We are confident that this promotional deal will strengthen Tupperware’s brand visibility as a brand for all.”

    Tupperware had earlier associated with films like ‘Billu’ and ‘London Dreams’ for co-promotion of the brand. Last year, Tupperware also associated with movies like ‘Golmal 3’ and ‘We Are Family’ for product and brand placements in the movie.

  • Aegis continues targeted acquisitions

    Aegis continues targeted acquisitions

    MUMBAI: Aegis Group, which has just sold its Synovate research operations to Ipsos, said its organic revenues grew 7.8 per cent excluding Synovate for the first half of this year. Including Synovate, the company claimed organic revenues rose 7.3 per cent.

    The earnings show that media services have boosted Aegis‘ growth, and the company continues to be buyer, not a seller of media shops. It has announced a deal to buy Russia out-of-home media specialist Master Ad.

    Aegis said it has spent about $106.4 million on 11 acquisitions so far this year, but said it is mainly focused on “organic growth” and long-term margin improvement from its operations.

    “We have continued our focus on targeted acquisitions, extending our capabilities and positioning us in key geographies, all of which leave us well placed for future growth,” stated Aegis CEO Jerry Buhlmann, noting that the spin-off of Synovate represents the “largest structural change in the history” of the company.

    “Once the sale is completed, Aegis will become a more focused group, with the opportunity to accelerate further the delivery of sustainable, profitable growth, and increased financial flexibility to make targeted acquisitions,” he asserted, adding a cautionary “medium term” outlook due to “macro-economic uncertainties,” which were also reflected in a revised global ad spending forecast released this morning by Aegis‘ Carat unit.

  • Motorola ad misleading: UK’s ad body

    Motorola ad misleading: UK’s ad body

    MUMBAI: The UK‘s Advertising Standards Agency has banned the television ad for Motorola‘s Atrix, which stated that the gadget was “the world‘s most powerful smartphone”.

    The ASA received two complaints from fans of Samsung‘s Galaxy smartphone range arguing that the Samsung Galaxy S II i9100 had a more powerful processor and, hence, Motorola‘s claim to be the fastest is misleading.

    Motorola attempted to defend its position by telling the ASA that the ad meant the Atrix was the most powerful when you included the “Dual Core processor, 1GB RAM, webtop and ecosystem, Flash 10 Player, qHD display and a 20 per cent more powerful smartphone battery than all known current competitors on a world scale and a biometric reader”.

    But the ASA said that consumers would understand the TV ad to mean that the phone by itself was the world‘s most powerful smartphone. It “considered viewers would understand the claim ‘The world‘s most powerful smartphone‘, along with a close-up of the phone, to mean the phone, in isolation, was the most powerful smartphone”.

    It judged the ad had breached Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) rules on ‘exaggeration, misleading advertisement, substantiation and comparisons’ and banned Motorola from making the claim again.

  • Global digital signage systems market to reach $13.8 bn by 2017

    Global digital signage systems market to reach $13.8 bn by 2017

    MUMBAI: Global digital signage systems market will reach $13.8 billion by 2017, said the latest report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

    The report claims that opportunities for advertising are on the rise in developing Asian countries like India, China and Singapore largely due to the growing base of urban population and a resultant wider audience base of target corporate workers, commuters and shoppers.

    The retail boom in Asia brought upon by strong economic growth, rising consumerism, rising standards of living, increase in disposable incomes, and changing lifestyles that rival western counterparts, all provide a strong platform for growth.

    “Given its ability to use vibrant, media-rich messages to rope in the right audiences, digital signage represents a powerful medium for advertising, information display and entertainment,” the report added.

    The marketing arena worldwide has witnessed dramatic transformation over the past few years. The recent years have seen decline in traditional print advertisements in newspapers and static outdoor billboards, but commensurately rising interest in new interactive marketing strategies, including digital signage.

    According to the research, the market is further driven by the evolution of hybrid digital signage systems wherein digital signs are augmented with the interactivity of digital kiosks. The amplification of marketing impact possible through this medium provides a high return on investment (ROI) business case for these systems.

    Major application areas in these regions include public notices and real-time weather forecasts among others. Industrialisation will remain a key factor, indirectly driving growth in the marketplace.

    Development of transportation networks, public infrastructure, new construction of commercial buildings will create demand for digital signage in public spaces, the report asserted.

    Against a backdrop of a digitalised world, the digital platform of marketing makes for an effective medium to target elusive consumers, especially the younger generation. With several advantages like higher viewer recall and retention of digitally displayed messages, stacked in its favor, digital signage systems are forecast to witness sturdy gains in the upcoming years.

    The report also stated that despite the market advantages enjoyed by digital advertising technologies, the global digital signage systems market witnessed sizeable deceleration in growth momentum during the years 2008 and 2009, as direct fallout of narrow creativity levels in a weak economy, and credit shortages for funding new and risky ventures during the period.

    For instance, new investments in digital signage infrastructure came under direct pressure as a result of preferences among advertisers for existing and already accessible infrastructure.

    Additionally, financing for big digital signage projects experienced relatively tougher funding options, as venture capitalist preference during this period was particularly skewed towards established technologies/projects with faster exit options.

    The research underlines that falling costs associated with purchasing, installing and maintaining digital signage systems in sync with technology development and market penetration, will help bolster the market in the post recession period.

    Low hardware costs, and declining software development costs have made systems, such as media players, and display units like LCD displays cheaper and affordable. While the retail sector remains the prime end-user of digital signage technologies, evolving application areas, such as in financial services, transportation and hospitality are forecast to generate steam in the upcoming years.

    Companies poised to gain will be those capable of providing end-to-end digital signage solutions encompassing installation, consulting, content creation, content management and support, the report concluded.

  • Ogilvy creates a detective campaign for Fox Crime

    Ogilvy creates a detective campaign for Fox Crime

    MUMBAI: Ogilvy Mumbai has created a unique launch ampaign for the Fox Crime channel.

    The campaign aims to popularise this thought: Fox Crime = Crime.

    The agency met different crime fiction enthusiasts to understand the broad triggers and key drivers that make them gravitate towards crime fiction. The learning was universal: Crime fiction is mentally stimulating – It invokes the problem solver / thinker in all of us. Crime Fiction = Mind Games.

    This led to the insight that there is a detective in all of us. One always tends to guess the probable criminal watching a crime programme. It is to do with the inherent need to solve problems and put the pieces together. Therefore, the campaign idea was to bring out the detective in us.

    Consequently the agency concluded the creative thought: Fox Crime. Whodunnit?

    To implement this idea three jumbled films will be aired on national television. Each of these films will tell a different story to the viewer almost misleading him to believe that there are multiple victims, multiple murderers, and multiple motives — leaving them with a mystery to solve.

    Then the viewers can go online to www.foxcrimeindia.com where they can solve / decode the actual crime case. They will have to solve several clues along the way, which will help them deduce the actual case and put the right pieces together. Once they have cracked all the clues is when they will actually solve this mystery case.

    These 30-sec teasers will be aired for approx. 2 weeks following which the final reveal film – ‘Solved Case‘ will be premiered on national television and in the online space.

    Five people who manage to solve the case will get a chance to visit the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington D.C.

    The campaign, besides TV and digital, will also be promoted through OOH, cinema and radio to create the sufficient buzz. Each of these mediums will direct traffic to the website www.foxcrimeindia.com where the audience will be able to solve this case using various digital touch points.

    “The brief was really to be synonymous with crime content in India. The idea originated from the fact that of the different movie genres that exist the one that enamors people the most is detective stories. There is a sense of vicarious pleasure that viewers experience when they put themselves in the shoes of the detective and try and solve the mystery. The mental stimulation, the ‘mind games‘ gives viewers a
    sense of fulfillment when they are able to solve the crime (sometimes even before the detective does ),” O&M managing partner Navin Talreja said.

    He also stated that this campaign encourages people to become detectives as they try to solve the crime that has been presented to them.

    “Our idea challenges the consumers to go beyond watching. It makes them participate. Challenge the detective in you to solve the clues that not just solve the crime but also reveal the film in the correct order,” senior creative director Sukesh Kumar Nayak added.

    Star India VP Jyotsna Viriyala affirmed, “The channel will source content from all over the world. So if you‘re a crime junkie and love to fuel the detective in you, then this is the place to be! This campaign is essentially an awareness campaign and will be as involving as the genre itself.”

  • Nick Consumer Products to represent Viacom’s properties in Canada

    Nick Consumer Products to represent Viacom’s properties in Canada

    MUMBAI: Nickelodeon Consumer Products (NCP), a division of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), has announced plans to take its Canadian licensing and merchandising business in-house effective 1 October.

    NCP Canada‘s Toronto based office, led by NCP Canada senior director Tanya Visano, will exclusively represent VIMN‘s portfolio of properties and brands which include Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central and manage all operations and retail and licensee relationships for NCP.

    Said VIMN senior VP of consumer products Michael Connolly, “VIMN‘s business and brand portfolio in Canada has grown exponentially since we launched our first licensing program a little more than a decade ago and now encompasses two 24-hour dedicated channel services with our Canadian broadcast partners, multiple digital platforms and mass awareness of our brands and properties. Moving from an agent to in-house representation model is optimal for our continued growth in
    the region and, combined with our global scale, we are able to offer even deeper value to our Canadian partners.”

    NCP Canada will focus on driving NCP‘s strategic priorities around their Something for Everyone portfolio, including innovative and enhanced retail partnerships, holistic franchise and category management with first in class operational support and product development. Visano and her expanding team of marketing and licensing professionals, who include Jeremy Potvin (Director, Softlines), Jean Brozny (Senior Manager, Marketing and Brand Management), Daniel
    Christamtsis (Senior Manager, Hardlines), and Matthew Spataro (Coordinator, Retail Marketing), are based in Toronto at the offices of VIMN’s Canadian subsidiary, MTV Networks Canada.

    Visano added, “We are very excited about NCP‘s expanding efforts in Canada and the great potential around our Something for Everyone portfolio. Our team will focus on deepening partner relationships through value added solutions and product innovation that will deliver increased sales and impactful retail merchandising.”

    NCP Something for Everyone portfolio spans every demo across pre-school, kids, tweens, teens and adult. Nickelodeon‘s evergreens‘ Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants feature newly integrated marketing campaigns and high quality product designs. Nick‘s robust content pipeline keeps delivering the hits such as Victorious (currently broadcasting on YTV) which debuts at Walmart in Canada this summer for Back-to-School. Adult offerings around Comedy Central‘s South Park, now entering its 15th season and MTV‘s The Jersey Shore reflect NCP‘s scope as a true one-stop-shop for partners.

    Visano will coordinate operational transition from agent to in-house and is responsible for all day to day NCP business.

    NCP’s move to direct representation in Canada will be managed out of VIMN’s Canadian subsidiary, MTV Networks Canada.