Category: MAM

MUMBAI: The sportswear and fitness brand, Reebok, has joined hands with Disney Consumer Products to launch apparels based on Disney’s popular franchise The Pirates of the Caribbean.

To cash in on the popularity of Jonny Depp-played pirate captain Jack Sparrow, Disney and Reebok have created a range of apparel for fans across all age groups.

This new collection will have motifs of skulls, treasure, mystery and Sparrow. The men‘s collection will include polos, hoodies, tee-shirts and shorts and the women‘s collection will have capris, tee-shirts and pants in colours like pink, blues and whites.

The range of both the male and the female apparels start from Rs 999 onwards. For young boys, skull hoodies and tee-shirts will be available Rs 799 onwards.

“Our stories and characters delight and entertain consumers across all ages. We are excited to associate with a popular youth brand like Reebok. This fashionable collection embodying the spirit of adventure and mystery following the success of Pirates is yet another step towards Disney‘s commitment to deliver the best mix of innovative and compelling products to our fans in India”, said Disney VP, consumer products, publishing and retail Roshini Bakshi.

Additionally, Reebok has also introduced two Pirate themed deodorants, Reevenge and Reecharm, for men for Rs 180.

The collection will be backed up by retail and on ground marketing.

Reebok brand director Sajid Shamim said, “Reebok has always been a forerunner in delighting our consumers with unique and innovative product stories. Our association with Disney and this iconic movie is a step in the same direction.”

MUMBAI: Stem cell storage bank, Cryo-Save India, has appointed Mandira Bedi as their official brand ambassador.

Bedi is expected to be involved in various strategic communication initiatives as part of an extensive 360 degree brand campaign.

Speaking about her association with Cryo-Save, Mandira Bedi said: “Banking of Stem Cells is the best gift, which the parents can give to their child. It gives me immense pleasure to associate with Cryo-Save in spreading this awareness across India.”

Cryo-Save India MD Rajesh Sharma said it is a vital step in spreading awareness about this concept to all strata of the Indian society.

“We are indeed very proud and privileged to have Mandira as our brand ambassador and we welcome her to the Cryo-Save family and look forward to a long and successful relationship”, Sharma added.

MUMBAI: Saatchi & Saatchi has bagged the creative duties for the leader in free classifieds worldwide – OLX.

Catering to an audience in one of the fastest growing sectors in India, OLX aims to cut across sectors with more and more people using the online space to find and buy products that they need and sell products that they don’t want to use.

Operating in the online space, OLX helps people buy, sell, exchange products and services in their neighbourhoods and within their city. Users are free to search, list or post ads and free to transact on OLX.

Present in more than 1000 cities in India, OLX serves as the local market place for both individuals and businesses. Categories on OLX include Jobs, Real Estate, Cars, For Sale, Services, Education and Matrimonials. Besides, it can be accessed through web or mobile and offers free apps for iPhone and Android phones that make it convenient to post ads on the go.

OLX country manager Amarjit Singh Batra said, “We found the Saatchi & Saatchi team very responsive and excited about this idea. They spent a lot of time understanding about OLX and the needs that OLX is solving for consumers in India. We chose them over others because of the clarity and simplicity in the creative pitch idea that they presented to us. We were convinced on their approach of a humour based storyline of communicating the value proposition of OLX and their commitment to top quality production”.

Commenting on this development, Saatchi & Saatchi India CEO Kamal Basu said, “OLX is a great brand to work on and we at Saatchi & Saatchi are very excited about the work we are doing on the brand. We look forward to a long and rewarding journey together”.

Working on one of its first creative projects for OLX, Saatchi & Saatchi played on the proposition of the brand – buy and sell for free from the comforts of their home or office. This appeals to the Indian populace but not every connected Indian is aware of this great opportunity. Through a mass medium like TV, OLX wanted to reach out to every household in the country that can benefit from this unique marketplace. Hence, the agency developed a creative idea that would appeal to this connect between OLX and every household in India and that would simplify their understanding about Brand OLX.

Talking about the creative, Saatchi & Saatchi chief strategy officer Sourabh Mishra said, “The task for the TVC was to make OLX.in the first name that people think of when they want to sell stuff. Our interaction with people showed that there is an element of hesitation, almost embarrassment that they have when selling personal belongings. Yet there is a strong desire to get the best price for whatever they sell. The idea was born when we reconciled these seemingly conflicting findings to arrive at the thought that ‘everything sells at the right price”.

MUMBAI: Digital network platform, Komli Media, has acquired a digital media company, Aktiv Digital.

Aktiv is an online media sales venture with a presence in Singapore , Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The acquisition will not only give Komli access to the advertisers and publishers across India, South East Asia (SEA) and Australia but will also enable it to offer marketers and publishers a single marketing and monetisation window across the three markets.

As part of the deal, all the staff of Aktiv has been retained, with sales director Chris Pattinson promoted to chief revenue officer.

This is Komli’s third buyout in the past 12 months. In June 2010, Komli had acquired Australian website representation firm Post Click and in October they took over Indoor Media, a UK-based online ethnic marketing company focused on the South Asian community.

Established in 2007, Aktiv is an online media sales venture with a presence in Singapore , Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The company has a consolidated platform for buying online media across its premier, target and performance product suite that aims to deliver single-site buys, content channels and a CPC and CPA performance based offering with re-targeting capabilities. The company has been working with over 500 brands in the last three years across this platform.

Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta said, “Aktiv Digital and its team have been at the forefront of bringing leading digital solutions to their clients, and we see them as a fantastic partner to expand in SouthEast Asia and bring our range of product and media offerings to this region.”

Aktiv Digital CEO Matt Sutton added, “We are really excited to be a part of the Komli family. We were looking for the right strategic partner to accelerate our growth in this region and Komli offered the right mix of financial muscle, product vision and entrepreneurial DNA.”

Komli plans to leverage its strength and expand into more markets in SEA and bring new product offerings to the market.

Komli Media VP International Akshay Garg stated, “Having a footprint in SouthEast Asia gives us the ability to present a pan-regional solution to clients looking for marketing and monetization opportunities in APAC, and furthermore allows us to offer a broader set of Asian ethnic audiences to our clients in North America, Australia and the UK.”

Komli Media offers solutions across the digital landscape which includes Performance Marketing, Brand Solutions, Video Advertising, Search, Social Media and Mobile.

MUMBAI: Marketers need to know where consumers are spending their time in order to best engage them, states a new report entitled ‘Living with the Internet – What is Driving Web behavior’, jointly executed by Microsoft Advertising, MEC and Mindshare.

The study says that it’s important for advertisers to realise that getting consumers’ attention is becoming increasingly difficult. Brands need to understand their target audience’s surfing habit and patterns; and realise where, how and when is the ideal time to best engage with them.

Brands must be market specific and use audience targeting tactics to pinpoint their consumer base. They must surround their consumers, the study claims.

MEC South Asia COO Shubha George said that the digital world is an amalgamation of multiple digital touch points, often simultaneously. Hence, “for holistic campaigns, brands need to activate all aspects of digital to engage the multi-tasking consumer”.

The report advises that brands should look to feature owned assets on the most popular platforms as much as possible. As the report has claimed that transaction is not the primary motivating factor for internet usage, brands should look to avoid allocating substantial budgets towards developing content close to the point of sale.

The report also maintains that marketers should consider the platform that consumers use to go online – and use this platform to the best of their ability.

Given the different role of smartphones and laptops in the digital world, advertisers should realise the benefits of customising their content and placement to match their business objectives, the study maintains.

For example, if the brand’s goal is to create awareness or provide interesting brand knowledge (information) to users, advertisers should put heavy resources towards the development of mobile applications based on these research results.

“In an increasingly connected and multi-tasking world this means, that brands need to create strong somatic markers for themselves. The key is to adopt a smarter approach to online media by making a brand’s presence fit more naturally into a user’s experience”, the study asserts.

Except for online information seeking and content creation, laptops are more favorable when it comes to — communication: laptop (51 per cent) versus smartphone (46 per cent); entertainment: laptop (23 per cent) versus smartphone (17 per cent); transaction: laptop (13 per cent) versus smartphone (8 per cent).

Television creates awareness and creates a desire, while Internet provides the platform to execute them, said Mindshare South Asia leader R Gowthaman.

MUMBAI: In victory, Dhoni‘s ‘Men in Blue‘ proved to be much more popular than his IPL franchise. While the cricket World Cup final notched up a whopping rating of 23.21, the match in which Dhoni won the Indian Premier League for his franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was much less watched.

IPL fanatics may say that it is an unfair comparison to make as national pride will always occupy a higher pedestal. But even in IPL versus IPL, the third edition has won over the fourth. And since the fourth has raked in more moolah (Rs 10 billion) for the official broadcaster Max, advertisers are questioning whether the ad rates should be reworked or it is a stray case where the IPL suffered an immediate punch from the World Cup in which India triumphed.

The lopsided final, which saw CSK defend its crown against Royal Challengers Bangalore, rated a mere 6.96 TVR, according to data from TAM Sports for C&S 4+, six metros market. This is the first time that an IPL final did not reach double-digit ratings. Last year, the final between Mumbai Indians and CSK got a rating of 12.85 TVR.

What makes the tourney anti-climatic is that the first match with 7.77 TVR stayed as the most-watched of all.

Worse, the IPL could not manage an average TVR of 4 in the six-metro market, registering a 29 per cent drop in the average ratings over the third season. The 74 matches have averaged a TVR of 3.91 compared to a rating figure of 5.51 last year, 4.66 in the second season when the event was held in South Africa and 5.39 in the debut year. This, indeed, is the first time in the event‘s four-year history that the IPL has landed up with a tournament rating below 4.

Even the last four matches of IPL 4 could not draw higher ratings as they managed an average TVR of 6.1 compared to a TVR of 8.07 in the earlier year.

The only highpoint this season was that the total viewers who watched IPL have grown to 160.2 million, according to the All India market data from TAM Sports. In the last season, 143.7 million viewers had tuned in to the event.

Despite the decline in ratings, the IPL still remains a highly watched event. Maxus Global National Trading Head Sidharth Parashar notes that while the cost efficiencies were affected to an extent compared to last year, one cannot call the IPL a disappointment. “A rating of nearly 4 over such a long period is still a good performance. Having said that, the BCCI could have a re-look at the format. I think that the increase in the number of games led to a certain amount of monotony setting in. The BCCI could also look to have more matches during primetime. Also, the World Cup did have an impact in terms of viewer fatigue.”

VivaKi Exchange COO Mona Jain believes advertisers would be more cautious when they negotiate next time. “They will not be so blasé and just put money down, expecting the IPL to automatically perform. This time the ratings did not show up as was expected. Advertisers will be looking for benefit. I also think that 74 matches are a stretch for the event. Advertisers will take a conscious call next year.”

LG CMO LK Gupta says that while the company is satisfied at the level of visibility, the fact that the ratings came down was a disappointment. “Consumers spent a lot of their energy on the World Cup and there was fatigue. The World Cup had offered the highest class of cricket and there was a dampening effect to an extent when the IPL came along as it is about club against club. However, the IPL is still the biggest platform during this period. It is very much viable. I am satisfied at the delivery of cricket during the World Cup and IPL. It is not that fans are fed up of cricket. This has been an expensive but a good time for marketers.”

Asked about the challenge of clutter, Gupta argues that this is something that one has to live with. “We took on-air sponsorship as we wanted the largest share of voice in our category. While competitors also advertised, their time was much less and so it wasn‘t an issue for us. The key is to creatively break out of the clutter. This time we focused on our LCD TVs. Our core audience was males.”

MUMBAI: Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) has acquired 51 per cent stake in Darling Group Holdings that manufactures and distributes a range of hair extension products across sub-Saharan Africa.

The deal is expected to enable GCPL to leverage its product portfolio and capabilities in personal wash, toiletries, household insecticides and air care across the African continent. Also, the company aims to build a global, premium ethnic hair care brand across Africa through marketing and innovation processes.

Darling Group’s current management team will continue to manage the business. GCPL will put in place a cross-functional team consisting of current Darling Group management and GCPL’s team members. These teams will work in the areas of marketing, sales, manufacturing, finance and human resources.

GCPL believes that over time, this acquisition can provide a strong distribution and marketing platform for taking other home and personal care products from the company’s portfolio to the African consumer.

As part of increasing its emerging markets footprint, GCPL recently acquired Megasari Group, a household care company in Indonesia — Tura, a personal care company in Nigeria — and Issue Group and Argencos, two hair colorant companies in Argentina.

GCPL chairman Adi Godrej said, “The Darling Group enables us to take our presence in Africa to the next level. Our aspiration is to touch the lives of at least 100 million consumers across Africa in the next 5 years through superior quality innovative products at affordable prices. We believe that the timing is opportune for us to scale up our presence in the region. More than ever, we are convinced about the tremendous potential that Africa offers. There are also several similarities in the retail and distribution environments across India and Africa.”

MUMBAI: Havas Media’s flagship brand, MPG India, has retained telecom service provider MTS’s media account.

The account size is estimated to be Rs 1.5 billion.

The mandate was awarded following a multi agency pitch that also involved Mediacom, Motivator, Mudra and LMG.

MTS has chosen Portland and OAP as their outdoor agencies.

The two agencies were appointed following a multi agency pitch that was attended by Laqshya, Posterscope, Percept and Aaren.

While the North and East regions will be looked after by Portland, OAP will manage the West and South.

Mumbai: Media audit company Spatial Access has restructured its management team into two business verticals – media and marketing input audits. It has also appointed of Nikhil Rangnekar as Joint CEO of the company.

Rangnekar moves in from Starcom Worldwide where he was as executive director, India-West.

Also, Geetanjali Bhattacharji will be promoted as Joint CEO and head the marketing input audits vertical consisting of the Production, BTL and PR audits. In addition, she will be responsible for business development.

According to an official note, the restructuring is aimed to
streamline operations and allow managing partner Meenakshi Madhvani to explore the international ambitions for the company.

Rangnekar will join Spatial Access on 15 June and will head the media vertical. His mandate will be to focus on delivering media audits, advisory and analytics services.

Madhvani said, “I am looking forward to Nikhil bringing in fresh
thinking and ideas, which will enable us to grow the service, business and our reputation. We have competent teams who have been dealing with clients independently. My idea is to move out of the frontline and leave the media vertical in Nikhil’s capable hands.”

Elaborating on the new direction for the company, Madhvani added, “A lot of the services that we offer today have been developed by me based on need gap analysis and research done among our clients and prospects. In fact, at this point we have commissioned an independent investigator to discover clients ‘pain points.’ This is really where I come into the picture. We should be able to articulate tomorrow’s opportunities even before our clients voice them.”

MUMBAI: Guava Creative Solutions has bagged the creative duties for social marketing organisation, DKT India.

The account size is estimated to be Rs 250 million.

Pickle Lintas was the incumbent agency. The mandate was awarded without any formal pitch process.

Says Guava creative director Vikisha Mehta, “Our mandate will be to reposition the company’s existing brands that include Zaroor condoms and Choice oral contraceptive pills.”

Mehta said besides a new condom brand, the company is also coming up with its first emergency oral contraceptive pill in October, and the agency will work on their launches.