Category: MAM

MUMBAI: The toughest challenge is to retain people after making the acquisition as they don’t want to be where they have ended up, said the founder of the world’s largest advertising agency who has gobbled up many rivals over the years.

Citing the acquisitions of Ogilvy, Grey and Y&R, Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO of WPP, said it is “difficult for rivals to come together.”
 
In an interview given to Bloomberg Businessweek, Sorrell observed: “The mindset shifts with the second generation, but until then it‘s a challenge. We can‘t be a collection of businesses. Clients expect us to connect the dots. The task is to get every one of the 140,000 people here to know what the other 139,999 are doing.”

Sorrell spoke on issues related to building his business, firing employees, and bringing together the company after acquisitions.
 
Sorrell asserted that advertising and communications is a “people business” and “people are cyclical, and partners in a business can change—especially when they become wealthy.”

Elaborating further, the wise man of the ad world said: “We spend about $9 billion annually on people, but we don‘t spend enough time evaluating that investment. The conventional wisdom in our business is if you need people, you poach them. The industry will not survive long term unless we change this attitude.”

So how did Sorrell build his empire? In 1985, he left Saatchi and invested in a small public company called WPP, eventually becoming chief executive officer.
 
“ You might say my decision to leave was a form of male menopause. At 40, I hadn‘t started my own business so this felt like the last chance,” Sorrell said.

About 18 months later, Sorrell purchased J. Walter Thompson, an advertising company 13 times the size of his business. “It was a hostile takeover. We paid $525 million. It was a no-brainer: I didn‘t have much, so I had nothing to lose,” he recollected.

Sorrell fears that the successor may not share his attachment to WPP. “A founder has a different business perspective. WPP is highly personal to me. I‘ve watched the bricks being put in the wall. Whoever does my job in the future will not do it the same way. I‘m not saying they‘ll do it worse, but they won‘t have the same emotional attachment I‘ve had,” he mused.
 

BANGALORE: Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (India) Ltd (HHLI) will be spending around Rs.500 million this year towards brand building, media, advertising and marketing, reveal company sources.
 
“We have planned to spend around Rs 400 million this year for promotions across media and towards marketing of our various products. Our global principals spend around Rs 100 million towards brand building in India,” the sources inform.

The company has earmarked around Rs 60 million towards mass media communications on television for its products this year. This includes two new TVCs to promote two new home air-conditioning (AC) product lines that it launched in India today- I-Clean and Kaze (Japanese for Cool Breeze). Hitachi is also a sponsor of ‘The Big Fight’ show on NDTV.
 
Over the next few years, the company is targeting a 10 per cent market share, amounting to Rs 12 billion, of the rapidly growing home AC market in India. It currently has a seven per cent market share.

HHLI, which had so far been catering to the premium segment, has now launched home AC products in the mass segment and expects the growth to happen on the back of the new launches.
 
HHLI has an installed capacity of 400,000 million home AC units. It has a nationwide distribution network of 18 branches, 172 exclusive sales and service dealers, over 1500 showroom dealers and 350 service points including 33 company owned service payment.
 

MUMBAI: Fox International Channels (FIC) has appointed Liz Dolan as CMO, a post newly created.

The announcement was made by FIC president, CEO Hernan Lopez, to whom she will report.
 
In the new role, Dolan will oversee all brand development, consumer communications, corporate communications and trade marketing for FIC’s entertainment and factual channels outside the US. She will be based in Los Angeles.

Lopez said, “Liz has a track record of innovation and results. Having run global marketing at NIKE, she understands what it means to bring together local passion and expertise with a broad global brand vision. We are fortunate to count on her to help us in the next stage of our growth plan.”
 
Dolan said, “I’m very excited to helpchart the next phase of Fox International Channel’s growth all over the world. Great marketing is created by really energised, passionate people and everyone I’ve met so far at FIC fits that description. When I look at great brands like Fox and National Geographic, and huge success stories like the global launch of The Walking Dead, I see a fantastic foundation to build upon.”
 
Most recently, Dolan served as Own: The Oprah Winfrey Network CMO from December 2008-June 2010. She spent almost a decade at Nike from 1988-1997. During her tenure as corporate VP and director of global marketing at Nike, the company’s revenues grew from $4.2 billion to $9.1 billion. In that role, she directed all product marketing, advertising, sports marketing and corporate communications.
 

MUMBAI: Allied Media, the media planning, evaluation and buying arm of Percept, has appointed Navroze Hodiwala as its general manager, strategy. 
 
Prior to joining Allied Media, he was working with TME as the head of Mumbai branch. 
 
Allied Media chief executive officer Shripad G. Kulkarni said, “We are now integrating our strategic efforts across media companies so that clients will get, for the first time, a truly single window 360 strategy. We will soon unveil our plans in this direction. Navroze has a wide exposure and is just the right person for the job.” 
 
In his career spanning over 13 years, Hodiwala has handled brands across various categories for clients such as Tata Motors, Colgate, Elder Pharmaceuticals, Allied Blenders & Distillers, Taj Group of Hotels, Himalayan Natural Mineral Waters, Heinz and Singapore Airlines.

MUMBAI: Customer marketing and analytics company Hansa Customer Equity, has embarked on a drive to increase customer interactions and conversations through its focused division called Customer Integrated Marketing, for Kansai Nerolac.
 
A part of R K Swamy Hansa group, Hansa Cequity will manage the point of contact, site visits and painting fulfillment involving Kansai Nerolac-trained painters and treatment experts. The service, that is being rolled out in Mumbai and Delhi will move into other cities gradually.
 
Says Hansa Cequity vice president and business head Anand Siva, “Today, both sales and marketing are facing pressures of ROI, increasing pressure on advertising and activation to deliver. Therefore, brands are increasingly dependent on getting closer to the customer, offering firsthand experiences and looking at extended conversations that strengthen the relationship.”
 
Siva says that his company brings together data, the power of analytics and technology that enables them to focus on customer need and deliver convertible conversations with customers. “Which is what I call the A-to-A business offering as Acquisition to Advocacy,” he adds.

Nerolac Home Stylers provides professional help in providing product consultancy and colour consultancy.

Averred Kansai Nerolac head of marketing Sukhpreet Singh, “Hansa Cequity showed a good understanding of the business and came with automated processes, streamlined systems and good understanding of customer lifecycle management that we saw as a strong foundation for the success of this programme.”

Hansa Cequity will deploy a team of over 50 persons, a 25-seat call centre and a proprietary sales force automation solution that uses web and mobile technology to ensure high productivity, plug leaks and deliver customer delight.

“Nerolac gave us a very challenging brief, but gave us the support and processes required to make something like this work. And we will enjoy executing this as it takes us closer to the customer, gives us greater understanding of why they do what they do and eventually plough it back as learning for the brand,” adds Anand.

MUMBAI: Lintas Media Group has roped in Biju Menon as vice president for their digital arm, Digital Initiative. He will be based in Delhi and will mentor their digital business growth in all markets.
 
Menon confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com. 
 
Menon was previously working at ZenithOptimedia (Zed Digital) as AVP. He had joined Zed Digital as a business director in July 2009 and was promoted to the post of AVP in May 2010.
 
Menon comes with over 13 years of experience in online marketing, media and dotcom field with a couple of years overseas. He has also worked with Times Business Solutions, OM Kotak Mahindra and NIS Sparta.

MUMBAI: Sandeep Madan has put in his papers as executive vice president of Rediffusion – Y & R. He has been working with Rediffuson Y&R for more than three years and was handling the Delhi branch of the agency. 
 
Confirming the news to Indiantelevision.com he said, “I have resigned and am considering my options.” He however desisted from disclosing his future plans or giving any further details of his resignation.
 
In his career spanning over 15 years, Madan has worked with agencies such as Publicis India, Enterprise Nexus (now Bates David Enterprise), iB&W Communnications and McCann-Erickson. 
 
Madan has worked for brands such as Metlife India, Skoda, General Motors India, Hewlett-Packard India, Aviva Life Insurance and Perfetti India.
 

MUMBAI: Span Communications India has appointed Asad Jamal as its new chief operating officer for media. His job will be to primarily expand the business and operations and take care of all the clients the agency is handling.
 
Based in Delhi, Jamal will report to chief executive officer Naresh Kheterpal. Said Kheterpal, “Asad has a rich experience in media management and planning and across the several high budget brands and corporates of the country. We want him to use this brand and advertising experience to lead Span Communications. We at Span believe that the clients should get value for money and Asad ,with his experience, would be able to do so.”
 
He has been in media planning throughout his career and has worked with brands such as LG India, Samsung and Sony Electronics. Apart from these he has also handled lifestyle and consumer brands like Mother Dairy, Tag Heuer Watches and Benetton.

Averred Jamal, “I am excited to take on this role. Span is a fast growing agency which handles creative and media under one roof. My current role will be expanding business and working in sync with the creative department which will add in enriching my career further. I look forward to a long term association with Span Communications.”
 
Prior to this Jamal used to work with Group M MEC as business director. He started his career with Chaitra Leo Burnett and has been associated with Triton Communications, FCB Ulka Advertising, Starcom Worldwide and MPG.

MUMBAI: Leo Burnett has bagged the creative duties of FMCG company CavinKare‘s new product that is expected to be launched soon. The mandate was awarded following a multi-agency pitch.
 
Confirming the news to Indiantelevision.com, Leo Burnett chairman and CEO Arvind Sharma said, “We have won the mandate of a new product but I can‘t confirm about the product or the category.”
 
CavinKare presently offers products in various segments such as personal care, food products, dairy products and home care.
 
MEC handles the media account of CavinKare.
 

MUMBAI: Everest Brand Solutions has won the creative duties of Mumbai-based low-cost airline GoAir.
 
Industry sources have pegged the account at Rs 250 to 300 million.

GoAir marketing head Rahul Deans confirmed the development to Indiantelevision.com. 
 
According to sources close to the development, five agencies took part in the pitch. The other four agencies were Ogilvy & Mather’s Meridian, ideas@work, Law & Kenneth and McCann Worldgroup‘s Altitude.

The agency will take a 360-degree approach towards promoting the brand and taking it further.
 
This account will be the first win for Dhunji S. Wadia who was recently appointed as the president of the agency.

GoAir is wholly owned by the Mumbai-based Wadia Group, the majority owners of Bombay Dyeing and Britannia Industries.