Category: MAM

MUMBAI:With the Indian economy picking up once again and the market bustling with youth buyers, the fast food outlet category is once again increasing its thrust on television advertising. And standing tall in the list is McDonald‘s Corporation.

While the category by itself has grown to occupy a 29 per cent television advertising volume share in the overall services sector, within the category McDonald‘s “I am loving it” proposition has built up well on TV to grab a 35 per cent share during the first half of 2010.
 
 The brand has grown in TV ad volumes by 337.5 per cent over the same period a year ago, when it had absorbed a mere 8 per cent of the overall pie.

Says McDonald‘s India senior director – marketing Rameet Arora, “McDonald‘s leads the pack with both more penetration and more footfalls than any other player. The McDonald‘s franchise is built on the foundation of strong consumer connect and marketing. The brand has many dimensions that make it compelling wherein great tasting food and great value everyday are the two critical dimensions. Therefore, the advertising of this brand saw such a volume jump in the last six months.”
 
 
Within the product line, the products from the brand that were most advertised from January-June 2010 were Mcdonald‘s Extra Value Meal (13 per cent), Mcdonald‘s Happy Meal (10 per cent), Mcdonald‘s Happy Price Menu (7 per cent) and Mcdonald‘s Chatpata Mcaloo Tikki (6 per cent).

In 2004, the brand launched the Happy Price Menu with a value message for a younger audience and saw a surge of younger consumers and people from socio-economic class B walk into our stores.

Says a media observer, “The Indian consumer was price sensitive and even though the organisation managed to establish a sense of familiarity, Indian consumers continued to perceive McDonald‘s as an expensive eating out option.”

Thus, in 2008, the campaign using the father-son duos from the Indian film industry was launched to reiterate the theme of “Yesteryear‘s Prices”. It features Bollywood stars from past decades together with their sons and a message that prices have not risen in line with the passage of time.
 
 
Meanwhile, Yum Restaurants India, running the flagship brands Pizza Hut and KFC, follows McD‘s in TV ad volumes with 34 per cent share. The products advertised most from the company lineup are KFC (13 per cent), Pizza Hut (7 per cent), Pizza Hut Magic Times (5 per cent) and KFC Krushers (5 per cent), according to Tam AdEx data.

The fast food outlet category on TV had seen a downfall in 2009 when slowdown was tightening its grip. The category, which had a 45 per cent share in 2008, fell to a 12 per cent share during the year and steadily rose to again 29 per cent in the first half of 2010.

Says Madison Media Infinity COO & head – Madison Media Research Centre
Mallikarjun Das, “With more players and chains, the ad volume on TV of this category has steadily increased. And with the economy improving, people‘s spending on weekends also went up and so did their spending on eating outside.”

Moving forward, the category will only grow further. “The market for this category is still evolving and the category will also grow. The total ad spend by the organised players in the fast food outlet category is pegged at Rs 2 billion and should be growing at 15-20 per cent this year. Television ads occupy the maximum share,” says a senior executive who did not want his name to be revealed.

McDonald‘s is ready to step up its media campaigns in the second half as it aims at increasing its market share in the category.

BANGALORE: The Planman Group’s sports management vertical Planman Stars, based out of Bangalore, will be providing ‘Virtual’ advertising in the upcoming Micromax Cup Tri-Series between India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Virtual advertising pertains to the seamless insertion of digitized images anywhere on the screen during live television broadcast and has been gaining wide acceptance in the west with advertisers having profited from delving in popular sports such as baseball and soccer.

The advantage of virtual advertising is that different advertisements can be inserted for different regions, thereby giving the broadcaster more localised ads to tap into.
 
“We believe that Zee Networks would be revolutionizing advertising in the sports business in the country pioneering the introduction of Virtual Advertising by broadcasting this live on Ten Sports,” says Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) chief revenue officer & head niche channels Joy Chakraborthy.

Ten Sports, a part of Zeel, is the host broadcaster for the Micromac Cup.
 
“With virtual advertising we want marketers to exploit this new and innovative medium we are bringing to the table for maximum brand visibility and share of eyes. We are very excited with the initial response from the market, as most of the slots have been sold out. We hope this will benefit the brands and would be a popular medium of advertising in the sports business in India”, says Planman Stars CEO Vikram Tanwar.
 

MUMBAI: Mohan Clothing, which owns Blackberrys apparel brand, has Vizeum India as its media AoR.

Aegis Media chairman India and CEO South-East Asia Ashish Bhasin confirmed the development.

As per industry sources, the size of the account is pegged at Rs 100 million. 
 
The account will be handled out of the Delhi office of Vizeum, the media arm of Aegis Group. 
 
Recently, Vizeum won accounts of Sanyukta Developers, Credila and Asia Motor Works.

MUMBAI: Tina Sachdev has rejoined Rediffusion Y&R and has taken charge as the creative head of the Mumbai office.

In her new role, Sachdev will be heading one of the three verticals at Rediffusion Y&R‘s Mumbai office and will be handling creative duties for brands like Airtel, Hair and Care, Big FM and Kaya.  
 

MUMBAI: Grey will shoulder the creative duties of Reliance Communications in an account size estimated at Rs 2.5 billion.
 
Grey, beating DDB Mudra and JWT in the final round, will have a bigger opportunity as the telecom major will also look at rolling out campaigns for 3G as it ousted incumbent agency Cartwheel Creative.
 
 Reliance Communications, a major CDMA and GSM player, had earlier assigned the media duties to MEC and OMD. Mudra Max was handling the media duties for Reliance.
 
The six-week pitch process for the creative duties engaged other agencies like JWT, McCann Erickson and Mudra.
 

MUMBAI: Television viewership for Test cricket is dropping as younger audiences switch over to the more fast paced T20 format. An indication of that has come from the ratings of the first two India-Sri Lanka Test matches which fetched an average TVR of 0.66, lower than the last time these two nations contested in a similar version of the game.

A total of 52 million viewers tuned in for the first two Test matches of The Micromax Cup between India and Sri Lanka telecast on Ten Sports.
 
The Jaypee Cup series between the two sides, on the other hand, attracted 65 million viewers and got an average TVR of 1.22 on Neo Cricket last year, according to Tam data for C&S 4+.

In 2008, the Idea Cup series between the two sides had an average TVR of 0.84 on Ten Sports and drew in 50 million viewers.

Among the 15+ TG, the 2010 series got an average TVR of 0.76 compared to 1.3 TVR for last year‘s series and 0.92 in 2008.
 
Media observers say viewers are gravitating towards the T20 format. Besides, rain interrupted the first match while the second Test concluded in a tame draw. Another factor could be that the last series was played in India, thus generating a higher interest factor.

The India versus Australia and India versus South Africa Test Series later this year should give an idea of where the oldest format of the game is going. An early obituary of Test cricket would have to wait till we get the ratings of the third Test match that India won in an exciting contest. 
 
Meanwhile, Ten Sports‘ ad revenue target of Rs 1.1 billion from the India-Sri Lanka series could fall short due to rain and an uninteresting second Test match (partially offset by Sachin Tendulkar‘s innings), according to media buyers. But the ODI tri-series is still to go and the launch of Ten Cricket will coincide with this series.
 

MUMBAI: For the third season of its daredevil reality show Fear Factor- Khataron ke Khiladi, Colors has roped in Garnier Men Deodorant as the title sponsor.

The Viacom18 Hindi general entertainment channel has also got three associate sponsors in the form of Vodafone, Sony Bravia and MircoMax Mobile.
 
“Apart from the title sponsor, we are looking for 6-8 associate sponsors, of which we have already got three. We are looking for elite sponsors from car (automobile) category, FMCG sector and two-wheeler brands,” Colors head of sales Simran Hoon told Indiantelevision.com.

Hoon also said Khatron Ke Khiladi x 3 will be a perfect launch pad for Garnier to launch its men deo range. “As we have 13 hunks this time, it gives Garnier a great opportunity to launch its men‘s product range. We will make sure there is a lot of product integration during the show. The brands will get much more than just 30-second ad spots,” she added.
 
Colors has changed the format of Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi x 3, wherein it will have Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra as host, while 13 men will do the stunts.

The show will be launched early September as a precursor to Bigg Boss 4.

The contestants in Khatron Ke Khiladi x 3 are choreographer and TV personality Terence Lewis; model and actor Milind Soman; car racer Armaan Ebrahim; filmmaker Abhishek ‘Rock On’ Kapoor; actor and model Dino Morea; actor Manjot Singh (Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Udaan fame); actor and national level rugby player Rahul Bose; model and actor Rahul Dev; VJ, actor, comedian Cyrus Broacha; TV actor Shabbir Ahluwalia; squash champ Ritwik Bhattacharya; TV actor Karan Singh; and actor model, cricketer and commentator Angad Bedi.
 
The shooting of the show will be in Brazil this time.

Said Colors programming head Ashvini Yardi, “Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi x 3 is going to be a notch higher than the last season in terms of the difficulty level of challenges and the danger involved. Also, the format is different now as for the first time we have male celebrities participating in the show. With 13 hunks and sensational Priyanka Chopra, we plan to give our viewers the next level of excitement and thrill.”

The show will continue to be produced by format owners Endemol.

Endemol India MD Deepak Dhar said, “For a show that has already shattered all preconceived notions of fear and has turned celebrities into daredevils, this season had to be something that took the viewers’ experience to the next level. Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi x 3 is a triple dose of everything from action to stunts and from the contestants to Priyanka Chopra herself. I am sure the audience is going to love it.”

Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi debuted in July 2008 with the launch of Colors.

MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has kicked off a marketing campaign for the Airtel Champions Twenty20 tourney featuring its brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan.

The broadcaster has also roped in Andrew Symonds and Saurav Ganguly for expert analysis. Ganguly, for the first time, will also be a commentator.

ESS has also roped in Herschelle Gibbs. All of them will be a part of the broadcaster‘s marketing campaign which has the tagline – Ab Hoga Asli Muqabla.
 
The first promo for the event, which takes place from 10-25 September in South Africa, has already gone on air.

ESS MD Manu Sawhney said the marketing budget has gone up fourfold, but did not reveal the figures. “This is the only event where teams have to compete and fight just to take part. Champion teams will battle for the ultimate honour of Champion of champions. It is the ultimate fight. This leads to the theme of our campaign.”

Sawhney said that for a tournament of such stature an ambassador had to be found who had similar stature. Bachchan, he said, represents character, excellence, rigour and transcends generations.
 
The aim of the campaign is to be cheeky, irreverent. The message is that teams should not focus on past laurels, said Sawhney.

The campaign will also cover print, radio, outdoor. ESS has teamed up with Saffron Brand Consultants to create the identity and positioning for the event. The graphics elements are sharper.
 
 “The event is airing in 159 countries and 14 languages, Sawhney added.

MUMBAI: Soft-drinks giant Coca-Cola has shifted its media agency to Lodestar UM, cutting its ties with Madison Media that lasted for 11 years in India.
 
The size of the account is pegged at over Rs 2 billion.
 
When contacted, Lodestar Universal CEO Shashi Sinha declined to comment.

Sources, however, confirmed that Lodestar had bagged the account, the size of which is over Rs 2 billion.
 
Said a Coca-Cola India spokesperson, “Coca-Cola India as part of a global process has been looking at opportunities to optimise its marketing capabilities. As part of this process, the company conducted an evaluation of leading media agencies to provide integrated communication planning, media execution, strategic analysis and media tracking capabilities for its entire portfolio of beverages. This had become all the more necessary with the rapidly evolving media landscape in the country.”

“While all agencies participating in the review process illustrated strong skills, Lodestar Universal McCann showed the highest potential and has been awarded the media account for Coca-Cola India. We are very excited about this partnership and are confident that Lodestar Universal McCann will add value to our business,” he added.

The other agencies that were in the race included Starcom Worldwide, Carat, TME and the incumbent Madison Media.
 

MUMBAI: Despite all the muck and controversy around the the Commonwealth, the likes of Abhinav Bindra, Vijender Singh and Saina Nehwal will promote the event in Delhi later this month.
 
The ‘Go for Gold’ campaign kicks off on 14 August to mark the 50-day countdown to the event which takes place from 3-14 October. The countdown will also provide a sneak preview of the CWG anthem composed by AR Rahman.

The sportspersons will visit various residential localities around Delhi, eliciting support for the Games from the capital’s residents,
 
Other star athletes who have been appointed brand ambassadors for the Games are Beijing Olympic bronze medal-winning wrestler Sushil Kumar, Commonwealth’s ace pistol shooter Samaresh Jung and four-time world champion woman boxer M C Mary Kom.

The athletes will travel in two floats across Delhi, which will be flagged off from the CWG Organising Committee’s headquarters. It will traverse through the interior and far-flung areas of Delhi.
 
The procession will start in the form of a parade, led by the athletes and comprising volunteers, that will provide the city’s residents an opportunity be part of the grand event.