Category: MAM

MUMBAI: Grey India has appointed Goral Ajmera as senior creative director – Art.

Ajmera started her career with Enterprise Nexus and has over ten years of experience in adversiting. She has worked with agencies such as Leo Burnett and O&M.
 
Prior to this appointment, Ajmer was with JWT. Her client profile includes prominent brands like Sunsilk, Dove, MTDC, Ponds, Femina, Thomas Cook, Whisper and Lux.
 
Said Grey ECD Art Karan Rawat, “Goral is exceptionally talented and brings to Grey her diverse experience. I worked with her when I started out and I am confident of her creative capabilities and believe she will be a great fit in this creative space and will surely be an asset to Grey.”
 
Added Grey NCD Malvika Mehra, “I have seen some stunning art direction from Goral in the past – I particularly love what she did on MTDC and Lux. Besides being naturally good at her craft, I also think she has the right attitude and maturity to lead a team here.”

MUMBAI: Big FM has appointed Paikar Jamal as programming head.

She will be leading the Delhi programming team to put forth a creative mix for the city. In her new role, Jamal will report to Delhi station head Ashwin Padmanabhan. 
 
Jamal brings with her an experience spanning 13 years in radio programming across both the Indian and international markets.
Prior to joining Big FM, Jamal was with Arabian Radio Network (network of International FM Stations) in the capacity of a senior producer. She was also playing the role of a jockey for their most popular programme “bend it like city” and was based out of Dubai. 
 
Padmanabhan said, “Paikar‘s hands on experience in working as an RJ and producer coupled with her rich industry expertise promises to work as a huge advantage to the station.”
 
Jamal said, “Delhi is a melting pot for people with diverse language and cultural backgrounds and I look forward to giving them relevant content that engages and enriches their lives. I am hopeful that with the extremely charged programming team, we will be able to offer Delhi, clutter breaking and innovative programming that will keep them tuned in to the station.”
 

MUMBAI: Reliance Media Worlds has formed Big Connect, a 200-people sales team, which will use all the company verticals and reliance ADAG‘s Big Cinemas and Zapak, to offer integrated and holistic marketing solutions to clients.

The different business verticals of the group include radio (Big 92.7 FM), out-of-home (Big Street), experiential marketing (Big Live) and the mobile and online space (Big Digital). 
 
Big Connect, a part of the key account management for RMWL, is being created as a sales team to integrate and sell all the various options the company can provide to clients. 
 
RMWL CEO Tarun Katial said, “Our integrated approach to re-align RMWL with emerging consumer dynamics is resulting in new expectations from clients. The re-alignment will enable the company to leverage the cohesive strength of different media platforms within RMWL and Reliance ADAG in a proactive and strategic manner. We are confident that this integrated approach will help us strengthen market leadership as it firmly lays the foundation for an exciting future ahead.”
 
However, the company is not trying to break into the advertising agencies space as it does not want to get into creating campaigns for their customers. Instead it wishes to provide a place wherein a customer can use all media forms available in the urban and rural areas to hit the consumer at multiple times, be it radio, out-of-home, streets, online, mobile and other mediums in the future, to have maximum impact.

MUMBAI: In India, the traffic for viewing the soccer World Cup is increasing despite less goals being scored.

A record 19.7 million television viewers tuned in to watch the first two days of the tournament, a 35 per cent jump over the earlier World Cup four years back.
 
ESPN, the official broadcaster of the World Cup, rang up large gains as the popularity of the game stayed particularly strong in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala. While it took five matches for the World Cup to get a cummulative reach of 14.6 million in 2006, this time around it took just three matches to cross that threshold.

The opening game between South Africa and Mexico got a cummulative reach of 10.8 million this time, according to TV ratings agency Tam. In 2006, the inaugural match between Germany and Costa Rica had fetched a cummulative reach of 9 million.
 
 
The average national rating through the first five matches from 11 June, however, dropped marginally to a TVR of 1, compared to a TVR of 1.3 from the similar span of the 2006 World Cup.

The telecast of the Argentina-Nigeria draw won the highest ratings with a TVR 1.6. The opening match between South Africa and Mexico had an average national rating of 1.5.

Football continues to have a male skew audience. Among males above 15 years (C&S, SEC A and B), the first five matches of the 2010 edition averaged a rating of 1.9 and reached 6.6 million viewers. The Argentina-Nigeria draw got a rating of 2.16 in this target audience while the opening game fetched a TVR of 2.26.
 
In the metros, the matches got an average TVR of 1.53. For the Argentina-Nigeria contest, the rating stood at 2.63 while the opening match on 11 June 2010 got a TVR of 2.22.

The higest ratings came from Assam where the first five matches fetched an average TVR of 5.6. Kerala earned a TVR of 4.2, followed by West Bengal (4.1 TVR).

The top advertisers were Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Nokia, Hero Honda Motors and Samsung. The top brands were Nokia E72, Vodafone Cellular Phone Service, Hero Honda Karizma ZMR, Airtel Cellular Phone Service and Samsung Corby TV.

Analysts same the audience for the football World Cup will swell in the coming days as the tournament builds up more live drama and popular teams like Brazil enter the playing arena.

MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television‘s (Set) sibling channel Sab has reached a milestone with 100 GRPs (gross rating points) in its kitty for the week ended 12 June.

As per Tam data (C&S, 4+, HSM), Sab has added eight GRPs in its last week‘s tally to close the week with 101 GRPs. And, as it climbs the GRP ladder to occupy the fifth slot, interestingly it has also overtaken Imagine TV (94 GRPs).  
 
Positioned  as family comedy entertainment channel dressed in the tagline “Asli Maaza SAB ke Saath Aata Hai”, Sab had five of its shows with 1+ TVR. Its top-rated show Tarak Mehta Ka Ultah Chasmah attained a 2.6 TVR, followed by Mrs & Mr Sharma Allahabadwale garnering a 1.5 TVR. Lapataganj and Sajn Re Jhooth Maat Bolo got 1.3 TVR each while Gutur Gu fetched 1.2 TVR.

Sab EVP and business head Anooj Kapoor said, “Our family comedy channel positioning is working very well for us and we are thrilled to be setting new records of viewership for both the channel and our shows. Our differentiated programming has hit a right chord with the viewers. With a slew of fresh and innovative offerings in the coming months, we are set to further conquer many more milestones.”
 
In the last two-and-a-half years, since Sab repositioned as a family entertainment channel, it has come a long way. From just 28 GRPs then, it has now crossed the 100 GRP mark. The channel hosts daily family comedy shows with joint family settings, and female protagonists.

Kapoor claims that the differentiating part of the channel is content, which is light hearted and concentrates on the positives of joint family systems in India. “We have the only set of shows where the consumer and ‘sasural‘ both love the female protagonist and the channel is the only one which has a brand slogan in the GEC sector. This helps in our positioning and it is clear, specific and well defined,” he says.
 
Meanwhile, Sab is gearing up to launch a new show Papad Pol-Shahbuddin Rathod Ki Rangeen Duniya in June.

Among the other channels, Star Plus maintained its lead in the Hindi GEC space with 335 GRPs (last week 317), while Colors and Zee remained on second and third spots with 288 and 256 GRPs respectively. Sab‘s elder brother Sony Entertainment Television rested with 147 GRPs.

Meanwhile, Star One dropped to 51 GRPs while Sahara One added two GRPs to close the week at 27 GRPs.

MUMBAI: Turner Entertainment has completed its 2009-10 upfront deals, pushing its CPM 9-10 per cent upward over last year‘s price. 
 
Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and CNN are some of the networks that have gained muscle this year. The entertainment group – TBS, TNT and truTV – also upped its overall ad sales by almost 20 per cent over the year-ago period. 
 
Discovery Communications is also very close to stitching its upfront business. Cable volume will be up 18-20 per cent, with the bulk of business being written at premiums of between 8-9 per cent over last year‘s pricing. 
 
Also, with the economic downturn pacing down, Scatter pricing in the first and second quarter of 2010 was better done over the year-ago period.
 

MUMBAI: Global market research firm Synovate has launched a new customer relationship system that offers companies comprehensive and customer-driven approach to understanding customer experiences, attitudes and behaviours.
 
The new research approach, called True Customer View, was developed to help companies better understand the multiple factors that impact their customers‘ behaviour, including what the competition is doing as well as any barriers customers may have in buying their products or services.
 
Synovate claims that this approach is the only customer experience research system in the marketplace that considers these multiple influences. It is also unique because it puts the customer in control during the research process, allowing them to select the brands, attributes and experiences that matter to them, rather than the company determining this.
 
Said Synovate global practices and capabilities CEO Ged Parton, “Many companies unfortunately don‘t have a reliable way to look at all the factors that influence what their customers buy. You need to consider all the variables, especially what the competition is doing; otherwise, you‘re only getting a small piece of the puzzle. Also, many companies have a tendency to look at customers from the company‘s point of view. Our approach instead looks from the customer‘s viewpoint at all the elements that influence their decision to buy a particular product or service. It is completely customer-driven rather than company determined.”
 

MUMBAI: Bharti AXA General Insurance has signed on Grey as its advertising agency. The account will be handled by the agency‘s Bangalore office that will provide strategic and creative direction to the company.
 
The size of the account is estimated to be worth Rs 120 to 150 million. The account was earlier handled by Contract Advertising.

Said Bharti AXA General Insurance COO Kimsoon Chua, “We look forward to some path-breaking creative and strategic inputs from the Grey team. At Bharti AXA we are focused on innovation in both products and services and we are looking to enrich our marketing and brand through equally innovative promotion techniques.”
 
Added Grey VP and head – South Vijay Jacob, “Our strong creative offering and in-depth understanding of the category and consumer helped us win this mandate. Bharti AXA is looking to address a wide cross section of consumers. Our strategic approach resonated with the client.”
 
Bharti AXA General Insurance business has a presence in over 100 cities across the country.
 

MUMBAI: Micromax‘s latest TVC created by Lowe Lintas which went on air on 12 June 2010, is promo for Micromac‘s latest cricketing foray, wherein they are sponsoring four cricket series, all of which will be titled Micromax Mobile Cup.

Micromax is a relatively new brand in the mobile category vis-?-vis Nokia / SS. While they have found traction in the semi-urban / rural areas, they are well set to create an appeal which is across regions and people. 
 
To try and achielve this, the company has come up with a new way to be on top of everyone‘s mind, namely sponsoring cricket tournaments. In the recent past, Micromax sponsored the South Africa / India series which gave them superb mileage. Similarly, in IPL they took spot buys.

All these series are going to be broadcast on Ten Sports. The channel will be airing these promos to create excitement around the series. Hence Lowe Lintas wanted to create a series of communication / films which will help Micromax establish their association with these series through these matches.
 
The commercial has been developed Lowe Lintas keeping in mind that today, thanks to IPL, cricket is no longer a sport event but has taken shape of cricketainment. It was all about cheer leaders, about region, about the films celebrities and about money. But for a true cricket lover, cricket is all about the game and not about the tamashas around it. Hence the TVCs have been developed on the thought of “less tamasha, more cricket”.

MUMBAI: Fortune Global 500 company Henkel has launched ‘Margo Nutri Care‘, a new version of its flagship brand Margo, and has roped in Bollywood actress Genelia D‘souza to endorse the brand. 
 
With Genelia to feature in the new commercials that will be aired on various TV channels from next week, the company is hoping that the young starlet‘s youth appeal will propel the new soap amongst the younger population.

Henkel India MD Jayant Singh said, “With Nutricare, our attempt is to make Margo more relevant to the younger population. We also believe that Genelia D‘souza is highly aspirational to the younger generation and therefore is a strong fit with the brand.”
 
Margo has been one of the reputed soap brands in India since the 1920‘s and with its latest product combines natural ingredients and oils to clean, nourish and refresh even better.

Genelia D‘souza said, “It‘s a pleasure to be associated with a brand like Margo that has stood the test of time and has been offering consumers the best in skin care.” 
 
The new Margo Nutri Care is priced at Rs 15 for 70 grams and Rs 18 for 95 grams and is available in all retail stores in the country.