Category: MAM

MUMBAI: Reliance Media World‘s radio arm Big 92.7 FM has roped in Saurabh Doshi as regional head- west zone.

In his new capacity, Doshi will be responsible for the western markets of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra (except Mumbai) and will report to national business head Soumen Ghosh Choudhury.
 
This is Doshi‘s second stint with the company, the earlier one being from 2006-2008. He was part of the integral team that launched the Big FM stations across the country. 
 
Says Big 92.7 FM business head Soumen Ghosh Choudhury, “The West market is extremely exciting and challenging and Doshi‘s people management and business analytical skills will work excellently for the stations. I am confident that under his leadership, we will continue to offer excellent entertainment and comprehensive solutions that meet requirements of both listeners and clients, while taking the stations to newer heights.” 
 
Prior to this, Doshi was Reliance BIG TV DGM. Apart from this, Doshi has also been associated with companies such as Bank of America, Dun and Bradstreet.

MUMBAI: Bates 141 has appointed Sagar Mahableshwarkar as national creative director for the India and Bangladesh region.

Currently Rediffusion Y & R chief creative officer, Mahabaleshwarkar is serving his notice period.
 
At Bates 141, he will partner chairman and regional creative director Sonal Dabral and CEO Sandeep Pathak in furthering the creative agenda.

“It’s like coming back home. I have worked with Sonal before and happy to be in that place again. In both Dabral and Pathak, I found shared passion and vision to create great work and I am confident that it will be a successful partnership. Bates 141 has a good portfolio of clients, on which we can up the creative ante immediately,”says Mahableshwarkar.
 
Bates 141 chairman and regional creative director Dabral said, “Bates 141 is going through a renaissance right now. We are putting great work at the centre of everything we do. Mahabaleshwarkar’s passion and his hunger for great ideas will be critical in helping realise this vision.”
 
Mahableshwarkar started his career with Ogilvy and was with the agency for 16 years. He has worked on brands including Airtel, Tata Nano, Colgate, LG, Sleepwell, Taj, Kingfisher and SugarFree.

MUMBAI: Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) has won the creative duties of IndusInd bank for this fiscal, replacing incumbent agency RK Swamy BBDO.

The Bank plans to spend close to Rs 400 million on advertising and other visibility initiatives in FY‘11.
 
Since the new management took charge 2 years ago, significant changes in the branding and image of the Bank has taken place. Now that growth is apace, the Bank intends to undertake a major change in its image so as to emerge as a young, energetic and responsive bank.

“The Bank has focused on its brand building program since last year. This financial year, the branding initiatives will gather momentum and we wanted some fresh thinking on the brand. I‘m extremely pleased to announce our association with Ogilvy & Mather and I‘m sure they will help us take our brand to newer heights,” says IndusInd Bank MD & CEO Romesh Sobti.
 
JWT, Rediffusion, Saatchi & Saatchi and Mudra are the other agencies that pitched for the account.

Says O&M India chairman Piyush Pandey, “We are really excited about working with IndusInd Bank and are all geared up to reposition the brand and do some path-breaking work. It will surely be a challenging task but we are all excited about the new mandate of transforming the Bank‘s image into young, dynamic and responsive brand.” 
 
The Bank has lined up a slew of branding activities in the coming year. Currently on air is the bank‘s advertising campaign. Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the three ad series talks about three service propositions of online payment, mobile alerts and ready2use savings account kit.

MUMBAI: Dhanlaxmi Bank has awarded its media duties to Mindshare. This is the first time the Bank has brought on board an agency to handle its media duties.

The account size is pegged at Rs 350 million.

Mindshare will be responsible for media planning, buying and media strategy across different mediums.
 
“We will launch a Kerala specific campaign in the next five days. Only conventional media that includes TV, radio and some cinema will be used for the Kerala campaign. Additionally, we will launch a nationwide campaign in June. This will include a 360 degree plan,” says Dhanlaxmi Bank marketing and communications head Sheran Mehra.
 
Mindshare won‘t be responsible for outdoor and activation. “The outdoor and activation side of the promotion will be allocated on a project basis,” adds Mehra.

Dhanlaxmi Bank had gone for a corporate makeover early this year. It shed its navy blue look and donned a purple look. Also, as part of the makeover, the Bank changed its spelling from Dhanalakshmi to Dhanlaxmi. It also appointed O&M as its advertising partner.
 
The Bank has opened 66 branches all over India in the financial year 2009-10.

MUMBAI: The shortlisted entries for the Creative Abby Awards at Goafest 2010 stand at 571.
 
The entries include works from 73 advertising agencies along with direct marketing, design, digital and film companies. 
 
Mudra Group has bagged the maximum nominations with its 95 entries shortlisted for the Creative Abbys followed by Ogilvy and Mather (80) and Publicis Communications (72). 
 
While JWT India has bagged 28 nominations, Leo Burnett, Rediffusion Y&R, TapRoot India and Creativeland Asia have pocketed 25, 24, 23 and 21 nominations respectively.

MUMBAI: OMD India has won the media duties of Cotton World and Hindustan Pencils which has popular brands including Apsara and Nataraj in its portfolio.
 
The account size of both the businesses put together is worth Rs 180 million, confirmed an OMD India official.
 
The agency handles accounts including Multi Screen Media, Parryware Roca and Danone.
 

MUMBAI: Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd (STFC) has appointed Madison Media as its AOR following a multi-agency pitch. 
 
The size of the account is pegged at Rs 500 million. 
 
Shriram Transport Finance Company is part of the Shriram Group. Other companies in the Shriram Group include Shriram Life Insurance Company Ltd, Shriram General Insurance Company Ltd, Shriram City Union Finance Ltd, Shriram Fortune Solutions Ltd and Shriram Insight Share Brokers Ltd.
 

MUMBAI: TV guidance channel What‘s On India has unveiled its first advertising campaign as part of its integrated strategy to reach out to its target viewers.

The focus of the campaign is to enhance and build awareness on the recently launched channel and educate viewers in major markets on the TV guidance proposition. 
 
The campaign uses a solution based approach and targets the rampant unplanned viewing sessions for most TV viewers. The value proposition at the heart of this campaign is on how the What‘s-On-India channel helps viewers choose the best programmes at any point of time during the day.
 
Beginning with Mumbai and Delhi, the campaign is being leveraged in outdoor media at prominent locations throughout the two cities. While the campaign has utilised bus shelters and hoardings as its medium in both Mumbai and Delhi, mobile vans and unipoles have additionally been used in Delhi. The second leg of the ad burst will move to digital, mobile and social networking media. 
 
Commenting on the campaign, What‘s On India channel head Shalini Behl, “In spite of the fact that television guidance is a new concept in India, we are happy with the reactions, feedback and level of usage from the early adopters. The brand‘s aggressive plans in the weeks to come are focused on jumping up the adoption rates. While the channel has embarked on various routes to engage viewers before, this advertising campaign is primarily to create awareness and education for the channel.”
 

MUMBAI: Kent RO Systems, the makers of water purifiers, has appointed Law & Kenneth to handle its creative account. Glaze Ads is the incumbent agency.
 
Says Law & Kenneth chief executive officer and managing partner Anil S Nair, “Kent RO is one of the few home grown companies which has taken on multinational brands like Hindustan Lever, Whirlpool and Philips.” 
 
The new campaign features a series of five television commercials. While the first set of ads talks about the unique three-stage purification process and other features of the product; the next set will use stories around the consumer‘s life to build awareness about impure water being a major source of most diseases.
 
Talking about the strategic shift in the commercials, Nair adds that the television campaign is being supported by print. “It will take a larger shape from May, with educational programmes at the buying level and digital promotions as the monsoon sets in,” he says.

MUMBAI: The board of Media Research Users Council has roped in Joseph Eapen as MRUC chief executive officer.

Currently serving his notice period as aMap CEO, Eapen, will takes charge of his new post by the end of this month. 
 
With this new appointment, MRUC aims to expand the scope of research to areas beyond print and outdoor as well as to substantially scale the quality and quantity of research across different media.

Said MRUC chairman Andrey Purushottam, “Eapen brings tonnes of relevant experience and will play a key role in transforming the MRUC into a vibrant organisation that spearheads the cause of timely, credible and cost effective research across all media. I am sure Eapen will make the MRUC far more responsive to the needs of its constituents.” 
 
Eapen has 18 years of experience in media research in India and abroad and has done extensive research in print, television, radio as well as other consumer research.
 
Eapen says, “I am not only excited about growing and strengthening the IRS but also other areas of media research.”