Category: MAM

MUMBAI: Purple Focus, an advertising and marketing communication solutions agency, has roped in Arvind Pal Singh as national creative director. 
 
Singh will be based out of the Delhi office and will also take care of the Mumbai and Indore teams. 
 
Purple Focus executive director Ashish Upadhyaya says, “Singh‘s experience will help take brand Purple Focus to the next level.”
 
Prior to this, Singh was associated with Capital Advertising Delhi. He has also worked with agencies including Rediffusion Y&R and Lintas. He has worked on brands including Maruti, LG, Electrolux, GPI and Nestle.
 

MUMBAI: In the wake of a multi-agency pitch, Percept D‘Mark (PDM) has bagged the on-ground advertising duties of MasterCard.

Under the terms of the contract, PDM has come on board as a retainer agency wherein it will be the only agency to handle activations for MasterCard for the next two years.
 
Says PDM India national head brand activations Sanjay Shukla, “We plan to work on the model of retainership with brands because this gives us an opportunity to understand a brand in a better way as we are associated with it for a longer duration and not just for a particular campaign. A dedicated team will work on MasterCard.”

The on-ground activities for MasterCard will be planned keeping in mind its core target audience comprising individual account holders, banks and merchants.
 
Initially, the agency will be working on campaigns that will drive the usage of debit cards at point of sales, handling activations related to the brand‘s sponsorship of the Mumbai Indians during the IPL season, coming up with initiatives centred on card holder education and other merchant incentive schemes and organising events for different platforms.

Additionally, the brand plans to increase visibility at airports with consumer promotions.
 
Adds Shukla, “BFSI brands have been increasing their media budgets and are realising the importance of below-the-line activities, which give them an opportunity to connect with the TG on a one on one level.”

Some of PDM‘s key clients include Airtel, Pepsi, Colgate-Palmolive, Citibank, P&G, Kelloggs, Microsoft, Times of India, HSBC, FedEx, Nokia, Loreal, TATA Indicom, Apollo Tyres and VLCC.
 

MUMBAI: In a bid to strengthen its integrated solution offerings to clients, Reliance Media World has appointed Navneeth Mohan to head its below-the-line (BTL) division. 
 
In his new role, Mohan will spearhead the specialised below-the-line services in the capacity of national head – BTL, covering events and activations across the country spanning 45 cities and ensuring clients are treated to clutter breaking and innovative offerings when reaching out to their target audiences.
 
He will report to Reliance Media World business head – allied business Rabe T Iyer.

Prior to this, Mohan was AVP – event services at Encompass.
 
Iyer said, “Below the line has an enormous business potential and we are happy to have Navneeth with his expertise and proficiency, spearhead this vertical and lead the team to deliver tailor made values, creating solutions to clients to suit their specific brand needs.”
 

MUMBAI: M&C Saatchi India has launched a brand design specialist company ‘id‘. Brand design director Hemant Sapre will head the company that will have a staff of eight members initially. Brand design director Delhi Amardeep Singh will be supporting Sapre in this endeavour.
 
The company will be headquartered in Mumbai with a branch in Delhi. ‘id‘will be responsible for services including brand design strategy, design architecture and expression to design implementation. M&C Saatchi India executive director Suranjan Das will be responsible for business development.
 
“The launch of ‘id‘ underpins our endeavour to be a media neutral communications company. Design is rapidly evolving in India as a very effective tool of communication and we felt the time was ripe to enter this segment. Sapre has excellent credentials. We have very high expectations from him and the team,” says M&C Saatchi Group India chairman Kamal Oberoi.
 
Sapre has been associated with M&C Saatchi for the last two years. He has also worked with DMA Branding, Collage- the brand design specialisation of RK Swamy BBDO and Contract Advertising.

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) has announced that Yog Sports, a sports marketing and distribution company that provides international quality merchandise for premier sporting events, has signed a 10-year exclusive deal with the league.

As part of this partnership, Yog Sports will be the League’s “Official Merchandise Distribution Partner”. Yog will have the exclusive rights to distribute all official merchandise branded with the DLF-IPL brand and all the eight teams included as part of the League.

The proposed merchandise distributed by Yog Sports will include a wide product range including Apparel – T-shirts, Jerseys & Caps; Accessories – Key chains, Wrist bands, Bags and Match day cheering items like flags, cheering sticks, trumpets, and much more. These would also include products from the catalogue of the teams’ official kit sponsors which are Reebok, Adidas and Puma.
 
Yog has been given the rights to set up IPL Match Stores inside stadiums, multiplexes, malls, high streets, airports, railway stations, metro stations, and other public locations where live IPL matches will be screened.

IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said, “Official merchandise is an integral part of any global sporting league, as it helps enhance fans participation and team loyalties. Together with Yog Sports we have defined a collaborative strategy to ensure that IPL fans get access to authentic team merchandis. Yog Sports will now work towards ensuring the highest quality standard for all IPL merchandise and through their robust distribution network will attempt to reach out to fans even outside the stadia and across India.”
 
Yog Sports director Saumitra Srivastava said, “Yog Sports is pleased to partner with IPL as the exclusive merchandise partner for IPL, and aims to bring to IPL fans, a best-in-breed international merchandise experience, both in terms of quality, choice & value-for-money, and to complement the game changer IPL has proven to be in the world of cricket, sport and entertainment.”
 
The IPL 2010 will be the first year of operations for Yog Sports as a concessionaire of the IPL. For this year, Yog Sports is setting up 200 retail stores across 12 cities wherever the matches are being held. The company plans to scale up its operations taking its merchandise retail footprint to 1,000 stores in Year 10.

Yog Sports is also the exclusive supplier of official merchandise to the IPL Online Match Store, which is available on www.iplt20.com.

MUMBAI: Posterscope, the out of home (OOH) agency of Percept, has added four new businesses including Marks & Spencer, Nestle, Colgate and YouTube to its portfolio of clients. 
 
The OOH agency will roll out an outdoor campaign for Marks & Spencer in a few months time. For Nestle, the agency has rolled out a campaign for its Nescafe brand. The agency also worked on Colgate MaxFresh campaign and the current YouTube campaign that promotes IPL showing live on YouTube.
 
Also, the OOH agency has introduced the Prism suite of tools from Posterscope Worldwide. Six tools including Prism Map, Prism Creative and Prism Screen are customised for the Indian markets.

MUMBAI: PerceptH Delhi has won the creative duties of Pavers England, a footwear retailer with over 100 retail outlets, and Lakshmi Energy & Foods Ltd, a global manufacturer of long-grain non-Basmati rice, for Rs 320 million.
 
For Pavers England, the account size is pegged at Rs 20 million. The first campaign will be for the brand‘s summer collection that will launch in April 2010. The campaign will include above the line (ATL) and shop level activities. Pavers Foresight Smart Venture, along with Forward Group, launched the Pavers England footwear brand in India in 2008.
 
The account size for Lakshmi Energy is pegged at Rs 300 million. Lintas, Mudra and JWT were the other agencies who had pitched for the account. The company will launch its packaged rice under the Lakshmi Foods brand name in India.
 

MUMBAI: Red FM national head events and station head Delhi, Jagdeep Singh Pawar has called it a day. Pawar was with the radio station for a period of over two years and was reporting to CEO K Shanmugam.
 
Currently serving his notice period, Pawar‘s last day with the company is 31 March.
 
Prior to joining Red FM, Pawar was Sony Entertainment Television AVP-Ad Sales. He has also been associated with Zee Telefilms and Radio Mirchi.
 
This news comes close on the heels of the radio station‘s national marketing head and West head Anuj Singh quitting the organisation.

MUMBAI: Raj Nayak is quitting NDTV Media to float a new media company, AIDEM Ventures, that aims to become a major player in India and overseas.
 
Nayak, who is taking his team along with him, will enter into a fresh arrangement with NDTV Ltd. As NDTV Media CEO, Nayak and his team held 26 per cent while NDTV had the remaining 74 per cent.

Set up in 2003, NDTV Media was offering advertising sales service to television channels including NDTV, Mi Marathi and Sahara‘s entertainment channels. 
 
Under the new arrangement, NDTV said it will save substantially on costs. Having renegotiated the terms of engagement, the company said it “will have greater control of its sales operations and at the same time ensure continuity in its revenue stream … while working very closely with Raj’s new organisation.”
 
Founder-promoter Prannoy Roy said, “NDTV has had a wonderful experience working with Raj and his team over the last 7 years, they are a highly talented and committed team and we look forward to working together with their new company AIDEM Ventures Ltd. under a new win-win relationship. We have full confidence in Raj Nayak’s new venture AIDEM becoming a major media player. ”

Added Nayak, “In my 23 years of experience, I ‘ve had the opportunity of handling some of the biggest media brands in India like ESPN STAR Sports, STAR TV Network & many more… but launching NDTV channels in 2003 with Radhika and Prannoy Roy & the NDTV team was one of the most exciting & challenging assignments of my career.

The brand equity of NDTV is unparalled – and sets an example on how to maintain a solid Chinese wall between commercial considerations & editorial independence. We’ve shared & continue to share a great professional relationship & personal friendship & I am thankful to the NDTV Management for continuing to place their faith in me & my team, and entrusting my new company with the responsibility of continuing with their business.”
 

MUMBAI: Kingfisher has launched a new advertising campaign, to be aired during the Indian Premiere League, which features 21 cricketers from four IPL teams – Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals. 
 
The 30 second TVC will be aired during the IPL matches on Set Max and other channels across various genres that include news channels, movie channels and music channels.
 
Says United Breweries SVP marketing Samar Singh Sheikhawat, “Kingfisher has always been associated with fun, fashion and sports. This IPL, we have lined up a series of marketing initiatives across the country to enable cricket lovers to feel the excitement and live the spirit of the sport. This TVC is all about creative humour and fun, and revives the legacy of the famous Kingfisher jingle that has been associated with sports for many years now.”
 
Conceptualized by JWT, the ad has been shot in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.