Category: MAM

MUMBAI: After years of partnering with Microsoft, Facebook has decided to take over its own display advertising from the former. 
 
Microsoft Bing general manager Jon Tinter wrote on a company blog, “We made the mutual decision that Facebook would take over responsibility for selling display advertisements on its own site.” 
 
In 2007, Facebook had partnered with Microsoft and had invested about $240 million in the social networking site. The deal had also allowed Microsoft to exhibit a small percentage of ownership in Facebook and become the latter‘s exclusive advertising partner. 
 
Facebook will now once again center on its relationship with Microsoft wherein Microsoft will include more Bing features in a bid to help customers make faster and smarter decisions.

MUMBAI: VacationRental, a specialised website in the vacation rental industry, is launching a new advertising campaign this Super Bowl Sunday. The company is kicking off the campaign with a new commercial featuring Unitard, the semi-famous but always humorous superhero of the vacation rental industry.
 
In the ad, Unitard tirelessly fights for the happiness of travelers, and he will not rest until people learn the benefits of vacation rentals. Much like VacationRental.org, Unitard wants to help families have enjoyable vacations. To do so, he is working tirelessly on the front lines to keep people from staying in uncomfortable hotel rooms.
 
Says VacationRental.org. president and CEO John Romano, “We at VacationRental.org realize the many benefits that vacation rentals have over staying in a hotel or similar lodging while on vacation. It‘s our hope that this new commercial and ad campaign will bring this realization – as well as a few laughs – to our fellow travelers.”
 

MUMBAI: Prasanth Mohanachandran has put in his papers as OgilvyOne Worldwide & Neo@Ogilvy India executive director- digital services. 
 
Says Mohanachandran, “I consider myself extremely fortunate to have worked with two industry visionaries – Piyush Pandey and SN Rane. I have had a wonderful time working with some of the brightest and best talent in the industry. I know that I am leaving the team behind in very able hands.”
 
Mohanachandran has worked on brands such as Nokia, Vodafone, Unilver, IBM, HDFC Bank, Cadbury and American Express.

MUMBAI: Ogilvy & Mather‘s out-of-home (OOH) specialist agency Ogilvy Landscapes has won the outdoor media business of Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company for the second time in succession.
 
Landscapes won the account following a multi-agency pitch that included ten agencies. 
 
Says Ogilvy Landscapes country head Rajesh Badani, “As OOH was the primary media for the launch, the challenge was to work on a OOH strategy to induce the bank customers to the branches of these three banks, where they could get to purchase the insurance products, as these products were being sold only through bank branches of these three banks.”
 
Incidentally, Ogilvy Landscapes won this business in a multi-agency pitch for the first time in 2008, when Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company was planning to launch its insurance products.

MUMBAI: With the Hockey World Cup kicking off on 28 February, official broadcaster Ten Sports has roped in three sponsors.

Ten Sports has roped in Hero Honda as the title sponsor while Nokia and MTS Mobile are associate sponsors, according to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) chief revenue officer Joy Chakraborthy.
 
Ten Sports, acquired recently by Zeel, aims to have at least eight sponsors. While not revealing any revenue figures, he says that spots have gone for Rs 35,000 per 10-second on an average.

Hero Honda is also the on-ground title sponsor for the event. In terms of marketing activities, Zee Sports CEO Atul Pande notes that spots featuring Virendra Sehwag, Priyanka Chopra and shooting champion Rathore are airing. The tagline is Phir Dil De Hockey Ko. It is a call to sports fans to support the national sport. It has an emotional connect and was conceived by Hero Honda.
 
One spot sees Sehwag saying that he will be sitting in the stands and cheering the team and chewing his fingernails in nervous anticipation.

In addition Zee will be supporting a couple of local hockey tournaments in Delhi and the North. There will be outdoor activity across 13 cities in the form of hoardings. This will serve as a call to action. Print in the form of syndicated columns and ads and radio also form a part of the campaign.
 
Zee will also be doing a 13-city road show which starts a week before the World Cup kicks off. This will be in the form of canter activity in cities like Pune, Patna and Chandigarh. A goal will be mounted on a canter and people have to kick the ball in the goal. Goodies will be handed out to winners. The broadcaster has also come out with a hockey shaped banner on the Noida tollway.
 

MUMBAI: Sab Miller has appointed Kavitha Bagga as head of national key account. She will be based out of Mumbai.
 
“I will be looking at Sab Miller‘s large format outlets, club and lounge. This role is a combination of my experiences in marketing and activation,” says Bagga.
 
Prior to this account, Bagga was Times OOH head of national key account. Before moving to Times OOH, she was Radio Mirchi national marketing head.

MUMBAI: Ogilvy Kolkata has promoted Malini Sengupta, until recently head account manager, to general manager. She will report to Ogilvy (North & East) president Sanjay Thapar.
 
Meanwhile, Ogilvy Kolkata SVP and head Sharmista Dev is shifting base to the capital as Ogilvy Delhi 360 brand team leader for the Vodafone (North) business.
 
Says Thapar, “Both the changes are strategic ones at this critical point. Dev‘s movement to Delhi is symbolic of our commitment to the eight circles of Vodafone handled out of Delhi, each a business in their own right. Sengupta‘s promotion ensures continuity in Kolkata and a fresh impetus which will come under her leadership and strategic thinking.”

MUMBAI: As the world struggles to find its footing, slowly dragging itself out of the immense ravine of recession, globally advertisers continue to display caution and thrift, waiting for clear signs that they survived the wreckage.

Lodestar Universal India has launched its global study ‘Magna Inflation Update‘ on the media pricing outlook for 2010-2011 globally.

The study aims to help advertisers to understand the inflation expectations at a global level and also offers medium level insights across 48 key countries.

Countries that have been fortunate enough to avoid a prolonged downturn have already begun to see optimism in the turn that the media industry has taken. The countries that have been the hardest hit from this recession have actually been the most developed and mature industrialized nations. 
 
Average rates of inflation within Asia are moderate. Generally speaking, while the more developed nations are seeing flat to mild inflation (and in the case of Japan, even some significant deflation), emerging Southeast Asian nations are expecting higher levels of inflation on average.

India inflation is projected at nine per cent for 2010; this is in the upper mid band when it is compared to the other countries like UK, Japan (looking at a deflation) and economies like Philippines, South Africa and Turkey moving forward at double digits.

Predictably, emerging markets are expected to increase media inflation by a considerable degree than developed markets. Many of the emerging markets have faced historically high rates of inflation causing expectations to remain high, while other emerging economies have only been dimly affected by the economic crisis and rebounded considerably quickly. The developed markets, on the other hand, have suffered the most prolonged effects of the recession and with already mature media markets, have held onto the hope that the coming year will bring a recovery to the market and to pricing.

China shows one of the highest inflation in this year due to significant changes in regulations across media which is expected to stabilise by 2011. In contrast, India and some other markets anticpate a much higher inflation rate as the markets stabilise and pricing is driven more by a demand supply model.
 
Brings to India an opportune global study ‘Magna Inflation Update on the the media pricing outlook for 2010-2011 globally. Not only does it help advertisers to understand the inflation expectations at a global level, it also offers medium level insights across 48 key countries (Magna is Interpublic Group‘s Insights and Forecasts Unit)

Countries that have been fortunate enough to avoid a prolonged downturn have already begun to see optimism in the turn that the media industry has taken. The countries that have been the hardest hit from this recession have actually been the most developed and mature industrialized nations, among them the U.S., the U.K., and Japan.

Australia, propelled by the large influence of its Asian neighbors and its stimulus package, has not seen as significant of an impact as comparable countries and expects to maintain its media pricing in line with general market inflation.

Interestingly, there is no singular global trend unlike in the case of overall media investments as showcased in our previous release – Magna Global 2010 Advertising Forecast. Each market demonstrates inflation rates based on internal dynamics showing that the pricing trends are relatively independent of the broader economic parameters.

While average rates of inflation within Asia are moderate, the difference between the countries is marked. Generally speaking, while the more developed nations are seeing flat to mild inflation (and in the case of Japan, even some significant deflation), emerging Southeast Asian nations are expecting higher levels of inflation on average.
India Inflation is projected at 9% for 2010; this is in the upper mid band when we compare to the other countries with developed nations like UK, Japan looking at a deflation and economies like Philippines, South Africa and Turkey moving forward at double digits.

Predictably, emerging markets are expected to increase media inflation by a considerable degree than developed markets. Many of the emerging markets have faced historically high rates of inflation causing expectations to remain high, while other emerging economies have only been dimly affected by the economic crisis and rebounded considerably quickly. The developed markets, on the other hand, have suffered the most prolonged effects of the recession and with already mature media markets, have held onto the hope that the coming year will bring a recovery to the market and to pricing. 
 
China shows one of the highest inflation in this year due to significant changes in regulations across media which is expected to stabilise by 2011. In contrast India and some other markets anticpate a much higher inflation rate as the markets stabilise and pricing is driven more by a demand supply model.

A look at the Medium wise picture also shows interesting trends. Television, the key reach medium across most markets, shows double digit inflation for many emerging markets, driving up the costs of communication on the whole. Newspapers on the other hand, do not have such a steady trend, showing high inflation levels only in select markets. Internet, the other game changer also has wide variations – the BRIC markets have high increases except for Brazil, while established economies hold steadier.

The Indian context shows significant increases across TV, newspapers and the Internet, the key media mix driving most advertisers. Increasing pressure on advertisers thus, to not just match but beat inflation to drive value from their ad spends.

The study states that the challenge lies more in the fragmentation which splits up audience media consumption rather than the actual price increases unlike other countries. This then calls for sharper planning solutions which allow for better targeting and focused media solutions.

The trend challenges media owners as well – pressure to hold prices despite growing acquisition and running costs. Increasingly, this will lead to offering multi solutions by mega media brands which will gradually buy into specific audiences and market to them across media contact points. Partnering the client‘s quest for consumers would allow better monetization and a sharper content approach benefitting them in the long run.
 

MUMBAI: After strengthening its content by launching differentiated reality shows, youth entertainment channel UTV Bindass will roll out its first brand campaign ‘What I Am‘ across India later this month.

The channel is investing approximately Rs 30 million in the initiative that will run for a year.

“After building content for the channel with shows like Emotional Atyachaar, Big Switch and Dadagiri, it‘s time for the channel to launch a focused campaign to reinstate our endeavour,” says UTV Bindass channel head Heather Gupta.
 
UTV Bindass has roped in Motivator as its media agency and Taproot has conceptualized the campaign. Throwing light on the career-oriented and focused youth through the campaign, it reiterates today‘s young minds as someone who “wear their attitude on their sleeves and are equally responsible towards the nation.”

While television remains the preferred medium to build the channel‘s brand positioning, Bindass will also exploit other media platforms like outdoor, print, radio and digital to support the brand-building process. 
 
“We will be using only our network channels and so the campaign will be promoted heavily on UTV Bindass, UTV Movies, UTV Action, World Movies and UTV Bloomberg,” says Gupta.

The channel will be spending around 50 per cent of its ad spends on outdoor, 20 per cent on print and remaining on other mediums.

As part of its outdoor initiative, the channel has booked around 100 sites in Mumbai. The other sites include Delhi and parts of Pune and Bangalore. As part of its print initiative, the channel will roll out full page advertisements on the Times of India (ToI) supplement. The print ad will roll out in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Bangalore.
 
The channel has also entered into a deal with Fun Cinemas in all metropolitan cities, where it will host the campaign.

“Our target audiences don‘t consume print as primary medium. So, we have chosen one big newspaper, Times of India, where we will be unveiling the campaign,” says Gupta.

Additionally, the channel has tied up with 80 outlets of Baskin Robbins in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Pune. The ice-cream parlor will put posters of the Bindass and will offer a customized flavor- the Bindass ‘What I Am‘ sundae.

As part of the college initiative the channel will distribute branded notebooks and also be involved in bike tagging in colleges in Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad and Delhi.
 

MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals is eyeing revenues of over $1 million from its ticket sales. And, to achieve the target, Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise has tied up with retail chain Suvidhaa Infoserve to be its retail ticketing partner.

Tickets for the seven Rajasthan Royals home matches will be available at Suvidhaa Infoserve’s 18,000 outlets across the country. In Rajasthan, Suvidhaa has 1,000 outlets. These include cyber cafes, mobile booths and grocery stores. Suvidhaa will get a commission on the number of tickets sold.

Rajasthan Royals CEO Sean Morris says that through the deal fans will get tickets in a convenient manner. “We do tie ups that are innovative in nature. Ticket prices range from Rs 500 to Rs 1000. We are targeting revenues of over $1 million from these ticket sales.”

Additionally, for each match, 750 hospitality seats will be available. These are priced between Rs 20,000-25,000. Morris also said that there was no truth to a report that said that the franchise has mandated PwC to find a buyer for it.
 
Suvidhaa Infoserve founder MD and CEO Paresh Rajde notes that the company will offer the Rajasthan Royals a vast retail network that will support the ticket sales. “Thanks to the huge fan following we believe that more and more people will access our S-platform. We also have deals with the soccer teams Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Our aim is to make our tie up with the Rajasthan Royals a long term relationship,” says Rajde.

A sports marketing expert says that Rajasthan will earn $2.5 million from ticket sales. Mumbai will fare the best in terms of revenue from ticket sales. It could earn even $3.2 million. Bangalore and Delhi will each earn around $3 million. Delhi though is hurt by the fact that it has to give some free tickets to the DDCA. Attendance is expected to be the best in Mumbai and Delhi. Kolkata and Punjab will not earn more than $2 million. In Kolkata two stands were taken down. Punjab‘s stadium is small compared with the other centres. The ticket pricing will be the highest in Mumbai and Delhi. The ticket revenues that franchises will earn will mark around a 40- 50 per cent rise compared with the first season says the expert.
 
Emerging Media CMO Raghu Iyer says that a lot of attention is being paid to the hospitality facilities. In terms of sponsorships, the franchise is targeting a 50 per cent revenue growth over the second season. There are two spots remaining.

Overall, he expects that local revenues for the team will at least double given that last time around ticket revenue was not high. Marketing and promotional activities will start from 16 February 2010. There will be print, television, radio and outdoor campaign. The theme of the campaign will revolve around the never say die attitude of the team and the attributes of valour and bravery that the team stands for.
 
Shilpa Shetty, who owns a stake in the team, will be doing promotional events for the franchise. These will include meet and greet events with fans along with some promotional launches. Iyer also reveals that Shetty has shot another music video. “This time though we have put a spin on the concept of the music video. When people see it they will be taken by surprise,” says Iyer.

On the licensing and merchandising front, Puma has put together a comprehensive product line. “We were impressed at the effort that the company has made. It will include a host of products like footwear, bags. This will launch from 15 February 2010. Initially our focus will be on Rajasthan and Ahmedabad as that is where our core fan base is,” Iyer adds.