Category: MAM

MUMBAI: In the wake of a multi-agency pitch, MPG India has preserved the media account of Reckitt Benckiser.

As part of the new mandate, MPG will act as Reckitt Benckiser‘s media AoR for India and South Asia region. MPG India has been handling the media duties for Reckitt Benckiser since 2004.
 
Reckitt Benckiser has divided its media business between Havas Media Group and Publicis Group for 17 brands at the global level. The company claims that this consolidation will bring economies of scale, enhance media capabilities and ensure a fully integrated approach across all brands. 
 
Reckitt Benckiser EVP category Rakesh Kapoor said, “We have chosen two global media partners that will bring us new consumer insights, better capabilities in technology and systems and superior skills in ensuring that we build better consumer engagement strategies and executions.” 
 
Meanwhile, digital media make a significant component for all Reckitt brands.
 

BANGALORE: The digital signage market (DSM) in India, which is at a nascent stage with a size of about Rs.500 million annually, is expected to grow by about 300 to 400 per cent by the end of next year with the rebound of the global economy, according to a number of DSM players at the ‘Expert Tour‘ on Digital Signage organised by Emarson IT Solutions (EITS) in partnership with global DSM player Minicom Advanced Systems.

The road show was aimed to educate various industry participants such as co-vendors, partners, integrators and customers about what digital signage (DS) is and how it can be absorbed into various industries such as banking, transportation , hospitality, retail and OOH.
 
Organised retail is the biggest user of DS in India as well as globally. The market is catching up with static signage (bill boards, etc.) and will soon overtake it, say DSM pundits.

EITS co-founder and CEO Prateek Jaswant claims, “The out-of-home sector will be the only traditional advertising media to post real revenue growth during the next five years. The growth will be driven by the migration to digital and the incremental revenues generated from digital sites. Also, one of the major growth drivers of digital signage is the advancement in technology which has helped retailers, marketing and entertainment companies, and many other organisations to ‘narrowcast‘ dynamic video, graphical and editorial content on hundreds, or even thousands, of digital signage displays located virtually anywhere.”

Being a new industry in India and globally, a lot needs to done to help the industry grow even further. One of the challenges it faces is convincing the real estate owners to permit placing DS in their premises.

Another key factor is television content. While a viewer watches television for the sake of entertainment or news or knowledge, in the case of DS the message has to be short and loud to catch the attention of a viewer who could be a shopper in a store. Many advertisers and creative teams create content for in-store DS that is more suitable for television and include a lot of audio or just run television ads with or without audio. At present, DS is more of a visual than an audio-visual medium.
 
Most advertisers fear that DS calls for a lot of content to be created since in-store situations change over very short periods of time (even hourly) and hence could be expensive, says Scala Inc senior software developer Jahan T Kadhar. “You could run the same ad over and over in the background with just change in the text message, which is possible to render using current technology.”

Driving more than 300,000 screens worldwide, Scala is a global provider of digital signage and advertising management solutions that offers a platform for content creation, management and distribution in digital signage networks and for advertising management of both traditional and digital signage networks.

Selling DS by itself is another challenge, since it is not a part of most media planners who look at just Digital OOH. A number of media sellers also perceive DS as competition.
Capex and total cost of ownership (TCO) is not easily understood and there is no proven or standard return of investment (ROI) matrix for DS. The market lacks other indicators such as measure of reach. Neither the efficiency and efficacy measurement standards of DS are available. “We all know that it‘s working but have no way of proving it,” says Minicom Digital Signage CEO Ronni Guggenheim. 
 
Over 400,000 screens worldwide are using Minicom technology . “When measurability matrices were started for other mediums such as television and cinema, revenues of these mediums increased. We are at the same stage that television was in 1996 or cinema was in 2003,” adds Guggenheim.

The market is fragmented with a number of players with a small number of screens. “There have been times when we have had to send people to various places where we have deployed screens to check physically if they are working or not. Due to bad connectivity, I‘ve had to send the new ad clips on pen drives to various locations in my network,” says Tag Media Network President and CEO P R Sateesh.
 

MUMBAI: Maxus India has won the media duties of Akzonobel, formerly known as ICI Paints, following a multi-agency pitch. 
 
The other contenders in the pitch process included Mudra and Mediacom. 
 
Said ICI paints GM marketing Hemant Somani, “Maxus‘s understanding of the brand along with its coupled strong capabilities, translated into a new media approach for us that is powerful and compelling.” 
 
The other clients in its kitty include Vodafone, Nokia, TataSky, Hero Honda, Dabur, Perfetti, Titan, Bajaj Allianz, Fiat and Seagrams.

MUMBAI: Vizeum India, part of the Aegis Media Group, has bagged the media duties of Essar Corporate. Essar had several media agencies pitching for its multi-crore media business to effectively manage the company‘s communication investment. 
 
Says Essar head corporate brand Sandip Sen, “We chose Vizeum after a robust media pitch which saw participation of many players. Vizeum‘s strategic thinking and communication perspective, in addition to buying, planning and their commitment to our business, was the deciding factor.”
 
Avers Vizeum Media India MD Indian sub-continent S Yesudas, “We are extremely delighted with this important win. I thank Essar management for appointing us as their partners and we look forward to adding might and muscle to their communication investments. This has been one of the most detailed pitch processes, lasting for over two months and this win speaks volumes about the strength of our product and people.”
 
Aegis Media chairman India and CEO South East Asia Ashish Bhasin adds, “This win is another feather in Vizeum‘s cap. I welcome Essar into the Aegis family and it is gratifying to see how Yesudas has created a credible media agency from scratch within a very short span. I am sure more and more clients will soon gravitate to the Vizeum offering of connecting with consumers.”
This is the Vizeum‘s fourth new business win in five weeks. Over the last five weeks, the agency has also won the Luxor/Parker Group, Giovani and BSA Motors.

MUMBAI: For almost two years Sun TV Network had left its advertising rates untouched as the market stayed sluggish. But effective 1 January, the southern broadcasting major will up its rates as it forecasts a 20 per cent jump in advertising revenues for the full-fiscal.
 
For its Tamil channels, the ad rates will go up between 9-33 per cent. The increase in ad rates will be across Sun TV, KTV, Sun Music, Sun News, Chutti and Adhitya.

“We are looking at an ad revenue of Rs 6.9 billion for FY‘10, up 20 per cent from the previous year. The last time we had an ad hike was in February 2008. The downturn prevented us from going for a rate hike in FY‘09,” a source in the company tells Indiantelevision.com.
 
Sun is accordingly increasing the slot fees (broadcast fees) received from the content producers.

The changes in ad rates for other general entertainment channels of Sun TV Network – Gemini (Telugu), Udaya (Kannada) and Surya (Malayalam) – will be announced by the company within a fortnight. 
 
So how does Sun TV‘s rate hike impact the market? “The market was working at a discounted rate. Sun was not selling at their required premium. With the market leader upping rates, it will be good for everybody,” says Star India president (South) Jagdish Kumar.
Shares of Sun TV closed Tuesday at Rs 337, up 1.16 per cent.

MUMBAI: Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI) announced that WPP‘s GroupM has purchased MRI‘s AdMeasure, the ad ratings service for major consumer magazines.

AdMeasure, which was launched in June, sharpens focus of magazine accountability by going beyond measuring ‘opportunity to see‘ a print ad to measuring how many readers actually saw the ad, as well as how many took an action as a result of seeing it. 
 
Said GroupM director implementation research and marketplace analyst Lyle Schwartz, “AdMeasure provides an increased focus on print advertising accountability and that is of paramount importance to all GroupM agencies.

“We believe strongly in the power of print as an effective advertising vehicle, both now and in the future, and this service will help us achieve greater value for our clients.” 
 
Avered MRI president and CEO Kathi Love, “Historically, a magazine‘s total readership was accepted as a proxy for ad exposure but accountability-focused advertisers are demanding more direct measurement of the reach of their print ad campaigns.”
 
“GroupM joins two other companies–Time Inc and Starcom USA- in offering AdMeasure intelligence to their advertisers and clients.

“Moreover, we are in talks with several other major magazine and media buying companies, all of whom are very interested in the analytic power AdMeasure brings to our industry,” added Love.

MUMBAI: Radio Mirchi has appointed Shamik Talukder to head its national activations. This is Talukder‘s second stint with the company.
 
Said Talukder.”I am very happy to be back with Radio Mirchi for which I was part of the launch team. I have proudly seen it grow and expand. The challenges now are different and I look forward to taking the Mirchi Activation business to a different level.”
 
Prior to this, Talukder has launched and managed VIA OOH as co-promoter.He has over 13 years of experience and has worked across sections of media namely TV, radio, outdoor and Internet.
 
Under his guidance, Times OOH bagged advertising rights for the airports in Delhi and Mumbai. Talukder was also responsible for after sales for West and East during his stint at SET India.

MUMBAI: NS Publicity, an out-of-home (OOH) agency based out of Jaipur has bagged the advertising rights of civil structures of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). This is for a period of eight years for the route between RK Ashram to Dwarka.
 
The win was following a multi-agency pitch with Proactive, Pioneer Publicity, Big Street and Prithvi Associates participating.
 
This procurement adds to the inventory base of skywalks, gantries, display towers, designer unipoles and benches which NS Publicity already owns in Rajasthan.

MUMBAI: MTV is making an entry into the lifestyle segment with the launch of a range of ‘MTV‘ and ‘Roadies‘ eyewear.

For this line of business activity, MTV has entered into a three-year licensing agreement with Aureole Inspecs.

The MTV range of eyewear will be launched under the brand – ‘Framed by MTV‘ and will comprise designs and models that are not only ‘chic and cool‘ but also contain design and packaging elements that are uniquely MTV.

While the sunglasses will be available starting next week, the spectacles‘ range will be launched in the first quarter of 2010.
 
“We want our presence across the maximum categories that today falls within the youth‘s demand preview,” avers Viacom18 VP Consumer Products & Communications Sandeep Dahiya. “Eyewear is much more than just glasses; they define style, attitude and are a fashion statement. With this partnership, we are launching MTV and Roadies special sunglasses as well as spectacles.”

Priced between Rs 1,200 to 3,000, the sunglasses will be available at all the conventional as well as big retails stores. “Demographically, we are targeting the top 50 towns in India for our eyewear products. And given our partner Aureole‘s reach, it won‘t be a problem,” Dahiya affirms.
 
The drive will be to expand the market which is currently dominated by the organised sector. Says Dahiya, “There are lots of known sunglass brands but not spectacle brands. Being a need-based industry, it is sized at around Rs 20 billion. However, only 10-15 per cent is under the organised sector, thereby revealing a huge potential to tap. Also, consumers are opting for multiple and designer spectacles, which opens up the market.”
 
Aureole Inspecs India is a joint venture company responsible for the business operations of Inspecs in the Indian sub-continent. The company specialises in eyewear across the spectrum with brands like FCUK, CAT, Speedo, Austin Reed, Mayhem & Manish Arora.
 

MUMBAI: K&V Media, an IMC agency, has bagged the media mandate for Networth Direct. The account size is pegged at approximately Rs 40 million.
 
“Our sound understanding in the financial space is the reason for winning this account. We will be handling media planning, buying and strategy for Networth Direct,” says K&V Media director Dheeraj Vashisht.
 
“We will have a 360 degree approach with a major thrust on above-the-line (ATL) activities, starting from December. Below the line (BTL), including customer contact programmes, will also start soon,” adds Vashisht.
 
The campaign will run for six months.