Category: MAM

MUMBAI: Taking advantage of the economic slowdown, advertisers have worked out a new formula in what they term as a roadblock strategy.

Television channels were the first to benefit from this with HUL blocking out all ads on Star and Zee network channels so that its brands maximise their exposure and, hence, impact.

The print is catching on to this trend as advertisers pay a premium to let only their brands find commercial space on that “roadblocked” day.

The Times of India (TOI) has created the first print roadblock for German car manufacturer Volkswagen across its edition of 11 November.

Volkswagen has spent around Rs 100 million for the one- day roadblock, as per industry estimates.

As part of the roadblock, all Volkswagen brands including Jetta, Passat and Touareg have been advertised on all editions of TOI today. 
 
This is Volkswagen‘s first India campaign which MediaCom, the media agency for the car brand, has crafted for the region.

TOI claims that the idea behind the roadblock is to co-create a single-engagement proposition for Volkswagen, thereby creating a huge impact.
 
Earlier in September, FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) blocked an entire day on Star and Zee networks and consumed the entire advertising airtime.

Ads of 20 HUL brands ran across 10 channels of the Star network including Star Plus, Star One, Star Gold, Star Utsav, Star Movies, Star World, Channel [V], Star Jalsha, Star Pravah and Star Vijay on 17 September.
 
On 24 September, a similar exercise was repeated on the Zee network with HUL running ads across 25 Zee channels.

HUL repeated the roadblock on the Star network channels on 29 October.

MUMBAI: Creativeland Asia has roped in Paul Menacherry as its executive creative director. Based out of Kochi, Menacherry will head the company‘s South India operations.

Prior to this Menacherry was Quadrant national creative director.
 
Says Creativeland Asia founder and chief creative officer Sajan Raj Kurup, “Menacherry is a fabulous creative guy. And he is blessed with a good business acumen – a combination we really value at Creativeland, necessarily in that order. Menacherry coming on board will also give our Labs a great momentum.”
 
About his new role, Menacherry avers, ” In my interactions with Creativeland Asia, I found the culture to be a unique combination of freedom and responsibility.

“Kurup has instilled a relentless focus on building brands through fresh, unexpected and innovative ideas which I find truly inspiring. Tired, old ideas don‘t stand a chance here. And it reflects in the work. I hope to add to that culture in every which way I can.”

MUMBAI: MTV has partnered with Ballarpur Industries Limited (Bilt) to launch an exclusive range of ‘MTV‘ and ‘Roadies‘ notebooks. 
 
With over 25 designs, the notebooks are designed to match the style and persona of the contemporary youth. 
 
The range is priced between Rs 17- Rs 130 and is available at all small and large retail stores across India.

MUMBAI: Rediffusion – Y&R has launched the toolkit PlayDo that aims to deliver ‘brand conversations‘ in a bid to recognise that the brand is not just what resides in the consumers head but is actually co-created with them.
 
Conceived by Group CSO Arvind Mohan and TME president Divya Radhakrishnan, the toolkit removes any preconceived notion of choice of medium and focuses on a thorough understanding of the business case, arriving at an agenda for the brand and then delivering it through the ‘conversation idea‘ and ‘conversation neighbourhood‘.

Says Arvind Mohan, “The role of branding and communication needs to be re-imagined today. Our world view is built out of a broadcast model, where the marketer is in charge and the primary mode of communication is one way – from one to many. In the many to many two-way world, the consumer talks back and what consumers are interested in talking about is far more important that what brands want to talk about. The question no longer is ‘did I deliver the message to the right address‘ but ‘what conversation did that message start‘.”
 
Adds Radhakrishnan, “The key challenge is to identify the right neighbourhood, that is, the appropriate environment where it is best for the consumer to have a conversation with the brand.”

Rediffusion – Y&R has also collated its group offerings as 1Rediffusion. 1Rediffusion is the umbrella term for their collective offering of brand solutions, ranging from creative, media, outdoor to direct, event and public relations. 1Rediffusion will function as a cohesive, collaborative unit using a combination of communication tools to address the brand‘s specific requirement. 
 
Explains Group CEO Mahesh Chauhan, “Brand Conversations ensures that 1Rediffusion solutions face client business and directly impact the brand‘s value, values and valuation.”
 

MUMBAI: Mudra Group has elevated Jude Fernandes, until now executive director, to chief executive officer of Mudra Advertising. 
 
In his new capacity, Fernandes will oversee Mudra West (Mumbai), Mudra North & East (Delhi & Kolkata), Mudra South (Chennai, Bangalore & Kochi), and Water ( brand strategy and design consultancy unit) and Maatra (Mudra‘s communication group).
 
Meanwhile, chief knowledge officer (CKO) Sandeep Vij has been made the CEO of DDB Mudra Group. He will also continue with his present role. 
 
As DDB Mudra Group CEO, Vij will handle responsibilities for DDB Mudra, Rapp India, Tribal DDB India and Mudra Health & Lifestyle.

MUMBAI: Global technology leader IBM has named EuroRSCG 4D as its lead digital agency worldwide.
 
The appointment spans web and digital brand experiences, including the development of strategy, technology, design, usability, editorial and production, and social media strategy. 
 
Said IBM corporate marketing John Kennedy, “Euro has deep digital expertise, a broad global footprint and a strong track record working with IBM on e-mail and relationship marketing. Our current agency partners are teaming with IBM to do great digital work in advertising, demand generation and events and we are confident that adding Euro to the mix in a lead role will further enhance our digital capabilities and presence.”
 
Added Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG Worldwide David Jones, “We‘re delighted to start this new strategic relationship with IBM. We‘re excited to work with them on their ‘smarter planet‘ vision and help show various audiences how one of the most important companies globally is committed to changing how the world works. It‘s an honour to have been chosen as their lead digital agency and validation that our ‘digital at the core‘ model is working.”

MUMBAI: After undertaking a major review of its worldwide media planning and buying activities, Kia together with Hyundai, has appointed Havas Media-owned to operate a consolidated media planning and buying programme from the beginning of 2010. 
 
The new agency will be responsible for media planning and buying in five regions. These are Western & Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Asia, including India. Havas Media replaces several agencies that previously serviced both Kia and Hyundai‘s media needs.

Says Kia Motors Corp director overseas marketing group Soon-Nam Lee, “Kia‘s global marketing initiatives will benefit tremendously by this consolidation. By combining our efforts, we can further develop and grow our Kia brand around the world through synergies created from Havas Media‘s understanding of our particular business needs.”
 
The programme is designed to maximise efficiency and effectiveness, while optimizing pan-regional opportunities, co-ordination of central and local advertising campaigns and supporting a clear brand separation.
 
“The key to our growth will rely on Kia‘s ability to adjust to the changing media environment. Havas Media has demonstrated an excellent understanding of our strategic vision and we feel their media creativity and digital expertise will help us develop and drive our future endeavours,” Lee added.

MUMBAI: Yatra.com, an online travel company, has roped in Pratik Mazumder as head – marketing. 
 
In his new capacity, Mazumder will be responsible for the overall marketing functions including developing and launching new marketing initiatives, managing the brand, consumer intelligence and ad sales.

Said Yatra.com Co Founder & CEO Dhruv Shringi, “Pratik‘s consumer marketing and brand experience will drive the growth of Yatra.com. I am confident Pratik will take Yatra‘s record of accomplishment to a new level of distinction.” 
 
Prior to this appointment, Mazumder was with Bharti Airtel where he led the brand and media communication portfolio for the company‘s mobile business nationally. 
 
Pratik comes with approximately 15 years of experience in marketing, with special focus on brand, product management and marketing communications.

MUMBAI: The joint body formed by merging the National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) and Media Research User‘s Council (MRUC) to conduct an amalgamated readership survey will be called the Readership Survey Council of India (RSCI). 
 
RSCI will be composed of equal number of members from MRUC and NRSC and will release the joint survey in the later half of 2010. 
 
Earlier in August, the MRUC and National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) had passed the relevant resolutions at their respective Governing Council meetings to support the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) and the National Readership Survey (NRS) merger that could set the tone for a single currency in India.
 
MRUC has been set up by agencies, advertisers and media houses to determine and conduct research required for the assessment of various media for advertising. NRSC, on the other hand, has been constituted by INS, AAAI and ABC for the purpose of carrying out readership surveys in India.

MUMBAI: Soon after partner Manish Bhatt decided to move on from Contract Advertising, senior vice-president and executive creative director Raghu Bhat has also put in his papers. 
 
Says Bhat, “Currently, I am serving my notice period. My tenure in office will end around 15 December.” 
 
Post exit, Bhat‘s immediate focus will remain on building Fungus Design, his maiden venture, which will deal in manufacturing and marketing designer laptop bags.
 
Bhat will also assist his wife, Prachi Bhat, in her garment label boutique, Taxxi and Vitamin K store (at Khar, Mumbai), where he will play the role of a branding advisor.