Category: MAM

MUMBAI: India can be a fertile market for brands, providing scope for marketers to launch new products to tap a rapidly growing middle class.

According to a research by a leading advertising agency, Indian consumers lead the Asian market in being heavily influenced by current trends and are ready to indulge in and experiment with new brands.

India is also one of the top five countries in Asia at 64 per cent that is highly concerned about household finances amid a global credit crunch. Even after being experimental and optimistic about future brand consumptions, almost 45 per cent of Indians are actively saving money for the future, said a Grey Group study. 
 
Expectations of household finances improving have dropped from 71 per cent (2008) to 48 per cent (2009), while the number of Indians expecting their personal finances to get worse has doubled in the last year.

Overall, 80 per cent of Asians are now saving for the future wherein 50 per cent of Asians are responding with cost-effective measures and are actively shopping around for value-for-money deals to save money, said Grey in its latest “2009 Eye on Asia” study.
 
The economic downturn can have a deep impact on consumer behaviour. Said Grey Group Asia Pacific chairman and CEO Nirvik Singh, “More than ever before, marketers need to understand people‘s evolving attitudes and behaviours to get ready for new opportunities when the market rebounds. Grey Group‘s Eye on Asia study is built on the notion that listening to and building emotional bonds with consumers will enable business owners to differentiate their brands in this Asian century.”

Almost 52 per cent of the Indian consumers are highly influenced by current trends, beating 15 other Asian countries. These include Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Following India in the second spot is Sri Lanka with about 51 per cent of the consumers strongly under the influence of current trends. Meanwhile, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan occupy the next seven positions. 
 
The latest wave of Eye on Asia shows that the general optimism of the Asia region for the future has been significantly dampened but not derailed completely. Inundated with financial weariness, people generally become negative, attitudinally. The declining optimism is resulting in higher tendency to work towards brightening up their future and people are inclined to save more.

On an average, while 76 per cent of Asians believe their future will be better than the past, only 30 per cent of Asians strongly believe in this. The level of optimism is most pronounced in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. However, this view is held by only 7 per cent of Japanese, less than half of the proportion of any other Asian country.

The survey also reveals that only 14 per cent of Asians are very satisfied with their lives. Research findings substantiate that Asians are uncertain about the future, with only 30 per cent of Asians being more content than they were 12 months ago, compared to 39 per cent who are less content. Content levels in Taiwan (60 per cent) and Korea (50 per cent) have decreased.

63 per cent of Asians are satisfied with their lives today, but this average hides a wide variation in Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan where the majority are dissatisfied, the study said.
 

MUMBAI: Consumer confidence in India has seen a steady rise for some time now and India has topped the latest round of Nielsen‘s Consumer Confidence Survey with 120 index points.

Indonesia and Norway follow with 115 and 110 index points respectively. Nielsen‘s global consumer confidence index has also seen an increase and has jumped to 86 points this month from 77 index points in April this year, indicating a rebounding consumer confidence across the world.

The current Nielsen survey tracked consumer confidence, major concerns and spending habits among more than 30,500 Internet users in 54 countries. Consumer confidence rose in 45 out of the 52 countries compared to six months ago. In April, the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index hit its lowest point of 77 index points, but as massive stimulus package began to take effect around the world during the second quarter, consumer confidence slowly began to recover. 
 
Among the Bric nations, consumer confidence rose eight points in India, six points in China and four points in Russia compared to the previous quarter. Indians are the most optimistic lot who think the country will be out of an economic recession in the next twelve months (67 per cent). The percentage of Indians who think India is currently under recession has also gone down by 10 per cent to 52 per cent this quarter.

Nielsen director consumer research Vatsala Pant says, “Economic downturn is finally subsiding, not only in India but across the world and improving economic condition and prospect of growth are infusing more confidence in people.”

Rising Indian optimism : The consumer confidence is a reflection of the optimism in a country towards job prospects, personal finances, and their willingness to spend on discretionary items.

Eight in ten Indians are optimistic about job prospects in the country in the next 12 months, 16 per cent think it is ‘excellent‘ and 69 per cent think it is ‘good‘. 81 per cent Indian consumers are also very optimistic about the state of their personal finances in the next 12 months; 10 per cent think that personal finances will be ‘excellent‘ and 71 per cent think they will be ‘good‘. Indians are the most optimistic lot globally when it comes to job prospects and their state of personal finances in the next 12 months.
 
Pant adds, “The resurging job market in the country has acted as a major boost to the confidence of Indians. Decreasing apprehensions regarding the stability of their jobs, resulting in a steady source of personal finance, has made Indians optimistic about the future.”

An optimistic and confident outlook on job prospects and personal finances stretches out to willingness to spend. Considering the cost of things today and their personal finances, seven per cent Indians think that it is an ‘excellent‘ time to buy the things they want and need, and 44 per cent think that it is a ‘good‘ time to buy things. 
 
Spare cash utilisation : After meeting the essential living expenses, Indians love to put their spare cash into savings, with six in ten Indians opting for saving their spare cash for rainy days.

The rising confidence has also made Indians comparatively less risk aversive and two in five Indians will put their spare cash into shares of stock / mutual funds (44 per cent), this being the third highest percentage globally behind China (48 per cent) and Hong Kong (47 per cent), where spare cash is put into shares of stock / mutual funds.

Let alone savings and investments, Indians have also started spending more, especially on technology items.

Nearly, four in ten Indians will put their spare cash into buying new technology products (37 per cent) and 36 per cent said they will pay off debts / credit cards / loans with spare cash. In the last quarter survey, paying off debts was second on the list of items that spare cash was being used for by Indians.

“Though savings still rule the roost, Indians have become less conservative in terms of utilising their spare cash and have started investing in stock options. Indians‘ concern over debts have also decreased as their job prospects and finances have started looking up. Three months back Indians were uncertain of the economy, but current behaviour shows that India‘s public is more confident than they have been anytime in the past one year,” said Pant.

Other areas where Indians spend their spare cash are new clothes and home improvements/ decorating (both 35 per cent), holidays/ vacations (31 per cent), retirement fund (26 per cent-second highest globally), and out-of-home entertainment (23 per cent).

Major concerns ahead: Consumer confidence in India has topped the global charts but concerns are still at large. Work/ life balance is the biggest concern for Indians (15 per cent), overtaking job security which was the biggest concern for Indians three months back. Concern over increasing food prices has increased tremendously. In fact, it has doubled to 14 per cent from seven per cent in the last quarter and has moved up four spots to number two on the list of concerns for Indians. Globally, Indians are on the top in their concern over increasing food prices.

The economy forms the third biggest concern for Indians (12 per cent) and has moved down a spot compared to the last round of the survey. With 11 per cent votes, job security has experienced the highest drop in concern, falling 15 per cent from last quarter.

“At present it looks like the Indian economy and people‘s confidence is on a fast improving trajectory. Everything looks positive from the point of view of the Indian job market, people‘s finances, savings, and investments. If things continue the way they are heading, downturn in India will soon become history,” said Pant.

MUMBAI: Manish Bhatt, senior vice-president and executive creative director at Contract Advertising, has put in his papers to pursue his interest in political communication.

Bhatt will serve his notice period till November-end and then work as communications advisor to the state of Gujarat. 
 
Says Bhatt, “I am not quitting the advertising industry. I am only taking a break from the industry.”

“Recently, I was involved with a project for Tata Indicom in Gujarat involving a lot of celebrities with the CSR touch. The campaign was a huge success and now I am looking at taking up similar projects for the government,” he adds.
 
Bhatt began his career at Contract in 1995. Later he moved on to Ogilvy & Mather and then Publicis Ambience. He then joined McCann Erickson before returning to Contract in 2007.

MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia has bagged Swarovski‘s media account as part of the company‘s global alignment strategy.
 
The agency will begin work on the account from January 2010.
 
Earlier in 2008, Swarovski had called a global pitch that later saw ZenithOptimedia and Havas‘ MPG sharing the account. MPG was handling the media planning and buying duties for the company in Australia, Singapore, Greater China, and India.
 

MUMBAI: Recruitment and human resources training firm Alchemist and BCIDS, under the academic guidance of SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, has launched the Professional Programme in Media Management [PPMM]. 
 
Designed for working executives in media sales houses, media agencies and client brand function, PPMM is an eight-week programme that covers all aspects of media over 45 capsules of two hours each.
 
The course modules will cover communication and media strategy, tactics and implementation, the art of buying and selling, translating client and planning briefs into answers, negotiation and presentation skills, client priorities, perceptions and needs, integration and evaluation of media properties, creating win-win proposals, differences and culture of various media agencies, budgeting, accountability to the client etc. 
 
Said Alchemist founder and chief consultant Anujita Jain, “With SP Jain and BCIDS contributing in giving the training a formal shape and guidance, we couldn‘t have asked for a better team. I hope corporates do come up to nominate their most potent talent so that they perform better and faster.”

MUMBAI: Vizeum India has been appointed as the media AOR for BSA Motors. The size of the account is estimated to be in the region of Rs 200 million. 
 
Said BSA Motors VP KB Srinivasan, “Vizeum‘s strategic thinking ability, quick on the feet and proactive response rate, their passion and senior management involvement in our business convinced us of this partnership. We are sure Vizeum will be able to add might and muscle to our communication investment resources.”
 
Vizeum operates in 48 countries and some of the clients served by Vizeum global include Coke, Ray Ban, DHL, Panasonic, GM, Total, Bacardi and Lavazza.

MUMBAI: Candid Marketing, a strategic brand activation agency, is looking at scaling up its to operations pan India and has rechristened its trade marketing business to UBIQ Trade Marketing as part of its expansion strategy.

Formerly known as Integrated Trade Marketing, the division will also adorn a refreshed identity and logo.
 
The division was earlier jointly owned by Candid Marketing and IMSG. The change in identity of ITM was put into process following the management buyout of Candid Marketing from IMSG earlier this year.

With the renaming of the division, the company aims at positioning UBIQ Trade Marketing as “a leading trade marketing agency, helping clients achieve availability and visibility everyday, everywhere.”
 
While Riyaz Sayed has been roped into the division as AVP west and south India, Pradeep Thakur is AVP north and east India.

Says Candid Marketing founder and MD Atul S Nath, “We have had a vision of creating a specialised division that caters to the needs of marketers employing trade marketing. With UBIQ we will ensure that our clients continue to receive services that set future benchmarks for the industry.”

He further stated, “With this new identity, we wish to build the brand across its networks of presence, clients and the trade marketing fraternity, for the services it offers. While we had a strong presence in the north and west zones, we are now looking to scale up operations pan India, including increasing our team size by 100 per cent over the next one year.” 
 
The services provided by UBIQ include channel sales, feet-on-street, channel incentivisation and loyalty programmes, mystery shoppers programmes, in-shop promoter programmes, merchandising programmes (soft and hard), POS/POP production (Soft & Hard), shop-in-shop (designing and implementation), brand shops (designing and implementation), and retail and trade audits.
The business has already been servicing and supporting clients like Samsung, Toshiba, Videocon, Diageo, Pepsi, Cadbury, Max New York Life and LG.
 

MUMBAI: Allied Media, the media planning, evaluation and buying arm of Percept, has appointed Priya Iyer as business director for its South office.
 
Iyer will report to Allied Media VP PM Balakrishna and will look after the media business across the south region, prominently in Bangalore and Chennai.

Earlier, Iyer was director at Catalyst, a unit of Havas Media.
 
Said Iyer, “This move is challenging and different, as along with everyday functional responsibilities of the office, delivery of a strong strategic product and client relationships will be a priority. Allied is a growing agency and offers a wide canvas, where many integrated services can be incorporated for holistic planning.”
 
Iyer was also associated with companies like Starcom and Maxus, handling clients in Mumbai and Bangalore from across industries such as automobiles, retail, banking, IT and FMCG. 

BANGALORE: Sistema Shyam Telesrvices Limited’s (SSTL) mobile telephony services brand MTS will initiate a mass media communications campaign, including TVC’s across all major national GEC, music and news channels after the roll out of its mobility services in Mumbai by the end of this year. This was revealed to www.indiantelevision.com by SSTL General Manager – Marketing (Brand and communication) Prasun Kumar at Bangalore on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the launch of MTS CDMA services in Karnataka today. The brand also unveiled a new logo in Bangalore today.

“In a market that is cluttered, we know that we have to spend money to be heard. Once we complete a rollout in a big circle like Mumbai, we will definitely go in for TVC’s on national GEC’s, supplemented by ads on music, news and other channels. This is about the time that our TVC campaign in Karnataka will also start – this too will be across major local GEC channels and some popular local music channels,” added Kumar
 
“When we rolled out services in Tamil Nadu, we had a multimedia campaign across the state on local, print, outdoor, radio and regional television in that state. We are on regional television channels and local radio stations in the other southern state circle that we are also present in – Kerala. We are planning a similar campaign for Karnataka shortly. We are also planning an on-line campaign,” further added Kumar.

Reportedly, for Tamil Nadu and Kerala the mobile telephony player had signed bundled deals with major media players such as the Sun Network and Asianet for their radio and television networks. The brand is in talks with radio stations across Karnataka.
 
Since October 2008, when it commenced operations, MTS has rolled out its mobility services in Rajasthan, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Kolkata, West Bengal, and Kerala circles and in Karnataka circle today. Harayana, Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa circles are next within this years and Andhra Pradesh with the first half of next year according to SSTL President and CEO Vsevolod Rozanov.
 
Saatchi and Saatchi handle the creative duties and MPG the media buying for MTS.

SSTL is a joint venture company between Sistema {LSE-SSA} of Russia and the Shyam Group of India. It has spectrum in all the 22 circles across the country. SSTL has tied with Mobile TeleSystems OJSC of Russia to bring in the MTS telecom brand to India.
 

MUMBAI: Anand Siva, Saatchi & Saatchi vice-president and branch head, Mumbai has put in his papers.

Confirming the development, Siva said, “I am currently serving my notice period. I have a couple of offers in hand. But wherever I work in the near future, my focus will be on BTL activities.”
Siva has approximately 17 years of experience in mainstream advertising and over five years in BTL. 
 
He joined Saatchi & Saatchi Solutions, the specialised arm of offering 360-degree below-the-line communication solutions, in 2007 as vice-president. Later, moved on to replace Arjit Ray as Saatchi & Saatchi vice president. 
 
Prior to joing the agency, Siva was COO at Akshara Advertising.

Among the various brands that Siva has worked on include Intel, Nortel, Fresh & Honest Café and Indian Airlines.