Category: MAM

The business will be handled out of the the agency‘s Mumbai and Delhi offices.

Dhir Global chairman and MD M K Dhir, “We were in the process of identifying a brand custodian for Giovani and Vizeum was referred to us by media partners. Vizeum‘s thinking is fresh, their experience is deep and their passion is immense. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial business association with Vizeum India.”

Said Vizeum India MD S Yesudas, “As the brand custodian, our responsibility will be to ensure that Giovani engages as many current and potential consumers as possible in a captive manner, using the available resources with prudence.”

Prior to this, both were associate creative directors at Ogilvy Bengaluru. While Ravikumar was working with the art department, Jacob was into copywriting.

With this appointment, both Ravikumar C and Manoj Jacob will work closely with VP creative Delhi Mani Jayaram and will report to Euro RSCG India chief creative officer Satbir Singh.

Says Singh, “The two have done some good works and can help cater to the needs of the exciting assignments and important clientele of the agency.”

While some of the accounts on which Ravikumar has worked on include BSNL, Vijaya Bank, Jive Fruit Drink, Van Heusen, V Dot and Knorr Soup, Jacob has worked on clients such as Knock Out, Tiffany‘s, Nilgiris Supermarket, Himalaya, AMD, Shell and Kerala Ayurveda Pharmacy.

The collaboration in developing a consistent and cohesive message for worldwide use follows the adoption last year of a universal National Geographic Channel logo and on-air look, along with an increase in global programming co-productions.

“Live Curious” was developed after a worldwide consumer research conducted to identify common values that reflect the essence of the National Geographic brand promise. The tagline aims to resonate and translate effectively across regions in Europe, Australia, Asia, Latin America and the United States.

“‘Live Curious‘ is at the heart of National Geographic‘s DNA, and the National
Geographic brand is one of the most familiar and powerful global brands, transcending borders and cultures,” said Haslingden. “And with the National Geographic Channels continuing to increase momentum worldwide, it has become increasingly important to create a common voice that would resonate in every language, while at the same time leaving space for each region to maximize local relevance.”

“Live Curious” will be the basis for a global brand campaign, currently in production, that will promote the network, its programming and talent. The campaign will first be introduced in the India, United States and Netherlands and will eventually reach 315 million homes in 166 countries.

In addition to fully produced spots of varying length, the toolkit will include core elements around which each region can add local footage, talent, messaging and non-traditional tactics to build diverse campaigns for their specific audiences. To continue the process of global collaboration and collective inspiration, these localised campaigns will be shared with all other regions as the basis for ongoing generations of the campaign worldwide. The National Geographic Channels in Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, Spain, Turkey, U.K. and the United States are expected to be the first to create local campaigns bridging off the central global concept.

The brand campaign will promote key programming as well as talent from shows shared around the world, including Sean Riley (World‘s Toughest Fixes), Cesar Millan (Dog Whisperer), John Garcia (DogTown), Chris Fischer (Expedition Great White), Batso and Johnny O (Rescue Ink Unleashed) and Zeb Hogan (Hooked).

The tagline will be reflected in a full range of consumer and trade advertising platforms, including broadcast, print, outdoor and digital. Ad sales extensions are also in development, along with digital consumer touch points such as a microsite, social networking applications and games.

NGCI EVP creative and marketing Rafael Sandor and NGC US EVP marketing Kiera Hynninen jointly oversaw the development of the tagline and brand campaign. Italian production company Mercurio Film and creative consultant Patrizio Marini were commissioned to execute the primary 60 and 30 second brand spots; US-based Click 3X is creating program-centric extensions for the global campaign and various other extensions are being produced internally.

“‘Live curious‘” is about exploration, pioneering and questioning, which captures National Geographic‘s shared spirit,” added Sandor. “The campaign aims to connect on a human level so no matter what country you live in or language you speak, this message to ‘Live Curious‘ hits close to home.”

Said Starcom Worldwide COO – South Asia Sandeep Lakhina, “As we focus on our growth in the South with renewed zest, Bangalore is a significant and important market for us. We are extremely happy to have Sriram join us to head the Bangalore office. He comes with a proven track of growing businesses and managing relationships with clients and teams. I am confident that his skills, capabilities and experience will be an asset to the organization, and I am looking forward to working with him and double the size of our Bangalore office in the next 12 months.”

With approximately 14 years of experience in the advertising industry, Sharma has gained hands on knowledge in strategic brand building, consumer and digital marketing, media planning and buying.

Said Sriram Sharma, “I‘m sure that working at Starcom Bangalore and leading business development and managing existing clients will be an interesting challenge.”

Before Starcom, Sharma was with OnMobile Global. He has also worked with GroupM as general manager for Maxus in Bangalore.

DDB Mudra Group head Sandeep Vij said, “Michael brings with him a unique skill set and intrinsic understanding of brands, markets and consumers. I am certain that our brands here will benefit greatly from the insights and passion he brings to this position and we are delighted to welcome him on board.”

Follett, a graduate from Oxford University with approximately 10 years of experience in the advertising industry, has worked on brands such as Philips, Epson, Hasbro, Oxfam, Novartis and Weetabix.

Follett began his planning career at DDB London where he worked for seven years before moving to Tribal DDB in New York.

“What drew me to DDB India was Sandeep Vij‘s vision to build the agency of the future. We have strong and diverse set of talents to draw from; we have great clients; we have massive opportunities. It‘s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am really looking forward to making it happen,” said Follett.

Lintas Media Group chairman and CEO Lynn de Souza said, “We are consciously bringing in different disciplines into the agency. Bosco‘s diverse background in advertising, financial communication, education and unit management will lend a lot of width to our contribution in addressing the challenges our clients face.”

In his new position, D‘Mello will co-ordinate with LMG‘s president and COO NP Sathyamurthy to carry out the Mumbai operations.

D‘Mello said, “The non-traditional media space is growing exponentially and we would like to develop and drive brand properties for our clients in these areas as well. This will provide us a platform to offer greater value to our clients. I am keen to bring a wider marketing and business perspective to media planning, buying and execution, which will enable us to partner clients more effectively in all-round brand development.”

D‘Mello brings in 20 years of experience and has worked in areas such business development and marketing and communications across multiple sectors including advertising, retail, education and financial services.

Data shows a steady increase in ownership of products such as digital still cameras, laptop/ notebook computers as well as LCD/ Plasma TVs across the region. Moreover, affluent consumers who use the Internet own more products than non-users.

In its 13th year, Synovate Pax studies elite adults, tracking media and digital consumption, prosperity, and influence across 11 markets from Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, to Australia. The survey is conducted year-round and Synovate spoke with 20,245 affluent consumers in Asia Pacific to get the 2009 results.

Synovate executive director of media Steve Garton says, “The Pax 2009 results show that this affluent group is more important than ever for many marketers. This is a core audience group with money on hand and is willing to spend despite the condition of the economy.”

Good versus bad times : Across the region, ownership of laptop/notebook computers by elites jumped from 40.8 per cent last year (up to Q2 2008) to 48 per cent this year (up to Q2 2009). Purchase intention over the next 12 months also held at around 12 per cent.

Results also show that an increasing number of affluent PAX consumers now own a digital still camera: from 58.7 per cent last year, to 63.5 per cent owning one this year.

A new question added in Pax 2009 gauges the popularity of High Definition TVs or HDTV by asking affluent consumers their intention to purchase one over the next 12 months. Close to six per cent of elites in Singapore indicated they want to buy one. Currently 31.8 per cent of Singapore’s affluent own an HDTV.

LCD/ plasma TVs have become more prevalent across Asia Pacific, from 32.2 per cent of elites owning one last year to currently 36.5 per cent of the group. What’s more, 11.8 per cent across the region would like to buy a LCD/ plasma TV in the next 12 months. 57 per cent of Singapore elites own a LCD / plasma TV, with 9.5 per cent wanting to purchase one in the next 12 months.

Continuing to seek luxury : Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have seen more elites owning designer clothes and leather goods ($1000+ per item) over the past year.

Synovate’s research director in Hong Kong Clare Lui says, “It is obvious that affluent consumers do not want to give up their quality of life. The top places with the highest increase of designer clothes and leather goods ownership can be seen in Singapore, from 4.8 per cent of ownership last year to 11.3% this year, followed by Taipei, from eigfht per cent to 9.6 per cent, then Hong Kong, from 15.8 per cent to 17 per cent”.

In terms of the market that shows the most intention to purchase luxury goods ($1000+ per item) in the next 12 months, elites in Manila top the charts – such as for designer clothes and leather goods (8.7 per cent Manila elites vs. regional average of 3.3 per cent), designer footwear (7.1 per cent versus regional average of 2.3 per cent), jewellery (10.5 per cent versus average 5.2 per cent), and luxury watches (8.6 per cent versus average 4.2 per cent)

Ownership of private cars held steady at around 73 per cent across the region. Singapore showed the highest jump, from 60.8 per cent last year to 67.1 per cent this year.

Smartphones on the rise : 63 per cent of those surveyed in PAX 2009 own a mobile phone with Internet access and camera functions while 10.4 per cent have a hybrid/ PDA phone. The figures were up from last year’s 59.7 per cent for mobile phones with Internet access and camera functions, and 8 per cent for hybrid mobiles.

What about purchase intentions over the next 12 months for mobile phones with Internet access and camera functions? Taipei sees the most increase from 9.4 per cent of elites who wanted to buy one last year, to 14.2 per cent this year. In Singapore, 6.9 per cent indicated intention to purchase in Q2 2008, to 9.6 per cent in Q2 2009.

Top markets with an intention to purchase a hybrid/ PDA phone in the future are Taiwan (9.6 per cent of elites like one), Kuala Lumpur (8.7 per cent), Bangkok (8.4 per cent), Manila (8.1 per cent), and Hong Kong (six per cent).

Pax Digital Life, which studies affluent consumers’ digital habits, revealed that when smart mobile device owners go online, 73.6 per cent of the time is through PC or laptop access, while the rest of the time (26.4 per cent) is through mobile and smartphone access.

Across the region, smartphones are mostly used on weekends when elites are out of office or at home. Eighteen per cent of the time using Smartphones is during work, 27 per cent is at home, and 55 per cent is at other places.

Internet users own more products : Across the region, it is found that elites who use the Internet own more products. For example, 22 per cent more Internet savvy elites go on one or more leisure trips compared to non Internet using elites (36 per cent versus 14 per cent); 10 per cent more have a luxury watch (22 per cent vs. 12 per cent); 30 per cent more own a digital still camera (70 per cent versus 40 per cent); and 22 per cent more have a LCD/ plasma TV (41 per cent versus 19 per cent).

Traditional media to mainstream media : Marketers have to start thinking about mainstream media.

“Television, as we have said last year, has already escaped the box and the living room. Pax 2009 findings show that seven per cent of elites have watched a TV programme via mobile in the past 30 days,” says Gartion.

As for print, people are still consuming it, but in different ways. “37 per cent of time spent reading publications is done online in a typical week,” adds Gartion.

Bates has developed a television commercial (TVC) for Diva that features LaOpala brand ambassador Bipasha Basu. The film has been produced by Sharp Shooter Films and is directed by Sanjeev Chowdhury.

Says Bates 141 executive VP Abeer Chakravarty, “It‘s a very interesting and showcasable category (pun intended!) that would allow some creative sparks to fly. The fact that the client didn‘t seek a pitch and chose us is really heartening and encouraging.”

Adds LaOpala VP for marketing and sales Manish Jain, “The creative work done by Bates141 has won several accolades. Also, in the initial round of meetings before the finalisation of agency, I found them very participative and felt that the agency believes in working with the client as a team.”

As part of his new mandate, Jacobs will oversee Glam Media‘s brand advertising products, the Glam Publisher Network of 1,400 publishers, Glam‘s agencies and also brand advertising partners.

Said Arora, “Josh Jacobs is a driving force in the development of premium display as it relates to the niche content that now powers the web. Josh will leverage his publishing and digital media experience as a key member of our company‘s executive leadership team.”

Prior to this, Jacobs was vice president and GM marketing technology at Yahoo. He was also head of strategy and marketing for the Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN).

The six-week long campaign aims to target 2,000 GRPs across various channels in the Hindi general entertainment space, news, sports, kids, music and movie channels.

The 360 degree campaign will spread across, print, radio, online, OOH, television and BTL. More than 100 publications, 50 radio stations and 1,000 websites are being targeted for the new campaign.

Leo Burnett has developed the new TVC.

Big TV SVP Umesh Rao said, “The new TV commercial is structured on customer advocacy and aims to promote a sense of ‘joy of ownership‘ of Reliance Big TV.”

As part of their online campaign, the company has planned a day-long roadblock on websites such as Yahoo, Rediff, MSN and Sify. Big TV‘s online campaign is scheduled to start by the week-end on 1000 websites.