ITV

Category: Marketing

  • Karun Chandhok is brand ambassador for TI Cycle’s premium range

    Karun Chandhok is brand ambassador for TI Cycle’s premium range

    NEW DELHI: TI Cycles of India, the bicycle manufacturer and part of the $3.8 billion Murugappa Group, has roped in F1 Racer Karun Chandhok as the brand ambassador for Montra.

    TI Cycle’s premium range, Montra, claims to be the faster, lighter and stronger than any cycle ever made in India. It is the first international standard carbon bike designed and manufactured ingeniously. It was launched in March this year and was designed and created on par with international performance biking standards, the company claims.

    TI Cycles GM Rajesh Mani said, “We are delighted to have Chandhok as our brand ambassador for Montra. In an effort to establish an instant connect between Montra and the Indian masses; Chandhok was the perfect fit. There is a strong connect between the product and its brand ambassador, with both being at the forefront of sports and technology. Chandhok is one of India’s finest racers and we couldn’t find a better fit for India’s finest bicycle. The Montra brand is very important and close to us at TI cycles. We are proud to be the first Indian company to design and manufacture world-class performance bikes and now, carbon framed bicycles.”
     
     
    Chandhok added, “TI Cycles has always been at the forefront of innovation in cycling and I am happy to be associated with them. Montra is a brand that reflects world class performance bicycles made in India. I look forward to a long term partnership with TI Cycles where we can jointly build the sport in India.”

    “While F1 as a sport is growing in India, there is a perceptible rise in cycling enthusiasts, and TI Cycles is trying to leverage this trend, both from the fitness perspective and as a sport. A brand ambassador will help build a closer connect with audiences on the advantages of cycling to stay fit, youthful and enjoy the outdoors, while keeping it pollution free,” Mani added.

  • Asci asks advertisers to show supers for at least 4 seconds

    Asci asks advertisers to show supers for at least 4 seconds

    NEW DELHI: The Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci), the advertising watchdog, has asked the advertisers to display the advisories of the Asci, carried under various ads, for at least four seconds.

    Asci has also said that these advisories should be at least of 11 pixel size.

    Meanwhile, stung by the Consumer Affairs Ministry wanting to set up a body to curb what it terms misleading advertisements, Asci is organising a seminar in the capital next month on the subject.
     
    While Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni will inaugurate the seminar, Consumer Affairs Minister KV Thomas is also expected to speak.

    The meet will discuss the need for advertisements to be honest, truthful and protective of the consumer.

    The Asci has met both the Ministers over the past few days after the announcement by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

  • Trai relaxes rules for telemarketing messages

    Trai relaxes rules for telemarketing messages

    NEW DELHI: Registered telemarketers can send more than 100 text messages a day on each SIM, however, they will have to pay an additional five paisa per message to the network operators.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also lifted the cap on banks and insurers providing information to customers, and companies communicating with employees about the delivery of goods and services.

    “The limit of 100 SMS per day per SIM shall not apply to a telemarketer or entity sending transactional messages,” Trai said in ‘The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Seventh Amendment) Regulations, 2011’. 

    A charge on telemarketers would increase network operators’ revenues from 0.5-1 paisa per SMS to 5.5-6 paisa, according to the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI). But the charge would not affect contracts agreed previously between operators and agencies sending commercial messages.

    Trai had issued “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010” on 1 December 2010. All the provisions of these regulations came into force from 27 September 2011. 

    In these regulations, the Authority specified a number of deterrent measures to stop commercial SMSs to telecom consumers who have registered themselves with the National Customer Preference Register. But the charge of 0.5 paisa has been prescribed as a promotional charge to deter the sending of SMSs.

    The Authority has also allowed transactional message sending entities to send transactional messages without registering as telemarketer with Trai. The Authority has also mandated that these entities will have to enter into a standard agreement with their access providers for obtaining any telecom resources and has exempted the transactional message sending entities from the limit of 100 SMS per day per SIM.

  • Adspends in festive season spurred by tier 2 markets

    MUMBAI: A recent study by Percept Media forecasts a brighter festive season for TV and newspaper media.


    The study forecasts a good growth of 9 per cent in festive advertising spends as compared to last year.


    The festive marks the highest revenue period for Indian media. Over the years the contribution of the festive period to full year media revenue has reduced – yet it still continues to be the best quarter of the year, contributing about 30 per cent of annual revenues.


     


     


     


     


    The study forecasts signs of a healthy growth during the 13 weeks of festivity with volume growth of 15 per cent in newspapers and 18 per cent in television. The value growth is forecasted to be 9 per cent, considering the different categories driving TV growth and tier 2 towns leading growth in print media.


    The Study compared the TV time and Print Ad space consumption for 2010 v/s 2011. Of the 13 weeks – actual data for 9 weeks is already released by Nielsen Ad Ex, which – alongwith Industry Information on Time and Space availability on TV and Print Media – was the basis for this detailed analysis forecast. The study covered Display, Financial and FD categories only for Print.


    Different Categories drive TV & Print


    Even during festive period the top 10 categories for TV and print are very different – with TV having a lot more of FMCG while education, independent retailers and real estate are the mainstay for print. Across both print & TV, independent retailers, four wheelers & cell phones categories are found to be in the top slots.


    METROS V/S CITIES: Tier 2 towns & Niche/Speciality channels leading the growth


    Contrary to popular belief, major TV growth is expected through news, movies, regional & niche/speciality channels. Sports as a genre has de-grown over the last year 



    In the case of print, metro-based editions are stagnating while the regional papers and editions in smaller markets are showing a big growth in space consumption. Mysore, Madurai, Coimbatore, Kozhikode, Kota, Ludhiana, Raipur, Jabalpur are some of the markets outside metro cities which are showing higher growth (for Print).


    PRINT SPACE USAGE


    A deeper dive shows that the main edition advertising in metros is showing a dip of 2 per cent which is made up by the growth in the tier II markets. Smaller market show robust growth across main editions and city supplements. The revenues from main editions are expected to have fallen even more as most major newspapers sensed this and offered special schemes for full page advertising – which would have lowered the yield



    OTHER MEDIA


    Radio registers a growth of 35 per cent in advertising minutes during festive viz-a-viz non-festive months. Based on industry Sources, however, YOY no growth is forecasted for radio medium. Similarly, outdoor is forecast to remain at the same levels as last year.


    LIFE AFTER FESTIVE SEASON


    Marketers, hoping for a big festive season, have made a lot more offers during this critical buying period this year. The sentiment after the festive season is driven more by ground reality and, hence, reflects the true situation. It is seen that immediately after the festive high, advertising take a dip. Television, in 2010 took a 10 per cent dip and print a massive 41 per cent fall.


    Post Diwali, the market sentiment this year looks a little bleak. A drop in print main issue advertising doesn’t augur well for the print industry.



    Says Shripad Kulkarni, CEO – Percept‘s Media AOR Company Allied Media: ” Cricket had sucked in major budgets on TV and the pre festive period did scare the print industry – with a big dip in adspends in the months of June – July this year. Advertisers, however, have come back on to Print for festive period. The extra emphasis on city supplements and on weekends suggests a finetuned ‘Last mile’ role on the path to purchase of consumers – given to newspapers given by the marketing Industry. Metros are still big markets but growth here is slowing down and smaller markets are growing faster for most categories – so more emphasis on regional media beyond metros was only expected and will continue to gather momentum. As of now, it looks like the period after festive may play a spoilsport. But who knows – one of the sunsrise industries (and there are many) may suddenly revv up and bring some cheer to the media.”

  • Shaila-Ann Rao is Sportfive International MD

    Shaila-Ann Rao is Sportfive International MD

    MUMBAI: International sports marketing agency Sportfive, owned by Lagard?re, has announced that Alain Lemarchand has nominated Shaila-Ann Rao as the new managing director of its international business unit.


    Rao, who joined Sportfive International in March 2011 as COO, will replace the current MD, Vincent Tong Cuong, who will now lead Sportfive France as its MD.


    The change in management, which will be with immediate effect, concludes a first phase in which Vincent has successfully re-positioned Sportfive International as a tenacious and competitive sports marketing agency. 
     
    Rao, who was previously Deputy Director of Legal and Business Affairs at TF1 and a member of the TF1 Management Committee, will use the depth and strength of her sports media rights background to drive the international business towards development.


    Rao is a trained lawyer who is qualified and has practised in both the UK and in France. In 1996 she joined French national commercial broadcaster TF1 where she spent 12 years negotiating and managing deals with leading international film studios and sports rights holders, working on all major sports competitions and matches broadcast by TF1, including the Fifa World Cups 2010/2014 and the Rugby World Cups 2007/2011.

  • Percept/H bags creative mandate of Next Care’s Deo

    Percept/H bags creative mandate of Next Care’s Deo

    MUMBAI: Percept/H has been awarded the creative mandate of Next Care‘s to-be-launched perfumed body deodorant brand – Next.

    The agency won the account following a multi-agency pitch initiated in July 2011. The size of the business is estimated to be around Rs 30 million.

    Gouri Group, the parent company, plans to formally launch the new brand in February 2012.

    Percept/H is planning to devise a creative strategy which will be prominent in the already cluttered deodorant market, the agency said.

    It will also start various activities like Above the Line (ATL), Below the Line (BTL), Out of Home (OOH) and Digital as a part of integrated brand building exercise to increase their consumer connect.

    Percept/H CEO Prabhakar Mundkur said, “We at Percept, have always had the entrepreneur living inside us. Therefore, going with this belief, we decided to partner the company for the launch of Next brand in India. Our endeavour would be to create a distinct imagery for the brand which is closer to the real world.”

    Next Care Managing Partner Parminder Sadhu added, “To start with, the agency needs to chalk out a roadmap for NEXT. They need to create a new identity and brand strategy which will enable the brand to meet a turnover of Rs 240 million in the first year of its launch.” Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone.

  • Best Foods awards media duties to ZenithOptimedia

    Best Foods awards media duties to ZenithOptimedia

    MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia India has bagged the media planning and buying duties for Best Foods after a multi-agency pitch.

    The business was won through a competitive pitch amongst the top four media buying agencies in New Delhi.

    Best Foods is one of the largest rice producers, engaged in supply and trade of series of rice, health and wellness products.

    “As traditional Indian companies expand their market base to an evolved consumer, in an over cluttered marketplace, it becomes imperative to communicate through effective communication mediums. Our neutral touch point approach will help optimise the best marketing mix for the launch. We are very excited to work on yet another launch in India and are confident of achieving the desired ROI,” said ZenithOptimedia India CEO Satyajit Sen.

    Best Foods business director Aayushman Gupta added, “We are delighted to have ZenithOptimedia as our media partners for our India launch. It is their deep understanding on launching brands in India and their holistic approach to reaching all consumer touch points helped us decided on ZO. They are able to give Best a complete 360 solution to our go to market strategy.”

  • Advertising demonstrates resilience in tough economy in the US: Strata

    Advertising demonstrates resilience in tough economy in the US: Strata

    MUMBAI: Advertising showed its resiliency this quarter by achieving solid gains consistent with spending trends from third quarter 2010, according to a new Strata quarterly survey of ad agencies.


    However, client attraction and decreasing budgets remain the chief challenges affecting overall agency growth.


    The survey also noted a possible shift for the top advertising channel, with Digital and Spot (Local) TV now only separated by a margin of 1 per cent.


    Strata, which claims to be the system of choice for over 900 agencies and roughly half of ad agencies in the US, found that 52 per cent of respondents noted that their business is increasing compared to the same time last year (only 16.5 per cent saw a decrease in business, down 30.52 per cent from a year ago).
     
    Job growth also made a steady upswing this quarter, with 24.52 per cent of agencies surveyed noting they will hire before the end of the year (up eight 52 per cent since last year).


    When listing their biggest business challenges, attracting new
    business remains tops for agency respondents (38.52 per cent) followed closely by client spending (22.52 per cent). In fact, most feel that their business won‘t return to a strong growth period until after 2012.


    If market volatility continues, Print and Local TV would be the media most hit by ad spending cuts (Print 52 52 per cent and Local TV 24 52 per cent). The auto industry (30%) and entertainment industry (21 52 per cent) are the two top industries that agencies say are asking to cut advertising.


    The Strata survey suggests its now a tight race for the top
    advertising avenues. Local TV remains the medium of choice (35 52 per cent), though it is just barely beating out Digital (34 52 per cent), which is up 43.52 per cent since last quarter. Taking a closer look, 85 per cent say clients are focusing on Digital more than last year.


    Local cable noticed a bump as 31 per cent say they are more focused on it than they were last year (up 13 52 per cent over last year). Radio had a downturn as 37.52 per cent say that they are less focussed on it as they were a year ago. Network TV noticed an uptick with 12.52 per cent saying they are more focused on Network TV than they were a year ago (up 86.52 per cent since third quarter 2010).


    Social and mobile are helping digital challenge traditional advertising, according to Strata‘s third quarter survey. In fact, 89.52 per cent of respondents indicated that they would use Facebook in their campaigns (up 10.52 per cent from last quarter). For the first time, YouTube (39%) is the number two most desirable social medium for campaign, surpassing Twitter (37%).


    Google+ is still on the outside looking in with only 14.52 per cent planning to use it this quarter (down 47% since last quarter). LinkedIn was a strong fourth at 22 52 per cent. Mobile advertising sees the iPhone as the convincing leader with 78 52 per cent of respondents noting it is the device their clients are most interested in advertising on (down 10 52 per cent since last quarter).


    Android is closing the gap at 54.52 per cent (up seven 52 per cent since one year ago). The iPad remains strong at 46.52 per cent (up 85.52 per cent since last year). With Amazon and Apple continuing to focus on content for tablets, 69.52 per cent say that focus will make this medium more attractive to advertisers.


    Strata CEO, president John Shelton said, “If one looks for another sign of a nominally growing economy, one should look to the advertising industry right now. Attracting new business is still a challenge for agencies, but, and it‘s a key point to emphasise, client retention is stabilizing, and market volatility is not immediately effecting long-term goals and campaigns. As we‘ve seen throughout the year, the Strata survey is a good indicator of advertising growth and definitely highlighted third quarter challenges such as client attraction. But with the holidays right around the corner, it will be interesting to see if the industry can leverage short-term boosts to create long-term optimism.”


    Other key findings of the Strata survey:


    20 per cent of respondents say that they anticipate having a greater spend on Digital than Traditional within 1-3 years.


    36 per cent say that they will never have a greater spend on Digital than Traditional.


    Facebook‘s Open Graph launch did create some buzz, but agencies aren‘t quite sure yet with 64 per cent saying it is too early to tell if it will help stabilize social media advertising.


    Agencies question whether their clients see the value in Digital. In the survey only 56 per cent say their clients understand the value in Digital with 44 per cent saying that they don‘t see the value.


    29 per cent say that clients are more focussed on Local TV than they were last year.

  • Mindshare ups Gowthaman to chief client officer for Asia Pacific

    Mindshare ups Gowthaman to chief client officer for Asia Pacific

    MUMBAI: Mindshare have appointed R. Gowthaman as Chief Client Officer for the Asia Pacific region, effective 1 January 2012.

    In his previous role, Gowthaman was leading Mindshare for South Asia.

    Gowthaman will be based in Singapore and report to Mindshare APac CEO Ashutosh Srivastava. He will lead a team of regional client leaders who provide strategic direction and coordination for Mindshare’s work on key regional and global accounts across all Asia Pacific countries.

    His appointment to this new role comes at a time when Mindshare has expanded the scope of services it provides to its existing clients – especially in Marketing RoI management, research and insights, communications strategy, performance marketing, digital media, branded content creation and distribution, and newer and more innovative media trading approaches.

    Unlike the industry trend towards launching new specialist companies and silos, Mindshare has placed its strategic bets on integrated client teams featuring talent from all these streams, customised to each client’s needs. There have been a string of appointments across the region in the specialist skills areas reflecting this trend over the past few years.

    Srivastava said, “with the fusion of technology with media and the accompanying deluge of data, marketers are seeing more specialist talent and agencies involved in their business than ever before. They have to manage a far more complex ecosystem to get value from all their partners. So they see huge value in strong agency client leaders – people with sound understanding of their brands and of media & technology, who can help them facilitate more impactful and integrated marketing solutions working with various specialists. We are attracting new talent and developing broader skills amongst our key client leaders so we can do this on bigger scale. Gowthaman’s appointment is a reflection of the importance Mindshare has placed on this breed of talent.”

    GroupM CEO for South Asia Vikram Sakhuja said, “Gowthaman has done a fine job of laying the architecture of the new MindShare in India, by re-shaping the organization into one capable of delivering business planning, integrated communication solutions and robust media implementation for its Clients via highly customized offerings. In the process he has re-enforced Mindshare’s supremacy in India as being not only India’s largest Media Agency, but also the best.”

    Mindshare’s Ravi Rao will succeed Gowthaman in the position of Leader, South Asia effective 1 January 2012. In his previous role, Rao was leading the South Asian operation for Team Unilever since 2009.

    Sakhuja said, “In the last two years Ravi has run the Team Unilever operation successfully on the back of securing the business in 2010 across South Asia. Since then Team Unilever has won various awards in Content, Digital, Communication Planning across local, regional and global making it one of the crown jewels in the media world. In his new role as Leader South Asia, Ravi Rao will bring in his wealth of experience in Strategic Planning, Research, Content, Digital and forming Strategic Alliances to position Mindshare as their clients’ lead business partner in South Asia.“

  • Inmark launches apparel retail chain, unveils logo

    Inmark launches apparel retail chain, unveils logo

    BANGALORE: Apparel manufacturer Inmark Retail (Inmark) launched in Bangalore the first of the 10 chain of retail stores that it plans to open in South India by the end of this fiscal. Also, the manufacturer had Captain Gopinath of the first Indian budget airline Deccan Aviation fame unveil the logo.


    “With the launch of our retail outlets, top quality garments will be provided directly from our state of the art manufacturing units to our customers, as a part of our initiative aimed at doing away with middlemen and hence providing top quality apparel at reasonable prices,” said Inmark chairman and managing director Naseer Ahmed


    Inmark will be working out its mass media communication plans and will be rolling them out once more outlets have opened. “We have earmarked Rs 500 million towards the new stores this year and our media spends will be adequate so that we can maintain our value pricing,” said Ahmed to www.indiantelevision.com.
     
    “At present, we are using radio and print – Radio One in the case of Bangalore to promote our contest – since we have opened on 21 October; we will be giving away one Tata Nano filled with value fashion daily over the next 21 days,” added Ahmed.


    Initially Inmark plans to open outlets in the four southern states during 2012, post which, it plans to launch in other metro cities such as Mumbai, Pun and Kolkata.


    White Canvas handles the creative duties while media buying is done directly by Inmark.