Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: Mudra North and East, a unit of Mudra India, has apointed Nirmal Pulickal as executive creative director.

He will be working out of the Delhi office and will be handling the HBO, Wrigley and Philips accounts. He will work with Mudra North and East executive VP and head Ajay Naqvi.
 
 
He joins from Wieden+Kennedy, Delhi where he coordinated work on Nokia. Pulickal brings with him over a decade of experience, working on major brands such as Nike, Royal Enfield, General Motors, Singapore Tourism, Yellow Pages, Citibank, Asahi Glass and Hutch.

He has worked with agencies such as Young & Rubicam (Singapore), David (New Delhi), O&M, McCann Erickson and Contract Advertising. His longest stint was with David, where he was also instrumental in setting up the agency.
 
 He says, “Mudra is one of the giants of our industry. One of the few agencies that has reached critical mass quickly and maintained their stature as a top five agency for the last three decades.

“They have a well-respected creative head in Bobby and a sterling management team at the top. I look forward to building a strong partnership with Ajay Naqvi and the team in Delhi and Calcutta offices.”
 
 
Naqvi said, “Nirmal‘s appointment will ensure ground breaking creative solutions for our present and prospective clients. I met Nirmal and it seemed like we had known each other from before. His work ethics, his creative brilliance and his experience across categories will drive greater enthusiasm among the planning, creative and account management team to step up. I wish him exciting times at Mudra and all my luck.”

Mudra Group chief creative officer Bobby Pawar said, “I am really excited about Nirmal coming on board to lead our young, talented and hungry team. He shares our passion for Broad Ideas, and I am sure we will see some inventive solutions coming out from here.”
 

MUMBAI: MTV Networks International has appointed Michael Connolly as its new senior VP of consumer products.

Connolly will be responsible for MTVN‘s international consumer products operations and related global strategies, outside the US.
 
Connolly will direct business operations and the management of consumer products offices in New York, Miami, Toronto, London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore, Seoul, Spain, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
 
MTV COO Pierluigi Gazzolo says, “Michael‘s extensive international and domestic experience in merchandise planning, licensing and retail solutions across diverse lines of business, is a tremendous asset to the organisation as we continue to drive the global growth of our properties and brands through innovative partnerships and deeper collaboration amongst key stakeholders”.
 
Connolly, who arrives from Disney Consumer Products, takes over the role from Jean-Philippe Randisi.

MUMBAI: International entertainment channel Vh1 and Lenovo have tied up for the initiative Vh1’s Ticket to Ride.

This time around two fans will have music’s biggest playboy, John Mayer, at the wheel as he introduces them to his own wild slice of life while making crowds swoon in Manila on 1 October 2010.
 
Fans can visit Vh1 on Facebook at www.facebook.com/vh1india, join their group and answer a few simple questions to give themselves a shot at meeting Mayer.

With just a few clicks you could be booking yourself a trip to rub shoulders with one of the hottest current artists in Manila that no fan can afford to miss.
 
For his crazy die-hard fans, Lenovo presents Vh1’s Ticket to Ride offers an all-expenses-paid trip to the exotic destination of Manila and the chance to meet Mayer.
 
In the past, Vh1’s Ticket to Ride has capitalised on artists like U2, Coldplay, Eminem, Slash, Pearl Jam, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen and Santana.

MUMBAI: Measured media ad spending in China is expected to reach RMB 306 billion this year, a 16 per cent increase over 2009, according to a new forecast from GroupM China.
 
The study, This Year, Next Year: China Media Forecasts is part of GroupM‘s media and marketing forecasting series drawn from data supplied by parent company WPP‘s worldwide resources in advertising, public relations, market research, and specialist communications. It was released by GroupM Futures Director Adam Smith and GroupM China Future Director Lucy Zhang.

The report also predicted that ad spending in China would reach RMB 339 billion in 2011, an 11 per cent increase over projected spending in 2010.
 
In dollar terms, 2010 growth is led by a 16 per cent hike in projected spending on television advertising, which was expected to increase from RMB 165 billion in 2009 to RMB 192 billion this year. The largest percentage gain came in the forecast for Internet ad spending, which is expected to rise from almost RMB 21 billion in 2009 to RMB 27 billion in 2010, representing a 30 per cent hike.

The year-over-year growth was attributed to several factors, including the following:

Rising Consumer Incomes. Per capita disposable income grew by 173 per cent in urban areas between 2000 and 2009, from RMB 6,280 to RMB 17,175, and retail sales volume nearly tripled during this period. A continuation of the consumer spending boom is anticipated to play a key role in sparking future ad spending increases.

Retail Distribution Of Goods: Increases in retail distribution are taking brands to more and more lower-tier cities. Subsequently, advertisers must invest to reach and appeal to new consumers in secondary and tertiary cities, which are set to grow more quickly than the developed cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing.

Smith says, “Retail sales grew 15 per cent in 2009, double the rate of nominal GDP. Advertising serves this rising urban consumer and increasingly the rural consumer as well. Advertising investment could well run ahead of GDP for years to come.”
 
Media Inflation: Media inflation will force ad budgets to rise as the cost of communicating with customers increases. Television especially remains a seller‘s medium in which the big channels like CCTV, Beijing TV and Shanghai Media Group (SMG) have tremendous power and influence. Demand for airtime far exceeds supply on these big TV channels, where stringent airtime restrictions also apply.

Zhang described the Chinese advertising marketplace as a collection of evolving, complex and fragmented markets and said advertiser options will need to multiply accordingly, especially in digital, events, sponsorship and other branded content, with each platform offering new ways to reach and engage with consumers.

“The media market is about to begin an era of hyper fragmentation, offering media agencies and advertisers a massive degree of choice when formulating media plans. This may come as a surprise to western advertisers who might not normally associate choice with China. The key challenge for advertisers in China is how agencies manage and evaluate this choice while striving for further media effectiveness and higher returns from media,” says Zhang.
 

MUMBAI: Maya Appliances, the brand owner of Preethi, has appointed Vizeum India as its media agency.

Launched a year ago, this win becomes Vizeum India’s (the Indian affiliate of UK-based communications group – Aegis) 14th client engagement till date.
 
Confirming the appointment, Maya Appliances director- operations T T Siddarth said, “Considering the aggressive future plans of the company, we felt the need to engage professional organisations on various aspects of our business who would have the right kind of mindset to partner an organisation like ours. Coincidentally, Vizeum approached us around the same time. We thoroughly assessed them on various counts, such as consumer understanding, brand understanding, market understanding, strategic thinking and implementation ability, leadership and the overall team. After an exhaustive evaluation, we felt comfortable placing our faith in Vizeum to manage our communication investments.” 
 
Added Vizeum MD – Indian sub-continent S Yesudas, “Our aim is to operate as the extended marketing team for the client. This business will be handled out of Vizeum Chennai under the leadership of general manager E M Sreeneelakandhan. However, with Vizeum being a boundary-less organisation, Maya Appliances will also receive contributions from the entire team at Vizeum India.”
 
Currently, Vizeum operates in 50 countries. Some of the clients served by Vizeum global include Coke, RayBan, DHL, Panasonic, GM, Total, Bacardi and Lavazza.

In India, Vizeum handles clients such as Amrutanjan, BSA Motors, ESSAR Group, iPlayUp, Luxor/Parker, Asia Motor Works, Aegis Global Academy, SDPL, Credila/HDFC, Blackberrys and Dalmia Cement.

MUMBAI: Lux, a brand synonymous with beauty and film stars, has Asin Thottumkal welcomed as a new brand ambassador into its beauty kingdom. Asin will endorse Lux Sandal & Cream. 
 
Says Asin, “It‘s a beauty accolade to be associated with the legendry beauty brand Lux, which has celebrated beauty and glamour over the decades. It gives me immense pride to endorse the new natural variant Lux Sandal & Cream, as I truly believe in being beautiful the natural way. The credit of rooting the right beauty mantra goes to my mom, who being a doctor, has always entrusted the beauty of my skin to sandalwood, due to its magical cleansing, toning & moisturizing attributes. And now with launch of Lux Sandal & Cream, you have a natural beauty solution to help break away from the conventional grinding and rubbing of sandalwood paste for being beautiful the natural way.” 
 
Added HUL marketing manager – skin cleansing Rajesh Sethuraman, “Lux has always been associated with beauty and Bollywood and perfectly understands the pulse of its consumers. Over the years, the brand has been known for revolutionizing beauty with its innovative beauty variants and providing something unique to its consumers. The launch of the natural ‘Lux Sandal & Cream‘ variant is another leap in that direction. This natural variant is a special creation, a product that calls for attention by its uniqueness in natural ingredients, fragrance and colour. With the goodness of ace sandalwood & vital skin moisturizers, we look forward to ‘Lux Sandal & Cream‘ becoming the beauty mantra amongst consumers across India. We are delighted to achieve a remarkable brand fit for this natural beauty variant with Asin, as she not just speaks the variant but actually lives it!” 
 
The Lux Sandal & Cream variant will be available at Rs 15 in select Indian states and cities only.

MUMBAI: Digital marketing company Ignitee Digital Solutions has bagged the online media rights for Jaquar bath fittings. While the agency will revamp the clients existing corporate website, the online media campaign will be designed to reflect “Jaquar‘s 50 years of strong market presence in India along with its global prominence.”
 
Ignitee will also be working towards developing a engaging and sustained presence for the brand on different social media platforms.
 
Said Jaquar deputy general manager, communications, “We were looking for an agency which would understand the core functionality of our business and not just any usual online media agency. Ignitee fits the bill and we are proud to have them on board as our official online media agency.”
 
Added Ignitee Digital Solutions COO Shankar, “Since inception, we have always worked on campaigns that have added value to customers. It is this history that has helped us in gaining the trust of reputed names from the industry. We are certain that with the talent and minds back at Ignitee, we will see these wins increasing even further-more.”

MUMBAI: Wieden+Kennedy Delhi has launched a new magazine titled, ‘Motherland‘. The product claims to be the first Indian magazine to discard stereotypical ‘general interest‘ issues and instead provide an in-depth perspective on trends, issues and ideas emanating from contemporary Indian subculture.
 
Indian subculture is an intriguing, massive yet largely neglected category that includes everything from unknown rural communities to offbeat urban tribes.

Designed to be a collectors‘ magazine, each issue follows a unique theme around which editorial and visual content is organized, with the first (Aug-Sept 2010) issue focused on ‘Freedom‘.

Motherland will be priced at Rs 100 and published bi-monthly (every two months) but will soon become a monthly.
 
Said Wieden+Kennedy executive creative director – Delhi V Sunil, “India does not have a single magazine that combines meaningful content, great design values and strong local relevance, and that‘s a damn shame. Motherland is our attempt to meet that consumer need and break through the mediocre content that seems to be the norm across all media.”

Said Wieden+Kennedy Delhi MD Mohit Jayal, “As a creative business, Wieden+Kennedy is constantly studying society and popular culture for fresh insights – this magazine is a natural by-product of that research. We discovered so much fascinating information out there that we just had to share it with the general public – a public that is usually subjected to brain-numbing, syndicated content.” 
 
Wieden+Kennedy has handpicked an editorial team, under the creative direction of V Sunil and editorship of Annette Ekin. Motherland is both a magazine that reflects Wieden+Kennedy‘s dynamic understanding of contemporary India and a platform for stylish, insightful writers, photographers and illustrators, claims the agency.

Targeting a diverse group comprising people in their 20s to 50s, Motherland‘s core constituency are individuals who are progressive in their various fields, key influencers and are constantly seeking out new products and stimulating experiences.

In keeping with its atypical character, Motherland magazine will be made available to readers via a unique distribution network. It will be available at select newsstands, bookstores, boutiques, art galleries and at the airports of major Indian cities, including Delhi‘s T3.

Motherland online, www.motherlandmagazine.com will feature both the current and archival issues plus additional updates that are relevant to the theme of the month.
 

MUMBAI: Rediffusion-Y&R has added yet another win to its kitty by winning the creative duties for Amanté, a subsidiary of MAS Holdings, South Asia‘s largest supplier of niche market lingerie.

The account will be handled out of Rediffusion-Y&R‘s Benguluru Office. In the final stage four agencies were in the running for the business which included RK Swamy, TBWA, Meridian and Rediffusion-Y&R. The incumbent Agency is Bates 141. The size of the business is approximately Rs 80 million. 
 
Amanté was launched in the Indian sub continent in the Fall of 2007 with a vision to be the leading value premium lingerie brand in the Asian Region. The brand embodies two decades of excellence by MAS in this specialised field.
 
Said Rediffusion Y&R EVP and branch head Paritosh Srivastava, “It‘s a very satisfying win for us as most of the top agencies were vying for this business. MAS holdings is one of the largest manufacturers of apparels in South Asia with an impressive client list including brands like Victoria‘s Secret, M&S, Gap etc. We are proud to partner them in their vision for Amanté in India. We strongly feel our view of the brand will help Amanté become a force to reckon with in the organized lingerie segment.”
 
Added MAS Holdings director Ajay Amalean, “There is tremendous potential in the premium lingerie brands in India and we are looking to ramp up our presence in the market. Amanté as a brand has been made for the Indian consumer and thus we want to stay focused and be a dominant player in the market.”
 

MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni‘s men are pulling in the audiences for the Champions League Twenty20 as the 17-day event gets an improved start over its first edition last year.

The first three matches of the Champions League Twenty20 have fetched an average TVR of 1.64 on Star Cricket, up from 1.30 TVR reported in the first edition.

The cummulative reach, however, has dropped from 37.1 million to 33 million, according to Tam data c&s4+.
 
The highest TVR was for the match between Mumbai Indians and Highveld Lions on 10 September, which posted a rating of 2.45. The match between Chennai Super Kings and Central Stags on 11 September, on the other hand, got a rating of 1.82.

As was the case last year, a match not featuring an Indian Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise did not reach a TVR of 1. The match between Wayamba Elevens and Warriors Central Districts on 11 September got a rating of 0.64.
 
Last year a match involving Royal Challengers Bangalore got a rating of 2.01. Most viewers came from the 35+ TG. According to Tam data, 65 per cent of viewers were male.

ESPN has beefed up marketing efforts and raised spends fourfold this year, using Amitabh Bachchan in its campaign.
 
Lintas Media VP R Venkatsubramaniam said the delivery was as per expectations. “We had expected initial ratings of 1.5-1.8 which has happened. Overall, we expect a delivery of 2.5 for the event overall. ESPN clearly made efforts in marketing to make sure that viewers were aware of what the value proposition of this property is.”

Samsung was associated with the event, on-ground, for the second year. A company official says that while sampling has been low it could pick up by 30 per cent should Indian teams progress. “The good news is that time spent is up which means that the interest level is coming up. People are more familiar with the format compared to last year. There is more acceptance. In terms of building the company‘s brand imagery the association with the tournament has helped us.”