Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: Visa, a partner of soccer‘s governing body Fifa, has announced an extension of its first-ever global Fifa-themed marketing campaign – Go Fans.
 
The global campaign, which originally debuted in Latin America in 2009, includes television, print and out-of-home advertisements, usage promotions, experiential offers for cardholders and merchant discounts.

Go Fans was developed to connect with football fans worldwide to drive preference for and usage of Visa products, promote Visa’s association with the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa and reinforce the ways in which Visa enhances the fan’s Fifa World Cup experience. Today, 78 markets throughout the world are activating Visa Fifa-themed marketing programmes with over 200 clients.
 
Utilising the flexibility of the More people go with Visa campaign, advertising creative from the Go Fans campaign will be customised and will appear in 30 markets around the world to strengthen the campaign’s relevance in those regions. In addition to Go Fans, customized advertising extensions of the campaign will utilize Go Football and Go [Country] (e.g. Go Brazil) taglines.

Visa CMO Antonio Lucio says, “Football fans are unlike any other sports fans in the world. We’ve created a campaign that captures these fans’ inspirational passion for the game, taps into their nationalistic pride and reminds them how Visa can help enhance their experience.”

“Building off Visa’s legacy of creating integrated marketing campaigns in support of global sporting events, our platform enables us to reinforce the ways that Visa enhances the fan’s World Cup experience while also advancing our own business and that of our clients”.
 
The Go Fans campaign celebrates the common love that all fans have for football and creative executions featuring the colors of the national flags of each of the 32 qualifying countries, symbolize the expression of each fan’s true colors and love of country. The campaign reinforces the ways that Visa enables fans to express their true colors in support of their teams by offering an easier way to pay, their Visa card.

Television Advertising and Customisation :
Localised versions of Visa’s Anthem commercial, which debuted on 1 March 2010 in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, shows footage of fans throughout the world expressing an array of emotions while viewing football matches.

The creative execution is overlaid with the colours of individual national flags and follows the natural progression of anticipation, tension, joy and heartache displayed by football fans during a match. The spot illustrates how fans are divided by their passion for their favourite teams but united in a shared love of football.

The soundtrack to Anthem is an original composition written by South African natives Nonkululeko and Philisiwe Moya called Stand as One, Unite and is performed by the Agape Children’s Choir. First documented in the critically acclaimed film “We Are Together,” the Agape Children’s Choir is made up of children from the Agape Orphanage in Durban, South Africa who find hope in song. In February, Visa made a donation of $150,000 to benefit the Agape Children’s Choir and assist with the children’s school fees, education costs and the orphanage’s administrative costs.

Anthem was directed by Jake Scott, the son of Ridley Scott, whose previous work includes the music video Fake Plastic Trees for Radiohead, as well as two films including the forthcoming Welcome to the Rileys starring Kristen Stewart and James Gandolfini.

Cardholder Experiences and Usage Promotions :

For the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa, Visa has created the Go 2010 Football Experience to provide fans with unique access and once-in-a-lifetime experiences which include a pre-match Stadium Tour, viewing the team warm-up by the pitch, and a half-time pitch-side tour. More than 500 Go 2010 Football Experiences have been offered to Visa cardholders worldwide.

Visa has also introduced customisable usage promotions in core markets that provide Visa cardholders with the chance to win tickets to the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa every time they use their Visa cards.

FIFA World Cup Sponsorship Activation :
In the lead up to the Fifa World Cup, Visa provides financial institutions and merchant partners throughout the world with Fifa-themed creative and marketing materials to enhance their card-marketing efforts, help drive business and achieve corporate brand objectives.
 

MUMBAI: In time for the third season, Infibeam.com has launched an Indian Premier League (IPL) merchandise store on IPLT20.com.
 
Infibeam.com CEO Vishal Mehta says, “With the IPL 2010, coming to home turf, cricket fans in India has more reasons to smile. We are proud to partner with GCV on launching the official online shopping store for branded IPL merchandise.”
 
GCV director Mark Melville said, “The IPL store offers the entire range of official IPL merchandise with an information-rich shopping experience. Cricket fans can now shop for their favorite team gear with the convenience of sitting at home and get door-step delivery across India and to major cricket playing nations. We are excited to partner with Infibeam.com, who will power the shopping site and provide fulfilment services to customers.”
 
“The IPL store at Infibeam.com will cater to the demands of cricket aficionados with a wide range of products branded with their favorite team. Fans can choose from the blues of Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals and the reds of Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore and a mix of both for Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Challengers.”

The yellow gear of Chennai Super Kings will compete with the purple Kolkata Knight Riders gear on and off the field. The products available for sale include Jerseys, Backpacks, Bags, Gym bags, Flags, Bracelets, Trumpets, Wallets, Water bottles, Wrist bands and other accessories from brands like Adidas, Puma and Reebok.
 

MUMBAI: Alt Entertainment has appointed Ignitee Digital Solutions to promote its first release, LSD – Love Sex Aur Dhoka, directed by Dibakar Banerjee, on various social platforms. 
 
Ignitee has leveraged the movie on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Bindass.com. Across the profiles created on the social media network, Ignitee has devised various contests. 
 
Said Ignitee Digital Solutions chief sociosearch architect Gautamm Mehra, “The social media programme we put together is very vibrant, young and has everything from YouTube contests to cool applications such as the LSD Guru and even exclusive iTunes podcasts from Dibakar Banerjee himself. The buzz created as a result has been phenomenal and the movie is eagerly looked forward to by the thousands of fans.”
 

MUMBAI: Health and wellness company Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories has appointed Lintas India‘s Karishma Initiative (KI) as its new media agency on record to handle all its media buying and planning activities.

The account size is estimated to be about Rs 300 million.

Hamdard chose KI following a multi-agency pitch for its entire product portfolio that include RoohAfza, Safi, Roghan Badam Shirin and Cinkara. Besides KI, the pitch saw participation of five more agencies.
 
Said Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories chief marketing officer Arshad Siddiqui, “We are pleased to have Lintas India‘s Karishma Initiative as our media partner because they understand our strategic requirements.”

“We evaluated all the agencies primarily on four fronts, appreciation and understanding of brand goals, recommended strategic inputs, proposed media strategy and team in the forefront, Lintas was good in all the areas. We look forward to a long term association with them,” he added.

KI delivers media solutions to clients across all mass media like television, print, radio, outdoor, sponsorships, events, on ground activations and business consulting.
 
Said Karishma Initiative CEO NP Sathyamurthy, “It is a significant win for Karishma Initiative Delhi operations and obviously we are delighted because of two reasons. One, Hamdard‘s multi brand portfolio targets varied audience sets, which is a challenging task. Secondly, we won the pitch against many large and worthy competitors.”

Currently, KI has offices within India in Bombay and New Delhi.

MUMBAI: Donear Industries has roped in Thought Bubbles as its creative partner following a muti-agency pitch. 
 
The size of the account is estimated to be in the region of Rs 80-100 million.

The agency will release the new campaign in April donning the tagline, ‘Donear – India ka style‘. The television commercial will feature Vivek Oberoi endorsing the brand.
 
Some of the important clients in the agency‘s kitty include 21 Fahrenheit – Ice Lounge, DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds, Indiabulls Real Estate, United Way Mumbai, Designo Furniture Studio, Big Cinemas, and Armstrong Construction.
 

MUMBAI: The third edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which kicked off on 12 March 2010 got a rating of 7 c&s4+ six Metros for the match between the Deccan Chargers and the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The figure is less than the first match of the first edition of the IPL which got a rating of 8.2. It is however better than the second edition in South Africa which had managed a rating of 5.6. 
 
In digital homes the first match for the third edition did better with a rating of 8.6 compared with a rating of 7.2 in the second edition.

The IPL has grown its reach. The first match was viewed by 17.6 million viewers and 2.3 million digital homes. In the second edition the first match got a reach of 12.3 million homes while the digital viewership was 1.7 million.
 
In the first edition 12.5 million homes tuned in. While the IPL is seen as a mass property this time around 55 per cent of viewership came from SEC A and B homes c&s4+.

This is an increase from the 50 per cent figure in the second edition and 51 per cent in the first edition. The event is still heavily skewed towards males. However the percentage of women who watched the first match rose to 38 per cent this time from 34 per cent in the second edition. In the first edition 38 per cent of viewership came from women.

As in previous years the youth watch this event the most. 28 per cent of viewership came from the 15-24 age bracket. This is a slight decline from the 31 per cent last year. The ad volume during the first match for the third edition increased by four minutes to 45 minutes compared with 41 minutes in the first and second editions.
 
The top three ad platforms this year were Pull-Through, Push Backs and Fair Play Award. Last year they were Push Backs Action Replay and Fair Play Award. In the first edition they were Push Backs and Action Replay.

The top advertisers this around were Vodafone, Samsung and Tata Teleservices. Last time the top advertisers were Airtel, Vodafone and Heinz. In the first edition the top three advertisers were Vodafone, Hyundai and Coca Cola. The top three brands who advertised this year were Vodafone Cellular Service, Samsung Dual Slim Active Phones and Tata DoCoMo.

Last time around the top three brands who advertised were Vodafone Cellular Phone Service, Airtel Cellular Phone Service and Glucon D. In the first edition the top three brands who advertised for the opening match were Vodafone Customer Service, Sunfeast Golden Bakery and Max Newyork Smart Investment Pension.

On-screen the top advertisers were Jaquar, Hyundai and Hero Honda. Last year they were Ritnand Balved Education Foundation (Amity), Bharti Airtel and Hyundai Motor India. in the first year they were Standard Chartered Bank Vodafone Essar and Coca Cola India. The top three on-screen brands this year were Hyundai i10, Artize and Hero Honda Cbz Extreme. Last year they were Amity University, Airtel Broadband and Havells. In the first edition they were Standard Chartered, Vodafone and Citi.
 

MUMBAI: MRF has joined the Indian Premier League (IPL) bandwagon.

It is sponsoring the Blimp in a deal believed to be worth Rs 150 million a year. The Blimp is a balloon that floats over the stadium. This is the first time that the Blimp will be a part of the IPL.
 
Earlier this week, IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi, while not giving any revenue figures, claimed that the IPL will double revenues from the central pool. This includes the deals done with Colors and Youtube.
 
A recent deal done has been with Karbonn Mobiles which is the telecom category sponsor. It is also sponsoring IPL Nites. This figure is believed to be around Rs 170 million a year.
 
in addition to Karbonn Mobiles, The UB Group is also sponsoring IPL Nites. Kingfisher was the sponsor for the Opening Night which took place yesterday.
 

MUMBAI: The 6th edition of the Outdoor Advertising Convention will be held on 11 and 12 June in Mumbai.

The convention, conceptualised on the theme “from Fragmentation to fraternity???”, will focus on the imperative need for everyone in the industry to get together and work in concert for the growth and development of the industry. 
 
Says project head, OAC & publisher VJ Media works Vasant Jante, “The fragmented nature of the OOH business in India has been one of the biggest impediments to the development of the medium as a whole. The ‘each person for himself‘ approach has so far meant that the medium has never been able to achieve its warranted status as an industry, define and implement industry-wide standards or present one representative face to address operational and regulatory issues.”

“But of late, efforts from the IOAA (Indian Outdoor Advertisers Association) and the DOAA (Delhi Outdoor Advertisers Association), for example, have demonstrated that together the industry can achieve much more than when pursuing individualistic agendas. OAC 2010 will discuss, again, the advantages of a united industry, define the issues that can only be resolved with a cohesive approach and develop a concerted agenda for the future,” he adds. 
 
The two-day event will culminate with the Outdoor Advertising Awards. One significant change in the awards module has been the decision to drop the Poster category.

“The creative part of the awards, the other being the media awards, follows a classification by product and service categories rather than by OOH format or application,” says Jante.
 
“Posters are the only format-defined category and even as an OOH format, posters hardly have a presence in the Indian OOH landscape and hence, the decision to drop the category as a whole. If posters as a format were to evolve and become a significant part of the OOH portfolio, then the creative efforts in that format can be accommodated within the existing product/service categorisation,” Jante adds.

The creative as well as the media categories at OAA will have their own jury that will be finalised and announced soon.

MUMBAI: Proximity London has been appointed – subject to contract – to a new BBC contract to handle TV Licensing‘s direct marketing, printing and fulfilment services for the UK pubcaster for the next five years. 
 
The contract will apply to the main direct marketing activity conducted by TV Licensing, including reminder letters and licence distribution.

It also includes fulfilment of digital communications, which are increasingly used to help lower the cost of collection.

The re-appointment concludes a rigorous procurement process that began in May 2009. 
 
BBC head of sales and marketing for TV Licensing Peter Kirk says, “We are pleased to be able to reappoint Proximity to handle this large and complex contract, which will save the BBC ?20 million over the five-year term.

“During the course of a very thorough bid process, the team demonstrated best practice quality control processes and a high standard of value for the licence payer.”
 
Proximity, which bid with Orchestra Group Ltd as their print services provider, will continue to work alongside a number of agencies contracted by the BBC to deliver integrated communications services for TV Licensing.

These include AMV BBDO (advertising), Fishburn Hedges Boys Williams Ltd (public relations) and PHD (media planning).
 

MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar has been named a United Nations Environment Programme goodwill ambassador.

The appointment has been made by UNEP executive director Achim Steiner in Mumbai.
 
Tendulkar has been a strong supporter of the work of the UN, having lent his voice to a Unicef campaign in India, raising awareness about the importance of personal hygiene.

Steiner describes Sachin Tendulkar as a role model to both the young and the old. 
 
Says Steiner, “I am sure that his character, personal integrity, intellect and profile will catalyse widespread environmental action, focusing on 2010 as the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity. Sachin will work with UNEP to raise awareness and the level of global and grassroots response to the loss of the planet’s biological diversity including animals and plants.”
 
Adds Tendulkar, “I view this designation as a challenge and an honour. Being part of the effort to save the planet is an immense undertaking but it is a challenge I am ready to undertake. Working with UNEP and cricket fans across the globe, I am in good company. Together we can do it.”