Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: Maui Jim, the US-based manufacturer of sunglasses that forayed into India, has roped in international Tennis player Elena Dementieva as its brand ambassador.
 
Under the agreement, Elena will promote the products on a global level through various forms of marketing, advertising, PR and communications and promotions.
 
Said Maui Jim International marketing manager Martijn van Eerde, “Apart from being an amazing athlete, her style and personality -on court as well off court- are a great fit with our attitude, AKA Aloha spirit.”

MUMBAI: General Mills has launched a new TVC for its Pillsbury Atta brand, created by advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. 
 
Says Saatchi & Saatchi India creative head Ramanuj Sastry, “This campaign is in line with the Saatchi Lovemark philosophy – to create great brands that inspire love and respect. We are really excited about this campaign and believe that it takes the brand and category forward…with a simple yet memorable campaign.” 
 
The film has been produced by Fingerprint Films.
 

MUMBAI: With the arrival of 2010, Pepsi is ready to adorn the new baseline, Youngistaan ka Wow, an extension of its Youngistaan brand talk that was introduced in 2008.

Keeping in line with the new baseline, Pepsi will launch a new thematic TVC highlighting the “Wow” of the Pepsi drinker. JWT is the creative agency.
 
Says PepsiCo India EVP – marketing Sandeep Singh Arora, “Pepsi has always been synonymous with youthfulness, a ‘can do‘ attitude and ‘in my own way‘ spirit. With the Youngistaan campaign Pepsi branded this young confident generation, celebrated their attitude, their achievements and gave them a rallying cry to go out and make things happen. Now with Youngistaan ka Wow, Pepsi aims to celebrate the audacious self-belief of the youth, the believe with which they are able to make things happen while doing things their own way.”
 
Says JWT vice president Hari Krishnan, “Youngistaan Ka Wow stands for two things – firstly, the refreshment and magic of Pepsi the cola, which makes Pepsi Wow and is the most loved cola for the youth. Secondly, the audacious self belief of the youth that helps them overcome obstacles/conventions and create a Wow.”
 
The brand new communication will be supported by a high decibel ATL, digital campaign, with new engagement modules both online and on-ground.
 

MUMBAI: After receiving complaints from consumers over Hindustan Unilever (HUL)’s Rin ad campaign, the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci), the watchdog of the Indian ad industry, is examining the issue.
 
In its high-voltage television commercial, HUL compared the superior washing powers of its brand Rin to Tide from the P&G stable. HUL is running a small ticker in its new ad campaign for Rin which says, “Attested by independent labs.”
 
Asci secretary general Alan Collaco said, “A complaint has been registered against the Rin ad. The ASCI‘s Consumer Complaints Council will meet on 23rd March to discuss the matter.”
 
Meanwhile P&G is said to be planning to take HUL to court as its detergent brand Tide has been depitcted negatively in the HUL ad for Rin. It could also launch a new ad campaign as a counter measure.

MUMBAI: Brand activation agency Candid Marketing has adorned a new logo and brand identity to reinvent its corporate image.

In its new avatar, the company is looking to grow beyond BTL by using creative innovation as a central tool.
 
 
The new logo of the brand has a formation of ‘dot-holes‘ or circles designed organically to form a square into the new identity signifying the flow of creativity and innovation through the delivery of logic and execution excellence. The dot-holes in the company‘s new logo also signify the new dimension to Candid – helping its clients activate their consumers across all media and not just BTL.

Said Candid Marketing co-founder and MD Atul S Nath, “The business of brand activation in India is coming of age, and brand activators are making their presence felt as partners for clients‘ brands.” 
 
“Our image and branding makeover reflects the growth that the overall business segment and specifically Candid Marketing is going through. We constantly adapt and evolve with the business environment and our client needs. And so our brand and logo will be used in a way that is kinetic and adaptive across collateral from our website to visiting cards and stationery, from signage to email signatures,” Nath adds.
 
 

MUMBAI: Rediffusion Y&R has roped in Shubho Sengupta as creative head, digital.

Prior to this, Sengupta was with Interactive Avenues as national creative director. 
 
With approximately 15 years of experience, Sengupta has also worked with agencies such as Contract, JWT, Leo Burnett and Ogilvy. 
 
Some of the brands on which he has worked include Sony, Sony and Travelocity.com.

MUMBAI: Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has roped in Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif as the new brand ambassador for Lux‘s new variant, Lux Purple Lotus & Cream. 
  
Says HUL VP – home care & skin cleansing Sudhanshu Vats, “Lux, over the years, has always been known for introducing exciting innovative variants for its consumers and here‘s another such variant which is sure to appeal to consumers with its unique purple colour and sensuous aroma. We look forward to this variant becoming a favourite amongst consumers across India.”

The FMCG major has also launched a new television campaign featuring Kaif that has been directed by Marco. The music score for the campaign has been composed by the trio, Shankar Ehsaan Loy.
 
 
Says Katrina Kaif said, “I join the legendary Lux beauty brigade, and only hope that my association with the brand grows stronger in the years to come.”

MUMBAI: Punj Lloyd, which provides integrated design, engineering, procurement, construction and project management services in the energy and infrastructure sectors, has launched its 2010 campaign, ‘Done. The Punj Lloyd Way‘.
 
The campaign has been conceptualised by Singapore-based as agency, C2 Design. The media mix has national as well as international print and outdoor. 
 
As part of its first ad campaign targeting the Indian subcontinent, Punj Lloyd has rolled out a series of print ads. For outdoor, the company is targeting locations like bus shelters in New Delhi, Changi Airport Immigration – North and South Trivision and Delhi International Airport – Departure (after Immigration).
 
To cater to the international audience, the print campaign will be published in the Economist (ME & Africa), Meed (ME), ENR, Pipe Line & Gas Journal, Business Today and Business World. 

MUMBAI: Viewership for the Vancouver Olympics has swelled to 174 million on NBC Universal, three million more than the 2006 Winter Games event, according to data available from Nielsen. The 25.2 million average viewers through 12 nights of the Vancouver Games is the most for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics since the tabloid-fueled Lillehammer Games which attracted an audience of 39.4 million, according to data available from Nielsen. It is also 20 per cent higher than the average viewership of the 2006 Winter Games through 12 nights.
 
The event has now surpassed 20 million viewers in primetime each night thus far. Tuesday night‘s coverage drew 21.3 million viewers on a night that faced a two-hour episode of the juggernaut, American Idol on Fox, as well as an episode of Lost on ABC.

On the comparable night during the last Winter Olympics in 2006, American Idol had an advantage of 7.5 million viewers going head-to-head with the Olympics (30.2 – 22.7 million viewers from 8-10 p.m.).
 
The ratings provide five learnings from the event:

1. The Olympics is a huge cultural event.
46 per cent of Olympic viewers changed their typical routine to watch the Olympics. 63 per cent stayed up longer than usual to watch, resulting in 42 per cent being more tired than normal. 35 per cent of viewers cried or became teary-eyed while watching (25 per cent among men).

Big event TV programming is bigger now more than ever.
More than half of all Americans have watched the Vancouver Olympics on the networks of NBC (174 million). That‘s 24 per cent more viewers than watched the entire 2009 season of American Idol (140 million for 39 separate telecasts).
 
The Olympics remains as a positive family viewing experience.
77 per cent of parents say they use the Olympics to teach their kids values.

There is tremendous growth in younger viewers.
Gains from youth categories far exceed growth in older demos. Viewing among the 18-24 age group is up 46 per cent and viewing among older teens (15-17) is up 34 per cent (compared to viewing for Torino Games).

People are looking for a share cultural experience in a fractionalised media world.
There aren‘t many experiences that let people share an event in such great numbers. 63 per cent of Olympics viewers say, My friends and I enjoy talking about these Olympics. (source: Knowledge Networks.

MUMBAI: YouTube, which will be streaming live the third edition of the Indian Premier League, has roped in six sponsors so far.

The value of the deals are in the range of Rs 30-40 million, industry sources say.
 
Videocon has come on board, the sources add. The company is also an on-air co-presenting sponsor with Max.
 
YouTube has also closed deals with several other companies including the likes of Hero Honda, HSBC, Samsung, Videocon and HUL. YouTube is looking at netting 10 sponsors for the event.
 
As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, HP was the first company to sign up with YouTube.