Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: Ogilvy Kolkata has promoted Malini Sengupta, until recently head account manager, to general manager. She will report to Ogilvy (North & East) president Sanjay Thapar.
 
Meanwhile, Ogilvy Kolkata SVP and head Sharmista Dev is shifting base to the capital as Ogilvy Delhi 360 brand team leader for the Vodafone (North) business.
 
Says Thapar, “Both the changes are strategic ones at this critical point. Dev‘s movement to Delhi is symbolic of our commitment to the eight circles of Vodafone handled out of Delhi, each a business in their own right. Sengupta‘s promotion ensures continuity in Kolkata and a fresh impetus which will come under her leadership and strategic thinking.”

MUMBAI: As the world struggles to find its footing, slowly dragging itself out of the immense ravine of recession, globally advertisers continue to display caution and thrift, waiting for clear signs that they survived the wreckage.

Lodestar Universal India has launched its global study ‘Magna Inflation Update‘ on the media pricing outlook for 2010-2011 globally.

The study aims to help advertisers to understand the inflation expectations at a global level and also offers medium level insights across 48 key countries.

Countries that have been fortunate enough to avoid a prolonged downturn have already begun to see optimism in the turn that the media industry has taken. The countries that have been the hardest hit from this recession have actually been the most developed and mature industrialized nations. 
 
Average rates of inflation within Asia are moderate. Generally speaking, while the more developed nations are seeing flat to mild inflation (and in the case of Japan, even some significant deflation), emerging Southeast Asian nations are expecting higher levels of inflation on average.

India inflation is projected at nine per cent for 2010; this is in the upper mid band when it is compared to the other countries like UK, Japan (looking at a deflation) and economies like Philippines, South Africa and Turkey moving forward at double digits.

Predictably, emerging markets are expected to increase media inflation by a considerable degree than developed markets. Many of the emerging markets have faced historically high rates of inflation causing expectations to remain high, while other emerging economies have only been dimly affected by the economic crisis and rebounded considerably quickly. The developed markets, on the other hand, have suffered the most prolonged effects of the recession and with already mature media markets, have held onto the hope that the coming year will bring a recovery to the market and to pricing.

China shows one of the highest inflation in this year due to significant changes in regulations across media which is expected to stabilise by 2011. In contrast, India and some other markets anticpate a much higher inflation rate as the markets stabilise and pricing is driven more by a demand supply model.
 
Brings to India an opportune global study ‘Magna Inflation Update on the the media pricing outlook for 2010-2011 globally. Not only does it help advertisers to understand the inflation expectations at a global level, it also offers medium level insights across 48 key countries (Magna is Interpublic Group‘s Insights and Forecasts Unit)

Countries that have been fortunate enough to avoid a prolonged downturn have already begun to see optimism in the turn that the media industry has taken. The countries that have been the hardest hit from this recession have actually been the most developed and mature industrialized nations, among them the U.S., the U.K., and Japan.

Australia, propelled by the large influence of its Asian neighbors and its stimulus package, has not seen as significant of an impact as comparable countries and expects to maintain its media pricing in line with general market inflation.

Interestingly, there is no singular global trend unlike in the case of overall media investments as showcased in our previous release – Magna Global 2010 Advertising Forecast. Each market demonstrates inflation rates based on internal dynamics showing that the pricing trends are relatively independent of the broader economic parameters.

While average rates of inflation within Asia are moderate, the difference between the countries is marked. Generally speaking, while the more developed nations are seeing flat to mild inflation (and in the case of Japan, even some significant deflation), emerging Southeast Asian nations are expecting higher levels of inflation on average.
India Inflation is projected at 9% for 2010; this is in the upper mid band when we compare to the other countries with developed nations like UK, Japan looking at a deflation and economies like Philippines, South Africa and Turkey moving forward at double digits.

Predictably, emerging markets are expected to increase media inflation by a considerable degree than developed markets. Many of the emerging markets have faced historically high rates of inflation causing expectations to remain high, while other emerging economies have only been dimly affected by the economic crisis and rebounded considerably quickly. The developed markets, on the other hand, have suffered the most prolonged effects of the recession and with already mature media markets, have held onto the hope that the coming year will bring a recovery to the market and to pricing. 
 
China shows one of the highest inflation in this year due to significant changes in regulations across media which is expected to stabilise by 2011. In contrast India and some other markets anticpate a much higher inflation rate as the markets stabilise and pricing is driven more by a demand supply model.

A look at the Medium wise picture also shows interesting trends. Television, the key reach medium across most markets, shows double digit inflation for many emerging markets, driving up the costs of communication on the whole. Newspapers on the other hand, do not have such a steady trend, showing high inflation levels only in select markets. Internet, the other game changer also has wide variations – the BRIC markets have high increases except for Brazil, while established economies hold steadier.

The Indian context shows significant increases across TV, newspapers and the Internet, the key media mix driving most advertisers. Increasing pressure on advertisers thus, to not just match but beat inflation to drive value from their ad spends.

The study states that the challenge lies more in the fragmentation which splits up audience media consumption rather than the actual price increases unlike other countries. This then calls for sharper planning solutions which allow for better targeting and focused media solutions.

The trend challenges media owners as well – pressure to hold prices despite growing acquisition and running costs. Increasingly, this will lead to offering multi solutions by mega media brands which will gradually buy into specific audiences and market to them across media contact points. Partnering the client‘s quest for consumers would allow better monetization and a sharper content approach benefitting them in the long run.
 

MUMBAI: After strengthening its content by launching differentiated reality shows, youth entertainment channel UTV Bindass will roll out its first brand campaign ‘What I Am‘ across India later this month.

The channel is investing approximately Rs 30 million in the initiative that will run for a year.

“After building content for the channel with shows like Emotional Atyachaar, Big Switch and Dadagiri, it‘s time for the channel to launch a focused campaign to reinstate our endeavour,” says UTV Bindass channel head Heather Gupta.
 
UTV Bindass has roped in Motivator as its media agency and Taproot has conceptualized the campaign. Throwing light on the career-oriented and focused youth through the campaign, it reiterates today‘s young minds as someone who “wear their attitude on their sleeves and are equally responsible towards the nation.”

While television remains the preferred medium to build the channel‘s brand positioning, Bindass will also exploit other media platforms like outdoor, print, radio and digital to support the brand-building process. 
 
“We will be using only our network channels and so the campaign will be promoted heavily on UTV Bindass, UTV Movies, UTV Action, World Movies and UTV Bloomberg,” says Gupta.

The channel will be spending around 50 per cent of its ad spends on outdoor, 20 per cent on print and remaining on other mediums.

As part of its outdoor initiative, the channel has booked around 100 sites in Mumbai. The other sites include Delhi and parts of Pune and Bangalore. As part of its print initiative, the channel will roll out full page advertisements on the Times of India (ToI) supplement. The print ad will roll out in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Bangalore.
 
The channel has also entered into a deal with Fun Cinemas in all metropolitan cities, where it will host the campaign.

“Our target audiences don‘t consume print as primary medium. So, we have chosen one big newspaper, Times of India, where we will be unveiling the campaign,” says Gupta.

Additionally, the channel has tied up with 80 outlets of Baskin Robbins in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Pune. The ice-cream parlor will put posters of the Bindass and will offer a customized flavor- the Bindass ‘What I Am‘ sundae.

As part of the college initiative the channel will distribute branded notebooks and also be involved in bike tagging in colleges in Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad and Delhi.
 

MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals is eyeing revenues of over $1 million from its ticket sales. And, to achieve the target, Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise has tied up with retail chain Suvidhaa Infoserve to be its retail ticketing partner.

Tickets for the seven Rajasthan Royals home matches will be available at Suvidhaa Infoserve’s 18,000 outlets across the country. In Rajasthan, Suvidhaa has 1,000 outlets. These include cyber cafes, mobile booths and grocery stores. Suvidhaa will get a commission on the number of tickets sold.

Rajasthan Royals CEO Sean Morris says that through the deal fans will get tickets in a convenient manner. “We do tie ups that are innovative in nature. Ticket prices range from Rs 500 to Rs 1000. We are targeting revenues of over $1 million from these ticket sales.”

Additionally, for each match, 750 hospitality seats will be available. These are priced between Rs 20,000-25,000. Morris also said that there was no truth to a report that said that the franchise has mandated PwC to find a buyer for it.
 
Suvidhaa Infoserve founder MD and CEO Paresh Rajde notes that the company will offer the Rajasthan Royals a vast retail network that will support the ticket sales. “Thanks to the huge fan following we believe that more and more people will access our S-platform. We also have deals with the soccer teams Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Our aim is to make our tie up with the Rajasthan Royals a long term relationship,” says Rajde.

A sports marketing expert says that Rajasthan will earn $2.5 million from ticket sales. Mumbai will fare the best in terms of revenue from ticket sales. It could earn even $3.2 million. Bangalore and Delhi will each earn around $3 million. Delhi though is hurt by the fact that it has to give some free tickets to the DDCA. Attendance is expected to be the best in Mumbai and Delhi. Kolkata and Punjab will not earn more than $2 million. In Kolkata two stands were taken down. Punjab‘s stadium is small compared with the other centres. The ticket pricing will be the highest in Mumbai and Delhi. The ticket revenues that franchises will earn will mark around a 40- 50 per cent rise compared with the first season says the expert.
 
Emerging Media CMO Raghu Iyer says that a lot of attention is being paid to the hospitality facilities. In terms of sponsorships, the franchise is targeting a 50 per cent revenue growth over the second season. There are two spots remaining.

Overall, he expects that local revenues for the team will at least double given that last time around ticket revenue was not high. Marketing and promotional activities will start from 16 February 2010. There will be print, television, radio and outdoor campaign. The theme of the campaign will revolve around the never say die attitude of the team and the attributes of valour and bravery that the team stands for.
 
Shilpa Shetty, who owns a stake in the team, will be doing promotional events for the franchise. These will include meet and greet events with fans along with some promotional launches. Iyer also reveals that Shetty has shot another music video. “This time though we have put a spin on the concept of the music video. When people see it they will be taken by surprise,” says Iyer.

On the licensing and merchandising front, Puma has put together a comprehensive product line. “We were impressed at the effort that the company has made. It will include a host of products like footwear, bags. This will launch from 15 February 2010. Initially our focus will be on Rajasthan and Ahmedabad as that is where our core fan base is,” Iyer adds.

MUMBAI: Only recently did Publicis Ambience elevate president and chief operating officer Aniruddha Banerjee and national creative director Ashish Khazanchi to chairperson and vice-chairperson respectively. 
 
And now, extending this top management restructuring exercise, the agency has introduced a few more senior level structural changes. 
 
While Publicis India has upped current president and COO Hemant Misra to agency CEO, former TBWA executive Madan Mohan has joined the agency as executive vice president for Mumbai. 
 
Informs Publicis South Asia CEO Nakul Chopra, “Mohan replaces Dipika Narayan in Mumbai.”

Prior to this, Mohan was TBWA India
 

MUMBAI: Creative and integrated brand communication agency Six Inches Communication has been roped in by Kenya-based IT company Craft Silicon and Klear, a Middle Eastern company, for devising and implementing rebranding strategies for the respective companies.

This is the second time in past two years that Six Inches has been contracted for projects from offshore clients. Last year, Six Inches did a complete rebranding for an IT firm, Technology Associates, based in East Africa and Middle East.
 
For Craft Silicon, Six Inches will study, rebrand the company and recreate all communication materials for external and internal purposes.

Said Craft Silicon director marketing Rakshit Bolhar, “I was impressed with the brand transformation they carried out for another company here and decided to go ahead with them. The energy and holistic solution they bring on table is at par to international standards. I am sure we have made the right choice by choosing them.”
 
For Klear Water, Six Inches will repackage the brand and create a fresh new identity as well as create brand communication for the same along with an interactive microsite for the product. 
 
Said Six Inches founder & managing director Pravin Shah, “2010 looks promising for us. The team is very excited to explore and execute projects targeting a different market altogether. A lot of responsibility is attached to this. However, keeping in mind the seamless execution of our last engagement, I am confident that this will be another case study in our portfolio. With these projects in hand, we are now planning to set up a liaison office in Kenya and Dubai for future businesses.”
 

MUMBAI: Lodestar Universal Delhi has won the media duties of Population Service International of India (PSI), Omron Healthcare and Verisign. All the three companies are based out of Delhi.

Lodestar Universal COO Anamika Mehta says, “We ended 2009 with Tata Docomo business and have begun 2010 with three new business.”
 
The PSI business was bagged post a multi-agency pitch. In addition to Lodestar, agencies including Dentsu, Carat India, Maxus and ZenithOptimedia participated in the pitch. The account size is pegged at Rs 100 million.

Set up in 1988, PSI has programmes under HIV/AIDS, family planning and proper nutrition. It addresses other social problems to achieve positive behaviour.
 
 
Meanwhile, the other two business, Omron Healthcare and Verisign, were won without any formal pitch process. The combined account size for the two businesses is pegged at Rs 150-180 million.
 
Omron Healthcare, a subsidiary of Omron Corporation, is a marketer and distributor of medical, home healthcare, and wellness products. Verisign is a provider of Internet infrastructure services for the digital world.
 

MUMBAI: Grey India national creative director (NCD) Shalini Dam has put in her papers. Dam was based out of the Delhi office.

Confirming the news, Dam says, “After being with the company for over a decade now, it’s time for me to move on.”
 
Currently serving her notice period, Dam will be in the company till mid-February.
 
In 2008, Dam was elevated as national creative director, replacing Priti Nair. Prior to this, she was executive creative director South East Asia.
 
Dam has also worked with agencies including TBWA, Contract and Leo Burnett. She has handled brands including Dominos, Hindustan Times, Revlon and Medimix.
 

MUMBAI: Home appliance company Whirlpool India has announced its association with Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kings X1 Punjab as a sponsor and the cooling partner.
 
Whirlpool says that its association with the team is a reflection of its belief in team work and winning attitude. Kings XI Punjab reflects a perfect synergy between its brand attributes and the values of team work, confidence and optimism that the team imbibes

Whirlpool India MD Arvind Uppal said, “The Indian Premier League is the most eagerly anticipated event in the sporting calendar of the sub-continent. It is a huge draw for both national and international cricket fans. We are very excited to be an integral part of the tournament through our association with Kings XI Punjab, which is an excellent platform to connect with our customers.”

Kings XI Punjab CEO Anil Srivatsa said, “We are thrilled to partner with Whirlpool .They are dynamic and share the same passion like us to promote cricket. Through this association we are hoping to bring an enthralling season that brings Cricketainment to the general public and some interesting promotions specially for our fans. We will indeed be energised further with our Cooling Partner-Whirpool. We will need them as we turn up the heat.”
 
Whirlpool India will run a number of promotions during the tournament. As co-sponsors, Whirlpool will have the logo branded on the team‘s jerseys and also have significant in-stadia presence during Kings XI Punjab matches in the form of board branding, placards, branding on cheer leader podium and seats in designated stand.

Whirlpool India VP sales, marketing and exports Shahzad Akhtar says, “We have recently launched a new range of air conditioners and have some new refrigerator launches planned as well, and the association with the third season of the Indian Premier League will help us roll out a series of exciting activities across the country”.

The company is planning to offer an opportunity to its customers to interact with the members of the Kings XI Punjab team through a number of activations, which will be launched in the near future.
 
Whirlpool India will run an ad campaign with the Kings X1 Punjab team icon Yuvraj Singh along with the company‘s brand ambassador and star couple Ajay-Kajol to endorse its new range of airconditioners. The company is planning to air the campaign during the same time as IPL matches.

Whirlpool India recently announced plans to augment its share in the AC segment. The company plans to capture 15 per cent market share by 2012 and treble sales by 2010. Whirlpool launched 44 new products in two sub-brands Mastermind Chrome and Mastermind Aviator. The new range with several features is aimed at giving a boost to Whirlpool in the AC category.

MUMBAI: Allied Media, the media planning, evaluation and buying arm of Percept Limited, has roped in Amol Mohandas as general manager.

He will be report to VP Allied Media PM Balakrishna and will be responsible for all aspects of the Future Group media business.
 
Prior to joining Allied Media, Mohandas was proprietor at Weave Through Communications, an agency specializing in on-ground and digital activations. 
 
Mohandas has extensive expertise in the arena of media planning and buying. During his ten years in the industry, Mohandas has also been associated with companies like MediaCom (Middle East), Starcom and Mindshare which entailed handling clients across industries such as automobiles, consumer durables, retail, banking and FMCG. 
 
Said Mohandas, “Allied Media is a great place to work where an integrated approach to communication planning is always at the helm of all plans. I‘m looking forward to combining my expertise on holistic planning with a team that is already equipped with the thought in their minds.”