Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: Barclaycard, which is part of Barclays Global Retail Banking division, has launched the sequel to its waterslide commercial.

The new ad tells the story of an even more adventurous and innovative commute to work – on a rollercoaster. The 60 second rollercoaster ride brings to life Barclaycard’s mission of making its customers’ (both retailers and consumers) lives easier through contactless payment technology.
 
Rollercoaster takes forward the successful features of Waterslide, using a story of one character’s journey to work to promote the ease of using a Barclaycard. The advert begins with the character standing at the lift doors of his apartment block when a rollercoaster pulls up and takes him on a wonderfully smooth and liberating journey high above the clutter and congestion of the city below, only slowing slightly when he makes a contactless payment at the bakery en route to work.

Filmed in New York and Hollywood, the rollercoaster advert has been the most technical and complicated shoot to date in Barclaycard’s celebrated history of advertising. Utilising a real rollercoaster cart and 40 ft of working track, the ad also features the first use of the ’Spidercam’ in an advert since the camera was developed to film parts of the ’Spiderman’ movies and complex CGI to help create a realistic vision of a rollercoaster weaving in and out of the city’s skyscrapers.
 
The four-week campaign launched online on YouTube and Barclaycard’s Facebook page on 22 January with a 60-second advert and aired on television for the first time two days later. A 40-second version was introduced after the first week. The TV activity is part of a wider campaign that will include online adverts and a social media campaign set to reach more than 10 million people using the Barclaycard Facebook page as a hub for all new information about the commercial.

Following on from the success of the Waterslide iPhone game, Barclaycard will launch a Rollercoaster download game later in the year.

Contactless payment technology was pioneered by Barclaycard in the UK in 2007 with the launch of Barclaycard OnePulse. Now, all Platinum, Gold and Classic Barclaycards are issued with contactless technology and over five million are in circulation in the UK. Over 20,000 retailers now accept contactless payments throughout the UK.
 
Created by leading advertising agency BBH and directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, the commercial is designed to bring to life Barclaycard’s vision of a world where payments are simple and stress free.

Barclaycard head of advertising and content Paul Troy says, “The success of our waterslide advert was absolutely fantastic and we have built upon that with ’Rollercoaster’ which is another great metaphor for how Barclaycard makes payment so simple for our customers. It again breaks boundaries for Barclaycard and is the most technically advanced commercial we have ever filmed.”

MUMBAI: Chennai-based Parryware Roca has awarded its media duties to OMD.

The account size is pegged at Rs 180-200 million and there was no pitch process involved.
 
Mindshare was servicing the sanitaryware company that houses products under the brand names Parryware and Roca.
 
Meanwhile, O&M and BBDO are handling the creative duties of Parryware and Roca respectively.
 
Parryware Roca will invest heavily on the medium of television followed by print, outdoor and digital.
 

MUMBAI: Castrol has continued to strengthen its position in football by signing a partnership with Uefa to sponsor the Euro 2012 tournament, which will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

The new agreement awards the global lubricants company a worldwide rights package for the duration of the Uefa Euro 2012 tournament.

As sponsor of the event, Castrol will continue to use their analysis, technology and innovation to provide insights into winning performances and add value for football fans across the globe.

The brand will build on a successful Uefa Euro 2008 sponsorship, for which it created the Castrol Index – a system that uses highly accurate playercam technology to objectively analyse and compare the performance of each and every player throughout the tournament.
 
The announcement bolsters the company’s current portfolio of football sponsorships, which includes the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa and the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil, and a comprehensive ambassador roster including Cristiano Ronaldo and Ars?ne Wenger.

Castrol will begin its activation programme for Uefa Euro 2012 around the draw on 7 February 2010 by launching the Castrol Predictor, a tool that measures team and player performance to predict which teams will ultimately qualify for the final sixteen.
 
 
Castrol global ambassador Ars?ne Wenger says, “The Castrol Index brought a new dimension to analysing player performances during EURO 2008. For the first time, fans were able to objectively monitor and compare how players were performing, giving them a new and interesting viewpoint. I look forward to seeing the Castrol Index develop for EURO 2012.”
 
Says Castrol senior VP for Lubricants, Mike Johnson, “European football is amongst the strongest in the world, with an appeal that reaches far beyond the continent, so we’re delighted to be able to continue our long term commitment to football with this new association.”
 

MUMBAI: Former BBH India executive producer Anuraag A Fulay has joined Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) as VP marketing & business development.
 
Confirming the development PNC chairman Pritish Nandy says, “Fulay has assumed office and will be reporting to PNC CEO Pallab Bhattacharya. He will be based out of Mumbai”.
 
In the past, Fulay has worked with agencies like Concept Advertising Dubai and Percept India.
 

MUMBAI: HP has become the first company to stitch a sponsorship deal with Google for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 3.0.

All matches of the IPL will stream live on the Google-owned video-sharing site, YouTube.

Google is looking at getting 10 partners as main and associate sponsors. These sponsors will consume around 75 per cent of inventory, a media buyer notes.

YouTube-IPL deal, he explains, offers brands a chance to increase their incremental reach. “It allows you to reach a specific kind of audience. You can target younger males and do a specific kind of communication that this medium allows,” he says. 
 
Elaborating further, the buyer avers that it also makes sense for global brands to get on board. The IPL will be streamed live globaly apart from the US where there will be a delay. So the likes of Pepsi, Coca-Cola, LG, Hyundai would be interested. “This is because in addition to having customers globally some of them also target the youth,” he says. 
 
While not divulging names, Google India head Parminder Singh says that the company is in advanced talks with companies from several sectors including telecom, auto, education, IT and financial services. Google is looking at 10 commercial partners.

“Clients will have spots across the event. That is a part of it. Advertisers will also get to own what we call Spotlight Matches. On that day, if he is advertising for that match, he gets the entire IPL experience across the day. He will have a presence on the YouTube homepage. When the match is going on, his ads will appear on the top, right and bottom. This will offer an immersive experience for our client,” Singh informs.

“The advertiser’s brand has to get noticed in the right context. We expect 80 million eyeballs and 10 million unique users to come to YouTube during the event,” he adds. 
 
When asked about how this would affect TV viewing on Max, he notes that one of the findings of research done is that people watch online video concurrently with television. So while they will watch the IPL on Max, they will also go to YouTube for value adds.

In terms of IPR, he says that YouTube gives content owners the right to play and manage the content. There is technology that allows content owners to go through the entire repository of videos on YouTube, Singh says.

MUMBAI: Denstu Marcom has appointed Naresh Gupta as planning head for the India region.
 
Prior to this, Gupta was national planning head at Publicis India.
 
In his new role, Gupta will be based out of Delhi and will report to Dentsu India president Rajesh Aggarwal. He will handle brands such as Indiabulls, Canon and Honda.
 
With approximately 20 years of experience in the media industry, Gupta has worked with agencies including Grey and Contract.

MUMBAI: IBD India, a subsidiary of Percept-Hakuhodo, has named Evarist Rego as chief operating officer.

Prior to this, Evarist was COO with Perspectrum Consultancy, Percept Limited‘s market research-driven integrated marketing communications (IMC) consultancy unit.
 
In his new capacity, Evarist will be responsible for consolidating the current business of IBD India across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. He will be spearheading the function in streamlining the overall service offerings of IBD and generating new business opportunities across offices.
 
Said Rego, “This move is challenging and different, as along with everyday functional responsibilities towards the brand, delivery of a strong strategic product and client relationships will be a priority. IBD India is a growing company and offers a wide canvas, where many integrated services can be incorporated for holistic planning.”
 
With approximately 17 years of experience in ATL and BTL communication verticals such as advertising, events, brand activation, film marketing and rural marketing, Evarist has worked with brands like General Motors, Philips Lighting, Godrej Sara Lee, HPCL and Siyaram‘s.
 

MUMBAI: Post the restructuring of McCann Erickson‘s Mumbai office into two separate entities, the agency has appointed Loveleen Raina and Rahul Mathew to head the fresh units. 
 
The two segments, McCann Erickson One and McCann Erickson Two, will operate as separate P&L centres with different branch heads and creative heads. 
 
Loveleen Raina, currently Unitech Wireless business head at Leo Burnett Delhi, will join the agency as vice-president and GM for the Mumbai office and will head of the one of the divisions. 
 
Rahul Mathew, meanwhile, will join to head the second unit along with McCann Erickson creative director Akshay Kapnadak.

Mathew is currently serving his notice period at Rediffusion Y&R (Mumbai) as creative head.

MUMBAI: Rediffusion Y&R has roped in Kavita Kailas as planning head, Mumbai.

Says Rediffusion Y&R EVP Mumbai Nisha Singhania, “Kailas‘s appointment now completes the triad of servicing, creative and planning that we are creating for each of our clients. With her in depth understanding of woman consumers, she will be a huge asset to the Kaya team and her diverse portfolio will only enhance our insight into the Colgate-Palmolive account. We see her playing a crucial role in our new proprietary approach – brand conversations.”
 
Adds Kailas “I am happy to be part of the Rediffusion Y&R Group. With the diverse brands that Rediffusion Y&R has in its portfolio I look forward to some exciting and interesting times.”

Kavita started her career with Advertising Avenues in 1999. She has worked with brands like Mc Donald‘s, Axe, Clinic, Lifebuoy, P & G feminine and Hygiene care and HDFC Standard Life Insurance Private Ltd.
 
Kailas has also been instrumental in creating awareness on Aids in India and has single handedly managed the execution of the Balbir Pasha- Aids awareness campaign.
 
She brings with her over a decade of advertising and marketing expertise across diverse categories ranging from financial services to FMCG to social services.
 

MUMBAI: Saif Ali Khan has appointed management firm Carving Dreams to manage his brand and all his business interests.
 
Says Khan, “Carving Dreams has earned a reputation in the industry and given their expertise and strong credentials, I am confident that the association will prove to be a fruitful one. I look forward to working with them.” 
 
Avers Carving Dreams CEO Afsar Zaidi, “Carving Dreams as a group is fully committed to extending the scope of celebrity management in this country. We look forward to this partnership with Saif Ali Khan.”