Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: In the wake of a multi-agency pitch, Mindshare Chennai has been awarded with the media duties of Muthoot Pappachan Group.

The size of the account is pegged at Rs 100 million.
 
Says Muthoot Pappachan Group director Thomas George Muthoot, “There were two other agencies who participated in the pitch along with Mindshare, but we were comfortable with Mindshare‘s deliverables and hence zeroed in on them.”
 
Meanwhile, Contract Chennai handles the creative duties of the Muthoot Pappachan Group. The group is spending approximately Rs10 million in creatives.
 
“The company has doned a new corporate identity starting today, which includes a change in the logo. Out of the Rs 100 million, we are spending Rs 20 million on the rebranding exercise. Additionally, we are also planning to market ‘Swarnavarsham‘, for which we will be spending Rs 80 million,” says Muthoot.
 
 

MUMBAI: MRF Tyres has roped in motor racing driver Narain Karthikeyan as its ‘Racing Brand Ambassador‘.

According to media reports, under the deal Karthikeyan will receive Rs 80 million for four years. 
 
Karthikeyan says, “It is an honour for me to represent MRF Tyres and join their efforts to take motor racing to the next level in India”.

MUMBAI: John Players, the fashion brand from ITC targeted at the male Indian youth, has roped in Ranbir Kapoor as its new brand ambassador.
 
The move aims to add a punch of freshness, dynamism and energy to the trendy apparel brand for men, while highlighting its commitment in making strong statements in the fashion and lifestyle space.
 
ITC Lifestyle Retailing Business divisional chief executive Atul Chand said, “Ranbir is the perfect fit for John Players as he personifies the youthfulness, vibrancy and panache that the brand stands for. There are strong synergies between John Players and Ranbir‘s inherent sense of style and effortlessly cool persona. We are positive that John Players‘ association with Ranbir will hit the right chord with the youth and strengthen the brand‘s core attributes.”
 
Said Ranbir, “John Players has established itself in the youth segment and it is a pleasure to be associated with such a strong brand. I relate with the cool, youthful and expressive personality of the brand. I believe it‘s important to be comfortable in what one wears and make a statement without trying too hard which is also what John Players believes in.”

NEW DELHI: Even as senior Indian army and air force officers fumed over the bloomer, the Prime Minister’s office issued an apology for the inclusion of the photograph of a former Pakistani air force chief in an advertisement against female infanticide in India.

Women’s and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath, whose Ministry issued the advertisement photograph placed in newspapers by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, said the persons found guilty of this lapse would be punished.
 
The statement from the PMO tersely said: “The Prime Minister‘s office has noted with regret the inclusion of a foreign national‘s photograph in a government of India advertisement. While an internal enquiry has been instituted, the PMO apologises to the public for this lapse.”

It is learnt that the designing of the controversial advertisement was outsourced to a creative agency attached to a leading media house, but was cleared by the Ministry.
 
A source said most advertisements of this kind are approved at the level of joint secretary or higher, thus implying the Ministry herself may have approved it.

The full-page advertisement published in a national daily on the occasion of National Girl Child Day carried a photograph of former Pakistan Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Ahmed (2006-2009) along with photos of Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag and Amjad Ali Khan. The full-page ad also has the pictures of the United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and the Minister Krishna Tirath.
 
DAVP sources said the advertisement had been received on a Saturday (holiday) for immediate dissemination, and so it had been passed on without any verification.
 

MUMBAI: Year 2010 shall witness a slow advertising rebound, predicts Credit agency Standard & Poor‘s.

Entitled “Economic Factors Point to a Long Trudge Out of the Recession for US Media and Entertainment”, S&P states that there was a high number of credit downgrades last year and also suggests further that there are no assurances of a near-term resumption of industry growth.
 
The study hints to the fact that in 2010 more downgrades are likely, especially for companies with already-strained liquidity.

As far as advertising is concerned, S&P notes that there has been a “downside overreaction” during the global slowdown as the ad-spending contraction has exceeded the GDP contraction.
 
This is expected to turn around in the rebound as S&P predicts a 2.35 per cent of real GDP growth in 2010, and estimates that this would decipher into a growth of 4.2 per cent growth in ad spending. The growth, S&P notes, will be primarily pushed by the midterm elections and the Winter Olympics.
 
S&P anticipates many media subsectors to show growth in the second half of the year.
 

MUMBAI: With a view to seek new ideas to engage with teen audiences that integrates brand into content, Coca-Cola is co-sponsoring a new category in MIPTV‘s Content 360 cross-media competition.
 
Launched in partnership with Ogilvy, Coca-Cola is looking for projects ranging from TV and web movie series to a mobile application, game and social network activity.
 
The winning idea will receive a contract of minimum 10,000 euros to develop the idea further with Ogilvy and Coca-Cola.
Said MIPTV‘s director of digital media Ted Baracos, “Ogilvy has been a loyal partner of Content 360 for four years now and has been particularly active in encouraging its clients to participate.
 
“Coca-Cola‘s interest in creating a new competition category in the Content 360 Challenge, highlights the growing importance of branded content and advertiser-funded programming at MIPTV, and its tremendous potential for driving creativity for today‘s multiplatform youth audiences.”
 

MUMBAI: Mudra Max has partnered with Concrea Communications to develop youth marketing platforms to connect better with this target group.

Concrea Communications has developed a ‘Student Transmitter Model‘, which is a network of ‘insight seekers‘, who are specially trained to tap into the undercurrent trends, opinions, seed conversations and provide a more candid access to Young India. Mudra Max and Concrea would be utilising this network to roll out a real-time youth communication platform both online & offline in the coming few months.
 
Said Mudra Max CEO Pratap Bose, “I believe that peer to peer youth marketing is all about engaging youth on their own turf and creating positive traction for brands where the youth of today become their biggest ambassadors. Our partnership with Concrea Communications is the first step in that direction. Mudra Max clearly wants to be a leader in the Indian youth space both in the urban and rural socio cultural divide. This partnership with Concrea Communications further embellishes our vision to be the finest experiential agency in the country.”
 
All the offerings that will be launched will be based on the belief that ‘youth‘ can never have a set definition since their aspirations, buying triggers, life-patterns, preferences, spending & behaviour cannot be ‘boxed in‘, as it differs not only by situation and time but also by region. It has to be a bottom to top approach in order to successfully build brand loyalty with this segment. Some of the key projects planned would be to build the first ever online college festival, a young entrepreneurs‘ network and to understand mobile youth culture, especially with reference to mobile number portability. The aim is to provide advertisers more effective touch points rather than just mere social media engagement, which often goes ignored since users are busy looking at their own posts.
 
Another aspect of this collaboration would be the ‘Global Youth Research Partnership‘, which is a union of the world‘s leading youth marketing companies managed by Mobile Youth (UK) aimed to work with companies wanting to expand internationally. The officials informed that the intention is also to foray into rural youth marketing. Extensive research has been planned to discover the various different sub-types and segments within the age group.
 

MUMBAI: Candid Marketing has been roped in as the strategic brand activation agency for Nissan Motors for the India market.
 
The account will be headed by Candid Marketing VP Devika Sharma from the Mumbai office. 
 
Says Devika Sharma, “Globally Nissan is one of the largest carmakers, with exposure to both developed and developing markets. I am confident that we will be able to deliver clutter breaking solutions for Nissan in India.”
 
Adds Nissan VP operations, Hover Automotive strategic partner for sales, marketing & aftersales Abhijit Pandit, “We are continuing our endeavour to bring state of the art automobiles from Nissan‘s global portfolio to India. The Nissan 370Z is arguably the world‘s best selling sports car to date and future models that are planned will further this promise of offering the best to India‘s discerning car buyers.”

MUMBAI: Publicis India national planning head Naresh Gupta has put in his papers at the agency. 
 
Gupta, who joined Publicis in April 2008, will serve his notice period till mid-February. 
 
Prior to Publicis, Gupta was Grey Global Group (South Asia) where he was vice president- strategic planning.