Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: After undertaking a major review of its worldwide media planning and buying activities, Kia together with Hyundai, has appointed Havas Media-owned to operate a consolidated media planning and buying programme from the beginning of 2010. 
 
The new agency will be responsible for media planning and buying in five regions. These are Western & Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Asia, including India. Havas Media replaces several agencies that previously serviced both Kia and Hyundai‘s media needs.

Says Kia Motors Corp director overseas marketing group Soon-Nam Lee, “Kia‘s global marketing initiatives will benefit tremendously by this consolidation. By combining our efforts, we can further develop and grow our Kia brand around the world through synergies created from Havas Media‘s understanding of our particular business needs.”
 
The programme is designed to maximise efficiency and effectiveness, while optimizing pan-regional opportunities, co-ordination of central and local advertising campaigns and supporting a clear brand separation.
 
“The key to our growth will rely on Kia‘s ability to adjust to the changing media environment. Havas Media has demonstrated an excellent understanding of our strategic vision and we feel their media creativity and digital expertise will help us develop and drive our future endeavours,” Lee added.

MUMBAI: Yatra.com, an online travel company, has roped in Pratik Mazumder as head – marketing. 
 
In his new capacity, Mazumder will be responsible for the overall marketing functions including developing and launching new marketing initiatives, managing the brand, consumer intelligence and ad sales.

Said Yatra.com Co Founder & CEO Dhruv Shringi, “Pratik‘s consumer marketing and brand experience will drive the growth of Yatra.com. I am confident Pratik will take Yatra‘s record of accomplishment to a new level of distinction.” 
 
Prior to this appointment, Mazumder was with Bharti Airtel where he led the brand and media communication portfolio for the company‘s mobile business nationally. 
 
Pratik comes with approximately 15 years of experience in marketing, with special focus on brand, product management and marketing communications.

MUMBAI: The joint body formed by merging the National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) and Media Research User‘s Council (MRUC) to conduct an amalgamated readership survey will be called the Readership Survey Council of India (RSCI). 
 
RSCI will be composed of equal number of members from MRUC and NRSC and will release the joint survey in the later half of 2010. 
 
Earlier in August, the MRUC and National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) had passed the relevant resolutions at their respective Governing Council meetings to support the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) and the National Readership Survey (NRS) merger that could set the tone for a single currency in India.
 
MRUC has been set up by agencies, advertisers and media houses to determine and conduct research required for the assessment of various media for advertising. NRSC, on the other hand, has been constituted by INS, AAAI and ABC for the purpose of carrying out readership surveys in India.

MUMBAI: Soon after partner Manish Bhatt decided to move on from Contract Advertising, senior vice-president and executive creative director Raghu Bhat has also put in his papers. 
 
Says Bhat, “Currently, I am serving my notice period. My tenure in office will end around 15 December.” 
 
Post exit, Bhat‘s immediate focus will remain on building Fungus Design, his maiden venture, which will deal in manufacturing and marketing designer laptop bags.
 
Bhat will also assist his wife, Prachi Bhat, in her garment label boutique, Taxxi and Vitamin K store (at Khar, Mumbai), where he will play the role of a branding advisor.

MUMBAI: Tata Sky, the joint venture company between the Tata Group and Star, has announced the launch of its latest television campaign with Aamir Khan playing the role of a ventriloquist infusing life into Actve – a mascot of Tata Sky‘s interactive services.
 
Directed by Prasoon Pandey, the campaign encompasses the comical squabbles of Aamir and Actve, as they showcase the benefits of Actve services of Tata Sky.
 
Said Aamir Khan, “When Tata Sky came to me with this concept; I thought it was unique and innovative. Honestly, I didn‘t realize how difficult it would be to portray the role of a ventriloquist. When I speak, our puppet whom we call Actve also speaks and expresses and when I‘m talking the puppet is speaking and expressing. Hence, both characters have to be brought to life at one time which is difficult. A ventriloquist takes years of training to be able to perfect this art.”

MUMBAI: San West, a company that manufactures, sells and repairs off-road vehicles, apparel and accessories, has announced the launch of its first marketing and advertising campaign with an aim to increase sales of the company‘s Buggy World product line and exposure of their full suite of products and services. 
 
The ad campaign includes 20 60-second ‘on-air‘ and 125 ‘online streaming‘ commercials per week and centers on the winning of a Buggy World Exclusive “Truggy!” 
 
A Truggy is a specialised off-road vehicle considered to be a cross between a truck and a buggy.
 
Said Buggy World GM and VP Brian Britton, “With the inclusion of CountyImports.com and San Diego Sport Cycles, we expect this campaign to add an additional $500,000 to Buggy World‘s top line revenue over the next two quarters.”
 

MUMBAI: Orange Advertising Network, an advertising sales house in Europe, has forayed into the US and Latin America markets to provide a complete portfolio of online marketing solutions.
 
The Orange Advertising Network offers advertisers in the Americas the ability to target audiences through a wide variety of tools such as site specific placements, run of network, category affinities, customised branded entertainment, direct response, and international solutions.
 
Said Orange VP Advertising Luc Tran Thang, “Both the US Hispanic and Latin American markets represent tremendous potential in terms of online advertising growth. We believe the distinct elements of our offering will make us a preferred communications partner of most for the majority of online advertisers in the region.”

MUMBAI: Mumbai-based Boiling Point Communications has bagged the creative account for Zodhita Health Solutions, a health and hygiene company, following a multi agency pitch.
 
Says Zodhita Health Solutions country head Shankar Shinde, “We had two large and two medium agencies pitching alongside Boiling Point Communications. The account size is pegged at Rs 100 million.”
 
Adds Boiling Point CEO & creative head Niket Karvir, “We will plan a 360 degree campaign and will concentrate on radio, outdoor media, print, television and a host of BTL activities.” 
 
Internet will also play a major role in the company‘s marketing activities. “We will be allocating approximately 25 per cent of our spends towards internet,” Shinde says.
 

MUMBAI: Percept OOH has appointed Ovez Khan as regional head for the South India region. Based out of Bangalore, he will report to Percept OOH president Sanjay Pareek.
 
Khan‘s new mandate will include managing existing and building new partnerships in the southern belt. He would be in charge of delivering customized products to key clients and chalking new businesses pan India.
 
Prior to this, he was Posterscope India business manager South.
 
Previously, Khan has handled clients including Air France, Tanishq, Kotak Insurance, Aircel.United Spirits, Levis and Future Group.
 

MUMBAI: Not all brands need to use social media in their communication strategy. However, those that do, should adopt a transparent strategy so that there is trust built among users. They should also open up to influence and forget about the myths of control.

These were some of the points made at a MasterClass session at the World Brand Congress on social media.

The session was chaired by BigAdda COO Shivanandan Pare. The speakers were Simplifying founder and CEO Shashank Nigam, Grapefruit chief creative officer Marius Ursache, AgencyNet VP consumer and brand strategies Alex Morrison and Digital Media CEO Ishwar Jha.

Ursache spoke about building social branding through engagement. He noted that not all brands need social media to build their communication strategy.

“However, many big companies waste time and resources on it without clearly defining the objectives that they are looking at achieving through their communication strategy. Also if a company’s core competence is in communicating through television commercials then it might be better to stick to it rather than doing a bad job on Twitter.”
 
He said that there are different strategies that companies use. One of the most effective involves opening up to influence. He gave the example of what Dell did with Ideastorm.

The company launched a site and asked consumers what they want to see changed in the company. The company got 12,000 ideas and implemented 400. “The outcome is high if you know how to internalise feedback.”

He also noted that ideally a company should become embodied when users become advocates for it. A good example is Apple and that is due to the strength of the product. 
 
He urged companies to have a dedicated team that focusses on social media. He also warned that a company’s official communication does not mean engagement. The company has to lose the illusion of control in communication.

Nigam also made a point on the importance of companies not obsessing over control in communications. “While there are PR guidelines, the companies should focus more on how they can influence people’s opinions. People would rather trust a blog than a corporate site as the blog has a face to it. A large corporation on the other hand is faceless. It is key that the face of the brand comes out during communication in social media.”
 
Morrison said that in a digital world, people explore what they are passionate about. Brands have to find a way to intersect in their lives. Companies need to understand the different things that happen in a digital world that leads to people interacting with brands. The good news is that many brands like Coca Cola already stand for something. The next step is to see how they can add value to consumer’s lives and start the engagement process. Brands could align with consumers passions including music, nightlife, social culture, environment. He says that Zappos, Redbull and Nike are among the companies that do this really well.