Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: Rediffusion Y&R national creative director Karl Gomes has quit the organisation.

Gomes joined Rediffusion Y&R on 1 November last year. 
 
Confirming the development, Gomes says, “I have left the company. Having put in my papers in the begining of October 30 October was my last day at the office. I have no plans yet.”
 
Other media agencies that Gomes has worked with include Leo Burnett‘s Arc Worldwide as executive creative director – digital, Tribal DDB India.
 
Gomes has worked on brands such as ICICI InfoTech, ICICI Prudential, UTI, Interlabels, Systime Computers, Datamatics Group, Paco Rabanne, Hugo Boss, Carolina Herrera, MphasiS Group, Castrol, Wipro Infotech, Godrej Furniture & Interiors group, Synthetic and Rayon Promotion Council of India.
 

MUMBAI: BBDO India has named Renilson Joseph as associate vice president (AVP) for its Delhi office.

Prior to this, Joseph was director strategic planning at Grey, Bangalore. 
 
In his new capacity, Joseph will be responsible for the agency‘s two significant accounts – Aviva and Quaker Oats. 
 
Says Joseph, “My mandate at BBDO will be to take forward the agency‘s business prospects. I have worked with several media agencies in multiple roles and this will help me execute my work profitably at BBDO.” 
 
Armed with 12 years of experience in the advertising industry, Joseph has worked with agencies such as McCann Erickson, Ogilvy, Ad Inc Muscat, TBWA Chennai and Bates 141.

Some of the brands on which Joseph has worked include Volvo, Allen Solly, Loop Mobile (BPL Mobile), Spencer‘s, Timex, Titan, Hindustan Unilever, and MTV.

MUMBAI: Food brand Smith & Jones has launched a promotional campaign for its newly launched noodles variant, ‘Tadka Marke‘. 
 
The campaign comprises a television commercial (TVC) and the sponsoring of kids-targeted programmes like Shinshan and Kiteretsu on Hungama TV, Hannah Montana on Disney, Power Rangers on Jetix, The Spectacular Spiderman and Jhakaas Zorori on Cartoon Network and Hanuman and Ninja boy on Pogo. 
 
As part of the activity, Smith & Jones has also launched a school contact programme that encapsulates more than 3200 schools pan India. It has also placed advertisements on school stationary and notebooks. 
 
Said Capital Foods MD Ajaay Gupta, “Kids represent an important demographic to us as marketers because they have their own purchasing power; they influence their parents‘ buying decisions and they‘re the adult consumers of the future.”
 

MUMBAI: Mobile operator Tata Docomo has launched its latest television commercial that aims to capture the joys of being together and celebrate “the unity in diversity” that exists in India. 
 
Conceptualized by Draftfcb Ulka, the TVC looks at establishing Tata Docomo as a brand that is refreshingly different and liberating in its approach.
 
Utilizing the key consumer insight “I am different because I am, not because I want to be”, the communication aims direct consumers to shed their inhibitions and feel inspired to do what they want to do.
 
The ad is set in the compartment of the “Friendship Express”. The passengers on the train hail from various regions of the country and belong to different walks of life. While all the passengers on the train are busy in their own world, a young man decides to break the monotony and starts singing the Docomo theme. Soon enough, everybody joins in and begins to celebrate ‘friendship‘. The communication reinforces the message of celebrating togetherness through the line, “Why walk alone, when we can dance together?”

MUMBAI: India can be a fertile market for brands, providing scope for marketers to launch new products to tap a rapidly growing middle class.

According to a research by a leading advertising agency, Indian consumers lead the Asian market in being heavily influenced by current trends and are ready to indulge in and experiment with new brands.

India is also one of the top five countries in Asia at 64 per cent that is highly concerned about household finances amid a global credit crunch. Even after being experimental and optimistic about future brand consumptions, almost 45 per cent of Indians are actively saving money for the future, said a Grey Group study. 
 
Expectations of household finances improving have dropped from 71 per cent (2008) to 48 per cent (2009), while the number of Indians expecting their personal finances to get worse has doubled in the last year.

Overall, 80 per cent of Asians are now saving for the future wherein 50 per cent of Asians are responding with cost-effective measures and are actively shopping around for value-for-money deals to save money, said Grey in its latest “2009 Eye on Asia” study.
 
The economic downturn can have a deep impact on consumer behaviour. Said Grey Group Asia Pacific chairman and CEO Nirvik Singh, “More than ever before, marketers need to understand people‘s evolving attitudes and behaviours to get ready for new opportunities when the market rebounds. Grey Group‘s Eye on Asia study is built on the notion that listening to and building emotional bonds with consumers will enable business owners to differentiate their brands in this Asian century.”

Almost 52 per cent of the Indian consumers are highly influenced by current trends, beating 15 other Asian countries. These include Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Following India in the second spot is Sri Lanka with about 51 per cent of the consumers strongly under the influence of current trends. Meanwhile, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan occupy the next seven positions. 
 
The latest wave of Eye on Asia shows that the general optimism of the Asia region for the future has been significantly dampened but not derailed completely. Inundated with financial weariness, people generally become negative, attitudinally. The declining optimism is resulting in higher tendency to work towards brightening up their future and people are inclined to save more.

On an average, while 76 per cent of Asians believe their future will be better than the past, only 30 per cent of Asians strongly believe in this. The level of optimism is most pronounced in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. However, this view is held by only 7 per cent of Japanese, less than half of the proportion of any other Asian country.

The survey also reveals that only 14 per cent of Asians are very satisfied with their lives. Research findings substantiate that Asians are uncertain about the future, with only 30 per cent of Asians being more content than they were 12 months ago, compared to 39 per cent who are less content. Content levels in Taiwan (60 per cent) and Korea (50 per cent) have decreased.

63 per cent of Asians are satisfied with their lives today, but this average hides a wide variation in Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan where the majority are dissatisfied, the study said.
 

MUMBAI: Consumer confidence in India has seen a steady rise for some time now and India has topped the latest round of Nielsen‘s Consumer Confidence Survey with 120 index points.

Indonesia and Norway follow with 115 and 110 index points respectively. Nielsen‘s global consumer confidence index has also seen an increase and has jumped to 86 points this month from 77 index points in April this year, indicating a rebounding consumer confidence across the world.

The current Nielsen survey tracked consumer confidence, major concerns and spending habits among more than 30,500 Internet users in 54 countries. Consumer confidence rose in 45 out of the 52 countries compared to six months ago. In April, the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index hit its lowest point of 77 index points, but as massive stimulus package began to take effect around the world during the second quarter, consumer confidence slowly began to recover. 
 
Among the Bric nations, consumer confidence rose eight points in India, six points in China and four points in Russia compared to the previous quarter. Indians are the most optimistic lot who think the country will be out of an economic recession in the next twelve months (67 per cent). The percentage of Indians who think India is currently under recession has also gone down by 10 per cent to 52 per cent this quarter.

Nielsen director consumer research Vatsala Pant says, “Economic downturn is finally subsiding, not only in India but across the world and improving economic condition and prospect of growth are infusing more confidence in people.”

Rising Indian optimism : The consumer confidence is a reflection of the optimism in a country towards job prospects, personal finances, and their willingness to spend on discretionary items.

Eight in ten Indians are optimistic about job prospects in the country in the next 12 months, 16 per cent think it is ‘excellent‘ and 69 per cent think it is ‘good‘. 81 per cent Indian consumers are also very optimistic about the state of their personal finances in the next 12 months; 10 per cent think that personal finances will be ‘excellent‘ and 71 per cent think they will be ‘good‘. Indians are the most optimistic lot globally when it comes to job prospects and their state of personal finances in the next 12 months.
 
Pant adds, “The resurging job market in the country has acted as a major boost to the confidence of Indians. Decreasing apprehensions regarding the stability of their jobs, resulting in a steady source of personal finance, has made Indians optimistic about the future.”

An optimistic and confident outlook on job prospects and personal finances stretches out to willingness to spend. Considering the cost of things today and their personal finances, seven per cent Indians think that it is an ‘excellent‘ time to buy the things they want and need, and 44 per cent think that it is a ‘good‘ time to buy things. 
 
Spare cash utilisation : After meeting the essential living expenses, Indians love to put their spare cash into savings, with six in ten Indians opting for saving their spare cash for rainy days.

The rising confidence has also made Indians comparatively less risk aversive and two in five Indians will put their spare cash into shares of stock / mutual funds (44 per cent), this being the third highest percentage globally behind China (48 per cent) and Hong Kong (47 per cent), where spare cash is put into shares of stock / mutual funds.

Let alone savings and investments, Indians have also started spending more, especially on technology items.

Nearly, four in ten Indians will put their spare cash into buying new technology products (37 per cent) and 36 per cent said they will pay off debts / credit cards / loans with spare cash. In the last quarter survey, paying off debts was second on the list of items that spare cash was being used for by Indians.

“Though savings still rule the roost, Indians have become less conservative in terms of utilising their spare cash and have started investing in stock options. Indians‘ concern over debts have also decreased as their job prospects and finances have started looking up. Three months back Indians were uncertain of the economy, but current behaviour shows that India‘s public is more confident than they have been anytime in the past one year,” said Pant.

Other areas where Indians spend their spare cash are new clothes and home improvements/ decorating (both 35 per cent), holidays/ vacations (31 per cent), retirement fund (26 per cent-second highest globally), and out-of-home entertainment (23 per cent).

Major concerns ahead: Consumer confidence in India has topped the global charts but concerns are still at large. Work/ life balance is the biggest concern for Indians (15 per cent), overtaking job security which was the biggest concern for Indians three months back. Concern over increasing food prices has increased tremendously. In fact, it has doubled to 14 per cent from seven per cent in the last quarter and has moved up four spots to number two on the list of concerns for Indians. Globally, Indians are on the top in their concern over increasing food prices.

The economy forms the third biggest concern for Indians (12 per cent) and has moved down a spot compared to the last round of the survey. With 11 per cent votes, job security has experienced the highest drop in concern, falling 15 per cent from last quarter.

“At present it looks like the Indian economy and people‘s confidence is on a fast improving trajectory. Everything looks positive from the point of view of the Indian job market, people‘s finances, savings, and investments. If things continue the way they are heading, downturn in India will soon become history,” said Pant.

MUMBAI: Manish Bhatt, senior vice-president and executive creative director at Contract Advertising, has put in his papers to pursue his interest in political communication.

Bhatt will serve his notice period till November-end and then work as communications advisor to the state of Gujarat. 
 
Says Bhatt, “I am not quitting the advertising industry. I am only taking a break from the industry.”

“Recently, I was involved with a project for Tata Indicom in Gujarat involving a lot of celebrities with the CSR touch. The campaign was a huge success and now I am looking at taking up similar projects for the government,” he adds.
 
Bhatt began his career at Contract in 1995. Later he moved on to Ogilvy & Mather and then Publicis Ambience. He then joined McCann Erickson before returning to Contract in 2007.

MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia has bagged Swarovski‘s media account as part of the company‘s global alignment strategy.
 
The agency will begin work on the account from January 2010.
 
Earlier in 2008, Swarovski had called a global pitch that later saw ZenithOptimedia and Havas‘ MPG sharing the account. MPG was handling the media planning and buying duties for the company in Australia, Singapore, Greater China, and India.
 

MUMBAI: Recruitment and human resources training firm Alchemist and BCIDS, under the academic guidance of SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, has launched the Professional Programme in Media Management [PPMM]. 
 
Designed for working executives in media sales houses, media agencies and client brand function, PPMM is an eight-week programme that covers all aspects of media over 45 capsules of two hours each.
 
The course modules will cover communication and media strategy, tactics and implementation, the art of buying and selling, translating client and planning briefs into answers, negotiation and presentation skills, client priorities, perceptions and needs, integration and evaluation of media properties, creating win-win proposals, differences and culture of various media agencies, budgeting, accountability to the client etc. 
 
Said Alchemist founder and chief consultant Anujita Jain, “With SP Jain and BCIDS contributing in giving the training a formal shape and guidance, we couldn‘t have asked for a better team. I hope corporates do come up to nominate their most potent talent so that they perform better and faster.”

MUMBAI: Vizeum India has been appointed as the media AOR for BSA Motors. The size of the account is estimated to be in the region of Rs 200 million. 
 
Said BSA Motors VP KB Srinivasan, “Vizeum‘s strategic thinking ability, quick on the feet and proactive response rate, their passion and senior management involvement in our business convinced us of this partnership. We are sure Vizeum will be able to add might and muscle to our communication investment resources.”
 
Vizeum operates in 48 countries and some of the clients served by Vizeum global include Coke, Ray Ban, DHL, Panasonic, GM, Total, Bacardi and Lavazza.