Category: AD Agencies

  • Ogilvy India’s PR capabilities shine at Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards

    Ogilvy India’s PR capabilities shine at Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards

    MUMBAI:  Ogilvy tops all agencies with 16 SABRE Awards, alongside impressive performances from competition at the Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards in Singapore on Friday.  Ogilvy India was particularly impressive winning 4 awards from the 16 and the India team also won the Best in Show for its “Where’s the DNA” campaign.

    Chief executive, public relations & influence, Asia Scott Kronick said, “The work our India public relations capability is undertaking to promote DNA testing at crime scenes is extremely important.  I am very proud of this team and thankful to all our partners.   This is the kind of assignment that not only wins awards, but it builds agency cultures and that is what it is doing for us.”

    The SABRE Awards Asia-Pacific 2019 ceremony took place in Singapore last night. Ogilvy topped all agencies with 14 Gold SABRE Awards, and 2 more that Ogilvy PR won for Australasian Consultancy of the Year, and Ogilvy PR’s Manila office's Jollibee Going Global campaign that won an IN2 SABRE Award. In total, Ogilvy took home 16 awards.

    The Ogilvy India team's "Where's the DNA" campaign won 4 Gold SABRE and Team Castrol India won 2 SABRE. The “Where’s the DNA” campaign triumphed over five other Platinum nominated campaigns for the Best in Show honors.

    Equally impressive are the wins by the Singapore team that won 3 Gold SABRES; Era Ogilvy and Ogilvy Taiwan took home 2; Australia, Beijing and Shanghai won a SABRE award each; Team Castrol India won 2.

    Ogilvy and its clients took home the most – 16 trophies –  the most, and this included 14 Gold/Diamond winners, ahead of BCW (10), Dentsu and Weber Shandwick (7), Adfactors and Current Global (4), Alexander PR and Edelman (3).

  • WPP and InMobi Group enter into a multi-year strategic partnership to co-build unique benefits for marketers

    WPP and InMobi Group enter into a multi-year strategic partnership to co-build unique benefits for marketers

    Bangalore: WPP and InMobi Group have entered into a  long-term strategic partnership to build unique benefits for marketers. Leveraging the best of expertise from InMobi Group and WPP agencies, including GroupM and Kantar, the partnership aims to simplify complexity for Indian marketers.

    The collaboration between WPP and InMobi Group will enable brands to create personalized consumer experiences at scale. Through this partnership, brands will be able to translate up-to-the-moment insights into timely marketing action.

    WPP will provide in-depth expertise and a creative approach through four pillars – content, media, data and research. WPP’s GroupM will provide data-driven marketing and media planning with end-to-end audience insights integration and will also be sharing its unique engagement approach for in-app mobile content marketing. This partnership will also benefit from Kantar’s research insights, including recommendations that combine delivery, engagement and impact measures through media.

    InMobi Group will provide deep, mobile-first expertise across marketing software and media, data and consumer platforms. As a result of this partnership, brands will gain insights on and access to 200+ million mobile users in India through the InMobi Marketing Cloud, the only mobile platform to synthesize adtech and martech platforms. The InMobi Marketing Cloud includes Pulse, the world's leading mobile research platform and InMobi DSP, its in-app programmatic buying platform. Through Glance, the world's first screen-zero platform, brands will be able to reach more than 36 million Indian smartphone users on their lock screen. 

    CVL Srinivas, WPP country manager for India, said: "WPP's partnership with InMobi will simplify marketing processes for businesses. We recognize the challenges associated with managing and translating data insights into timely and relevant brand activity. Today's consumers are inundated with brand messages and we want to enable marketers to cut through the noise to provide their consumers with meaningful connections."

    "User journeys in a mobile-first world have become increasingly complex, and brands need an end-to-end solution that helps them to uncover and drive insights into action seamlessly," said Naveen Tewari, Founder & CEO of InMobi Group. "InMobi and WPP's strengths in technology and marketing expertise mean that we are best positioned to take the guesswork out of complex data and provide integrated solutions for brands to help them drive real connections with consumers."

    “WPP and InMobi have had a long-standing successful relationship,” said Abhay Singhal, Co-founder of InMobi Group and CEO of InMobi Marketing Cloud.  “We are thrilled with the evolution of this relationship into a strategic arrangement. We hope to co-create value for the entire ecosystem through innovation that leverages data, technology, media, and content.” 

    India represents one of the largest and fastest-growing consumer markets globally. WPP and InMobi Group's partnership will see both companies co-building more innovative mobile-first products for the future, to help position businesses ahead of the marketing curve.

  • Dentsu Aegis Network and iProspect bring Female Foundry to India

    Dentsu Aegis Network and iProspect bring Female Foundry to India

    Mumbai: As part of One@DentsuAegis, a programme developed to support diversity and innovation across the business, Dentsu Aegis Network, and its digital performance agency iProspect, have formalized an initiative to mentor female start-ups in India.

    The initiative – Female Foundry – will launch in the country after its successful run in Singapore.

    Female Foundry aims to drive diversity and inclusion in business.  It provides access to tools, training, connections and resources, empowering female entrepreneurs to thrive in today’s complex digital economy.

    The initiative aims at bridging the gap in gender parity by offering experienced mentorship that helps empower female entrepreneurs, high-level skill development and professional help in securing funding for the next phase of their start-ups.

    In India, Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India will be running the initiative with an extended leadership team from across Dentsu Aegis Network and strategic business partners which include clients and other third parties.

     Talking about the initiative, Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India said, “As you know, iProspect has women leaders across its offices in the world. Internally, we run various programmes to help women reach the leadership programmes. Take Women@iprospect, for instance, which caters to junior and mid-level women who have a capability to be a leader tomorrow. Female Foundry is more than just an initiative for us. We are leading the programme in India, along with the help of DAN leadership and resources as well as our partners who have volunteered, to help build a more cohesive ecosystem for women entrepreneurs.”

    Ashish Bhasin, CEO Greater South, Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman & CEO India said, “DAN as a network has been at the forefront of encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs. Women play an important role in every aspect of business today – from leading companies to building new ventures. We are proud to bring Female Foundry to India as we believe that getting the right mentorship is necessary for anyone to grow especially in today’s competitive world. To succeed in what ones believes in needs constant learning. And I believe that the day one does that, it is the day we stop growing – personally or professionally.”

    In partnership with some of the leading institutions, foundations and associations focused on the empowerment and promotion of female leadership in both start-ups and across the industry, the programme will culminate with an opportunity for successful selected candidates to grow their business.
     

  • Marketing automation platform Resulticks uses real-time data for greater customer satisfaction

    Marketing automation platform Resulticks uses real-time data for greater customer satisfaction

    MUMBAI: Started in 2004 as an advertising agency, Resulticks today has evolved into a full-fledged omnichannel marketing-automation company that offers truly integrated real-time conversation cloud-enabled by the world’s first marketing data block-chain. After starting its data-driven automation platform in 2012, the company is now working towards revamping the marketing campaign globally using data as its prime weapon.

    Resulticks CEO and co-founder Redickaa Subrammanian, in an exclusive conversation with Indiantelevision.com, shared, “We (Resulticks), today, are sitting at the centre of an enterprise, where the whole data-either internal or third-party-is. We are helping clients to derive complete value from this data to orchestrate real-time conversations with their consumers, and contextually deliver personalised solutions to them.”

    She added that this approach makes Resulticks more than just an ad agency whose prime responsibility is to take a brief from the client and deliver on that. “We are no longer taking briefs but are working on omnichannel solutions for our clients.”

    Handling data operations at a time when data security breaches are becoming headlines more than often is a tough job and Subrammanian agrees to that. On being asked how Resulticks ensures data safety for its clients and their consumers, she said that the platform ensures the data on its channels is fully encrypted and minimum people have access to it preceded by an authorisation process.

    She mentioned, “Today, data is at the core of every business and enterprise. But thanks to scandals like that of Cambridge Analytica, consumers are very scared about their data safety. They are trying to be careful about their data. At Resulticks, we, therefore, are very careful about the data. Here, the data belongs to the enterprise and not to us that means whole data is coming from their own properties and databases.”

    She added, “We are just empowering them with a platform that keeps their data extremely safe, in encrypted form. Even the people within the company will not be able to see some of the personally identifiable information (PII). The people from their own marketing teams will also require authorisation to access that data.”

    Sharing an example of a bank, Subrammanian said that if a person swiping one’s credit card at a retail store at a mall had earlier been to a Croma store looking for laptops and came out without purchasing, the person will get an exclusive 10 per cent or so off on laptops. This customised experience will be curated based on real-time data coming from one’s location and card swipes. “This will lead to a happy experience for the consumer and potentially another card swipe for the bank, which will be beneficial for its business.”

  • WPP to launch two co-location campuses in India

    WPP to launch two co-location campuses in India

    MUMBAI: As part of its global growth strategy, WPP will invest in two co-location campuses in India. The roll-out will commence with more than 3,800 people moving into a new Mumbai campus in late August, while a Gurugram campus will be set up next year.

    All co-locations will support the WPP community with world-class facilities. The campuses include conducive spaces for talent to work and engage in collaboration and will also provide clients with easier access to WPP’s network of agencies.

    WPP CEO Mark Read said, “India represents a region with immense opportunities for WPP. We are committed to building further momentum for our businesses there, through our campus investments. Having modern, dynamic workplaces creates real impact for our people, and enables collaboration and ideas to thrive. We work with some of the most progressive clients and teams in India and we want to support their efforts in creating outstanding work.”

    WPP’s new Mumbai campus will be named BAY99, which alludes to the city’s historical roots and is also the campus’ postal code reference. Situated within The Orb, a brand-new complex next to the international airport in the Sahar area, the location offers various amenities, including convenient transport and social options. The Orb complex will also offer more than 40 dining and entertainment options within walking distance for staff to enjoy.

    In a first for WPP’s India offices, the co-location will bring together more than 16 companies under one roof, with a space of 380,000 square feet over a 10-year lease. On-site, staff will enjoy a host of modern facilities, ranging from a rooftop terrace, recreation lounge, library, cafeteria and more.

    Commenting on the new campus, WPP country manager for India CVL Srinivas said, “India is one of the most exciting markets for WPP with great growth potential. By investing in co-location campuses in key cities, we are bringing to life our vision to lead the market as a creative transformation company and to build a strong, cohesive WPP community. We support some of the biggest brand names in India and more than ever, clients want to be connected to easy processes and solutions, as well as a complete suite of services. The new campus means our teams will have increased access to each other’s expertise and this will go far in enabling our talent to do their very best work for clients.”

  • Chimp&z Inc retains Playgard Condoms’ digital mandate

    Chimp&z Inc retains Playgard Condoms’ digital mandate

    Mumbai: Playgard Condoms owned by one of India’s largest pharmaceutical companies Alkem Laboratories Ltd. has retained Chimp&z Inc, a 360-degree integrated marketing agency as its digital partner for the second year in a row.

    As per the announcement, Chimp&z Inc will not only be working on strengthening the brand's online identity by handling Playgard Condoms’ social media presence on all platforms but also be conceptualizing creative campaigns and providing digital services like content creation and SEO.

    Playgard Condoms are manufactured and marketed by its parent company and multinational pharmaceutical giant Alkem Laboratories Ltd. headquartered in Mumbai. With a portfolio of about 750 branded generic drugs, 14 manufacturing facilities in India and 2 in the U.S., Alkem Laboratories Ltd. ranks among the top pharmaceutical companies in India.  

    Speaking about the retainment of Chimp&z Inc, Kartik Soni, Sr. Product Manager, Alkem Laboratories Ltd. said, “We are happy to continue our association with Chimp&z Inc. Chimp&z Inc has once again impressed us with its creative business & media solutions and off-the-cuff approach. We are happy to renew this partnership and are confident that their team will continue to create engaging content for our target group.”

    Following this event, Anngad Mnchnda, Co-founder & CEO, Chimp&z Inc, said, “We are very delighted that Playgard Condoms has selected us to be their digital mentor for the second year in a row. Retaining the mandate for a quirky and innovative brand like Playgard Condoms is a clear endorsement of Chimp&z Inc’s competency and ability to consistently create brilliant work that soars far beyond the expectations of our clients. We are excited to be on board with Playgard Condoms and look forward to doing more amazing work for them in the future.”

  • Dentsu Aegis Network restructures rural marketing under Hyperspace

    Dentsu Aegis Network restructures rural marketing under Hyperspace

    Mumbai: Dentsu Aegis Network recently announced the restructuring of its Rural Marketing under its shopper marketing agency, Hyperspace. This development has been introduced in the light of opening avenues for brands to create a shopper experience in the emerging markets.

    Keshav Chandorkar, who was heading the Rural division under Fountainhead Entertainment will continue to lead this new operation along with his original team. Chandorkar has 24 years of experience in activation, rural marketing and strategy planning.

    “Retail is facing headwinds, particularly in rural areas because the consumers in these markets witness the premium retail experience through mobile connectivity today. Moreover, with the increase in the purchasing power of the consumers, the disparity between urban and rural India is reducing manifold. As leaders in the Industry, we are committed to review the market, pick out the gaps and do the needful. We are positive that this recent rejig will be beneficial to the fast-evolving consumers,” said Keshav Chandorkar, Vice President – Rural Division, Hyperspace.

    Speaking on the restructuring strategy, Haresh Nayak, Group MD – Posterscope – South Asia, said, “Hyperspace being in the industry for 10 years now, having an experience of working with more than 200 + clients, rural marketing was a natural extension. The agency has had a fair presence in the smaller markets but given the scope that still more than 90% retail takes place in the physical space, our rural marketing services will only help our clients to reach in deeper markets. As a brand we are chasing multiple priorities at the same time, so even as the company expands, we will stay agile and we will continue to discover the new preferences of our clients and consumers.”

    At Hyperspace, the rural marketing division specializes in delivering memorable and engaging consumer experiences driven through insight, data and innovation. The division positions itself as a 360-degree solution provider to brands, with an in-house capability of conceptualization as well seamless on ground activation across the length and breadth of the country.

  • Wavemaker Kinetic India brings alive Cadbury Celebrations Rakhi OOH Campaign

    Wavemaker Kinetic India brings alive Cadbury Celebrations Rakhi OOH Campaign

    Kinetic Worldwide, a WPP entity has established itself as a leading global player in the Out-Of-Home (OOH) media industry and has many success stories. One of the recent additions being Star Sports Marathi collaborating with Kinetic for the Pro Kabaddi League Season 7, that commenced on 20th July 2019.

  • Y&A Transformation launches Snippet Digital, a first of its kind digital agency

    Y&A Transformation launches Snippet Digital, a first of its kind digital agency

    Y&A Transformation today announced the launch of Snippet Digital a full-fledged digital marketing agency, founded on the premise that digital is technology first, combined with creativity, media science and brand thinking. The company will operate under the Y&A collective banner, which will soon be launching other specializations as well. The executive board of Snippet consists of Tarun Mitra, a technology expert, Ram Gudipati, an experience brand strategist and S Yesudas, a media expert with collective experience of over 75 years. The agency also aims to provide executive education on Digital Business Leadership, particularly to equip the senior management at the clients’ end to get much more from their digital investments.

    Tarun Mitra an IIT Delhi alumni comes with a strong background and experience in technology business, growing internet startups and marketing services. Ram Gudipati has in-depth understanding of consumers, brands and marketing communications. S Yesudas brings with him deep understanding of data, media sciences and how consumers across demographics consume media both offline and online.  All 3 have worked on various brands across different life stages and produced work which have won client trust as well as industry recognitions.

    Commenting on the launch of Snippet, S Yesudas, Co-founder said “Most clients that I have spoken to are of the opinion that majority of digital agencies do not bring the maturity to consider different perspectives and explain the same to clients through meaningful conversations. The discussion is largely centered around digital execution.  While Google has moved beyond the gate-keeper status to a destination in itself, most agencies haven’t moved beyond traditional SEO practices.  Organically engaging with consumers searching for products and services near them is fully owned by the directory services/yellow pages. This not only reduces discoverability but compels a client to even pay for his own data, as the clients’ GMB even belong to these service providers.   Our aim is to add some grey-hair perspective to clients’ investment and help build curiosity, pride and purpose for the digital natives in the team so that they start exploring rather than just exploiting”

    Tarun Mitra, Co-founder, Snippet Digital, adding to the agency offerings said, the future in digital is changing as we speak and soon the era of augmented creativity will replace conventional process of digital creative development. Therefore, our efforts are in building a very strong technology orientation, which will get balanced with human wisdom. In addition to our investment in top quality engineering resources, mostly coming from IIT, Mumbai, our resources include creative professionals, story tellers, digital strategy experts, planners and implementation specialists. We have already forged alliances to deliver programmatic solutions and location-based services integrating mobile technology.  Although nascent, we will even be employing data science, AI and predictive analytics capabilities with a view to ensuring our clients’ investments do not end up at click-farms”

    Talking about how brand and creative thinking will heighten the overall customer experience, Ram Gudipati, Co-founder, Snippet Digital  said “Unlike the current practice on digital which is one brand and many stories, more like the spray and pray approach, our focus will be one brand, one core story and different manifestations of the same, platform specific. We will help our clients spot the signals before they become the trend, rather an adding to the noise on the trends.  Snippet has already started working with the Hinduja Group, Hillcart Tales, a premium tea brand, Chitralekha Group, media owner with 70 years of reader engagement, LOL Surprise dolls, Paw patrol and a whole host of brands within the toy’s category.  We are in advanced level of conversation with two other large corporates”

  • WPP announces proposed sale of 60 per cent of Kantar to Bain Capital

    WPP announces proposed sale of 60 per cent of Kantar to Bain Capital

    MUMBAI: One of the world’s largest advertising agencies, WPP, announced on Friday that it has entered into an agreement to sell 60 per cent stake in Kantar to US-based private equity firm Bain Capital. After severe turmoil in the last two years, especially after founder Martin Sorrell’s departure, the company is figuring out new ways to grow.

    “Kantar is a great business and we look forward to working with Bain Capital to unlock its full potential. As a strategic partner and shareholder in Kantar, WPP will continue to benefit from its future growth while our clients continue to benefit from its services and capabilities. I would like to thank Eric Salama, his team and everyone at Kantar for their tremendous contribution to WPP – a contribution that will continue as we develop the business together,” WPP chief executive officer Mark Read said.

    “This transaction creates value for WPP shareholders and further simplifies our company. With a much stronger balance sheet and a return of approximately 8 per cent of our current market value to shareholders planned, we are making good progress with our transformation,” he added.

    The proposed transaction of Bain Capital’s acquisition of 60 per cent of Kantar creates a strong partnership with WPP to accelerate the development of Kantar along with valuing it at c.$4 billion. WPP also highlighted that proceeds on completion, after tax and continuing investment in Kantar, were expected to be about $3.1 billion. It will further simplify and reposition WPP for growth, whilst unlocking significant value for shareholders.

    “Our new ownership structure presents a great opportunity for Kantar, our employees and our clients. In Bain Capital we have a partner who shares our ambition, brings relevant expertise and – with WPP – can help us accelerate our growth and impact for clients. We are focused on delivering ‘human understanding at scale and speed’ and the ‘best of Kantar’ more consistently. We will do so by investing more in talent and by becoming a more technology-driven solutions provider,” said Kantar CEO Eric Salama.

    “We believe that we are well-positioned to support Kantar, alongside WPP, in driving forward the business in a rapidly changing industry. Our deep sector knowledge, operational expertise and strong track record of partnering with management teams to accelerate growth gives us confidence that we can help Kantar grow both organically and by acquisition,” Bain Capital Private Equity managing director Christophe Jacobs van Merlen said.