ITV

Category: Digital Agencies

  • Arré to launch provocative docu-reality series on gender-swap

    Arré to launch provocative docu-reality series on gender-swap

    MUMBAI: Come January 2016 and the Indian digital landscape is poised to get a new player Arré, which is the brainchild of media veteran Ronnie Screwvala and his A-Team B Saikumar and Ajay Chacko.

    The Arré digital media brand housed under UDigital, has already chalked up its content strategy and is looking at disrupting the Indian digital ecosystem by launching the first digital reality series. The provocative docu-reality series, which is based on the Israeli format Re-Gender distributed by Armoza Formats, gives men and women a chance to experience life as the opposite gender.

    While Arré has not yet zeroed in on the title of the show in India, it will begin shooting the series in two – three weeks’ time at Chhatarpur in Delhi.

    In Re-Gender  six men and women will explore their own nature and the other gender ‘s as well. The series is modeled on a psychological-social experiment, dealing with the essence of the male and female experience, through the other gender’s eyes . The show is a daring social experiment that breaks down the rules of gender perception and challenges society-defined gender stereotypes. In the series, men will become women and the women, men. Through their assignments out in the real world as well as through dynamics with each other in the house, where they will live cut off from the world for a month, the contestants will discover certain not-so-obvious truths about the opposite sex.

    The six participants will undergo intense gender training as well as emotional and physical transformations. Each participant will make a personal journey on the show to better understand themselves and their relationships.

    Armoza Formats founder and CEO Avi Armoza said, “We’re extremely excited about this venture with Arré and to see Re-Gender become the flagship series for this fresh new platform. The issues that the show deals with not only make for riveting viewing but also provoke important discussions in our society.”

    UDigital co-founder and managing director B. Sai Kumar added, “We are hoping to break new ground with a show like Re-Gender on digital media, in India. The definition of gender roles and expectations are evolving everyday and is a much talked about and debated subject in India. We wish to bring our lens to the topic through a first of its kind entertainment series with elements of drama, reality, emotion, new experiences with social learnings all rolled into one.”

  • Publicis & Orange launch venture capital fund for start-ups

    Publicis & Orange launch venture capital fund for start-ups

    MUMBAI: Orange chairman and CEO Stephane Richard and Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Maurice Levy along with Gerhard Cromme, have signed a letter of intent with a view to creating a European multi-corporate venture capital fund – IrisNext – on a global scale for start-ups.

     

    The letter was signed on the occasion of Franco-German conference on digital at the Elysee Palace.

     

    The goal of IrisNext is to become one of Europe’s leading venture capital funds through funding from major international groups of French, German and international origins, as well as from institutional investors.

     

    IrisNext will mainly invest in European start-ups to help fund their growth, not just in the early stages but all throughout the phases of growth. The fund will focus its investments in entities involved in all aspects of corporate digital transformation. Among the start-ups concerned, IrisNext will be funding pure players, but also new business models built around digital technology, as well as new tools and technologies taking on the challenge of this transformation (e.g. big data, cloud, artificial intelligence, digital innovations, robots, etc.).

     

    The fund will be managed by Iris Capital, assisted by German VC fund Capnamic, with an initial closing scheduled in 2016.

     

    To ensure the success of this venture, Publicis Groupe and Orange have committed to provide additional funding of €75 million each. With the support of Cromme, who has joined this project in a personal capacity and will sit on the Supervisory Board of Iris Capital, they will use their networks and influence to convince other German, French and European groups to invest in IrisNext, in order to endow the fund with the required dimension while optimizing opportunities for European start-ups. Institutional investors will also be invited to invest. Furthermore, public bodies in the field of corporate financing in France and Germany will also be solicited for additional funding to ensure the fund reaches the critical mass it needs.

     

    In view of the very active presence of the large Anglo-Saxon and Asian venture capital funds, the parties involved in this agreement consider it indispensable to leverage the Franco-German axis in order to bolster the European venture capital sufficiently for it to support start-ups, particularly in the later stages of growth, and in doing so, to help anchor them in Europe.

     

    The IrisNext project is a follow-up to the Orange Publicis Ventures funds, which were launched in 2012 and contributed some €300 million to the funding of the French and European digital ecosystem. These funds, which are also managed by Iris Capital, have helped promote the emergence of an innovative, multi-corporate investment model that is mutually beneficial to both parties: the start-ups receiving funding and the groups who learn from these innovations. Close to 60 start-ups have received funding from Orange Publicis Ventures, including firms such as Netatmo in the IoT (Internet of Things), Talend (software), Scality (high capacity storage), Adjust (mobile analytics) and Mister Auto (e-commerce).

  • Modi effect: Qualcomm to invest $150 million in Indian mobile startups

    Modi effect: Qualcomm to invest $150 million in Indian mobile startups

    MUMBAI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making waves in the United States. And the effects of his power packed visit have already started trickling in.

     

    US based Qualcomm Incorporated, which operates in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies, plans to invest up to $150 million in Indian startup companies across all stages. This is a part of its commitment to India during a meeting with Modi at the Digital Economy event in San Jose.

     

    Qualcomm Ventures will advise and direct Qualcomm’s activities with respect to these strategic investments.

     

    Qualcomm has been investing in promising Indian startups since 2007 and there are more than 20 Indian companies as part of its global portfolio. Sectors of investment vary across the mobile ecosystem and include hardware, software platforms, e-commerce, healthcare, location based services and retail technology. Initiatives such as the QPrize competition, a global seed investment competition, as well as an early stage fund, are part of the team’s efforts in encouraging early stage entrepreneurs.

     

    Qualcomm directly invests in Indian mobile and internet start-up companies to keenly foster the local ecosystem. Portfolio companies include Yourstory, a media tech platform for entrepreneurs; Portea Medical, an in-home healthcare provider; and MapMyIndia, a provider of digital map, navigation, and tracking products and services. Indian companies receiving funding can benefit from Qualcomm’s insights on mobile technologies and utilize Qualcomm’s relationships throughout the industry.

     

    Qualcomm Ventures’ India team also provides unique support through its comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the region.

     

    “We share Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. India is at the cusp of a technology revolution and mobile technologies will lay the foundation for Digital India. We are committed to providing local innovative start-ups with the support needed to help India’s IOE ecosystem grow, increasing consumer choice and availability,” said Qualcomm Incorporated executive chairman Dr. Paul E. Jacobs.

     

    “Since Qualcomm’s first India investment in 2007 and with full-fledged presence starting in early 2008, we continue to invest broadly to strengthen India’s overall economy. We are committed to providing these companies with the support needed to help propel them forward in the competitive Indian region. We’re excited about the new prospects in India and look forward to growing our portfolio,” said Qualcomm Incorporated senior vice president Nagraj Kashyap.

     

    Qualcomm also plays a key role driving India’s wireless revolution by making mobile communications increasingly accessible and affordable. For over two decades, Qualcomm has been helping the country’s mobile ecosystem achieve ongoing success and growth through its work with operators, OEM/ODMs, software developers, sales/distribution partners, governmental entities, academic institutions and standards organizations, among others. Qualcomm believes that its initiatives in India will help support the Indian government’s Digital India vision.

  • GroupM collaborates with China’s digital giants to build competitive edge

    GroupM collaborates with China’s digital giants to build competitive edge

    MUMBAI: GroupM’s programmatic media and technology platform Xaxis has inked a partnership with China’s digital and data giants like Youku Tudou, Tencent, iQiyi, Sina Weibo, UnionPay Smart and Xiaomi, at the 2015 GroupM Digital Momentum Forging Your Competitive Edge Conference.

     

    This partnership will enable access to a higher amount of premium inventory via programmatic buying and unlocks access to data across these platforms via Turbine, Xaxis’ evolutionary data management platform (DMP) managed by GroupM. Through this partnership, these parties endeavour to bring more accurate targeting and greater reach for advertisers, while building up industry standards in the market.

     

    The GroupM China conference attracted and inspired representatives from China’s top brands, media owners, and agencies with keynote speeches and panel discussions covering major digital marketing topics. Programmatic buying was the key focus of this event, providing actionable takeaways for attendees to plan smarter and more effective digital campaigns.

     

    Internet advertising runs on data, making the DMP a core component in the value chain. The more anonymous data one possesses about users, the more efficient one can be at buying advertising to reach them. In recent years, GroupM has been investing in its data, and data driven products and services, to remain at the forefront of digital marketing trends. Particularly, in the megatrend of data-driven programmatic buying – the market is forecasted to reach RMB 18.76 billion in 2016 (Eguan Analysis), and to provide advertisers with better products and technology. 

     

    GroupM China CEO Patrick Xu said, “The huge opportunities lie in predicting your target audiences’ next moves based on similar users’ past history, and which content consumption pattern will trigger action from your consumer. The partnership will help us better understand users and reach out to them better. More importantly, these parties will come together to develop an industry standard to ensure its rapid and healthy development. We are eager to further develop our partnerships with more media and data sources within China.”

     

    Xaxis is the world’s largest programmatic media and technology platform. Turbine, a milestone in the evolution of data management platforms, is designed to provide advanced real-time audience segmentation capabilities and look-alike modeling, to complement Xaxis’ product offerings. Turbine enables Xaxis to create more accurate and unique audience portraits to better connect advertisers with their target audiences across its roster of premium publishers. By creating better connections for advertisers with their audiences on these publishers, Xaxis creates and sustains demand for the inventory.

     

    Xaxis China managing director Mickey Zhang added, “Xaxis is proud to partner with these big digital companies in China. Programmatic buying provides sought-after premium inventory, especially premium online video inventory, in a more efficient way through greater audience intelligence. This partnership strengthens that intelligence, enabling us to provide enhanced campaign performance and efficiency. With that, we can empower our advertisers to make increasingly well-informed data-driven programmatic buying decisions in real time.”

     

    Xaxis is eager to further develop its partnerships with more media and data sources within China.

     

    GroupM Asia-Pacific CEO Mark Patterson said, “Our next phase is about partnerships, both outside and inside of WPP’s network. For example, GroupM is working increasingly closely with WPP’s research, data and insights companies in Kantar in a number of areas to amplify each other’s strengths and create new opportunities, products and services for our clients in China (and around the region and world) around our common DNA of data, insights and the consumer.”

  • Indian brands eye 25% increase in mobile marketing spends

    Indian brands eye 25% increase in mobile marketing spends

    MUMBAI: In this ever changing and developing world, which is led by technological advancements, brands need to constantly re-examine their strategies and explore the full extent of the tools at their disposal. In a scenario like this, the key to the mobile marketing industry’s success is for brands to take a focused and consumer-centric approach.

     

    What’s more, according to a research called “State of the industry – mobile marketing in India” conducted by WARC in conjunction with Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), around 75 per cent of Indian marketers are looking to raise their mobile marketing spends to 25 per cent from this year from 10 per cent or less from the previous years. What’s more, the number might even hit 50 per cent in the next five years.

     

    According to WARC Asia Pacific MD Edward Pank, the study indicated that Hindustan Unilever was the most innovative mobile brand in the country followed closely by Flipkart, Samsung, Amazon and Paytm while Telecom and Retail ead the way in terms of innovation and location based marketing.

     

    The annual MMA Forum India 2015, which was held in Gurgaon recently, was themed ‘Acquiring, Reaching and Engaging the Right Consumers through Mobile.’ The forum saw speakers from brands, agencies and technology companies, dissecting successful and innovative brand campaigns over the previous year to highlight the importance and effectiveness of mobile within the marketing mix.

     

    “Capability-building and innovation are key to the success of the mobile marketing industry. In light of the rapid evolution of technology, it’s important for brands to take a focused and consumer-centric approach to mobile,” said MMA Asia Pacific managing director Rohit Dadwal.

     

    The MMA Forum India 2015 kicked off with a keynote session by Unilever regional vice president – media Rahul Weld, who discussed Unilever’s innovative approach to marketing and its success in reaching out to the targeted customer through effective strategies.

     

    Talking about the importance of “seizing the moment” when reaching out to the consumer, Google India industry director – e-commerce, retail, online classifieds and technology Nitin Bawankule said, “The most effective way to reach out to the consumer is to target them in time of their need. Every consumer looks for solutions on their mobile devices and strategic advertising are key to catching the consumer at this moment.”

     

    Media specialist and writer Vanita Kohli-Khandekar and Vserv co-founder & CEO Dippak Khurana brought to light the various aspects of mobile commerce, advertising and data that can help shrink the intent-purchase gap. 

     

    Talking about the need to share data to leverage its power to reach, engage and acquire the consumer, Khurana said that publishers with significant “consumer attention” will try to move to commerce and that while consumers in India have regularly demonstrated their appetite to pay through mobile, marketers have been shy of sharing data that could help them buy through mobile platforms, significantly limiting their success.

     

    Madhouse Inc founder & CEO Joshua Maa discussed the similarities and the difference between different Asian markets with a focus on India and China during his session – “No two markets are the same yet they are not different.” He covered aspects and opportunities where India could learn from China and vice versa.

     

    Group M CEO CVL Srinivas moderated a panel discussion with Pepsico India vice president – beverages category Vipul Prakash, ZEEL chief business officer Sunil Buch and OLX India CEO Amarjit Singh Batra, where they shared insights on becoming “mobile capable” and how media owners, brands and agencies can come together to build mobile insight and capability to achieve the desired level of maturity.

     

    Yahoo Asia Pacific senior director marketing Nitin Mathur unveiled the various aspects of Flurry, the mobile-analytics company acquired by Yahoo, and discussed its potential to influence the consumer by tracking their behaviour on apps and building personalised and relevant communication thereby highlighting the need for more such tools in the space.

     

    Opera Mediaworks Asia managing director Vikas Gulati illustrated the effectiveness of mobile devices in connecting brands and consumers by discussing the success of AskMeBazaar.com’s campaign with Askme India group CMO Manav Sethi and Findit Malaysia that was executed by Opera MediaWorks. Gulati discussed at length, the power that mobile empowers brands with, to control consumer behaviour as they are most intimate and used media device.

     

    As part of the MMA forum 2015, Madhouse – South Asia COO Milind Pathak introduced the winners of Madlabs, a platform introduced by Madhouse to showcase the innovative mobile communications and solutions in the startup ecosystem and espoused the effective use of mobile to reach out the targeted consumer.

     

    The MMA Forum was followed by the MMA’s mobile excellence awards program – SMARTIES India 2015 where the winners from 15 categories and five Industry awards were announced.

     

    Over 330 delegates and 34 industry leaders representing the mobile marketing ecosystem in the country came together for the day-long event to discuss and deliberate over the future of the industry.

  • iProspect India takes 200 member team to Goa for half yearly off-site conference

    iProspect India takes 200 member team to Goa for half yearly off-site conference

    MUMBAI: iProspect, the global digital performance agency of the Dentsu Aegis Network recently held their half yearly conference at GOA bringing together a team of over 200 members from its three branches in India, namely Mumbai, Gurgaon and Bangalore. The three day offsite planned towards the end of August was a complete treat to the proud team of iProspect. Employees from the three cities flew on Friday early morning to Goa with their bags packed for 3 days of fun filled activities and to indulge in a platform designed to bring the team shared among three cities under one common roof.

     

    The offsite visit was titled as “Kal Aaj Aur Kal” meaning Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” Day one started with the conference premeditated to be the meeting place for employees to interact among the others who they meet in VC’s and talk over phones and e-mails. The conference also covered the half yearly analysis of the company’s growth and the next quarter plans for the team.

     

    “It is an overwhelming moment for me to announce that we have achieved the total profit we shared each year from 2008 to 2013 in the last month of July 2015. I believe its 1% strategy and 99% execution which would have been impossible without my team. I have always tried to strategize the agency on one of my father’s advises. He used to say that I am the rope that joints the clients and my team. If I want to taste success let my clients and my team taste it first. You will be fulfilled only then. I am truly honoured at this situation that I could live up to that expectation.” said Vivek Bhargava, Managing Director of iProspect India while addressing the team at the conference.

     

    The conference followed a Rewards and recognitions event and also a recreational award ceremony for the employees. The best performers were awarded and recognized at the ceremony. The recreational awards and fun activities that followed added to the team spirit that every member of iProspect family possess.

     

    iProspect has numerous employee welfare programs that also include International conferences which involves a 100 plus employees from the company. They also have International Training Programs like Route 500 and NEXTGEN designed for individuals to identify their calibre and accelerate their career to a higher level. Being self-nominated, the program offers unbiased opportunity to every working professional.

  • Mobile Marketing Association reveals speaker list for 4th MMA Forum India

    Mobile Marketing Association reveals speaker list for 4th MMA Forum India

    MUMBAI: The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has revealed the full speaker line-up and agenda for the upcoming MMA Forum India to be held on 16 September, 2015. Themed: Acquiring, Reaching and Engaging the Right Consumers with Mobile, this one-day conference will see prominent experts and thought leaders from across the mobile marketing ecosystem dissect the different components of mobile marketing from programmatic, mobile video, and location, to creativity and innovation. In-depth discussions will reveal new ways in which marketers can harness the power of mobile to keep up with the ever changing needs of today’s discerning consumer.

     

    Rahul Welde, Regional Vice President – Media of Unilever, will kick-start this year’s Forum, providing insight into Unilever’s innovative approach to marketing, discussing the opportunities presented by the consumer in his session ‘Leveraging Mobile To Drive Innovation and Enhance Brand Experiences.’

     

    CVL Srinivas, CEO GroupM will moderate a key panel discussion on key principles to becoming mobile capable with Vipul Prakash, Vice President – Beverages Category, Pepsico India, Ajit Mohan, Executive Vice President & Head, Digital for Star India and Novi Digital Entertainment Limited, Amrit Thomas, CMO, United Spirits Limited and Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX India. They will share examples from their client’s perspective and will give insight into how media owners can best work with agencies to build mobile insight and capability so companies can reach a level of maturity quickly and more effectively.

     

    The Forum will also see Fergus O’Hare, Head of APAC at Facebook Creative Shop, talk about the creative renaissance in mobile marketing. His session will explore creativity in today’s connected world, the explosion of mobile video and the implication and opportunities for marketers.

     

    In addition, Dippak Kurrana, Co-Founder & CEO Vserv will host a Fireside chat with Media Specialist and writer Vanita Kohli-Khandekar on the discovery to transaction in the mobile internet world. The smartphone explosion and ever-evolving technology has brought us closer than ever in achieving the marketer’s ultimate goal of shrinking the intent-purchase gap. This session will see the industry leaders discuss how marketers can get ahead of the curve, to maximize their opportunities and future-proof their strategy.

     

    Other key speakers include

     

    ·         Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific Limited

    ·         Nitin Bawankule, Industry Director, Ecommerce, Local Classifieds & Technology, Google India

    ·         Shireesh Joshi, Head Strategic Marketing, Godrej Group

    ·         Joshua Maa, Founder & CEO MADhouse Inc

    ·         Scott Zalaznik, Head of Global, Strategy, Xad

    ·         Joe Nguyen, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific comScore, Inc

    ·         Nitin Mathur , Senior Director Marketing, Yahoo Asia Pacific

    ·         Vikas Gulati, Managing Director, Asia Opera Mediaworks

    ·         Avinash Jhangiani, Managing Director –Digital & Mobility OmnicomMediaGroup

    ·         Chris Steedman, Managing Director APAC, M&C Saatchi Mobile

    ·         Anita Nayyar, CEO India & South Asia, Havas Media Group

    ·         Milind Pathak, COO Madhouse – South Asia

    ·         Manav Sethi, Group CMO, ASKME India & Findit Malaysia

    ·         Jayesh Easwaramony, VP & GM, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, InMobi

    ·         Rohit Sharma, CEO & Founder Pokkt

    ·         Joby Babu, COO, Nimbuzz Internet Media Pvt Limited

     

    “I am extremely excited about the diverse mix of speakers at this year’s Forum, who will be sharing their insights into how marketers can adapt and reinvent their approaches to mobile marketing to acquire, reach and engage the consumer in line with continuously changing technologies and consumer behaviours,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, MMA APAC.

     

    The MMA Forum India 2015 will conclude with the awards ceremony of the SMARTIES™ INDIA 2015, recognizing the best mobile marketing works in the region.

     

    The MMA Forum India 2015 is partnered by Vserv.com, MADhouse, InMobi, Nimbuzz, Opera Mediaworks, Pokkt, Hotstar, Yahoo!, Unites Spirits Limited and Pocket Math. 

  • SVG & Komli merge biz to form indie mobile marketing platform

    SVG & Komli merge biz to form indie mobile marketing platform

    MUMBAI: Digital media platform SVG Media has merged its operations with Komli Media’s India business and global brand rights to create one of the largest mobile marketing company, with a combined share of 60 per cent of digital ad-tech spends in India, and a reach of over 150 million Indian Internet users across all screens.

     

    Under the terms of the deal, Komli India will function independently alongside the existing SVG Media group businesses: Tyroo Technologies, DGM, and SeventyNine; while SVG Media will serve as an umbrella company.

    SVG Media through its operating brands will now have operations in India, Indonesia, Middle East, Singapore, Japan, Beijing and Australia.

     

    As a combined entity, the new SVG Media group’s consolidated India revenues stand at over $50 million. Only Google and Facebook have more India revenues and reach than SVG Media after today’s announcement.

     

    RevX, the mobile re-marketing unit recently spun out of Komli Media expanding from India to global markets, will continue to operate as a standalone company that is unrelated to this merger.  

     

    SVG Media founder and CEO Manish Vij said, “At SVG Media, we are determined to deliver to our advertisers a comprehensive suite of digital marketing products. Our vision is to be the most valued digital marketing platform for the high growth Asian mobile commerce industry. With Komli’s addition, our advertisers will also get highest reach in social media. We are working hard to be the first billion dollar digital marketing platform from India.”

     

    Smile Group founder Harish Bahl added, “The Indian mobile advertising industry is expected to be valued at $3 billion by 2020. As per our estimate, SVG is now three times larger than its nearest competing mobile marketing platform in India. We are confident that the merger with Komli India will bolster the SVG platform to continue building and offering the best-in-the-industry media and technology infrastructure for its advertisers – owning the ability to deliver 100 million mobile-commerce transactions every year.”

     

    Komli Media founder and CEO Amar Goel said, “Joining hands with India’s largest digital marketing platform allows both of us to combine our best strengths to create unprecedented value for our customers. All of us at Komli India are excited to be a part of the SVG Media group and look forward to further consolidating our leadership in India.”

  • ColourCraft Studio retains digital duties of Bodycraft Spa & Salon

    ColourCraft Studio retains digital duties of Bodycraft Spa & Salon

    MUMBAI: ColourCraft Studio (CCS), which was handling the creative and advertising mandate for Bodycraft Spa & Salon for the past six years, has now been given the digital marketing duties as well.

     

    A new web identity, mobile application and online advertising is part of the brief given to the agency.

     

    CCS co-founder and business director Aditi Gandhi said, “The relationship with Bodycraft has been extremely rewarding as the company has allowed us a great deal of freedom on creative campaigns. We are now excited to extend our six years of expertise and experience in the spa and salon segment into the digital sphere.”

     

    Bodycraft Spa & Salon CEO Sahil Gupta added, “We are glad to take our association with ColourCraft Studio into its seventh year. It is nice to have an agency that has spent so much time at the grassroots of your business and who has worked with you closely for such a long time. We are confident in handing over digital and social media duties to them because they understand our business.”

  • EveryMedia named digital marketing company of the year

    EveryMedia named digital marketing company of the year

    MUMBAI: EveryMedia Technologies has bagged the ‘Leading Digital Marketing Company of the Year’ at Brand Achievers Awards 2015.

     

    The award was given for the company’s performance in the field of digital marketing.

     

    EveryMedia Technologies CEO Gautam B. Thakker said, “This is a very joyous moment for EveryMedia and we thank Brand Achievers for acknowledging our work. We are grateful to our clients; not only for the trust but also for the tremendous support and creative freedom they give us. This honour encourages us to do even better.”