ITV

Category: Digital Agencies

  • Eggfirst bags creative duties of Volkswagen Finance

    Eggfirst bags creative duties of Volkswagen Finance

    MUMBAI: Eggfirst India has bagged the creative duties for Volkswagen Finance, following a multi-agency pitch. 

     

    Volkswagen Finance currently supports customers of the Volkswagen Group in India by facilitating delivery of innovative financing and insurance solutions.

     

    It was the focused strategic approach towards the brand’s online and offline presence that helped Eggfirst win the account.

     

    Volkswagen Finance senior marketing manager Dennis Ching said, “We were impressed with Eggfirst’s strategies as well as its deep-rooted understanding of the brand and the creative it resulted in. This put the agency a notch above the others involved in the pitch.”

     

    Eggfirst senior VP Ashish Banka added, “We are extremely proud to partner a brand with a history as immaculate as Volkswagen Finance. We look forward to doing brilliant work for them and making the brand journey a memorable one.”

     

    The agency is currently involved in re-crafting the brand’s entire online and social media presence.

  • Publicis Groupe acquires French digital marketing agency Monkees

    Publicis Groupe acquires French digital marketing agency Monkees

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe has acquired the France-based digital marketing and social networks pure player, Monkees.

     

    With close to 15 years of experience and an impressive client roster, Monkees has made a name for itself in France with a body of unique expertise, focusing particularly on retail and e-publishing.

     

    The agency will be integrated into the Publicis Activ to accelerate the digital growth of its East- West France regional agencies. This acquisition will allow the agency to continue to provide full support to its clients throughout their own digital transformations. Monkees currently employs 25 people and works with clients in mass retailing and specialized distribution, auto manufacturing, health and sport.

     

    The digital teams from Publicis Activ and Monkees will be combined to form a unit representing over 30 per cent of the agency’s global revenue. They will operate under the Monkees brand, headed by Frédéric Caussin and Manuel Godeux, the two founding managers of Monkees.

     

    Publicis France VO Nicolas Zunz said, “Monkees is an agency we have had our eye on for some time, and for which we have great respect. They have developed some innovative and cutting-edge skills, which will obviously be helpful in the development of our agencies in the west and east of France. It will also add to our national arsenal of digital expertise. We are very happy to welcome them on board.”

     

    Publicis Activ executive president Franck Barennes added, “This digital deployment is proof of the agency’s clear and resolute aim: to work alongside our clients, performing our role of consultant to the fullest by delivering the answers and the innovative services they need.”

  • Foreseegame targets 500 brand tie-ups by FY16 end

    Foreseegame targets 500 brand tie-ups by FY16 end

    KOLKATA:Kolkata-headquartered Foreseegame.com, a digital media company for consumer engagement, which has tie ups with more than 70 brands like Emami, Rupa, Spencer’s, Airtel, and Citibank among others, is aiming to partner approximately with 500 brands by the end of next fiscal (2015-16).

     

    The engagement media company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsec Enterprises, allows brands to integrate with advertisements on TV, radio, newspapers, on-ground promotional activities, direct communication and most importantly, social media and mobile platforms.

     

    Foreseegame.com chairman BL Mittal said, “Through our platform and engagement games like opinions and surveys question and answer sessions, the brand can engage with people in the age group of 18 – 45 years. By registering the brands in the minds of people, companies can see tremendous growth in online sales. Some of the major brands have already partnered with us and we are eyeing 500 brands by the end of next fiscal.”

     

    “It is the media, which covers the full cycle of engagement by providing solution of rich engagement, testing the product and ultimately making the consumers emotionally connected persons with the brand. Our platform provides a focused consumer engagement. Brands stand to gain undiluted consumer attention towards its products and offerings by the way of fun-filled interaction,” Mittal added.

     

    At Foreseegame.com people can play games of prediction and get rewarded. Through such engagement programmes, the brands can see these people converting into customers sooner. “The constant engagement with brands excites consumers to test the product and ultimately become the customer of the brand,” Mittal said.
     
    “Brand engagement is required, but that shouldn’t just be interacting with the customers. It should be more like a long-term affair with the consumers, wherein key consumer insights should also be taken into account,” opines Abhishek Sengupta, a city-based advertising expert.
     
    When asked if the company takes consumer insights into account, Mittal said, “Brand ideas are often the culmination of consumer insight and the brand offer.”

  • Predictions: 2015 will see a spurt in the usage of digital media solutions

    Predictions: 2015 will see a spurt in the usage of digital media solutions

    Digital media has metamorphosed the whole advertisement industry, creating constant ripples in the market. Advertisers have started employing digital media to fulfill all their advertising needs as this has emerged as the best way to reach their target audience. Smart phone usage has increased manifold and hence, it has become the ideal option for advertisers to use them as a source to promote the products and services of companies.   With consumers becoming more app-driven and gadget-savvy, brands have begun to advertise themselves on the mobile platform for the ease and convenience of their patrons. The year 2014 witnessed phenomenal growth in the digital media segment and 2015 will also observe the same trend owing to the escalating use of digital media platforms like smartphones and related applications by consumers.

     

    As far as 2014 goes, the usage of mobile applications has increased tremendously hence companies invested hugely in developing innovative and user-friendly apps. Usage and sharing of digital content inflated substantially, leading to the development of an industry that specifically focuses on production and distribution of such content.   With digital advertising videos gaining popularity, companies started allocating a considerable budget for the same but limited it to a single player.  On the other hand, the conventional digital display media like banners saw a decline in interest and video, native (performance) and content platforms witnessed considerable growth, influencing a major chunk of the market.

     

    The year 2015 is sure to observe programmatic buying that people have been talking about. This will take over most of the display spends. Therefore, technology driven agency trading desks and consolidated programmatic buying by clients will experience an upsurge. In the digital ecosystem, programmatic buying simply refers to a broad spectrum of technologies that assist the buying, placement and optimisation of advertising. People usually get confused with this technical jargon. In layman’s terms, it means buying of any advertisement that gets processed through machines.

     

    Besides programmatic buying, 2015 will see a spurt in the usage of digital media solutions by companies. Mobile advertising will achieve a significant breakthrough, influencing and transforming the sphere of advertising to an extent where advertisements on smart phones will surpass any other kind of promotion on digital media. The umpteen advantages offered by mobile advertising like increased consumer engagement with the company, increasing traffic to web pages and reaching customers on the go make it a lucrative mode of advertising for marketers.

     

    Digital media advertising is here to stay as it helps advertisers attract the right audience. From elevating brand visibility to delivering the digital ads to the target audience, digital media embodies various online advertisements that are devised in conjunction with the needs and demands of the market. 

     

    The emergence of digital media has brought waves in the advertising sphere, resulting in companies embracing online and digital media solutions for all their marketing needs. In accordance with an observation made recently, the Indian telecom network is growing marvelously due to its high population and development potential. This proves that mobile advertising which is a form of digital advertising has a bright future in the country. 

     

    (These are purely personal views of SVG Media co-founder and CEO Manish Vij and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • #fame raises $10 million in follow-on financing from TTN Ventures

    #fame raises $10 million in follow-on financing from TTN Ventures

    MUMBAI: It was in September 2014 when To The New Ventures (TTN Ventures) had announced its plans to invest $10 million in the next couple of years in #fame, as it set a target to reach out to 5,000 channels and 50,000 content creators across six countries in south east Asia. And keeping up to that announcement the talent-led digital entertainment network, #fame has now raised $10 million, in second round of financing from TTN Ventures.

    This round follows the $3 million investment TTN Ventures had made when the business began in early 2014. The network will use the funds to scale-up its original digital video business, grow its emerging talent network, invest in technology and expand regionally in Asia.

    Speaking on this development, TTN Ventures CEO Puneet Johar said, “We are extremely bullish about video on mobile disrupting and re-defining entertainment and the opportunity is ripe to build an impactful consumer internet business.  #fame  is  showing  the  trajectory  of  a  market  leader  and  we  would  like  to  back  it  to  market leadership across India and south east Asia.”

    Catering to mobile millenials through an integrated ‘talent-first’ strategy, it is building a pan-Asian digital video network that will straddle over 5,000 channels and 50,000 content creators over the next three years. With monthly produced content volumes exceeding over 150 videos, the network claims to be India’s largest original content creator for web and mobile platforms. Over the next few months, it will ramp up its monthly content output to over 1,000 original videos and expand its emerging talent network to over 500 emerging content creators.

    #fame has identified six key markets in south east Asia to build local digital video businesses. These include Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines apart from India. TTN Ventures also has a strong strategic presence in these markets where it has built businesses in the SMACK space (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Content and Knowledge).

    #fame CEO Saket Saurabh commented, “We are well-poised for the next exciting leap in our growth story as we scale-up our capabilities in original digital content, grow our talent network further and expand across markets.”

    With over 300 million internet users, including 185 million users who access it on the mobile, India is delivering nearly four billion video views a month and is one of the largest and fastest growing digital video markets in the world, claims the network.

     

  • ‘Digital India Conclave 2014’ to intensify the ‘Digital India’ initiative

    ‘Digital India Conclave 2014’ to intensify the ‘Digital India’ initiative

    MUMBAI: The Narendra Modi led Indian government officially clicked through the ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme a few months ago. The vision is simple: to usher India into the digital age where each and every citizen can experience the impact. But this simple vision will require a lot of hard graft and investment towards the right kind of infrastructure.

    As a bridge between this vision and reality, India Inc. along with FICCI, Invest India and Chase India is organising a ‘Digital India programme’, a series of online and offline activities pivoting around two roundtables in New Delhi and Washington DC.

    India Inc. has created its own ‘Digital India’ initiative which ties in with the India-US Partnership Hub to bring in a series of online and offline programmes. It will explore the ‘Digital India’ vision and trigger dialogue to plug into this bold new programme.

    This online-offline integrated programme brings in perspectives and participation from senior policy decision makers within government and industry around a discourse to achieve the following objectives:

     • Identify the challenges and opportunities in the ‘Digital India’ initiative
    • Identify synergies that can be created between industries and the government to successfully implement the initiative
    • Explore how the India US collaboration could help achieve the ‘Digital India’ vision
    • Involve key stakeholders in defining a roadmap that will lead to a truly ‘Digital India’
    • Produce a series of online and offline activities to facilitate discourse culminating in a bespoke online publication
    • India is finally coming of digital age and we aim to provide an incisive new digital hub for this new age.

     Commenting on the initiative, Avian Media CEO and Chase India director Nitin Mantri said, “We are proud of this association with India Inc and a key aspect of this initiative is our first Digital India Conclave to be held in New Delhi on 5 December 2014. The sessions will focus on the prominence of the digital advancement across sectors and the requirement to streamline digital with the core business in order to initiate the Digital India initiative.”

    The conclave is in association with Amazon.in, Google and Qualcomm is supported by TCIL and NIXI and is the first phase of the programme which will bring together around 100 -150 key stakeholders across government/public sector, the private sector as well as other influencers such as think tanks, media and specialist experts.

    The first conclave of the ‘Digital India’ Programme is on 5 December 2014 in Delhi while the second conclave will be held in Washington in January 2015.

     

  • #fame & CAA Kwan partner to build digital video communities for celebs

    #fame & CAA Kwan partner to build digital video communities for celebs

    MUMBAI: #fame, India’s premier talent led digital entertainment network and CAA Kwan, the country’s leading celebrity management firm have announced a pioneering strategic partnership in the digital entertainment space.

    Through this alliance, #fame and CAA Kwan will help some of India’s top celebrity talent to engage strongly with their fan base by co-creating and promoting digital video content and communities around them. This will take the form of exclusive digital video channels and shows on the #fame network, which will give fans and audiences unique access and insight into the persona of some of the nation’s most loved celebrities including award-winning actors, music maestros, top models and sport stars.

    Speaking on this partnership, Vijay Subramaniam, PARTNER, CAA Kwan said, “Iconic entertainers and celebrities share a common trait, that of having an engaged and active fan community around their brand. In this social age, where digital is revolutionalising everything about entertainment, building a video community is key for our celebrity talent to connect deeply with fans. We’re very excited to partner with #fame and look forward to building a great offering together using our respective strengths.”

    Adding further, Puneet Johar, MD, TO THE NEW Ventures, commented, “As smartphones and web access becomes more mainstream, mobile video will increasingly be the currency of consumer Internet. CAA Kwan shares our vision on digital and complements our talent focus and this partnership will help celebrities benefit in such a fast evolving landscape.” TO THE NEW Ventures is the parent company of #fame.

    Commenting on this, Saket Saurabh, CEO, #fame said, “Entertainment is getting re-defined and disrupted by digital video. The kind of content and engagement that can be served to audiences on it is greatly unaddressed by other media. And this is where India’s top celebrities can create meaningful content and communities, which genuinely reflect their passion and personality as entertainers and icons. We are very excited to lead this shift.”

    #fame has emerged as one of the fastest growing digital entertainment networks in the country within a few months of launch. Catering to mobile millenials through an integrated ‘talent-first’ strategy, #fame is building a pan-Asian digital video network that will straddle over 5,000 channels and 50,000 content creators over the next 3 years. #fame strategically focuses on emerging and established talent to build digital properties, channels and communities around them. #fame recently announced its premium fashion property ‘School of Style’ – a showcase of top fashionistas with Karan Johar as judge. #fame has also brought on board renowned music composer Pritam to spearhead ‘Websinger’, its music initiative which will seek out promising young singing talent. Apart from several emerging talent, other celebrities that have signed up with #fame include TV star Maria Goretti, child comic star Saloni, top model, actress and fashion icon Anusha Dandekar, celebrity chef Ajay Chopra, singing sensation Shibani Kashyap. #fame also has channels with fitness icon and model Milind Soman and renowned sports commentator Harsha Bhogle.  #fame is available across several digital and social platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, WeChat, DailyMotion and others.

    CAA KWAN is India’s leading entertainment entity creating unique opportunities for clients in the areas of commercial endorsements, live appearances and performances, motion pictures and television (including packaging and sales), music, sports consulting, licensing and merchandising and business development, among others. Some of the key clients CAA KWAN represents include Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Farhan Akhtar, Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Shraddha Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Pritam, Terence Lewis, Boman Irani, Zoya Akhtar, Kabir Khan among others.

  • Is the current generation evolved? #fames find out

    Is the current generation evolved? #fames find out

    MUMBAI: Has the new Indian youth truly come of age? Are they braver and open to accepting the realities of life and speaking the truth? The youth in India has some answers for such questions that have been compiled through a series of vox pop videos by one of India’s talent led digital entertainment network, #fame. These videos are trying to throw light on how a typical Indian youth reacts when they face unconventional questions centered on women.

     

    The channel went to the streets of Mumbai and other cities to ask the young generation about topics like the following:

    Makeup versus no makeup
    Who do women dress for?
    How do they want their ideal man/ woman to dress?
    Cleavage: to show or not to show?
    Hair or no hair? Nation wants to know.

     

    Viewers can watch these videos through the channels network on social and digital platforms such as YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/LivYourFame), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/livyourfame), WeChat, DailyMotion. This extends the network’s focus on key strategic genres, which include fashion, food, music and comedy. Catering to mobile millenials through an integrated ‘talent-first’ strategy, #fame strategically focuses on emerging and established talent to build engaged digital content and communities with them. #fame is building a network spanning 5,000 channels and 50,000 content creators across six countries over the next three years.

     

  • Equifax India acquires NettPositive

    Equifax India acquires NettPositive

    MUMBAI: Equifax Inc., a global information solutions provider, has completed its acquisition of the remaining interest in analytics and business intelligence solutions leader, NettPositive.

     

    Through this acquisition, customers benefit from a combination of data and analytics that provides a more comprehensive view of today’s consumers – a differentiator for businesses addressing complex business issues that call for innovation and game-changing insight.

     

    Having held a majority interest in NettPositive since 2012, Equifax recently announced its intent to purchase the remaining interests in the Bangalore-based company, which serves the financial services, insurance and retail industries in India, the Middle East and Africa. With this completed transaction, NettPositive is now an operating entity of Equifax’s expanding India business. Leveraging the full suite of NettPositive’s superior analytics will enable Equifax India to address changing market needs and expand its market footprint.

     

    Equifax emerging markets MD Shahid Charania said, “We are pleased to fold NettPositive – along with all of its capabilities and employees – into our Equifax India brand, as it has proven to be a tremendous asset thus far.  The combination of robust data and cutting-edge analytics has led to a successful business model as well as leading solutions for our customers.  We look forward to continuing to build on the momentum we’ve already seen, and strengthening our foothold in the India marketplace.”

  • Rightster partners with Lehren Networks

    Rightster partners with Lehren Networks

    MUMBAI: Rightster announced its new partnership with Lehren Networks today, an addition to its earlier agreement under which it helps Lehren Networks syndicate video content across Rightster’s global publisher network.  

    A cloud-based global video distribution and monetisation network, Rightster simplifies delivery to TV scale audiences in the complex online video market.  As part of the new alliance, Rightster will now provide complete audience development and monetisation support to the Lehren Networks’ entire set of entertainment Youtube channels. It will manage over 77 YouTube channels under Lehren Network that include celebrity, movie, kids and music verticals.

    Lehren Networks, one of the most popular media and entertainment networks devoted to India’s film industry, boasts of 1 billion views on Youtube till date and adds approximately 3 million video views per day on the platform.

    Commenting on the association, Rightster GM Richard North commented, “YouTube in India is a phenomenal success story, with over 60 million unique users per month and millions of views for Indian content in other countries.  This alliance is a real statement of intent for Rightster as we continue to expand in the APAC region through our offices in Sydney, Singapore, New Delhi and Bangalore. We are delighted to extend our partnership with one of the most popular entertainment networks in India and we are looking forward to working with Lehren to build even deeper engagement with their audiences and to drive increased revenue from their YouTube content.”

     Lehren Networks founder Mritunjay Pandey  commented, “This partnership underlines our ongoing commitment to further grow our already strong Youtube presence. Rightster has deservedly become one of the largest Youtube multi-channel networks (MCN) in the world so we are delighted to be partnering with them to manage our entire network of Youtube channels.”