ITV

Category: Media Agencies

  • Adobe and Publicis Groupe team up to deliver a global marketing platform

    Adobe and Publicis Groupe team up to deliver a global marketing platform

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe and Adobe have announced a strategic partnership to deliver the Publicis Groupe Always-On Platform, the first end-to-end marketing management platform from Publicis Groupe that automates and connects all components of a client’s marketing efforts.

     

    The platform will standardise on Adobe Marketing Cloud, and all agencies across Publicis Groupe will be able to create engaging content, access marketing intelligence, identify and build audience segments, deliver campaigns, and track and measure marketing performance through a unified technology and data structure.

     

    It will be anchored in VivaKi as an open framework so that every agency can deploy and brand it uniquely for use.  Agencies currently slated to access the system include BBH, DigitasLBi, Leo Burnett, MSLGROUP, Publicis Worldwide, Razorfish, Rosetta, Saatchi & Saatchi, Starcom MediaVest Group, VivaKi and ZenithOptimedia.

     

    The collaboration is expected to drive growth across the two companies, and accelerate Publicis Groupe’s goal to make combined digital and emerging market revenue 75 per cent of its multi-billion dollar business by 2018.

     

    “Adobe and Publicis Groupe are a powerful combination and we have been delivering marketing innovation together for more than two decades,” said Adobe president and CEO Shantanu Narayen. “The massive scale of agency services across the Publicis networks, coupled with Adobe’s unique leadership in digital marketing solutions, will enable Publicis clients to develop best-in-class digital marketing capabilities that drive growth.”

     

    “By embarking on this journey with Adobe, a powerhouse in creative and marketing solutions, Publicis Groupe will be the first agency holding company to offer clients an integrated set of digital marketing solutions across all key marketing and creative agencies” said Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Maurice Levy. “We are solving a core marketing dilemma for our Clients by enabling them to more personally interact with their customers and tell relevant, powerful stories at scale, while successfully navigating the complex digital landscape.”

     

    “We are essentially creating a new operating model stitching together multi-agency services, technologies and workflows to the benefit of our clients,” said VivaKi’s chief growth officer Stephan Beringer.  “By converging the forces of marketing technology, data, creativity and strategy, we eliminate silos, optimize delivery and maximize the investments made in ad budgets, talent and consumer engagement.”

     

     The platform is scheduled to provide Publicis Groupe agencies and their clients with four solutions to solve current marketing challenges:

     

    1.      Multi-touch Attribution. The Always-On platform will move the market beyond “last click” attribution by providing options for a multi-touch model that identifies and assigns true value to specific marketing components – online and off line – that help spur customer action. Publicis Groupe agencies will be able to enhance their attribution and planning solutions with Adobe’s Master Marketing Profile and Media Mix Modeling, as well as Adobe Analytics, to measure the most effective touch-points across channels and model investments.

     

    2.      Unparalleled Audience Understanding. Always-On encompasses a data management platform (DMP) which will produce a robust set of customer profiles, segmentations and vertical insights.  VivaKi will also develop a data co-op where clients, and ultimately publishers, can opt in and contribute data in exchange for even richer customer profiles, vertical insights and customer intelligence.  Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Media Optimizer will drive optimal targeting and cross-channel campaign performance.

     

    3.      Campaign/Marketing Automation.  As screens and devices proliferate, Always-On is expected to automate marketing effort across multiple channels. With the goal of integrating Adobe Campaign with analytics and segmentation tools, the platform will empower Publicis Groupe agencies to drive campaign efficiency and engagement across the full customer journey to reach audiences that matter at the highest moments of receptivity. The automated integration will allow all marketing functions to coordinate efforts by acting on the same data. This includes an agreement across the agencies for cross channel campaign management for search and social buy side optimization through Adobe Media Optimizer.

     

    4.      Content and Experience Management. The digital asset management capability within Adobe Experience Manager is expected to enable teams, wherever they sit inside the network, to easily and effectively create, manage, and control valuable digital assets. From the moment an asset is created to the point of delivery, the platform will enable workgroups to create and manage assets through the entire lifecycle of global branding and multichannel distribution with a single, easily accessible digital repository.

     

     Both Adobe and Publicis Groupe will invest in joint sales and marketing, including retaining a dedicated team of strategists and business development specialists to innovate and bring the platform to market.

  • Havas Media India wins integrated media business of World Kabaddi League

    Havas Media India wins integrated media business of World Kabaddi League

    MUMBAI: Havas Media India has been awarded the integrated media mandate for World Kabaddi League (WKL), the first professional Kabaddi League of the world, in a multi-agency pitch. The account is estimated to be upwards of Rs 30 crore.

     

    WKL is an initiative to uplift the level of Kabaddi by professionalising the sport. It aims to give a chance to experienced players as well as upcoming talent from various countries to come on one platform and play to win.

     

    World Kabaddi League CEO Raman Raheja said, “We are a young and dynamic organisation looking to scale Kabaddi to new heights on a global platform. Havas Media understood this. They have scale, the thought leadership, experience, were transparent and displayed tremendous passion. We know they are the people to partner with to achieve our goals.”

     

    Havas Media Group India and south Asia CEO Anita Nayyar said, “We are honoured that WKL has chosen us as their partners to further their business objectives. It has been a good year at Havas Media with strong integrated media new business wins. Our digital at core approach has paid off big dividends and impressed clients.”

     

    “WKL is a great brand with a huge potential. This win is another feather in our cap proving that Havas Media is the ‘go to’ agency for integrated media. We will provide meaningful solutions to achieve WKL’s goals and look forward to a long business relationship,” added Havas Media India MD Mohit Joshi.

    Havas Media recently won the integrated media mandate of MTS India, Yepme.com and the digital mandate of XOLO mobile.

  • Business India appoints Fourth Dimension Media

    Business India appoints Fourth Dimension Media

    MUMBAI: Business India Publications has appointed Fourth Dimension Media Solutions as its Sales Concessionaire to Strengthen its existing  Sales Team and increase its Strategic Reach with Clients & Media Houses .

     

    4th Dimension -The media outsourcing specialists will be a Force Multiplier to the existing Business India  ad sales team and will represent  Business India  for all products of the publication and aso the newly Launched Business India Brand Solutions Business which will provide Clients unique BTL solutions by way of Business & Entertainment Events.

     

    With an extremely young and dynamic professional unit, Fourth Dimension offers its clients a variety of services for media sales, activations and solutions, while reflecting the highest standards of performance and client service. The primary goal for this partnership is focused on creating and developing compelling integrated advertising and marketing solutions for brands that partner with Business India keeping in mind the philosophy and ethos of the Client.

     

    The collaboration with Fourth Dimension will enable Business India to effectively engage with advertisers in India and amplify their presence across the country along with developing widespread and integrated relationships with leading national advertisers..

     
    Fourth Dimension Media Solutions CEO Shankar B added, “ We are extremely honoured and privileged to represent an iconic brand like Business India and it will be our commitment to fulfil the expectations” 

  • GroupM forecasts ad spends to reach $560 billion by 2015

    GroupM forecasts ad spends to reach $560 billion by 2015

    MUMBAI: WPP’s GrpupM is out with its biannual ‘This Year, Next Year’ report forecasting the global advertising investments.

    As per the report the ad spends will reach $534 billion in 2014, a 4.5 per cent increase over 2013. The company predicts investments in 2015 rising an additional 5 per cent to $560 billion.

    In further says that globally, ad recovery is localised, with 17 markets accounting for 93 per cent of expected ad growth in 2014. Even at its moderate 3.4 per cent rate of ad investment growth this year to $162 billion, the US contributes fully one-quarter of incremental ad dollars. China ranks second as it climbs a predicted 9.8 per cent to $76 billion. Other countries making the cut include Nigeria, Kenya and Vietnam.

    “Many companies are still operating with very strong balance sheets,” said GroupM Global president Dominic Proctor. “Coupled with a rising general confidence and a specific comfort around digital marketing, though notwithstanding some geo-political uncertainty, we are seeing an uplift in some of the ‘older economies’ as well as the new.”

    Of marketplace performance, ‘This Year, Next Year’ report editor Adam Smith stated, “Despite the slowdown in China’s general economy from 2012, its consumer economy continues to expand. This, plus intensive digitisation of advertising, keeps China ad investment rising at or near double-digits, with no large print legacy to correct.”

    It is a different story in Western Europe, where 73 per cent of the regional economy is in the Eurozone, where demand remains suppressed by debt, internal imbalances and deflationary politics. In real terms, the Eurozone remains 20 per cent below its 2007 advertising peak, and the hardest-hit ‘periphery’ of Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal, 47 per cent below the peak.1

    Smith added, “Western Europe, however, is the most-digitised ad region in the world; though this may finally be maturing to judge by digital ad investment growth slowing from double- to high-single digits in 2014 and 2015.”

    Western Europe also has the world’s most print-heavy advertising, though here too, the downward adjustments to annual advertising investment are moderating from double- to mid-single-digits in 2014 and 2015.    

    Elsewhere, GroupM notes that some members of its south-east Asia group (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam) face political and economic challenges, and this year will collectively slip from double- to mid-single digit ad growth.

    “This group will still contribute to the global ad recovery, but we are on alert for central banks ‘tightening into the downturn’ if inflation becomes a problem,” said Smith.

    India, Brazil and Russia remain among the faster-growing ad markets, though GroupM warns that its reduced Russia forecast – from an annual run-rate of 10 per cent to 6 per cent — depends on no worsening in domestic affairs. 

  • Maxus launches proprietary planning tool ‘Resolve’

    Maxus launches proprietary planning tool ‘Resolve’

    MUMBAI: Maxus has launched a bespoke tool, Resolve, based on a proprietary survey of consumer insights in India. The findings of the survey are the most in-depth ever to be carried out in the country, claims the agency.

     

    The tool is Maxus’ comprehensive proprietary communications planning tool built using the knowledge and expertise of the agency’s planning leaders. The tool is supported by bespoke consumer-based surveys called Compose, which go beyond simple media usage to explore consumer sentiment towards media channels and the messaging those channels employ. The tool is used by global and local clients worldwide to gain insights on particular markets.

     

    Some of the features and benefits of the tool  are:

    • Proprietary Maxus intelligence has identified specific barriers that a client’s audience, brand, and category are facing and how best to overcome them in communications

    • Resolve makes the complex simple for media planners by prioritising specific communication tasks and identifying the media channels that best deliver them for specific audiences, within each category

    • Resolve planning recommendations are backed by robust consumer surveys, making them powerful drivers for a client’s channel plans

     

    Maxus south Asia managing director Kartik Sharma said: “Maxus’s dedication to data inspired us to create a tool to help our teams make tough decisions and have them supported with strong logic and data. The Compose surveys get behind the attitudes and behaviours of consumers – not just their media usage – and how they view specific channels to deliver specific messages. Resolve has been a success so far not only for our clients, but also helping to push our teams out of their comfort zones, to try new channels and ways of thinking.”

     

    Maxus India national director insights Priti Maurthy said: “Properly identifying a brand’s top communications tasks and understanding how to use media to deliver on those tasks is on the one hand an art. At Maxus, we also believe there should be an appropriate level of science applied to that challenge as well, which is why we’ve developed Resolve.”

     

    “Resolve is a robust, data-heavy tool that relies on consumers’ attitudes and sentiment, as well as our own proprietary intelligence, to tackle the real issues that our clients are facing. We’ve created the tool in line with our unique proposition, ‘lean into change’, challenging the status quo with something different. We can be confident about the suggestions Resolve generates because we have the data to support our decisions,” she added.

  • Mindshare partners exclusively with Crayon Data

    Mindshare partners exclusively with Crayon Data

    MUMBAI: In a landmark move, Mindshare has entered into an exclusive partnership with Crayon Data to power its planning, insights and consultancy offering.

     

    The main aim of combining Mindshare’s proprietary data and research with Crayon Data’s big data collection and analytical capability is to offer greater adaptive solutions for marketers. And provide ability to not only identify different consumer profiles and segments, but also target and track those profiles across a complex range of media channels, including social media and video.

     

     For Mindshare, the partnership continues its focus on developing leadership in Adaptive Marketing, a shift that is impacting how the agency thinks about services, products and ways of working. Mindshare’s core DNA is about disruption, provocation and speed, working with open source partners to continuously re-define how media agencies should behave.

     

    With this in mind Mindshare has consciously entered into a range of strategic partnerships across new emerging domains such as big data, mobility, online video, cross screen measurement, advocacy and social content. The agency has re-structured its approach to bring data, content, technology and accountability together in a way, which has unlocked dramatic growth opportunities for both clients and partners.

     

    Mindshare’s Products, Partnerships & Services council chairman and APAC chief client officer Sudipto Roy said, “One of today’s key business challenges is the complexity surrounding the collection of data making traditional database processing and management tools ineffective in helping clients make optimal decisions about their customers’ needs. It’s a fundamental requirement of business success. Without the ability to support customer needs, organisations fail.”

     

    “We are looking at this collaboration to dramatically transform the way consumer insights are mined and connected to our clients’ categories. For one FMCG company, we were able to unearth consumer connections and interests in a way that is almost impossible to do through standard research based methods. For a B2B client, we were able to unlock and profile a million potential leads with exact identification of what they would be likely to buy. This is a game changer; both for insights and for performance/ CRM based initiatives. It’s not a surprise that Crayon Data was recently chosen as one of the top five companies by IBM’s Watson Developer Challenge.” he added.

     

    Crayon Data is one of the fastest growing “big data” startups founded with a vision to simplify the world’s choices. The SimplerChoicesTM engine simplifies the decision making process for marketers, using proprietary algorithms to sort the complexity and present meaningful connections between data points and providing predictions of what consumers really want. The foundation of Crayon’s Choice Engine is the Taste Graph (B2C) and Interest Graph (B2B).  Crayon’s taste graph (for B2C companies) already has over 550 million taste nodes reaching close to a billion through 2014. The company’s interest graph (for B2B companies) has extensive information on over 10 million enterprises, with 500M data points.

     

    Crayon Data founding director Suresh Shankar said, “Media, analytics and behaviour is all going digital, and choices are proliferating in every aspect of our life from media to daily decisions. The partnership seeks to marry Mindshare’s media data sets and expertise, and its innovations like Loop Room, with Crayon’s choice engines, algorithms, and taste/interest graphs. This partnership forms part of a big transformation and caters to our mission of turning the misery of choosing into the magic of choice.”

  • Facebook signs first agency deal in India with GroupM

    Facebook signs first agency deal in India with GroupM

    MUMBAI: During her recent visit, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, signed the company’s first agency deal in India with WPP’s integrated media and marketing company, GroupM.

     

    “Our partnership with GroupM will benefit clients to reach over 100 million people in India, 84 million on mobile — both smartphone and feature phone —  and custom audiences within the 100 million in urban and rural India.” said Facebook India head Kirthiga Reddy. “We’re excited about this wide-ranging collaboration which combines the strength of the world’s best global advertising platform with GroupM’s market-leading position to deliver personalised marketing at scale.”

     

    GroupM has been creating cutting edge digital solutions for clients and given its access to data and research and has been integrating digital with traditional media for its clients. GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “We are delighted with the Facebook partnership that can help unlock even greater value for our clients. We work closely with Facebook globally, regionally and locally. India is projected to be the largest country for Facebook by people very soon and we see exciting possibilities for our clients. This partnership adds to the set of enablers we have created over the years that can help drive digital adoption in our market.”

     

    For Nokia Lumia, GroupM pioneered the deployment of Facebook’s outcome measurement and leveraged Facebook’s sophisticated targeting capabilities to deliver a 54x return on Facebook ad spend.

     

    Once again, leveraging Facebook’s sharp targeting capability, GroupM delivered outstanding results for Arrow, a premium apparel brand. Arrow was running an end of season sale and wanted to drive a special discount promotion to an audience between 18 to 35 years old residing in metro cities. Arrow was able to deliver a 30x return on Facebook ad spend and a significant redemption rate from this exclusive Facebook campaign.

     

    To add to its digital offerings, last year GroupM India launched Mash Up, a digital content unit which has been creating engaging digital content solutions for brands, the most recent being the digital video campaign with Kapil Sharma for Honda Mobilio. GroupM also manages a specialist mobile advertising company, Madhouse, bringing brands together with mobile media publishers to unleash the power of mobile. Its full service digital marketing agencies Quasar and Blazar include end to end digital solutions for advertising across the web, social media, search, analytics and creative services. As part of the renewed focus on digital, GroupM in the past year has evolved its practices in content, movie activation, experiential marketing and analytics.

  • GroupM’s market share increases to 41.2 per cent

    GroupM’s market share increases to 41.2 per cent

    MUMBAI: GroupM, WPP’s integrated media and marketing company, has topped the RECMA overall activity billings 2013 ranking of media agencies again. GroupM India increased its market share as per RECMA in the year 2013 to 41.2 per cent from 40.3 per cent in 2012. Globally, GroupM retained the number one position amongst media agency networks with a market share of 28 per cent. The RECMA report evaluates the overall activity – including buying billings and specialised services.

     

    Mindshare continues to lead in overall market share as the largest integrated media planning company in India, while the other GroupM agencies registered a healthy growth over the last year. GroupM agencies dominated RECMA’s qualitative evaluation with Maxus being the only media agency in India to be rated ‘dominant’, for the fourth year in a row. Mindshare and Mediacom were rated ‘high’ while MEC was rated ‘good’. Continuing its winning streak from 2013 where the network picked up over 80 new clients, GroupM agencies have so far won over 50 new clients in the first half of 2014.

     

    GroupM agencies continue to dominate all industry awards. Apart from that, GroupM is the only media agency network to have won the Porter Prize in 2013, ‘The Dream Company to work for’ in the media and entertainment sector and the ‘Best Employer’ at the World HRD Congress.

     

    Speaking on the year so far, GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “In recent years, GroupM has taken great measures to become future ready and give our clients an edge in a highly competitive media market. We no longer plan only media for them, but give them end to end integrated marketing solutions that bring digital marketing, content, data and analytics together with traditional media such as TV, radio and print. Our collaborations with global leaders in digital media, data, technology and research, coupled with years of collective experience gives our clients the advantage of working with a true thought leader and help them build highly successful brands. We were the first agency network with whom Facebook signed a partnership agreement in India and have a similar very unique partnership with Google that brings great value to our clients”.

     

    Over the last year, GroupM took a fresh approach to integrated marketing solutions with a program called New ME. This new approach resulted in several successful campaigns including the highly impactful launch of Honda Mobilio with Kapil Sharma led by digital content and the ‘Power of 49’ campaign for Tata Tea led by TV advertising, content, mobile marketing and social impact. In May 2014, Mindshare launched the Loop Room in Gurgaon and Mumbai to help media planners and marketers pick up insights in real time. Maxus recently launched Moribus, its behavioral lab.

     

    “GroupM agencies are at the cutting edge of media and we are preparing our teams and clients to not just move with the times but stay ahead,” added Srinivas. The New ME approach also helped expand business with new clients across industries ranging from e-commerce, banking & insurance, sports, retail, healthcare, etc.

  • Maxus wins businesses worth over Rs. 300 crore

    Maxus wins businesses worth over Rs. 300 crore

    MUMBAI: Maxus, yet again retains the title of the most ‘dominant’ agency as per the latest RECMA report, a qualitative assessment for all leading media agencies in India.

    It is the fourth consecutive year that Maxus is on the top of the RECMA ratings. Along with this, the agency also won business across 23 new clients, worth upwards of Rs. 300 crores in the first half of 2014. These new clients include Tata Sons, JK Tyres, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Unitech, Paytm, Askme.com, ICC T20 World Cup 2014, Cigna TTK Health Insurance and BML Educorp.

     

    Maxus South Asia managing director Kartik Sharma said, “Over the last 12 months, Maxus has made an effort to become future ready in a digitally charged media environment. We approach planning and investments in an integrated manner with emphasis on new media concepts that brings digital media, content and data together with traditional TV, print and radio. We believe this gives us an edge in the market, helping us delight to our existing clients and bring new clients into the fold.”

     

    “Our ‘Lean into Change’ approach has given us a healthy double digit growth in 2014” Besides their expertise in core traditional media, Maxus today is a full- fledged media solutions agency with expertise across digital, mobile media, data and analytics, branded content and programming. Talent across these verticals are embedded in the network and work closely with core client teams,” added Sharma.

     

    The new approach at Maxus has resulted in several ingenious campaigns like “Power of 49” for Tata Tea, Kotak Jifi, Vodafone Fan Photo and Tata Sky’s innovation around the IPL. Maxus was the first agency to set up a digital command centre for Nestle, where the marketing and agency team to monitor data from various social feeds and take real time marketing decisions. This ensured judicious use of budgets across media with a low percentage of wastage. The approach also helped expand business with new clients across industries ranging from e-commerce, banking and insurance, sports, retail, healthcare, etc.

     

    In 2014, Maxus was part of WPP Team Red (head by MEC Global) that won the Vodafone account across several countries, retaining the account in India. The expertise of a long client relationship with Vodafone domestically brought about great insight during the pitch process.

     

    It can also be noted that this year, Maxus has also brought on board two senior leaders – Navin Khemka in New Delhi to head the North and East region and focus on new business development and Anand Chakravarthy heading Maxus, West and some of their key client relationships. Earlier in the year, Maxus won the digital agency of the year and a number of metals at the Abbys 2014 for their new media capabilities.

  • Starcom MediaVest Group leads on RECMA’s list

    Starcom MediaVest Group leads on RECMA’s list

    MUMBAI: Paris-based research agency RECMA (Research Company Evaluating the Media Agency Industry) has named Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) the number one ranked global media network in its 2013 Global Billings Rankings Report for the fourth consecutive year. This report evaluates the overall activity—including buying billings and specialised services—of all global media agencies across 62 countries. 

     

    In 2013, SMG increased its billings by 18.3 per cent, with an industry share of 12.5 per cent. RECMA also named the network number one in the ‘Top 14 Countries’ ranking, which is a key chart in the overall report that accounts for 81 per cent,  of the media agency industry.  In addition, SMG retained its position in the overall regional evaluations, including its top rank in north America and was named the number two agency in Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa and Latin America.

     

    “Leading RECMA’s Global Rankings report is both an honor and a validation of our work at SMG. Everything we do, in partnership with the greatest brands in the world, is with an eye toward innovation. And RECMA’s report confirms that our ‘MakeNextNow’ approach is successful in both engaging consumers and helping steer our industry toward ‘what’s next,” said SMG Global CEO Laura Desmond.

     

    SMG had its most celebrated year on record in 2013, with 525 product award recognitions. Award highlights included 15 agency and network of the year awards, 24 Cannes Lions, 35 Festival of Media awards (across all galas) and two Effie Grand Prix. Through July 2014, SMG has already been awarded media network of the year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, along with being named the most effective agency and most effective agency network by the Effie Index at the North American Effie Awards Gala in New York, where Publicis Group also took top honors as Most Effective Holding Company.