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Category: Media Agencies

  • GroupM promotes Gaurav Hirey as chief talent officer, South Asia

    GroupM promotes Gaurav Hirey as chief talent officer, South Asia

    MUMBAI: GroupM has announced the appointment of Gaurav Hirey as chief talent officer, south Asia.

    Hirey has been a part of GroupM since 2008 and is currently the regional HR director, APAC. In his new expanded role as CTO, South Asia, he will be responsible for driving the agenda on people, culture and values at GroupM which will include employee acquisition, training, development, retention and growth for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

    On his new role, Hirey said “India and South Asian markets are exciting markets. We have been able to innovate and raise the bar year after year. Mumbai is home ground and so always a pleasure to be back! I am very excited about the new leadership and the new vision at GroupM South Asia and look forward to leveraging the last 2 years of my international exposure and the network to help and impact business results.”

    He will continue to work with GroupM APAC regional talent team and will be based out of Mumbai from 1 January, 2014. And will also be a part of the GroupM aouth Asia executive committee and will report to GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas and GroupM global CTO Angela Ryan.

    Speaking on the appointment, CVL Srinivas said, “GroupM has always placed a lot of emphasis on Talent and over the years we have built a strong talent team. As we move to the next stage of the People Transformation journey, I am pleased to welcome Gaurav Hirey back as our Chief Talent Officer (CTO) – South Asia. Gaurav has a successful track record of making things happen and is the best person to lead our people agenda. We look forward to having him back with us.”

    Hirey had joined GroupM in 2008 in Mumbai and built the human resources function at GroupM India, making it one the best employer brands in the country, before moving into a regional role in Singapore. Under his direction, GroupM is the only media agency to have won the Employer Branding Award for ‘Best Employer’ three years in a row from 2009 to 2011. For the last two years Hirey was based in Singapore where he worked on GroupM APAC projects and also had the mandate of being a business partner for Maxus APAC.

  • Ethos eyeing television as a part of mass media communication mix

    Ethos eyeing television as a part of mass media communication mix

    BENGALURU: Indian chain of luxury watch studios Ethos Limited (Ethos) is looking at television commercials as a part of its mass media communications mix during the next fiscal. The company is considering business news channels such as NDTV Profit as well as some niche channels. Ethos is an authorised retailer of over 65 luxury watch brands.

    The company plans to up by around 50 per cent its media spends revealed Ethos associate director Manoj Gupta to www.indiantelevision.com. “We will start in a small way, and gradually up our presence on television,” revealed Gupta.

    Industry sources peg Ethos spends between Rs 7 to 10 crore per year, this includes contributions from the major brands that it sells. At present, Ethos uses print, outdoor and in-house quarterly publication Ethos Summit, besides the digital online medium, which has seen more than three lakh unique visitors per month to its portal claims Gupta.

    So far, its media planning has been done in-house. Ethos is having discussions with a couple of media buying agencies in Mumbai and will chalk out its media buying plans’ once it picks a suitable partner. While most of its creative work is done in conjunction with the brands, a lot of the work is done by a Delhi based creative agency Scribbles.

    “The average price of a fashion watch in India would be between Rs 15,000 to 20,000, a premium watch would cost about Rs 1 to Rs 1.25 lakhs, while a luxury watch would cost Rs.7 lakh upwards,” informed Gupta.

    Ethos estimates the size of the fashion, premium and luxury watches at Rs 1500 crore and expects it to grow to Rs 4,000 crore over the next three years. The company has 41 outlets in 12 cities of India, of which about eight sell fashion watches, about seven luxury watches. It also has single brand watch stores for brands such as Rolex, Omega and Swatches.

    Ethos generated a revenue of Rs 210 crore, last year and Gupta is confident of a 25 to 30 per cent growth in revenue this fiscal.

    Gupta was in Bengaluru for the launch of a range of core and professional Rolex watches, earlier launched at Baselworld 2013, one of which costs Rs 44.68 lakh.

  • Aegis Media appoints Alex Crowther to head General Motors’ biz

    Aegis Media appoints Alex Crowther to head General Motors’ biz

    BENGALURU: Aegis-owned media agency, Carat — a media communications specialist and a player in digital and diversified media solutions, has appointed Alex Crowther, former CEO of MediaCom Asia Pacific as Global Client President, effective immediately.

    Crowther, in this role, will be responsible for leading the General Motors business and continuing Carat’s track record of global success in managing the USD 300 crores global account.

    “Alex is the perfect person to lead the continued momentum and growth of General Motors’ global business for us,” said Aegis Media Americas & EMEA CEO Nigel Morris. “He’s a rare talent who brings extensive global experience and a proven track record working with major global brands across categories, but specifically with automotive. He has the entrepreneurial spirit and drive to find innovative ways to drive GM’s business forward in today’s convergent media landscape.”

    Crowther returns to Carat, where he once worked at Carat International, after a 19-year hiatus, and brings 26 years of global experience in the media industry. Prior to Carat, Alex was CEO Asia Pacific for the global media network MediaCom, part of WPP’s GroupM, sitting on the Asia Pacific board of GroupM and global board of MediaCom. During his first three years at MediaCom, Alex helped to double to size and scale of the business in Asia Pacific by winning multiple Proctor & Gamble country assignments, Coca-Cola in several territories and many other globally recognised brands.

    Morris continued, “Steven has been part of the Carat GM leadership team since the onset of our relationship, helping to open Carat’s office and global hub for the GM partnership in Detroit. He led the successful transition of Carat’s GM business across more than 70 markets and will move on to do more great things for other global and U.S. clients across our network.”

    Prior to MediaCom, Alex served as President/CEO Americas and Asia Pacific of integrated communications network Davinci, a part of Omnicom. Based in the US — much of it in Detroit, he was President/CEO Americas and Asia Pacific and as co-founder was instrumental in the company’s rapid growth from a standing start to a presence in more than 60 markets in seven years. During his time at Davinci, the agency managed the global media for Chrysler and Mercedes Benz as well as Mitsubishi Motors in North America.

    “Automotive has always been a passion of mine and a cornerstone in my career, so it only makes sense that I return to Detroit, especially to work at a global-leading media agency that is consistently ranked as the number 1 network by RECMA. Carat is the only network that truly understands convergence and is redefining the value of media to create better business value. I can’t wait to get started,” said Crowther.

    Crowther replaces Steven Feuling, who will be relocating to San Francisco and assuming a new role at Carat. During Feuling’s tenure as Global Client President for GM, Carat helped GM achieve significant gains from both a consumer and business perspective, including Interbrand naming Chevrolet as one the Top 100 Global Brands in 2013.

  • Global media economy set to accelerate in 2014: Study

    Global media economy set to accelerate in 2014: Study

    MUMBAI: The year is coming to an end, and it’s time to introspect. Various studies will be done to review how the years went by. Was it good, bad or ugly?

    As far as media owner advertising is concerned, the revenue grew by 3.2 per cent in 2013 to $ 489.6 billion at a global level, even though the economic environment remained weak throughout 2013, according to the study by Magna Global.

    Around the global average growth of +3.3 per cent for advertising revenues in 2013, Latin America once again showed the strongest growth (+9.5 per cent), followed by Eastern Europe (+7.9 per cent) and Asia Pacific (+6.3 per cent). On the other end, developed markets showed little or no growth: North America +1.5 per cent, Western Europe -0.8 per cent.

    “That level of economic activity is not particularly impressive by historical standards but confidence indices keep improving and we believe advertising spending will reflect and amplify that economic trend,” said Magna Global India director intelligence EVP Venkatesh S in the report.

    Asia Pacific advertising revenue grew by an average of +6.3% in 2013 to $148.7bn. Television continues to remain the largest media category in APAC, and will grow by +5.1% in 2013, up from +4.3% in 2012 to reach market share of 42.3% of total spend in the region. However, it will gradually fall below 40 per cent share in the next five years.

    Digital is the fastest growing category and will grow by +22.4% in 2013 to reach $33.6bn, as per the study. Newspaper and magazines continue to lose ground at -1.4% and -3.1% CAGR through 2018, respectively, and together print will only represent 21.8 per cent of total spend in 2013, down from 32.2 per cent of total spend as recently as 2008. As a whole, the APAC region now represents approximately 30 per cent of total global spend.

    Within APAC, China and Japan represent nearly two thirds of the total APAC advertising revenues. However, China is growing quickly and will surpass Japan for the top spot in APAC as soon as 2015. But the development of the markets within APAC varies significantly with some very advanced markets such as Australia and some much underdeveloped markets like India. This disparity can also be seen in the share of digital spend, with India’s digital market share at 7.4 per cent of total spend in 2013 vs. Australia’s at 32.7 per cent of total spend.

     

    Rise of social media

    The biggest game changer, this year, has been the rise of social media and, more specifically mobile social media. In the last 18 months, social media usage has migrated towards portable devices and platforms at a faster rate than most anticipated.

    The impressive success of tablets in the Western world and the rapid penetration of feature phones and smartphones in the developing world have contributed to this rapid shift in consumer usage. At the same time, social media owners (Facebook and Twitter most significantly) have introduced ad formats specifically matched to those portable devices that have met with instant success among marketers without alienating users.

    Globally, the social media advertising grew by 58 per cent this year, to $9.1bn, of which $2.9bn came from mobile social (+ 300 per cent), the forecast company said in the report.

    Looking forward

    The company predicts the economic conditions to improve for good in 2014. It expects the global advertising revenue to grow by +6.5 per cent (previously: +6.1 per cent) to reach $521.6bn, which will be the strongest year-on-year growth since 2010 (+8.4 per cent, following the 2009 recession).

    Said Magna Global’s director of global forecasting EVP Vincent Letang in the report, “The combination of an improved economic environment and stronger-than-usual cyclical drivers is bound to unlock marketing and branding budgets in 2014. This will primarily benefit television and digital media where new formats and opportunities are being explored for activation and branding campaigns”.

  • Madison Media Group wins HomeShop18 Media AOR

    Madison Media Group wins HomeShop18 Media AOR

    MUMBAI:  Madison Media Group has been appointed as the media AOR (Agency on Record) for Homeshop18, a shopping channel from the Network 18 group. The account will be handled by Platinum Media in Delhi. The account was previously handled by Mindshare and the estimated media spend is in the range of Rs 30 crore.

    Commenting on the win, Platinum Media CEO Basabdatta said, “We are delighted with this new win and are confident that we can add strategic value in building the HomeShop18 brand in the country.”

    On the development, HomeShop18 chief marketing officer Vikrant Khanna said, “Homeshop18 is proud to be associated with Madison, which is the leading media planning agency in the country. I am confident they will be a strong partner in our journey to become India’s leading virtual commerce player. Having worked with Madison in the past I know that Madison is best equipped to help us  reach our intended audience in the most economical and integrated way.”

    Madison Media has been on an account winning spree, having recently won a host of new businesses including Raymond Apparel, Piramal Healthcare, Epic Channel, McCain Foods, Ruchi Soya, Max India’s corporate account, Café Coffee Day, Radikal Rice and Crompton Greaves.

    The gross billing of Madison Media is about Rs. 3000 crores.

  • Helios Media elevates Bala Iyengar as COO

    Helios Media elevates Bala Iyengar as COO

    MUMBAI: Helios Media, a specialty services company for the broadcast sector, recently completed two years in operations. And with the television industry undergoing critical developments with digitisation, regulations in inventory management, growth of niche genres and evolving dynamics of how viewers consume entertainment, the media brands are exploring newer avenues for engaging with audiences while advertisers are on a constant search for platforms to maximise reach. Traditional practices are being reviewed and the market is in a constant state of innovation.

     “With the changing social fabric, growth of internet penetration and the change in consumer behaviour, the means to reach the viewer have increased manifold. As we move forward, our focus will be on getting into deeper partnerships with relevant platform creators to enhance the solutions we offer our clients. A TV channel is not just for TVCs anymore, and we will work with them in the overall revenue management space, going beyond traditional commercial inventory. In addition to inventory sales, we have enhanced our teams to include talent in the areas of content syndication, custom events, celebrity management and strategic digital initiatives. To take this scale of operations forward, it’s only natural that Bala steps up to take charge of our complete offering and provide seamless service to our clients”, says Helios Media founder & MD Divya Radhakrishnan.

    Commenting further on his elevated role and plans ahead, Helios Media chief operating officer Bala Iyengar added, “The team has been groomed as idea generators and solutions providers who can offer expert advice on how to connect the advertiser with the audience. And this has helped us bring in the 150+ advertisers on MTunes HD, develop a market strategy for Channel X, exponentially increase the revenue base for FoodFood and set to motion the revenue agenda for FTV India. We will shape ourselves to be the go-to destination for advertisers seeking innovative ways to connect with audiences, and for channels seeking breakthrough strategies to boost revenue.”

    The company was launched with a vision to provide broadcasters with business critical expertise in the areas of revenue management, brand consulting and creative development. And has demonstrated results for brands such as MTunes HD, Channel X, FoodFood and Fashion TV.

  • Starcom MediaVest seals a data deal with Acxiom

    Starcom MediaVest seals a data deal with Acxiom

    MUMBAI: Many mergers, partnerships and acquisitions happened in this year. Now, when the year is coming to an end, there’s another big deal that has been sealed between media agency Starcom MediaVest Group and marketing technology and services company Acxiom. A multi-year deal has been signed between the two.

    The deal will let Starcom use Acxiom’s Audience Operating System, which enables audience segmentation and targeting across online and offline media using first-party and third-party data. The two firms aim to develop new applications for the system, such as targeting TV advertising.

    The deal gives the Publicis Groupe an option to expand its services to other companies under the umbrella. It also gives Starcom MediaVest the first right of refusal for using Acxiom system in overseas markets when in becomes available outside US. Acxiom expects to roll out the audience targeting platform in the UK and China next.
    However, the deal isn’t exclusive and Starcom can test system with other companies as well.

    The time-frame of the deal hasn’t been revealed by the companies. And since Publicis and Omnicom are in the middle of a merger approval process, there’s no indication on how the Acxiom deal might extend over to Omnicom agencies once the merger is completed.

    The new partnership is followed by similar deals that have been signed earlier in the year. A pact gave Starcom MediaVest a first crack at premium Twitter ad inventory, and is intended to give the agency the ability to influence new Twitter products. Even last month, a deal between Starcom and Yahoo was announced which gave the agency exclusive access to Yahoo’s first-party data on its visitors.

  • Nikon School helps sales, stickiness

    Nikon School helps sales, stickiness

    BENGALURU: Camera and camera accessories major Nikon Corporation Tokyo is one of the major players in the world. Nikon School, an initiative by its 100 per cent Indian subsidiary, Nikon India, helps take better photographs with D-SLR or Nikon 1 camera, whatever be the level of experience of the shutterbug.

    Nikon School conducts basic and advanced D-SLR workshops and photo-walks in different cities, which have proved to be big hits with camera owners and photography enthusiasts. Generally within a day or two of an online announcement from Nikon India about an event, all the seats are booked. Usually the size of each workshop is limited to about 25 participants and two teachers.

    Not only does the company impart knowledge and help improve skill sets, the teachers also carry with them a variety of accessories, spare cameras and lenses which they lend to the participants to try out free of cost, to touch feel and experience a product.

    On the same day, last month, Nikon School organised photo-walks at Garden of Five Senses in Delhi, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali E in Mumbai, The Alipore Zoo in Kolkata and at Nandi Hills in Bangalore. The event welcomed photography enthusiasts from all walks of life irrespective of their professional excellence in photography. These were not just workshops for mere transfer of information but a broader platform to exchange the ideas, gauge the customer insight and carve out an offering in line with the expectation from the brand.

    ‘Many of the participants of our workshops are first time camera owners who have probably bought a basic D-SLR with a basic VR Lens kit, who are unsure about the kind of photography they want to pursue. Once they attend our events, they find their niche, and then based on our suggestions buy the kind of lenses and accessories that suit their tastes,’ revealed one of the teachers to indiantelevision.com during the photo-walk at Nandi Hills near the Garden City of Bengaluru.

    Quite a number of the shutterbugs attend more than one workshop, and consult Nikon teachers for camera upgrades, for better accessories, information about procurement sources, etc.

    ‘I have attended five workshops by Nikon Bangalore, and this is my second photo-walk,’ revealed an amateur photographer.’Each time I learn something new, there is a lot of fine-tuning of my skills. Photography is a hobby, I don’t earn anything from it, but I want to be good at whatever I do,’ she added.

    ‘I have seen friends’ waste money buying accessories, lenses and cameras that they don’t really need. These people at Nikon School have been advising me about what I need, and I have found their guidance very useful,’ said another Nandi Hills photo-walk participant.

    ‘We don’t suggest any particular store or shop from which to buy Nikon cameras and accessories from, we just guide them to our website and ask them to buy whatever they want from the stores of their choice,’ further revealed the teacher. ‘Very often, we find that people have followed our advice and purchased the product that we have suggested,’ he added. Nikon School is planning to gradually expand into many cities and towns in the country.

    In a highly competitive business that is growing with the growth of the young Indian middle class, BTL activities such as Nikon’s workshops and photo-walks have been ensuring a small steady stream of sales and stickiness of consumers, which have seen a small, but steadily increasing number of female photographers.

  • IMG Media hires former ESPN Star senior exec

    IMG Media hires former ESPN Star senior exec

    MUMBAI: From broadcasting to selling sports programming and event properties – that’s the path Former ESPN Star Sports business development & corporate communication (south Asia) director Rathindra Basu has taken. Recently, he hopped on IMG Media, which is amongst the world’s largest indpendent producers and distributors of sports programming, as vice-president and head of sales in the Indian sub-continent.

     

    In his role at IMG Media he will be looking after sports media content distribution and sales for the SAARC countries; covering all forms of media rights – including TV, audio, fixed media, in-flight and closed circuit, broadband and mobile. His responsibilities include developing key relationships with major sports broadcasters and other TV networks including the public broadcaster.

     

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com Basu says: “In my new role I will be looking at expanding our reach across the Indian subcontinent and reaching out to as many broadcasters for distribution and sales deals.”

     

    Basu will report to IMG Media Sr VP and head of sales Asia Pacific Chris Guinness, based in the London office and IMG Media Sr VP and head of sales Asia Pacific Leena Singarajah, based in Selangor, Malaysia.

    He will continue to be based out of New Delhi.

     

    IMG produces more than 21,000 hours of television and more than 30,000 hours of radio programming annually. It provides a seamless solution for both rights holders and broadcasters worldwide. Be it live or studio, in stadium or on the course, across the US or throughout South Africa, it claims to be a stop solution to handle all production needs.

     

    With over 200 clients and events, including Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the ATP Masters Series, the R&A (governing body and organiser of The Open Championship), International Rugby Board (IRB), MotoGP, the National Football League (NFL) and the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). IMG operates from over 30 offices worldwide and has daily exchanges with over 4,000 key media contacts. It also maintains the world’s largest sports archive with more than 250,000 hours of footage.

  • Zee’s Ditto TV makes free launch in the UK

    Zee’s Ditto TV makes free launch in the UK

    MUMBAI: The Zee Network is pretty bullish about its Ditto TV app. It has now launched it at no cost to SkyZee subscribers in the UK and also to those on other TV platforms and without a TV subscription. Phone and tablet users can download the app onto their devices and watch 17 channels at absolutely no cost, after verifying their account through a valid phone number.

     

    The app is available across all platforms, including iOS, Android and Blackberry, and there are a range of payment options to choose from, from a full monthly package to top ups via the embedded Top – up Wallet, which means subscribers can simply pay as they go.

     

    Says Zee Europe CEO Neeraj Dhingra: “Zee has been the pioneer and innovator in the media industry and with DittoTV we have demonstrated again that we are moving ahead with the times by launching a new digital platform for distribution of content across Europe. Apart from our focus on the linear channels on Sky and other platforms in UK and Europe, with DittoTV we aim to address a new segment of mobile users and make our channels easily accessible on the go. We are already seeing uplift in online subscriptions as a result.”

     

    The network has signed up Ankita Lokhande aka Archana of its most popular show Pavita Rsihta to push the app to Britasians in the UK. .The app is already proving popular with over 65,000 likes on Facebook and 7,000 app downloads to date.