ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • Tourism Ministry of India to launch ‘Know Your India’ drive

    Tourism Ministry of India to launch ‘Know Your India’ drive

    MUMBAI: The Government of India is looking at engaging the youth and kids of the country via a new initiative called ‘Know Your India’ or ‘Bharat Ko Jaano’ drive. The government is urging kids to see concealed gems all over India head overseas for vacationing with this drive.

     

    Union minister of culture & tourism Mahesh Sharma said, “India is an undiscovered treasure hunt, so if powers are channelized in the proper direction, we’ll have more Indians lingering to discover the anonymous locations in India,” said Sharma.

     

    “How many of you’ve toured Delhi zoo? We sense tours to domestic destinations that provide knowledge regarding our culture and history will benefit if initiated in school set of courses,” he added.

     

    However, Sharma added that the proposal was in a primary phase.

     

    When queried as to how the culture ministry planned to make sure the security of tombstones that are still ignored in spite of being taken care of by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India), Sharma said, “We’ve heard that Archaeological Survey of India isn’t working properly and we believe it. But we expect to handle this problem, along with many others quickly and definitely.”

  • ASN joins hand with SportzPower for South Asian region

    ASN joins hand with SportzPower for South Asian region

    MUMBAI: ASN (formerly Asia Sponsorship News) has entered into a strategic business partnership with SportzPower for the South Asian market, which includes Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

     

    ASN is an independent intelligence service for non-traditional media that has been tracking and analysing over 10,000 ‘sponsorship’ deals for almost a decade over a varied fields including sports, branded content, native advertising, movie partnerships and celebrity endorsements.

     

    Shedding light upon what this alliance means for India, ASN founder and CEO Ben Heyhoe Flint says, “Our data shows India as the second biggest market for sponsorship and branded content in Asia, next to China, so our partnership with Sportz Network Pvt Ltd is pivotal in enabling us to get under the skin of this enormous marketplace. With them, we look forward to unlocking even more insights into this seemingly complex trading environment.”

     

    This is backed by the fact that ASN’s India Index, ASN’s tracker of all non-traditional investment in India alone reached $740 million in 2014, representing a 9.2 per cent YoY gain and a 15 per cent share of the entire ASN Index.

     

    Sportz Network co-founder Thomas Abraham stresses upon India’s fast growing sponsorship market and ASN’s potential in the local markets where brands need the right information and analysis to buy, sell or plan their sponsorship activity.

  • Keshav Naidu and Kahini Panjabi launch new ad agency

    Keshav Naidu and Kahini Panjabi launch new ad agency

    MUMBAI: Advertising professionals Keshav Naidu and Kahini Panjabi have come together to launch a new agency called Naidu & Panjabi. The agency, which is headquartered in Mumbai, has clients ranging from personal care to hospitality and e-commerce.

    Naidu and Panjabi believe that they can cultivate brands for growth by way of quality human experiences. Naidu was voted by Clio as one of the Top 12 Global Creative Directors under 30, whereas Panjabi is a second generation art director, who grew up literally in the creative department at Lintas.

    Within a few days of inception, the agency bagged the account for the recently funded, beauty and wellness booking app Ziffi. A first outing for the agency, the Ziffi ad film also marks the directorial debut of Kunaal Roy Kapur.

    Talking about their first client and their agency, Naidu said, “Naidu & Panjabi was born out of a dire need to harness our creative restlessness. Traditional advertising and creativity needs to be challenged as the world gets smaller by the day. With Naidu & Panjabi, we hope to create the perfect conditions for path-breaking, creative collaborations. Ziffi is the kind of new digital service that we don’t realize we need, until we use it. Once you’re hooked, you wonder how you ever managed without it. The real challenge however, is to get people to try something like this. How do you get people to try something they don’t consciously need?”

    Describing how they didn’t want to make something that would look like an ad, Panjabi added, “We didn’t set out to make an ad film. We wanted to make a funny video that young, urban India would enjoy as entertainment. And somewhere along the way we bumped into Kunaal Roy Kapur, who totally gets this demographic.”

    Kapur said, “The script and treatment, which Naidu & Panjabi came up with was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better video to debut with as a commercial director. The experience was enriching and I do hope to put our heads together for a lot more work!”

    Ziffi.com CEO Shantanu Jha added, “Naidu & Panjabi are an amazing team to work with. Their understanding of the product and audience is spot on. Their creativity and freshness in thought process is refreshing and often sets the campaign apart from the clutter. Loaded with experience, Naidu & Panjabi team goes the extra mile to get work done and deliver things. They are just the right partner you need for the fast paced delivery timelines. I am sure, Naidu & Panjabi are here to make a big dent and we wish them all the very best.”

  • Maxus Bangalore devises campaign for Tanishq with Maa TV

    Maxus Bangalore devises campaign for Tanishq with Maa TV

    MUMBAI: Tanishq has joined hands with Maxus to capture the Southern market as the must-have jewellery brand for weddings through the agency’s innovative campaign. Tanishq has been integrated with Maa TV.

     

    “Tanishq has an extensive range of regional wedding jewellery for all different communities – a little known fact and essential to communicate. The brand TVC does try to address this, but only that much can be said in a single TVC. The Maxus content team created a win–win association with Maa TV’s editorial team and created a coup of sorts – getting the channel’s most popular faces to create a stunning showcase of the Telegu brides’ must have Telegu jewellery pieces, assuring Andhra/Telengana women that they will get the most spectacular regional range at Tanishq. The Maa protagonist giving their assurance adds immediate believability and trust, something that would otherwise take long to create,” said Maxus India South head Sanchayeeta Verma.

     

    Speaking about the initiative, Titan jewellery division general manager – marketing Deepika Tewari added, “We are delighted to be a part of this one-of-a kind initiative by Maxus in collaboration with Maa TV. Over the years, we have built a very strong bond with the Telegu community and look forward to growing our relationship by continuing to offer best-in-class jewellery. The Telegu wedding collection by Tanishq brings to life the ancient traditions of the Telegu community in true Tanishq form. We understand the importance of jewellery pieces like Vaddanam and Vanki for a Telegu bride, and are proud to showcase our wedding collection spread across traditional gold ornaments to deck the bride in her finest.”

     

    The campaign featured various soap actors who are big decision influencers in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market. Furthermore Maxus Bangalore also co-created integrated branded content with the Maa TV. 

     

    As a part of the integrated brand campaign Maxus ESP along with Maa TV selected the three most popular faces of the channel namely Jyoti (Ashta Chamma), Sirisha (Kanchana Ganga) and Meghna (Sasirekha Parinayam) to create a vignette. Maxus was involved in the entire creative process of casting, scripting and production of the vignette. The vignette will be promoted by Tanishq exclusively on the digital platform.

  • Culture Machine launches Intelligence Machine

    Culture Machine launches Intelligence Machine

    MUMBAI: Culture Machine, one of the fastest growing digital video networks in Asia, which has always stood by its promise of providing quality content backed by cutting edge technology, takes its commitment further with the launch of Intelligence Machine platform.

     

    Through its rich data driven insights, Intelligence Machine identifies the content recipe for brands and creators that resonates with their targeted audience and enables them to translate the insights into a reliable programming strategy. It indexes and analyzes over 1.5 billion videos across the digital universe on a daily basis.

     

    Commenting on the launch, Culture Machine CEO and co-founder Sameer Pitalwalla said, “Social Platforms are the new cable operators; YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are all video platforms, and knowing what content to create, and to create that content at scale, across platforms, is at the heart of building a successful brand online. Intelligence Machine helps solve this problem and understand audiences and their taste preferences using cutting edge technology”.  

     

     “We at Culture Machine believe in the power of technology, which will be the key differentiator for success in the digital marketplace. Intelligence Machine provides unmatched insights on the best content type and format’s that resonates with the targeted audience for a given brand or product and enables the user to translate that insight into concrete actions. Think of it as a “moneyball” for content for brands & publishers”, added Culture Machine COO/CTO & co-founder Venkat Prasad.

     

    Intelligence Machine’s key features include:-

     

    ·         Identifying a brand’s share of voice across video platforms, in different geographies and online communities across earned and owned media.

     

    ·         Benchmarking the brand against its industry on digital media and giving them a recipe to improve its standing.

     

    ·         Discovering successful content formats for an audience segment in a given industry and topical trends in relation to them.

     

    Founded in 2013 by Sameer Pitalwalla and Venkat Prasad, Culture Machine is a Digital Media Company that creates entertainment for the Internet generation by combining cutting edge technology with great content.

     

    Culture Machine’s engineering team includes senior data scientists and some of the best software architects in the industry.

     

    Culture Machine has offices and studio facilities in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Chennai and is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Aleph Group, Singapore. 

  • Dentsu to acquire 33.3% stake in Californian sports agency

    Dentsu to acquire 33.3% stake in Californian sports agency

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Inc’s subsidiary Dentsu Sports will be acquiring a 33 per cent stake in sports agency Athletes First, LLC, which is headquartered in California.

     

    Founded in 2001, Athletes First is a full-service agency, which represents National Football League (NFL) players, NFL and college coaches, professional baseball players, individual athletes in other sports, and other sports-related clients, including broadcasters, with regard to individual contract negotiations, marketing/commercial endorsements, and other client services.

     

    The firm’s core expertise involves the representation and management of athletes and coaches associated with the NFL, a sports league, which boasts a popularity and economic scale that is unparalleled even among the four major professional sports leagues in the US. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, holds nine out of the top ten rankings for the most watched television broadcasts in the US.

     

    Athletes First has more NFL clients than any other privately-owned representation agency including the reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, as well as several other high-profile NFL players including Clay Matthews, Carson Palmer, Earl Thomas, Von Miller and Jamaal Charles. Athletes First also represents ESPN broadcasters Steve Young, Ray Lewis, and Trent Dilfer, as well as NFL head coaches Chip Kelly and Jason Garrett.

     

    The Dentsu Group has to date been involved in business with sales of marketing and broadcasting rights for professional sports leagues in the US, and the investment in Athletes First will enable it to expand its array of services to its client base in terms of sports marketing and related endeavors in the United States.

     

    Going forward, Dentsu will work toward the further expansion of Athletes First’s agency business and the diversification of its sports representation, sports marketing and consulting business across the United States, and internationally as well. 

  • Will Salman Khan succeed to keep his brand value intact?

    Will Salman Khan succeed to keep his brand value intact?

    MUMBAI: With over Rs 200 crore riding on the actor, Salman Khan’s brands and producers are as worried as the actor himself. After Mumbai Court’s verdict earlier today, Khan will be spending the next five years in jail, which inevitably puts a big question mark over his brand value.

     

    Forbes listed Khan at the pole position in the list of top earning celebrity with Rs 244.30 crore and there are numerous brands, which have him as a brand ambassador. As the days ahead unfold, it remains to be seen if the verdict does impact the brands he’s associated with.

     

    Khan has been associated with brands like Thums Up, Revital, Wheel, Astral Pipes, PN Gadgil Jewellers, Dixcy Scott, Relaxo and Suzuki. However, the media buying and planning fraternity they seems to have been prepared for the verdict, which was announced today.

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Helios Media managing director Divya Radhakrishnan says, “Brands were prepared for this. Salman didn’t commit the crime now and whichever brand has associated with him was aware of the fact that he may land up in jail any moment as the case was in court. On the question if this will impact brands; well, after knowing that Salman is accused of murder and illegal hunting, people gave him record weekends in theatres. I think that just about settles the argument.”

     

    Another industry expert and brand manager with a talent management firm opines that the current judgment spelt a career-ending move for Khan. “There is a strong reason for brands to drop Salman Khan. Brands like Coca Cola, Suzuki or Unilever have all talked about an integrity and ethical based management style, social governance and social responsibility. They speak about being leaders in society. For them, to have a point of view and image and then also to have a convicted murderer as their brand ambassador, just doesn’t fit well.  If he continues as a brand ambassador, they will lose all credibility in terms of social integrity and leadership,” the manager says.

     

    A media executive dealing with celebrity brand endorsements, on condition of anonymity, too remarks in the negative. Speaking about the outrage on social media, he says, “Yes, you will have a large number of people expressing their sympathies. That’s the fan base and they and will support him. From their perspective, if he has killed someone and then bribed the driver maybe to take the blame, the person does not deserve to go to jail.”

     

    Providing another insight, he adds, “Having to listen to what his supporters have to say is very polarizing. One section also strongly feels that he should go to jail and as a marketer you cannot have something polarizing. Yes, he has a fan base but it is going to antagonize the majority. Brands have no choice but to drop Salman Khan. They continued their association until now as the case was on-going and it was a matter of being innocent until proven guilty.”

     

    On his expected appeal in the high court, the executive remarks, “He will appeal in the High Court but he bottom line is that he is guilty until proven otherwise.”

     

    The advertising industry has always spoken aggressively about ethics and honesty. Echoing the same sentiments, a creative director of a reputed organization says, “As he has been officially convicted for breaking the law, it would be moral suicide for brands if they still stick to Salman Khan… at least till the time that he has served his term in jail. He has been lying to the court that he was not on driver’s seat when the accident took place and one after another conspiracy theorieswere put forth. He has a huge fan base and certainly they will stick to him even now but a criminal is a criminal and brands should not make him the face of promotion, in my opinion.”

     

    Khan was also the host of the popular reality show Bigg Boss on Colors. The channel was supposed to have his services as host in the upcoming season too.When enquired about the impact of court’s verdict, a source in the channel says, “It is too early to make a statement on this as the show is still four to five months away.”

     

    While there was a bloodbath on the bourses today, with the Sensex and Nifty falling 723 points and 228 points respectively, media scrips associated with the actor like Eros International Media and Mandhana Industries also saw a fall following the court’s verdict. Eros International Media, which owns the global rights of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Hero, fell 5.72 per cent to close the day at Rs 380.80. On the other hand, Mandhana Industries, which has the exclusive global license to design, manufacture, retail and distribute Khan’s Being Human Clothing line, was down 4.24 per cent and closed the day at Rs 264.54.

  • Havas Media Group re-organises Asia Pacific operations

    Havas Media Group re-organises Asia Pacific operations

    MUMBAI: Havas Media Group has re-organised its Asia Pacific operations with the formation of a separate Greater China cluster, which will report into its Global Executive Committee.

     

    The re-organisation is part of the group’s strategy to increase focus on priority markets by turning them into strategic business units with direct supervision from the global team. The rest of the Asia Pacific region will continue to be overseen by the current management helmed by Vishnu Mohan.

     

    Additionally, Havas Media Group has also appointed Christophe Cases as CEO for Greater China.

     

    In his new role, Cases will oversee the group’s operations in Greater China and will be responsible for growing the business across the three markets of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

     

    He will focus on accelerating the expansion of the Havas Media Group’s services and the adoption of the agency’s collaborative ‘Havas Village’ model that unifies creative, media, and other specialist services to enable clients to capitalise on the meaningful connections and agility created by integrated communications strategies.

     

    Based out of Shanghai, Cases will report to the Group Executive Committee and Havas Media Group global managing director Dominique Delport.

     

    Prior to joining Havas, Chase spent more than two decades in management consulting with companies like Accenture, Capgemini, and Ernst & Young and worked around the world with global brands as an acknowledged expert in customer and growth strategy, new product/service launch, market expansion, and building high performing customer-centric organisations.

     

    Most recently, Chase was managing director with Accenture in Greater China where he was leading the Accenture Strategy practice looking after consumer goods, retail, and pharmaceutical clients and focused in particular on digital, marketing analytics, and e-commerce. Prior to relocating to Shanghai, he had been working with Accenture since 2006 in the US, as leader in the operations strategy practice.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Delport said, “Christophe has an incredible track record of success as a management consultant working with some of the top consulting companies around the world. He also has a deep understanding of the complex and exciting market in China. I have experienced firsthand Christophe’s intelligence, fresh strategic vision and enormous capacity to innovate. His ability to thrive during intense periods of growth and activity will be invaluable as we take our operations in China to the next level.”

     

    Chase added, “I am very excited to be joining Havas Media Group at this exciting stage of its global evolution. There is an established momentum within the group. Its integrated proposition combining creative, media, data, content, and range of digital specialties is getting a lot of attention from stakeholders in the industry. I look forward to leveraging this energy and the group’s vision to accelerate its growth and expansion in one of the world’s largest and most exciting economies.”

  • Zenithoptimedia wins creative duties of Faaso’s

    Zenithoptimedia wins creative duties of Faaso’s

    MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia Mumbai has won the media mandate for Faaso’s following a multi-agency pitch. The mandate will cover all aspects of the company’s media planning & buying, and will also include digital and OOH duties as well. The account will be handled out of the agency’s Mumbai office.         

     

    Faaso’s co-founder and CMO Revant Bhate said, “We needed a partner in Mumbai who has a deep understanding of the consumer Internet space and it’s complex ever-evolving relationship with media touch points. ZenithOptimedia impressed us with their strategic framework and ability to execute with speed and accuracy.”

     

    ZenithOptimedia Group CEO Anupriya Acharya added, “This is a significant win for ZO in a sector that is fast growing and future facing. It is indeed a matter of pride for us to be partnering with Faaso’s.”