ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • Publicis Groupe to acquire Sapient for $3.7 billion

    Publicis Groupe to acquire Sapient for $3.7 billion

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe and Sapient have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Publicis Groupe will acquire Sapient in an all-cash transaction for $3.7 billion, or $25 per share.

     

    The agreement has been approved unanimously by the management and supervisory boards of Publicis Groupe and the board of directors of Sapient.

     

    Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Maurice Levy said, “Sapient is a ‘crown jewel,’ a one of a kind company born in the technology space with strengths in marketing, communications, consulting and omni-channel commerce, all of which are equally important to best help clients achieve their digital transformation. It will also give Publicis Groupe access to new markets and creating new revenue streams.”

     

    “This acquisition fulfills many of Publicis Groupe’s objectives: we will enhance our leadership position in digital, achieve our goal of deriving 50% of our revenues from Publicisgroupe.com 3/9 digital and technology three years ahead of our 2018 plan, and leverage technology, consulting capabilities to expand in new verticals, and offering new and exciting opportunities to our talents,” he added.

     

    The acquisition will accelerate achieving Publicis Groupe’s objective to become the leader at the convergence of communication, marketing, commerce and technology, said the press release.

     

    Through this, the company will create a platform to be named Publicis.Sapient, which will focused exclusively on digital transformation and the dynamics of an always-on world across marketing, omni-channel commerce, consulting and technology.

     

    Sapient CEO and co-Chairman Alan J Herrick will also be joining Publicis Groupe senior management team as CEO of Publicis.Sapient and Sapient co-founder and co-chairman Jerry A Greenberg will join the company’s supervisory board.

     

    Sapient president, CEO and co-chairman Alan J Herrick added, “This transaction provides substantial value to our shareholders, offers an ideal cultural match for our people and provides an opportunity to share a wealth of new capabilities with our clients.”

     

    “The Sapient team has been on a 24-year journey building a company with the objective of creating significant impact for our clients and the industries in which they operate. With Publicis Groupe, we have found a partner that accelerates the level of transformation we can drive into the marketplace,” he further stated.

     

    The combination of Publicis Groupe and Sapient is expected to drive cost savings through the integration of digital production leveraging Sapient’s substantial production infrastructure in India, real estate consolidation, G&A reductions and procurement savings, said the companies in a joint statement.

     

    “The newly created Publicis.Sapient platform will create significant opportunities for our tremendously talented people across the platform. We will also be able to deploy our capabilities on a global scale through Publicis Groupe’s significant international presence. With access to the world’s greatest creative talent and media expertise, as well as a strong global footprint, we will be better positioned to identify and pursue market opportunities all over the world,” added Herrick.

     

    In connection with the tender offer, Jerry A Greenberg, J Stuart Moore, and Alan J Herrick have entered into a tender and support agreement with Publicis Groupe pursuant to which they have agreed to tender an aggregate of approximately 18 per cent of Sapient’s outstanding shares in the offer.

     

    The completion of the tender offer is subject to certain customary terms and conditions, including the tender of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of Sapient, antitrust and other regulatory clearances in the US, and antitrust clearance in Germany. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.

     

    The completion of the tender offer is subject to certain customary terms and conditions, including the tender of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of Sapient, antitrust and other regulatory clearances in the US, and antitrust clearance in Germany. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, added the press release.

     

    BofA Merrill Lynch and Rothschild acted as financial advisors and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as legal advisor to Publicis Groupe while Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Blackstone Advisory Partners L.P. acted as financial advisors and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP acted as legal advisor to Sapient.

  • Abhijit Avasthi bids adieu to Ogilvy

    Abhijit Avasthi bids adieu to Ogilvy

    MUMBAI: The national creative director of Ogilvy, Abhijit Avasthi, has decided to move on from the agency after almost 15 years.

     

    Known as one of the gems of Piyush Pandey, Avasthi has been instrumental in some of the memorable ad campaigns for brands like Coca Cola, Cadbury, Fevicol etc.

     

    “Advertising has taught and exposed me a lot of things. Taking these learnings, I want to move on to do something which I love over and above advertising,” says Avasthi and adds, “It would have been unfair on both me and Ogilvy if I cannot give my 100 per cent to what I love doing.”

    “Both Piyush and Rajiv (Rao) have been aware of my intentions for a while now and have been very supportive about it,” he says while adding that his exit was planned well so that things don’t fall out of place at the agency.

     

    With an engineering background, Avasthi started his advertising career in 1997 at Enterprise Nexus as a trainee writer. After working there for two years, he went on to join Ogilvy as creative supervisor. In 2002, he was then made creative director and in 2005 was elevated as group creative director.

     

     “I’m taking a break to figure out what should be my next move,” he informs.

     

    A memo regarding his exit was sent out on 28 October 2014 to the employees. “He is currently serving his notice period and will be associated with the agency till end of November,” says a source within the company.

     

    The memo reads:

     

    After a stunning performance as National Creative Director Ogilvy India, Kinu has opted for a creative twist in his professional story.  He has chosen to go independent and would also be pursuing some of his other interests.  Consequently, he will give up his responsibilities as N.C.D. as of 30 November 2014.  However, Ogilvy India is the first to associate with Kinu in his new endeavour and he will be our Creative Consultant on a few key projects.  Kinu will also partner Rajiv and me in developing and implementing a robust on-going creative training programme for Ogilvy India.

     

    Kinu’s contribution to our creative reputation, first as a senior creative team member and then as N.C.D. with Rajiv Rao, has resulted in the new age creative revolution at Ogilvy.  He has helped build great brands, client relationships and a super strong creative culture in our organisation.  His reputation extends beyond India and he is respected as one of India’s most talented creative professionals.

     

    Rajiv Rao will take full charge of the National Creative responsibilities and will discuss the creative responsibilities of current creative leaders over the next few weeks.
     

    Meanwhile, we salute Kinu for his immense contributions and wish him the very best in his next inning.

     

  • DDB Mudra West ropes in Manish Darji as ECD

    DDB Mudra West ropes in Manish Darji as ECD

    MUMBAI: In a bid to further fortify its creative mandate, DDB Mudra West has appointed Manish Darji as executive creative director.

     

    With over 15 years of experience, Darji joins DDB Mudra Group, from BBH India. He’s worked with agencies such as McCann Erickson, Ogilvy, Rediffusion Y&R and Bates 141 and has worked on world renowned brands such as Coca Cola, NDTV, Western Union, WWF, Incredible India, Fevicol, Cadbury, Tata Nano, Virgin Mobile, Skoda, CRY, TVS Wego, Marico, Vaseline and Vat 69.

     

    This is Darji’s second stint with DDB Mudra Group.  Darji said, “DDB Mudra is undergoing a transformation and it’s always great to be a part of change. The agency has a terrific roster of clients who I’m keen to work with. I’m also happy to be working with Rahul again and create some spectacular work.”

     

    DDB Mudra West creative head Rahul Mathew said, “I’ve worked with Manish Darji at various stages of his career, and he has been a different Manish each time. It is this doggedness of his to keep evolving that makes him one of the finest in the country. With his unique and inimitable style, he harnesses the power of design to create solutions for many brands. Little wonder that work has been applauded and celebrated at various forums. And we can’t wait for him to create a lot more magic with us.”

     

  • Karishma Lintas wins the creative mandate of Paper Boat

    Karishma Lintas wins the creative mandate of Paper Boat

    MUMBAI: Karishma Lintas, a part of Lintas India group, has won the creative mandate of Paper Boat. Karishma Lintas edged out Happy Creative Services & Dentsu in the multi-agency pitch that was held a few weeks ago.

     

    As its partner, Karishma Lintas would be responsible for providing creative insights and solutions to Paper Boat and will also chart out strategic recommendation, positioning and marketing of brand Paper Boat across various media.

     

    Hector Beverages CEO Neeraj Kakkar commented: “Design thinking is at the crux of Paper Boat and we believe that the same applies for Karishma Lintas. With a very clear mandate in mind, we decided to appoint Karishma Lintas as the creative agency for our brand. Backed by a strong team and disruptive ideas we were very confident about our choice and the quality of deliveries. Karishma Lintas understands our brand sensibilities and their work has been inspiring.”

     

    Paper Boat was launched nationally in August 2013 and is among the fast-growing juice brands from the stable of Hector Beverages. Paper Boat started out with two variants – Jaljeera and Aamras, and has since expanded its lineup to include seven new flavours comprising Aamras, Jaljeera, Jamun, Kalakhatta, Aam Pana, Kokum, Imli Ka Amlana and Golgappe Ka Paani. Its latest offering includes traditionally brewed Tulsi Tea and Ginger and Lemon.

     

    The agency’s executive director GV Krishnan said, “We admire the vision and purpose of brand Paper Boat aspiring to reduce cynicism in society and to reaffirm faith in life. Through our creative solutions, we genuinely believe that we could win the heart of every Indian by emotionally connecting with his childhood memory and serving them a delicious traditional Indian drink to savour. We’ve had inspiring and transparent discussions with the founders of Paper Boat and are excited to create an awesome portfolio going ahead for Karishma Lintas.”

     

    Paper Boat is backed by Sequoia Capital, Catamaran Ventures (NR Narayan Murthy’s VC firm) and Foot Print Ventures and is run by industry veterans – Neeraj Kakkar, James Nutall, Suhas Misra and Neeraj Biyani.

  • Mashable signs partnership with MEC to license its proprietary velocity technology

    Mashable signs partnership with MEC to license its proprietary velocity technology

    MUMBAI: Mashable and MEC have announced a partnership that would give MEC access to Mashable’s Velocity platform, a technology that predicts and tracks the viral life cycle of digital media content.

     

    Developed by Mashable’s in-house product team, Velocity scours the web collecting data around how people engage with content and feeds the information into an algorithm, which forecasts what content is about to go viral. The Velocity platform is at the forefront of predictive analytics and is unique in that it canvases the entire web—more than one million URLs a day.

     

     MEC is one of the first to sign a year-long deal for the proprietary Velocity technology from Mashable. With Velocity MEC will now have access to an important new tool for predictive media buying, helping to future proof its clients’ communication strategies.

     

     “We initially developed Velocity to help our editorial and marketing teams build Mashable into one of the most shared publishers on the web, and now we are giving select agencies and brands the same opportunity to see what will go viral next,” said Mashable chief technology officer Robyn Peterson. “The power of data can be used in a variety of industries and we’re excited to be teaming up with one of the leading media agencies to explore all that Velocity has to offer in the media buying space.”

     

     “MEC is on a mission to move past real time marketing to predictive marketing and partnering with Mashable to put Velocity in the hands of our teams will give us the edge we are looking for,” said MEC North America digital president Shenan Reed. “With Velocity at our fingertips we will be able to lead our clients to being more nimble and opportunistic across owned, earned and paid channels, ensuring both they and MEC remain at the forefront of driving transformational digital solutions. We believe that Mashable’s Velocity platform will be instrumental in building the next generation of marketing and media, and will help to deliver on our ambition to create the best digital offer in the business.”

     

     “We’re thrilled to bring our proprietary algorithm, which has served our editors and readers so well over the years, to the world-class portfolio of brands MEC serves on a daily basis,” said Mashable chief revenue officer Seth Rogin. “We look forward to working with MEC to help their brands meet the evolving challenges of the digital evolution and guide their earned, owned and paid media executions.”

  • Kartik Smetacek joins L&K Saatchi & Saatchi as ECD

    Kartik Smetacek joins L&K Saatchi & Saatchi as ECD

    MUMBAI: While adding to its brand portfolio with a recent spate of business wins, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi have also been adding people to its growing teams across office. A recent addition has been the appointment of Kartik Smetacek as executive creative director.

     

    L&K Saatchi & Saatchi national creative director Charles Victor said, “Acquiring talent has and will be our focus across offices. Great work can only come from wonderful creative people and I believe Kartik is definitely one of them. He has extensive, diverse experience and I love the fact that he’s hungry to take on bigger responsibilities and challenges.” Charles added that bringing people like Kartik into the system was one of the many steps taken to raise the creative bar, the results of which will soon be seen.

     

    Fully immersed in work already, Smetacek said, “While my time at ideas@work was rewarding on many fronts, I missed the scale and opportunity that a big agency provides. So when Praveen and Charles offered me Renault, I jumped at the chance to work on a marquee international brand and in a category as buzzing as automobiles.”

     

    On challenges that await, he said, “I think the agency is at a point of inflection with a clear mandate to become one of the key Saatchi & Saatchi offices in the region. I’m excited to be part of this journey.”

     

    Through the many years of experience behind him, Smetacek has worked on diverse brands like Airtel, Colgate Palmolive, Taj Hotels, Cadbury, DNA, Lakme, Tata Motors, Nerolac, Bigrock and Rustomjee, to name a few.

  • Madison Media Group creates “Wills Rock the Ramp” 360 degree selfie booth

    Madison Media Group creates “Wills Rock the Ramp” 360 degree selfie booth

    MUMBAI: Marrying social and on ground engagement, Wills Lifestyle and Madison Media devised the concept of “Wills Rock the Ramp” a 360 degree Vine booth – a twist to the traditional twirl people do to show off what they’re wearing! Instead of doing the twirl yourself, the cameras and modern technology does the twirling and the same could be shared on social networks.

    Users simply had to step into the booth and the revolving camera shoots a 4-6 second video, showing a 360 view of what they’re wearing to the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week. These videos are shared on the Wills Lifestyle Vine page and Wills Lifestyle Facebook and Twitter pages.

     The Technology for the “Wills Rock the Ramp” 360 degree Vine Booth was developed and implemented by Tagglabs.
    Mr. Atul Chand, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Lifestyle Retailing, said“Wills Lifestyle has always been at the forefront of innovation and driven the business of fashion in India with style. Being at the helm of creativity and novelty, we have integrated modern technology with fashion yet again this season, thereby creating 360 degree brand conversations. In this edition, Wills Lifestyle takes another leap with many firsts on the Indian fashion runway by introducing a 360-degree selfie booth.”

    Basabdatta Chowdhuri, CEO Platinum Media, says “Our Endeavour is to provide the best solutions to our clients irrespective of the platform. We want our brands to leverage new platforms and create high level engagements for consumers.”

    Amit Duggal, Director (Digital) Madison, says “The idea was conceptualized keeping in mind that it should be easy to use and instantly sharable. We wanted to capture the moments which were happening during the event and share it with the world and lead to higher engagement for the brand.”

    Madison Media has won several awards in the Digital and Mobile domain with the latest one being The Festival of Media Global Award and Asia Pacific Award for Parachute Advansed Ayurvedic Hair Oil for convincing consumers to become the brand’s sales force leveraging the power of Mobile.   The agency also won a Yahoo Big Idea Chair for its campaign on Airtel, Har ek Friend Zarori Hai.  At the Emvies Awards held last month, Madison Media also won a Gold for Best Innovation in Digital (Video) for Cadbury Bournville–Tape a Tweet.

     

    Madison Media Group is India’s foremost media agency handling media planning and buying for blue chip clients including Airtel, Godrej, Cadbury/Kraft, ITC, Marico, McDonald’s, Raymond, Piramal Healthcare, TVS, Levis, SpiceJet, Domino’s, BhartiAxa, Max Life Insurance, Asian Paints, Pidilite, Tata Salt, Acer, Lafarge Cement, Crompton Greaves, Times Television Network, Indian Oil, Enamor Lingerie, Gowardhan Dairy, Café Coffee Day and many others.  The gross billing of Madison Media is about Rs. 3000 crores.