ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • After Pops, exits continue at Leo Burnett

    After Pops, exits continue at Leo Burnett

    MUMBAI: It was in the month of April this year that the advertising fraternity got a shock with K V Sridhar’s exit news from Leo Burnett. Pops as the industry fondly calls him quit the creative agency after 17 years of association. Looks like with the legend leaving a few others too have decided to follow suit.

     

    Indiantelevision.com has learnt that over a dozen mid-level creative professionals have put in their papers at the agency. Highly placed sources within Leo Burnett confirmed the news.

     

    Leo Burnett chief creative officer RajDeepak Das was not reachable for comments at the time of filing the story.

     

    It can be noted that executive creative director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari who too had put in her papers a few months back is all set to make her debut in filmmaking.

     

    With Pops and Arvind Sharma, who bid adieu to the agency last year, gone the recent exits have definitely raised a few eyebrows. With the new leadership in place will the agency win back the confidence of creative guns? Only time will answer that.

  • Brands need to be honest, says Digital Law & Kenneth’s Anil Nair

    Brands need to be honest, says Digital Law & Kenneth’s Anil Nair

    MUMBAI: Those in the habit of not taking digital agencies seriously may want to do a rethink on that one, given the sheer number of campaigns being recognised at various industry events and awards ceremonies.

     

    A case in point is Digital Law & Kenneth, whose campaign fetched it the top honours at the recently concluded GoaFest.

     

    In conversation with indiantelevision.com, the agency’s CEO and managing partner Anil K Nair spills the beans on the award winning campaign, the changing digital ecosystem, the future and everything in between…

     

    How have marketers’ demands from social changed in recent years?

     

    Marketers have realised the growing power of social if done the right way. After having dabbled with social through its initial adoption, marketers are now looking at advanced uses of social i.e. lead generation, CRM, crowd sourcing, trend forecasting and the like.

     

    Elaborate on the Tata Capital ‘Half stories- The journey of doing right’ campaign that fetched you the Grand Pix at GoaFest?

     

    The Tata Capital ‘Half Stories’ campaign was a magical one. A campaign devised to bring alive the core proposition of “We do what’s right for you”.

     

    It was a crowd sourced, live action, social media reality show that travelled all the way from Dharamsala to Guwahati. All through this serendipitous drive, we discovered Half Stories of fortitude, courage and hope. We then invited people to participate in making the “Half Stories” of these courageous people complete by donating, supporting or simply popularising the cause on social media and through their networks.

     

    The idea was to inspire people to ‘Do Right’ by demonstrating the effect of philanthropy first hand.

     

    With the digital category grabbing attention at industry events like GoaFest, what do you think agencies should keep in mind to be consistent and innovative?

     

    There are opportunities galore for brands to meaningfully engage with their consumers. Agencies need to be alert to such passing opportunities and be ready to grab them with both hands. Also, agencies and clients need to create an infrastructure and ecosystem to be able to have a real time dialogue with their fans and consumers.

     

    What are the key things that brands should keep in mind to build a healthy social conversation?

     

    Brands need to be honest and use their heart more than their brain. Also, the conversation has to be about the consumer rather than the brand.

     

    What according to you makes a ‘hit’ campaign on social media?

     

    If you can make the idea shareable, you would have hit the jackpot.

     

    How do you think the Indian digital ecosystem will shape up in coming years?

     

    I am very gung ho about the way our digital ecosystem is shaping up. Expect many more path-breaking campaigns across brands in the times to come. Our general digital market ecosystem is fast attaining some level of maturity which will hopefully see a lot of mature work which goes beyond traditional banner innovations and Sholay rip-offs.

     

    How has the year 2014 been for Digital Law & Kenneth so far?

     

    It’s been fantastic. Our hard work over the last few years has paid off. We have a young vibrant team that lives and breathes digital while understanding traditional brand building frameworks. We have some really interesting campaigns lined up that will see the light of day in the months to come.

     

    What is on top of your wish list for the months to come?

     

    A world beating case study, a few Effies and Cannes, happy clients and, a super happy team – that’s all I wish for. Touche.

  • Red Fuse Communications wins Best Mobile Media Agency of the year

    Red Fuse Communications wins Best Mobile Media Agency of the year

    MUMBAI: Red Fuse Communications has been awarded the title of ‘Best Mobile Media Agency of the year’ at the Indian Digital Media Awards 2014. The agency was bestowed with a six award win at a platform that recognises, celebrates and encourages work in the digital field of advertising and marketing communications, especially internet, mobile, gaming, social media and the blogosphere.

     

    Red Fuse, WPP’s global full service agency, conceptualised and executed winning campaigns for Colgate-Palmolive. The win today further strengthened its mark in the industry and reinforced the relevance of horizontality in today’s diverse communication challenges.

     

    The agency has been awarded for the exemplary projects in the following categories: gold awards for Best Digital Direct Response Campaign designed for ‘The Great Colgate Pilgrimage’ and Best SEM Strategy for the campaign ‘The Next Door Dentist’.  The campaign for ‘The Great Colgate Pilgrimage’ won silver in the category Best Campaign Use of Mobile, while bronze medals for work done in the categories of Best Innovation in Mobile Marketing and Best Use of Social Networks. The awards also recognised Red Fuse’ efforts for ‘The Great Colgate Pilgrimage’ and ‘Smile Camera  Action’ campaigns respectively.

     

    Colgate-Palmolive VP-marketing Ajith Babu said, “On behalf of the Colgate team, we would like to congratulate the Red Fuse team for this commendable win. As our partners, they have contributed immensely to innovatively communicate with our consumers. We look forward to many such successful campaigns.”

     

    Red Fuse Communications CEO Shubha George added, “Complex challenges need the most innovative solutions. In India, location-based targeting has been used to primarily target people in the metros and has almost always used text messaging or WAP banner. This was the very first time in India a brand had used location-based voice communication and that too to a roaming rural subscriber. Being recognised and awarded on platforms only encourages us to push the limits and strive for more innovations. Red Fuse and our client Colgate-Palmolive work as true partners and the successful results of the new-age full service agency is here to stay.”

     

    The innovative location-based voice communication campaign has drawn national as well international recognition, with the agency winning several awards at global, regional and national events.

  • Vizeum India wins Allied Blenders and Distillers media duties

    Vizeum India wins Allied Blenders and Distillers media duties

    MUMBAI: Close on the heels of the last week’s announcement from Vizeum on its media duties win of Jet Airways, Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD) has now appointed Vizeum India as its media AoR (Agency on Record).

     

    The agency with this is tasked to play an important role in ABD’s initiatives to engage its valuable consumers. This win comes on the back of a multi-agency pitch which the client had initiated two months ago.

     

    ABD marketing head Ahmed Rahimtoola said, “Vizeum thoroughly impressed us with their thinking which was well balanced on our current realities as well as future aspirations. They also exhibited the right knowledge, energy, passion and the accountability we were looking for. We look forward to this partnership taking a good shape and wish them the very best.”  

     

    Indian Subcontinent, Vizeum Indian subcontinent MD S Yesudas said, “We are delighted with this win. This talks volumes about our ability to bring on board unique solutions for our clients. It is a challenging journey and we are quite excited to embark on it with ABD.  We are thankful to the client management for considering us worthy. This business will be handled out of our Mumbai office, led by Samarjit Rajkumar and assisted by his able team under Saumya Agarwal.”

     

    Vizeum, part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, successfully operates in 55 countries.

  • DDB Mudra west appoints Manoj Bhavnani as senior CD

    DDB Mudra west appoints Manoj Bhavnani as senior CD

    MUMBAI: Joining DDB Mudra west’s formidable creative force under the leadership of creative head, Rahul Mathew, is Manoj Bhavnani who has joined as senior creative director.

     

    Bhavnani joins DDB Mudra west from Bates India, where he was creative director working on some of the agency’s biggest accounts such as Fiat, Tata AIG and Colgate. He was a part of the RedFuse team, a group created by WPP to exclusively handle the communication duties for Colgate.

     

    With over 11 years of work experience and a degree in Statistics, Bhavnani has also worked with top agencies in the country including FCB Ulka (earlier known as Draft FCB Ulka), Lowe Lintas, Grey Worldwide and Ogilvy & Mather. He has also authored a novel, ‘Screwed!’ which has been published by Penguin in September 2012.

     

    Bhavnani said, “It’s an exciting time to be joining DDB Mudra. The agency has been creating great campaigns that have picked up many awards. Rahul, Rajiv and Sonal have placed their faith in me to keep up the quality of work, and I hope I will repay their faith in the time to come.”

     

    Mathew added, “Over the past five months, Rajiv & I have been working hard at improving our product. Manoj is yet another step in this direction. He brings sound thinking and a lot of enthusiasm to our talented bunch. And am sure he will prove to be an essential cog in our creative machinery.”

       

    DDB Mudra west president Rajiv Sabnis said, “Manoj is talented professional who has cut his teeth on demanding large brands in some of the best agencies. His ability to produce consistently good creative work on global, process-driven businesses really got us talking. We look forward to his contribution, especially on J&J Beauty Care, and hope that he has long innings in DDB Mudra.”

  • CNBC Awaaz hunts for a digital agency

    CNBC Awaaz hunts for a digital agency

    MUMBAI: Looks like news channels are not only focusing to revamp content but are also looking at revising their marketing strategies.

     

    CNBC Awaaz is currently in the process of scouting for a digital partner. Industry sources have confirmed that the multi agency pitch is underway in Delhi. The size of the account could not be understood at the time of filing the report. According to sources, the news channel is looking at refreshing its social media presence. Currently, the channel has around 67,928 likes on Facebook and over 20,600 followers on Twitter. It can be noted that the popular shows of the channel have separate profiles on social media. The channel internally too has an active social media team.

     

    In another development, Zee News has called for a creative pitch which is also underway in Delhi. The incumbent agency on Zee News’ account is Bang in the Middle. It is understood that the news channels want to bring on board boutique agencies because of tight budgets.

     

    It will be interesting to see how both channels smartly revise their marketing strategies to grab the attention of viewers across multiple screens in the coming days.

  • Global Advertisers rolls out OOH campaign for Charagh Din

    Global Advertisers rolls out OOH campaign for Charagh Din

    MUMBAI: Charagh Din a mega shirt store that today is one of the few established names in the Indian fashion community has launched its outdoor campaign with Global Advertisers. The campaign targets the HNI segment customer with objectives of increasing footfalls and spreading awareness about Charagh Din, across Mumbai. The message is being communicated through Global’s large size hoardings that have been effectively communicating Charagh Din’s unique collection to their consumers 24X7.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers, said, ‘The impact of the campaign has matched our expectations. We have executed the Charagh Din’s campaign on premium hoardings.Our research team spent time selecting hoardings that helped Charagh Din generate footfalls at the store. Glamorous creatives on the hoardings further enhanced our reach and engaged target consumers more effectively.”

  • Maxus brings Navin Khemka on board as managing partner

    Maxus brings Navin Khemka on board as managing partner

    MUMBAI: Maxus has appointed Navin Khemka as its managing partner. Khemka will be heading the north and east regions for the media agency and will also be responsible for new business development across the country. He will report to Maxus south Asia managing director Kartik Sharma.

     

    With over 17 years of experience in the advertising and media industry, Khemka’s last appointment was with ZenithOptimedia, where he left as managing partner. With a tenure spanning the last eight years, he was initially the trading lead for key accounts such as Nestle and HP. He subsequently took over the business leadership of the HP account, delivering some award winning campaigns such as the HP Serena Williams campaign at Lakme Fashion Week. Thereafter he took on the additional role of new business director for India. He was instrumental in bringing on new clients such as Honda, Toshiba, Uninor, McVities, Karbonn Mobiles, Godfrey Philips, Best Rice, Greenlam Laminates, Olx.in, Jabong.com, Yatra.com at ZenithOptimedia.

     

    Sharma said, “Navin comes with a varied skill set and extensive experience across various product categories. He is an ideal leader to spearhead the Maxus team, and uphold our PACE value system across the organistaion.  At Maxus we endeavour to push the boundaries to delivering excellence for our clients, to achieve our 10/10 mandate.”

     

    Khemka said, “I am delighted to be a part of India’s most dynamic agency – Maxus.  Brand needs are changing and Maxus is geared up to providing a holistic solution to its clients. I look forward to work closely with the team and help provide seamless, media neutral solutions to our clients. Driving growth for Maxus in existing and new geographies also makes my role challenging. I am looking forward to exciting days ahead.”

     

    A graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and MICA, Khemka started his career with Mudra where he worked for five years. Prior to ZenithOptimedia, Navin worked at Cheil Communications, Mindshare and Carat.