ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • Tata AIA Life Insurance ropes Amitabh Verma as COO

    Tata AIA Life Insurance ropes Amitabh Verma as COO

    MUMBAI: Tata AIA Life Insurance Company (Tata AIA Life) has added a new member to its senior management team with the appointment of Amitabh Verma as its chief operating officer (COO).

     

    Based out of the company’s headquarters in Mumbai, Verma will primarily be responsible for driving operational excellence across the company, and shall be reporting directly to Suresh Mahalingam, the CEO of the comany.

     

    Operational Excellence includes design, implementation and improvement of policies and procedures that Tata AIA Life uses to create and deliver its solutions.

     

    “I am very excited to help lead the company to its next phase of innovation through operational excellence initiatives, which will be a key part of the strategy of Tata AIA Life going ahead. Working together, we will not only accelerate the adoption of Right technologies and processes, but also do so in a way that delivers long-term value to customers and shareholders alike,” said Verma.

     

    Verma is an engineer and a management graduate from institutes of highest repute. He has over 23 years of experience in the Insurance and Information Technology business. Most recently, he served as the chief operating officer of Birla Sun Life Insurance, where he was responsible for scaling up the business and, developing and deploying strategies for growth.

     

    Verma has had a stint with Tata AIA Life during 2001 to 2005. He also worked with the AIA Group in Hong Kong from 2006 to 2008 as IT and operations vice president.

  • Micromax brings on board Sanjay Kapoor as chairman

    Micromax brings on board Sanjay Kapoor as chairman

    MUMBAI: Micromax brings on abroad Sanjay Kapoor, former CEO of Bharti Airtel, to the Micromax promoter group and chairman of the board with immediate effect.

     

    This development reflects Micromax’s vision of stepping up to the next phase of growth of the company.  

     

    Commenting on the development Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma said, “We are glad to have Sanjay to be a part of Micromax’s promoter group and on our board as the new Chairman. Sanjay is one of the most respected professionals in the Indian corporate world and has been instrumental in building some of the most successful technology brands in the country over the past three decades. I am confident that he will be able to provide required strategic direction to take our billion dollar business to the next level of growth and expansion.”

     

    “Sanjay’s strategic and inspirational leadership skills will certainly provide strong impetus to Micromax as we pursue our aim to be the first Indian hardware brand driving success globally. He will be instrumental in building synergies for our existing international businesses and spearhead our foray into other international markets in the near future,” added Sharma.

     

    On his appointment, Kapoor said, “I am excited as an entrepreneur to be a part of the promoter group and as a professional to lead the Micromax board & management. I look forward to adding value to all stakeholders leveraging my strengths in building scale, developing brands and understanding consumers. There is a tremendous potential for Micromax, a vibrant youth brand that has led the democratization of technology for masses, offering affordable innovations to the consumers.”

     

    “Micromax is truly the new age brand that has made an indelible mark on the industry within a short time by changing the dynamics of the mobile eco-system. Proliferation in data services and cutting edge devices that make technology affordable for masses will be critical for next phase of growth and I am confident that Micromax will lead this transition,” mentioned Kapoor.

  • Bates CHI&Partners to acquire Temple Advertising

    Bates CHI&Partners to acquire Temple Advertising

    MUMBAI: Bates CHI&Partners announces it has agreed to acquire the business and assets of Temple Advertising, a boutique advertising agency based in Bangalore.

     

    “Bates CHI&Partners defined business mission is to create big Ideas for ambitious brands,” said Bates CHI&Partners CEO David Mayo. “In developing our strategy in India we are building a creative network with scale,” he added. “Temple is a renowned creative agency with a strong reputation and a broad vision of the world and with them around the table, we will deliver on this promise.” 

     

    Temple is a Bangalore-based advertising boutique agency co-founded in 2004 by Manmohan Anchan, Vidur Vohra and Srikanth VS.

     

    Srikanth VS will become CEO and Manmohan Anchan will become CCO of Bates CHI&Partners in India and they will jointly assume the role of managing partner of the group overseeing all five Bates CHI&Partners offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Dhaka.

     

    Srikanth said, “We are incredibly excited to be part of a new agency set up in a new India environment and we hope to capture this new mood to build our business.”

     

    To underline the partnership and collaboration principles of this company, the agencies in Bangalore will merge and become Bates CHI&Temple, with the rest of the network retaining the original Bates CHI&Partners branding.

     

    Anchan said, “At Temple, we pride ourselves on our work. If it sells, it’s working. If it builds a brand, it’s working. We don’t create work for clients or juries, we create work that works. The time is right for a new agency in India to give variety to the current order of things.”

     

    Temple has worked with clients across diverse categories such as automotive, education, fashion and retail, FMCG, foods, media & entertainment, real estate and technology. Their clients include Embassy Group, eTV Kannada, Future Lifestyle Fashions (including Indigo Nation, Scullers, Manchester United, Jealous21), Pearson Education, Reliance Trends, Sumeru Frozen Foods, TVS Motors, Vaswani Group and Wipro Technologies.

  • SMG Convonix creates a digital campaign for OLX

    SMG Convonix creates a digital campaign for OLX

    MUMBAI: SMG Convonix, an integrated digital marketing solutions company and part of Starcom MediaVest Group, has come up with a unique integrated experiential digital media campaign for OLX “Phone ko banao SELLphone”.  OLX, in a marketing campaign across TV, radio, and outdoor, is promoting a new concept of ‘sell-phone,’ focusing on three core communication points click-upload-sell.

     

    The digital ad campaign by the digital agency trendily allows the users to sell off household things virtually by just experiencing this innovation on web though their mobile phones. This mobile sync web campaign goes live on Yahoo and MSN from 4 and 5 June, respectively.

     

    Women have always been an integral part of the brand communication at OLX. With ‘Phone ko banao Sell-Phone’ OLX celebrates the individuality and independence of the new-age Indian woman. The campaign displays OLX mobile App as a tool of empowerment for women, allowing them to earn money, and unclutter from the convenience of their homes.

     

    The technical capabilities of SMG Convonix and integrated digital marketing solutions drive synergies across various elements of the online ecosystem to architect solutions that sit right at the heart of their clients’ business imperatives.

     

    OLX India CEO Amarjit Batra said, “The current campaign “Phone ko banao SELLphone” stemmed from the insight that it is easier to use a classifieds platform from a mobile phone than a desktop PC. The campaign tries to highlight that online selling is fun and convenient”.

     

     “This innovation is an attempt to deliver the joy of selling through mobile, and displays the ease of the OLX mobile App. With this campaign we intend to give our users the best possible user experience,” he added.

     

    SMG Convonix CEO Vishal Sampat said, “With this mobile and web sync innovation we have tried to break the clutter in the digital ad space and bring out the realistic experience of making your phone a “SELLphone.  We wanted to take this several notches higher by creating a truly unparalleled interactive digital campaign by gamifying the website.”

     

     He added, “There is a lot of information this communication had to convey. It had to explain what digital ad campaign is, how it benefits consumers and how to access your phone to sell. We hope that this innovation will not just create awareness about the brand but also give an opportunity to experience the ease of use for the OLX mobile App.”

     

  • Digital movie marketing takes centre stage at Media Abby’s 2014

    Digital movie marketing takes centre stage at Media Abby’s 2014

    MUMBAI: Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, South Asia’s largest digital entertainment and marketing company has been awarded a Gold Abby at the recently concluded Media Abby’s 2014. The company was awarded the “Best Use of Social Media” title for the social media campaign of Krrish 3, the biggest Indian superhero franchise.

     

    With digital movie marketing taking centre stage at the Media Abby’s, the Krrish 3 campaign won accolades for attaining the highest reach any Bollywood movie has ever achieved across digital platforms along with several other firsts. 

     

    To create a stir across digital platforms for the biggest superhero franchise in India, Hungama adopted a multi-pronged approach to expose every digital consumer to the movie and its various facets by creating a Krrish 3 website, a digital motion poster, social game, motion comic and mobile app along with using social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

     

    On social media, Krrish 3 set new benchmarks in movie marketing by reaching out to 63 million fans across the globe, in addition to –

     

    • Being the first Bollywood movie page to be verified on Facebook with nearly 35 lakh ’Likes’

     

    • Right from the Facebook Live Chat with Krrish 3 actors to the release of digital comics, Facebook played an instrumental role in providing fans with information about Krrish 3

     

    • The film’s lead actor’s live chat had participation from 4.15 lakh fans from nearly 60 Countries

     

    • Krrish 3 also became the first Indian movie to have a collection of Facebook stickers

    With more than 45,000 followers, Hungama created a unique campaign on Twitter as well

     

    • For the first time ever, Twitter users were asked to use their tweet-power to break a virtual wall that would unveil the first look of the much-awaited movie

     

    • The campaign kicked off with the film’s lead actor Hrithik Roshan tweeting about the #Krrish3FirstLook contest. Every tweet helped to break a brick, thereby giving a sneak peak of the first look

     

    •  The activity received over 2 lakh tweets in four days and trended worldwide for 3 consecutive days

     

    • The digital poster unveiling on Twitter achieved over 6 lakh views in just 3 days.

     

    The Bollywood blockbuster was the first Indian movie to tie-up with Apple’s iTunes. iTunes had a separate destination page set up for Krrish 3, thereby increasing the reach. While, on YouTube, the theatrical trailer of Krrish 3 gained more than 12 million views within 10 days of its launch, beating the international record of several Hollywood films.

     

    The Krrish 3 social game, developed in association with Microsoft, Hungama and Gameshastra, let users relive the superhero’s life; perform stunts and use gadgets and weapons to eliminate enemies. It became the most widely downloaded free game in the India with over 2 million global downloads on the Google Play Store and Apple iTunes Store.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment said, “Krrish 3 was one of the biggest Bollywood films of 2013. The film was highly anticipated and tapping on to the enthusiasm, we at Hungama, created an extensive digital & social media campaign for the film. The campaign bagging the Gold award at Media Abby’s 2014 is very prestigious for us. To be awarded for the unique concepts assures us that digital movie marketing has a great scope and the digital medium is vital today in order to reach out to a broader audience.”

     

    Delighted at the win, Hrithik Roshan said, “”We tried to use the social media to the max while promoting Krrish3 and I am really happy today that the campaign has bagged a Gold win at the Prestigious ABBY Goa Fest. I would like to thank our digital partners Team Hungama and Team Exceed for ideating the same and working in tandem to make Krrish3’s social media campaign a powerful one.” 

     

    In addition to Krrish 3, Hungama Digital has recently worked on the digital campaigns for movies like Sholay 3D and Kochadaiiyaan The Legend.

  • Anil Dua bids adieu to Hero MotoCorp

    Anil Dua bids adieu to Hero MotoCorp

    MUMBAI: Hero MotoCorp has announced the resignation of senior vice-president for marketing and sales Anil Dua.

     

    The company statement mentioned that Dua has decided to pursue an opportunity outside of the company and will continue in his current role till 24 June 2014. Dua has been with the company since 2006 and is credited with having helped the company evolve its brand after it parted ways with its 26-year-old joint venture partner Honda Motor Co. in December 2010.

     

    Commenting on the development, Hero MotoCorp managing director and chief executive Pawan Munjal said, “He played an important role in doubling of sales volumes and increasing market share during the past eight years. I thank Anil for his contributions, and wish him all the very best in his future endeavour.” 

     

    According to a statement issued by the company, the national marketing and sales functions will continue to be headed by Sanjeev Shukla and A. Srinivasu respectively. On the other hand the national dealer development and after-sales service functions will remain with Ajay Dikshitand Rajesh Mukhija, respectively.

  • Contract hires senior CDs to beef up Tata Docomo team

    Contract hires senior CDs to beef up Tata Docomo team

    MUMBAI: Contract Advertising has brought on board Abhishek Chaswal and Rupesh Sahay as VP and senior creative directors on the Tata Docomo business. Both Chaswal and Sahay will be reporting to Contract Delhi executive creative director Mayur Hola.

     

     “Rupesh and Abhishek together bring a unique blend to Contract. Chaswal has his own special blend of madness and indeed an unfettered, entrepreneurial spirit. His approach to communication is unique and media agnostic. Rupesh on the other hand is a multi-talented and supremely gifted individual. A national award winning documentary film maker, he is also a brilliant art director and one of the most responsible leaders I have come across. I am sure that together they will make Contract proud and enjoy their time here as much as Contract will enjoy having them,” said Hola.

     

    Chaswal, who joins in from Cheil was responsible for the work on Delhi Daredevils, Halonix and the Samsung TV range. With an experience of close to 14 years, Chaswal started his career in a direct marketing agency as a copywriter. Eventually he moved into main stream advertising where he worked with agencies such as Everest, Euro RSCG (now, Havas) and Leo Burnett. During the course of his career he has worked across a broad spectrum of brands such as PSI, Aaj Tak, Mortein, MakeMyTrip, Max New York Life, Voltas, Minute Maid, The Indian Express, Bilt and Tetra Pak to name a few. A well awarded creative, Chaswal’s work has received recognition in national and international advertising award shows like Goafest, New York Festivals, Adfest and The Work.

     

     “I join Contract with the hunger to realise brave ideas that work for the brand as well as for the audience and the agency; and with Ashish Chakravarty leading the creative, I am sure the journey to the sweet spot will be memorable,” said Chaswal.

     

    It’s a homecoming of sorts for Sahay for whom this is a second stint at Contract.  Sahay joins in from DDB Mudra where he was the senior CD. A graduate of the Banaras Hindu University, he has worked at McCann Erickson, Rediffusion-Y&R, Saatchi & Saatchi & RK Swamy BBDO during the course of his career. His brand roster includes Coca-Cola, Reebok, Aircel, Videocon, General Motors, Nescafe, and Domino’s Pizza to name a few. A very talented and highly awarded creative, Rupesh has won the 61st National Film Award for his short film ‘The Lost Behrupiya’.

     

     “This is my second stint at Contract and this place has always been very energetic. I am really excited to join good talented bunch of people. For me joining Contract is joining strong creative people such as Ashish Chakravarty, Vineet Mahajan and Mayur Hola,” said Sahay.

     

    Contract Advertising won the creative mandate for Tata Docomo in April. Post which the agency has made some very senior level hires to service the business which includes the hiring of Shruti Verma, who came on board last month as senior VP to head the Tata Docomo business.